"Fitting, for this to be where my first dreams, in centuries would be." Warm blood flowed in his veins, as Dracula, no.. Mathias felt life surge into his body once more after countless years of cold stiffness. The feeling of true warmth showing what a mere mockery the taste of blood truly was in the end.

"Princess Luna? Where are you? Where are we?" The voice of Twilight Sparkle called out as she stepped out into view followed by the aforementioned Princess of the night. He had heard of Luna's power, as he lets out a soft smile, waving gently to the alicorn pair.

"You are where it all began for me... the place where Dracula was born, and Mathias, the man i had once been, died." Fold his arms along his back as images began to form, a scene showing in the center of the room now, A large egg shape in the center, which an exhausted Leon looking in shock as a much larger Death loomed above the egg. "the sad man who cast aside his life, soul, and everything he ever stood for, because his light had passed away. Blaming a god he could not even see, for a crime that was not even its fault really." Mathias strokes the egg softly as he walks around looking at his friend. "Its amazing how blind Loss makes a man is it not? In hindsight I understand I was being petty, foolish, an idiot.." Stepping away he gazed more at the prone frozen form of his once best friend, "How easy it is to let despair take over, and make you cast away everything. Yet how strong and strange it is to see a man you thought you knew, take that same problem, and refuse to see things your way."

"Darkness creeps into all of us easily. Sometimes with a whisper, others with a whimper. You seem sorrowful yet I sense no regret in your heart. Its as if your just, reminiscent of the past." Luna replies softly.

"What would the point of regret be? Foolishly drowning myself in thoughts of 'what if' and 'if only' do nothing to solve the pain. They are more likely to hurt you more than bring you solace. I admit my mistake yes, but it is what made me who I am. That and it iz not my worst, not by far. I felt as if I had to act, to stand against the laws of nature and life. Thinking my eternity would make God regret an act he was never guilty of at all." Mathias sighs softly. "It was the death of my wife that made me cross the threshold into eternity. It was the death of my second wife that launched a personal war against humanity."

"I feel sorry for your loss Dracula, and now see why you let the princess attack you." Twilight says softly. "I cannot even say my thoughts would differ much if I lost a loved one in the service of the princesses."

"To be honest, Miss Sparkle, it was not the hundreds of years fighting the Belmonts and their kin, that fills me with regret. It is that my son abandoned me in favor of his woman and the humans she and his mother loved." Mathias replies softly. "Just like Leon he turned his rage against me." The vampire shrugs and chuckles in thought. "Though in my boy's defense, I did really have it coming after all. He did try and talk to me, I just brushed him aside."

Mathias turns as the room changes, the perspective showing Mathias, watching in surprise while hidden by a window as he watched Death be defeated.
"URGG.... To think that I would be..."
Leon scoffs angrily taking a step forward. "I have the power to destroy all related to the vampires. Though you have divine powers, you are no exception."
Death smiles in response despite his weakened body. "Unfortunately for you, as long as my master survives, I will rise from the dead..."

Leon pauses and taps his chin, reaching down he pats his whip before looking up. "I see. Give him this message: You have become a cursed being and I will never forgive you. This whip and my kinsmen will destroy you someday. From this day on, the Belmont Clan will hunt the night."

"Thus began part of what would be hundreds of years of war between me, the Belmonts, and their relations." Mathias says walking out softly as the memory faded with the crumbling of the castle. Luna and Twilight watched as Leon ran out and they saw A large bat flying as a wall collapses. Pieces of roof begin to collapse, which Twilight avoids in instinct, even as Luna is struck, only to see the debris fall safely through the pony. "But the true battle did not actually begin this day. True for a long time Leon and members of his clan, as well as a few friends from the crusades, all sought me out, my next meeting with a Belmont was not one of battle... rather... one brought about by love."

The collapsing throne room changes, leading to a calmer more relaxed room. Of course there was a large chair on top of a path lead to by a blood red carpet, but a pair of similar chairs also rested on the platform. A younger Dracula sat on the middle throne, along with a large bat which flapped around the room.

"Very good form my son you have done well. Though you still need to work on your wing span a bit."
The bat seems to glow as a young man drops down, clothed much like the older man, but with a single rapier at his side. "I know its not correct Father, I just enjoy the feeling of the wind below my wings." Adrian smiles as he looks up at his father. "Shall we move on to weapons work or something else?"

