The DJ and the Daywalker

"...then I heard this... odd noise coming from the alley," I said, recounting my story to one of the guardsponies. "I came to investigate and I saw this... this thing on top of Glow Stick. I don't know what it was. Never seen anything like it before. Looked like a shaved monkey or something. It looked at me, hissed, and ran off."

The guard finished writing down my statement. "Alright, thank you, Miss Scratch. We'll take it from here. You should probably go home and try to get some sleep. We'll let you know if we need anything else." He turned to walk away, but then looked back at me. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

I nodded, thanking the guard for his sympathy. I began to trot away when I saw a familiar-looking mare standing just outside the crime-scene tape. I sighed. Great. Should have known she'd show up sooner or later.

"Vinyl?"

"Nope," I said, levitating the crime-scene tape over my head as I tried to continue on my way, not making eye contact.

"Vinyl, come on. Don't make this harder than it has to be."

I stopped in my tracks. "Alright, Bon-Bon. Let's... just make it quick. I've had a long night."

"Has anypony found out about your vampirism since we last met?" Bon-Bon asked.

"No," I groaned, my head resting on my forehooves. Bon-Bon wrote down my answer in a notepad.

"Does anypony suspect anything?"

"No," I repeated.

"You're sure? Nopony saw your reflection or anything?"

"No."

"Have you bitten anypony? Even for just a few drops of blood?"

"Just one. But it was an old mare at the retirement center, she was half-blind, and she's confined to a wheelchair. Even if she turns, she's not going to turn into the next lord of darkness or anything."

Bon-Bon scowled at me.

"No," I said.

"Look, I know you don't like debriefing," Bon-Bon said. "Trust me, I don't either. But it's just going to take longer if you don't take this seriously."

"I know, I know. I just hate feeling like you're my parole officer or something."

Bon-Bon, or Sweetie Drops to use her given name, is an agent of the Equestrian government, tasked with keeping the citizens of Equestria safe from monsters of all kinds - including me. In fact, I'm one of the main reasons she lives in Ponyville. She had brought me back to her place so I could give her my statement - my real statement.

The sound of the door opening caught our attention, and I turned to see Lyra and Octavia trotting into the room. "Oh, thank Celestia!" Octavia exclaimed. She trotted over and embraced me. "Lyra told me what happened. Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, Octy," I said, returning the hug. "Thanks for asking."

Octavia looked over at Bon-Bon. "Are you almost finished?"

Bon-Bon nodded. "Yeah, we're about half-done. Just finished with the standard questions. Now we need to go over tonight's events." She looked back to me. "So, did you see what did this? Was it another vampire?"

I nodded. "That or something that looked and behaved just like one. Same eyes, same fangs, same powers. The only thing was, it wasn't a pony. It was some sort of bipedal animal, like a monkey or ape or something. It was wearing clothes and could talk, though, so I don't think it was a wild animal."

Lyra raised an eyebrow at this. "Wait, it was a biped, looked like an ape, wore clothes, and could talk? Did it have any fur or anything?"

I shook my head 'no.'

"Did it have any claws on its fingers, or were they blunt?"

"I couldn't really tell, on account of the fact that it was trying to kill me, but I think they were blunt."

Lyra smiled at Bon-Bon, who looked confused for a second before seeming to realize something. "No. No, tell me you're not going where I think you're going with this," Bon-Bon said.

"Oh, yeah!" Lyra laughed. "A human in Equestria! A human VAMPIRE, no less!"

Now it was Bon-Bon's turn to lay her head on the table. "We don't know that for sure. Besides, with the mirror portal under Princess Twilight's supervision, we'd know if any humans got through."

"How do you know the mirror portal is the only way to the human world?" Lyra asked, a satisfied smirk on her face. "There are loads of ancient, mystic artifacts out there. You can't tell me SMILE knows where they all are. Besides, SMILE didn't even know humans existed until a couple years ago. And tell me, who was it again who knew they did before your spy buddies?"

"You did," Bon-Bon groaned. It was clear Lyra was never going to let that go.

"I hate to say it, but I think Lyra may be onto something here," I spoke up. "From what you guys have told me about humans, the vampire tonight did look a lot like one."

Bon-Bon sighed. "Alright, I'll tell the other agents. One last thing and we can wrap up. How did you know the victim?"

My heart sank. "I didn't. I told you, I just ran into her in the alley when the vampire was attacking her."

Bon-Bon shook her head. "Vinyl, I need you to be honest with me. You're not going to make this easy on yourself if you don't tell me the truth."

"I am being honest with you."

Bon-Bon bit her lip. "One of our agents saw you together the other night."

The room went silent. Even Lyra had stopped smiling. I shared a look with Octavia. "You were spying on me?"

"Vinyl, you know how this has to be..."

"How long have your guys been watching me?"

Bon-Bon didn't answer.

