A sunny day. Just like every other day that week. All month, it had been sun. Nothing but sun. No rain clouds to move away, no natural disaster to save Ponyville from, not even the possibility of a Hydra threat! To most, this would be a Celestia-given blessing. To Rainbow Dash, it was a sentence to death by boredom. Not even the softness of the cloud she lay on took away from the day's seemingly unnatural length. Every second ticked by, taking it's time, reveling in the sun's heat before slowly fading away into the past. It was torture. Fluttershy was at the spa with Rarity, Twilight was digging through a mountain of books, doing a study of some sort, Pinkie was swamped at Sugarcube Corner, and Applejack was, as always, busy bucking apples. Rainbow snorted in defeat. She'd just have to wait until the end of her shift. The rainbow-maned pegasus looked over the edge of her cloud, watching the ponies below move about. They resembled ants from this height, scurrying about Ponyville en route to their destinations. No construction sites tumbling down, no baby carriages rolling down a hill toward a cliff. There was absolutely nothing to do. "I am so bored!" Rainbow cried, flipping frustratedly onto her back. "Hey... What the buck?"
"Hi, there." A dark stood above her, silhouetted by the sun. It firmly planted two hooves on each side of her chest, pinning her. Dash couldn't make out anything about the figure... With the exception of it's eyes. Two red, awful looking spheres that seemed to peer into Dash's very being, judging her worth. The figure grinned, revealing a row of sharp teeth. "Feeling bored, are we? Maybe you should take a rest..."
"Wha- Get off of me, you freak!"
Dash's hoof flew up, making contact with the figure's jaw. It simply stopped, the force from the blow not moving the figure in the slightest. Panic filled her as she struggled against the figure, desperately trying to break free. "A fighter, I see. I like that... You'll do nicely." the figure said, moving his face closer to Dash's, eyes practically glowing.
A huge jumble of thoughts fought to be the foremost to surface in her head. She'd do nicely? What did that mean? A single, ugly thought surfaced in her head.
This guy's going to rape me!
Rainbow re-doubled her struggle against the figure's grip. It simply sighed, "And you persist on struggling... I was under the impression that the situation had made it painfully clear... You aren't getting away." The figure rolled it's eyes, it's tone halfway between amusement and annoyance.
Both of her hooves flew up, striking the figure in a frenzied panic, one after the other. She couldn't let this just happen! She couldn- "STOP THAT!" The figure's voice boomed, echoing through the sky at a volume that would put Luna to shame. Rainbow Dash shrunk against the cloud, ceasing her struggle and staring up at the figure. It's hooves moved, now against her shoulders, pinning her forelegs to the cloud below her. Sheer terror filled her as her imagination flew to the twisted things this pony was going to do to her. A sense of helplessness and fear filled her. This guy was about to have his way with her, and there was nothing she could do to stop it!
"W-Who are you?" She whimpered, her voice barely reaching a whisper.
She heard a low chuckle from the figure. "It doesn't matter, in the long run. Why, by the time you'd even be able to recount it to the authorities, I would already be long gone. So, let's just skip the names, shall we? Now, I must ask...Are you a virgin, young lady?"
"W-What?" Rainbow stuttered, her eyes widening at the odd question, combined with his presumed purpose. "I- I don-"
"Answer the question! Now!" The figure responded, now eye-to-eye with the cyan pegasus. There was panic in it's voice, as if it was going to implode on itself if it didn't get this information.
The grip of fear clouded Rainbow's better judgement, the answer escaping without her even willing it to "Y-Yes!" she cried, squeezing her eyelids shut and turning away from the figure.
"Good..." Rainbow heard, preparing herself for whatever this pony was about to do to her. She felt a tear roll down her face, becoming lost in the cloud below her. However, instead of pressure between her hind legs as she had expected, she suddenly felt something clamp onto her neck. Her eyes shot wide open, a scream escaping her lips. A satisfied gulp reached her ears, followed by another, and another. This cycle repeated as spots began to fill her vision, her limbs becoming nothing but cold, dead weight. Her eyes became heavy, beginning to drift closed again, her conciousness drifting along with them. She fought to stay awake, her will to do so draining away with every second, along with her blood. Finally, with every bit of strength she had left dried up, Rainbow Dash gave into the cold, restless slumber of death.
