Flutterbat's Return

Chapters

Chapter 1: Not Completely Gone
Chapter 2: The Taste of Blood
Chapter 3: Pointless Chatter
Chapter 4: Too Far Gone
Chapter 5: A New Day
Chapter 6: First Blood
Chapter 7: Let it Flow
Chapter 8: Peaceful Chaos
Chapter 9: Before the Storm
Chapter 10: Fight or Flight
Chapter 12: A New Development
Chapter 13: Out With the Old
Chapter 11: The Light of Day
Epilogue: In With the New

Chapter 1: Not Completely Gone

She checked her teeth in the mirror for what felt like the hundredth time that day, still not wanting to believe what she was seeing. Two long, thin fangs sprouting from the top of her mouth. Each two teeth from the centre on either side. She sighed and closed her mouth, concealing the bat-like fangs from view. She closed her blue green eyes as she drew in a deep breath through her nose, and her light pink mane fell over her face as she drooped her head down.

"And I thought that Twilight's spell had completely worked." She muttered to herself. Looking back at the light yellow mare in the mirror, she looked into her bloodshot eyes, which begged her to sleep. She considered doing just that, but she knew that it would only bring nightmares of when she was Flutterbat. How she had frightened her friends and how she had almost killed Rainbow Dash, she couldn't bear it. So she stayed awake for another night. Only bothering to feed the animals and, occasionally, herself when her stomach begged her for sustenance.

She also had this thirst. She didn't know where it came from, but she was always thirsty. And no matter how much she drank, nothing seemed to quench it. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks, the pain. So much pain. She felt her wings seizing up as they became leathery and bat like. Her ears started to elongate and her eyes glowed red. The two fangs in her mouth grew longer and the rest of her teeth became sharp and carnivorous. She then fell to the ground and landed in a heap where she stood. Only to get up several seconds later as the vampony side of her took over. She spread her wings, and took flight. Headed for Sweet Apple Acres.

She looked through the window of the farmhouse to see the two mares sleeping on the bed inside. One a pegasus, the other an earth pony. She could see that they were holding each other tightly, and that they were still awake. Flutterbat hissed at this, eager to feed on her victim like she had been able to for the last few nights. She licked her lips at the thought if the sweet taste of the mare's blood. She almost burst through the window and drank from her right then and there it was so alluring. But she contained herself. Hunters are patient, or so goes the law of nature. So she sat by the window, peaking just high enough from below that she couldn't be seen, and waited. An hour passed. Two, three before she finally decided it was safe to enter the moonlit room.

She silently slid the window open, and crawled inside, careful not to make a sound. She crawled to the pegasus's side of the bed, and stood up, looking down on her cyan prey with hungry eyes. She opened her mouth, revealing dozens of sharp fangs inside, along with the two extra long ones. She lowered her head to the pegasus's neck, and quickly dug her two longest fangs into her neck. From there, she began sucking the blood from the punctures, savouring the metallic taste in her mouth. She went on sucking the blood from her prey for a good five minutes until she was sure that the mare wouldn't die from blood loss, and carefully withdrew her fangs from her neck. She layed her victim down slowly, and fled through the window, making sure to silently close it behind her, and disappeared into the night.

"Are ya sure ya don't know where these came from?" She asked her marefriend, examining the two small wounds on her neck.

"I'm sure, Applejack." The cyan pegasus replied. "I have no clue how they got there and it's starting to creep me out."

"Well," Applejack said, looking into the magenta eyes of her pegasus lover, "I'm not sure what to say."

"Oh come on, AJ. You gotta have some idea of what could have done it." She pleaded.

"Sorry, Rainbow. I ain't Fluttershy. I'm not good with determining what kind'a critter must'a bit ya." Applejack replied sincerely, wrapping her fore legs around Rainbow Dash affectionately.

Rainbow returned the hug, and rested her head on Applejack's shoulder. She inhaled the scent of her marefriend's blonde mane, which smelled like straw and apples. Or, to Rainbow Dash at least, a second home since their relationship kicked off. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Every day since those bite marks appeared, she was feeling weaker and weaker. It came to the point where she could no longer fly, and was grounded like the rest of the world. But today, she could barely stand without Applejack's or somepony's help. Applejack was beyond worried about her, and she had to admit that it was starting to scare her as well.

"It's probably nothin'." Applejack said, though she wasn't even convinced of that.

"Yeah." Rainbow agreed, though she didn't believe it either.

Applejack felt her eyes watering up as she said; "At least... I hope it's nothing." She tried to hold back sobs. "I don't wanna lose you to somethin' we don't even know."

Rainbow held her marefriend tightly as she stroked her mane, trying to hold back tears of her own. "It's okay, AJ. I'm not gonna die without giving you one hell of a night first."

"Heh, yeah." Applejack agreed.

They separated slightly to allow room for their muzzles, and kissed each other lightly, Rainbow stroking Applejack's mane whilst AJ had her hooves wrapped around Dash's back. Rainbow Dash licked the edges of Applejack's lips lightly, asking permission to enter. AJ smirked beneath their kiss, and parted her lips slightly, allowing Dash's tongue to enter her mouth.

The lovers' tongues twisted around each other, wrestling for control over the situation, and Rainbow tipped them over onto the bed. She adjusted herself on top of Applejack, not once breaking their kiss, and pinned her forelegs to the bed. Only then did she break the kiss to look into Applejack's eyes with a determined stare.

"I thought you were too weak to stand? What makes ya think you can win here?" Applejack asked, flipping them over so she was on top.

"Damn you, AJ..." Rainbow said dully before Applejack pressed their lips together in a fierce but loving kiss. Their tongues sliding around each other as the two lovers had their hooves all over one another.

Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes, but shut them tightly as the bright sunlight poured through the window and onto her face. She held up a hoof to shield her eyes and tried again, her vision focusing on the small, white bunny in front of her.

"Oh, hi Angel." She said. "What's the matter?"

His face was showing a mix of anger and fear, which could only mean one thing; something was wrong. He pointed to her mouth. She put a hoof to it, which came away with a sticky, brown substance partially covering it. She licked her lips which tasted like copper. Her eyes then went wide as she realized the gravity of the situation. Angel held up a mirror, knowing what she was going to ask, and let her look at her reflection.

Blood was covering her muzzle. Brownish-black, sticky, dried blood.

Author's Note

And thus, a new adventure begins. Hopefully this'll be a half decently popular story, since I put a lot of thought into this and it's actually the first time I got right on it once I came up with it.

Chapter 2: The Taste of Blood

"How...?" Fluttershy wondered, speaking so quietly only she could hear herself. "How did this happen?"

Angel put the mirror down and hopped right next to Fluttershy. Then, he reached towards her face and opened her mouth a little wider, since it was hanging slack with shock, and pointed to the small fangs in her mouth. She reached a hoof up and felt them as well. She got even more nervous as she pulled her hoof away to find two small spots of blood on it, exactly where she had been inspecting the fangs.

"Angel, how did this happen?" Fluttershy asked, starting to hyperventilate, "What's happening to me?" She covered her face with her hooves and began to cry, letting the tears run down her cheeks to collect at her chin before falling to the floor, taking traces of the blood on her face with them.

She then winced as something hit her head lightly. Looking up from her hooves she could see Angel sitting on the windowsill, pointing to somewhere in the distance. She got up and looked out the window with him, and saw where he was pointing. It was just barely poking above the line of the several buildings throughout Ponyville, but it stood out just the same. An oversized tree smack dab in the middle of town, also known as the home of their resident librarian and bookworm; Twilight Sparkle.

"You think I should talk to Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, looking at the small white bunny next to her questioningly.

He replied with a firm nod of his head, and started tapping the window repeatedly to tell her to hurry up.

"Oh, okay," she replied, starting for the door. "But I should clean my face off first."

"How long have these been there?" She asked, studying the fangs in Fluttershy's mouth as if that would tell her anything.

"I'm not sure," Fluttershy replied, "but I noticed them about two days after you cast that spell that turned me back to normal."

"Well," her purple friend said, shaking her streaked mane out of her face, "I'm not sure what to tell you, Fluttershy."

"Oh please, Twilight! You have to know something about this?" Fluttershy pleaded with her friend, grasping her shoulders firmly between her hooves.

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy. But I don't know what they could be. I suppose I could check some of my books about rare mutations but that's the best I can do," Twilight offered, taking Fluttershy's hooves off of her shoulders.

"Th-thank you, Twilight. Anything helps,"

Rainbow Dash reeled in her sleep, tossing and turning restlessly while the night dragged on and on like it was never going to end. She could barely get any rest without having to deal with horrible night terrors of monsters and demons that laughe as the life drained out of her eyes.

"Rainbow!"

She burst awake with a shriek of terror, fear controlling her actions rather than the warm embrace of her lover, who was worried sick about her. She continued to scan the room around them, pupils smaller than the tip of a needle despite the darkness of the night. Her breathing slowed as she slowly came back to the reality of the situation and saw the worried expression of her love, Applejack. She put a hoof to her temple as she shook the dream away.

Applejack couldn't take her eyes off of Dash, more afraid for her lover than a mother for her child.

"You alright, sug'?" she asked, her worrying eyes tracing Dash's features.

"I... I'm fine, AJ," Dash stuttered, "what makes you think something's wrong?"

"Rainbow, please don't lie to me," Applejack said, a single tear making it's way from one eye down her cheek. "Not at a time like this."

Rainbow Dash sighed and decided that her stubborn but worried companion wouldn't leave her alone until she spilled the beans about her nightmares. She sighed again and looked into Applejack's brilliant green eyes which shone in the moonlight like emeralds.

"I... I've been having nightmares," she spat out like it was a disgrace to her entire family name.

"Since when do you get nightmares?" Applejack asked.

"Since I was little," Rainbow replied. "But I haven't in years, and these are way worse than when I was a kid."

"How much worse?" Applejack asked, getting more and more concerned for Rainbow.

