Have Friendship, Will Travel

Princess Luna peered out from her royal balcony; she had just brought out the moon, and most of Equestria’s many citizens had started to wind down for the night.

Luna wasn’t smiling tonight; the all too familiar power that had just burned out of Ponyville had nearly driven her back to her former insanity. He can’t be here... there’s no way he can be here!

Before Luna could decide on any sort of action, Celestia came through the door, fury emanating from her. “Luna! How dare you!” Celestia’s guards were storming into the room, as Luna’s stormed in through the window; they did not take their eyes off each other.

Luna knew exactly what her sister had assumed. “I had no part in this! I swear it!” The dark mare paused, collecting her thoughts. “What happened in Ponyville, anyways?”

“You speak as if you don’t know! A hydra attacked Ponyville, and then you stepped in!” Celestia paused, holding in the tears. “How could you, Luna? You told me you would never use your dark powers again!”

Her sister’s assumptions cut her deeply and tears were now flowing freely. “Listen to yourself, sister! Please cease your tactless accusations and see the truth for what it is... I had no part in this dark act!”

“Well, if you didn’t have any part in this, who did?”

It was now very dark out, and most citizens who had stayed at the emergency point, which was also the mane group’s rendezvous point, had now gone home; fifteen minutes had passed since the ponies were all supposed to meet at said point; all of them had, except for Fluttershy.

Twilight was very concerned for her, and couldn’t help but feel stupid for sending the weakest and most easily startled pony in the group to look in the likeliest place a hungry newborn vampire would hide. “I’m really worried about Fluttershy, everypony... what if Rainbow--”

Rarity interrupted her, clearly irritated. “Twilight dear, Rainbow would not do such a thing to our Fluttershy! I won’t have you assuming things from our own Element of Loyalty.”

“I agree. Y’all can’t just jump in and assume Rainbow’s become some sort of violent bloodthirsty freak like Alphonse...”

While those words hurt, Alphonse brushed them off and decided to move the conversation forward. “There is no point in standing here talking about the situation. We need to get up there, immediately. I need one of you to guide me to Rainbow’s house; if we don’t get there soon, for all we know your friend Fluttershy may not make it through the night.”

The stetson-clad earth pony stepped forward, determination covering every inch of her face. “Ah’m comin’ with’ya. Ah need to know that Dash and Fluttershy are okay.”

As much as he didn’t like her, Alphonse knew that she was serious about this and if he denied her this, it could cause him problems in the immediate future. “Fine, let’s go.”

Applejack walked over to Twilight, “Twilight, if ya’d be so kind as’ta give me that cloud-walkin’ spell again, Ah’d appreciate it.”

“Sure thing, Applejack; just stand still.” The lavender unicorn planted herself in the ground as her horn started glowing; Applejack felt a magical sensation cover her body; she felt lighter, and her hooves tingled.

Twilight was about to wish Applejack good luck, before she was cut off by that ungodly feeling she had felt earlier; it was nowhere near as intense as before, but it was still enough to give her the shivers.

Alphonse walked over in haste, noticing the grim looks on their faces. “Oh, sorry; I didn’t mean to startle you... I just powered up to fly faster.” He paused momentarily as he shifted his gaze towards Applejack. “Applejack, grab my tail!”

The farmer tilted her head. What? The idea of holding onto his tail for dear life was an adventure she didn’t want to go on. “Wouldn’t it be easier if ah just hopped on yer back?”

“Oh, I suppose so. Just be quick!”

She hopped on, motioning Alphonse to take off. “It’s in that direction... git goin!”

Pinkie Pie pranced up to Alphonse, a huge grin on her face. “Allons-y, Alphonso!”

Feeling strangely empowered by her words of encouragement, he took off with intense force; so much Applejack felt she may fall off his back and into the darkness below her.

Alphonse touched down on the cloud and began to power down; the runes on his body faded and his wings were feathered again.

Applejack hopped off, not wasting any time. Ah’ve got to know they’re okay!

Noticing the door was already broken down, she ran in to see Rainbow Dash sitting on the bed beside Fluttershy, who was sleeping. Much to Applejack’s horror, there was blood all around the area where Rainbow had just fed, along with two holes and a bandage over Fluttershy’s head. As much as this made Applejack furious and upset over Fluttershy’s assault, she was so happy to see Rainbow Dash, her best friend, in one piece.

