Return of the Vampire King

"It all happened on a night." - Rainbow Dash.

There was a rainy night in Equestria. Pegasi had to make a rain because plants needed it to grow.

Somewhere in the dark, deep caves of Diamond Dogs, a door made of stone stood, untouched for centuries, for millenniums. Behind it was a large room with black stone columns. In the centre of the room stood a black coffin.

Suddenly symbols started to appear on the coffin. They were glowing orange. The coffin opened, revealing a pony inside it. It was a stallion. His fur was short and pale gray, his skin was very pale. His black mane was combed back and tied in a ponytail. His tail was long and black and was tied in a ponytail as well. His cutie mark represented a full red moon with a black vampire bat inside it.

The stallion himself was very big. He had his legs crossed on his chest, and his head was propped with a soft, white pillow. The stallion wore a black cape with a hood.

Suddenly he shot his eyes open. Their color was between red and orange. The eyes had vertical pupils.

The stallion slowly got up from the coffin and stood on his four legs, revealing to be two and a half meters tall. He looked around but didn't find his regalia: the crown and scepter.

The stallion turned to the door and closed his eyes, concentrating. A door started to glow red, then shattered into pieces. The way to freedom is now opened.

Half an hour before.

Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, was sitting in the library reading a new book. It was already 23:30, but the book was so interesting Twilight just couldn't stop reading even for a moment.

Suddenly, her number one assistant, Spike the Dragon entered the library and ran to Twilight, holding a scroll in his claws.

"Hey, Twilight! I've got a letter from Princess Celestia!" he said, panting. "It is written that you must read it as soon as possible."

Twilight looked surprised. She hasn't had any letters from the Princess of the Sun for months, and now here it is - the letter of great importance.

Twilight grabbed it, opened it and started reading.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

My sister has been having nightmares for two days. She said she had seen a long gone pony, the one who spread fear across Equestria when me and my sister were just fillies.

I'm afraid that the fearsome Vampire King has returned or is to return.

I don't know what is he up to, but I know for sure that he is extremely dangerous. Maybe even more dangerous than Tirek was.

The King possesses many forbidden abilities, such as necromancy and hypnotizing. Do not look him in the eyes!

And remember! He is more than two thousand years old. He is very clever, so don't try to confront him without a good plan.

Good luck,

Yours,

Princess Celestia

Twilight sighed, turned to Spike and said:

"Well, the rest is over."

"What is it, Twilight?" the dragon asked worriedly.

"A new enemy has returned. The king of vampires."

"A v-vampire?" Spike asked in trembling voice. "Are y-you kidding m-me? I hate vampires! They want m-my warm b-blood!"

The dragon ran to stairs and went upstairs, looking for a shelter.

Twilight sighed and looked outside the window. It was a rainy night. The moon was full and shined bright. Nopony but a few guards were in Ponyville. The guards have appeared two days before and were guarding Mayor Mare's residence.

Twilight went down the stairs and to the throne room. She summoned the map and tapped on every cutie mark of her friends.

Half an hour later a meeting was held in the throne room. All of the six were here, most of them were sleepy and a little wet because of the rain.

"Twilight, why did ya call us here?" Applejack asked and yawned. "Ah have been working all day and I'm tired like a mule."

"The new enemy has returned," Twilight answered.

"Wait, wait, hold on a second," Rainbow Dash said. "How can a new enemy return? It makes no sense!"

"Actually, it does," Twilight disagreed. "Do you know anything about the Vampire King?"

"All I know is that parents use him to scare foals to go to sleep."

"Do you know that he is real?"

"What do you mean? Do you mean..." Rainbow Dash paused. "That we are... Going to fight... The Vampire King?"

"I know you fear..."

"No, you don't get the point," Rainbow Dash interrupted. "It is going to be AWESOME!"

"There is no awesomeness about fighting the Vampire King!" Twilight raised her voice. "Do you know how strong he is?"

"Do you?"

"Well, I..."

"Girls, enough!" Applejack interrupted. "This argument ain't leading us anywhere!"

"Yeah, I think you're right, Applejack. Twilight, I'm sorry for not taking you seriously," Rainbow Dash apologized.

"Apology accepted," Twilight smiled. "I kind if expected that from you, you fighter."

Everyone laughed.

"Well, now we must be serious," Twilight said after wiping away her tears. "Now..."

Twilight told her friends about the letter and who are they fighting against.

"Wow, that sounds really serious," Rainbow Dash said. "So, how are we going to defeat him?"

"I have no idea," Twilight said. Everyone gasped.

"Twilight, you always have a plan for anything!" Pinkie Pie said. "You have a plan for making cupcakes, you have a plan for your day, you have a plan for our days, you have..."

"And now I don't," Twilight stopped Pinkie Pie's speech. "I didn't really think about anything like that. I think we must go to Canterlot to search for any information about vampires to defeat the King."

"I'm afraid you are not going anywhere tonight," a vibrating, low voice said. Everyone turned their heads to the voice and found a stallion with a cape and a hood on, standing in the front entrance. The water dropped from his cape, making a puddle on the crystal floor.

"You are surprised to see me right here, aren't you?" the stallion asked and took off his hood. His face looked pretty young despite being very pale. His glowing eyes slowly turned from one pony to another. No one dared to look him in the eyes.

