//-------------------------------------------------------// An Unquenchable Thirst -by Vaughn- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// The Awakening //-------------------------------------------------------// The Awakening      It was a cold, crisp night,the moon full, with a strong breeze causing leaves to fall from the trees in the dark secluded area of the Everfree Forest. The Midnight blue coffin in a small clearing let out a hissing noise as the lid opened, revealing a midnight blue vampony. His perfectly preserved body was nearly eight feet tall were he standing on his hooves, and his wings were both still soft, and well-muscled. His fangs were both four inches, with grooves running along the back for the blood to run through. The only thing off about him was that his eyes were blood red, like a crazed animal ready to strike at any given moment.      The vampony licked his lips as he came to. It was quite cold, but nothing he couldn't handle. He stretched his aching limbs, as they had not been moved willingly in two thousand years, becoming accustomed to not have to move at all. He then cautiously got out of the coffin, and took in his surroundings. It was dark, with the exception of very bright moonlight on the forest floor. There  were lots of trees, bent in all sorts of directions with random points where there was a broken off branch. Finally, he heard a Manticore nearby. He smiled, at the thought of the Manticore. The Manticore's blood would taste good. Not as good as pony blood though. That was the tastiest of all, and it also lasted the longest.      He then closed the coffin, which locked with a hiss, and set out towards where he heard the Manticore. Sure enough, there it was walking away from where the vampony had seen a brief glimpse of a yellow pegasus with a pink mane. He then snuck behind the beast, and sunk his long fangs into it's neck. He shuddered in enjoyment of the blood running through his systems. He could already feel his in-pony strength and agility coming back, as well as his FULL range of movement. He then left the bloodless corpse lying there, not caring what happened to it. Speaking of the corpse, it just turned to a very small pile of dust, barely noticeable to those paying attention to such things. The dust soon was blown away by the wind, leaving no trace of what had happened in the last minute he was there.      He then, perfectly silent, proceeded to the castle of the two Sisters where he used to scare the crap out of the two princesses. For some reason, no matter how thirsty, he wouldn't ever want to drink their blood. Maybe he thought it was poisoned, or the thought of what they could do to him scared him. They were basically his only weakness, which causing his heart to melt at the thought of the cute blue one. I wonder what she's like these days... that is, if she's still alive and kicking.He then reached the clearing with the castle. To his surprise, the castle was in ruins. Shattered glass, broken stone, moss growing nearly everywhere on the outside, it looked better than ever! Compared to that disgusting, well maintained version. Bleugh. He found an undamaged room, with tons of books, seemingly refurbished. As if someone had been there just a few minutes ago. The giant sunroof was nearly see through, with the exception of the metal bars in place to hold up the glass. Somebody must have found this place. He thought. He then spotted a map of equestria. Must be recent. He thought. Otherwise This 'manhattan' wouldn't have superbly tall, modernized-looking buildings, or would even be here. As well as this 'Phillydelphia'. He then began memorizing all the paths from one town to another. There was even a small X not too far from the castle marked Zecora's Hut. Beginning to feel thirsty already, he thought about this Zecora character. If Zecora is a pony, their place would be far enough away that nopony would know if they were to become a vampony or die. Even if Zecora let out a cry of help, the forest would help muffled it to a nigh inaudible squeak.      Now that he knew paths to different cities, he could begin to revive his race. for you see, he was the only one left. He would only accept the strongest, fastest, and smartest. No exceptions allowed. If they were lazy, sluggish or dim-witted, they'd surely be killed in a heartbeat by the sun, holy items, or a stake. There was then a rainbow blur overhead.Alrighty then. My first target. He then jumped into the air and almost-as-quickly flew after the living rainbow, not caring about the broken window or what else was is that room. None of it being of utter importance, him having memorized the entire map of Equestria.This outta be a fun chase. He thought, happy about thinking of tasting another pony's blood. Last time it was a noble who wandered to close to his cave after being exiled. He presumed nobody cared nor wondered about what happened to that noble. Momentarily caught up in thought, he came to a complete halt.    He then began wondering how he got in the Everfree.Darn it! Someone must have cared about that snobby gray-coated noble and found his body outside my cave! He figured. "Hey you!" A voice shouted. He realized he had stopped, and so had the living rainbow, who was now staring him. He then flew into the Everfree and hid in a bush. "Darn it! Lost him. I wonder what that stallion was doing in the Everfree." He figured out that that living rainbow was a female. He thought to himself, I'll have to try again later. In he meantime, I need to find this Zecora. Im already a bit thirsty again. With that, he began moving towards where zecora's hut was on the map. The adventure begins. //-------------------------------------------------------// Second Day Back //-------------------------------------------------------// Second Day Back      It had been a long twelve hour wait for the sun to go down. Partially from boredom, partially form thirst. Either way, it sucked. As soon as the sun was below the horizon, the newly formed duo headed out towards Ponyville. Due to his new recruit having been there a few times, he navigated easier than if he was by himself.      At one point, he came across a meeting with seven different ponies, where he and his recruit slipped into the cover of shadows and eavesdropped. The first one looked frightened, in fact, it was Zecora. The rest were cyan, pink, purple, orange, yellow, and white. They all were pitching in ideas against some menace. "Why don't we find it, and burn it. Vamponies hate fire, right?" The cyan one said.      "Rainbow, they don't hate it, its what turns them to dust." The purple one corrected.      "There's no time for being correct. Just find the thing and burn it is all we need to do." Rainbow rebutted. The nameless Vampony had had enough. They needed to be gone, one way or another, unless they met the qualifications. A dead Vampony was a useless Vampony after all. He signaled for his recruit to stay there as he came up with the coolest intro he ever made. He turned into living shadows and landed in the smack dab middle of them, forcing them all to take a step back in surprise. He laughed and said, "Oh ho ho. How funny it is you think you can actually kill ME of all ponies? Amusing." He began, an evil smirk coming across his face. "Might I allow you to know, that I know how to counter magic from my time? Four thousand years of learning each type of magic  is quite helpful."      The purple one levitated out five necklaces and one crown, giving one to all her friends and herself with the exception of Zecora. "I bet you don't know how to counter the magic of friendship!" She shouted.      "Forgive me, if I withold my enthusiasm." He said dryly. The purple Alicorn had her mouth agape, not doing anything.      "You sound exactly like a princess I know." She said. She then restrained him with the newer type of telekinesis magic, forcing him on his back with his hooves pinned to the ground, him smiling all the while.      "Do I now? Pray tell, who might this Princess be? Yourself? Or does this land have the king and queen and its two princesses. Please tell me. You've got me intrigued." He said, a smirk steadily growing.      "King and Queen? We only have the two Co-Rulers of Equestria. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. My sister in law runs the Crystal empire-"      "The crystal empire, you say eh? I thought old Sombra was better than that. Giving away his kingdom willingly. And here I thought he'd bring me back as his general." He said. "So, who killed the king and queen?"      "There was no king or queen!" She said angrily. "I had better kill you before you spread rumors! Oh, and we killed Sombra." Unbeknownst to everypony, there was a certain princess listening in on the conversation, who recognized that  deep and rusty voice from when she and her older sister used to play in a certain castle in the Everfree.      "Nay, Twilight, he is not lying." Princess Luna said, descending to the group. Once landed, she turned to the struggling Vampony with a smile upon her lips. "SO. You were the one scaring me and my sister when we were little. Here to drink our blood?"      The nameless one hissed and shouted, "No! Your blood would be the death of me. You are lucky if I drink your blood, I would die. I see you have grown, princess. No longer the cookie-eating little filly anymore, but an actual Co-Ruler. But my question remains. Who. Killed. Your. Parents?" He said, a maniacal grin coming across his face.      "Do tell." A Voice came from behind. The nameless one growled.      "Get out of here. I told you to wait!" He shouted.      "A recruit, eh?" Rainbow said. "Shouldn't be too hard to fight considering how new the-URK!" She was tackled by who used to be the captain of the Eventide Royal Guard.     "Capitain Chaser?!" Twilight shouted. "How on earth did he get you?"      "Get me?" He said, once again hiding in the shadows. "Oh no no, you misunderstand. My leader showed me the light. No more worries of dying, an unlimited food supply, the only downside being that we cant strike during daylight. He purified me of my weaknesses. You all need that to happen too." He finished with a smirk, invisible to those other than vamponies.      "You eight are a waste of our time. We really must get going now." The nameless vampony finished off with a smirk as he turned into living shadow and hid with his recruit. Luna shone light where they hid, but nopony was there. Halfway across town, they heard a ear shattering, bone rattling, scream. //-------------------------------------------------------// The first Minion //-------------------------------------------------------// The first Minion      The vampony soon found himself at Zecora's hut. He then heard two ponies talking. "Can you keep a look out while I'm going out?" Came a rhythmic voice.      The other pony said, "Not a problem Zecora." He then heard hoofsteps as a Zebra left the hut, presumably Zecora. He hid in a Bush until Zecora was far enough away.      He then peered in through a window. He saw potions, masks, idols, ingredients, you name it on many shelves. In the center was a Midnight blue stallion with a blue green and purple mane. One wing was slightly smaller than the other. He seems strong enough to become part of my race. he thought. Although the wing differential is a bit of a problem. Nothing vampire blood can't fix.      He then crept to the door, knocked on it and hid to the side. He heard a hmm of confusion as the door opened. He seized his opportunity and sunk his fangs into the pony's neck. He then sucked out some of the pony's blood and replaced it with his own. The stallion collapsed and he dragged him into the hut, closing the door behind him. Little did he know, a certain Cyan Pegasus saw him in the act, and sped off.     During the period the stallion was out, his wing's sizes evened out, and his eyes turned crimson. He also grew four inch fangs. He groaned as he got up, staring at a pony similar to him. "Who are you?" He asked. The mysterious pony remained silent. "I SAID, WHO ARE YOU?" He shouted in the equestrian voice. The stallion rolled his eyes.      "My name is none of your concern. All you need to know is that one, I turned you into a vampony, and two, you will be in my control soon." The tall, anonymous stalling started walking towards the rookie vampony. "There is nothing you can do to stop it. On the bright side, your wings are fixed."      "No! There has to be a way back!" I'd rather have demented wings than serve you!" He was fighting the quickly multiplying vampony blood. But it was futile.      "It is no longer your choice. Tell me, what is your name?" The elder vampony said.      "Dusk Chaser." The stallion spat at him, causing the elder to disperse into a small cloud, and 're-form after it had cleared where he was.      "Well then, Dusk Chaser, get ready to have the rest of your life spent in service." The vampony blood took control.      "Y-yes m-m-master." He was still fighting it. It wouldn't be long until he fully submitted. He then hears a gasp. He turned, and saw Zecora had returned. She was horrified at seeing two vamponies in her house, one of which had been a regular pony before he left. She then turned and ran towards ponyville. "Should we pursue, master?" Dusk commented.      "No, let her run. I like my food when it's riled up. In the meantime, let's get you trained."      "Yes master." Dusk said. First one pony, next, Equestria.