“Rainbow Dash...”

“Applejack! I-uh... this isn’t what it looks like-- I swear!”

Applejack trotted over to Rainbow, tears streaming down her eyes; Rainbow closed her eyes, expecting a hard buck to the head. To her surprise, she felt the warm embrace of her best friend around her.

“Ah was so worried about you, Rainbow... Ah thought we’d lost ya...” Applejack was now sobbing openly, which caused Rainbow to tear up as well.

“Darnit, AJ... now you’ve got me acting all sappy...”

Alphonse walked in on the scene, assuming that Rainbow had indeed attacked Fluttershy; while he was in no position to judge her, he knew that if Rainbow had taken too much, she could be dying. Walking over to the sleeping pegasus, he placed his hoof on her to test her pulse. Much to his relief, she had a somewhat healthy pulse and wasn’t dying at the moment.

The Death Knight sighed as memories of his past flashed past his burning eyes; the first living being the Lich King had him feed on had died, only for the girl to become his first attempt at resurrecting and commanding an undead ghoul. It didn’t go well...

Turning to the cyan pegasus, he cleared his throat: “Rainbow Dash, you and I need to talk... there are things about your vampirism I have to explain to you if you’re to control it without attacking your friends.”

Rainbow left the stetson-clad mare’s embrace as she walked over to him. “Wait, you’ve got it all wrong! You have to believe me, I didn’t attack her! Well, I did... but I stopped before biting her!”

Applejack had trouble believing Rainbow; considering the bandages, it looked like a fight had taken place. “Now listen here, sugarcube; Ah know you feel a might guilty fer what ya did to Fluttershy, but lyin’ to us ain’t gonna fix the problem. We won’t get mad, just tell us the truth.”

“But AJ, I am telling you the truth! She offered herself to me; I didn’t force anything on her!”

Alphonse was getting irritated; he hated beating around the bush. “Well then, if that’s true why does she have a bandage on her head?”

“She came in with a bang and crashed into me... hard.”

Alphonse sighed, as a soft voice chimed in behind them. “Um, guys... I really did offer myself; please don’t yell at her.”

The earth pony was confused; “Y’all offered yerself to her? What in tarnation were y’all thinkin!”

Fluttershy shrank back into the bed, visibly frightened. “Oh, um... well, I... you see: I wanted to help her so that she’d be herself again. It looks like it worked, right?”

Alphonse looked over at the pale pegasus, nodding in agreement. “It sure did, for today. But I need to explain vampirism to her as soon as possible; I need to train her in vampire survival before she gets thirsty tomorrow.”

Rainbow’s face dropped to frown. “I’m going to have to drink every day, aren’t I?”

“Yes, but I can teach you how to do it without hurting others or getting caught.”

Rainbow liked the idea of not hurting others; she liked it a lot! “Okay. When do we start?”

Alphonse looked over to Applejack as he responded. “We start immediately; and we’re going to start with your friends.”

Applejack gulped, stepping back. Starting with... us?

Realizing that he worded his sentence wrong, he corrected himself. “Wait! No, I mean we’re going to start by talking about this with your friends; you’re not going to be able to do this without support.”

Both Applejack and Rainbow smiled at each other, before looking back at Alphonse. “Alright, Al. When do we leave?”

“Now. Rainbow, you carry Fluttershy down, I’ve got Applejack.”

Applejack frowned, causing Rainbow to speak up. “Actually, I’d like to take AJ if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, doesn’t matter to me.” Alphonse walked over to Fluttershy, kneeling down. “I’m not really sure how to carry you like this... will you be able to hold onto my back?”

Fluttershy blushed, while climbing out of the bed. “I’ll be fine. Just please fly slowly, I don’t know how strong I can hold on right now.”

He smiled as he positioned himself so that Fluttershy could jump on. “Just hold on tight, okay? Rainbow, we’re meeting in front of that apple farm.”

Rainbow nodded as Applejack hopped on her back; she made her way out the door and flew off, full speed ahead.