"Losing you, dying a slow and premature death at the hooves of monsters I can't even begin to describe, being sent to purgatory where I'm completely alone and unwanted... In that order..."

"And when did these start happening?"

"The night before these showed up," Rainbow said, pointing to the bite marks on her neck.

"Have you told anypony but me?" Applejack asked, tenderly rubbing her hoof over the bite marks on Dash's neck.

"What, and ruin my reputation? Not a chance," Rainbow said. "Besides, it's bad enough that you know."

"Why is it bad that I know?" AJ questioned, hurt that Rainbow would think that way.

"Because you wouldn't want somepony who cries herself to sleep over nightmares that nopony else knows about, only to put on a façade of bravado just so no one will find out!" Rainbow almost yelled, but managed to keep her voice down for fear of waking up the entire farmhouse.

"Rainbow, why would you think that?" Applejack had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from crying. She hugged Rainbow tighter as the tears started flowing down her face, uncontrollable sobs making their way from her throat. "I'm not with you because of how tough you are," she began, "I'm not with you for how much better you are than everypony else, I'm with you because underneath all that, you are the loving, caring mare that I fell in love with all those months ago," she tried her best to regain composure and look Rainbow in the eyes. "And besides, we all know I'm way stronger than you."

"A hell of a lot more stubborn, too," Rainbow joked.

"Oh, c'mere sugar," Applejack said, pressing her lips against Dash's and pushing her down onto the bed.

Rainbow broke the kiss to look AJ in the eyes once more. "AJ, I can't believe you just said that."

"Said what? That whole speech about why I can't stand to be without you?" Applejack questioned.

"Yeah, that," Rainbow said.

"Well it's true. Always was, always will be," Applejack said firmly. She then drove Rainbow into another kiss, this one more ferocious than the last and practically shoved her tongue into Dash's mouth. She held their heads together until her lungs were begging for air before breaking the kiss with an audible smack.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," she whispered into Rainbow's ear.

Rainbow slept soundly for the rest of the night, not a single nightmare to wake her up. Maybe it was Applejack's little pep talk, or maybe it was the fact that she had been able to tell somepony--especially somepony close--about her nightmares. Whatever it was, she didn't care. She could sleep and that's what mattered.

Her peace would disappear all too quickly, however, as waves of indescribable pain shot through her body and limbs, waking her up in an instant. She gasped for breath, writhing as the transformation took place. She rolled onto the floor, landing with a dull thud as she continued to gasp for air.

Then it stopped all at once. The pain was gone and she could breathe again. She looked around, and found that she could see extremely well despite it being the middle of the night. She inspected her body, nothing strange there, it was when she saw her wings, however, that told her something had definitely happened to her. They weren't feathery like before, instead they were leathery and had three long bones connected by a thin membrane of skin spread out next to her. Bat wings. She licked her lips, and her tongue made contact with two long fangs sprouting from the top of her mouth, while the rest of her teeth were sharp. Very sharp. She could also hear a lot more things than before, such as Applejack's heartbeat even though she was several feet away.

What the hell just happened to me...? she wondered. Can't let her see me like this.

She then crawled to the window, opening it just wide enough so that she could slip through, and flew off into the night.

Author's Note

Oh shit, son. Stuff's going down and it doesn't look too pretty. Hopefully AJ doesn't get too worried... (Spoiler, she will. Though it's a bit obvious...)
Chapter 3 will be released on June 25th whether it is finished by next week or not. I have finals next week so I won't be able to do anything.

-Devs

Chapter 3: Pointless Chatter

The warm morning light poured through the window, illuminating the wooden walls of the room. Several stray objects of clothing lay strewn about the room, a few socks and other things only worn for special occasions. The brown Stetson hung from it's post at the foot of the bed whilst the orange mare atop it lay peacefully asleep.

She stretched out, expecting to feel the warmth of her lover next to her, but only found the cool sheets of the bed. Cracking one emerald eye open, she confirmed that she was alone in the room. She also noticed that the window was left half ajar, letting a warm summer breeze seep through the crack. She ruffled her brow at this, since she knew that Rainbow Dash would have no reason to leave before she woke up. Looking around, she saw that half of the blanket was on the floor, and it looked like Rainbow had been struggling from the look of it.

"Rainbow?" she wondered aloud.

She got up, still half asleep, and looked at the bedside clock. 11:30am.

"Oh, jeez..." she muttered, "I slept in."

She got off of the bed and sleepily walked into the hall, closing the bedroom door behind her. She took a left, heading for the stairs, and headed down. Landing in the living room. Big Macintosh was sitting on the sofa, eyes slosed and chewing on a strand of hay. She could also see Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sitting together.

That's strange, where's Sweetie Belle? she wondered to herself. Deciding that if she was going to find Rainbow Dash, she would have to get herself noticed, she groggily said; "Mornin' y'all."

Big Mac looked up to the stairs and saw his sister halfway down them. "Mornin' AJ," he replied, "sleep well?"

"I know I slept in, Mac. No need ta rub it in," Applejack said defensively. "Any o' y'all seen Rainbow Dash today?"

"Nope," was Mac's reply.

"I haven't," Scootaloo said.

"Me neither," Apple Bloom finished.

"Where could she be...?" Applejack wondered.

"She wasn't in yer room when ya woke up?" Mac questioned.

"No, and I'm a little worried. She hasn't been in the best of shape recently," Applejack replied.

Mac sat there silently for another minute or two before he spoke again, pondering anything that Rainbow Dash could be doing.

"Well, I guess ya better go find 'er," he suggested.

"Was already plannin' on it," Applejack agreed before heading for the front door, swinging it open and dashing outside. Hoping she would find at least a small trace of Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy sat patiently in the chair while Twilight scanned the third book in a row about mutations. As she flipped through the middle few pages, her expression changed from one of concentration to one of shock, meaning she had found something.

"What is it, Twilight? Did you find something?" Fluttershy asked excitedly.

"Yes, but..." Twilight replied.

"But what?" Fluttershy asked.

"I don't think you're going to like it," was Twilight's response.

"What is it?"

"It says here that if a pony has two fangs sprouting from the top row of teeth that he or she has become a vampony."

"But, didn't you cure that?"

"I thought I did. But I guess it was only a theory at the time. Looks like you're still a vampire fruit bat pony--"

"Actually," Fluttershy interrupted, "I don't think I'm a fruit vampire..."

"Why do you say that?" Twilight asked.

"Because I woke up this morning with... With..."

"What? With what?"

"Blood... All over my muzzle," Fluttershy confessed. "And I had no memory of last night, either. All I remember is a huge pain hitting me and then everything went dark. I woke up in my room with blood all over my face."

Twilight was shocked to hear this. Her spell had worked, after all... In a way. But all it did was remove the fruit part of vampire fruit bat pony. "Oh..." Twilight said, beyond words other than that. "This is... Bad."

"Does it say anything about how to fix it?" Fluttershy pleaded.

"I don't know," Twilight said, looking through the pages to try and find something. "No, it doesn't say anything. I'm sorry," she said, defeated.

"Oh!" Fluttershy sighed. "Thank you for trying, Twilight."

"No prob--"

CRASH!!

"Either of you two seen Rainbow Dash?" Applejack asked as she slammed through the door, almost breaking it off of it's hinges.

"No," Twilight said, confused and a little concerned about Applejack's state. She looked like she had been running a marathon for three days straight, and still felt like going a few more miles. "Why? Isn't she staying with you?"

"She was, but I woke up this mornin' an' she was gone," Applejack explained.

"Do you have any idea of where she could've gone? Maybe it was something important?" Twilight suggested.

"I don't think so, Twi. She woulda told me," Applejack said.

"Was there anything weird going on recently?" Fluttershy asked.

"Whaddya mean by that, 'Shy?" Applejack asked.

"I don't know, anything. Strange behaviour, maybe marks or something?"

"She did have a coupl'a bite marks on her neck, and she was havin' nightmares ever since they showed up," Applejack explained.

"How long?" Twilight asked.

"A few days, maybe? Why?"

Twilight shot a knowing glance at Fluttershy, who returned the look nervously.

"Applejack," she began, "I think Fluttershy might know what happened."

Applejack looked at Fluttershy, confusion, worry and sadness written all over her face. Which made it that much more difficult for Fluttershy. She knew how much Applejack and Rainbow Dash loved each other, and the extents to which they would go to keep the other safe. She slowly opened her mouth, revealing the fangs that stuck out like a bee in a swarm of black flies.

Upon seeing the fangs, which were a perfect match in distance to the marks on Rainbow Dash's neck, Applejack's expression quickly changed from one of worry to one of anger. She lashed out at Fluttershy, tackling her to the ground and wrapping her hooves around her neck.

"What the hell have you done to Rainbow Dash?!" She almost screamed. "Where is she?!"

"Applejack, calm down," Twilight said, trying to pull the anger driven mare off of Fluttershy. "It wasn't her fault."

"Oh yeah? Then whose fault is it? Because whoever it is is gonna hafta deal with me!" Applejack declared angrily, releasingher grip on Fluttershy.

"It's mine," Twilight said, "when I turned Fluttershy back to normal, my spell must have only taken away the fruit vampire parts. But it still left her with some vampire blood in her."

"What? Yer not makin' sense," Applejack said, confused.

"Fluttershy is responsible for the bites on Rainbow's neck. But she has no memory of doing it. My guess is that the vampire blood takes over her body at night and leaves her with no will over it," Twilight explained.

"So what you're tellin' me is that Fluttershy is an unwilling vampony and that she's been drinkin' Rainbow Dash's blood? That still doesn't explain what happened to Dash," Applejack said.

"I don't know where Rainbow Dash is, but I'll help you look for her," Twilight said.

"I will too," Fluttershy agreed. "It's my fault all of this is happening, so I want to at least help fix it."

"Then let's get goin'. Time's a wastin'," Applejack said, leading the other two mares outside. She then stopped and faced them. "I think we should split up, we'll cover more ground and find her quicker."

