Pony Predators of Equestria

One, two, three, four, five, Lunar counts to himself, mouthing the words to the rhythm of his wings. He scans the sea of trees stretching out below him to the horizon in all directions, the dull burn permeating his lungs and the muscles at the base of his wings ever so slightly easing after his brief ascent levels off, and glide…

"Midniiight!"

He glances up towards the star-speckled night sky as he restarts his count, focusing instead on Luna's moon now hovering nearly three quarters of its way to the western horizon rather than the complaints of his tiring body. He swallows, licking his dried lips and looking away, the reminder of the approaching dawn tightening the knot in his gut. Pausing his wings for another short glide, he opens his mouth once more, "Midniiight!"

A small rock whizzes past him without warning, the projectile just barely missing his head though it clips the tuft of fluff tipping his left ear – a voice following in the rock's wake, "Be quiet!"

Lunar instantly comes to a stop, his heart hammering in his chest as he turns around to look over the short stretch of trees behind him, searching for the most likely source of the rock. Settling on a particularly tall tree poking up well above the rest of the Everfree, he dives, slowing only enough to either slip between the thicker branches crowding the forest's dense canopy or else maneuver to push through the thinner, more flexible ones.

He glances from side to side upon landing on the dry, grassless dirt of the forest floor, absently pressing down on a few of the bandages covering cuts earned during the previous night while peering into the darkness surrounding him – what little moonlight which had managed to penetrate this far leaving it dim, even to his eyes, "Hello?"

"Oh for the love of… " a voice hisses softly behind him. "In what world does getting a rock chucked at you and being told to shut up mean 'come down here and keep being loud'?"

Lunar turns sharply on his heel, his eyes landing on the trunk of the tree directly behind him. He blinks, his gaze rising to land first on a ruby-coated vampony mare with a perfectly black mane and tail glowering at him from a branch to his right, then moving to an identically colored stallion standing on another branch of the same tree as he fades into visibility on Lunar's left.

"I'm sorry for the noise," Lunar apologizes, "but have either of you seen Midnight? Or know where I could find her, at least? I've been looking for her for a couple of hours."

"We've heard," the mare mutters, glancing at her partner.

The stallion licks his lips and smiles down at Lunar, his teeth on full display, "Why are you looking for her? Prey like yourself coming this far into the Everfree at all, and especially in search of a vampony, is quite an odd thing to do."

A tingling chill shoots down Lunar's spine, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, "W-Well, I… she told me something, and I got a bit scared and angry, and I said some things that maybe I shouldn't have. So I wanted to tell her that I'm sorry."

The stallion's smile widens, his irises smoldering with a pulsating light as he keeps his eyes locked on Lunar's, "And if I'm not mistaken, you came out here all by yourself to tell her this, right?"

"Correct," Lunar answers without hesitation.

The stallion breaks eye contact to glance at his partner, a predatory grin spreading across her face as well.

Lunar gasps, lowering his gaze as soon as the stallion's eyes leave his own, the air around him suddenly cooler and lighter, as if an invisible weight pressing down on him from all sides had been lifted. He shakes his head to clear it, warning bells going off as he looks back up at the two vamponies, "Soo… uhm… if you haven't seen Midnight, I'll just be going, then. But I'll, uh, definitely try to be quieter from now on."

The mare and stallion simultaneously turn to him, their eyes glowing brightly amongst the Everfree's shadows.

"No, you won't," the stallion states.

Lunar staggers at the stallion's words, an invisible wave slamming into him to leave nothing more than a high pitched buzz filling his mind. Then, just as quickly as it had hit, the wave returns towards the two vamponies, pulling him along with it to the base of their tree. He stares up at them blankly, "Okay, I won't."

"Don't move," the mare commands.

"Okay," Lunar replies, his mouth moving of its own accord before the meaning of the two words manages to float to the murky surface of his consciousness.

The stallion smirks, "And don't speak."

Lunar nods, a panicked, incoherent voice in the back of his mind growing steadily louder, screaming helplessly at his own body.

