Four years have passed since that night...
Four years of peace and harmony....
It had been a peaceful time for Equestria. well, not counting Discord's return, The Changeling invasion on Canterlot, or King Sombra attempting to take over the Crystal Empire. Nothing the Element Bearers and Richter Belmont couldn't handle. A lot of things had changed and happened during those four years. Twilight had become an alicorn princess, Richter and Annette had gotten married, with a big wedding party hosted by Pinkie Pie, and a whole book full of events. However, one event stood among them all...
It was a cold, dark night. Darker and colder than it normally would be in autumn. The full moon stood high in the sky, illuminating Equestria. Most ponies either paid it no mind or simply shrugged it off and continued about their day, but something happened that night that caught the attention of every pony. Annette and the mane six were the first to notice it.
Richter Belmont had vanished without a trace.
Twilight, despite her duties as princess, set out to search for her missing friend. She had grown to love Richter like a second brother, and feared for his safety. However, since there was no trace or sign of what could have happened to the vampire hunter, or where he had gone, Twilight had no idea where to begin her search for Richter. It was then that the lavender mare discovered something that shocked even her. Castlemania, the same castle she and Richter had traversed so long ago, had suddenly reappeared in Equestria. She thought to herself, and came to the conclusion that this and Richter's disappearance had to be connected. She had entered the castle in hopes of finding her friend and ally.
Meanwhile, over the past years, many evil beings, including some of Nightmare Moon's servants, had been struggling for the soul of a stallion named Adrian Fahrenheit Țepeș, better known now as Alucard. Alucard was a white, alicorn stallion with a blonde mane and tail. He had wings unlike any other pegasi or alicorn, his wings were those of a bat, crimson and ebony colored. His eyes were a very strange shade of yellow. Alucard's cutie mark was that of a large bat, signifying his dark powers.
In Equestria, during the year 1476, the ponies became disturbed and frightened when monsters, who had until that point only been talked about in legend, started to appear in populated areas. Such areas included Canterlot, Manehatten, Romane-ia, and much more. According to rumors, they were commanded by The Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon. Viewing the situation with great concern, Princess Celestia sent out her guards to subdue the threat. Because she was suspected to be a vampony, a secret team was deployed to find and defeat the dark alicorn.
After receiving no word from them for some time, the princess turned to the Belmont family as a last resort. Trevor Belmont stepped forward to end Nightmare Moon's attacks on Equestria. He was a descendant of Leon Belmont, the first Belmont, and was feared by the ponies of Equestria because of his powers. Therefore, the Belmont family lived outside of society to keep ponies from going into total panic mode.
During his journey, Trevor gathered many allies that would join him in his fight against Nightmare Moon. One of them being Alucard himself. After helping to send Nightmare Moon back to the moon, and despite his good intentions, Alucard couldn't help but feel guilty for his actions, knowing Nightmare Moon when she was still Princess Luna, the two had become close friends, about on the line of siblings. To ease his pain, he put himself to rest, submerging his powers.
Now, with the return of Castlemania, and no Belmont present, Alucard has no choice but to awaken from his slumber to get to the bottom of things. The dhampir made his way towards Castlemania, galloping through the Everfree Forest. Despite being well over 300 years old, Alucard could still move on his hooves very quickly. He could see the castle coming into view, wondering what could be waiting for him inside of it. With his sword in his magical grasp, his black cloak flowing in the wind, and the readiness to face whatever waited for him inside, He galloped forward towards the front gates of Castlemania.
Alucard made his way through the thick forest, galloping at full speed towards Castlemania. Crows were flying out of the trees and leaves were blowing past him as Alucard continued on his path. He had not laid eyes on the old castle, or Equestria for that matter for over 300 years. Alucard could see the castle coming into view as he ran faster, making it just in time before the castle gates closed. A failed attempt at trying to keep Alucard out of the castle. The first thing Alucard's golden eyes saw were that of a large timber wolf guarding the entrance inside. The creature locked eyes with Alucard, ready to attack him. The dhampir did not back down, prompting the wolf made of wooden logs to lunge at him. Alucard was prepared for the attack as he slashed it across the chest with his sword, blue flames surrounding the blade as he did. The wolf's body had been torn by the sword, getting a howl of pain from the timber wolf. It could not survive the burning of its wooden body as the flames from the Alucard Sword spread across it, killing the creature in the process. Alucard continued forward into the castle's halls.
The area itself was an elongated hallway with roughly three or four sections complete with standing pillars, tattered curtains, large square windows, and white plaster walls. Alucard had not been in this castle for a very long time, yet could recognize the foul, familiar stench of rotting flesh from anywhere. More timber wolves and even undead ponies were waiting for the dhampir, but went down rather easily with only one hit from Alucard's blade as he continued forward through the castle halls, his Twilight Cloak flowed as he walked.
