It was surreal to think about how different Canterlot was at 2:00 AM. The capital city of Equestria, the beating heart of the nation, filled with ponies going about their business, was now almost completely deserted.

It never failed to impress Glow Stick. One of the side-effects of the club life, she supposed.

The young unicorn was trotting back to her apartment after another long night of partying and, due to the late hour, was left pretty much alone to her thoughts. The only sources of light were the street lamps and the pale light of Luna's moon. The only sounds were her own hoofsteps on the road. The chill of the autumn air was just barely kept at bay by her scarf and her own natural coat.

Glow Stick frowned. It may be just because it was getting close to Nightmare Night, but it was somewhat eerie being out alone on this cold night.

Pulling her scarf tighter around her neck, Glow Stick tried to put the thoughts of her isolation out of her mind. She absent-mindedly hummed one of the songs from the club. She stopped for a moment to make sure she hadn't wandered too far off the path to her apartment... and froze in horror.

She was sure she heard another set of hoofsteps stop just a few seconds after her own had.

Looking back, Glow Stick checked for anypony following her. The street behind her was completely empty. Glow Stick's mind, however, couldn't help but fill with worst-case scenarios. Lighting her horn to add a little more illumination, Glow Stick nervously continued her journey home.

Still, the fear gnawed at the back of her mind. Her eyes constantly shifted to check behind her. On a hunch, she stopped short, and again heard another set of hoofsteps stop just out of sync with her own.

Glow Stick's heart was racing now. Looking back, she carefully scanned the shadows around her. Nothing. She started walking again, her head on a swivel now, looking around for anything out of place.

When she saw a shadow move behind her, Glow Stick took off in a panicked gallop.

This couldn't be happening. This was a nightmare. Glow Stick was safe in bed back at her apartment, not being chased down the deserted streets of Canterlot by some deranged maniac. She would wake up any second now.

Any second now.

Glow Stick skidded to a halt as she saw a brick wall in front of her. In her panic, she must have taken a wrong turn down an alleyway. Looking back, Glow Stick saw a pony-sized shadow in the alley entrance. Her only escape had been cut off.

"W-wait! Please, don't!" Glow Stick screamed.

"Whoa, hold on," she heard a familiar voice say. "I'm not going to hurt you. Calm down."

Glow Stick's eyes widened as a white unicorn mare with an electric blue mane trotted up to her out of the shadows. It was the DJ from the club that night. DJ Pon-3, if she remembered correctly.

"Sorry if I scared you, but you left your saddle-bag back at the club," the DJ said, levitating the bag in question up to Glow Stick.

Glow Stick sighed in relief. She knew she had been forgetting something. "Oh. Well, thank you. Yeah, being out here alone is kind of scary."

"Yeah, tell me about it. Do you want me to walk with you?"

"Sure, I could use some company after that scare."

The journey back to Glow Stick's apartment was much more cheerful with another pony around. Glow Stick and the DJ, Vinyl Scratch, soon arrived without any further distress.

"Thanks for that, and for my bag," Glow Stick said as she levitated her key into the lock.

"No problem at all. Again, sorry if I scared you."

"Hey, will you be performing Nightmare Night?"

"Of course!" Vinyl smiled. "Favorite night of the year. I'm actually performing in Ponyville, if you want to come."

"Sounds great. I'll have to check my schedule, but I'd love to come."

"Awesome. Good night!"

"Night!" Glow Stick said, opening her door and stepping inside as Vinyl trotted off.

A few seconds later, a confused Glow Stick opened the door again, looking around for Vinyl. The other unicorn had already disappeared, but there was something about her that was bothering Glow Stick. She could have sworn, when she went to open the door, that she hadn't seen Vinyl casting any reflection in the front windows.

That couldn't be right, could it? Glow Stick shook her head. She must have been more tired than she thought.

So easy.

It would have been so easy. She was cornered, not thinking straight. There was nopony else on the street. Tartarus, I walked her to her front door. It wouldn't have taken more than a couple seconds for me to overpower her, expose her neck, and...

I shook my head. I've lasted this long without succumbing. I'm not going to give in to the urge the first chance I get.

