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.
"...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?"
