Curse of the Dracopyre

Twilight threw open the door to her library, stumbled in, and crashed to the ground.  After Pinkie's party, she needed a serious rest.  Behind her, Spike the dragon happily prodded into the building and looked down at Twilight, smiling.  He was tired too, but Twilight had just gone a little party crazy after Princess Celestia had announced that they would be staying in Ponyville.  He reached down to hoist her onto his back (something he was not used to doing), when he felt it.

Spike looked up and around, dropping Twilight, who made a squeak.  The interior of the library was dark and quiet.  None of the sun's rays managed to shine through any of the closed windows or open doorways, save for the one behind them.  There was something thick and awful about this darkness.  Spike sniffed once, his dragon's predatory senses taking over completely.  He dropped to all fours and sniffed again, turning towards the wall on his left, where a million pairs of little eyes were glaring at him.  He snorted in surprise when they all charged at him.  Spike stumbled back in shock as they all gathered around twilight, squealing and biting her in a frenzy.

That was all Spike had the will to resist.  With a roar he dashed forward, green flames spurting from his nostrils, and took a swipe at the crowd of the little rodents.  A few of the fell into the rays of the evening sun and burst into white flame.  The little rats rolled onto their backs and turned into ash.  The rest of them immediately fled from twilight, back into the darker recesses of the library.  Only their little yellow eyes were visible.

Spike stepped carefully over Twilight, before taking a quick look down at her.  She was fine, not a single cut or bite mark to be found.  He smiled.   Just before they entered the Everfree Forest, Twilight had been sure to magically shield her friends from the many dangers of the forest.  She had done a good job.  Spike looked back to see the rat swarm again, and took a step towards them.  They started to slowly circle him and Twilight, who had started mumbling something.  Spike took another swipe at them, but they jumped out of the way, and the result was that Spike almost fell over.  He wasn't too terribly combat experienced.

That was all the chance that the swarm needed, as this time they started to swarm Spike.  Dragon instincts back in full swing, he started to thrash, bite, claw, and spew flames at the tiny rodents, killing many.  When he started to pain of needles going through his soft spots, he went full on rage and spat a torrent upwards, killing all of the creatures save the ones directly under him.  Then he started to feel sleepy.  He struggled to keep his eyes open, bucking and tensing his muscles, but it was no use.  The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was a single white moth land on his nose.

...

Gallant felt awful.  That dragon had taken a serious tool on the fledgling vampyre, despite the fact that he was a esteemed and legendary creature of the night, and that was a baby dragon.  He quickly changed from the swarm of rats into Moth form, and landed on the dragon.  Finally, it seemed that there were indeed some perks to being undead, but now that unicorn as waking up!  He needed a plan, and he needed one now.  A single, tiny moth leg placed itself on Spike's eyelid, and they sprang open.  The dragon was fighting him, and this dragon was powerful.  Gallant reached forward with his mind, promising that the unicorn would come to no harm and that he wouldn't either.  I am just a weary traveler, he reasoned with the dragon's mind.

Spike slowly relaxed and became complacent, just before the unicorn rose to her feet.  The moth landed in Spike's hand and it closed over him protectively.

"Spike..."  Mumbled an exhausted Twilight, "what was all that noise?"

Spike's eyes went completely white for a moment before they became normal again.

"Nothing!"  He said defensively.  "I just wanted to have an adventure!"

Gallant sighed to himself.  That was the best he could come up with?

"Spike," complained Twilight.  "Do it in the morning!"

"Oh-Okay."  Said Spike.

Slowly, Twilight roused herself and went to her bed, where she plopped herself down on her sheets and went straight to sleep.  Spike was not far behind.  A little white Moth landed on the bedpost behind her, where it slowly changed into a scarred and rotten pony.  He had black, short mane and tail, but green, sickly, fur-less, saggy skin.  His eyelids drooped and his eyes themselves were a ghastly yellow.  He covered in cuts, bruises, and horrific burns.  His breathing was raspy and labored.  His hooves looked like old coal.