The vamponies jump from their perch to land on either side of their incapacitated prey, the mare laughing, "You know, I'm not sure why you bothered with any of the talking; either of us could've overwhelmed him when he first landed without even trying. And this is the pony who the alicorn said was her guard?" She gently pushes Lunar's head from side to side, Lunar obediently keeping his head in the position she leaves it while she traces his jugular with a hoof, "I'm not sure what I expected, but it was definitely better than this. What could Midnight possibly see in him?"

"Who knows and who cares?" the stallion asks, rolling his eyes. "I know what I see in him though."

The mare snickers, lifting the closest of Lunar's forelegs, "Mmm~, me too."

Her eyes flicker faintly as she examines her chosen leg, sinking her teeth into Lunar's flesh after a moment of consideration.

Lunar blinks sluggishly, barely registering so much as a prick of pain from the penetration of her fangs before the spreading venom mutes the sensation. From there the numbness moves up his leg to his chest and across the rest of his body, each fraction of a second seeming like an hour as his world shrinks, impenetrable blackness claiming more and more of his vision – a forceful yank followed by a piercing, furious screech reaching his ears just before the ground rushes up to meet him.

The shadows clinging to Midnight break apart the instant she rams her shoulder into the vampony feeding from Lunar Trail, the force of the impact tearing the ruby mare's fangs from Lunar's leg. Pressing her advantage, Midnight raises her mouth to the other mare's right ear, releasing a deafening screech in the split second before they hit the ground, the two of them tumbling across the forest floor in a hissing mass of wings, hooves, and teeth. Their battle does not last long, however. Mere seconds later Midnight emerges on top while the ruby mare lies groaning beneath her, the back of the mare's head dripping blood onto the hard, gnarled root beneath it while two pairs of holes dribble more blood from her neck.

Wasting no time on her triumph, Midnight leaps aside, the teeth of the ruby mare's partner snapping shut where her neck had been the moment before – his teeth merely yanking out a few strands of hair from her mane rather than slicing into skin and muscle. Flaring her wings, Midnight skitters away from the ruby stallion, a low growl rippling from her throat as she places herself between him and Lunar. The stallion responds in kind, standing over the fallen mare.

After a few seconds, the stallion smirks, taking a step towards Midnight, "And here I was thinking you were trying to ignore that idiot like the rest of us. I guess you really did get to know the prey that was with Luna better than just leading them around our forest, hm? In fact, you must have gotten to know this one particularly well, Midnight, for him to dare to fly over the Everfree for hours, making so much noise trying to find you." He takes another deliberate step forward, Midnight taking a step back and letting out another low growl. The stallion grins, "What? You have to admit it's pretty surprising that you of all ponies would be interested in somepony like him. Your brother at least I would sort of been able to understand, what with how weak willed and submissive he is, and with how much time he already spends with that other prey living in the forest, but I-"

"It's even stranger for somepony like you to talk about somepony else being weak willed," Midnight retorts, "especially after you and your mate over there decided you had to team up to overwhelm Luna's guard."

The stallion stiffens, scowling, "How long were you following him?"

"Does it really matter?" Midnight asks, giving him a toothy grin, "The others may not like the agreement we had to make with their princess, but I bet they'll like it even less that you both decided to risk all our lives by breaking it just to get a quick drink after, what, three nights? Right now, I should be the least of your worries."

The stallion's eyes glow brightly, locking onto Midnight's, "Except you aren't going to tell anypony about this, are you?"

Midnight's lips curl in a silent snarl as her eyes flare to life to match her aggressor's, neither of them moving while the soundless battle rages between them. Eventually though, Midnight stalks forward, each step punctuated by a word, "Yes. I. Will."

The ruby stallion grits his teeth and staggers backwards, his eyes' glow flickering out. He ducks his head, dropping his gaze to the ground, "H-How?"

Midnight closes the remaining distance between them, her own undimmed eyes still shining, "Who knows? Maybe you're not as strong as you think you are. Or maybe, I'm stronger than you now."

"That's not-"

"In any case," Midnight interrupts, her eyes pulsing brighter, "you. Are going to take your mate. And get out of here. Or else I'm going to find out if feeding from another vampony is really as useless as my parents told me."

The stallion shivers, but nods, keeping his head lowered while he backs up one more step to stand over the ruby mare. Wrapping his hooves around her barrel, he takes to the air, leaving behind only a bloodstained root and a small smudge of blood encrusted mud.