That was one heck of a dream... Rainbow Dash thought, her senses slowly returning to her through the fog of deep sleep. It's dark... Must be night already. Dash opened her eyes slightly, taking in the scene around her. A ceiling? Wait... I fell asleep on a cloud, didn't I? The pegasus groaned, opening her eyes as far as she could will them to, slowly turning her head to the right. "F-Fluttershy?" She aked tiredly, looking up at the timid pegasus. Rainbow's eyes widened a bit more. Her friend wore a black dress. But Fluttershy never wears black... Rainbow thought, trying to think of an explanation. Looking up, Rainbow found herself staring into her friend's eyes, red and puffy, tears streaming from them. She'd been crying. Hard. However, her freind was now wide-eyed, backing away slowly from where Rainbow lay. "What's going on?" She asked, moving a bit before realising she was also wearing a dress. The dress was exquisitely made, even moreso than her Gala dress had been. It was obvious that no expense had been spared in it's making, and the use of jewels sporting all of her trademark colors made it easy to figure out it's designer. Rainbow rolled over, plummeting to the floor from whatever she'd been laying on before. Fluttershy, who had by now backed away to the other end of the cottage, bolted out the door, slamming it shut and speeding down the road toward Ponyville. "Wierd... Very wierd..." Rainbow said, groaning and rubbing the back of her head as she stood up. It felt like she'd been asleep for days. She gazed around the cottage, discerning that she was in the back room, which Fluttershy had turned into a makeshift medical bay. Her eyes came to a halt over a clear bag, filled with scarlet liquid, an unused IV extending from underneath it. A strange desire came over her, pulling her toward the blood-filled bag. She shook her head. "It's blood... It's metallic and salty, bitter..." Dash said, turning away from the packet on the wall. "But, I am a bit thirsty..."
*****
"Dear, that has to be the most rediculous thing I've ever heard of. You checked her pulse yourself, didn't you?" Rarity trotted along next to Fluttershy, dressed in a similar black dress, her purple mane styled as perfectly as always.
"Y-Yes... But I could've swor-"
She was cut off by the fashiontista as they neared the cottage, who entered and headed toward the back room "Dear, you must be seeing things." She said, opening the door to the back room. "As unfortunate as it is, Rainbow Dash is clearly not..." Rarity gestured inside of the room, her eyes following her hoof as it came to a stop over a certain rainbow-maned pegasus staring at the door, a look of surprise on her face. In front of her, a blood packet lay on the ground, drained of it's contents. "A-Aliiiive!" Rarity shrieked, bolting out the door, and over Fluttershy, in a panicked frenzy. Dash took this opportunity, pinning Fluttershy to the floor of the cottage with two firm hooves on each of her shoulders. The pink-maned pegasus squeezed her eyes shut, turning her head from Rainbow and whimpering, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
"Woah, Shy'... Calm down. I just want to talk..." Rainbow said, taking her hooves off of Fluttershy's shoulders. A small squeak could be heard as the timid pegasus opened one eye slightly, looking at the cyan mare. Rainbow stamped her hoof, giving a frustrated sigh. "Why is everypony acting so wierd? You've never acted like this around me, Shy'. What's going on? And why are you dressed like you're going to a..." Dash paused, her eyes widening in realisation as the truth dawned on her. "Funeral..." The brightly colored dress, Rarity screaming, Fluttershy's surprise when Dash had woken up... It all made sense... "No... This can't... This is just a joke, right?" Dash chuckled nervously, grabbing her oldest friend by the shoulders and bringing her face-to-face. "Right?"
Fluttershy shook her head slowly "N-no... R-Rainbow, three days ago, you were pronounced dead."
The cyan pegasus' eyes widened in shock "What are you talking about, Shy'? Didn't you check my pulse or something before setting up a bucking funeral?" Panic began to rise in Rainbow's voice.
"D-Dash... You didn't have any blood to make one."
