While I was walking through the cave’s entrance, butterflies attacked my stomach again. I’m actually here, I thought, as my eyes spotted light further down the tunnel. I was nearing the first part of our city.

It wasn’t exactly a beautiful sight for they eyes, but it was home. Or well, it was home. The first part of it, Dracuna, had a theme based on the cave. Dark gray huts, made of stone, with small space in them. The huts were carved into the wall, as it would save space. Dracuna in itself was a big room, about ten meters long, twenty five meters wide and three meters tall. If I recall correctly, there was about thirty huts, all ready to house vamponies. No vampony lived here, as it was a reserve, meant for older vamponies if we got overpopulated. It never happened.

I lived here though. My original house was deeper inside the mountain, but I got tired of the stares, and the mocking, so the day I grew old enough to legally move my house, I did. Yes, we have a law, we’re not animals. It felt good to be by myself but... it was a lonely life.

I was halfway through the room when I spotted it. My old home. Coming to a halt, I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic. It was only two, maybe three years of living in that small hole, but then again... it left a mark on me, a bigger mark than I thought. I thought about going inside, just looking at all my stuff from so long ago. One calm moment before the storm.

I felt a deep punch in my own head. It wasn’t physical, but mental. I didn’t have time for this... junk. Gotta stay on the path... my path. I turned my head straight, as I trotted out of the room, not eyeing my house once.

The corridor I was now walking in, led me further into the mountain, but downwards as well. The mountain had limited space, so when the first vamponies decided to live here, they dug down, far away from the surface. Since then we had expanded upwards, making more cities, or well towns, for us to live in.

There wasn’t much to be said about the corridor I was walking in. The walls were rocky, as was the ceiling. The steps leading down were primitive. They were carved from the mountain, so it was still rough, and rock-like. There wasn’t any lights, due to the obvious fact; we have night vision.

Within a few more seconds of walking, I had managed to reach the second town. This was nothing like Dracuna. Before me the great town, Angora, stood in all its glory. This was the typical living quarters for most vamponies, as it had the most houses. The cave Angora was built in is filled with never before seen mushrooms. These were nothing like normal mushrooms found in forests. No, these had the ability to glow. If I recall correctly, it’s called biolumes- no wait... biolusimum? Uh... hm. Oh! It’s bioluminescence! Hard word to remember when it is at least ten years since you’ve read about it. Anyway, these mushrooms glows in the dark, so it really adds a lot to the decor. The houses here were bigger than they were in Dracuna. The were also actually built, instead of carved. It was still made of stone but eh, what could you expect? The cave itself was far bigger than Dracuna, standing at least 8 meters tall, making way for air traffic. The length and width however... let’s just say it was big.

I lived here in Angora before I moved to Dracuna. It was... nice, but I must say; getting out of here was the right call for me.

I stepped into the city, expecting busy, daily life. I found the streets empty, the houses soundless, and there was no one above the air. Needless to say... I was surprised.

I began to think. They wouldn’t go outside, so that’s reassuring. Maybe they heard me as I made my grand entrance, but there’s no way they could evacuate a whole town like Angora in such a small amount of time. No, they must be somewhere else, and there must be a reason for it. But what?

Hm... if they’re not here, they can only be in Vampirish, a fortress for defense, if ponies were to ever know of our existence. But why would they be there? Crescent Moon never let commons go down there, unless it’s an emergency. Like blowing up their door... yeah that’s probably it. But then again, they couldn’t evacuate this fast as I guessed before. Something else must be the cause of this, something li-

That’s when it clicked for me. There was one time, and one time only where the leader of the vamponies would gather everyone in Vampirish. When he chose his successor, in this case, Red Moon. Well, at least they will all be gathered at one place. That’s going to make this a lot easier.

I trotted towards Vampirish, which was through another corridor, much like the last one. It went even further down and made a u-turn. That’s when I began to hear them. Or well, I began to hear him.

I went through the exit of the corridor, spotting every vampony standing in front of some sort of scene. Nobody was guarding the exit, which was fortunate for me. It’d be a lot better to do this silently. I looked Vampirish over. It was mostly a huge building made of stone which went further into the mountain. I had never been inside the building before. Only the most important vamponies live there. It had quite a few details unlike all the other constructions.

I eyed the scene. True enough, Red Moon was standing there together with his father. Everybody knows me, so it would be impossible to just waltz directly to the stage. Or was it? I was going to be seen at some point. Why not make that now?