Midnight watches them retreat, her smoldering eyes following their weaving path between the trees. She shudders the moment they leave her sight, sitting heavily enough to kick up a puff of dust from the dry earth. Raising a trembling hoof, she wipes away a rivulet of sweat attempting to sneak its way down the side of her neck, feeling the rush of air flowing to and from her starving lungs along with the pulse of her own racing heart. However, as soon as she catches her breath, she stands with a grunt and walks over to Lunar Trail, her eyes drawn to the blood still dripping steadily from the gash in his leg. Sighing, she settles down next to him and begins licking the wound, interspersing every few licks with a long exhalation.

Lunar wakes up with a satisfied groan, pushing his legs out and up in a luxurious stretch, his mind blissfully blank. After a few seconds however, the memory of the ruby vamponies and their glowing, blood red eyes flashes across the insides of his eyelids, drawing a yelp of fear from between his lips. Struggling to his hooves, he stumbles forward a few steps, his head twitching as his attention shifts at random – eventually landing on Midnight still laying on the ground next to where he had fallen.

Midnight looks back at him, eyes cold and expression impassive, "Oh good, you finally woke up."

Lunar's legs tremble under his own weight, the foreleg that had been fed from nearly giving out before he sits, "M-M-Mid… Midnight?"

"That is my name," Midnight confirms.

Lunar closes his eyes and takes several slow, deep breaths, reopening them to more calmly look over the surrounding area, though they still dart nervously from point to point, "What… happened? I-I was… I was looking for you, and… there were these two other vamponies instead, who were there when Princess Luna and I went to meet with the rest of your kind, and… their eyes… " He knits his brow, staring first at the ground, then helplessly at Midnight, "I can't remember. It's all jumbled in my head."

"You were attacked by those two," Midnight answers, pointing at his leg. "They were going to feed on you. I stopped them."

Lunar glances down at the indicated leg, two tiny twin valleys in his flesh marking where he had been bitten, "You saved me?"

"You're welcome," Midnight replies, standing and stretching lazily. "And, now that you're awake, you can go back to-"

"I'm sorry," Lunar blurts out, eyes dropping to the ground.

"What?" Midnight asks, her tone like ice.

"That's why I was looking for you," Lunar says, shivering involuntarily as he forces himself to meet Midnight's gaze. "I wanted to say that I was sorry, and-"

"And what, exactly?" Midnight demands.

"And… a-and… " Lunar takes another deep breath, "and I was wrong to say the things I did. And I don't want – you're strong, and attractive, and interesting, and I'll never find another mare like you in all of Equestria, and I don't want to never see you again because I got scared and reacted badly in the heat of the moment. And honestly I'm still pretty terrified of the domination magic contest, especially after what just happened, but… but you're… you're not them. You're not them, and I trust you, even if I'm still not quite convinced it'll be as harmless to me as you think it will be. So, if you're willing to give me another chance, I'd be okay with doing the contests. Both of them, tonight."

Midnight waits for a few seconds after he finishes speaking, her eyes narrowing, "Is that it? Your plan is to apologize, throw in some flattery, and oh by the way you're now okay with doing the thing you weren't okay with doing a night ago?"

Lunar's ears flatten to his skull, a chill settling over his chest, "W-Well, um, I mean – I had some other things to say, but I didn't have a whole lot of time and I didn't know how else to find you and I wasn't really sure what you'd find meaningful or if maybe I'd end up accidentally making things worse because, well, I don't actually know that much about you. Or vamponies in general. We've known each other for less than a week, and before that I didn't even know vamponies were real, but… that's why I came back out here and why I'm apologizing. Because I want to get to know you better, more than I've wanted almost anything in my whole life. So if there's any sort of vampony custom for apologizing, or you want me to do something in particular, or you want some blood, or anything else at all, just tell me what it is and I'll do it."

Midnight raises an eyebrow, "'Almost anything' in your whole life?"

Lunar flinches, "I, uh, that is to say-" He sighs, "Being Princess Luna's personal guard, and now getting to know you better. The top two things."

Silence falls between them, Lunar waiting while Midnight stares at him, said vampony standing still as a statue save for the motion of her soundless breathing.

After a small eternity, she takes a step towards Lunar, examining him critically, "Are you even able to fight? It looked like you were having some trouble just standing there."