At first glance, it would seem Alucard had pretty standard gear and equipment, but looks can be deceiving. Alucard's cloak was known as the Twilight Cloak. It was a cloak as black as night with a lining as red as blood. The cloak was enchanted, giving Alucard extra defense. Next, was his sword, strangely called the Alucard Sword. The sword had a crimson hilt and a straight blade, blue flames surrounded the sword whenever Alucard used it. This sword was special to the dhampir, as it was a gift and heirloom from his mother, and was possibly one of the most powerful weapons to exist in Equestria. Alucard was an excellent swordsman, and the Alucard Sword was his personal weapon of choice. Not only could Alucard swing the sword incredibly quick, but he had also mastered a technique he could use while wielding it. Another heirloom he obtained from his mother's side of his family was the Alucard Mail, and Alucard Shield. The shield was capable of blocking any projectile attack thrown in Alucard's direction, while the Alucard Mail made him resistant to the three main elements, fire, ice, and lightning. Like his cloak, the mail was enchanted and gave Alucard extra strength and defense. The dhampir also wore the Dragon Helm. A magical helmet shaped like the head of a dragon. Alucard also wore an enchanted necklace around his neck, called the Necklace of J. It's magical enchantments also increased Alucard's power. Alucard continued forward, slashing at enemies that came his way, but as he was about to enter the next room of the castle, he heard a hallow laughter as he stopped dead in his tracks. Knowing who's laugh that belonged to.
Appearing in front of Alucard was a large, floating, skeletal unicorn. The unicorn wore a large, black robe around him and held a scythe in his hooves. Alucard narrowed his eyes as he looked up at the skeletal pony before him, a pony he knew as Death. Nightmare Moon's most trusted servant and adviser. Why a being as powerful as the Grim Reaper himself took orders from the dark alicorn, Alucard did not know. His thoughts were cut off by the sound of Death's voice.
"Ah, Alucard.", Death greeted the dhampir. "It's been a long time since I've last laid eyes on you.". Alucard did not respond, continuing to glare up at the skeletal pony. Death continued. "Why have you of all ponies entered these castle walls?", Death asked. His large scythe slumped over his shoulders.
"...I've come to put an end to this.", Alucard answered, his eyes narrowed. Showing no signs of fear or hesitation, as Alucard did not fear the reaper before him. The dhampir had faced off with Death centuries ago alongside Trevor Belmont. If a battle were to begin between the two here and now, under the light of the full moon. Alucard would be ready for anything Death could muster, as this was not the first time his blade slew down the skeletal pony. Death scowled, or what looked like a scowl, at Alucard's reply.
"Still befriending ponies, I see.", said the Grim Reaper. "Very well, I'll not ask you to come back to our side...". Alucard once again, said nothing.
"...but I demand you cease your attack!", Death said. Looking straight into the alicorn's yellow eyes with his dark, lifeless ones. "If you will not behave, then you will begone!", he continued, pointing towards the way Alucard came with his skeletal front hoof.
Alucard shook his head, refusing to back down. "You should know by now that I take orders from no one...", Alucard said. "...So I will do neither. Step aside, Reaper." he continued. Death growled at Alucard for his stubbornness and insult.
"You shall regret your poor choice of words...", the bitter pony said, venom in his voice. "...The next time we meet, You will not be so lucky!", at that, Death extended his fore hoof and actually stole all of Alucard's equipment. His sword, shield, chest piece, and cloak were all taken away from the dhampir, causing him to grunt in surprise from the suddenness.
"What?!", Alucard exclaimed in suprise, He did not see that kind of trick coming.
Death merely gave out a hallow laugh as he disappeared. Leaving a now weakened Alucard by himself once more. Despite his weakened state, Alucard knew he could still hold his own in a fight. He trotted forward, determined to stop whatever Death and any other of Nightmare Moon's servants had planned, and to get the relics Death had stolen from him back.
Most specifically, his deceased mother's sword....
