Nosferatu: A Blood Pact

"Where is it! Where is my journal! Where the fuck is it!" Screamed the deathly walking corpse as it squeezed the filly's neck holding it tightly against the wooden tree. The little pony tried to cry out but to no avail as the corpse's grip was too tight to yell. Its cold icy grip send sheer terror running down the little mare's spine as the tears that welled from her eyes began to condense to ice as the breath of the monster was closer to her face than she would have ever wanted.

"Either you tell me where my journal is filly or you will join your friend over there," said the raging vampire pointing towards the mutilated mess of organs and flesh. It looked as if a bomb exploded from the inside out of the small filly. There were no distinguishable characteristics that could identify it other than small patches of fur smothered in blood.

"I-I don't know w-what you're talking about." Said the filly squeezing the words painfully from her mouth.

"Don't you fucking lie to me worm!" Roared the vampire

The vampire's grip tightened just enough to hear the crack before the pony went limp without life. He tossed the filly against a nearby tree and approached it with a vicious look in its eyes. The corpse bent down opening its dry mouth revealing fangs sharper than a dragon's scale. The filly could only watch in terror and agony completely paralyzed from its broken neck as the monster bit into it's neck draining the blood from its body. Within seconds the filly looked as if it was a mummy from the drained and lifeless look. The vampire licked its now thirst-quenched lips looking dramatically younger and alive. It no longer looked as if it had emerged from a grave. Instead it had the youthful and radiant appearance of most stallions in their prime.

"Delicious," said the vampire looking at the dead filly, "virgin's blood has always been my favorite." With that said the vampire disappeared in a brilliant flash of black light.

The corpse reappeared at the edge of a small town. He could see foals playing with their friends and a busy market of mares and stallions purchasing and selling goods and services. He grimaced with hate disgust for these were the same ponies he believed that chastised him so long ago. Rage boiling in his veins that have long since pumped blood through him.

"Soon," he said. His words dripping with hate, "soon you will all be but minions to me."

........

The five ponies sat inside of the jacuzzi. The warm bubbling jets relaxed them all as they washed away all the stresses and worries they had for the time being. Pinkie Pie, being as random as she is decided to bring along gummy for the ride scaring Rarity to near death as the scaly reptile slid along her slender body. The cupcakes sat in the bellies full and pleased with the delightful confections Pinkie Pie was so good at creating.

"Seriously darling, why must you bring your pet here? I couldn't bring Opalescence even if I begged her." Quizzed the mare

"Because Gummy loves the bubbles, silly!" She said smiling widely and giggling as her pet alligator tried to bite her face multiple times leaving not a scratch but a thin reside of saliva that quickly washed off as she dunked her head once more under the water.

Applejack chuckled slightly before speaking, "so, Twilight, ready any good books lately?"

Twilight was caught off guard by the question. She had been daydreaming about the book she found in the Everfree forest debating on whether or not to go back and explore some more. It had mentioned an ancient labyrinth the pony in the journal used for experimentation and she was very curious as to what she may find there.

"Yes. Yes I have Applejack," she said looking somewhat prideful in her scholarly abilities. "I found an interesting journal of sorts-" she was cut off before she could continue by Pinkie Pie.

"You know Twilight, you really shouldn't be reading other pony's diaries." Piped the pink pony.

"Well, seeing as how this pony is long since dead I don't think he'll mind that much." Retorted the alicorn.

"So who wrote this journal anyway?" Asked the cyan pegasus looking rather curious.

"A pony by the name of Nazara." Twilight started, "it appears that he was an apprentice of Starswirl the Bearded but he had a falling out with Starswirl on the topic of Necromancy."

Everyone grew quiet quickly after hearing that dreaded word.

"Darling, where ever did you find this 'journal'?" Quizzed the alabaster unicorn.

"Within the Everfree forest after a midnight flight I found a shrine or grave I suppose and in the coffin I found the journal." Said Twilight.