Pausing before taking off himself, Alphonse felt the yellow mare fall limply on his back. “Are you sure you’re ready to go, Fluttershy? If you feel weak, I don’t want to risk you falling.”

He could feel her breath on his back; it was light, but very warm. It was a weird sensation that he hadn’t felt before.

“You know him, don’t you, Amschel...”

Alphonse was confused. Who? And Amschel? I never told her my old name... “Know who?”

“You know my Leo, don’t you.”

She couldn’t mean... “Leo... like, Leonidas?”

Her breathing had slowed down further, and her head fell on his back. Alphonse ran back to the bed, and gently placed her down; she was unconscious and Alphonse didn’t want to move her if she was recovering from blood loss.

Everypony’s hearts melted when they saw their Rainbow touch down. Pinkie couldn’t help but cheer as she crossed the distance between her and the cyan pegasus, leaving less than one millimeter between their faces. “Rainbow! I’m so happy to see you! We thought you’d been eaten by that hydra! But I knew you’d be okay! Uncooked ponies don’t taste as good, so I knew he’d spit you out!”

Rarity walked up, her smile accompanied by two streams pouring down her face. “I’m so relieved to see you unharmed, dear. I knew you’d never attack Fluttershy!”

The lavender pony looked incredibly relieved to see Rainbow in one piece, however, she still wasn’t sure whether or not Fluttershy was okay. “I’m so happy to see that you’re alright, Rainbow! But where’s Fluttershy and Alphonse?”

Rainbow smiled, “They’re both on their way now. Fluttershy was a little too weak to fly, so Alphonse is carrying her.”

While Twilight  wondered why Fluttershy was weak, the fact that she was still alive was a genuine relief to her. She nodded, before turning her attention to the group. “Once they arrive, let’s head off to the Library. It’s dark and I think we should talk in a more closed environment...”

Everypony agreed; as they waited, they continued their conversation about how they were relieved to see Rainbow Dash in one piece.

Celestia approached Luna, who was out on her royal balcony; she hadn’t left since earlier. The devastating power that was Alphonse had rekindled something dark inside her; it was now only a matter of time.

“I’ve mobilized recovery teams to help the citizens of Ponyville... Luna, I’d like to apologize... I felt another surge of that power from Ponyville for a few brief moments when you were clearly in the castle; it wasn’t you and I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

Luna turned around and smiled at her sister. “It’s fine, but Tia... what are we going to do about the one responsible... I felt it too, but I don’t understand... why would someone with that power not be destroying Ponyville?”

Celestia’s face hardened as she looked into her sister’s eyes. “I’m not sure... but if it’s a threat, I’ll have no choice but to order the Elements of Harmony to destroy it.”

Luna smiled as she nodded. “Of course, sister... I understand.” Like hell you will...

As Celestia was walking out of the room, the dark mare looked up to the moon; her eyes glowing blue for a split second. “I look forwards to meeting you, lichbourne.”

“What was that, Luna?”

“Oh, it was nothing, dear sister.”

As the citizens of Ponyville made their way back into the broken town, they couldn’t help but reel over how much destruction had taken place in their peaceful hometown. Celestia’s reinforcements had arrived, and were now picking up the bodies and preparing them for burial, while others were supporting those still alive.

The local mailmare stood in front of her decimated post-office, holding back her tears. “I... I-” tears were now swelling around her eyes. “I just don’t know what went wrong...”

Derpy didn’t know how she’d ended up bringing the hydra to town; she had the simple task of delivering a package to Zecora’s hut. However, before she could get there she was cut off by the giant scaled beast; scared for her life, she high-tailed it back to Ponyville, inadvertently bringing it to Ponyville. As her emotions ran rampant in her chest, she noticed the corpse of one of her close friends. Walking over to it, she let her tears start to flow.

“Oh Raindrops... I’m so sorry.”

After thirty minutes, the group noticed that Alphonse and Fluttershy hadn’t shown up yet; while they hadn’t noticed the time fly so fast, they were starting to get concerned as to where they were.

Twilight wanted to see Fluttershy badly; she hadn’t seen her kindest friend since she told her to pursue a hungry vampire. “Uh, Rainbow... you did say Alphonse was flying with Fluttershy, right?”

“Yeah, he was going to take off right away. I’m surprised he didn’t land right after I did!”