Tingling warmth floods Lunar's body and he pushes himself to his hooves, grinning, "Absolutely. Bring it on."

Midnight vanishes.

Lunar's eyes widen, "Wait wait-"

A single, invisible hoof presses into his barrel, Lunar crumpling to the side a split second later as his legs give out.

"That – I wasn't ready," Lunar protests, raising his head to look at the air next to him.

Midnight reappears, the ends of her mouth quirked upwards in a tiny smile, "Right. And you're willing to do the staring contest too?"

"I… " Lunar hesitates, a cold spike of fear shooting through his veins, but he nods. "Yes. Whenever you want."

"Why?" Midnight asks.

Lunar's mouth opens wordlessly for a moment, his eyebrows knitting together while he processes the question, "Why?"

Midnight sits, watching him intently, "Yes. You didn't wake up tonight and magically decide it wasn't a big deal anymore. So. Why are you okay with it now?"

"Partially," Lunar grunts, rolling to lay on his belly, "because now I've had some time to think it through, but mostly because I asked a few other ponies about domination magic. I was able to talk to Cheerilee about it earlier tonight, for example, and she was particularly helpful in explaining what domination magic even is, what side effects it might have… that sort of thing. And, like I said, it does still kinda terrify me. But, you're nothing like those other two vamponies, and I think you're worth the risk."

Midnight snorts, though her lips curve into a small smile.

"That said," Lunar continues, "this does sort of bring up one of the other things I mentioned I wanted to say. That thing being: neither of us has any idea what the other considers to be normal. A week ago, I didn't know vamponies existed. A night ago, I knew absolutely nothing about domination magic or willpower competitions or any of that. And chances are, if you do decide to give me a second chance, tonight I'll learn about a lot more things that I have no clue about right now. So, I think that, if we do keep going, we should both give each other some sort of heads up rather than jumping right into something the other knows nothing about. That way too, I could've asked you all the questions I had, instead of mostly asking Cheerilee."

"So if I'd done that, you would've said yes?" Midnight queries.

"I don't know if I would've agreed right then and there," Lunar admits, "but I think at the very least we could've definitely avoided getting so angry with each other over it. And this applies to me too – I can think of a few Thestral traditions that would come up at one point or another which you probably wouldn't particularly like, and to you might seem really weird or stupid, but are also really important to me and to my family."

Midnight tilts her head from side to side, eventually giving a single, quick nod, "Alright."

"The first contest then, that's the fighting one, right?" Lunar asks, his heart beating loudly in his chest.

Midnight gives him a once over, ending her observation with a roll of her eyes, "Can you even fly right now?"

Lunar bobs his head once, "Yes."

"You're sure?" Midnight asks.

"Absolutely," Lunar replies.

Midnight raises an eyebrow, "Really."

Lunar hauls himself to his hooves, the determination in his eyes offset by the trembling of his legs, "I'll make it work."

Midnight watches him for another moment, then smiles, "Alright, in that case, I accept. Your. Apology. Let's go."

Lunar's heart flutters as he watches Midnight take off, gritting his teeth and spreading his own tired wings once she vanishes through the branches overhead.

"Are we… almost… there… ?" Lunar gasps, his wings growing heavier with each stroke.

Midnight slows, pointing to a steadily approaching hole in the rippling ocean of leaves and branches below them, "Just about."

"Oh good," Lunar manages, the extra delay between breaths causing the world to swim before his eyes.

Less than a minute later, they descend towards a familiar moss-filled clearing, Midnight landing lightly beside the small spire in its center.

"Whoa-!" *thump*

Turning around, her eyes land on Lunar Trail, the panting thestral lying flat on his back several feet away.

"Were you planning on getting up?" Midnight asks eventually.

"Yeah, yeah," Lunar replies between deep breaths, "just uh… taking in the view."

Midnight rolls her eyes, but says nothing else, instead turning to watch the moonlight shimmer off the thin layer of water flowing down the sides of the spire.

After another minute, Lunar rolls to his belly and stands, water trickling down his barrel, neck, and head, "Alright, I'm ready."

Midnight points to the spire, the side facing Lunar casting a long shadow towards him and away from the setting moon, "First, you need to drink."

