Adventures in the Dark of Night

Draculin sighed as he walked out of the room, shaking his head at the odd feelings he had begun to have about Jubileee. This is wrong, so wrong, so, so, so, so wrong! he thought to himself. He could feel the hunger from not eating in a while start to nip at him, eating its way through his head. Eat him! it groaned inside of his mind. He felt his 'cool' slipping, so he decided to go out for a late night bite. He had made sure that Jubilee was fast asleep and comfortable, he could not afford Jubilee waking up before he got back. Draculin smiled once he got back up to the roof and further away from Jubilee. Though still smiling, Draculin sighed as he looked up to the moon, thinking of way back when. Almost eighteen-hundred years have passed and I've survived. he told himself as he ascended to the air, his body going off to find food while his mind stayed behind in its peaceful stupor.

* * *

It was his nineteenth birthday, he was a rebellious young stallion who had always favored the Princess Luna over her older counterpart, Celestia. Once Luna had undergone a transformation into the evil Nightmare Moon, she began to recruit followers.

She had used her dark powers to creep into the dreams and minds of young Ponies in order to find the most likely candidates for her recruitment. Those privileged mares and stallions that showed no fear in the presence of Nightmare Moon's dream avatar, which was basically just herself, were told to travel to an ancient and long-forgotten grove, untouched by pony-kind for over a hundred years. "Those who faithfully follow us, come to the ancient grove and become One with the Night!" she had instructed them.

Draculin, who actually went by the name Spirit, was among the many to join Nightmare Moon at the grove. That night, under a full moon, she had created a new race of ponies--The Vamponies! Years later, Nightmare Moon was defeated by her sister and imprisoned in the moon. The once faithful minions of Nightmare Moon had abandoned their Mistress, fearing for their own lives. Draculin had waited at the grove for the thousand years, ever faithful and watchful, he waited for her return. And when She had been freed from her Lunar prison, he thought that once again the Vamponies would assemble to serve their Eternal Mistress, but somehow, some way, six troublesome Mares had brought together the Elements of Harmony to stop and revert her back to her 'good' form, the young filly Princess Luna.

Draculin was distraught and in a fit of rage realized there was no hope left for his kind. He was a dying breed of pony, no where to go, he tried to end his life. He was stopped by Princess Luna, who had told him not to lose hope. She told him that she indeed had forgiven her sister and the ponies of Equestria, but that he should not end his life. He was told he was the last, and to take his own life would be the equivalent of genocide.

"We indeed have stopped our hopeless endeavor to bring eternal night--this was a foolish idea on our part." she admitted. "Go, my faithful follower, go and live the life that I so selfishly took from you." she put her large hoof on his head, patting him. "Go and live a life in our beautiful night."

This was many, many years after she had become the Princess once more, long after the Guardians of Harmony trapped Discord once more in his prison of stone. Those were now foal's tales, stories to be told before bedtime. And, as faithful as he was, he nodded to the humbling Princess, and left to find his way through the eternal night that was his life, determined to follow his Princess' wishes until his end.

* * *

He snapped out of his trance, looking down at the mangled body of Candy, the mare who had given Jubilee a free soda. In horror, he looked at the blood dripping from the two holes in her neck, the holes that he had made. He could feel his fangs elongate in hunger, still not satisfied with the mares blood. He shook the hunger from his head and went into the air, feeling sick to his stomach.

He looked off to the horizon at the slowly lightening sky, sighing. He knew he had to get back. He flew over the city, back towards the group of buildings that were left in neglect by the ponies of Las Pegasus. He watched the pier that just last night was filled with ponies from all backdrops of life, now empty and seemingly barren. But, he knew better, small flecks of movements still filled the fairgrounds, which didn't need to be open for people to walk around in them. Draculin, ever so gently, landed his hooves on the roof of the building young Jubilee was sound asleep in.

Despite trying his hardest the heavy rooftop door creaked as he opened it, making him cringe in case it had woken up Jubilee. He tip-hooved into the room with the sleeping colt and the boarded up windows, eyeing Jubilee, curled up in his nest of blankets. It made him chuckle a little, how delicate and cute he looked. With extreme focus, Draculin curled up as close to Jubilee as he cooked before burying his head in the nook of his foreleg. He felt Jubilee rouse in his sleep, rolling over to face the Vampony. Draculin's breath stopped, hoping to Luna that he didn't disturb his young companion. A few more moments passed before he was sure that Jubilee was just turning in his slumber. Draculin yawned into his armpit before letting sleep overtake him.

* * *

Jubilee's eyes fluttered open, stretching out and yawning. He felt his small hoof bump something large, making Jubilee jump. He turned and saw Draculin sleeping soundly, which made him giggle quietly. Despite his at-first scary appearance, when he slept, Draculin looked like a small child. Like Jubilee, but, bigger. It was confusing to Jubilee.

Jubilee walked over to the windows, seeing if he could tell what time it was by the suns position, but, alas, Draculin had picked somewhere where the sunlight could not reach him. Jubilee took a few steps outside the door, looking down the hall. He could see the fire exit that lead both up and down, so he headed that way. The state of decay the building was in astounded Jubilee, he back in Sommerston a building was only abandoned if it had been damaged beyond repair. Then, if it was, it was immediately destroyed. The only exception was the Old Schoolhouse.

He walked through the arch where a door was supposed to be and up the stairs. It didn't take him long to reach the top, he was only a floor below the roof. He pushed the door open with a bit of difficulty, and as he managed to make it out into the dimming sunlight the wind whipped against his fur. He tumbled to his side at the first gust of wind, being unused to being this high. He stood back up, not daring to go towards the edges. He looked up to the sky at the sun, which was nearing the horizon. That means he'd been sleeping for a long, long time, and that Draculin was due to wake up soon.

He quickly made his way back to the empty concrete room, and when he stepped through the arch, Draculin was stretching his wings out. His mane was a little disheveled, and as he turned to greet Jubilee, a smile washed over his face. "Went up to get some air?" he ask, stretching out the rest of his body. "Yeah, it sure is windy, though.." he said. "Well, nine stories up, it get's pretty windy...." Draculin chuckled a little, walking over to Jubilee and patting him on the back with his wing.

"What should we do tonight, Jubilee?" Draculin began to walk out of the room, cocking his neck as-to tell Jubilee to follow. "I don't know, I've never been to Las Pegasus before..." the young colt scratched his head a bit embarrassed. "That's okay, we'll uh...." Draculin chewed on his lower lip thinking of the attractions in Las Pegasus. "I know, we'll go look at the Equestrian Theatre, they always have something interesting playing!" Draculin exclaimed, a look of self-satisfaction replacing his smile. Which, pretty much looked the same as his smile. Jubilee laughed, nodding his head in approval. "Sounds fun."