"Good idea," Twilight agreed. "I'll check the east side of town."

"I'll look in the west side," Fluttershy said.

"I guess I'll check the farm then, never bothered to look there yet," Applejack said. "We all meet back here at five, ya hear?"

"Alright," Twilight said, heading east while Fluttershy headed west.

Applejack then turned on her hooves and galloped for home, praying to Celestia that Rainbow would be found safe.

The darkness of the barn surrounded her as she hung from the rafters. Outside, she was calm. Eyes closed, mane and tail hanging loose, wings wrapped around her slender frame while she hung upside down. Inside, however, she was fighting a mental battle as the vampire blood tried to consume her entire being. She watched in horror as memories of her past faded away into nothingness, replaced by the never ending thirst for blood. The good, the bad, all of her memories were disappearing right in front of her. And then came the memories of Applejack. She fought to keep these the hardest, for she knew that if she had to choose only one thing to remember, it would be her. She was the one thing that mattered most to her in the world, and if she lost her, she would have no reason to live. Slowly, the last image of Applejack's smiling face faded from her memory, and she tried and tried to hold on to that with all her might... To no avail. The image of her lover faded from her view forever, and she was left empty.

Outside, a single tear made it's way down from her eye to the ground as Rainbow Dash forgot the last thing she had.

Author's Note

Released about a week and a half early!!! Reason: I had it done so I decided to say to hell with waiting and put it up. Hope y'all enjoyed your cliffhanger!

Chapter 4: Too Far Gone

Twilight ran through the streets of Ponyville, checking any alleyways, rooftops, or other possible locations where Rainbow could be hiding. But with little success. She searched high and low, unable to find a trace of the pegasus. After several hours of searching, she realized that it was well past five o'clock, and decided to head home. She hoped that either Fluttershy or Applejack had better luck finding her.

Pain. Again, the pain struck her as her wings, ears and teeth took to the agonizing transformation. She collapsed as the final stages took place, and her vision went blurry as her eyes changed colour. Several minutes passed, and she stood back up. No longer Fluttershy, but Flutterbat. She yawned and looked around, having to squint because of the sunlight. She saw that she was alone, or at least that nopony was around to see her, and made for the nearest alley. The thirst had returned, but she knew that by now her victim had already passed the point of no return and was, too, a vampony. She hid under the darkness, thinking of a way to fill her thirst for blood. She then saw a lone stallion walking by the entrance to the alley, and a light went on in her head. She slowly crept out of the alley, and started to follow the stallion silently. She quickly caught up to him, and she could already taste the blood she would be taking.

She waited until they came across another alley, and then tackled him inside it. She dragged her squirming prey to the end of the alley by the neck, keeping him from calling for help, and pinned him to the wall. He struggled to break free, to no avail. She was too strong. He looked into her eyes. Her hateful, glowing red eyes, and saw that there was nothing he could do to convince her not to hurt him. He made a silent prayer to Celestia as the vampire sunk her entire mouthful of teeth into his neck.

"Rainbow?!"

She heard the voice outside, but did not move to answer it. She didn't even acknowledge it's existence. She heard the barn door crack open, light pouring in through the crevice. Some landed on her upside down form, but she did not budge. She heard hoof steps in the barn behind her, but remained silent and still.

"R-rain... bow?" the voice asked again. She could hear whoever it was start sobbing at the sight of her, and chose that moment to drop to the ground.

She rose up on her four legs, and spun around to see Rainbow Dash's former lover standing there, tears rushing down her face as she stared at her in disbelief. She hissed in response to Applejack's presence, and started slowly walking towards her prey. Applejack backed away at an equal pace, scared both for her life but also for whatever remained of Rainbow Dash. She winced as her flank hit the door, which had somehow found it's way closed. She tried fiercely to pry it open, to no avail. It was locked. She was locked in the barn with what used to be her lover. She turned around to see Rainbow only inches behind her. Staring into her eyes with hunger and hate.

"Rainbow, I know yer in there! Please, whatever's takin' over ya, I'm beggin ya t' fight it! Please!" Applejack begged.

But Rainbow didn't hear her. Instead, she knocked Applejack to the side with her wing, causing her to land in a heap to the right of Rainbow. She then made a hunter's crawl towards her prey and stood over Applejack's trembling form. She pinned her legs down so she couldn't escape, and lowered herself onto Applejack, straddling her hips. She lowered her head to Applejack's neck and opened her mouth wide.

NO!!! Rainbow screamed from inside her mind, and the vampiric urge retreated slightly. She backed her head away and looked Applejack in the eyes. She was terrified, her pupils shrunk as small as they could go and she was trembling violently. But she did not squirm or try to break free of Rainbow's hold. Perhaps because she still had faith that her lover would pull through.

I'm so sorry, AJ. I wish it could be any other way, Rainbow thought as she looked into Applejack's eyes with a hint of sorrow. Applejack caught this and she stopped trembling.

Rainbow lowered her head to Applejack's neck again, and began lightly licking the area she would soon sink her teeth into. Applejack squirmed a bit at the tickling, and giggled a bit as she struggled beneath Rainbow's hold. She then stopped as she felt that area of her neck grow numb. She couldn't feel anything there anymore. She couldn't feel it as Rainbow dug her teeth into the numb skin, injecting her with the same venom that paralyzed her.

Applejack's head swam as her vision struggled to focus. She slowly grew limp in Rainbow Dash's arms, staring blankly at the ceiling as she blacked out.

Twilight entered the library, out if breath and on the verge if collapsing from exhaustion, and looked around. She was alone, save for Spike whom she heard snoring away upstairs. She could tell that she was the first to return since nothing was out of place. All the books were in order, the couch looked like it hadn't been used in days--which it hasn't-- and there was no other sign that anypony had been there yet. She sighed and walked over to the couch, flopping onto it as she began to catch her breath.

Where could they be? she wondered. I hope nothing bad happened to them.

She was startled by the door suddenly cracking open, letting a cool gust of air inside. She turned to see Rarity standing in the doorway, tears running down her face and ruining her make up. She looked awful, her mane was disheveled, her mascara running down her cheeks with her tears, and she was sweating profusely.

"Rarity? What happened?" Twilight asked, concerned by her friend's state. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh like you don't know!" Rarity yelled at her. "It's your fault in the first place that this is happening!"

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about, Rarity," Twilight said, confusion crossing her face.

"Oh, then let me spell it out for you; FLUTTERSHY IS KILLING PEOPLE!!!" Rarity screamed loud enough that it could be heard from even Rainbow Dash's house.

"She's what?" Twilight gasped. "Oh no."

"So you do know what's going on," Rarity accused.

"Uh, sort of... Fluttershy came to see me this morning about a couple of fangs that were in her mouth and she told me she woke up with blood all over her muzzle. Then Applejack came in saying that Rainbow Dash had gone missing and we went to find her. I only just got back from doing so," Twilight explained.

"What about the fangs in Fluttershy's mouth?" Rarity asked.

"I looked in one of my books about mutations and I came across the fact that she's still a vampire pony, and we think that she is connected to Rainbow Dash's disappearance. But she has no memory of what happens when she becomes a vampire," Twilight said, taking a quick breath.

Rarity nodded, wiping her face of the tears. "Do you know how to fix it?" she asked.

"I don't know," Twilight said. "There was nothing in the book about curing it so I don't know what to do."

"Well," Rarity said. "I suppose we should go find her then."

Author's Note

Okay, I feel a little disclaimer about the vamponies is necessary, so I'll get to that...

Sunlight: no effect. I know that normal vampires can't be in the sunlight due to the fact that they will disintegrate but if that were true for this story it'd be insanely more difficult to write. Their eyes, however, are substantially more sensitive to light, due to their mainly hunting at night. They also will change back after a short time if in the sun for too long, though vamponies like what Rainbow has become are permanently fixed like that.

Initial vs bitten: if they were like Fluttershy, they will turn back into a normal pony after a short time (a few hours) but if they were bitten, they are permanently like that. The reason being that the vampire blood was only transferred to them, and not always there so it takes over completely.

Why they drink blood was already explained, so there's not really anything else to say.

-Devs

Chapter 5: A New Day

Her head felt numb, and her thoughts were foggy at best. She groaned, and instantly regretted it. Her head hurt, a lot. She slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry. She groaned again, feeling something pushing down on her. Her vision focused on the ceiling of her barn, and she found some comfort in that fact. She looked down, and saw the rainbow coloured mane of her marefriend.

"R..." she started. "Rain...bow?"

Her lover looked up at her, a small smile tugging at her lips. But something was off. Her eyes, they weren't magenta as they usually were, but red. She tried to move, but Rainbow held her down.

"Shh, it's okay AJ," she cooed, nuzzling closer into Applejack's chest. "Don't move, you're still a bit weak."

"W-what's goin' on, RD?" Applejack asked.

"I..." Rainbow started, but decided that Applejack was in no state for the explanation she would have to give. "I'll explain later, right now, just let me hold you." She tightened her hug and nuzzled even closer.

Applejack wrapped her legs around Rainbow and hugged her back, and soon her wings found themselves wrapped around the pegasus... Wait, wings? Applejack looked again, yep, there were wings attatched to her. It was then that Applejack realized that her sides were on fire, probably from growing the appendages.

"Rainbow," she began. "Why do I have wings?"

Rainbow looked at Applejack with concern, her eyes tracing down her body to her wings. "I said I'll explain later," she said.

"Rainbow, what happened to me?" Applejack asked sternly.

Rainbow looked into her eyes pleadingly, clearly already unsettled by it enough. "The same thing that happened to me," she said, standing up so Applejack could see what had happened to her. Her wings were now bat wings, her ears were elongated and she had rows of razor sharp teeth in her mouth, accompanied by two extra long fangs on top. Applejack then looked herself over to see that the same thing had happened to her, large leathery wings now sprouted from her sides and she could feel the extra sharp teeth in her mouth with her tongue.