I ran down to the crowd, coming to a stop right before I hit them. I concentrated my magic. I was going to levitate a line of them away, so I could make a direct road to the scene. It was going to be heavy, but I knew I could manage. With a grunt, I lifted a whole line of vamponies in the air, quickly placing them all behind me. The moment I did that, everyone looked me in the eyes, as did Red.

I wasn’t nervous. They wouldn’t try to attack me. I would soon be protected by our most ancient law; challenging.

Nobody said anything, as I slowly made my way towards Red on the scene. I got many stares on the way, but I didn’t care for them. I slowly recharged my magic. Not that I would need all of it, but it would be a good back-up. By the way, did I mention that this was a fight to the death?

“Red Moon... it has been too long,” I said, finally standing in front of the scene. I jumped up on the scene, looking directly at him. He seemed shocked at first, but that expression was gone as fast as it appeared.

“Ah... Daylight. Wonderful of you to join us today,” he replied with a welcoming tone. I saw right through it. “Although... I don’t recall inviting you today.”

There it was. “Well, truth be told...” I started, while I walked closer. “I’m not here for your ceremony,” I finished, standing right in front of him. His dark red fur stood on end. He looks nice ready to kill.

“Then what, pray tell, are you here for?” he asked “confused”. Oh boy, I had been waiting for this for a long time.

I made a swift motion across my mane, feeling a small round tool resting there, and I smiled. “Red Mood, Leader of the Vamponies. I challenge you to a duel... to the death.” I bowed traditionally. Red Moon was many things, but weak was not one of them. My job was simple though. Avoid hoof to hoof combat.

It looked like he wanted to laugh. Then his expression darkened. He knew what I wanted. “So... you finally come to die,” he began trotting around me like a shark circling its prey. “You’ve always been a pain in my rump,” he came to a stop. “Let me end your suffering, boy!”

Suddenly, he jumped at me, trying to bite my neck. I was taken by surprise. He had me pinned against the ground, while he tried hitting me with his hooves. I struggled to get him off, wiggling from side to side, evading his hooves. He grunted, as he placed a hoof on my throat to keep me from moving my head. Then he raised his other hoof, ready to cause huge pain to my head. I tried to focus my magic before he could hit me. Then his hoof came down. I felt air hit me, but his hoof never came. I held it in my aura. I smiled at his attempts at escaping, shortly after hurling him through the air.

I breathed, getting up on all four hooves. I spun around, looking for Red, but he was gone. Panting, I kept looking around. Then I felt a sharp pain in my barrel. Turning around, I saw him biting me. Of course... he must’ve been flying. I sent a beam of magic at his flank, which was a successful hit. It made him fly backwards, with some of my skin in his mouth. I wanted to scream due to the pain, but I kept my mouth shut.

He was up and ready faster than I expected. He ran towards me, ready for another attack, but he never got the chance. He was lifted into the air by my magic. He struggled a lot, but eventually found it was pointless. He hadn’t given up... his expression said otherwise.

“So you finally managed to beat me... magic sure is handy for you huh?” he said, a smirk plastered on his face. “You know... I would say you win, but that would be a lie, wouldn’t it? As I recall, you said “to the death”. Sorry to say but I’m still very much alive.”

“For now,” I said grinning. Then the small object in my mane got enveloped in my magical aura. I lifted it out slowly. When Red realized what it was, his expression changed from smug, to fearful. The object was indeed a wooden stake, one of the vampony killers. Up until this point, the crowd had been unrealistically silent. Gasps and murmurs erupted, as they all spotted the stake.

“Funny thing... to have life and death in your own hooves,” i said, bringing the stake closer to the defenseless vampony. “You, are only the first obstacle in my way.”

The stake was right next to his neck. One thought, and Red Moon will be no more. He eyed me, opening his mouth, “... go to Hell”

“You first pal,” I replied, thrusting the wooden stake forwards. I let Red Moon out of my magic, but the dead body just fell to the floor. Silence.

I turned around slowly, looking at the crowd. There was mixed reactions, most of them disgusted. I walked down to them. “I’m sorry you had to see that everyone,” I started, while I was walking among them. “Especially the young ones. But I’m afraid it was necessary.”

They didn’t say anything, so I decided to continue. “We, have a mission. I... have a mission. For too long have we been hiding in a mountain, for too long have we been afraid of the Princess’ wrath! It’s been nine hundred years since our failure, but today... today we will be victorious! We shall invade them! We shall torture, and murder them! This is a war they cannot win! My dear vamponies... within this week, the ponies will fall.”

Author's Note

This chapter was a little hard to write. I had to get Daylight just right. Originally, this was gonna be a part of chapter 2, but I decided to make it separate.

Hope you enjoyed!