Chapter 30: Spartans and Vampires

Tristan

“What do you know about vampires?” At the time the question threw me off after all I never once saw or heard of a vampire. All I knew was the several myths from my past, the story of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and other reimaginings of them in fiction.

I was not given time to answer before a brick red mare wearing sunglasses, a white tank top, plain blue jeans and tan boots approached. Her eyes traced me giving me the feeling I was being analyzed.

I took the time to take in her appearance, she was taller then most ponies measuring right around five nine rather then the five five, five six average. Her crimson and forest green mane was cut midway down her neck drifting freely in the light breeze. Then I saw two marks on her neck. “So that’s the reason for the question, you must be Shadow Rose.” I shifted my gaze between Luna and Celestia “You two planned on me becoming an agent for awhile now.”

The two princesses did not answer as the train’s whistle blew and the squeak and groan of metal skidding on metal covered the area. By the time the noise died down the princesses had already disappeared in a flash of light.

I looked at my new supervisor for a moment. “So you’re my boss now.”

“Seems that way.” Shadow Rose replied.

When I caught up to the six elements they all looked my way curiosity easily read in their eyes as they saw my new retainer. “The mare’s name is Shadow Rose, she is a new guard for you girls.” I explained leaving out the agent of the crown and vampire bits.

Shadow Rose shallowly bowed. “As he said I am Shadow Rose, your new bodyguard. By the Princesses orders the both of us will be given new accommodations in a house near the center of Ponyville so that we are better able to respond should anything happen.”

With their curiosity mostly sated the group boarded the train and walked to a set of empty seats. Shadow Rose stopped me as I was about to take a seat near the group of friends and pointed to the car in front of us. Shadow Rose excused us from the group giving some explanation of discussing our task in private, which the girls all accepted.

When we entered the next train car and Shadow glanced around ensuring privacy. Her horn glowed and the mare sighed. “Good now we can talk about a few details that were left out.”

“Besides the change of address there was never much to leave out. Your a vampire, and I’m paired with you to do missions ranging from monster hunting to shady political assassinations.” I answered plainly.

Shadow Rose sighed and took a seat gesturing for me to sit across from her. “You know the stories about vampires correct? Drink blood to live, die from too much sun exposure, unable to die from age or disease, generally hard to kill etcetera.”

I nodded, “I know some of the legends and stories about vampires and that about sums it up.”

Shadow Rose put her hands in her lap. “Good that is mostly true. Sunlight just suppresses our abilities, our eyes are very sensitive to the light and with enough training a vampire can choose to not spread the curse.” The mare sighed, “Anyway, the reason for our partnership is because I have chosen you as a candidate for the Blood Pact.

I did little to hide my confusion, “So I assume this ‘Blood Pact’ is a big deal, and I am not the first candidate you’ve had.”

“Correct, There has been many candidate’s I have considered to form the pact with but so far in the last one hundred seventy years not one has made the cut. Be it because they refused to partner with me when they discovered I was a vampire, did not survive the missions I went on or a handful died from the ritual’s strain when they did survive long enough for me to make a final decision.”

Shadow groaned as she realized she did not fully relive my confusion. “I haven’t told you what the blood pact entails. So where to begin?” Shadow Rose paused, “The pact binds the vampire and their partner’s soul’s for as long as the vampire lives and can never be reversed as a result the partner’s blood satiates the vampire’s thirst for longer but it also causes blood from another source to be less potent. The partner will live as long as the vampire does and vice versa. As well as both parties will be able to locate each other and communicate regardless of distance. Depending on the bonds strength the partner will gain vampiric abilities, the vampire and partner may observe things through each other sense’s at will. There are even legends of the Blood Pact bond being strong enough to allow body swapping”

I listened to Shadow Rose describe the effects of the pact but my mind turned back to the mention of death from the strain of forming the pact. “But the caveat is that if the strain is too much I could die?”

Shadow Rose’s ears peeled back, “Yes if our souls are not compatible they will reject each other and your soul will be ripped apart erasing you with no chance of coming back.”

“So how does a vampire even know if a person even has a chance of surviving?” I asked

“It is a feeling that there is a possibility of success. My teacher told me that fate will bring the vampire and their partner together eventually, though there would be plenty of false or close matches along the way.” Shadow Rose explained.

“I’ll decide after an assassination or two from the crown see how we work together first.”

Shadow Rose smiled and did not say anything else. The train ride was uneventful and before long we arrived at Ponyville. After getting off the train everyone went their separate ways.

“Come on our new home is not too far from here,” Shadow stated. Starting at a jog we went by several homes and businesses and after a few turns Shadow Rose stopped and pointed at a modest blue two story building with a basement. Shadow took a key out and with a click the door unlocked.