"How...?" Applejack started. "How did this happen to you?"

"I don't know," Rainbow said. "But I think that it's connected to the bites on my neck."

"Fluttershy's fault, then," Applejack said.

"What?"

"I said, it was Fluttershy's fault. She's th' one that bit ya and made ya like this," Applejack explained.

"No," Rainbow said, not believeing her. "Fluttershy would never-"

"It wasn't her fault," Applejack cut her off. "When Twi turned her back ta normal, I guess she still had a bit of vampire in her."

Rainbow went silent. Applejack grabbed her and pulled her back down. "C'mere," she whispered.

Rainbow did as told and layed on top of her lover, happy to be reunited. She lowered her head until their lips found each other and they shared a long and passionate kiss. She didn't hesitate to insert her tongue into Applejack's mouth and begin wrestling for control with the mare below her, but in Applejack's weakened state it would be a miracle if she could manage to flip them over. She simply went with it. She then broke away as she had one question for Rainbow Dash.

"Why did you do this?" she asked quietly but seriously.

Rainbow looked at her with pleading eyes yet again, begging her not to be mad. "Because I couldn't stand to not be with you. I don't want to live in a world where I'm not with you, and if I didn't turn you, I might have never seen you again," she said, tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes. "I love you too much to let that happen," she said, burying her face in Applejack's chest.

Applejack gently stroked Rainbow's mane as she cried into her, holding her close. She planted a gentle kiss on Rainbow's head as she rested her chin on her mane.

"It's okay, Rainbow. I understand," Applejack said. "I woulda done the same for you."

She panted heavily, her midnight black coat clinging to her body as sweat dripped off of her. She collapsed onto the bed beside her love, who was also exhausted. She stretched out a wing and layed it across his chest as she breathed into the wall, laying face down on the bed.

"You gotta stop being so good at that," her red coated partner said, his deep blue eyes tracing over her toned and sleek body.

"Why?" she panted. "So you can have all the fun?"

"No, so I can have a chance at showing you what I can really do," he said, trailing a hoof from the base of her ear down to her wing.

"Hmph," she laughed. "Good luck with that, Sharpie."

He nuzzled closer to her, wrapping his leg around her slender frame as she turned to look at him with her firey red eyes. "I love it when you call me that," he whispered into her ear.

"Do you now?" she whispered back, planting a quick peck on his nose.

"Yeah, I really do," he said, nuzzling even closer until their lips were a mere few centimetres apart.

"Well," she said. "I guess I could call you it more often. But then you'd have to think of something for me."

"Oh, Night," he said. "If only you weren't so difficult."

"But that's what you love about me," she smirked, knowing she had him right where she wanted him.

"Either way," he said. "I'm not done with you yet." He then closed the distance between their lips, kissing her as passionately as he could while she just lay back and enjoyed the ride.

After several seconds, she got up and crawled on top of him, straddling his hips while not once breaking their kiss. She then slowly stuck her tongue into his mouth, swishing it around with his as she started grinding on his pelvis.

Outside, the light yellow vampire waited silently on the other side of the window, watching as the two lovers clashed bodies like there was no tomorrow... And for one of them, there wasn't.

Author's Note

Oh I went and dragged Night and Sharp into this didn't i...? Never trust me not to endanger my own OC's.

Chapter 6: First Blood

She opened her eyes slowly, still half asleep in the dimly lit room. She could just make out the single lightbulb on the white ceiling above her as she stretched her front legs out. She let them collapse beside her and looked to her right, expecting to see her coltfriend, but finding only empty sheets. She could hear something shuffling behind her, but when she turned around she saw nothing, only the wall, window and a few framed photos that hung on the wall.

She pushed a few cyan strands of her mane out of her eyes and sat up, letting it fall in front of her face again. The dark purple stripe in the middle landing on her muzzle while the thin stripe of red landed to the right of it. She rubbed her midnight black hooves over her bright red eyes as she yawned quietly. Taking her hooves from her face, she scanned the room. Empty except for her.

"Sharp?" she mumbled groggily. "You up?"

She was answered by silence, whatever had been moving had stopped and she could hear her own heartbeat accelerating.

"Hello?" she said fearfully.

It was then that she realized that there was a puddle of red on the floor, and that the source was still dripping down to it. She looked up and saw her friend, Fluttershy, hanging there. Facing the ceiling and holding something up. What was worse, was what she was holding up. It was Sharp. Blood was dripping down around Fluttershy's head from her mouth where she was biting Sharp's neck.

She let out a short shriek before putting a hoof over her mouth. She looked up at his lifeless eyes, begging him to wake up or for this to be a dream of some kind. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, hoping that once she opened them she would wake up from a horrible nightmare. She opened her eyes but still nothing had changed. Tears started forming at the corners of her eyes as the gravity of the situation sunk in. Sharp, the one stallion that she had loved, was dead or dying by Fluttershy's hoof. The blood being slowly sucked out of him and all she could do was watch in horror. She put her hooves over her eyes and began to sob into them loudly. Unable to stop the waves of heartbreak as they hit home, and her world collapsed around her.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight yelled, galloping through the streets of Ponyville with Rarity at her side. The pair had been running for hours on end, taking up the majority of the night trying to find her.

"Oh where could she be?" Rarity wondered aloud. "It's bad enough I haven't seen her for a few days but this is getting out of hoof."

"Wait, you haven't seen her recently?" Twilight asked.

"I'm afraid not, I tried to go see her but she wouldn't answer the door, and when I tried to open it it was locked. All the doors were," Rarity explained.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find her," Twilight reassured.

"I hope so, I had planned to ask her something," Rarity said.

Twilight opened her mouth to ask what it was, but let it slide since it was probably personal. Instead she kept running alongside her friend, eager to find Fluttershy. They ran in silence for several more minutes before Rarity stopped them, looking at Twilight with a questioning glance.

"Twilight, don't you have a spell that can locate somepony's heartbeat?" she asked.

"Maybe, but I'm not sure it'll work. It's still just an experiment," Twilight said.

"I see..." Rarity said dully. "Do you think you could give it a try?"

Twilight thought for a second about it. It was a good idea, but it wasn't perfected nor was it very stable. It took very precise concentration and if there were even a slight distraction...

"No," Twilight said. "I can't do it. It's too risky. How it locates them isn't very safe."

"How isn't it?"

"The magic wraps around their heart and uses distance relative to my location. If I get distracted it could kill whoever I'm looking for," Twilighe explained.

Rarity nodded her head slowly, understanding what Twilight was saying, and closed her eyes. Taking in a long, deep breath, then exhaling. Trying to calm herself down. "Well," she started, "better keep looking."

The pair rose from the straw covered ground together, intent on staying in each other's company. One was still getting used to her new limbs, while the other was just happy that they could be together forever now.

Along with the wings, Applejack found that her muscle mass had become much more resilient. Increasing her endurance greatly. She wondered what it would do for them in the sack, but she was still a bit weak and leaned on Rainbow for support. Rainbow Dash found this amusing, seeing as how only a few days ago the opposite was true and she had been needing Applejack for support. Her smile quickly faded, however, when thoughts of Applejack's family came to her mind. How were they going to tell them?

Applejack noticed her lover's distraught expression, and was quick to look her in the eyes.

"Somethin' wrong, hun?" she asked.

"Well, I guess you could say that," Rainbow replied.

"Whaddya mean?" Applejack asked, curious and a little concerned for Rainbow.

"It's just... How are we gonna tell your family?" Rainbow blurted out.

Applejack looked at her longingly before saying, "I don't think we can..."

"What do you mean?" was Rainbow's response.

"Well, we don't really have many options. We already know they won't understand us. Plus Granny'd prob'ly have a heart attack jus' lookin' at us." She smiled at the thought. "And I don't know what they'd think of you, either. I don' want 'em separatin' us just because ya couldn't stand ta be without me."

"Right..." Rainbow agreed.

"But, let's not worry about that just now," Applejack said, wrapping a wing around Rainbow affectionately. "We got other things ta think about."

"Such as?" Rainbow asked, lowering her eyelids and raising a brow.

"Oh you know already," Applejack said, tackling the former pegasus and pinning her to the ground.

Their lips found each other and their tongues danced around each other, neither one wanting to break apart from this moment. Applejack repositioned herself so she was straddling Dash's hips. She broke the kiss to look her lover in the eyes, both sets of ruby reds staring into each other's hearts. Challenging one another to press forward. It was Rainbow who brought their lips together again, and they went at it.

Author's Note

I promised weekly updates and I intend to follow through. Happy shipping!

Chapter 7: Let it Flow

Flutterbat eyed her cowering prey from the ceiling, dropping the now dead stallion to the floor below her. She watched as the midnight black mare below her attempted to wake up her lover, but to no avail.

She dropped to the floor and landed on her hooves in front of the grieving mare. She looked down on her sobbing form for several seconds before the mare met her eyes. In the two bright red irises there was only one question; "Why?" Flutterbat answered by tackling the mare to the ground, her mane spreading on the floor behind her. She looked at the vampire standing over her, fear coursing through her veins.

"It's alright, Night Rain," Flutterbat said, even though Night didn't understand a word of it. All she heard were several hisses and growls.

Flutterbat then lowered herself on to Night and looked into her bright red eyes, staring her into submission. Night couldn't look away, and she was already petrified beyond movement. She only watched silently as Flutterbat sunk her teeth into the side of her neck, and started draining her blood away.

"Are you sure this is where she is?" Twilight asked, looking at the stallion questioningly. They had run into him on their search and they had asked him if they had seen Fluttershy. He said yes and told them where he saw her go, bringing them to their friends' house.

"Yup," he nodded, his light blue mane falling over his orange eyes. "I was actually on my way over here when she sped right past me. Nearly knocked me over."

"Alright, thanks for the help, mister...?" Twilight started.

"Ace," he said, "call me Ace."

"Okay, Ace. Thanks for the help."

