The Janitor - Cleaner of the Everfree

Twilight slowly regained consciousness... and there was only one word that she could use to describe how she felt this time... agony.

Her hooves curled up to her stomach, where she felt the intensely sharp pain of the stitches that held her stomach in one piece. Her tears streamed from her eyes, and her cries echoed through the cave. She was frightened, she was in pain, and most of all, she was alone... or so she thought.

Her cries were briefly cut short when she realized that it was late at night, and she was sitting near a strange bonfire. Across that bonfire, however, was none other than the green-eyed enigma with a questionably insatiable thirst for blood. She still ended up whimpering from the pain, but now she also had fear thrown into the mix.

Ignoring the tears from her eyes and the increasing pain inside her, she feebly attempted to crawl away, only for the figure's eyes to open, and his head to turn towards her. Needless to say, she tried to scream at the top of her lungs... but her mouth was quickly held shut by one of the figure's hands after he appeared in front of her through the black fog in a split-second. Out of fear, she closed her eyes and continued to scream, though her voice was muffled by his hand.

Her muffled screams were then countered with him shushing her. She slowly opened her eyes and gasped when she saw his fangs inside his mouth, which was open. His right pointing finger crossed over his lips in a way similar to how Spike, the little drake from the library that she protected, would motion when he shushed anypony.

Then, he did something else that she didn't expect... he spoke.

"Please don't move around yet... it'll only make your pain even worse." His voice was somewhat medium-pitched, and calming. The way how he used his words gave her the impression that he must've been serious natured, which only backed his shadiness, and made her feel a little more uneasily towards him.

He kept his hand over her mouth and slowly leaned closer at her. She leaned backwards a little by his close proximity, but stopped her muffled screaming. "Will you promise me that you won't try making any sudden movements, or screaming? It's important if you want the medicine to work effectively."

She nervously closed her eyes and nodded her head. Then he removed his hand from her mouth and walked back to the bonfire, where he sat on the ground and closed his eyes once again. As he did, the fog filled the room, only stopping near the bonfire. Twilight's eyes widened at the sudden change, and she started to look around uneasily.

"It's not going to hurt you," the figure told her as his eyes remained closed. "It's just listening out for anything."

Twilight looked at him before weakly crawling closer to the bonfire... she was only able to move an inch before the pain in her stomach started acting up once more. Then she curled up and yelped, only for her movement to be hindered by the figure again.

"I know it's hard to understand, but you really mustn't move!" She opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off by covering her mouth again, and shaking his head. "You need to rest... there's no need to try speaking, yet... in fact, it's a miracle that you even can... but it's a good sign. Perhaps ponies recover much faster than humans do." Then he inched closer to her. "Please promise me that you won't try to run off, though... it won't just be your life that you'll be endangering... understood?"

They stayed that way for a short while. Then she weakly nodded her head and mumbled through his hand, "Okay."

He removed his hand from her mouth and smiled. "Thank you... by the way, when I say 'your life you'll be endangering', I'm not talking about what I would do... it's what they will do."

Twilight sniffled a couple times before weakly stuttering, "T... they?"

The figure nodded his head and sat back down next to the bonfire with his eyes closed. "Cyborgs, Robots, Zombies... take your pick. They'll all be a threat."

Twilight's ears perked up at the last of the list. "W-wait... Zombies?!"

Again the figure nodded his head. "As long as you're in here, though, you'll be safe."

"B-but... z-zombies don't-"

"Exist?" he finished for her. She nodded her head in response. "That's what my people thought... before our world was destroyed."

Twilight lied there speechlessly for another long moment. Whether it was a side effect from the "medicine" that she took, or the large amount of sleepiness that she felt, she decided to just go with what the stranger said without any debates. "I'm... I'm sorry."

The figure opened an eye and looked at her. "You weren't there... so there's nothing to apologize for." Then he closed his eye again. "But if you're apologizing for bringing it up, you don't have to worry. It's... relaxing... to talk to someone new again."

She weakly smiled at him, but only for a brief second before the fog filled the room, save for the area around them. "S-so... about the-"

"Fog?" he asked for her. She nodded her head in response. "It's a side-effect from a... special kind of medicine that a chef gave me after I died."

