Nocturnals

Canterlot Castle

“Tia, are you ok? What happened?” Luna rushed towards her sister. “I came as fast as I could!”

“I’m fine, for the most part”—Celestia showed a bandage wrapped around her right front leg—“Just a scratch. Whatever that attacker was bit me! The guards that tried to stop him didn’t have as much luck… Three are in a critical state.”

“It bit you?”

“Yes. He claims to be a vampire. The implications if he tells the truth would be immense, but the breach in security is worrisome enough on its own. I need your help to prevent a panic.”

“Of course I’ll help! But could me tell me what happened already?”

“I woke up from fighting sounds in the hallway, the door was pushed open, the supposed vampire leaping through it, I raised my hoof, he bit me. I managed to throw him off me and pin him down with magic. Apparently he fought his way directly to me, but nopony knows where he entered the castle.”

“How can you be so calm after an attack from a vampire?”

“Oh, I’m stressed. A vampire attacked several guards and bit me, there is a hole in the castle defence, your favorite holiday is ruined, I may or may not turn into a vampire… I am stressed! I’m just not panicking. No matter if I like it or not, I need to stay calm. If I am seen panicking… If there are even rumors about me being worried, it could hurl all of Equestria into mass hysteria.”

Luna needed a moment to process that. “Ok… Ok… What now?”

“We need to find out who the attacker actually is. I only knew vampires from books, so if he really is one, we need to know if there are others, how he became a vampire… Maybe it was just a botched spell or something. And why he wanted to”—Celestia hesitated a moment—“to kill me. The guards could already tell me that he went straight to my room.”

“I will interrogate him right after we are done here,” Luna said to Celestia. “Anything else?”

Celestia took a deep breath. “Because of my wound, I can’t fulfill my public duties. I know that it will be hard, but I have to ask you to cover them for me until I can safely show myself again.”

“Then it’s good that I already told Twilight to come here with the other Elements. They should arrive soon, and I have no doubt that together we can cover for you as long as necessary.”

After Luna left Tia to her doctors, who wanted to keep an eye on her just in case Celestia was infected with anything from the bite, she went down the hallways and stairs to the dungeon. She created a silence shield, something that almost happened reflexively whenever she needed to go somewhere and wanted to think loudly. “Tia is safe, at least relatively. And with the help of the Six, the same should be true about Equestria…

“Now to get to the real problem. The attacker. A self proclaimed vampire… Wouldn’t be that big of a surprise if it turns out that they exist. A surprise would be if they were able to hide from us for a long time… Although, we didn’t know much about dragons either until recently. And they are not really subtle. How unlikely is it then that smaller creatures could hide completely? Not that unlikely, right?

“And considering things like the changelings, a blood sucking pony doesn’t sound that absurd either. And if they really do die from sunlight, that would be a motive… We just had to put the dungeon on the deepest, outermost part of the castle… I need to keep it together when I’m in there. Last time I was that angry ended on the moon. I don’t want to repeat that.

“Finally, the cell block. Empty as always. The spells the cells are enchanted with are truly interesting. No hunger, no thirst… I often thought about getting such a spell for myself. Not having to eat would be really practical, but using a prison spell would bind my magic too. Well, everything has its pros and cons.”

Luna opened the shield and ordered the head guard, to bring her to the interrogation room where the assassin was waiting. She didn’t want to talk, so both went there in silence.

“It’s in here, your Highness.” The head guard stopped before a door with two more guards, but hesitated to unlock it. “We chained him to the wall. I suggest that you stay far enough away from it, your Highness. It bites.”

“I appreciate the piece of advice. Now open the door.” Luna didn’t want to waste any more time. She entered the room, closed the door and put a silence spell on it. She didn’t need any interferences now. Luna turned to the assassin, who sat on the ground. Red, emotionless eyes looking at her, jougs around the neck and bolted with two chains to the wall. He had a light grey coat and a white mane. His cutie mark was some kind of bowl.

“Oh, the Princess of the Night will interrogate me personally! What an honor!” He tried to bow, but the chains prevented him. He grinned now, showing two long teeth, still red with blood.

Luna stood in front of him. Don’t kill him. You need answers. “What’s your name?”

He laughed a little bit. “You can call me White. Not that it would matter, right?”

“Listen,” Luna said with a cold voice, “I want answers, and you will give these answers. The only thing you can decide is how long it will take. Do you understand your situation?”

“Yes. So, what does the former Nightmare Moon want to know?”

“Why did you attack Princess Celestia?” was Luna’s first question.

“She raises the sun, and I am a vampire. Do I need another reason?”

There was this grin again. Luna just stared at him.

“That’s my answer, and it’s the truth. So what else?”

“How old are you? As a vampire.”

“One thousand years, give or take a century. I stopped counting at some point.”

“Are there other vampires?”

“Oh, yes! We are all over the land! But we are good at hiding.”

He showed no signs of lying, so Luna continued. “How did you enter the castle?”

“I can summon bat-like wings. But I’m too exhausted to show you. Sorry, Nightmare.”

Luna’s desire to kill him grew with every question, but she needed to continue. “How did you know where you would find her?”

