[DISPLACED] Trespasser's Journey

Sam had just come back up to the surface for some fresh air when Silphen slapped down the paper for that day and tapped a finger on the front page, saying, "Two things. First, explain why you're on the front page. Second, you got a letter from some group called the Sanguine Council claiming you need to pay a tax for starting your Vamp Lineage."

Sam looked at the paper, glad for his fiance’s white fur, the title of the page being, ‘Princess gone Sexual!? New Prince Declares Engagement!’ He didn’t need to read it to know how they had surprised everypony at the ball.

“Look, there’s not really a lot of harm done, we already discussed declaring the engagement, and a tax? You know as well as I do, not to even entertain scams like that.”

"Asked a Dawnwalker on the way back about it, Lining's spreading your Lineage by the way, and it turns out that there's a hierarchy to being a vamp. Seems someone in the highest spot available thinks you're weak and need to be brought to heel." Silphen said as he set the letter down in front of him. "Couldn't read all of it though, since I don't really have the microscopic vision needed for the tiny lettering near the end."

“How much are they asking for? I’ll just pay it off, and then when me and Celestia get married in a few months, I’ll just come down on them with some sort of legal precedent if they continue bugging me. Seriously, I have better things to worry about, like the things that keep attacking my mining carts.” Sam said flippantly, he had already promised most of the wealth he wasn’t using to Equestria, which would just return to being his after the marriage. A few thousand bits wasn’t going to exactly bankrupt him.

"About four gallons of blood. A week," Silphen said. "Assuming I didn't misread that… It was getting pretty small near there, so you'll need to check yourself."

“Give that here.” Sam said, grabbing the letter and reading it. “They don’t want just four gallons of blood a week, they specify pony blood… These guys are sick fucks! And I’ll have a talk with Lining later about what she’s doing.” He added as an afterthought, already moving to his workshop.

“My own thoughts about this null, We don’t even have one pint of pony blood, let alone four gallons! Or thirty two pints! The average pony can only lose a single pint, they aren’t like humans, where it’s no big deal!” He rambled off to Silphen as he grabbed a lot of items from some chests before moving towards a large metal table, holographic displays of sections of his power armor filling the air above it.

"If I could heal them long enough, we could pull it off, but… Fuck, this is going to be hell… Want me to come with you, or does it specify that you can only bring Lineage members with you?" Silphen asked rubbing the bridge of his muzzle in clear agitation at this group.

“They don’t even say Lineage members, but fuck them, I’m not paying this. I need you in Ponyville in case they decide to pull some bullshit like attacking Lining and the members she’s made, you’re able to conjure a sun, I’m not.” Sam started moving the holograms around, moving wires and parts.

"Got it. You come back with any missing limbs, and Tia will have my head on a platter." Silphen replied before heading out, not trusting this 'Council' to not have day time creatures they employ as pawns and messengers. Of both varieties.

Sam chuckled as he put the covers back on the holographic displays of his armor. He wasn’t going to need his spellbook for this one… no, he was going to show them the terrifying might of messing with him like this. He had just pumped every modular assist he had to max. He’d change it back afterwards, but he also changed his armor’s color scheme from his white and grey look to black and white, with a red visor. These assholes wanted a vampire, they were getting one.

He took a careful step, having already moved a quarter of the room in that step. He chuckled as he felt none of the momentum, unlike with the speed buff. Soon, he was racing through the castle, he had no way to fly to Canterlot, so he had to once more take the teleport pad Silphen had created. He hated Silphen’s teleportation, which made him feel really squished.

He walked up to the manor, from what little he knew from his month of schmoozing the nobles, it belonged to one of the oldest noble families. His servo-motors were whirring as he held back from moving too fast. He grabbed the knocker holding it up before bringing it down with a bang. The wood dented inward at the point of contact.

A minotaur like from the Greek legends opened the door and bowed. There were two small divots on his neck, indicating that Sam was in the right place. He looked to the door and sighed before opening it all the way. "Right this way, sir."

Sam nodded, his footsteps heavy even through the carpet as he stepped inside. His armor glowing red in the darkness of the Manor, all of the windows not only tinted, but then covered in black curtains. He Followed the minotaur down several flights of stairs, each one sparsely decorated, until eventually they were carved out of the stone of the mountain itself.

The minotaur bowed to the side of a carved double door, the carvings depicted three ponies, each of the different races, coming together around the bleeding corpse of a unicorn, the moon high above, and strange mist like equines flying through the air.

He pushed the doors aside with little effort, the grinding noise they made told him the doors were resting against the stone floor. Inside, nine ponies took up seats on raised platforms. As he walked towards the center, which he noticed had a covered skylight, the center three were different races of ponies, with the other six, three on each side of them, being a random assortment.