Journey back to 1792
and the Equestrian country side of Romane-ia
It was the dead of night, and the full moon illuminated the world. Normally, the morning sun would have risen and shined upon the beautiful land known as Equestria, also known as the Land of Ponies, but this was a night unlike any other. The dark and evil alicorn known as Nightmare Moon, formerly known as Princess Luna, youngest of the two royal alicorn sisters and controller of the moon, who ruled Equestria alongside her older sister, Princess Celestia, controller of the sun, had shrouded the land in eternal night. Without any pony else to turn to, the Belmont family was summoned to do battle with Nightmare Moon. The Belmont family has a long history of doing battle with Nightmare Moon and her forces. Each time the alicorn would return to spread darkness across Equestria, a Belmont, wielding their clan's legendary sacred whip known as The Vampire Killer, slew down Nightmare's forces, and sent her back to the moon. When she had returned this time, the hot-headed youth known as Richter Belmont, descendant of Simon Belmont, possibly the most famous member of the Belmont clan of vampire hunters, was chosen to take upon the task of sending the evil alicorn back to her banishment on the moon. Richter was a blue, unicorn stallion with a brown mane and tail. He had blue eyes, and his cutie mark was that of a whip. The same whip known as Vampire Killer. The Belmonts have wielded this whip for generations.
Nightmare Moon, freed from her banishment by evil ponies, who sacrificed a young virgin mare's blood and life, commanded her forces to attack Richter's home town of Ponyville, and as soon as he found out, he galloped towards the town, his whip in hoof. Unfortunately, he was late as Nightmare Moon kidnapped his fiancé, Annette and six other maidens, who were actually the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, from the village. Richter made his way through many formidable creatures and obstacles. Including floating medusa heads, bottomless pits, a werepony, a minotaur wielding a large battle axe, a ghostly knight wearing heavy armor with no helmet and armed with a giant lance, a golem made entirely of bones that could be configured in several different ways, a strange eyeball monster created from a forbidden spell, a powerful snake mare named Medusa, a giant monster made out of pieces of corpses, sewn together and reanimated through an undisclosed method by a pony known as Victor Frankenstein, the dark priest known as Shaft, and the Grim Reaper himself, and after getting the seven captured maidens to safety, Richter had but one, final challenge ahead of him.
Richter stood at the bottom of the grand stairway of Castlemania, leading to the throne room. He knew Nightmare Moon would be waiting for him, but Richter was ready. He was ready to face the dark mare, He was ready to meet his destiny as a descendant of the Belmont clan. Without any hesitation or second thoughts, Richter dashed up the ancient stairway towards the throne room. In the night sky, he could see the clouds moving faster than usual, and the stone makings of the castle's stairway had began to crumble apart. Richter expected no less from Castlemania, it was a castle as old as Princess Celestia herself. Though, I'd probably be in the same place as Nightmare Moon if I called the Princess that. Richter thought to himself. Soon enough, Richter found himself within the throne room of the ancient castle. It was a large room with four large candle stands, and two stone columns in the background. Richter could see crimson markings on the walls, but was not sure what they meant or why they were there. Sitting in the throne was Nightmare Moon herself, her face resting on her front hoof. It looked as if the dark mare was bored and unamused. In the other hoof was a glass filled with a liquid Richter couldn't quite determine, but that's not what mattered to the vampire hunter at this moment. Now was the time to end darkness and restore peace to Equestria. For awhile, the two simply stared daggers at each other. Richter was the first to speak of the two, ready for whatever trick Nightmare Moon had prepared for him.
"Back to the moon with you, monster.", Richter stated, "You don't belong in Equestria!", Nightmare Moon appeared amused by Richter's claim. She gave him a devilish smirk, her evil eyes locked with his sapphire colored eyes.
"It was not by my hoof that I am once again freed from my imprisonment.", Nightmare said. "I was called here by ponies who actually enjoy my beautiful night and wish to pay me tribute." Her eyes narrowed and her smirk grew at the vampire hunter in front of her.
"Tribute?!", Richter exclaimed, pointing his front hoof at the dark mare before him, "You steal ponies' souls, and make them your slaves!"
Nightmare Moon simply laughed. "Freedom is always sacrificed to faith, good hunter. Or are you truly here by choice?", She asked. Richter narrowed his eyes, refusing to back down from a fight with this alicorn.
"Your words are as empty as your soul!", Richter stated, not taking his eyes off of the alicorn. "Ponykind ill needs a savior such as you.", the vampire hunter stated. By this point, Nightmare's smirk had disappeared, replaced with a scowl.
"What is a pony?!", the shadowy alicorn asked, throwing the glass she had in her hoof to the floor, shattering it in the process. "A miserable little pile of friendship!",She stated this before Richter had time to answer her question. Nightmare Moon now stood up from her throne,her large wings fully extended. "But enough talk, have at you!", she exclaimed, before teleporting from her throne. Richter grabbed Vampire Killer with his magic, ready for battle. A final duel between vampire hunter and dark princess had begun.
Richter knew not where Nightmare Moon would appear, but kept his guard up none the less. The dark mare's evil laugh echoed through the room as she disappeared from her throne. With Vampire Killer in his magical grasp, Richter readied himself for what was to come. A battle he was destined to face since birth.