Gallant grimaced as he looked over himself.  An iron hunger gnawed at his insides, his outside body felt abused and beaten.  He was a pretty sorry sight.  There was only thing an undead like himself could do at a time like this.  He slowly crept up to the creeping Twilight, and tried to bury his fangs into her neck.  Fury consumed him when her magical defenses again stopped his fangs from entering her, so he turned to the dragon.  He quietly walked over to the little dog bed that she made him sleep in, and he briefly wondered why he didn't just use the guest bed.  He leaned close to the dragon, fangs just a breath away from the soft flesh of his neck - and then he remembered that he was not allowed to feed from males.  His father, before he had left him in a furry, had told him many of the "rules" of being a vampyre, one of which that he could only feed cross gender.  Gallant leaned away from the dragon, and then remembered something else.  He walked back to the dragon and held his hoof over Spike's mouth.  Standing up on two legs, he pushed Spike with his other hoof onto his back, and Spike stirred.  Gallant's eyes lit up as he forced the dragon to again sleep.

Gallant stood back on three legs, his hoof just over Spike's mouth.  He brought his leg to his mouth and bit into himself, barely feeling the pain through his aged flesh.  He held the wound over Spike, but no blood dripped out.  Cursing, Gallant bit his other leg, and held that over the dragon.  A single drop of black blood fell from his hoof and into Spike's snoring mouth. Satisfied, Gallant turned to Twilight.  Magic may defend her from direct threats, but this threat was coming straight from inside her.  Gallant dripped a single drop of blood into her mouth, then turned and left the library, a smug smirk on his rotten face.

...

I leaned over the exhausted mare, draining her blood with my fangs.  Immediately after leaving the library, I had returned to Luna's party.  It was now completely dark out, so I could away with sneaking around if I have too.  It was easy to approach a random stranger (an entirely purple mare with a three-flower cutie mark) and grabbed her from behind.  I drained her as low as I dared, and started to pull away... but something stopped me. My stomach refused to not be fed, and when the mare started screaming, it only intensified my desires.  She went from horrified, to complacent, to dead.  I was sucking on a dry and empty vein.  I killed her.

How could i be so stupid?  I'm not going to last if I cant control myself!  Maybe I can revive her?  Would she be a vampire too?  I cant remember!  What did the demon say about that?  I need a better source of information about my condition then a old bag with an agenda of his own!  This is rapidly getting out of control!  At least now i feel better.  I don't feel burned or in too much terrible pain.  So what do i do?

With a shaking hoof, I opened up a new wound on my hoof and then one on her neck.  I pressed my cut against hers, and felt a little of my essence flow into her.  Immediately, she opened her eyes and gasped, turning around and bolting up and away from me.  I just smiled at her.  After a moment, she returned the expression.

"Leave my territory, thrall,"  I commanded in a regal voice.  "Go to the forest, and there you will wait until they find you.  Tell you were attacked by... something, and that you haven't been able to recover.  Go, now."

The mare's smile vanished, replaced by anxiety.  She nodded once and turned away, headed for the Everfree Forest.  I hope I don't have to put up with her again, I thought.

...

I went to Ponyville graveyard.  The smell of death was weak here, and I wandered the outskirts of Ponyville for much of the rest of the night before I found it.  I knew what to do.  I transformed into a ghoul, an eater of the dead.  I set about devouring the dead of Ponyville.

I got two before the light became too painful, and I had to bury myself in the coffin of one, leaving the rest to be sorted out by the grave keeper.

I had no dreams, but I did catch winds of conversation...

What the hay is all this!?

What am i gonna tell the families?!

This graveyard is closed!!

Miss Twilight, surely you know something?!

My sleep was peaceful after that.

...

I could smell the fear, the pain.  I could see nothing, but I could feel that moon was out, the night was young.  I had slept too long.  My bones creaked and rolled in their sockets as i moved.  Why was I so hungry?  I wonder what I must look like.  I don't know what day it is, I don't know what going on out there, I don't what, if anything, has happened.  I need to get a grasp on my situation, and I need to do it now.

I heaved myself and used my surprising strength to hoist myself up and out of the coffin I found myself in, and dug up through the damp dirt.  As soon as i broke the surface, I hissed.  The foul, biting smell of garlic burned through he entire area, making my eyes water and my breath labored.  I looked around as I struggled out of my hole, to see the entire graveyard filled with garlic, one clove on every grave besides the two I defiled.  I hissed again, and struggled towards the Everfree Forest.

