Feral

Author's Note: Thank you so much for all the support with this story! I have taken the questions posted in the comments of the last chapter and had them asked in this chapter accordingly. This chapter also has some dark material in it, and due to the answers I had to add a Sad tag. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you for reading!

“I am a forest and a night of dark trees, but he who is not afraid of my darkness will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.”
-Friedrich Nietzsche

The cool embrace of the night air could be felt in Sugarcube Corner. It was past midnight but due to the rather unusual circumstances at hand and the fact that there was a massive hole in the wall, everypony had decided to stay up and clean before having the Vampire discuss with them the answers they wanted to hear. The exception being the Cakes, who went upstairs to rest after a nerve wracking day of party hosting and the brief battle that destroyed most of their bakery downstairs. Marius and the ponies who had stayed decided to clean up the mess they had made. Twilight and the rest of the Elements thought it was very odd to watch the Princesses help clean up the mess with them, since they had never seen them do cleaning of any sort before. All the unicorns and both Princesses decided to sweep up the broken wood and debris, since levitation would make it very simple to clean up quickly. Only Sweetie Belle didn't help sweep, as she helped the others pick up and put away the party invitations.

Before they did any of that though, Marius had been tasked by his master to clean up the blood and brain matter that littered the floor and walls. He happily accepted the order, took his index finger on his right hand, and used his claw to cut a large slit in his palm. Everypony was very puzzled by this until he positioned it towards the floor. Every bit of delicious red nectar that had left both Celestia's body and his, flew from the place it had pooled and into the cut in his palm. The cut then sealed itself. Afterwards, everypony could start their cleaning.

It was close to the hour of midnight when they had finished. The only thing left was the hole and the Princesses had promised to send a crew to fix it tomorrow. Everypony got comfortable and seated themselves on the floor. Due to the lack of a large amount of blankets, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom cuddled up next to their sisters while Scootaloo decided to try and cuddle up to Rainbow Dash. At first, the Rainbow maned pegasus had thought it a bit awkward, but after looking down at her pleading look, she warmly smiled with a caring look in her eyes while she unfurled her left wing and wrapped it around the young filly. Obviously, nopony was used to the cold air of a Fall night except Luna, as she let her older sister cuddle up to her as well.

"Now then," Marius said after waiting for all of them to become comfortable. "Since I have decided to answer any questions that you all may have for me, who shall start first?" the Vampire asked while slowly unfurling his wings to stretch them along with his arms, careful to not knock anything over.

They all looked around at each other to see who would ask the first question.

"How did your coffin end up beneath our castle?" Luna spoke. Every bit of attention was fixated on her and then shifted to Marius, who was now laying down across the glass counter with his hands behind his head, and his wings hanging over on his sides.

He scoffed loudly.

"I think the more correct question would be, how did your castle end up on top of my coffin." Pinkie, who was sitting next to Fluttershy, snort-giggled at his change of the question.

"Silly Mari'. He means that his coffin was there the whole time, and you built the castle on top of it. Your builders just happened to find it and put it in the basement when they were done. You thought that some smarty warty pants archaeologist left it in the lower levels of the castle as a gift to add to your relic collection, so you didn't think about it any further." the Pink pony pointed out.

Marius was impressed and everypony else was dumbfounded.

"Pinkie, that was a very astute observation," Twilight praised her.

She rolled her eyes.

"Well, duh! I grew up on a rock farm remember? We found odd stuff in the ground all the time! Ohhh, there was even this one time where-"

"Umm....Pinkie...I'm soooo sorry...but um...I think everypony else wants to ask their questions...or not...I'm sorry. Are you mad at me? Please don't be mad at me!" the timid yellow pegasus told her.

"How do you plan on feeding?" Celestia asked.

Everypony's attention was once again on Marius. He closed his eyes while letting out a long breath.

"Every three weeks or so, I will have to see if I can borrow blood from the hospital. I could feed off of the local wildlife," there was a gasp of horror from across the room made by a pink maned pegasus.

"I choose not to though, as it would seem animal life is indeed very valuable here. I will take only as much as I need to quench my thirst, but that is all."

Everypony breathed a sigh of relief.

"How does blood taste, and what's the bestest blood you've ever tasted? Also, Chimicherry or cherrychanga?" asked the now widely smiling party pony.

Without missing a beat, Marius responded,

"Cherrychanga. Now, you ask how blood tastes. Let me think of a way I can explain it to you," he brought his hand to his chin and rubbed it slightly with his fingers.

"The taste of blood itself would depend solely on how the owner lived their life. If they chose to be wicked and did evil deeds, their blood would be delectable as it has been exposed to the ever sweet taste of corruption. Kind and generous owners, however, are exactly the opposite, offering a somewhat bitter salty taste. Who you drink from depends entirely upon what you feel like tasting, much like any normal food. As for the sensation of feeding," the Vampire told them while they listened closely, "Imagine being starved for two full weeks of food and drink, then feasting on a meal fit for Royalty while simultaneously having every sexual desire in your body fulfilled at once," the Vampire explained.

Several ponies in the room blushed wildly at the mention of sex, mainly the Crusaders. Only a year ago were they given the talk about where foals came from by Miss Cheerilee. The mares in the room along with Spike only blushed slightly, while some coughed having an awkward smile on their faces. At this reaction, the Vampire could only chuckle.

"Okay, what about sunlight then?" Celestia asked.

"What about it?" he shifted his lazy gaze to look at her as she cuddled her sister.

"My magic evidently hurt you because it had harnessed solar energies. So, how do you walk out in my sun?" she asked pondering the question herself.

"It's simple," the vampire smirked. "Direct exposure to the sun would kill almost any other of my kind within minutes, but I am very old. Ancient in fact. Such a long time spent with Vampirism has the ability to make one highly resistant to the rays of sunlight due to increased regenerative properties, systematic strengthening of dead cells, and increasing the power of Vampiric magic. Direct exposure, however, is much more effective. Such as solar magic induced spells."

"What about a magnifying glass?"

Marius gave an unamused look to Spike, who asked the question and was now trying to hide chuckling.