From left to right, the leftmost pony was an old earth pony mare, her auburn coat was faded, and her eyes were continually closed, although her head followed him inside. Next had Sam blinking, thinking something was going on with his vision, as there was a yellow unicorn, he was smiling at the hooded figure next to him, full teeth, which had no visible fangs. The hooded figure, well he couldn’t tell what type of pony they were, but they had a chained necklace with a red teardrop.

The three ponies in the middle were a unicorn, winged batpony, and earthpony respectively. The unicorn was a dark blue, having some sort of thin silver chain wrapped around her horn. The winged pony was a dark shade of gray, looking a lot like the night guards Luna employed. Finally, the earthpony was bulky, being a light shade of red, if his frame of reference wasn’t off by the high seats, which made them tower over him, the vampony was nearly as tall as Luna.

Finally, after him was a ruby colored mare, another unicorn, who was smiling as her eyes very clearly traveled up and down his armored form. He was barely surprised to see the next pony, being a small white earth pony filly, her smile cute, despite the fangs. She nodded at him in a cute way before he moved on to the-

Was that pony wearing sunglasses? Or tinted glasses? And a red coat. The Stetson placed on the bench in front of him was probably his. His dark red coat moved oddly into a light purple unicorn horn, and he looked to be the only one sitting back in his seat, almost like a human would with his front hooves placed together as if linking fingers he didn't have.

He stepped into the center of the room with a large sound of metal on stone. All discussion stopped as they stared at him, before the center Vampony spoke up.

“Dawnwalker Progenitor, you are here to pay tribute to the council, as the expressed form of payment of four gallons of blood is not here, I suspect you have decided that you are better off without the oversight of vampire kind. In which we express your terms to be-” He was interrupted by the coat wearing pony.

“Hold on, maybe he’s got some actual explanation for why he doesn’t have the blood. Maybe he drank it all on the way here, you know how newbies can get around blood.” He grinned, Sam clenched his fist, none of the ponies here recognised the gesture of anger.

“Or perhaps he never intended to pay fleshstealer.” the yellow unicorn on the left pointed at Sam with a hoof.

“Can’t you two ever get along?” The filly asked, frowning. And Sam was starting to get upset, they called him here, and were wasting his time.

“Enough you three, Dawnwalker, why have you not come with tribute?” The large earthpony said.

“I came here to tell you your terms are bullshit. Hell, make it some number in bits, I would gladly pay it, but thirty two pints of pony blood?” He asked, his faceplate made his found sound more staticy than without.

"Indeed?" Asked the mare that kept her eyes closed, turning to gaze at the ruby unicorn in the center of the group. "Why so much, Mistshaper?"

"It was not my idea, Etherian. Should turn your prophetic eyes upon the Lymphaticus." The other mare shot back, her eyes glaring in return.

“The number fits, already his lineage is fifteen strong, unless he is admitting he has no control over his line? Are you declaring incompetency Dawnwalker?” The center Vampony asked.

“I hope not, a progenitor with no control gets his entire line exterminated.” The stallion with a coat said.

“Lining is the one who actually knows about the lineage, I’m just-”

"Perhaps he should be bled, and had his 'gift' spread among the other Lineages. If his blood had the blessing of the Solar One and was thus able to turn one of the Lymphaticus into a Dawnwalker…" the pony in the red hood that kept their face covered mumbled, just loud enough for those in the room to hear.

"Doubt that would work, but… Well I could see if it works, all he'd have to do is take his helmet off!" The filly said happily from her spot, gazing at Sam hungrily.

“You aren’t getting any of it, even if you could.” Sam spat out.

“Please, everypony calm-”

“So you’re rejecting even trying to help Vampony kind? Many wish to walk amongst the day once more.” The yellow mare spoke, interrupting the large earth pony.

“I think he’s come here out of sheer stubbornness to reject the council.” The coated pony said happily.

"EVERYPONY, SILENCE!" The unicorn in the center shouted, her voice booming with power that washed over Sam. "Etherian, what do your eyes see?"

"They see death and life fighting down several paths. I dare not gaze too far ahead, as doing so proved me wrong time and time again. No, I shall simply say that-"

“Look at him Etherian, is he truly here just to spite our prestige?” The middle vampony interrupted her.

She sighed and turned to one of the blindfolded ponies behind her and whispered to them. They looked in Sam's direction and removed the blindfold, revealing weary eyes… before the servant's head exploded into a fine red mist.

“You dare!” the middle vampony spoke as they all stood up in shock. Sam would have looked confused if he didn’t have his faceplate up.