Nightmare Moon had appeared behind the vampire hunter, a dark aura surrounding her horn as she fired three, large fireballs out from her horn and towards Richter. Richter saw this just in time to evade Nightmare's attack and counter with a swing from his whip, hitting Nightmare Moon right in the muzzle, Vampire Killer's holy empowerment made her take even more damage. She grunted in pain as she disappeared again. Richter had her on edge. If he could continue to dodge Nightmare Moon's attacks while countering with his whip, the victory would be sealed and he would save Equestria from eternal night.
Nightmare Moon appeared once more, this time in front of Richter and attacked with another Hellfire attack. Unfortunately, Richter wasn't fast enough to dodge, as his blue coat was burnt by one of the fireballs. Richter grunted in pain, and attempted to shrug the pain off, Nightmare's laughter echoing through the room once more as she flew straight at Richter, baring her fangs. Richter's eyes widened as soon as he noticed the incoming attack. Thinking quickly, Richter pulled out a glass bottle filled with holy water and threw it at the alicorn. the bottle broke on impact and holy flames were released on Nightmare Moon, burning the alicorn with holy power in the process. She once again grunted in pain as she teleported again, her charge interrupted from the sudden holy water throw, the flames dying out as she disappeared once more.
Nightmare Moon appeared from seemingly no where and grabbed Richter. Despite his struggles to escape her grasp, he couldn't. Nightmare had been badly damaged from Richter's previous attacks but no more, a green aura surrounded her horn as the vampire hunter began to feel his life force slowly be drained away from him. Nightmare's wounds were disappearing as she continued, eventually reaching her max power again, throwing the now weakened Richter to the ground.
Richter, refusing to give up, stood back up on his hooves, much to Nightmare Moon's amusement.
"You're kidding.", She said. "You're kidding, right?"
Richter's expression said otherwise, as he prepared one last attack in hopes of finishing off Nightmare Moon. an attack he had been waiting for the right occasion to use, and hopefully, it would be enough to finish off the shadowy mare. with a light blue glow around his horn, Richter pointed upwards with his hoof.
"HYDRO STORM!!", Richter shouted. it was at that moment that the room took a blue tint to it, and a mass storm of holy water fell down upon everything in the throne room, including Nightmare Moon herself.
Nightmare Moon was not prepared for an attack, or even saw it coming. She had no time to teleport or get out of the way as the hydro storm over took her, dealing massive damage to her shadowy body.
By now, Richter was completely exhausted, not having enough energy to stand up any longer, he collapsed to a knee. Nightmare Moon however, was still standing, despite the mass damage his item crash had done to her.
This is it... Richter thought to himself, knowing full well that his death was near. This is the end...I've failed....
"Richter!", called out a mare's voice, snapping Richter out of his thoughts as he turned his head to see the source of the voice. There, galloping up the grand stairway and into the throne room were the six mares who wielded the Elements of Harmony, the six mares he had rescued from Nightmare Moon's imprisonment. The source of the voice was also the one who was currently leading the other five mares, the purple unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight had aided Richter throughout most of the adventure, proving to him that her magic could hold off Nightmare's forces just as good as his whip and sub-weapons. The vampire hunter had been impressed with her magical talent, though he insisted on taking on Nightmare Moon all on his lonesome. Richter had kept Twilight from getting harmed on multiple occasions, though now it seemed the roles were reversed.
"Come on,girls!", Twilight called out. "Let's grant him our strength!"
"Right!", all five mares replied. The jewels in their necklaces, which resembled each of their respective cutie marks, began to glow as the power of the elements was transferred to Richter. The vampire hunter floated into the air as new found strength flowed through his body and veins. Nightmare Moon would not back down, even in her weakened state. She continued to attack, but it was all for not. Richter was completely invincible to all of her attacks, and with a few more swings from his whip, She finally went down.
"NO!", Nightmare Moon called out. "THIS CAN NOT BE!", She screamed in agony as she faded into nothing. Nightmare Moon had been defeated once more, and was sent back to the moon. Richter let out a sigh of relief as his new found power left him. He turned to the six mares behind him.
"That...was...AWESOME!!", said the cyan pegasus named Rainbow Dash. "You were like all BAM! and POW! Nightmare Moon didn't stand a chance!". Rainbow shared a laugh with the other girls, happy to know the dark mare had been defeated.
"Heh. I would probably be dead if not for you girls.", Richter replied. "Thank you."
Richter's gratitude was cut short as the castle began to crumble and collapse. Castlemania could not stay in the Equestrian world without it's master. It only took a second to realize what was going on as Richter and the six mares galloped out of the room and made their escape.