Lunar eyes the magical stone creating water from nothing warily, "Is it safe?"

Midnight gives him a flat look, "No, I'm telling you to drink poisoned water."

Lunar coughs, averting his gaze and licking his dried lips, "And, I guess, any side effects I should know about? You know, given what it is and where it's located."

Midnight nods, "It has a mostly good side effect."

"That being… ?" Lunar prompts.

Midnight groans, "It'll give you a bunch of energy for about half an hour, as long as you don't go too far from the moss. Normally we'd both drink before starting, but I think you're at enough of a disadvantage already."

"Oh," Lunar replies. "Alright then."

Walking to the spire, Lunar faces Midnight across it, frowning as he examines the thin coating of water flowing down its sides, "Err… how do I drink from it?"

Midnight sighs, "Wrap your lips around the tip."

"Ah," Lunar says, "of course."

Leaning down, he engulfs the spire's flat tip with his mouth. Chilly water gathers inside his cheeks, each swallow slaking his thirst and delivering the cold liquid to his belly. Releasing his hold on the spire after many gulps, he shivers, the water's chill rapidly spreading across his entire body – soothing his aching muscles, sharpening his senses, and dulling the discomfort of his various cuts and bruises.

Lunar leans forward on his bitten leg, the limb holding his weight with ease, "Wow."

"Ready?" Midnight asks.

Lunar bobs his head once, widening his stance and lowering his center of gravity, "Ready."

Midnight disappears as soon as the word leaves his mouth, Lunar managing only to take a single step backwards before she barrels into him from the side – her teeth around his throat before they hit the ground.

"Hold on!" Lunar calls out, his face burning despite half of it pressing into the wet moss, "I want a do over."

Midnight releases him, her teeth leaving behind red welts on his skin, "There are no 'do overs'. You lost. But, you can rechallenge any time you want."

Lunar rises, waiting while Midnight saunters smugly around the spire before turning back to look at him, "Like right now?"

"Sure," Midnight replies.

Lunar nods, "Alright, I want to challenge you again, right now."

At his words, Midnight again vanishes. This time however, Lunar's hooves glow white and he jumps, glancing down just in time to see a shadowy mass streak through his previous location – the translucent, vaguely pony shaped blob of darkness quickly melts into the night once more.

A small pulse of white light emanates from Lunar's hooves after he pushes off the air in a second jump, the magic fading as he instead spreads his wings to hover several feet above the mossy rock. Knitting his brow, he turns his focus inwards, drawing out his innate magic to hang around his body like an imperceptible veil – everything surrounding him gaining a second, blurry outline, as if the whole world had been overlaid with a duplicate, unfocused, barely offset image of itself.

A split second later, the shadowy mass reappears, streaking by close enough to his side for him to feel the wind from its passing. After another instant, it once again fades away, leaving the clearing seemingly empty.

Lunar scans the expanse of moss below, body tense and muscles coiled, waiting for the shadow to reappear. However, when no further instances of mobile shadows draw his attention, he turns his gaze to the air around and above him, keeping his ears perked for the slightest sound or whisper of wind on wings. A droplet of water whizzes past his nose while he maintains his vigil, Lunar's eyes darting towards its apparent source. No further clue to Midnight's location appears though, and after several seconds he sighs, instead focusing on an increasingly wide area around the droplet's origin.

Without warning, a hail of droplets fly past him from his other side, several of them impacting his barrel. Lunar whirls towards their source, searching for the originator of the small projectiles of water while the droplets make their way down his already wet coat. Finding nothing, he exhales sharply, glancing at the ground beneath him just as a tiny orb of water falls from his underside, glistening in the moon's bright light.

Time seems to slow, Lunar's eyes widening, Uh o-

Another, much larger object impacts him a fraction of a second later, Midnight tearing through his veil of magic to wrap herself around him, pinning his forelegs to his chest and his wings to his sides. Lunar struggles against her grip, but he is unable to break free despite his recent infusion of energy, Midnight's own wings controlling their trajectory only enough to keep him between her and the ground. Their semi-controlled descent ends abruptly a few seconds later, though their motion does not, a gasp of air escaping Lunar's lungs as they skid across the slick moss and rock.

Midnight's teeth clamp around Lunar's neck as soon as they slide to a halt, Lunar grunting, "Looks like you won again."