I'm just so, so thirsty.

"Just a few more minutes, Vinyl," I told myself. "You just have to wait a few more minutes."

I was thankful the train car was empty. Last thing I need right now is somepony wandering up to ask the mare muttering to herself if anything's wrong. Wandering up within biting distance.

It's been about fifty years since Equestria's had another vampire. About fifty years since I was turned. I may be immortal now, but even for me, fifty years has been a long time. Almost everypony thinks vampires are fiction now. From what I've heard, even back when there were more of us, we were pretty good at staying out of the spotlight. It's easier to find a meal when your main food source thinks you don't exist.

Now that vampires aren't a threat anymore (at least, I'm trying my hardest to make sure it stays that way), they've been sensationalized. The thing of movies and novels. And all of them seem to play up how awesome being a vampire is.

I mean, yeah, there are a lot of perks to being undead. Immortality is a big plus. I never have to worry about going to the doctor or what's going to happen when I'm old and infirm. I'm stronger and faster than any other pony alive (don't tell Rainbow Dash or Applejack). Best of all, I can turn into a bat or a wolf. You have no idea how tempting it is for me to just fly back to Ponyville each night instead of taking the train. The only reason I don't is because I don't want anypony happening to see me transforming.

But for all the perks, there are just as many downsides. I can go out in sunlight without dying, but it still itches like crazy. I'm going to be around longer than any of my friends or family will. My folks passed away several decades ago, and I couldn't go to the funeral because ponies would start asking me why I still look 25. I have to wear sunglasses everywhere I go so ponies won't see my red eyes.

And then there's the thirst. By the princesses, the thirst.

I only absolutely need to feed every three days, but the thirst never actually goes away. Every time I meet a new pony, I'm subconsciously thinking of all the ways I could bite them. And all it would take is one lapse, one single instant where I lose control, for me to give in to the urge.

On top of the fact that I don't want to kill anypony, biting somepony opens a whole new can of worms. If I kill somepony by draining them, three days later they rise as a new vampire. And then Equestria has to deal with two vampires trying to fight their urges instead of one. And what happens if the new vampire can't keep in control as well as I can? Or worse, what if I bite somepony who doesn't care about killing or turning more ponies? We're right back at square one, with a whole new vampire plague spreading through Equestria.

I know a bunch of ponies who think becoming a vampire would be the best thing to ever happen to them. The truth is that vampirism is a tremendous responsibility, an addiction that's always with you and with tremendous stakes if you lose control. That's why only a select few I know for certain I can trust know about my condition.

I'm on my way back to meet one of them right now. Hopefully, they can get me a drink.

"Octavia, I'm home!" I half-shouted. Octy, bless her, always tries to stay up and welcome me back from work, but I don't want to go waking the neighbors who don't work nights... or are undead.

"Dinner's on the table!" I heard her voice come from the kitchen. I grinned widely and trotted towards her, happy that I finally get to scratch that itch. You have no idea what it's like only being able to eat every couple days. I can eat ordinary food or drink ordinary drinks, but it doesn't actually do anything. No filling, no taste, zip. Blood, while it only satisfies me temporarily, is the only thing that actually gives me any kind of sensation. If the blood is old or has been preserved, like from a hospital blood bag, it still satisfies me, but it tastes stale. Fresh blood, on the other hoof, is like liquid heaven.

Octy usually tries to give it to me fresh.

"Man, I've been waiting for this all night!" I chuckled as I trotted into the kitchen. Octavia smiled at me as she pushed a glass full of crimson liquid in my direction, a bandage around one of her front legs. The girl's my best friend, but I'm not going to risk infecting her by drinking straight from the source.

"So, how was work?"

"Mmm," I mumbled, pausing from drinking my dinner. "It was pretty good. Fun, but uneventful." I looked down at the contents of my glass. "A... a mare left her saddlebag at the club. I was going to bring it back to her, but I ended up... following her. Like, stalking, following her. I was really tempted to... you know..."

Octavia frowned, putting her hoof on mine. I felt my eyes drawn to the bandage. I could just make out a little bit of red seeping through the cloth.

"Did you?"