"The fact that I fully regenerated my head, arm, and even my coat sleeve should give you that answer."

"*Pfft* I got one for ya," Rainbow said with a smile while still cradling Scootaloo from the cold. "Tacos with mild sauce or burritos with extra cheese?" the cyan mare let loose a gale of laughter. Spike, Pinkie, and Scootaloo quickly followed in her footsteps.

"Hahaha *snort* hahaha *snort*! Good one Rainbow Dash!" the party pony praised her.

"Yeah. That was, like, so funny. He probably has never even heard of them!" Spike said. Everypony else in the room just face-hoofed.

The Vampire looked at them all with a dead serious expression, stifling their laughter before speaking,

"Whole grain taco shells with melted cheddar and tender Angus beef with a light touch of tomato and basil sauce along with a dash of crushed (not diced) red pepper, which would be just enough to bring out the natural tang of Angus beef while blending in well with the basil."

Everypony was shocked.

"What? I told Pinkie I ate for taste, not sustenance," Marius spoke.

"B...b..beef? That's like, uh...," the rainbow colored mare was a little shaken.

"Yes, beef is what they call the meat from a cow," Marius told them.

"What about your wings? I noticed you were really good with them. Can you fly fast and use them to grip stuff like pegasus ponies do?" asked enthusiastic little Scootaloo.

"Well, I don't really have a need to grip anything with them, since I take on the form of a human and have hands. As for flying fast, yes. I can fly incredibly fast. I would venture to say I can fly faster than anything you've ever seen," he told them.

Instantly, Rainbow's ego took a defensive stance.

"Oh yeah?! How about me and you have a race? What do ya say?" she tried to coax the Vampire.

He smirked that signature smirk he had where one side of his fangs were partially exposed. Usually a sign he was intrigued.

"Very well. We shall have a race, but we shall have it later this week before this coming Friday. Deal?"

She smiled with the utmost assurance she'd win since she had mastered the Sonic Rainboom since the wedding and could now perform it as easy as a morning exercise.

"Deal! Hope you like losing! Hehehe," her voice cracked at Marius while Scootaloo nuzzled her wing trying to get comfortable.

"Ooooh, ooooh, I have one!" Pinkie yelled while raising her hand in the air as if she were in a classroom.

'Lets see here. What did the writer want me to ask again? Umm...'

She sat there and contemplated the answer while-

'Hey, you're interrupting me while I'm thinking. Stop it!'

You stop it. I'm just writing the story. Have you remembered what you're supposed to ask yet?

'Kinda. Does it have something to do with Narwhals?'

Yeah. The question is, "Does the Narwhal bacon at midnight?"

'Oh yeah! Thanks mister writer guy!'

Don't mention it.

"Does the Narwhal bacon at midnight?" the pink party pony asked.

Everyone in the room looked at her with a confused expression while Marius put his hand on his forehead.

'You know, this would be the first time I have had a headache since I was alive,' he thought.

Not able to think of anything else to say, he simply spoke,

"Yes."

Pinkie just sat there smiling at him for a brief moment before speaking,

"Okie dokie lokie!"

The Royal guards were still guarding the door whilst watching over the Princesses. The tension after Pinkie spoke remained and could have been cut with a knife. It had been a minute or two of silence since Pinkie asked her odd question. Finally, Sweetie softly spoke,

"I have one."

She started to become nervous as everyone's gaze fell upon her. Rarity wrapped her left arm and hoof around her sister and pulled her in closer before speaking,

"It's alright Sweetie. Ask," she smiled down at her sister.

"I was wondering," Sweetie Belle turned her eyes to look into his.

"You can use magic, but how strong is your magic? Is it as strong as the Princesses'?"

No one was expecting the little filly to actually question the raw magic ability of the princesses, but she did.

"*Pffft* Oh Sweetie, Marius seems to have quite a bit of knowledge with magic, but I'm sure he has nowhere near as much magical ability as Princess Celestia and Luna...right?" she looked at her mentor with pleading eyes. Celestia looked back with a motherly warmth and a faint smile.

"Actually Twilight, if our senses served us correct when my sister linked with him earlier, he has just as much (if not more) magical ability as us," Luna told her matter-of-factly.

Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. Everypony in Equestria...no...everyone on the planet thought of the rulers of Equestria as Godesses. They raised the sun and the moon everyday, keeping the entire planet alive. Since their miraculous birth over four thousand years ago, no one came even close to comparing with their ability except for Discord, until this mysterious member of the Undead showed up who called himself Marius. It was all too much. She felt herself start to shake when a large white wing was slowly draped over her side pulling her in close.

"My dear Twilight, I will always be the ruler of this land so long as I live, and I am becoming convinced Marius is going to make a wonderful citizen of Equestria. Isn't that right, Marius?"

The Vampire merely held up his hand as one of the leftover cupcakes from the party was enveloped in a dark red glow and was levitated above his mouth. He sunk his large fangs into it savoring the sweet taste of the homemade icing.

"Absolutely," he said, his mouth full of cupcake.

"Do you like muffins?" a voice came from outside the large hole.

"Derpy, what are you doing here?!" everypony asked.

"I dunno!" she replied happily while her wall eyes glistened in the light. "I liked the party and I thought I'd come back and see if anypony had any muffins left." The vampire levitated a banana nut muffin from under the glass counter he was laying on and lightly tossed it out at her. She caught it in her hooves, squee'd with delight, and flew off clumsily into the clouds.

'I think out of all the pastel equines I've met today, she is by far one of my favorites. She reminds me of... Juel,' the Vampire thought with a sad smile.

"I have another question Marius. Well, actually I have a plethora," the lavender unicorn laughed at her corny joke,"but they can wait 'till you come by the library. My first question is how can you seem to back up everything you say with scientific evidence?"

"Haha, Twilight, have you already forgotten what I am? My organs are dead, but they still function. Example: my brain is completely dead but has five times the activity yours would ever have and ten times the activity of a human. Vampirism is like a permanent form of adrenaline to the dead, causing their bodies to be so highly active it's like everything slows down around you and seems simpler, while everything inside of you still remains decayed. The only thing is our decay doesn't give off a scent, oddly enough. Also, in my long years of life, I have spent two thousand of them studying the art of Alchemy and Arcane Sciences."