Midnight lets him go, a spring in her step as she walks away, "Mhm."

"That said, I'm definitely going to challenge you again when half the reason I can still stand isn't because of some magic water," Lunar adds, pushing himself to a sitting position.

"I look forward to it," Midnight replies, facing him. "As glad as I am to get this done, it was way too one sided for my taste."

Lunar touches a hoof to his neck, wincing at the resulting sting and pulling it away, a quick glance revealing a few tiny splotches of red marring the bottom of his hoof, "Now for the staring contest?"

"Yes," Midnight confirms. "Whenever you're ready."

Lunar inhales deeply, then exhales slowly, "Okay. But before we do this, there's one more thing I want to say first."

Midnight's body stills, eyes narrowing ever so slightly, "What?

Lunar takes another deep breath, "This might be a 'contest', but the fighting one at least I could've possibly stood a chance at. This one we both know I'm going to lose. Probably pretty badly. So, afterwards, maybe not tonight, but at some point, I want you to teach me how to defend myself against your staring contests, domination magic, whatever you want to call it. Because even though I did ask some ponies in Ponyville about it, and even though Cheerilee was really helpful, I would much rather learn about it from you, since, well, you can actually use it and probably know more about it than anypony else I could ask. Plus, you know, for my own safety, it seems like something I-"

"Okay," Midnight interrupts.

Lunar blinks, "Okay?"

Midnight nods, "Okay. This could be lesson one, if you want."

"Oh," Lunar replies, "yeah, that'd be great – I mean, if that wouldn't cause any other problems with how this is supposed to work."

Midnight exhales sharply through her nose, "Whatever else you want to get from this, as long as I can say it was done instead of you shouting about how dangerous it is, it'll be fine. Anyway, lesson one, just try to keep your concentration. Ready?"

"I also have one question first," Lunar states.

Midnight groans, her head lowering to hang limply from her slumped shoulders.

"You said before that these two contests are things that have to be done," Lunar says, "and I was just wondering, what makes them so important?"

"Doing both means that we're actually serious about considering each other," Midnight answers, "and it also means that the others have to recognize it too, which should prevent any other-" her eyes pulse red, "interference. Nopony's ever done this with a non-vampony before, but for their sake, they better not think that changes what it means. Beyond that, each one is used to determine which one of us will take the lead in different aspects of the relationship. The one who wins the hunting contest leads when actually out hunting or feeding, and providing protection from anything, or anypony, should it come to it. The winner of the willpower contest takes the lead in other things like when and where to meet up and what to do, or where we'd settle down, if we were to end up becoming mates."

"Huh," Lunar replies, tilting his head. "Then not doing them-"

"Wouldn't work at all," Midnight cuts him off. "They have a purpose, both individually and together, and they both need to be done. So, are you ready now?"

Lunar closes his eyes, shutting out all stray thoughts and sensations. A few seconds later, he reopens them, staring into Midnight's slitted pupils with his own, "Yes."

Midnight meets his gaze, her eyes lighting up a weak, dull red.

Lunar's heart quickens, a pang of fear shooting through him at the sight of glowing, crimson eyes once again boring into his own, the clouded memory of the ruby vamponies doing the same flashing through his mind in a brief moment of clarity. The fear subsides as the contest wears on however, his thoughts becoming increasingly disjointed while the world around Midnight fades further and further into an incoherent blur. He grits his teeth, struggling to maintain his focus against the force slowly fragmenting his consciousness, but to no avail – his efforts merely slowing Midnight's advance. Attempting to look away and break the stare fares no better, the muscles of his neck and eyes remaining locked in place, heedless of his increasingly feeble urging to move. Eventually, his struggles cease, the rhythmic pulsing of Midnight's eyes the only thing left visible to his own.

Lunar gasps and staggers sideways, the world returning to his vision all at once. He shakes his head, looking up at Midnight once his breathing begins to slow, "How'd I do?"

"You lost," Midnight replies.

"I figured," Lunar says, sighing. "It doesn't feel that different though, honestly. Definitely not the same as earlier."

Midnight shrugs, "I'd hope so. I did go easy on you."

Lunar's ears fall, his expression wilting, "You did?"