Her friends looked at each other than back to Twilight.

"Ah' don't know Sugarcube. You sure 'bout takin' books that don't belong to you. Ah' mean, ya' that pony is dead, but could the book be cursed? That's more than likely really ancient magic we don't know anythin' 'bout." Said Applejack with a worried look upon her face.

"Oh please," the alicorn said, "there are no such things as curses. Everything can be attributed to a causation that leads to an effect. And as far as I can tell, there have been no negative effects that I can notice."

"But Twilight, you and I both know there are some very powerful enchantments that can harm whoever uses the item that has been enchanted." Rarity started, "are you sure you didn't awake some long dead evil spirit? Soul Swallower lived but three hundred years ago and he was an expert on dark enchantments. Plus, he was in the timeline of Starswirl the Bearded. It was he that vanquished Soul Swallower."

"You're absolutely right Rarity, I'm surprised you know of Soul Swallower. But all of his research has been locked away in the royal library far away from any pony that might wish ill will. Besides, I would have felt whatever enchantment, if there was one by now." Twilight responded.

The rainbow maned pony looked confused at what they were discussing, "so... who exactly was Soul Swallower? I'm not much of a non-fiction kind of pony."

Twilight cleared her throat, "Soul Swallower was one of the greatest minds of the arcane arts along with Starswirl the Bearded. In fact, some scholars believed that Soul Swallower may have been even more powerful than princess Celestia. He was the first and foremost lead mind when it came to theoretical and practical applications of bio-altering magic. He developed the first 'Soul Gem' which could be used to split apart a pony's very soul into fragments that would allow the pony to be quite literally, immortal. However, it was not to be used by ponykind by any means and for the very reason of insanity. When he fragmented his soul he also spit apart his emotions. He spit apart his emotions so much there was nothing left of him but a husk that believed it was truly a perfect being as he was incapable of feeling anything."

"Wow." Said Rainbow Dash.

"Wow, indeed," Twilight resumed her speech, "though it is said to be theoretically possible to split your soul from your body completely without fragmenting it. However, this is just theory. You would need a gem so pure it could hold a true soul and those are near impossible to find. The only ones on historical record are the Elements of Harmony. There has been no attempt at Soul-Splitting for three hundred years. It's very dangerous and detrimental to the user's health."

"Wait, so how did Starswirl stop Soul Swallower if he fragmented his soul into various gems?" Asked the cyan mare.

"Well, he had to do it the only way possible. He smashed every piece of his soul until there was nothing left." Said Twilight.

"Like 'literally' smashed his soul or is this a metaphorical representation?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Literally." Twilight said, "he had to find all the pieces of the soul gems he put his soul into and forcibly destroyed them. Unfortunately this also killed Starswirl. Little did he or Soul Swallower know that when a soul gem is destroyed it can only be destroyed by using part of one's own soul. It's not something that can be prevented either. Whether by brute force or magic when a soul gem is destroyed it takes with it part of the attacker's soul."

"Wait. So, why exactly does the soul gem take part of the attacker's soul?" Applejack asked.

"I'm not sure really. I have a theory as to why. It may be because the soul fragments are emotions which are part of the pony's very consciousness. When it feels it is in true danger of being destroyed it retaliates to the aggressor. Much like how any of us would react to an impending evil force like Discord or Nightmare Moon that wanted to harm Equestria." Twilight replied.

"I don't know about you girls," Pinkie Pie said hopping out of the jacuzzi, "but I'm turning into a prune."

The four other ponies looked at their pinkie earth pony friend seeing a shriveled up mare's body with a youthful radiant face.

Twilight giggled with the rest of her friends, "okay girls, let's get going."

......

The alicorn of the sun sat in her throne daydreaming away as she yawned at the petty squabbles of the nobles that came to bicker to her.

"Your highness... Your highness!" Shouted the vexed noble looking disgruntled by the princess ignoring him.