The trip there was entirely uneventful.  I hesitated before I pushed my way through.  I wandered for a while in that way I was very used to doing, until the fog around me became very thick.  Too thick.

"Whose there?!"  I hissed at the fog.  It cleared a little, and then a shadow formed just ahead of me.  Walking towards me, her head rotten and bleeding, was the form of the purple mare.

"YOU!"  I yelled.

She smiled at me.  "Oh, quiet down, you'll wake the foals."

There was silence between us, before she chuckled.  "That's better."

I looked around, then spoke softly.  "Whats going on?  I told you to stay in the forest and wait for me."

She chuckled again.  I was starting to get annoyed with that sound.  "Yes, you did."

"And you didn't do it.  There was garlic all over my new feeding ground."

That smile got even wider.  "Astute."

"I order you to explain yourself!"

"Its simple.  You took away my life, so I'm going to make the rest of yours unbearable."

I looked down.  "Have you been speaking with my father?"

"Not the point.  Now, here's what your going to do.  Your going to march back to Ponyville and blend in until I come and find you.  Am I clear?"

"I don't know what you have planned, but its going to take more than orders to make me complacent."

Something shuffled next to me, but I didn't pay it any mind.  Neither did the mare.

I glared at her.  "I see only one end to this."

She sighed.  "Stallions."

It was my turn to smile.  "Guess again!"  I changed instantly into a ghoul and rushed her.  She uttered a small squeak before I ripped into her neck, carrying her with the force of my charge and then throwing her into a tree.  She slide down the base of the thing as I changed into a swarm of rats, covering her and biting every bit of flesh that I could.  Many of us were suddenly thrown as she shook furiously, and one of me looked over at her to reveal a wolf.  I was momentarily stunned.  How did she learn how to do that so quickly?

It charged my swarm and became a flurry of teeth.  It was biting, twisting, and stumbling all over bits of me.  I felt suddenly weaker.  Suddenly there was a flash of green flame and standing before was my proper thrall, Spike the dragon.

"I heard your pain, master!"  He said with pride.  He bellowed and spat another stream of flame at the wolf, but it was gone, replaced with a cloud of fog.

Each of my rats piled on top of each other and I emerged from the pile, looking worse for wear.  That wolf form was fast.

Then I laughed at her.  "That form is extremely tiring, Spike.  She can only hold for so long... shes desperate."

The cloud tried to flee, but I could easily chase her.  She was simply too inexperienced to dodge me or hold out against me for long.  My father chose a racer, but he chose poorly.  Eventually, she reverted, looking much the worse for wear.  Gently, I laid a hoof on her.

"Don't feel bad, you tried.  You just aren't meant to last.  You are a mistake, nothing more."

She grimaced. "A mistake?"

I didn't answer, instead biting into her neck, feeling the fresh blood slip between my teeth.  I drank her down, until once again, I was feeding on a cold, dry vein.  I threw her body away and it crumbled to dust.  I stepped forward, feeling raw power pulse through my veins.  I aimed a fiery glance toward a bored looking Spike.

"You are free,"  I said generously.  "Return to your friends."  Then I paused as he turned around.  In just a few days, he would expel my blood from himself.  He has served his purpose, there was no need to keep locked into slavery.  He started to walk away and I spoke up.  "Wait!"

Casually, I walked up to him and placed a hoof on his shoulder.  He shuddered from the cold.

"Tell what has happened since you fell asleep that day.."  I murmured with a dreamlike gaze.

So he spilled it.  He explained about his friends, how they had had a party for the return of Princess Celesta.  I had guessed at that much.  He told about his raw love for Rarity, a unicorn.  He told me about the elements, and then I understood what my father meant.  Spike confirmed my suspicions when he told that the elements banished Nightmare Moon, returning Luna to her full glory.  He told me about Twilight Sparkle, how he and her lived in Canterlot.  He told me that they were going to stay in Ponyville for the foreseeable future.  Then he told me that Twilight suspected that the action with the elements and the defeat of Nightmare Moon had roused a Vampire, but that care and garlic were enough to make it go away.  I chuckled at that.

"Thank you,"  I said honestly.  "You may go now."  Spike walked out of my life, for what I was sure was forever.

I buried myself in the ground.

...