"You never stopped, did you?"

"We have to be sure."

"Sure of what? Sure that I'm not going to bite anypony? It's been fifty years, Sweetie Drops. How long is it going to be before you trust me?"

"You know it's not that simple, Vinyl. Even the best ponies have their weak moments now and then."

"Stop telling me what I KNOW!" I shouted. I unconsciously bared my fangs. "I KNOW that I've been working my flank off to resist the urge to bite somepony. I KNOW that not a day goes by where I don't wish I didn't have to deal with this Celestia-damned curse. I KNOW that I didn't ask to be turned! I never wanted this! I was a victim, Sweetie, not a monster! I thought YOU knew that by now." With that, I got up and left the house, Octavia following me after a moment.

Let Sweetie finish her own damn paperwork.

The next night, I was heading out to a gig when I found a guardspony waiting for me at the door. "Miss Scratch?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"We have a couple more questions regarding the incident in Canterlot last night. Would you be able to come down to the station?"

Looking back on it now, I wasn't operating at my best that night. I was still on edge from witnessing Glow Stick's murder and the argument with Bon-Bon, plus the thirst had started to gnaw at me again. In any case, I said "Sure," followed the guard, and didn't think twice about how he was wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night. It was only until we were about halfway to the Everfree Forest that I started to get the feeling something was wrong.

"Hey, we're still going to the station, right?"

"Yeah, I just need to pick up another witness first. Shouldn't take too long."

I shrugged and went along. Even if he was planning something, I figured I would be able to handle it. He was just one stallion, and I was a vampire. By the time we got to the Everfree, it was too late. I didn't notice the silver necklace until it had already been levitated over my neck.

I screamed in pain as the silver made contact with my skin. It felt like somepony had just stabbed me in the neck with a hot knife. Without thinking, I reached up with a hoof and tried to pull the necklace off, only for pain to shoot up my foreleg as I touched the necklace.

"Is this the one, Thomas?" I heard a mare's voice say from behind me. Looking back, I saw through my tears a red-eyed unicorn mare walking out from behind a tree.

"Yeah, that's her," I heard a familiar voice say from in front of me. Turning towards it, I saw the human vampire from last night coming out from hiding. "That's the bitch who interrupted my dinner."

"Well, she won't be any trouble with the necklace," the guardspony said, removing his sunglasses and giving a fanged grin. "Let's get her back to the master."

"In a moment," Thomas said, cracking his knuckles. "She and I have unfinished business."

"Are you sure that's wise?" the unicorn said. "The master said to bring her back immediately."

"Stay out of this, pony," Thomas growled. "He's not watching right now. For all the master needs to know, she put up a fight before we got the necklace on her. Just let me have my fun."

The unicorn glared and was about to say something before she noticed something behind Thomas. Suddenly, Thomas screeched in pain and reached behind his back, grasping at something I couldn't see. Suddenly, a figure ran out of the forest and struck Thomas in the head, knocking him to the ground. As he fell, I could see what looked like a wooden knife sticking out of his back.

Looking back up, I saw the newcomer more clearly. It was a human dressed completely in black, even having dark skin and a short black mane on his head. He was wearing sunglasses and carried a long thin sword.

"What in Tartarus is that?!" the vampire guardspony exclaimed.

"It's the one the master warned us about!" the unicorn said, firing a spell from her horn at the human. He dodged out of the way, ran up to her, and kicked her in the face. Before she could react, the human swept her legs out from under her and planted the sword in her side as she fell. She let out a scream and fell still. Quick as a flash, he pulled the sword out and lopped her head off, causing her to disintegrate into ash.

The guardspony hissed and charged at the human. Hearing him approaching, the human lashed out with his sword, slicing the guardspony across the face. The guard screamed in pain, reaching up with a hoof to clutch the wound, before the human severed his head and hoof with one blow. The guardspony disintegrated as well.

A cloud of mist blew over behind the human, coalescing into the form of Thomas, who grabbed onto the human's back. The two struggled, with the dark-skinned human smashing Thomas into trees in an effort to shake him off. Finally, reaching into the inside of his coat, the human pulled out another wooden knife and drove it into one of Thomas' eyes. Thomas shouted and let go, allowing the human to run him through with his sword. Finally, he decapitated Thomas, reducing him to ash.

"T...thanks..." I rasped as I started to levitate the silver necklace off. Before I could remove it completely, however, the human turned to me, ran up, picked me up by the neck, and slammed me into the side of a tree. He bared his teeth at me, allowing me to see his fangs.

"Don't thank me just yet, parasite," he growled. "I'm not done with you yet. The only reason we're talking is because you and your friends there didn't seem to be getting along. Before you join them, I have some questions for you." He held the blade of his sword to my throat. I could feel its edge burning my skin just like the necklace. "First, where the hell am I?"