Pinkie Pie jumped in, an odd look of seriousness covering her face. “Hmm... maybe you should go back and make sure they’re okay, Dashie!”

By the time Pinkie was done her sentence, Rainbow’s wings were already unfurled. “I’ll be back in 10 minutes flat!”

“Just be safe, okay Rainbow! Ah don’t want you gettin’ hurt if Alphonse’s gone and done sumthin’ stupid.”

Rainbow frowned, before preparing to take off. “Relax, AJ. He’s not as big of an asshole as you paint him out to be.”

“Ah’m just sayin’... ah, shucks y’all know what ah mean.”

“I know. I’ll be back soon, alright?” And with that, Rainbow Dash was in the air.

Alphonse continued to look down at the unconscious mare before him; the fact that she was still alive meant she would most likely survive this ordeal, it was just a matter of taking the time to rest. What do you know of Leonidas, Fluttershy?

As if she could hear his thoughts, her face donned a grin; she was still unconscious and must have been dreaming.

The Death Knight was about to get up and give the innocent mare some space, before he felt that familiar exhaustion begin to take over him; falling over beside the sleeping mare, he drifted into dark unconsciousness.

Standing before him was Leonidas, his face shrouded by a dark cloud. He wasn’t sure how he knew it was Leonidas; he just did. Looking at Leo’s chest, and then his own, he noticed they were both chained from their chest to another object that was shrouded in its own dark cloud; from within the cloud, two blue glowing eyes could be seen. Wait... that’s not--

“Are you still enjoying your stay in Equestria, Alphonse?”

“Yes, I am. How do you know about Equestria?”

“Think back to when you cast your spell upon me; before you became a Death Knight. I’ve always wanted to ask you this: Where did you want to transport me when you used that spell?”

Al looked down over his body, before looking back up at his fallen friend. “I-I wanted to take you as far away from there as possible... to the happiest place in existence.”

“Ah--I see. Well, that makes sense.” The image of Leonidas started to drag towards the object he was chained to; its glowing eyes were now burning brighter than before. “Alphonse... are you starting to put the pieces together?”

“What pieces? I have no idea what’s going on, Leo.”

“Heh... you never were one to pick up on the obvious things, were you? Look, just tell Twilight Sparkle that I’m happy with my choice, and that she shouldn’t feel bad.”

Alphonse did a double take at what he had just heard. Twilight Sparkle? You know Twilight Sparkle? Wait... then what about... “Leo! How could you possibly know Twilight? Do you--do you know a yellow pony named ‘Fluttershy’, as well?”

The mention of the name Fluttershy seemed to strike a chord with Leo; tears began to roll down the visible portions of his face. “I--I know her well.”

Leo was now becoming engulfed by the dark shroud surrounding the object he was chained to and was fading fast. “Please tell her I lo--”

“Tell her what?!? Leo! Come back!”

Unlike last time, Alphonse’ dream hadn’t started crumbling around him; the object he was chained to was still there, and he wasn’t being drawn closer to it. Looking down below him, he noticed why: he was bound to the ground by a rift in the floor; through that rift, he saw his equine form sleeping on the bed beside Fluttershy; Rainbow Dash was standing over his body, shaking him, apparently trying to wake him up. I’ve got to return... I’ve got to get back!

“Hello, Deathbringer Alphonse Runeweaver.”

The dark voice shook him to his core; while he didn’t know where the voice was coming from, he knew who the voice was from all too well -- it had commanded the death of every innocent soul he had vanquished prior to his rescuing.

“You bastard... what do you want from me? Can’t you let me enjoy my new-found peace!”

“I want my right-hand killing machine back; since you’re sharing the energy absorbed by your human counterpart, he’s not operating at full capacity... Do you know how much power it takes to keep two bodies anda rift between two worlds active?”

Alphonse shook his head in disbelief. My human counterpart? “I’m barely consuming any power at all; it shouldn’t be noticeable at all. I’m surprised you know I’m here.” As he finished his sentence, he began to fall back through the rift towards his equine body.