"Vampire King..." Fluttershy said in trembling voice and fainted.

"Why yes, it is I. Did I hear thee right,thou is going to destroy me? And why thou want to destroy me?" the King turned to Twilight, who has shown no signs of fear. She looked somewhere between his eyes, avoiding direct eye contact. "Why is thou so hostile towards me?"

"You suck out the blood of the innocent," Twilight answered, gritting her teeth. "How much blood have you sucked out already, Vampire King?"

"Believe me or not, but not a single drop of blood was in my mouth since I woke up," the stallion replied and grinned, showing his sharp, white fangs. There was no blood on them indeed. "Oh, forgive me for my manners, I am Nicholas, the great King of Vampires. I ask thee, which year is it?"

"It is 2015 since Equestria was founded," Twilight replied.

"So I indeed was sleeping for two thousands of years..." the King rubbed his chin. "Well, thank thee for the information. Now, I have to leave thee."

The Vampire King turned around and left the throne room. As soon as he left, Fluttershy woke up. Twilight tried to stand up but was unable to move.

"Can anyone move?" she asked. Everypony answered negatively. "Well, I think we have to wait until his magic wears off."

"Twilight, how could he entered the castle without us knowing?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Haven't you casted protective spells on it?"

"I have but he broke them, I think," Twilight replied.

"How come ya didn't notice that?" Applejack asked.

"I have no idea," Twilight said and got up from her throne. "Oh look, his magic wore off!"

Everyone got up from their thrones and stretched their limbs. Then they all went to the outside. But none of them could see anypony in darkness, as the clouds covered the moon.

Nicholas was already far from the six, taking night train to Canterlot. He asked for a note about Canterlot and now he was reading it.

'The city was built after the conflict of two sisters?' he asked himself in thought. 'They had a strong connection if Celestia left the royal castle because her sister became evil.'

Other night passengers, mostly bat ponies, looked at the stallion with interest. Not everyday you can see a stallion as tall as Celestia. No one recognized him as the Vampire King because his cape covered his cutie mark.

"Passengers! Prepare your tickets!" the Controller announced, accompanied by a couple of night guards. A pony by pony, they made their way to the Vampire King. After asking a pony for a ticket, the Controller asked it to show its cutie mark if it cannot be seen.

The Controller now stood in front of the King.

"Your ticket, please," he asked.

"Here you are, sir," Nicholas answered and handed him his ticket. The Controller looked at it, then raised his eyes to meet Nicholas's ones.

'Thou do not need to see my cutie mark,' the Vampire King ordered the Controller mentally.

His eyes widened in fear and he opened his mouth to call guards.

'Thou do not need to draw attention to us, do thou?' Nicholas said mentally, addressing the pony before him, shutting him up. 'Thou don't want to die, do thou?'

The pony gulped and went on to check others' tickets.

An hour later, Canterlot streets.

Nicholas slowly walked, looking at the signs, hoping to find a sign of antiques shop. He found it in the centre of a small street.

The King entered the shop, ringing the bell. The owner of the shop looked up from his book and greeted the king.

"Good evening! How can I help you?"

"Where do thou have crowns?" Nicholas asked.

"Yes, I've got plenty of those," the owner said, getting up from his chair. "I even had to build another room for them."

The two walked to the nearest door and opened it, revealing a big room full of different crowns. Nicholas could tell that most of them were fake. He entered the room and looked around. He noticed a crown on a shelf on the right wall. It was a big crown. Its base was a silver ring. The front of the crown had a bat with opened wings. There were also four spikes, each represented a bat's wing. Nicholas pointed at it.

"That crown? Good choice, sir!" the owner of shop said, grabbing the crown with his hooves and walking back into the main room. "This is a crown of the King of Vampires, but I think you already know that."

"And I'm taking it," the King said.

"It will cost you five thousand bits, sir," the seller said.

"Don't thou knowest who I am?" the King asked in menacing tone.

"Should I?" the seller said, pushing a button under his table with his hind leg.

The King took off his cape, revealing muscular body with big bat-like wings on its sides. Suddenly the seller felt himself unable to breath as if something was suffocating him.

"I am the Vampire King!" Nicholas said angrily. "I am the crown's owner!"

The seller's eyes widened in shock. He was chocking and gasping for air, but was unable to do so. His vision started to fade as he fell. Suddenly he felt himself free and able to breath. He coughed and stood up.

"I do not need thee dead, not because of thine lack of vision," the King said calmly. "I know thee hath called the guards. Give me the biggest saddlebag and put the crown in it."

The seller made a small nod and took a big saddlebag from a pile near the exit. He shoved the crown inside and handed the saddlebag to the King, who put it on, then put on his cape.

"Is there another way out?" he asked.

"There is a manhole in the roof just above you," the seller answered.

The Vampire King stood on his hind legs and opened the manhole with his front hooves. He jumped and got to the roof. He turned to the street and noticed two guards, hurrying to the shop. As soon as they entered it, the Vampire King jumped down and went back to the train station. Suddenly another two guards appeared right in front of him.

"Halt!" the first one ordered.

"Who goes there?" the second one asked.

"You do not need to know," Nicholas whispered and made them fall asleep with the help of his magic. The stallion crossed them and continued his walk towards the station. He hoped to get back to the cave before the dawn.