Rainbow released her freind, stepping back. "B-But... I'm not dead... This isn't funny anymore... Pinkie? I-I know you're in on this!" Rainbow yelled, looking around, hoping to see the pink party pony hop out of the shadows, laughing at Dash's gullability. Rainbow Dash looked back at her oldest friend hopefully, waiting for her to say that this was just a joke... The look on her face said everything. This wasn't a joke. She had come close to being buried alive, and her best friend, who had been there for her since foalhood, was standing there in front of her, telling her that she shouldn't be alive...
"Uh... Rainbow?" Fluttershy spoke again, breaking the intense silence that had filled the room.
"Y-Yeah?" Rainbow whimpered, looking up.
Fluttershy simply pointed to the ground near the daredevil pegasus. Following her hoof, Rainbow's eyes found what she was pointing at. The drained blood packet still lay on the floor, a hole ripped in it. "I... Uh... Erm..." Dash fumbled, trying to find words to explain herself. "I got thirsty." She finally said, giving a sheepish grin. Fluttershy's eyes widened a bit more.
"Um..." Fluttershy brought her hoof to her own mouth, running it along her upper lip. Rainbow followed her example, her hoof coming to a stop over an abnormally long member of her teeth. Rushing out of the room to a mirror, Rainbow smiled widely, examining her upper mouth. Two long teeth, pointed at the tips, protruded from each side of her gums. Rainbow Dash stumbled back from the mirror, a cream-colored hoof the only thing stopping her from falling over. She reached up, pulling at the teeth, praying that they were fake... They wouldn't budge.
"W-We need to go see Twilight about this..." Rainbow Dash said, moving toward the door and opening it, walking out into the sun. A sharp gasp, almost a yelp, came from the cyan pegasus before she rushed back inside the cottage, gasping.
"What's wrong?" Fluttershy flew over, examining her friend. "What happened?"
"I can't go out there..." Dash said, staring at the door fearfully.
"What? Why not?" This was strange... Dash had never had a problem with the sun. In fact, she loved it most of the time. Everything about this day has been strange. Fluttershy thought. Maybe it was just a dream... All of it. Maybe she'd never found Dash dead on a cloud, almost every drop of blood drained out of her body... Maybe she hadn't started screaming at her friend, ordering her to wake up, crying until she couldn't anymore. Maybe- Fluttershy stopped mid-thought, realising she'd been staring at Rainbow. The rainbow-maned pegasus simply stared back, a look of confusion and terror in her eyes. "What happened?" Fluttershy asked at last, breaking the silence.
Her friend shook her head. "I... I don't know. It's like I could see into another dimension... And it was awful." Rainbow shook her head once again, trying to rid her mind of the nightmarish images that were now engraved into her memory. Something fell around her shoulders.
"Will this help?" She heard Fluttershy ask. Rainbow looked down at the thing that had been draped around her shoulders. It was a simple, hooded cloak. Very old, and judging from the lack of jewels, obviously not made by Rarity. Rainbow fastened it around herself, standing and pulling the hood up over her face.
"I hope so..." She said, walking out into the sun once again. This time, however, she was not greeted by nightmarish visions. The cloak was working. She was, however, greeted by everything being much brighter than it had been before. Squinting, Rainbow began moving down the road toward Ponyville, Fluttershy in persuit.
What's happening to me? Is this just some kind of wierd dream? I hope so... Maybe it is! Maybe I'll wake up in a few minutes, back on that cloud-
"Umm... Rainbow?" A soft voice spoke up, pulling Rainbow Dash out of her thoughts. She turned toward the pink-maned pegasus walking next to her, making sure to keep her face shadowed under the cloak she was wearing.
"Yeah, Shy'?"
"Well, um... What exactly happened? On that cloud, I mean? I-If you don't mind me asking." Fluttershy asked, looking down at the ground nervously.
Rainbow thought back to the cloud. The memory of the figure came to mind once again. The dark shape, the red eyes, the awkward question, the force on her neck... "You wouldn't believe me if I told you..."
Fluttershy's eyebrows furrowed "Rainbow, you just woke up from being dead with a thirst for blood and sharp teeth... I'm pretty open to explanations right now." Fluttershy stared at her friend, a look of concern on her face. What could be so outlandish that it beat waking up from the dead?