"No problem, but I'm going in with you, so," he said.

"Why?" Twilight asked.

"Why do you think? I was coming over here to see my friend and his marefriend. For all I know they could be in danger!" Ace explained.

"Alright," Twilight said. "Rarity, are you ready?"

Rarity nodded, staring nervously at the house. She swallowed the lump in her throat and stepping toward the door shakily.

"You okay, Rarity?" Twilight asked.

"I'm fine, darling," Rarity replied shakily, "what makes you think something's wrong?"

"You look nervous, and I mean more nervous than you normally would be with something like this." Twilight said, genuine concern in her voice. "If something's bothering you just tell me."

Rarity looked at Twilight, fear and concern in her eyes. "I'm fine." She said again, turning to the door and putting her hoof on the handle.

Twilight walked up to Rarity and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Rarity, something's wrong, I can feel it. Just tell me," she said, trying to get Rarity to face her.

Rarity kept avoiding Twilight's gaze, her eyes looking anywhere but at Twilight. She turned the handle of the door and stepped inside the dark house, shaking Twilight away in the process. Twilight cast a worried glance at her friend before exchanging a look with Ace and following Rarity inside. The hallway was, as could be seen, extremely dark. But it was still in relative order. The framed photos on the walls still hanging there, the little table next to the stairs with a lamp on it. The three heard noises from upstairs, and Twilight took the lead. Slowly, she crept up the stairs, Rarity and Ace following her lead and trying to stay quiet. The stairs creaked quietly as the three ponies carefully ascended them, but they weren't loud enough to cause alarm. Twilight reached the top and motioned for the others to wait there.

She stepped into the short hallway and crept down to the left. She made her way to the first door in the hall on the right and motioned for Ace and Rarity to move up. They did quietly and met her at the door, Ace standing opposite Twilight and Rarity. Twilight looked at them both before turning the handle and slowly pushing the door open with a dull creak. She poked her head around the door once there was enough space and her jaw dropped as she saw what--or who--was inside. She drew her head back slowly and released her breath, which she didn't realize she was holding. Rarity looked at her worriedly and Ace did questioningly.

"What did you see?" He asked.

"Look for yourself," Twilight said.

Cautiously, Ace stuck his head through the crack and saw what Twilight did. Flutterbat was there, and so were her prey. A once bright red but now pale stallion with a blond mane--known better to Ace as Sharp, his longtime best friend and comrade-- was lying in a pool of his own blood while Flutterbat was draining another mare inside the room. The mare's blood seeping out of her neck where the vampire's teeth were currently inserted. Her bright red eyes caught Ace looking in, and she looked at him hopefully. He slowly drew his head back and looked at Twilight.

"She's in there all right..." He muttered to Rarity, who's ears perked up at hearing that. "But," he continued, "it's not very safe to go in there right now."

Rarity looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you're probably going to get yourself killed if you go in there," he said, "she's... feeding..."

Rarity's pupils shrank, cold sweat forming on her brow as she heard that. "Maybe I could-"

"No, Rarity. He's right," Twilight said.

"Please, Twilight! Let me try and talk to her. If I fail then so be it. But I will not stand idle while my best friend is in there hurting other ponies!" Rarity said, lightly stomping her hoof on the floor to prove her point. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Alright," Twilight sighed, "but you'd better come back in five minutes!"

"Thank you, Twilight," Rarity said before slowly opening the door. She stepped inside and saw Sharp's corpse on the floor. Stepping around him, she cautiously approached Fluttershy who was still sucking the blood out of the black coated mare.

"F-fluttershy?" She started. "It's me, Rarity."

Fluttershy released her grip on the mare's neck and let her drop to the floor, landing with a dull thud. She struggled to breathe, and her face was extremely pale. She shot a warning glance at Rarity before Fluttershy turned to face her. Only it wasn't Fluttershy, her wings were all leathery and her ears were elongated. When she opened her mouth Rarity could see the rows of razor sharp teeth within. She took in a shaky breath as Flutterbat fully faced her, anger in her glowing red eyes.

"Don't y-you recognize me?" She asked.

Flutterbat took one step towards her, and Rarity took one step back. She kept backing away as Flutterbat advanced until she bumped into the wall. She pressed her back against the wall and landed on her rump as Flutterbat closed the distance between them, still staring into Rarity's terrified sapphire eyes.

"F-Fluttershy?" Rarity whispered.

Flutterbat lunged a hoof at Rarity's neck, pinning her to the wall. Rarity grasped at her leg, trying to pry it off of her, to no avail. She was completely at Flutterbat's mercy. She looked at the monster that used to be her friend and longtime crush fearfully.

"Fluttershy," she croaked under the choking hold of her friend, "what happened to you?"

Flutterbat simply leaned forward slightly, their muzzles mere inches apart now. She lowered her eyelids slightly and leaned closer, their lips mere centimetres apart. Without second thought, she closed the distance and kissed Rarity flat on the lips. Rarity, who was terrified beyond recognition, had a glimmer of hope spark inside of her when she felt Fluttershy's soft lips pressed against her own. She closed her eyes and kissed her back, unsure of what else to do.

Flutterbat broke away from the kiss to look Rarity in the eyes one more time, and quickly went to her neck. She positioned her longest two fangs over where Rarity's jugular veins would be, and plunged them into the soft flesh of her neck. Rarity's eyes went wide with shock and pain, but her vision quickly faded to black as Fluttershy drained the blood out of her.

Author's Note

Completely on schedule... Somehow... I am, however, going to be away next week so expect chapter 8 to be out on the 30th. That's all I have to say, have a good one!

-Devs

Chapter 8: Peaceful Chaos

"She's been in there for too long," Twilight said.

"You think I don't know that?" Ace replied. "We need to go after her."

"I agree, but we don't know what we'll find," Twilight said.

"I do, she's either dead or she's not."

Twilight looked at the lime green stallion uneasily. He caught her gaze and looked back to the door.

"Okay, not helping," he said dully. "Sorry."

"It's fine, we were both thinking it," Twilight said.

"Wanna go find out what happened to her?"

"Might as well, no use sitting out here," Twilight answered, her tone becoming determined.

The door handle glowed magenta as Twilight gripped it with her magic. She slowly turned it and pushed the door open. The red stallion and black mate were still lying on the floor, one dead and the other clinging to life by a thread. Twilight cautiously crept into the room and saw Flutterbat pinning Rarity to the wall, her head lowered to the white mare's neck. She could see the blood dripping down Rarity's body from where Flutterbat was biting her.

"We..." She choked out, trying not to cry a the sight of her friend being drained of her life force. "We're too late." She let a few tears roll down her cheeks before sniffling and backing into the hallway. She collapsed against the wall and started sobbing, tears now pouring down her face as she cried over the loss of another of her friends.

Ace looked at her sympathetically, and placed a hoof on her shoulder for support. "It's okay," he said, "there's nothing we could have done or can do."

Twilight looked at him with reddened eyes, still dripping with tears, and nodded knowingly. For he was right and she knew it.

"Let's get out of here before it's too late," Ace said, offering Twilight a hoof to help her up. She took it and stood up shakily. The pair then headed down the stairs as quickly and quietly as they could and made a beeline for the library.

"You sure this is gonna work, AJ?" Rainbow Dash asked her lover.

"No, but we gotta try," was Applejack's response.

Rainbow Dash nodded uneasily, hoping that Applejack was right about this. Their plan was to write a letter explaining what had happened and to give it to Applejack's family directly, seeing as they couldn't understand what they said. Hopefully their writing wouldn't be affected. Of course, there were many ways in which this could go wrong. For starters, they could be too terrified of their appearance to even read the letter and just shove them out, or worse, shoot them. Applejack looked to Rainbow Dash affectionately before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Hey," she started. "If'n they don't understand, we'll make 'em. I won't let my family tear us apart because ya love me."

"Yeah," Rainbow agreed dully.

The pair then read the letter over before folding it in half and inserting it into the small envelope they had managed to find. Rainbow sealed it and put it under her wing, folding the appendage up and keeping the envelope in place. The pair then exited the barn together, moving towards the farmhouse and with it, the Apple family. Rainbow Dash tried to keep her cool, but the nervous blush on her cheeks gave away what she was thinking. Applejack caught her love's distraught expression and patted her shoulder with a wing, only just getting the hang of having them, and shot Rainbow a confident smile as she responded to it. Rainbow smiled back, but went back to worrying that something would go wrong.

"It's all right, sugar," Applejack said. "We'll be fine."

Rainbow only nodded in response as they approached the farmhouse's front door. Rainbow stopped in her tracks, still a bit nervous as far as Applejack could tell but she had something else on her mind as well.

"Are you alright, sug?" Applejack asked her.

"I... I have something to tell you, AJ. Before we go and see your family." Rainbow Dash said.

"What is it?"

"You know when you came into the barn and saw me hanging there, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you may have known who I was, but I lost all my memories before that. I guess it was the vampire blood taking over or something, and I was fighting it so hard... But, I failed and every memory I had was gone, including those we shared together," Rainbow explained with a pained expression. "After that, I kept fighting, I didn't remember what I was fighting for, but I kept on. I wasn't going to let it take control of me. Then you walked in. As soon as I saw you I remembered what I was fighting for, why I wouldn't give up. Because I had to see you again." She looked at Applejack and smiled. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be having this conversation, and I'd probably be out sucking ponies' blood like Fluttershy is."

"Rainbow, I... I don't know what to say," Applejack said, a few tears making their way down her face.

"Come on, AJ. Don't cry yet," Rainbow said, wrapping a wing around her lover. "We still have to give this letter to your family."

"Hehehe, yeah," Applejack chuckled, wiping the tears away. "Alright then, let's do this."

With that, they pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Rarity woke up leaning against a wall in a room lit by afternoon light. She could see two puddles of blood on the ground, one empty, the other had the same red and blond stallion lying in it, the midnight black mare holding his body. Rarity could see that her wings were bat like and her ears were longer than normal. She also seemed to be biting his neck, and Rarity cringed at the thought of what she was doing.