The Element of Magic, along with the rest of the unicorns in the room were more than a little impressed at the explanation of vast knowledge that Marius gave.

"Ok then, my next question is that you said you were taking the 'form' of a human. Do you have more then one form?" Twilight asked. He turned his head to look at her, waiting for an answer. She got an icy, narrow eyed response in return.

"Yes and no," was all he said.

Twilight stood there for a moment contemplating what he said, before speaking,

"Yes and no? What the hay kinda question is that? You can't expect me to just-"

"Trust me, forget that question," he told her.

She seemed to have steam coming off her coat like she was about ready to burst into flames. She trotted over to the counter that Marius lay upon and she screamed,

"No, I won't! You've answered everypony else here and it's not fair that I should not get mine answered. It's not fair at all. You should understand my curiosity and need to know more about Vampires. I am Rarity's friend and you swore to protect us and help us, so help me understand why you won't tell me!"

"Twilight Sparkle!", her mentor yelled her name. Instantly, she hung her head low and her ears drooped. "You will quit having a tantrum this instant! If Marius does not think you should know what you ask, you will oblige him in his request to stop asking further. Understood?" she asked her with a disappointed look on her face. Twilight looked up at her mentor and with half-frustration and half-pouting. "But princess, we-"

"Twilight...," Marius called to her and she slowly turned to look at him, finding his eyes fixated on hers.

"Who do you pray to?" he asked the young mare.

"Well, that's a silly question. We pray to Princess Celestia because she's-"

She was cut off by a voice that escaped his mouth that sounded like one hundred voices at once, all speaking with a deathly cold tone that seemed to physically vibrate the air like an unholy growl, yet it was whispered at the same time.

"Then pray to her that you never find out the truth about me..."

The most vile demon inside of the deepest, darkest pits of hell would have been terrified at the voice that had just escaped Marius' lips. It struck terror into Twilight so deep, it felt as if she was going to be killed right there. She fell back on her plot and started bawling like a newborn foal. Everyone else was visibly shaking after hearing him speak using his true voice while most of them got up to go comfort Twilight, who was still scared to death.

Marius, quickly realizing what he had just done, rolled off of the counter with haste, dropped down to the floor, and held Twilight within his arms before anyone could reach her. She buried her face into a small section of his ice cold chest and sobbed uncontrollably. Marius just stroked her mane and spoke softly to her,

"Shhh..shhh...It will be alright child. I'm sorry I had to show you that, but I felt it was necessary. There are some things in this existence that mortals aren't meant to know, and should be happy for it."

"Bu...*sniff*...but I was just curious. Why did I *sniff*...why did I feel so scared?" she managed to mutter with a quivering lip through her sniffles.

He looked down at her with a sympathetic expression.

"It's because that, my dear, is the voice of a true monster."

It had been several minutes and everyone including the Princesses and Marius' master were still shaky from the nightmarish voice he used. The Vampire had finally got Twilight to calm down and stop crying and he was now cleaning off the snot that dribbled out of her nose and onto her fur (much to the bookworm's embarrassment). Thankfully, the sleeves on his coat were washable, because the ends were now drenched in unicorn mucus. He wondered if it would have just been easier to just cut his arms off and regenerate them again with the sleeves clean, but then realized that was extremely lazy. Seeing how tense it had become, the Element of Honesty decided to take action.

"Uh..ah know some oh' them old tales about vamponies say that they're weak against water. Are yall weak against water Marius?" the orange cowpony across the room asked.

"Well, considering blood itself is made up of eighty-two percent water, I highly doubt it," he said calmly.

"Right...uh, Ah reckon," she chuckled to herself before asking,

"So, did you ever have a Vampire...uh..girlfriend or wife?" she smiled so sheepishly it would have made Twilight impressed. Marius had finished cleaning Twilight and was now standing in front of them shaking his drenched sleeves.

"No, I never had a Vampire mate, although I did have several intimate encounters with other members of my species. Being dead unfortunately does not take away sexual desire. Constraint was most certainly not an issue with my desires, though," he said simply.

"Um...what about your parents and your childhood? That is...if you don't mind me asking that is," Fluttershy asked ever so quietly while still laying next to Pinkie. Marius was actually abit taken back at this question. Nevertheless, he felt he needed to give them an honest answer.

"Not at all Fluttershy," he spoke warmly, twirling a golden bit he had found on the floor through his fingers.

"Roughly eight months after I was conceived, a large group of bandits torched and killed everyone in the village where my parents lived. One of the bandits thought it would be rather amusing to cut me out of my mother's womb with his sword before she died. The bandits left me, a newly born baby, on the cold dirt to wither and die. That's when a group of knights came along and found me, the only survivor of my village. These knights were similar to your Royal guard Celestia, but they were indeed very corrupt. They took me to their city by the name of Alawen. There I was raised in an orphanage where I met my best friend by the name of Lyre at the age of ten, although he was actually nine years old at the time. He was much shorter than me, had blonde hair, and he had a rare condition where his eyes were two different colors. Hehehe, all of the other children used to make fun of him for it," he chuckled at the memory.

"Actually that's how we first met. One day, I was out in the grassy backyard of the orphanage and the kids who made fun of his condition were ganging up on him. They decided to beat him within an inch of his life and I didn't think it was proper of them to treat him so horribly. As the largest out of the group swung his fist at Lyre's bloody and bruised face, I caught it in the air and used my open palm to snap his arm backward at the elbow. He may have been large and a few years older, but he wasn't even close to my height and strength. They ran off in fright while I helped Lyre up. He introduced me to his twin sister and all three of us were friends since. While we were alive that is," Marius told them all.

Everypony was absolutely horrified at the description of the Vampire's childhood. The Princesses felt absolutely sick at the description.

"How could anypony be so horrible to a child? That's just awful." Fluttershy said while tears welled up in her large kind eyes. Everyone was snapped out of their thoughts again when the Vampire roared in laughter.