“You meanie!” The filly spoke, pointing a hoof at him.

“Pretty sure this counts as hostile to the council.” The stallion next to her said out loud.

“Couldn’t they have seen-” The Earth pony tried to speak before being interrupted again.

"DAWNWALKER!" The unicorn in the center shouted, standing up, focusing everything she could muster against him. "YOU WILL SPEAK TRUTH AND YOU SHALL TELL US WHAT HAPPENED OR YOUR LINEAGE SHALL BE ERASED!"

“Let Sal’isn taste his essence!” The hooded pony spoke, the old mare near him still looking away in shock.

Sam spread his feet apart, raising a fist to the council. His shoulder vents opened as the whirring of air and motors increased. “While I have no fuckin clue what happened, I’ve had enough of your demands! If you want to get to my Lineage, you’ll have to go through me first!”

The room burst into a flurry. Sam slid backwards as the coated stallion jumped from his position and landed in front of him, sliding a few feet. He quickly raised his arm as globs of blood splattered across it, quickly using his other hand to tear the mass off once they began reaching around his arm towards his faceplate. He threw the mass at the yellow unicorn charging at him.

As they skidded to a stop, now unable to see, he had to move sideways, dodging the filly whose small body landed with a bounce. He ducked as the normal batpony swooped overhead, only to be bucked across the room by the Stallion in a coat.

He gritted his teeth, breaking the sparkling blue magic holding his arm as he backhanded the batpony, sending them careening into the stone floor.

The stallion with a coat discarded it, his back revealed two dark blue pegasus wings which he flapped once, ignoring as his coat landed on the dazed filly, he flew towards Sam. Sam was ready, his fist cocked-

"ENOUGH" the deep voice echoed, before the stallion's momentum was arrested by being landed upon by an earthpony, the large, light red one specifically. With a hoof on the stallion’s back, he glared around the room.

“From the start, none of you have let the Neonate Progenitor speak! Do any of you keep up to date on current events anymore?” The earth pony spoke, his tone deep and grave.

“His line is capabl-”

“Enough Frosty Tips!” The Earthpony interrupted the batpony. “He has admitted that he is incapable of paying the tax that the council trusted you to fairly calculate. This is the future king of day! Or have none of you read the current news? Shining Bliss, are you going to tell me that none of the Lucitus participated in the ball three days ago?”

“I…” The dark blue unicorn stuttered at his gaze.

“And finally, you Mange, or should I address you like the Neonate you’re acting like? Do not think I haven’t seen you egging on this conflict. If you wish to fight the Dawnwalker Progenitor, challenge him with grace, and accept the humiliation when you lose.” The Earth pony growled.

“Clear View, please… Why has this happened? Why has your progeny perished…?” He asked, looking back towards the older mare.

She looked towards him, her eyes still closed. “Darkness, nothing but the infinite nothingness in all directions… Our world is doomed…”

“Then we kill the Dawnwalker! If he is at fault-”

“Enough Myst!” The earthpony snapped at the ruby mare still sitting in her seat. “Changing fate requires much more than killing a single entity! And even if it would, you would set our kind back a millenea for it? The Solar Princess would quickly restart the crusade against our kind for killing her lover!”

“Then what do we do!” The filly spoke.

“We do what we originally came here for, a new lineage has been born, and we will welcome them, properly. Frosty Tips, Shining Bliss, we will act like the leaders of the council we are. Dawnwalker, take center once more.” The earth pony spoke, traveling back to the stands, the others followed suit, and the stallion with the odd colored limbs retrieved his coat and rubbed the spot on the back of his neck where the earth pony stood. Sam took center once more, his arms crossed.

“Now, all in favor of lifting the tribute, stomp your hoof.” The earthpony said, stomping his hoof twice upon the bench. Clear View stomped hers slowly twice, The hooded pony followed. The center two, Frosty Tips and Shining bliss followed reluctantly. Nopony else followed.

“We have a majority for the vote, notion passed.” Frosty Tips said, “the tribute shall be dropped. Now, before proper introductions, we must deal with this fate of darkness. Since we have already forgone etiquette… Clear View, How much can you see?”

“Barely a year forward… all paths lead to one, and in that one… an oppressive blackness, so much so that I dare not probe…” The old mare replied.

“Alright, so I’ll just beat whatever causes that, I’m functionally a true immortal.” Sam said, all of them turned to him.

“Dawnwalker progenitor, Understand that the stakes are higher than you think you know." The earthpony gently said.

"And understand that I am unable to truly die, my body may be destroyed, but I will always rebuild it."

"...like the mad king?" Myst asked, her face fearful.