I shut my eyes. "No. I gave her her bag and walked her home." I looked up at Octy. "What are we going to do on Nightmare Night? I'm going to be up there in front of maybe thousands of ponies. What's going to happen if I lose control?"

"Did you lose control when you were performing in the club earlier tonight?"

"Well, no, but it was only maybe thirty ponies tonight."

"What about during the Gala earlier this year, or last year, or the year before that?"

"What, with the nobility? Please, you couldn't pay me to bite one of them. They probably taste terrible."

"Cadance and Shining Armor's wedding?"

I took another sip of my drink. "Alright, I think I see your point."

"This isn't the first time you've had to be with a crowd of ponies, Vinyl. In fact, I'm sure there have been times where there were more ponies than there will be on Nightmare Night. You didn't lose control then. And tonight... you slipped, but you didn't go all the way through with it. And if you do start to lose it at the concert, I will be right by your side the whole time."

"The whole time? You promise?"

She smiled at me. "Absolutely."

I looked back down at the bandage again. Closing my eyes, I threw my head back and drank the last of my meal.

The next evening, I was leaving Club Canterlot when I heard something. Most ponies, I don't think, would have heard it. You would have needed the enhanced hearing of a vampire to hear it.

It wasn't a sound I recalled ever hearing before. Kind of a strangled, gurgling sound.

And it was coming from the direction of Glow Stick's house.

I galloped towards where I heard the sound coming from, carefully scanning the alleys as I ran past. Finally, I found the source.

At the back of one of the alleys, I saw the bright green of Glow Stick's crumpled form. Hunched over her was some kind of animal I had never seen before. At first, I thought it was covered in black and light blue fur, but as I looked closer, I managed to make out that it was wearing clothing, specifically some blue jeans and a black jacket. Its limbs looked longer than those of a pony, and it looked like it was about twice Glow Stick's size.

Suddenly, the creature shifted. It turned to look at me. Its head was almost completely bare, with only a short black mane on top, with the rest of it covered in pale skin. Its eyes were bright red, and its open mouth exposed gleaming fangs dripping with Glow Stick's blood. It hissed like a snake.

I took a step back. Whatever this creature was, it was like me.

It was another vampire.

In the space of a second, the creature sprang off of Glow Stick's body and towards me. Even with my heightened reflexes, I barely managed to teleport into the alley behind it. The creature landed hard on the pavement, looking around confused for a moment before rounding on me.

"Yeah, weren't expecting that, were you?" I growled. Charging my magic, I fired a beam into the creature's chest, knocking it back further into the street. I turned to check on Glow Stick. Her eyes were open, but she wasn't moving. Her neck was bleeding profusely. I checked for a pulse, and my suspicions were confirmed when I didn't find one.

Hearing something behind me, I turned back to the other vampire. It was standing upright like a biped now, revealing a dark blue shirt under the black jacket. The spell I had fired had burned a large hole in the shirt, but as I watched, the charred flesh began to repair itself, leaving undamaged, pale skin behind. In a matter of seconds, it had reverted back to what I assumed to be its natural state.

Okay, looks like it can heal fast, too. So does it have the same weaknesses I do?

I managed to get a forcefield up before the vampire punched me, buying me a few seconds to think. It's still several hours to daylight, so I can't use that against it. I don't have any stakes or silver with me, nor do I have garlic. My options are pretty limited. I really only have one thing I can use against it.

"Fine, you want to play rough?" I asked, removing my sunglasses and stowing them in my saddlebag. I looked the vampire in the eyes with my own, making sure it can see my own red pupils. I grinned, exposing my fangs. "I can play rough."

Dropping my shield, I concentrated and turned my body into mist. The vampire's eyes widened as I evaporated, flowing behind it before reverting. Pushing down with all my strength, I managed to take it to the ground. I punched at its head with all my might, getting in several good blows before it transformed into mist as well. Floating up to the rooftop, it reverted to its natural form, looking at me in confusion.

"A native vampire?" I heard it mutter in a masculine voice. "That's not possible." Leaping up into the air, he transformed into a bat and flew away into the night.

Author's Note

Blade will appear next chapter.