"Hahahaha. You think that was a horrible childhood? Compared to the other children of our time, we had a wonderful childhood. At least we continued to live when we were children. Other orphans weren't so lucky," he told them between bouts of laughter.

Everypony was silent for a minute. The feeling of awkwardness soon lessened at the next question asked by the Element of Loyalty.

"Can you turn ponies into Vampires or...Vamponies?" Rainbow asked him.

"I suppose I could, but I would only do so if absolutely necessary, in which having Unlife would prove to be better than dying, which is almost all of the time not the case. Well, except for a few certain individuals. But this is very rare," Marius explained to them.

The Princess of the Day thought to herself and decided she could try and have a little fun to help lighten the mood.

"So, Marius?" she narrowed her eyes and smiled in a mischievous fashion the way a mother would who was about to play a joke on her kid. "Do you like bananas?"

"Tia, thou should not try and upset him or else he will use you to put another hole in the wall," Luna smirked evilly before condescendingly nuzzling her sister.

"Yes Luna, he might try to kill me again."

The Princesses laughed along with Marius while everyone else looked extremely put off that they would joke about Marius taking Princess Celestia's life. Marius slowed down his laughing and spoke with them,

"I figured you would know that I didn't try to kill you," the Vampire said while smirking at her.

Princess Celestia gave a kindly chuckle before asking, "Oh, so you're saying you didn't intend to kill me by throwing me through a wall Marius?"

"Of course not," he chuckled "If I wanted to kill you Princess, I would have torn into your neck with my claws and yanked out your carotid artery with my fingers instead of just throwing you through the bakery's wall. Hahaha," they all laughed once more only it was very noticeable that Celestia and Luna seemed to have favored nervous laughter after Marius told them he could have killed them anytime he wanted.

'Wonderful Marius. As if my guards needed another reason to be more on edge,' Celestia thought to herself. Both of said guards seemed to be shaking hard enough for their armor to actually rattle.

Rarity was aghast.

"Marius quit being so boorish. I will not have you talk of harming the Princesses. In fact, considering they are making you an actual citizen of Equestria, you will protect them and show them as much respect as you do me and everypony else here. Do I make myself clear?" Rarity scolded her Vampiric servant while he quickly formed a frown on his face.

"Yes Rarity, I understand," he said before looking at the Princesses. "Even though I was a citizen in the previous land that resided here, there is no question that I would much rather be a citizen in Equestria under both of your ruling. For this, you have my eternal gratitude. Forgive me for using my true voice as well. I apologize for this, but I felt it was necessary to deter Twilight from asking any more questions on the matter of what I am. Regardless, I shall show you the utmost respect and gratitude, my Princesses," he said before he bowed to Royalty for the first time in over fifteen thousand years. They had earned his praise as leaders.

Celestia and Luna looked awe struck at the show of respect. Then they bent their head's down and touched his shoulders with their horns. He looked up them and smiled warmly before speaking,

"I have a certain amount of affection for everything that is innocent and kind hearted in this world, such as children. You all as well. You all have not even been exposed to the horrible things that I have seen in my dark lifetime, yet I'm sure that even if you were, you would remain as vigilant about staying pure and true to yourselves. It has been very long since I have seen anything without corruption, yet here sits an entire land dedicated upon such an ideal. For, ironically, keeping this ideal of harmony and peace is the main reason why I chose to turn myself into a monster. I even..." Marius couldn't believe what he was about to say.

"I even think I'm beginning to see you as my friends," he spoke.

"D'awwwww," everypony seemed to say at the same time.

He sighed while giving an annoyed look.

'I feel so secure in my masculinity right now, it is incredible.' the Vampire chuckled.

Then she asked it.

"Umm...Marius darling, I have another question."

He looked at Rarity with his smirk.

"Go ahead, Rarity. Ask."

She remained quiet for a minute, until she asked,

"What did the humans do that made you hate them so much?" the fashionista asked.

His expression turned into a deathly serious one.

It was one of two questions he didn't want to answer. This answer would be difficult to tell, but he had to obey his master. He looked around Sugarcube Corner to see everypony looking at him. The Crusaders, Luna and Celestia, Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy, Rainbow and Applejack, and even the guards looked at him waiting for an answer.

"You're all certain you want to hear this?"

Everyone looked at one another before nodding out of sync. He gave out a large sigh.

"Very well. Prepare yourself," he told them. He sat down on the floor with his legs crossed and curled his huge wings into coils before retracting them into his back, underneath the long cape of his coat. "I am about to tell a grisly tale...and it does not have a happy ending."

Everyone had gotten closer to Marius while he sat in the middle of the floor. Rarity and Sweetie Belle decided to sit next to Marius, while everypony else sat close to him in a circle, except for the two Royal guard members. Celestia had become fed up with them guarding the door for the past hour.

"Day Stride and Morning Star," the guards attention was caught when they heard their Princess call their names.

"Y..yes Princes Celestia?" asked the shorter out of the two gold armor-clad guards.

"There is no reason to guard us so adamantly as of now, so please take off your helmets and come join us," she told them while giving a small smile. The guards were aghast at the informal nature of the request they were given by their Princess. Nevertheless, they were sworn by oath to comply. Both the slightly smaller white pegasus and then the larger gray one reluctantly took off their helmets, revealing their clean cut blonde manes. The stallions placed their helmets on the ground and walked up to their princesses before folding their legs and sitting down. All the while, the Vampire watched with a large amount of amusement. Once they were settled, Marius looked around to see every waiting eye in the room on him. Every heartbeat in the room was steady and patient, while his lie silent. He could hear and smell the blood running through everypony's veins.

The anticipation was palpable.

He closed his glowing red eyes and let out another long sigh before starting,

"I told you that my best friend Lyre, his twin sister Elle, and I grew up in that orphanage together. Well, when I came upon the age of thirteen years old and Lyre the age of twelve, we were all three thrown out of the orphanage by the caretakers with no way to support ourselves. No one would offer us a job such as tending their fields or hunting animals for food or anything else even remotely requiring labor, so we had to resort to stealing our food from merchants and living in the streets like rats for quite awhile. That was until one faithful day...," Marius reminisced while everypony else was listening to him hanging on his every word.