"Actually, I wanted to ask you about something more unusual. My servants, tell me you have been seeing a young woman lately." Dracula leans forward smiling at his son. "You know that you don't need to hide your relationships from me, despite what others seem to think, I'm happy you found a human partner."

"That was not my worry to be honest... you see... the woman im seeing, is well..." the Dhampyr lets in a breath. "Her name is Sonia Belmont." He braces himself as he waits for the rebuttal, that never comes as Dracula looked thoughtful.

"Belmont... I know that name, have not heard it for a long time. Ah do not worry my son, I harbor no ill will towards that clan. After all it has been years since anyone has tried to harm us. You have my blessing, and probably your mothers' as well." Dracula smiles as he watched his son's eyes light up. "come to think of it... your mother has been gone a lot longer than usual. Why don't you go down to the village and see if she needs help? Perhaps even invite the young Belmont over for tea so we may meet and converse with her?"

"Oh your right... of course ill see you soon father." Adrian smiles as he runs out of the room, waving as a man and a longer robbed Death came up the steps.

"Keep safe Adrian, just in case alright?" Dracula calls out as the room faded to a dull grey,

"This is when the battle resumed." Dracula says softly looking to the pair of alicorns. "this happy moment would soon become tragedy, as Adrian, who soon would take the name Alucard, came to witness the execution of his mother." Twilight's eyes widen as Luna shrinks back as well."

"E-execution? W-why?" Twilight asks slowly as Dracula sat on the floor.

"Witch craft. A remaining sect of the people who still hunted me, told the villagers of my past, and convinced them that their 'gentle medicine woman' was actually helping keep them all enslaved to me using powerful magic in her herbs. Claiming her ability to heal was making them blind to my supposed crimes against humanity. So when she went to go and help them, she was captured, beaten, and left on a stake Adrian says was shaped like a cross. They knew he would come to see her, or that at least I would. He arrived, in time to speak to her, and watch her burn to ashes." Dracula's eyes closed. "I knew then, again the feeling of pain, and in a moment understood more of why Leon despised me. Loosing a loved one to GOD was one thing, but for them to just be stolen away... my son was shaken, and my rage sent him over the edge in a way I had not expected. He took his mother's ideals to the depths of his soul and sided with them to defeat me."

The vampire pauses as Twilight and Luna took the moment to process information. "So, this sect reminded Sonia of her clans fate? She went up to kill you?" Luna asks softly as Dracula shakes his head.

"My son wanted to try first, to defeat me, however Sonia met up with him in the castle, defeated him, and then confronted me. Yes she beat me in combat, but she didn't know how to fully use Vampire Killer. Leaving me heavily injured, but able to escape. Shortly after Sonia bore a son named Trever and from then on each Belmont who got the vampire killer was trained in its use. As for who Trever's father is, I believe it was my own son. After all he was a teenager, and she was a lovely woman. Young people will do as they will of course. Particularly after a period of shock and despair."

Many scenes now played out in the castle throne, which after then had only one seat, but each scene was the same almost. A few were different such as a room of pure darkness where the now adult Alucard had arrived to stop Dracula's return. Other also at one point took up the endless task of killing Dracula over and over.

"No wonder you were so tired..." Luna muses to herself, "to be struck down almost every hundred years, sometimes even before you were fully awoken."

"That was not all of course." Dracula says softly as he sits down. "You see, I was also suffering from a long term side effect of the process in which I became A vampire in the first place." Calling up his magic, he sets down two candles, and lights them both on fire. "Lets say, the candle on the left is my soul, and the one on the right is the soul of another. In this case, the soul of Walter, the vampire I had absorbed and taken immortality from." He lifts the right candle, placing it's flame into the left candle. Unlike normally done with fire, the right candle snuffed out, and the left one grew taller. "what do you see now looking at this candle? what did you see happen, just now?"

"It looked like the candle on the left absorbed the flame of the candle on the right, becoming one bigger candle." Twilight replies. "You mean, even though your absorbed it, that, second flame, still existed?"