“Her stench. She has enough public appearances, so getting one of her feathers was easy. That brought me close enough to sense her blood.”

“Why did you attack today?”

“You leave every year for Nightmare Night. That was the best opportunity.”

You have to keep him talking. “What will happen with my sister?”

“She will turn into a vampire. In three days. There is a potion that can prevent that, but I never bothered learning the recipe. I wanted it to be a clean kill, suck all the blood and leave. Victims don’t turn if they die before three days are over, and blood loss can be pretty lethal. But I don’t mind. She will turn feral when she finally becomes a vampire and then somepony of you will do that for me. Poor thing, she only prolonged her suffering.”

“Why are you so calm?” Luna was really close to losing her patience completely.

“That irritates you, right? Well, I know your laws. You have no executions and no torture. And I saw Nightmare Moon in action, and you… you are just an impostor. She is scary, but you are not. No matter how hard you try to imitate her eyes. It’s still clear that you are not her, not anymore. So why should I be afraid? Because I may be in here for a couple decades?”

Luna needed to get out. She turned away from White and stepped towards the door.

“She tasted good, you know?” White said.

Luna stopped, the anger rising in her.

White smiled. “Everypony tastes different, but her blood was special. So full of magic. Just for that one drop of blood, the whole thing was worth it! It’s almost sad that nopony else will get the chance to drink her blood, now that she will become one of us.

“If you let that happen, that is. You could ‘spare’ her that fate, of course. You would just have to kill her. You won’t get around that anyway, because if you let her turn, she will pose a danger to society.

“Not that you would need a reason, right? You tried to kill her once already! Why don’t you let her out? I would really like to thank Nightmare Moon for her efforts. She failed, but her attempt inspired me.”

That was it. Luna didn’t bother keeping her anger down anymore. She grabbed him with her magic and pulled him away from the wall. The chains broke. He hovered in the middle of the room. Luna turned around and looked at him. “Nightmare Moon is gone.” She threw White at the left wall with all power she had. “And yes, we don’t execute our prisoners in Equestria.” He crashed into the right wall, and came back to hover in the middle of the room.

“But you are not a pony. You are not alive to begin with.” Luna could have continued throwing him into walls, but that wouldn’t be personal enough. So she punched him with her right hoof in the face. To her surprise, he actually started to bleed. “So nopony will care if you won’t survive.”

Another punch, this time to the jaw. It dislocated.

Another punch, aimed at the fangs. They shattered.

Luna taunted him. “No more biting for you.” Her hoof was already red. She fell into a trance.

Another punch, above the right eye.

Another punch, his right shoulder was broken.

White still grinned, albeit weakly. Luna pinned him to the wall again. Positioned herself in front of him.

Another punch. His stupid face again.

Another punch. Then he will stop grinning.

Luna increased her speed.

Another punch. He deserves it.

Another punch. He attacked Tia.

She lost track of how many times her hoof connected with his face when the door was opened.

Luna wanted to punch again, but her hoof was held back by magic. She raised the other hoof, but somepony held that back too. She was pulled away from White, across the room. But her eyes were still locked on him.

Only after a yellow mare flew between Luna and White and she met the yellow ones stare was Luna able to come back to her senses.

“Princess Luna, are you ok again?” Twilight asked her.

“Yes, thanks to you all.” She noticed that Applejack and Pinkie Pie hold her left front hoof, while her right one was kept in place by Twilight’s and Rarity’s magic. Fluttershy was still using her stare on her, but that didn't affect Luna. Rainbow Dash looked at the unconscious White. “You can let me go now.”

They stepped back from her. Luna left the room, the Six followed her. She ignored the guards shocked looks and went straight for the stairs.

After she stopped in her own rooms to clean the blood of her, Luna and the Six gathered in Luna’s rooms. After Luna told them everything she learned, they planned the next steps.

“I have an idea,” Twilight said, “I cover the public appearances with Spike’s help. Rainbow, could you go to Zecora and ask her if she knows a cure for Celestia?”

“No problem, Twilight! I’ll be back in no time!” Rainbow Dash answered.

Twilight continued, “Starlight can search the library in the Castle of Friendship. And I will send a letter to the Crystal Empire. Maybe Sunburst can find something.”

“And the rest of us?” Rarity asked.

“Could you, Applejack and Fluttershy search in the Library of Canterlot?” The ponies in question nodded. “Perfect. Pinkie, you know Moondancer. Please go to her and ask if she can help.”

“Sure Thing!”

“Good, then we should go and—”

“You forgot me.” Luna interrupted Twilight.

“I didn’t. Princess Luna, you still have your own duties. I think it would be better if you concentrate on them.”

“You expect me to just sit around when my sister is in danger?” Luna asked coldly.

“Of course not! But it won’t help her if you ignore your duties.”

Luna lowered her head. She was unable to help Tia. Even though her absence from the castle enabled the attack in the first place.

Rarity stepped forward. “Princess Luna, may I suggest that you give your sister emotional support? Be there for her in that hour of need?”

“And you all promise me to do everything you can?”

All promised.

“Thank you,” Luna said relieved, “You may go now.”