Rainbow sighed, considering how completely unbelievable her story was. Fluttershy would never buy it. She probably thought this was just a bad joke on Rainbow's part, anyway. "Fine." She said at last. "If you insist..." She hesitated before continuing. "I was on a cloud, bored out of my mind, when this guy landed on me... He was stronger than anything I've ever seen. I punched him and he didn't even budge! Didn't even respond to it. He started saying 'He liked a fighter'... I thought he was going to rape me! Then..." She hesitated for a moment, deciding to leave the awkward question out of her story, "I think he bit me. Started drinking my blood..." Rainbow finished, looking over to her now wide-eyed friend. She'd blown it. Fluttershy was going to think that Dash thought she was stupid, feeding her that pile of horseapples... Rainbow sighed, looking up. There was apparently a scheduled storm today. Pegasi could be seen moving clouds in front of the sun, casting a shadow on the entire area. Rainbow lowered her hood, looking over to Fluttershy. "Well, it's obvious you don't believe me... Granted it's pretty far-fetched."
Ponyville began to make itself visible on the horizion. Rainbow could see that several of the town's flags had been lowered to half of their normal position, and the streets seemed solemn and quiet. Another confirmation that this wasn't just a big practical joke...
Fluttershy sighed, "Let's get to Twilight. I'm sure she'll have something in her library abo-"
She was interrupted by a pink and black blur crashing into Rainbow Dash, pinning her to the ground. "D-Dashie?" A familiar voice squeaked.
"Ow..." Rainbow Dash groaned, opening her eyes, coming face-to-face with a certain pink party pony wearing a black dress, her hair uncharacteristically flat. "Pinkie? I-" She was interrupted once again as Pinkie Pie began bouncing on top of her, her hair jumping up and returning to it's normal state with a life of it's own.
"Ohmigosh, it is you! But why are you wearing that cloak, and what's with your teeth, and why does your breath smell like blood? Blood isn't very healthy, you know. It can make you sick. And how did you come back from being dead? Ooh, ooh! Let me guess! Did you... Drink a potion? Become a zombie? Go to the Netherworld and win a bet against the Grim Reaper in return for your soul? That's always my favorite, or did you-"
"Pinkie!" The party pony stopped her ramble, looking down at the pony she'd been bouncing on.
"Yes, Dashie?"
"Uh... Could you get off of me? We're trying to get to Twilight's place, and uh..." Pinkie got off of Dash, allowing her to stand.
"Sorry Dashie, I'm just so excited that you're not dead! That means we can have parties, and play games, and drink, and make deals with Death, and..." Soon, Pinkie was back to bouncing again.
Rainbow flipped her hood up again, for once not wanting to attract attention. "Let's get to Twi's place." She said, moving down the road toward Ponyville.
"And sail, though I don't even have a ship. We can buy one! And then we can..."
*****
Fluttershy slowly approached the door to the hollowed out tree Twilight Sparkle lived in. Raising a hoof, she tapped against the wooden door.
"Coming!" A voice rang from inside, followed by footsteps. The door opened, a familiar purple and green dragon behind it. "Sorry, but with the funera- Oh, Fluttershy!" He exclaimed, looking toward the pink pony next to her. "And Pinkie... What are you guys doing here? The funeral isn't for another hour... And Twilight... Well..." His voice trailed off as he looked behind him towards the upper floor of the treehouse. The small purple and green dragon turned back, his eyes coming upon the cloaked figure. "And who are you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Let's just go inside... We'll explain everything in there." Fluttershy said, walking indoors. Rainbow followed her in, looking around the library. Piles of books involving resurrection filled the room, notes sprawled all over the library floor. A product of Twilight's "If there's a problem, there's a solution" attitude.From the sobbing upstairs, it was obvious that she hadn't found this solution yet.
"So what's this about, guys? I think Twilight wants to be left alone for now..." Spike said, looking up toward the upper floor of the tree once again. "Since Rainbow... You know..." He sighed, "She hasn't been herself."
"Well, uh... You might want to call her down here..." Rainbow Dash finally spoke, lowering her hood.