The inside of the building was just as plain as the outside, though it was fully furnished the living room had a couple of tan couches facing each other with an oak coffee table between them. The kitchen was to our left and from what I saw it had the common appliances for a modern kitchen on Earth. With the kitchen doubling as a dining room it had a small table and a couple of chairs. The cabinets and fridge were fully stocked with food and cooking implements.

Continuing to look around opposite of the kitchen I found the hall to the bathroom, master bedroom, and a guest bedroom all fully furnished.

“Well seems Celestia had this place prepared well in advance. I can guess upstairs we can find offices and a conference room and in the basement some place for an armory and training room?” I guessed.

“That is mostly correct of course there are a few other things in both areas but they matter little right now.” Shadow walked over one of the couches and sat down, I sat on the couch across from her.

“So you fought in the Discordian war over a thousand years ago?” Shadow asked her stoic look seemed to become nervous.

“That is true I was one of Discord’s commanders during the height of the war. What about it?” I replied.

Shadow Rose’s nervousness flipped into excitement and I knew then I was in for a long night. “The few books containing records of the ‘Demon’ talked about a fearsome leader in Discords army who was invincible wielding strange weapons particularly his blade.

“I just never thought I would see you in person much less work with you or find my instincts telling me you are a good candidate!” Shadow Rose took a deep breath calming down a little. “You see before I became a vampire I had an interest in the DIscordian wars, Though most records were lost during Nightmare Moon’s rise. I once asked Princess Celestia about that time but she always changed the subject and Princess Luna refused to talk about the events, always holding her left shoulder.”

“So you wanted to ask me about the war, surprised that there are ponies interested most pretend it never happened. Anyway keep in mind I became involved four years in so I know only a little about what sparked it through what I was told by other soldiers and Discord.” I took a breath to prepare for the inevitable resurgence of memories. “So What do you want to ask?”

Shadow Rose lowered her head and soon raised it with a toothy grin. “The books I read mentioned your role as a saboteur, scout and raid commander. You lead several attacks that slowly turned a stalemate into a slow crawl forward for Discords army. I want to know about some of those attacks.

I shrugged, “Not much to say about them generally. I usually lead a group of four or five snuck in, killed a commander as loudly as possible and we tore our way out. The panicked soldiers would be mopped up by the small army waiting outside, survivors served to spread fear.”

“So nothing much to say that the books haven't.” I noticed at some point Shadow must have managed to produce some paper and a quill. “So how about the mare known as The Demon’s Bride?”

The question came suddenly forcing up memories I wanted to stay buried. “Nightshine… she was my closest friend. We first met she was leading a patrol and found me wandering nearby. Soon after I found myself in front of Discord. I told him my situation and we made a deal I fight with his army in their war and he would help me.

“Nightshade adjusted very quickly to me and within a week we somehow behaved like we had known each other for years. I started under her command but within a month I had proven myself and Discord put me as Squad commander. At that point where Nightshade was I was not far and vice versa, even in battle and that was where her title as The Demon’s Bride took root.”

I took a deep breath before continuing, “Nightshade and I had known each other for a year and a half when during one of our guard patrols we and our scouting camp was attacked, during the fighting Nightshade took a magic bolt to the stomach, she later died from her injuries. I’m sure you have read about the Fort Radiance Massacre.”

Ears flat on her head, Shadow Rose looked between me and her paper, “So that was the cause.”

The curious energy that surrounded Shadow disappeared in an instant.

With the depressing mood in the air I got up. “So it seems to be about time for lunch any preferences?”

“Hmm? Oh yes just get me the A positive blood from the fridge.” Shadow Rose never quite made eye contact with me as she spoke.

I fished through the fridge until I found the blood packs, confirming it was A positive I grabbed it and placed it in front of Shadow Rose. “Enjoy.”

Nothing more was said as I made a ham sandwich. The two of us just quietly sat there and Shadow Rose retired to the master bedroom, leaving me alone in the living room. Finishing the sandwich, I wandered the house and as expected the basement contained an armory with various suits of armor, swords, spears, bows along with other types of weapons.

The training area contained a variety of archery targets and practice dummies but in the center of the room was a fighting ring and on the left and right were two crystals I walked to the crystal on the right and touched it in front of me appeared a holographic panel with various settings. After tinkering around with it for several minutes I found it was to generate an opponent to practice on in the ring and with further investigation I found that it could even simulate different battlefields pulled from the users' memories. After experimenting with it for some time I set up a fight and began training.

Author's Note

Honestly had this setting for too long I really think it is subpar but it establishes a new character, a new possibility for our resident spartan and the start of some momentum for the story if things work out. So it works for exposition if nothing else. I believe I will work on a side chapter focusing on the raid of Chrysalis's hive so look for that if I don't get too lazy.

Your procrastinating author,

5/2/24: Edit to reflect change in chapter 24 flashback