It was then that Rarity realized that her sides, horn and teeth were in pain, and when she looked herself over she saw two leathery wings sprouting from her sides. She put a hoof to her horn and felt that it was longer and sharper. She swished her tongue around her mouth and felt the many sharp teeth inside. She scanned the room for any sign of Fluttershy but found nothing. Letting her head fall against the wall, she drew in a long breath and slowly let it out. She felt her lips where Fluttershy had kissed her, and revelled in the memory of it. For all she knew, though, it could simply have been a means to get her guard down. She hoped that that wasn't the case.

Author's Note

A few days late but a few (heavily requested) scenes. Mainly Rarity still being alive (I wanted to kill her :fluttercry: ) anyway, sorry about this being late. I'll be working double time on 9.

-Devs

Chapter 9: Before the Storm

Granny Smith read the letter over for the third time, making sure she was actually reading what was on the paper. Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood next to each other nervously while Big Mac and Apple Bloom scrutinized them.

"Well," Granny Smith said in her shaky voice. Applejack nudged a little closer to Rainbow in anticipation of what her grandmother was going to say. "O'course yer still part o' th' family! Why in Equestria wouldn't ya be?"

Rainbow let out a breath that she had been holding in, as did Applejack. They both nodded happily and looked at each other with glee.

"I told ya they wouldn't think any different of us," Applejack said, though to her family it was just slight growls and hisses.

"Hehehe... Yeah, I guess I was worried for nothing," Rainbow said, laughing a bit at herself. Applejack nuzzled her playfully and she nuzzled back, happy that nothing bad was going to happen. Applejack then tackled Rainbow to the ground, earning even more laughter from her. She nuzzled Rainbow again and looked her in the eyes.

"I love you, Rainbow," she said.

"I know, I love you too," was Rainbow's response. Her face then flushed as she realized that they were still in front of Applejack's family. She looked at them sheepishly and tried to smile at them. Applejack did the same and quickly got off of her lover. Rainbow stood up next to Applejack and the pair blushed lightly, embarrassed by what had just happened.

"Uh," Applejack started, but remembered that they couldn't understand her. She gestured for Granmy Smith to give her the paper so she could write something on it, and she complied. Applejack pulled out the pen that she had under her wing and scribbled a quick message on the paper with her mouth. She then gave the small message back to her grandmother and motioned for Rainbow Dash to follow her as she turned and headed for the stairs. Rainbow followed without question and the pair ended up in Applejack's room, laying together on her bed.

Twilight and Ace stopped in their tracks right in front of Sugarcube Corner, panting heavily from their sprint from the house.

"Well," Ace panted, "now what?"

"I... I don't know," Twilight said, defeated. "None of this would have happened if the fruit bats never invaded Applejack's orchard."

"No," Ace said, shocking Twilight as he forced her to look at him. "I won't accept that as an answer. You're Twilight Sparkle! You never give up just like that."

"But there's nothing I can do. I already screwed up the first time I tried to fix Fluttershy, I can't risk making it worse," Twilight said, pushing Ace's hoof away and lowering her head in sorrow. "I'm sorry..." At first it was one, then two, then several tears were pouring down the alicorn's face as she cried over the loss of all but one of her friends. The only one she had left was...

"Twilight!"

She heard a high pitched and overly hyper voice scream. She turned her tear-stained face to see the hyper pink pony staring at her, a characteristic grin plastered on her face. She looked at the pink earth pony dully, tears still dripping from the bottom of her chin, and said;

"Hi, Pinkie..."

"What's wrong?" Pinkie asked. "You're crying, which means something bad is happening. Is something bad happening? Because if something bad's happening then we need to fix it lickety split!"

"We can't," came the alicorn's response. "There's nothing I can do about it, Pinkie. I've failed. There's no point in trying to save them now, it's already too late."

Pinkie was dumbfounded to hear her friend talk like that. Never had Twilight given up on something before, which clearly meant that it was truly a lost cause. She went to her friend's side and draped a hoof over her shoulder, trying to comfort the sobbing princess. Twilight looked up at her pink friend and smiled weakly, to which Pinkie returned the favor. Twilight then got to her hooves shakily and hugged Pinkie, crying into her friend's shoulder while Pinkie stroked Twilight's streaked mane lightly.

Rarity watched as the other mare sobbed over the now dead stallion. She realized pretty quickly that the mare wasn't draining his blood, but trying to revive him. What gave it away were the tears streaming from the midnight black mare's eyes while she had her jaws clamped on the red stallion's neck. Trying whatever she could to bring him back to life. It hadn't worked, to say the least, and the mare was now crying over her dead companion. Rarity considered going to her and comforting her, but she didn't have the strength yet to move, let alone walk across the room and hug the grieving mare. So she just sat and watched as the mare cried.

Several minutes passed, and the mare's sobbing gradually died down to a dull whimper, her tear reservoirs drained. That was when she returned. Fluttershy--or Flutterbat--flew in through the window and landed next to Rarity, looking down on her with an unreadable expression. But Rarity thought she saw something in her eyes, was it...sympathy? She would never find out.

"F-Fluttershy?" Rarity croaked weakly. It had taken her much longer than anypony else to regain the strength to talk, let alone move, and Flutterbat could see this clearly.

"No," came the response. "Though you may call me that if it helps."

"What's going on? What happened to you?" Rarity asked.

Flutterbat chuckled at that, her eyelids lowering slightly as she spoke; "You remember when I was first around, don't you?" Rarity nodded. "Well, it seems that the spell the purple one cast on me didn't work."

Rarity took it in for a minute before responding. "Are you sure?"

"Well, it did remove the vampire fruit bat part of me. But it left the vampire bat part. At least, that's what it seems like."

"So, what are you going to do?" Rarity asked, a little nervous as to what the answer was going to be.

Flutterbat lowered her head an looked Rarity in the eyes, an evil smirk spreading across her features. "I'm going to take over the night."

Author's Note

Well... This certainly took forever and a half to get posted. But, hey, at least I did it! The hiatus is over and I plan to get back into the weekly (and if not weekly, bi-weekly) updates! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!!!

Chapter 10: Fight or Flight

"AJ?"

"Yea'?"

"I'm thirsty."

"Then git up and get somethin' yerself."

"Okay..."

She got up off of the bed and groggily walked out of the room and into the dark hallway, taking the left that led to the stairs. She slowly descended and headed for the fridge, hoping to find the large jug of water they had stored there. She opened the fridge and pulled the half empty jug out. She placed it on the counter while she hovered a few inches above the ground so she could reach the cupboard, and then landed as quietly as she could on her hooves. She poured some of the water into her glass and began to thirstily drink from it, draining it in several seconds, but that did nothing to quell her thirst. Soon came a second glass, and then a third, but she was still thirsty.

She then heard the light clopping of hooves coming down the stairs, and turned around to see Apple Bloom coming down, half awake. She must not have known that Dash was there, so Rainbow thought she'd play a little trick on the young filly. She quietly crept up behind Apple Bloom as she cleared the stairs and headed for the fridge--she probably had the same reason as Dash for getting up--and reared up on her hind legs. As soon as Apple Bloom turned around, she shrieked in terror at the look on Rainbow's face. Rainbow Dash tried her best to stifle her laughter at the filly's reaction, but ended up on the ground, clutching her sides and laughing her head off.

Apple Bloom slowly regained her composure and looked down on the giggling vampony on the floor. "That's not funny, Rainbow Dash," she said seriously.

"Hehe, yeah it is," Rainbow said, but remembered that Apple Bloom couldn't understand her. She got to her hooves after catching her breath and looked at Apple Bloom, something clicking inside her. If water wouldn't satisfy her thirst... what about blood? She was a vampire pony after all.

She looked at Apple Bloom again, this time with thirst in her eyes. She began a low hunter's crawl towards the filly, her mouth dripping saliva on to the floor. Apple Bloom backed away slowly as Rainbow crawled towards her, fear starting to creep down her spine.

"R-Rainbow Dash?" Apple Bloom stuttered out, her rear hitting the wall as she continued to back into it.

But Rainbow wasn't there, she was overcome with predator instinct, and Apple Bloom was her prey. The filly shuddered in fear, using her forehooves to cover her face as Rainbow now stood over her, staring down at her with hungry eyes. Rainbow started to lower her head towards the filly, but then she heard a door opening upstairs, followed by hoofsteps heading for the stairway. She looked to the stairs to see Applejack coming down, slowly and tiredly.

"Rainbow, what are ya-" Applejack started, but the words caught in her throat when she saw her lover standing over her little sister like that. "Hey, what the hell is goin' on?!" She spat out.

Rainbow then shook her head several times and looked around, completely dazed. "Wha-what...?" she said.

Apple Bloom looked up at her sister and a small smile of hope formed on her face. She quickly crawled away from the confused Rainbow Dash and stood behind her big sister. Rainbow then turned around and looked at Applejack questioningly.

"Uhh, AJ? How did I get downstairs...?"

Rarity watched as Flutterbat held the black mare down and bit into her neck. Rarity didn't know why, she just sat there and watched as the mare's struggling gradually slowed down before stopping. Flutterbat then let go of the mare, who got up shakily. She opened her eyes and found them glowing red, which they weren't before, and she looked around the room, searching for something that Rarity would never know.

Flutterbat then turned to her and looked at her dully, clearly drained of energy from whatever she had just done to the mare. She slowly stepped towards Rarity and sat down in front of her, the same unreadable expression on her face as when she returned from wherever she was before. She looked Rarity over before nodding slightly to herself. Rarity didn't say anything, she was too weak to speak anymore, and looked at Flutterbat weakly. She could feel her pulse slowing down, which wasn't good. Flutterbat clearly saw this as well, and gently lowered her head to Rarity's neck.

"This may hurt a little," she whispered before sinking her teeth into Rarity's neck and performing... something.