She shook her head awake looking around and seeing the pony before her that was causing her to break out of her subconscious dreaming.

"Have you even heard a word I said?" He asked the princess.

The alicorn sighed, "look, I understand you don't like the new tariff, but you'll just have to bear with it. We need the funds if you would like to continue to have banquets and large political/social gatherings here at the palace. Besides, you make plenty of Bits to support you and your family substantially."

The pony grimaced at the princess, "but we have the highest tax rate in Equestria! This simply isn't fair."

Celestia's face grew with the tinge of disdain and she spoke clearly and sternly, "now listen, Golden Hooves, Canterlot is the richest city in my kingdom. You can afford a higher tax rate than the rest of the ponies. While you live in the lap of luxury my personal student lives in a library in Ponyville a quiet and quaint little town that survives modestly without marble roads and fine wines. I don't want to hear anymore bickering about the new tariff. Do I make myself clear?" Said the princess sending a gaze that if she truly wanted to could evaporate the pony before her into a cloud of dust.

"Y-yes, your highness," said the pony meekly backing down from the alicorn and walking out of the castle utterly defeated because of his own greed.

The princess gave a loud sigh, "UGH! I swear these ponies are getting too greedy." She shifted her gaze to her right looking at the guard that stood ramrod still.

"What do you think?" She said looking at the guard.

He looked nervous but gained confidence before speaking as to not look trepidatious in front of the ruler, "I think you know what your doing, Princess. I have a sister, Carrot Top, in Ponyville. She loves it there. I've only visited once. I see why she likes it there. It's a town full of ponies that don't care about class, clout, or wealth."

The princess smiled and chuckled quietly to herself, "thanks for your input Steel Wings."

An earth pony breathing heavily burst into the courtroom sending the guards into a frenzy. Within mere seconds the earth pony had spears and axes alike surrounding him on all sides.

"Let me through, I need to talk to the princess! This is important!." He exclaimed

"Let him pass." She said calmly.

"T-thank you, your highness." He said catching his breath.

"So what is it? What's so important?" She asked

"V-vampire." He said breathing heavily.

Celestia eyes widened and her face grew near ghost-like.

"K-killed two fillies near P-ponyville. Diamond Tiara and Silver spoon were found at the edge of the forest. Silver Spoon looked like a bomb went off inside her and Diamond Tiara was drained of all her blood." He said looking up at the Diarchress before him.

"Did anypony get a description of the vampire?" She said sternly looking down at the earth pony.

"N-no, they were only found when the school teacher Cheerilee noticed they were missing and went to search for them." Replied the earth pony messenger.

Celestia looked more irritated than before with the greedy noble. She rubbed her furrowing brow with one foreleg, "Get Shining Armor to deploy the Inquisitors. I want that vampire dead as soon as possible!" She said with a stern voice that shook the very castle.

The guards went spastic in all directions leaving the courtroom except for her two personal escorts and the earth pony who notified her.

"As for you," she said looking down at the earth pony. His heart sunk waiting for her next words, "not a word of this to anypony. The last thing we need is a damn riot." He nodded and ran out the courtroom as fast as he legs could propel him.

"Permission to speak, your highness." Said on of her personal guards,

"Yes, Steel Wing?" She said looking over at him.

"Princess, I thought the last vampire was killed three hundred years ago by Starswirl. The Sangui-" He was stopped mid sentence by the princess's hoof in in front of his snout.

"I don't want to admit it, but we never truly did kill Nazara, only Soul Swallower was vanquished. Never his apprentice. I thought he would have stayed in hiding after I order his execution on sight if found in the borders of my kingdom." Said the peeved princess.

"P-princess, you don't mean HE is still alive? There's no way. It's been three hundred years." Said the guard looking rather frightened.

"I fear he may truly have come back. But why? Why now? What brought him back to Equestria? He couldn't have perfected Soul-Splitting. It's not possible." She said aloud. Or is it? Did he finally come back for his revenge?