"You see, there were five Gods that ruled over everything in the known planet in my time, and Alawen happened to worship the god by the name of Galia, patron god of earth and sky. The Church of Galia," he spat the name with disgust, "claimed to spread the message of peace and prosperity through only Galia's rule. Well, on this day Elle decided to try and steal the coin purse from a Priest of Galia who was giving a sermon in the city's lower market district. She was caught by the Priest. Lyre and I watched as she was merely seconds away from having the Priest use a large dagger to chop off her right hand (as was his right according to Alawen law). Lyre immediately saw this conspire and charged in to save his sister. One thing that was most memorable about Lyre was how fast he was. Even though he was completely unarmed and wore cheap rags on his body like the rest of us, he managed to knock out ten of the fully-armed guards that were guarding the Priest in a mere four seconds. He was tripped by a mace and then pinned to the ground by an unnoticed guard. That was the first day I killed a man," he spoke. "I grabbed and tossed the last guard who pinned Lyre off like he was a doll. I then walked up to the Priest who had a dagger to the throat of my best friend's sister, and punched him as hard as I could in the nose. I'm guessing that I shattered the cartilage in his nose and sent shards of it into his cranial cavity, of course I didn't know that then. I was just confused as to why he slumped to the ground, dead and bleeding from where his nose had been," he thought out loud while everypony sat and watched him recall his past.

"For the death of a Priest, we were sentenced to be hanged. Although Endramus, the King of Alawen himself had heard how we bested eleven of his elite knights. He came to visit us in our cells as all three of us lie there rotting in our cell and offered us something that we couldn't refuse...," everypony was waiting for him to continue with anticipation.

"He said that he would pardon us of our crimes and give us truly generous pay, only if Lyre and I agreed to join the Knights of Galia, the city's military enforcers. Without even questioning whether it was a good idea or not, we agreed. From then on we discovered what our natural talent was: Killing. Soon after with our first pay we bought a house for Elle to stay in, while Lyre and I were sent off to battle with everyone in Alon' Dar, which is what the land of Equestria was called in my time. In thirteen short years, I met my wife Ysold and fathered two absolutely beautiful daughters. Taren and Juel. They meant the absolute world to me. They were the sole reason I continued to have hope in Galia's message of peace, for I knew that under such peace we could all live together...happily, and as a true loving family," the Vampire softly spoke while he held a sad smile on his face, seemingly gazing at the ground. Rarity and the others started to become concerned about him, until he shook his head and continued,

"But I digress. Lyre could never keep a woman long enough to have children, so he only had his sister to watch over. Outside of the walls of Alawen, Lyre an I cut a bloody path through everyone who opposed the message of Galia. No others were as good as us, and eventually they gave us our own variation of uniform and weaponry. We fought everyone who opposed the teachings of the church and worshipped the other gods. Other countries in Alon' Dar, other lands and continents besides Alon' Dar that rested alongside us on this planet, and even homesteads knew our wrath. Soon the names' Marius the Titan of Alawen and Lyre the Quickblade struck fear into the hearts of everyone alive, as they claimed us to be the best warriors to ever walk the face of this earth. We killed hundreds of thousands of people alongside our fellow knights...," the Vampire stopped.

"Which is what led to our deaths," he continued.

"Lyre and I, at the age of twenty-eight and twenty-nine were sick of the killing. We agreed that the message of Galia was noble, but we had both had enough of killing. The other Knights didn't even view us as members of the army anymore, so they just ignored us for the most part. They just saw two young men who killed everything they came across. Little did they know, we just wanted to live our lives in peace. So, after a discussion with each other inside a tavern in the city of Undreal, I convinced Lyre out of leaving the war with our families and fleeing and instead try to discuss early retirement with King Endramus. We both agreed that would be the best course of action. When we got back to Alawen after six months of routine battle, we requested to have an evening meeting with the King. I believe it was on a Tuesday," contemplated the Vampire. "When we told him we wanted to leave his army, he instantly became furious. The thought of losing the best fighters in Alon' Dar made a deep impact to the King's finances and military plans. He told us that we were not allowed to leave and if we tried to, he would make sure our families suffered the same fate we would have the day he found us in that cell."

No one could believe what they were hearing.

"How could someone be so mean to somepony who wanted to be nice and not hurt others Mari'?" Pinkie asked him as her mane deflated and her eyes became watery. "I just don't understand."

"It's because he was greedy Pinkie, and if we left the service of the army that was dependent on us, his plan of controlling all of Alon' Dar would have crumbled before him," he explained to the Element of Laughter, who just sat and looked at the ground not feeling very cheerful.

"Enraged by the thought of his sister and my wife and daughters being hurt, Lyre snapped and put his blades against the kings neck, and that's when it happened..."

There was silence in Sugarcube Corner while Marius held his eyes shut. Finally, after the long awkward silence, Luna asked,

"What does thou...mean?...What happened Marius?

He slowly opened his eyes and looked dead into hers.

"His personal guard panicked and shot Lyre and I in the legs with crossbows, which caused him to fall forward and put weight on his swords against King Endramus' throat, which sliced off his head in front of his entire court, his wife Queen Angeal, and his three adolescent sons."

Everypony gasped in shock.

"Naturally, we would have been killed on the spot, but the Queen stopped the guards before they could stab us while we were immobilized on the ground. She didn't care about how good we were in battle. All she wanted do do was watch us suffer and make an example out of us. So, she had Lyre and I, Elle, my wife, my thirteen year old daughter, and my eight year old daughter taken and kept us imprisoned for four months, feeding us once every two weeks. We were mildly tortured, but not enough to kill us, that way we could watch as the beginning of every month, they brought in one of our family members," the Vampire was struggling to find the right words to say.

"They made us watch as they were...raped and brutally tortured in front of us. First they did it to Elle, then my beautiful and loving wife Ysold, my thirteen year old girl Taren, and my eight year old little angel Juel...," he spoke. "Juel and Taren didn't cry, oddly enough. Even after the group of Knights I had once dared to call my brothers were finished taking turns violating my little angels and they proceeded to saw through their little arms and legs, all they could do was ask their daddy to save them, as I, their loving father, watched helplessly as they were cut into pieces," the Vampire said with a chilling voice that had no emotion in it whatsoever.