“Before you go, Deathbringer, I’d like to share some interesting information with you. The power you’re receiving from your human counterpart has all been taken from the lives of those he kills, mostly, of course, of innocents; enjoy it. I do hope you won't try to resist, lest I take your new vampire friend. She'll serve me well in undeath, won't she? But not before suffering pain unlike anything you could ever imagine. Should you decide to come back willingly, I’ll make her your right-hand, Death Knight. See you soon...” A dark chuckle resonated around the dream as Alphonse felt the darkness take him once again.

Alphonse sprung up from his unconsciousness, drenched in his own sweat. The sun was shining, and the birds were chirping. I’m not in Rainbow’s house... This looks like Twilight’s library... The other ponies were gathered around Fluttershy, who was still sleeping on the bed across from him.

“Oh, look guys! Al’s awake!” The pink pony bounced over to him, looking him in his eyes. “Are you okay, mister? Dashie said you were sleeping on the bed with Fluttershy and then she flew you both back here one at a time! Isn’t she awesome!”

She carried both of us here? “I think I’m fine. How long have I been out?”

Twilight walked over, concern covering her face. “You’ve been out for about six hours. Did you do something to Fluttershy? And did you have another vision? The last time you passed out, you told me you saw Leonidas.”

As the other conscious ponies made their way to Alphonse’ bedside, he decided to share his dream with them.

“No, Fluttershy passed out on my back; and yes, I did have a dream, and I saw Leonidas there too. He told me to tell you something, Twilight... He said ‘I’m happy with my choice’, and ‘don’t  be sad’.”

At this, Twilight began to tear up; trying to keep her composure, she motioned him to go on.

“I’m not sure how he knows you, but I asked him if he knew Fluttershy as well; when I did, he started to cry and tried to say something, before disappearing.”

Twilight looked back over to the sleeping Fluttershy, her face dropping to sadness. I know he loves you... and not me; I wish I could just forget about it all.

Rainbow chimed in, her face more serious than he’d ever seen it before. “What else happened in your dream? You were saying my name at one point when I carried you over.”

The memory of the Lich King’s last words teared through his mind: “She'll serve me well in undeath, won't she? But not before suffering pain unlike anything you could ever imagine.” Terror filled his mind as he tried to think of what the Lich King would ask... would he require him to turn Equestria into an undead wasteland? Would he require him to take Rainbow Dash with him back to Azeroth, only to turn her into another powerful Death Knight? And more importantly, what could the Lich King do if he said no? Either way, the situation was going to be dire; the only thing he could do was to wait for future instructions from the Lich King. It was bad enough that his life force was being supplied by the slaughter of innocents in Azeroth...

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat, motioning Alphonse to keep going. The Death Knight, however, had no plans of sharing the demands of the Lich King with him... at least not yet.

Shaking his head, Alphonse continued. “The rest is a blur, really. I’ll share more when I can piece out what happened.”

Despite the feeling of disappointment, Rainbow Dash smiled and sat beside her blood-brother. “Well, anyway... I’m just happy that you’re okay.”

Pinkie Pie smiled, injecting her thoughts audibly. “Oh, is that because you have a crush on Al?”

Rainbow blushed, quickly throwing her rebuttal back at the pink party animal. “Hey! I-I’m just making sure that he’s okay! Without him, I won’t know how to do this vampire stuff right!”

Rainbow’s words cut Alphonse; he was never able to pick up on emotions properly, and took her words as truth. Deciding to shake off the pain, he mentally recited the simple truth of his past. Why would she even want to look at me after what I’ve done to her...

As Applejack headed out to get Nurse Redheart for Fluttershy, Alphonse was preparing to set out with Rainbow Dash to teach her about vampirism.

Before Alphonse made his way out of the landing, he could have sworn he felt another Death Knight around; he wasn’t sure where, but it was immensely powerful and had a runic signature unlike any Death Knight he had met before. What frightened him more was that as soon as it had appeared, it was gone.

A/N:

And that's chapter four! Sorry that it took me so long to release. The foul beast "Writer's Block" has been sent back to the twisting nether, where I hope to never see it again.

I'm going to be honest... while writing this chapter, I've had *so many better ideas on where to take this story; I know you're going to love them!*

A special thanks to Urdreth, ThArcanist and Masu for being pre-readers. (And Urdreth especially, who has become more of an editor now than a pre-reader)

~Taktician