Rarity didn't know what was being done to her, but she could feel her muscles having spasms and a strange feeling appeared in her gut. After about three minutes Flutterbat let go of her neck and collapsed next to her, either unable to finish what she was doing or she had finished within an inch of her life. Whatever the case, Rarity now felt invigorated and quickly stood up beside the panting vampire that used to be her best friend. She looked down on the weakened Flutterbat, and saw her staring right back. Rarity couldn't stand to see Fluttershy like this, and layed down next to the prone vampire and draped a wing around her.

"I'll stay till you get your strength back, Fluttershy," Rarity said softly, nuzzling Flutterbat's forehead lightly. She considered kissing her forehead, but decided that it probably wouldn't be a very good idea. So she just let Flutterbat rest.

Twilight sat inside Sugarcube Corner along with Ace and Pinkie Pie, the night never seemed to be getting any closer to ending. She tried to sleep, but found that she couldn't or else be tortured with nightmares about her friends. The latest involved being in Rarity's place while Fluttershy drained the life out of her, that was not fun. After that, she couldn't sleep at all. Ace had managed to doze off, but Twilight could hear him talking in his sleep, and she could see the sweat dripping down his face as his own bad dreams assaulted him.

The only other pony awake was Pinkie Pie, who was seated next to Twilight in the booth, keeping an eye on her alicorn friend. Twilight appreciated that, she needed somepony around otherwise she'd go insane.

"Twilight..." Pinkie started, "what happened to our friends?"

Twilight was about to speak, but the words caught in her throat as she thought about what had happened over the last few days. A few tears made their way from her eyes as she remembered that she would never see any of them again, and she let her head droop at the thought.

Pinkie gently wrapped her legs around Twilight as she started to cry, pulling her purple friend close as her final defense broke and she collapsed into a fit of sobs.

"I'm sorry, Twilight... I shouldn't have brought it up," Pinkie apologized, and then she did something that Twilight never saw coming: she kissed her on the cheek.

It was only a gentle kiss, but it still happened. Twilight's mind went blank for a second, but then she continued to cry into her friend's shoulder, wrapping her legs around Pinkie as well as she cried.

Author's Note

There's the start of your TwiPie. Merry Friday. Also more Flarity (technically)! So, yay! Hope you enjoyed this one!

Chapter 12: A New Development

Ace walked around the town, the sun hanging low in the sky as he made his way home. After the events of the last two days, he needed some peace and quiet. When he left Sugarcube Corner, Twilight had offered to go with him, but he declined. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts.

He walked past the house that once belonged to his oldest friend, who was now dead inside it. He knew full well that the vamponies could still be there, but he didn't give enough of a buck to bother altering his course. He continued down the increasingly dark street until only the light from the moon and stars kept him from going the wrong way. He started to slow down once he passed the eighth house on the street, knowing his was the next, and trotted to the door. He turned the handle and stepped inside, the darkness from outside seeming to follow him into his house since there were no lights on.

He flipped the nearest light switch and saw them. The three vamponies were standing right in front of him, waiting for him in his own house. Rarity, Night, and Fluttershy was in the center. He backed away but was stopped by the closed door. The three mares walked towards him slowly, though they closed the distance in only a few seconds. Ace sunk to the ground, unable to think of something to do, and stared up at Flutterbat, who was standing directly over him.

He looked into her eyes, those glowing red orbs, and didn't know whether to plead for his life, or to just let her get it over with. Flutterbat then backed away to let Rarity take over, and she slowly put her head level with his. She looked him in the eyes, and he could see a glint of apology in them as she lowered her head to his neck and sank her teeth in. His vision started to lose focus, and he felt lightheaded as Rarity drained his blood. Before long he coud barely hold his head up, the last thing he saw was Flutterbat smiling before his vision permanently blacked out.

Twilight headed for the library, knowing Spike probably caused some kind of trouble while she was gone. She could trust him enough that he wouldn't burn the place down, but she knew that inside the library would probably be a total disaster. She placed her hoof on the handle and prepared for the worst. She opened the door and stepped inside, but to her surprise the place looked cleaner than she had left it.

"Spike?" she called out into the dark library.

Nothing happened. She used her magic to pick up a nearby candle and lit it, walking to the table in the center of the library and lighting the other candles there. The library was revealed to be in relative order, save for a few books which she could tell were out of place. She looked around for her young dragon assistant, but couldn't find him. She headed upstairs and into her room, where she expected to find Spike curled up in his bed snoring like a walrus. However, he wasn't there, either.

Twilight scratched her head in confusion, unable to think of where the purple dragon could be. She looked all over the rest of the library, but couldn't find him. She went to the stairs which led to what she assumed was the library's basement. She had never gone down there before, so she didn't know what to expect.

"Spike? Are you down there?" she called, but recieved no response. She steeled herself and started down into the dark staircase. She didn't even notice as the library door opened silently, and closed again behind her.

Applejack layed in bed with Rainbow Dash at her side. The two had fallen asleep pretty early in the morning, but before long Applejack was awake again, staring at the clock. She debated getting up, since it was already 4:00 pm. But she had a strange feeling in her gut that she wouldn't be able to be overly active during the day anymore.

She didn't know why, but she knew that her life would never truly be the same again. For one thing she was a vampire now, which meant she would probably have to drink blood to stay alive... if the transformation had even gone that far. She could tell that it had for Rainbow Dash; why else would she have almost attacked Apple Bloom the previous night? But she didn't know about herself.

She looked for possible signs: was she thirsty? A little. Did she have the urge to go hunting for some innocent pony to try and suck their life away? No. But that was just how she was. She knew she'd probably have to change that if it turned out that she, indeed, did need blood.

She sighed and turned over under the covers, facing Rainbow Dash, who was fast asleep beside her. She reached up with a hoof and stroked Dash's cheek lightly. She looked at her sleeping lover with adoration in her eyes.

She's so darn cute when she's asleep... she thought to herself, smiling at the sight of Rainbow's beautifully peaceful face beside her own. She loved everything about the pegasus, she couldn't deny it. She'd do anything for her. Even if it meant never being aboe to see the light of day again.

Twilight looked around the dusty basement, which was full of even more books than were upstairs. In her head she was through the roof excited to see the numerous books just waiting to be cracked open, but she knew that she'd have time to go through them once she fixed the problem at hand.

She searched high and low, flying carefully over the dusty bookshelves and cabinets around her. She couldn't find any trace if Spike being down there. There were no footprints in the dust, other than her own hoof prints, and everything seemed to be in order, so she wondered what could have happened to her young assistant.

She turned to head back up the stairs, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the mare standing at the foot of them. Flutterbat eyed Twilight like a hunter would their prey, and that's exactly what Twilight felt like; prey. She looked left and right but couldn't see anything to attack Flutterbat with, but then she remembered her horn.

Too late, by the time Twilight was thinking of a spell to use, Flutterbat tackled her to the ground and delivered a swift blow to the alicorn's head. Disorienting Twilight long enough to sink her two longest fangs into her neck and begin the blood transfer.

Author's Note

Next chapter is the finale. Happy early Halloween!

Chapter 13: Out With the Old

Twilight's eyes fluttered open slowly, her vision blurry. She was laying on the floor, she could feel the cold stone underneath her as she lay there, motionless. She tried getting her hooves under her, but she was too weak. She stared straigh ahead, her vision focusing on the wall in front of her. She looked around with her eyes, since her head felt like it weighed ninty tons, and couldn't really see much except for the bookshelves within her limited feild of vision.

She wondered what had happened to Fluttershy, but quickly put any concern out of mind. That wasn't Fluttershy, she thought, Fluttershy would never do such a thing to our friends. She tried getting up again, this time using her wings, but stopped when she noticed that something was definitely wrong.

She moved her tongue around her teeth, but instead of the flat, dull teeth that she normally had, she found dozens of razor sharp fangs, along with two extra long ones near the front. She panicked. She was one of them. She raised her head and looked the rest of her body over, and saw that her wings were leathery and bat like. She felt like crying, but no tears came. Instead, she felt a violent thirst in her gut, and she was afraid of just what it could be for.

Rainbow Dash woke up close to midnight, lazily crawling off of the bed and around to the door. Applejack had already gotten up, so she assumed that she had left her to sleep. She headed down the stairs quietly, knowing that she shouldn't wake any of the other Apples up. She reached the bottom of the stairs and saw Applejack laying on the couch, her expression downcast.

Rainbow furrowed her brow and made her way to the couch, careful not to step on any of the floorboards that would creak too loudly. She say down next to Applejack, who sat up to make room for her. She draped a wing around Applejack's shoulders and Applejack wrapped her forelegs around Dash's waist, nuzzling into her shoulder.

"M--Evenin', sugarcube," Applejack said, and Rainbow could hear the sadness in her voice.

"Something wrong, AJ?" Rainbow asked.

"It's nothin', sug'. I jus'..." Applejack trailed off, not sure what to say.

"What?" Rainbow said, curiosity taking over her at the moment.

Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash sadly, her vision blurring as tears started forming in her eyes. She hugged Dash as tight as she could and started sobbing into her shoulder. Rainbow wrapped both her wings and forelegs around her lover and hugged her, stroking her back lightly as she cried. She didn't know why Applejack had started crying, but she wasn't going to bombard her with questions just yet. Whatever Applejack was crying about was obviously important, but she would let Applejack tell her at her own leisure. Eventually, Applejack calmed down, or so it seemed, and pulled away from Rainbow to look her in the eyes.

"Sorry 'bout that, sug'," she said, wiping her face of the tears, "I just... I've been thinkin' a lot about what might happen t' us is all."

"What might happen to us..." Rainbow repeated under her breath. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean," Applejack started, trying to hold back another storm of tears that threatened to spill out of her eyes, "we're vampires now. We probably need blood to survive. I don't want ta be here if we do end up needin' it. I don't wanna hurt my family." Tears started flowing down her cheeks again as she finished speaking, and Dash held her tightly as she cried.