He looked up after a minute to see that every single pony in the room, the Princesses being no exception, now had streams of tears coming out of them. Some sat looking at the ground with horrified expressions, while others gave him a look of pity and incredible sorrow. Even the Royal guard were doing the same. The crusaders were horrified too, but they were still curious about one thing.

"Uh...what...does raped mean sis?" Apple Bloom reluctantly asked her big sister.

Before Applejack could choke out an answer through her tears of sympathy and anger, Princess Celestia answered for her.

"My little pony, you should be too young to know of such things, but I suppose you should not be left in the dark," she gave her a sympathetic smile. "It means to commit a sexual act against somepony against their will."

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo's eyes widened and lips started to quiver when they realized what Marius had meant by taking turns. His expression never changed. Still blank.

"I had no life left in me, and neither did my best friend, but still the day after I watched my youngest daughter killed they had felt it necessary to hang me. Queen Angeal gave a short speech as I was led to the gallows, stripped naked, and lashed by whips. She claimed "I was a traitor to this country and deserved only death". So, I was led to the gallows while my neighbors and other people who had claimed to be all of our friends spat in my face and yelled obscenities at me such as, "It's your own fault you had your family killed!" or "I hope those little whores of yours got what they deserved!" or even "I bet your wife was ashamed at what a pitiful husband and father you were." All of which I said nothing back to, because I had naught strength or will to live any longer," he explained to them all. "That was when they wrapped the noose around my neck, gave me my last rights and words to speak, and hung me in the city's gardening district, taking my life."

The ponies felt ill. Not even Celestia, in her four thousand year rule, had heard something so sickening.

"Marius, I-" but she was cut off, as the Vampire wasn't finished speaking.

"When I died, I went to a realm of misery and sorrow. It was the complete opposite of where my family's souls were. I was given a vision of every single man and woman in the world. I had realized how corrupt this world was before I died and when I died and viewed this, it confirmed my suspicions that the humans of my time were beyond saving and would eventually tear themselves apart, along with everything good on this planet. In this realm I was sent to, I met with a...being...of common interests as mine. He told me he would make a deal with me and give me his life and power, in exchange for something I already wanted...I agreed," he spoke ever so softly. "I experienced a pain unrivaled by any other in existence as my soul was consumed by the black and burning hatred of this individual, until I fell unconscious," every eye in the room was trained on the Undead being.

"When I awoke, I was nude and lying on top of hundreds of bodies covered in lime. A mass grave just outside of my home. I somehow knew it hadn't been a full day since I was killed. I felt an odd tingling sensation as I glanced at my back and saw it explode outward. I panicked at first, but then my dark blood formed a structure out of my back and slowly solidified into two extremely large wings, while the rest of my skin stitched itself back together. I also realized my eyes were glowing red by the faint glow off of the rest of the bodies in the mass grave. I flew out surprisingly easy and continued to walk a few miles into Alawen, as the first Vampire. A walking corpse with unbelievable power. I tried to use restraint that way I didn't destroy any buildings, but I killed every single citizen of the city that night, save for the few innocent people such as a few farmers and their children, a few kids from the orphanage who weren't corrupted by the lies and twisted views of the Church of Galia, and a few more. All in all, I killed almost the entire population with my new found power that night. Twelve-thousand people, if I remember correctly. I walked into the castle afterwards, slaughtered the guards who tried to stop me, and made my way to the dungeon where I found the man I considered my younger brother still shackled up inside our cell. I explained to him what had happened and what I planned to do, which was essentially rebuild this world with the few humans we found worthy, starting a new era where no war was permitted and everyone lived in kindness and harmony. This wasn't out of revenge for my family, for what happened to us was happening everywhere. No, it wasn't out of some misguided vendetta or revenge for our families. It was to start a new age. An age where you wouldn't be killed for what Gods you decided to worship, real or not. An age that would be actually considered a civilization, due to the fact that everyone, Vampire and human alike, would be civil. A genocide to heal a dying world," the Vampire finished and everypony just stood there in shock, lost in their own thoughts. He scoffed.

"Lyre agreed and I took his life and then gave him my blood to become the first Lesser Vampire and my right hand throughout our journey. Before we began it though, we found where Queen Angeal was hiding in her castle."

He gave a chilling smirk.

"We let her sons go, but Lyre and I made sure to give her back what she had given to our family, only ten fold. After that, we adopted Alawen and renamed it Walpurgis, the city of the Undead and home of the Vampires. From there we started the three-thousand year war on what was left of humanity."

He looked into his master Rarity's large beautiful eyes, which were awe struck before speaking,

"So in conclusion, I don't hate the human race. I actually intended to rebuild it. I hate what they were, which was foul, corruptible in body, mind, and soul, and vindictive against everything and everyone who didn't believe in what they did," the Vampire finished.

There was several moments of silence before Princess Celestia finally spoke up,

"That was the most horrifying story I've ever heard," she spoke while starring at the ground.

He laughed in return,

"I have told my life story to very few. The only reason I do so now was because my master asked herself," he turned to his master, who still couldn't believe what she heard. "Has my answer been satisfactory, master?"

She looked him in the eyes as if her heart was broken in two by the horrific tale. "Yes, Marius. I now understand how you felt, and I cannot express how sorry I am for what happened to you. I want you to know that gwahhhh!!" she started to cry and was jolted out of her tears as Marius picked her up by her sides and lifted her to his eye level. He smiled at her warmly and spoke, "We cannot change the past, but we can take it into account as we try and mold ourselves into the character we are meant to be," he told her.

She returned his smile.

"Hm....thank you...Marius. Now put me down this instant!" she yelled while flailing her legs in the air. He did so, after everyone was done cackling with laughter. He then walked over to where the Princess of the Day who was now standing and stretching her wings. He lowered his eyes lazily to look down at hers and got his nose inches away from her muzzle. The guards and Luna tensed up.