Her eyes widened at that comment. "Y-you... you died?!"

He nodded his head. "Yeah... but The Chef brought me back with that medicine. As a side-effect, though, I've been changed... but it wasn't the first change I've gone through."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked. She tried to move, but winced and hissed before deciding against it once the sharp pain in her stomach started holding her back.

He opened his mouth and pointed at the fangs in his mouth. "The fangs are the results of my first transformation... it's what made me become a Vampire."

She stared at his fangs for a brief second before attempting to back away again, while trying to fight the pain. Plus, the word 'Vampire' gave her an even worse idea for why he was keeping her in there.

He sighed before Shifting up to her and pinning her to the ground once more. He then deadpanned at her and griped, "Seriously, will you give it a rest, already?! I'm not here to hurt you!"

She whined and flinched at him as he held her forehooves to the ground with his hands, and pinned her midsection to the ground with his legs wrapped around her, carefully so as not to mess up her scar. She tried shaking free, but gave up and settled down while still breathing heavily. Then she opened her eyes and realized the close proximity that he was in... as well as the awkward position. He, however, appeared to not notice, as he was still deadpanning at her.

"Listen... I was transformed into a Vampire the first time... and that was before I died! When I was transformed the second time, I regained control over myself, and was freed from the curse, even though I kept some of the benefits! Now, will you stay calm this time?!"

She weakly nodded her head and replied, "Y-yes, sir... I... I'm s-s-sorry!" Then she started to break down into tears again. The figure sighed and loosened his grip on her forehooves before gently brushing her mane, which made her open her left eye and look up at him.

He then spoke in a calming manner. "Hey... I'm trying to be reasonable here, okay? Plus, it's not like I've spoken with anyone in a long time, so you might as well blame the attitude on the lack of friends. Alright?"

She nodded her head and replied, "O-okay... um... c-can you please get off of me? I... I won't run... I promise for real this time."

He looked down and stared at the position they were in with a blank expression. "Um... this just got awkward." He shifted back to the bonfire and was sitting cross-legged at it once more. "Yeah... sorry about that. I didn't even notice the position we were in, because I was too focused on calming you down."

She tried to hide her blush but failed. Then she looked at him and shook her head. "It's... alright."

They sat there for another long moment in silence. The figure decided to close his eyes and allow the fog to fill the room again. Twilight eyed the fog curiously, but with less fear this time. She opened her mouth to speak, but the figure beat her to the punch.

"The fog is a result of my first transformation that stayed with me, but was enhanced by my second one. The second transformation returned my sanity to me... in a way, it set me free from the curse that the first one brought onto me, while also adding its own benefits into the mix."

"S-such as?" she asked.

He opened his eyes and looked up before rubbing his chin in thought. "Well... for starters, it gave me protection from death by normal means... not even jumping off of a mountain can kill me, now... sure it'll still hurt like Hell, but... what's to expect from jumping off of a mountain to begin with?" He lightly chuckled at his comment while noticing Twilight cover her mouth and puff her cheeks, holding back a laugh. "I see my sense of humor hasn't worn off, at least."

She shook her head before rubbing her stomach to ease the slight pain her held laugh brought. "It's... okay." Then she looked up at him and said, "T-thank you, by the way..."

He opened an eye and looked at her again. "You're welcome... but please, next time, just try to avoid getting caught. While I'll admit you getting caught did help me locate the lab I was searching for, it was a huge gamble on your life... and that scar on your stomach is just visual proof of what they'll try to do to you... and that's if they don't try putting you down where you stand... or lie."

She looked at the scar on her stomach and nodded her head. "I... understand." Then she looked up at him again. "Um... if you don't mind me asking... who exactly are you?"

He closed his eye again and resumed his meditation. "Unfortunately, the price of being resurrected is the loss of memories... and one of those memories happened to be my own name. Therefore, I've taken the last job that I had prior to dying, and considered that my name."

She nodded her head and asked, "S-so... your job was?"

He opened his eyes and looked at her again. "You can call me... The Janitor."