"It's okay, AJ," Rainbow soothed, "we can run away, if you want. Maybe the others will know what to do."

Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash questioningly through the tears. "Y-you'd do that?"

"Yeah, not like I have much of a life here anymore anyway... except for you, that is," Dash said.

Applejack nodded, "Alright then, sug', we'll leave."

Pinkie had been laying in her bed, unable to sleep, for hours. The sun had gone down long ago, and she knew that she needed to sleep, but she couldn't stop thinking about Twilight. She was worried about her. If the situation really was as bad as she had been told, she knew it was probably best to stick together. But Twiligh had headed home to think about what to do all by herself, and Pinkie was worried that something might have happened to her in the last few hours.

She sighed, not knowing what to do. She considered going over to the library and checking up on Twilight, since she probably couldn't sleep either, but decided it was best to leave the alicorn to mourn and plan alone for a while. She needed time to think, and Pinkie didn't want to distract her from it.

She closed her eyes and tried not to think about what had been bothering her, but wound up thinking about it even more. She was getting more and more worried about Twilight, and she probably wouldn't be able to sleep until she saw her. She got up and headed for the door, determined to find out if something was wrong. She crept down the stairs and into the kitchen, then headed through the front door and into the cold air.

Luna's moon hung high in the sky, and cast a brilliantly bright glow across the town. Pinkie didn't need to use a flashlight because it was so bright, and quickly headed for the Library.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack flew towards Ponyville, one clumsily and the other giving brief pointers to her as she got used to flying. Applejack had considered just laying on Rainbow's back and letting her fly them to the town, considering how many times they had done it before, but she felt the need to at least try and fly with her new appendages. She still didn't fully understand how being turned into a vampire had given her wings, but she wasn't overly concerned about them.

She stayed fairly close to Rainbow as they flew, but still kept some distance in case she lost control. She didn't want to take her lover down with her. They headed towards the library, since they knew that it was the most likely place they could find Twilight and try to resolve the mess they were in.

They landed silently in front of the library, noticing the small crack in it with dim yellow light pouring through, and cautiously pushed the door open. Inside, the library seemed to be in relative order, the books were all neatly stacked on the shelves. The only thing missing was Twilight. Rainbow entered first, followed closely by Applejack, and the pair looked around for their alicorn friend. Rainbow checked her bedroom while Applejack checked the kitchen, but neither of them could find her.

The only place they didn't check was the basement.

Rainbow looked down the stairs into the darkness below. Unsure of what to do.

"Twilight?" She called, but quickly remembered that Twilight probably couldn't understand her. She started down the stairs, and Applejack followed close behind, watching their backs. They reached the foot of the stairs, and noticed that the door was closed.

Rainbow pushed the door open, and her jaw practically fell off when she saw the situation inside:

Twilight was biting into Pinkie Pie's neck, tears pouring from her eyes as she did so. Rainbow noticed that the only fangs embedded in Pinkie's neck were Twilight's longest pair, and was relieved to see that. But she was still shocked to see it happening.

"T-twilight?" Rainbow said, still taking in the spectacle.

Twilight opened her eyes and looked up at Rainbow Dash, tears still flowing down her cheeks. Rainbow stepped towards Twilight slowly and crouched down next to her, looking at Pinkie's unconscious body. She wrapped her forelegs around the earth pony gently and pulled lightly.

"Let me take her, Twi. I know what I'm doing," she said in a soothing tone. Twilight reluctantly let go of Pinkie and let Rainbow have her. Rainbow sunk her two longest fangs into the soft flesh of Pinkie's neck, and began the transfer of blood that would turn Pinkie into a vampire like them.

It took a few minutes, but Rainbow eventually let go of the pink pony's neck and layed her gently on the ground. She looked at Twilight and placed a hoof on her shoulder for comfort.

"It's okay, Twilight," she said, "she'll be like us soon."

Author's Note

Yes I'm going to write a sequel.

Thank you all for the support this story has recieved! I hope you enjoyed it, because I certainly enjoyed writing it. This is the final chapter, but I do still plan to post an epilogue soon.

As I said, thank you sooooo much for all the support this has recieved. I never expected that it would become my mos popular fanfic, but I guess you never can predict that. Anyway, thank you for reading, and I'll see you in the comments!

Chapter 11: The Light of Day

Morning came slowly for Twilight, who had been awake and crying all night. She eventually ran out of tears, and so was left to dry sobs which died down to dull whimpers before stopping when she finally fell asleep. Pinkie drifted off long before Twilight had, and was already awake and preparing something that smelled really good. She groggily sat up and noticed Ace sitting across from her, a steaming cup of coffee in front of him. He nodded to her and picked the mug up, taking a long drag from it as Pinkie approached them with a tray.

On it were two stacks of pancakes, both smothered with syrup and covered with various berries. She set the tray down in front of them and they each took one of the plates, setting them down in front of themselves.

"Thanks, Pinkie," Twilight said with a yawn, rubbing a hoof over her eyes.

She magically floated the fork and knife, which she assumed Pinkie had placed on the table before Twilight had woken up, in front of her and began cutting into the stack of pancakes, the smell of them flowing into her nostrils so intensely that she almost forgot about her lost friends. She began eating and Pinkie walked off silently to the kitchen, only to return some seconds later with another tray with two tall glasses of orange juice ballanced on her hoof. She gave each of them their glass and returned to the kitchen once more.

Twilight and Ace ate in silence while Pinkie set her own spot on the table, right next to Twilight, and sat down with her own plate of pancakes. The trio ate and nothing was said. Pinkie didn't bring up last night, Twilight didn't break down into tears, and Ace kept to himself. It was as if things were going to start getting better now.

"Rainbow."

"Yeah?"

"Why were ya standin' over Apple Bloom like ya were gonna eat 'er?"

"I already told you, Applejack; I don't know how I got downstairs."

Applejack sighed and looked at Rainbow dully, trying to make sense of the situation. Rainbow was seated on a chair in front of her, tied to it so she couldn't move an inch. Her eyes weren't just red now, they were bloodshot from being awake all night. The sunrise hadn't helped too much, either, and almost blinded the two of them before they managed to close the shutters. Applejack sighed and walked towards Rainbow Dash and scrutinized her, unsure of what to do. She sighed again and untied her lover and embraced her gently.

Rainbow returned the hug and nuzzled into Applejack's neck, desperate to get back to sleep. Applejack hefted Rainbow's weight as she prepared to fly them to their room, and took off. Flapping her wings in slow, regular beats, Applejack carried her exhausted lover to their room and layed her down on their bed. She then layed down next to her and they fell asleep together.

Rarity couldn't tell how much time had passed before Flutterbat had regained her strength. All she knew is that the sun had come up between when Flutterbat had given her her strength and now. Once Flutterbat got up, however, she was clearly back to normal. She looked at Rarity before scanning the room, though Rarity wasn't sure what for. She saw the black mare, who she had come to know as Night Rain in the few hours that they had to converse, stand up and look at Flutterbat expectantly.

Flutterbat looked at Rarity, and knelt down next to her. "Time to go hunting," she said.

"What do you mean, 'hunting'?" Rarity asked, a little nervous as to what the answer would be.

"I mean," Flutterbat said, licking her lips, "getting fresh blood."

Rarity gulped, swallowing the lump that appeared in her throat, and said; "In broad daylight?"

Flutterbat gave her a questioning look, and then turned her head to see out the window. The sun was about a quarter of the way through its usual course in the sky, which meant that they'd have to wait done time before actually doing anything. If they didn't want to be caught, that is. She nodded in agreement and looked at Rarity again.

"You know? You're right. We should wait. Best not to get caught," she said, causing Rarity to let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

Night then stepped towards them and said: "Yeah, it's probably not gonna help our eyes any, either. I tried to go out earlier but the sun... I nearly went blind."

Flutterbat nodded in agreement, and then they waited.

"Ace?" Twilight said, curiosity taking over, "who was your friend that lived in that house?"

Ace stopped what he was doing and looked at Twilight sadly, and she instantly regretted asking.

"I'm sorry, I..."

"No, it's okay, Twilight," he said, "I can see why you'd be curious." He sat down next to her and put his hooves on the table in front of him. "I was going over to my friend Sharp's house to visit him and his marefriend, Night. I don't know why, just felt like hanging out with them for a while. I haven't seen him in a couple of weeks, so I thought I'd check up on them." His expression turned grim as he said: "That's when she flew by me. I didn't get a very good look, just a yellow and pink blur, but I could tell something was up. So I raced down the street as fast as I could and that's where we met. You know the rest," he let his head fall to the table gently as he finished speaking.

"I... I'm sorry about your friends..." Twilight said, placing a hoof on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about me," he said, "looks to me like you've lost more than I have." He tried to say something else, but the look of dread on Twilight's face kept him from it. "I'm sorry, that was insensitive..."

"It's... alright, Ace... We'll fix this. Right, Pinkie?" Twilight said.

"Right!!!" Came the pink pony's response.

Author's Note

A day late, but I had writers block, so... Yeah... Hope you enjoyed!

Epilogue: In With the New

She floated in darkness. Nothing to be seen and no source of light. Yet she could still see herself. Her light yellow coat. A long, flowing pink mane coming from her head. Delicate hooves and fluffy wings. She looked around, searching for something, anything, to hold on to.

She wanted to cry, but no tears came. She could feel a strong animal instinct pushing against her whenever she tried to move or speak, and she could feel the pain from when it all started still ebbing away at her. The one time she had almost broken free, when she kissed Rarity, she had something drawing her out of the darkness. But then the evil came back and knocked her aside, and she drank her best friend's blood.

She knew that nothing would bring her back to the way she was. But that didn't mean she couldn't try and take control again. And this time, she was going to succeed. For Rarity. For all the ponies who she has caused pain and misery for. She was going to take control again and get rid of the vampire plague surging through her. And nothing was going to stand in her way.