"Everybody keeps mentioning this guy, but only in snippets, who the fuck is he?" Sam asked, annoyed. All the council was silent as they looked at eachother. Eventually, Frosty tips spoke up, carefully, almost gently.

"The mad king, Sombra… is the worst vampony in existence… the story is long, so I sha-"

"Tell me." Sam demanded.

"Pardon? That is-"

"Look, we've dropped etiquette, I need to know all I can about this guy, he's immortal, right? So he's still kickin?" Sam interrupted him.

"Well, yes… and no…"

"Look, I don't care if this guy is in a schrodinger cat situation. Just tell me his full damn story so I can think of the best way to sock the guy." The batpony sighed at his declaration.

"Sombra's tale starts innocently enough. King of the frozen north, and then the princesses came to him. He became enamored with the Solar Princess, but he couldn't live with one truth, that he would die."

As Frosty Tips stopped speaking, the earthpony beside him started. "He was the only one to willingly take on our curse, and his rage and desperation twisted it. His powers were that of darkness itself, but he was still unsatisfied with an unaging body."

Shining Bliss spoke up next. "So he delved into dangerous magics, it started innocently enough, healing magic, used for the dying, then he started on necromancy… until one day, he covered the entire Frozen North in darkness. Many had rose up in defiance, but any wound he sustained would merely break into shadowy mist, before reforming… he was truly unkillable… and he went on to enslave the northern Citystate of the Crystal Empire…"

"So he's still there?" Sam asked.

"Nay, the two princesses banished him, and the current Element bearers destroyed his physical form with the help of an artifact after he freed himself." The earthpony spoke.

"That doesn't make any sense, I thought you said he was unkillable?" Sam asked.

"For many with such power, the physical and spiritual are truly separate. The sisters would survive to recover, even if all that was left was a wing, we do not know what Sombra has done for such power… but even the destruction of his corporeal form won't truly kill him." Shining Bliss spoke.

"Now that your curiosity is sated Dawnwalker Progenit-"

"Sam." Sam said, interrupting the earthpony.

"Pardon?"

"My name is Sam. Look, screw formality, if the world is doomed, we can't be at eachothers throats."

The earthpony paused briefly, regarding him. "Ambrose… that is my name."

"Alright. Now that I know that, Ambrose, I'll tell you what I'll do on my part. This suit of armor I'm wearing isn't even at full power yet, since it requires materials that I can't find. I'm going to get those somehow."

"What materials would be so hard to aquire with your current status?" Shining bliss asked.

"Ender pearls." Sam answered, and all of them looked at eachother, seeing if any recognized the name.

"We are sorry, but none of us know where you might find some…" Ambrose finally said. "Unfortunately, the threat may not even be that which can be fought…"

"Of course it can be fought! Hell, what world ending threat can't? Just because we don't know what it is, we know when though, right? How much time do we have?" Sam argued.

"Clear View?" Frosty tips asked, looking at the old mare.

"It is hard to tell, as always, but all paths begin diverging into one in a few months time… and after half a year… only one remains…" Clear View softly spoke.

"We should inform the ponies, they will need to know." Myst spoke up.

"We can't." Sam started. "First of all, we only have our word to prove this. Even I'm not completely sure that you're right, but the things I do are weirder than some future sight."

"Sam is right," Ambrose spoke up. "Further, the equestrian forces are meant for domestic situations or monster attacks, not for world ending catastrophes. The Vamponies are on their own…"

"You're wrong, just because Equestria doesn't have a strong enough military, doesn't mean there aren't other nations who would." Sam argued his hopeless declaration.

"None of them are on good footing with Equestria, and half of them have retreated into isolation." Ambrose countered.

"Then we get them to leave isolation! I know of at least the griffons, the dragons, the zebras, and the changelings." They all winced at the mention of the changelings. "I'm sure you know more that I don't! As the one willing to do this, and as prince consort, let me make alliances with these other nations to help us."

"You said it yourself, the ponies won't believe us, so why would the leaders of other nations do so?" Shining bliss said, causing Sam to stop and think for a moment.

"I don't know, but without knowing even an estimate of your numbers, I doubt the Vamponies can cover the entire globe. What happens when the disaster starts across the sea? Or in the far north? I'm not asking permission to try, I'll be going to these other nations regardless. And after I make these alliances, I'll get the ponies on board."

"We cannot say anything against your effort, the era of secrets passed when Luna returned. We shall rally the lineages, prepare them for what is coming… Dawnwalker Sam, I suggest you do the same…" Frosty tips said, Sam nodded, turning around as he swung open the stone doors once more, not looking back as he ignored the minotaur, and ascended to Canterlot.

He had a lot of work cut out for him..