"Now, I believe you owe me something?" he asked her.

"Y...yes, I believe I...uh...do?" Celestia smiled sheepishly and watched as he looked into her eyes. Slowly but surely, she felt herself being transfixed by his gaze. With every passing second, his glowing red eyes lulled her into a sense of safety and comfort, as if she were nuzzling a pillow while she lay in her bed after a long day of Royal court. Everypony's eyes slowly got wider and wider...and wider, as Marius began inching his open lips closer to their Princesses' mouth.

"I'll.....give you.......whatever...you....want....," she told him dreamily before slowly closing her eyes as they leaned forward together, mouths only inches apart. Everypony, especially Day Stride and Morning Star, sat watching helplessly while looking appalled. Rarity would have stopped her servant, but she too was speechless at the scandalous act that was about to happen.

Marius only had a sinister smile plastered on his face as their hypnotized Princess leaned close enough to him so she could feel his icy breath on her own. Just as their lips were about to make contact, Marius' mouth shot open and his head moved quicker than lightning as he shortened his fangs and sank them into Celestia's warm neck. She let out a yelp and then a slow gentle moan as she could feel his fangs prick her skin and the Vampire's lips pressed against her coat as he slowly drew out a small, steady stream of her blood. She tasted very salty and bitter. Almost like straight garlic. It was a sign that she was very pure of heart. All she could do was melt in the Vampire's arms as he activated his Blood Memories ability. Instantly, all the emotions and things she had experienced in her lifetime came flooding into the Vampire, which was why he didn't like using this ability. He felt the excitement of having Starswirl the Bearded be your mentor, the pain of having to banish a sister to moon, the anger of having you're kingdom disturbed by Discord, the pride one feels when your mentor and her friends use the Elements of Harmony to save the kingdom, and even the embarrassment of having the Changeling Queen defeat you in battle. He felt them all at once. In this plethora of memories, one stuck like a tack.

'Far North...past Frozen Hearth...Griffin capital...coffin...' he thought.

Finally he took his lips off of the moaning Princesses' neck as she slumped to the floor on her side, heat radiating from everywhere on her flushed body as sweat drenched her white fur. She panted heavily while a small amount of blood trickled from the tiny punctures in her neck. She looked up to find everyone looking away, and quickly remembered why as she became incredibly embarrassed. She looked up at Marius, cheeks blazing red and a scowl on her face, who had a small trail of blood leading from his fanged smirk.

"Vampiric Seduction. A very useful ability that requires no magic use," he spoke.

She got up and got inches away from his face.

"You could have just asked!" she said, cheeks still red.

Fluttershy was the first one to speak after the spectacle.

"Oh.....my....."

It was around two in the morning that everypony decided to head back to their homes. Everyone bid the Princesses goodnight and Celestia assured them a crew would be out tomorrow to fix the damages to the wall. She also assured her student she would look into this matter of strange activity in the animals and Diamond Dogs. She told her she would put her best investigators on the job. Luna slowly walked up to Marius just after he had finished saying goodbye to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. The tiny orange pegasus thought she was going faint when Rainbow Dash actually told her she could stay the night with her. The Princess of the Night slowly walked up to the Vampire and lifted her eyes upwards to look into his.

"Marius...uh....our sister tells us that you were referred to as a Creature of the Night in your time. What dost this mean? Is it due to being weakened by sunlight?" she asked him nervously.

"Partially. We also see better at night than in daylight and have a deep appreciation for the utter beauty of the moon and stars. We are dark creatures, therefore we love the darkness that the night offers," he looked into the sky and gazed into the crescent moon before looking back at her.

"I also must say that your night is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. In the time of the war on humanity, I often found the stars to be dull and the moon to be almost sickly in color, but yours...," Marius searched for the right words. "Your night is absolutely breathtaking in its utter elegance. You truly bring out the exquisiteness in the stars and moon as well."

Luna found herself blushing wildly and put her hoof behind her head.

"We suppose it is quite the sight, isn't it?" she winced and wanted to hit herself square in the face for the awkward way she handled the Vampire's wonderful compliments.

'Wonderful, Luna. Now he's never going to agree.'

He just laughed under his breath and gave her an amused smile.

The azure Princess sighed in defeat. She turned to walk back to her sister with her head down towards the ground when Marius called out to her,

"Some night this week, would you like to get together and maybe have a bit of dinner?" the Vampire asked. "I'll gladly cook, and we can discuss your night a little further. If you don't mind that is, Luna."

The Princess instantly perked up and answered Marius excitedly, accidentally using the Royal Canterlot Voice in the process.

"We would love nothing more than..." everypony including her sister was now staring at her. She spoke in a whisper towards Marius,

"I mean...I would love nothing more than to join thou in dinner...Marius," she smiled bashfully at the smirking Vampire.

Luna giddily walked over to her sister's chariot with a goofy smile on her face. The princesses then flew their way back home with their guards in tow. The Crusaders, Spike, and all the girls gave their goodbye's to each other and Marius, during which Rarity walked up to Spike, leaned down and gave him a soft peck on his purple, scaly cheek. He didn't think it was possible for him to feel any more warmth than he already did inside his scales, but when she kissed him it quite literally made the fire in his heart swell into a full blaze. A blaze that was only meant for her.

"Whoa..." he said with a goofy smile plastered on his face.

"I look forward to our get together on Friday, Spikey-Wikey. Don't be laaate." she sing songed while turning back getting her sister. After everypony and Marius had said their goodbye's, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Marius walked back to the boutique, whilst the rest of the Elements walked back to their respective homes.

They got back to the boutique and opened the door, to find a very angry Opal at the door, though the cat practically back flipped all the way upstairs when she saw her arch enemy standing there towering above Rarity and Sweetie. After a long night, they decided it was time to quickly get to bed as soon as possible. Rarity told Sweetie, "Go ahead and get into bed, dear," and Marius heard "Annoy me with with a ton of noise and playing, dear." Marius picked Sweetie up and put her on top off his head and put his arms out to his sides while he zoomed up to her room and threw her onto her bed with his face. The little filly happily giggled the whole way, giving the occasional snort of laughter. Especially when she threw her covers over his head.