"Yes, exactly, you certainly grasped that one quite quickly miss Sparkle." Dracula added in color to the flame. "now the red flame you see is mine, and the black flame is Walter, see how they bob and weave while still retaining that singular shape? My many deaths and periods of weakness had allowed the Walter flame to grow higher, but no matter what we never snuffed each other out. So not only was I fighting a war in the physical plane, but also in the internal land as well. But now that im here... I do not sense Walter at all." Dracula sets the candle down. "tell me, what do you think that means?"

"If I may, it sounds as if only half of you arrived here. Yet you retain your vampire state. Does this mean Walter is also around here? Where did his flame go?" Luna answers in thought.

"That, I do not know. I do not sense him, in fact if I may say so, the only other Vampire presence I felt outside of my castle, was within miss Fluttershy." Dracula states slowly watching Twilight, who nods in reply.

"Probably from the whole Fruit bats incident." Twilight replies softly. "While trying to find a way to deal with a bunch of bats eating Applejacks' apple crop, we accidentally turned Fluttershy into a bat pony. I reversed the process though so.."

"Vampirism remains within the mind miss Sparkle. It is a condition that does not fade, even if the subject is free of the curse. Once the mind feels the touch of 'endless hunger' or more appropriately, 'endless thirst.' the effect stays in the mind. However I can say without a doubt she has been managing herself quite well. I did not sense many traces of the 'hunger' so I can only assume she has found a way to deal with it safely." Dracula replies with a gentle smile.

"The sacks of apples..." Twilight says in thought. "So that's why she uses so many so fast.... Its also why she wanted me to figure out that, 'food storage' spell for her. So she could keep a stock of fruit during the winter."

"A vampire that manages its hunger properly, in my world, could theoretically restrict him or herself to a small selection of 'chosen' victims. I myself have a few people who live within my castle that I have bonded with in such a way. thankfully the castle itself sustains the guardian portion of my home." Dracula smiles softly. "So out of curiosity, why are you here in my dreams?"

"My sister, and some of the Elements of Harmony, did not fully trust you as of yet." Luna replies bluntly. "As the Princess of the Night, I wished to view your dreams and find your true intent. I asked Twilight to join me, so she may give me her input and reactions as well."

"I can understand that, I will also point out that I knew about your dream talents. The only way to really show them all will be with time. I hesitate to admit this, but I do have the power to manipulate my dreams. I fear only you Luna can say for certain that I am an honest man."

"Agreed, and honestly considering my background even that is not fully flaw proof. Hence miss Sparkles, inclusion. She did bear my powers for a time so I felt she would sense things as well." Luna looks down at Twilight. "Well, did you sense any wrong doing?"

"Nothing seemed out of place to me anyway, but I guess you are right."

"Yes you can tell and share what I have said. Whether they believe it or not is up to them all, but perhaps my past will help ease some of their feelings?" Dracula suggests as Twilight nods. "My last battle with the Belmonts certainly took a toll on the castle.." He closes his eyes as a large model of the castle appears between the three of them. "As you can see, the outside wall is mostly repaired, but there is much interior work to be done. As well as general exploration of these, 'ever free Forests'"

"Actually.. that gives me an idea..." Twilight smiles widely. "My friends and I can help you explore the forests. I'm sure if they spend time around you, they will trust you more."

"Says the mare who took five strangers with her on a quest to defeat me, and in the course of almost half of a day, became perfect friends with them all." Luna says with a playful smirk. "Isn't that about how long it took you to turn Starlight Glimmer? Just how much time did you get to use interacting with Sunset?"

"Well you are the princess of Friendship correct? Between you and pegasus Fluttershy, who apparently tamed a God of Chaos, I'm sure you could make anything your friend." The Vampire adds in smirking.

"Why yes, I certifiably am wonderful am I not?" Twilight replies putting on an air of elegance and hoof through her hair that Luna almost thought was a perfect imitation of something Rarity may do. "It is not our fault that we are so... unforgettable."

"Yes complete with nearly fainting at the sight of a spear and a giant wolf." the elder Vampire teases. "Oh my mistake, She was afraid of the spear. YOU had a full on panic attack that ended up almost turning half my body into ash."

"Not everyone that sees a giant wolf is gonna immediately think of hugging it and calling it adorable. My reaction was perfectly reasonable." The Purple mare quickly replies as the pair of Night Rulers laughed playfully. "Hey I think its almost time for the sun to rise."

Author's Note

As I said in comments before I wrote this at the same time as the past chapter, So make sure to read that one first before this one ok?