"Yup," Midnight says with a nod. "Anyway, what's your favorite color?"

"Luna blue," Lunar answers, his mouth moving on its own. His eyes widen, crossing to stare at his muzzle, then back at Midnight.

Midnight grins, taking slow, deliberate steps as she starts to circle him, "Also, I'm curious… what, exactly, do you find attractive about me?"

"I like how confident you are, e…ven when you're doing something you're no…t comfortable with," Lunar replies, brow knitting while he struggles to regain control of his vocal cords. "How you don't seem to do thi…ngs half way. A…nd how ex…otic you are."

Midnight completes her first cycle around him, her eyes again meeting his and pulsing once, "Oh really? You think I'm exotic?"

"Yes," Lunar confirms. "I re…ally like y…our fangs and eyes, and… the thought o…f you feeding from me t… t… turns me on."

Lunar slumps, his head falling forward to hide a deep blush covering his face, though doing nothing to either conceal the embarrassment creeping up his ears or to prevent more words from tumbling out of his mouth, "And it's really cool that you live in the Everfree Forest."

Midnight pauses near the end of her second cycle, stopping shoulder to shoulder with him, "Well, then I imagine you'll like this next part quite a bit."

"What do you-" Lunar attempts to ask, the stinging sensation of Midnight's tongue sliding over the freshly made puncture marks on his neck interrupting him, "What are you doing?"

"Shut up and keep still," Midnight commands.

Lunar's muscles obey, his whole body freezing in place, save for his eyes. Midnight licks Lunar's neck again, this time following it with a breath. Continuing on to her third cycle, she repeats the process on each of the cuts and scrapes breaking his skin, fresh and old alike, pulling off any bandages hiding larger, scabbed over wounds obtained during his previous trek through the Everfree.

"Okay," she says, stopping in front of him, "you can move and speak now."

Lunar immediately feels his neck, his hoof this time coming away clean. Turning to look at his left side, then at his right, Lunar's eyes flick from the several bandages resting on the moss to his now mostly unharmed sides – a few bruises all that remain after his impromptu tongue bath.

"You're welcome," Midnight states, her lips quirking into a smile, "though I can't do much about the bruises."

"O-Oh," Lunar stammers, a fresh blush spreading across his face, "right, uh, thank you."

"Also," Midnight adds, "no touching your nose."

Lunar blinks, "Wait, what?"

Midnight raises an eyebrow, "I'm supposed to be teaching you, right? Consider being able to touch your nose again as homework."

Lunar's mouth wobbles, after a few seconds a suppressed snort forcing its way out, quickly growing into a full blown fit of laughter.

Midnight tilts her head, frowning, "What?"

"Noth… nothing," Lunar answers once his outburst of mirth subsides, gasping for breath, "just… after everything that's happened between last night and tonight to get us to this point, and the contests end with you telling me not to touch my nose."

Midnight chuckles, "Well when you put it that way… "

Lunar sighs, a final laugh escaping, "So. What happens now?"

Midnight glances to her left, "You should probably leave."

Lunar's ears droop, "I… should?"

Midnight points to the sky brightening above the treetops.

Lunar's eyes widen, "Oh. Oh! Right, I should definitely be heading back. I'll… see you soon, though?"

"That depends on how long you're staying, doesn't it?" Midnight replies.

Lunar takes a deep breath, "Yeah, I guess it does. Hopefully I get to stay long enough. Otherwise, I should have time to come back to Ponyville in a few weeks."

Midnight nods, "I'll find you if you're still in Ponyville. Otherwise, come here right after dusk once you're back."

"I'll be there," Lunar says, glancing at the fast approaching dawn. "Alright, I really need to get going. Bye!"

Midnight waves her farewell, sitting once Lunar takes to the air. Her gaze lowers to the mossy rock, a small smile remaining on her lips.

*thud*

Midnight's head jerks up, her eyes landing on Lunar's prone form lying at the edge of the clearing, Oooh riiiiight, the water… whoops.

She canters to Lunar's side, prodding him with a hoof.

"zzzzzzzzzzzz… "

Midnight glances from side to side, her head falling and ears drooping as she sighs. Standing above him, she wraps her hooves around his barrel, with a grunt of effort taking to the air, flying low over the trees towards Sweet Apple Acres.