"Hrrrrp, Irrm trrrped," he muffled from under them. She pulled them off his head and asked, "Hahahaha*snort*haha. What was that?" laughing squeakily the whole time.

"I said help, I'm trapped!" he yelled before retracting his claws and using his fingers to tickle the filly's sides. She let loose massive gales of laughter, before they both got scolded,

"Didn't I tell you to get to bed Sweetie B*umph*" she was cut off as a pillow hit her in the face from the doorway. She glared at them both while Marius just pointed a finger at Sweetie and she pointed her hoof at Marius. Both with a look of fear they'd get into trouble.

Rarity narrowed her eyes before speaking, "Oh. It. Is. ON!" She picked up the pillow and swung at the massive Vampire and her sister like the Warriors of Olde'. They both screamed in fright, surprisingly equal in tone. After about a five minute pillow fight in which they all laughed and played happily, Rarity finally spoke,

"Hmhmhm. Alright, Marius. That's enough. It really is rather late darling and I need to get to bed."

Marius got off and Rarity remade Sweetie's bed before tucking her in and gave her a light kiss on her forehead before nuzzling her cheek.

"Goodnight Sweetie Belle."

"Goodnight Rarity," she returned.

Rarity smiled and left through her doorway. Marius was following behind her and was about to duck underneath the door when the little filly called out for him,

"Marius?"

"Hmm?" he said as she got his attention and came over to the side of her bed.

"Could you come here?" she asked in a sweet and tender little voice. He leaned down by her side and put his head by her.

"What's wro-" he was cut off as she threw her covers off and wrapped his neck in a tight hug. His eyes widened at the act of kindness. She started to sniff and and sob very softly. He simply smiled and wrapped his arm around her back, holding her gently to him.

" I'm so sorry..." she managed out through her sobs.

"It's alright," he whispered.

After a few seconds the Vampire tucked the sniffling filly back into bed and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"What is it with you ponies and crying? That's easily the third or fourth time I've had to do this today." he said while smirking.

She gave a small laugh as she wiped her face with her hooves. Marius then had an idea.

"I have something to tell you, Sweetie."

Her ears perked up at the massive Vampire who lay his head beside her. To her surprise, he opened his lips and softly started to sing in a velvety soft voice that sounded almost angelic in nature,

Sleep, little pigeon, and fold your wings,

little blue pigeon with velvet eyes;

Sleep to the singing of Father Bird swinging.

Swinging the nest where his little one lies.

Away out yonder I see a star,

silvery star with a twinkling song;

to the soft dew falling I hear it calling,

calling and twinkling the night along.

In through the window a moonbeam comes,

little gold moonbeam with misty wings;

All silently creeping, it asks, "Is she sleeping

Sleeping and dreaming while father sings?"

Up from the sea there floats the sob

of the waves that are breaking upon the shore,

as though they were groaning in anguish, and moaning.

Bemoaning the ship that shall come no more.

But sleep, little pigeon, and fold your wings,

Little blue pigeon with mournful eyes;

Am I not singing? See, I am swinging.

Swinging the nest where my darling lies.

Once he had finished singing, he noticed Sweetie was fast asleep, lulled by the beautiful song that the Vampire sang to her. He laughed under his breath before leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

"Goodnight, Sweetie Belle."

Marius stood up and walked over to the door before having to duck under it. He found his master standing in the hallway with tears streaming down her cheeks and a smile on her face. She also smelled of lilac and had a bathrobe on with a towel wrapped around her mane.

"That was beautiful," she whispered.

He let out a sigh.

"I used to sing that to Taren and Juel when I was home from war every night before they would go to bed," he said with a sorrowful look in his eye. "I guess it makes me happy to hear that someone can still enjoy it."

He led his master to bed and tucked her in as well. She was unamused at this.

"You know, I can tuck myself into bed," she said while wiping her damp mane out of her eyes.

"I know, but you're just so adorable when you're angry Rarity," he pestered her.

"That may be true, but you still shouldn't try to get me angry. I might make you clean the whole shop!" she told him wickedly.

"Hahaha, whatever you say Rarity," he told her.

He was about to head downstairs after he had gotten her comfortable when his master stopped him.

"Marius?"

He sighed.

"Yes...Sweetie Belle?"

Rarity glared at him while he just smirked.

She slowly turned her glare into a sad frown.

"I'm so terribly sorry about what happened to your family."

He looked back at her.

"Don't be, master."

She was silent for awhile.

"I was wondering Marius, what are you going to do after I.....um..." she found it hard to speak out.

He looked at her, puzzled.

"What is it Rarity?"

The fashionista finally stomached out,

"What will you do after I um...die?" she asked sadly.

He appeared inches from the side of her face, which caused her to recoil back to the side of her bed.

"Well, then I guess I'd have to find somepony else to continually whine at me," he told her.

"*hmph* I am not whining. I. am. complaining. Thiiiis is whi-"

"Goodnight master!" Rarity heard her door close lightly.

She smiled.

'I am glad he's opening up to us. He is truly one of a kind, and I'm glad to call him my friend,' she thought before drifting off to sleep.

Marius had flown out of the window and now lay on the boutique's roof with his hands behind his head and his wings stretched out. He looked up into the night sky, basking in the beauty of the pale moonlight and the faint twinkle of the stars. He thought back to how sympathetic they looked at him, and how they comforted him. He thought about singing Sweetie Belle to sleep as he used to sing to his daughters.

Something felt odd on his cheek, so he lifted his hand and wiped it. He drew his hand back to find out that a trail of dead blood was leaking out of the side of his eye.

'I'm crying?' he thought.

He put his hand back behind his head and stared at the moon.

'I've only been awake a day.....This place is truly incredible,' he thought happily.

He continued to watch the moon and traced his thought back to the memory he found in Princess Celestia's blood.

'I'll give it a week or so more, then I'll head North toward the land of the Griffin's. I promise brother, I'll see you soon,' he thought.

'I can't wait to introduce you to the land of Equestria...Lyre.'