Spike's jaw dropped. "R-Rainbow? W-What? B-B-But you, you were..." The dragon stuttered, completely speechless.
"Rainbow?" Another voice said, now from the base of the stairs. Nobody had noticed that the sobbing from upstairs had stopped some time ago. The cyan pegasus turned, only to be met with a lavender hoof across the face. "Y-You..." Twilight Sparkle choked, bringing her hoof across the rainbow-maned pegasus' face once again.
"Twilight, I..." Yet another hoof across the face silenced her. "Twi, this isn't what you thin-"
"Then what is it? People can't come back to life, Rainbow. I've spent the last three days figuring that out. So how did you?"
"Um... Twilight, do you have anything in your library on strange diseases?" Fluttershy said before Rainbow could reply.
Twilight turned to her, a confused look on her face. "Y-Yes... Why?" She replied through sobs.
"Well, um... Rainbow Dash was dead... I confirmed that myself... Is there some kind of rare disease that could cause the illusion of death?"
"Ah' don't know of any disease that makes a pony stupid enough to fake her own death!" Another voice spoke from the door, carrying a familiar drawl. "What in tarnation we're you thinkin', Rainbow? You been causin' pain and misery to everypony, and for what? So you can 'Come back from the dead' and get all kinds of attention?" By now Applejack was face-to-face with Rainbow, staring her dead in the eyes. She snorted, turning away from the Rainbow-maned pegasus.
"Quite. A pony faking her own death for attention obviously has very little taste, so I do hope you're sick, and weren't this stupid all along." Rarity said, turning her head from Rainbow and raising her nose.
"I don't know any more about what's going on than you do. I woke up, and now everypony's saying I'm dead..." Rainbow said, rubbing the side of her face where Twilight had slapped her.
Twilight let out a sigh, contemplating for a moment. Rainbow was brash, sure, but would she fake her own death for attention? Maybe...
"Rainbow... If I find out this was a trick..."
"It's not, Twi... I promise." Rainbow said, trying to assure her friend that she wasn't cruel enough to cause such pain for attention.
Twilight gave a snort of acknowlegement, "Give me symptoms..." She said, levitating a quill and parchment in front of her.
"Well, uh... I suddenly have fangs and a taste for blood..." Rainbow said, smiling and putting her new, sharp members on display. Twilight walked over, examining the two teeth.
"Hm... They seem to be attached. This is strange... And you said you suddenly have a thirst for blood?" The lavender unicorn began to write. "Anything else?"
"Well, uh... The sun causes me to see strange things... Like some kind of dark, twisted other-world or something." Rainbow explained, looking at Twilight, who was now levitating several books around herself and flipping through them, looking for a disease to match the symptoms. Finally, she closed them, giving Rainbow a stern look.
"There's nothing even remotely close to what you're saying, Rainbow. Honestly, this is low, even for you. I don't know how you have those teeth stuck in there, but-" She was interrupted by a small green dragon carrying a rather large open book.
"Found something!" He said, smiling proudly. Twilight levitated the book out of his hands, looking over the page he'd selected before sighing.
"A curse, Spike? We've had this discussion before." She said, reading over the page anyway. "Curses are complete falsehoods made up to scare fillies and ponies who are superstitious. Nothing more." She said, closing the book definitively.
"What about the Lunar Guard? They seem to match those symptoms pretty well."
Twilight thought about this. The Lunar Guard did seem very strange... Along with being nocturnal, they didn't look like normal ponies, with their glowing, yellow eyes and sharp teeth. She had always just assumed that this was for show, rather than a result of something deeper. The night was, after all, the classic time for anything 'scary'.
"Fine..." She said at last, opening the book to the page Spike had shown her. "Vampirism..." The purple-maned unicorn read to herself, going silent for a moment before reading aloud, "Vampirism is contracted when a pony is bitten and drained of blood by an already existing vampire, this rule does not apply to... Ghouls? Hm..." She went silent again, reading to herself for a moment before finally letting out a small giggle.
"What?" Rainbow looked at her friend, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, nothing... But weren't you bragging to me a few weeks ago about how you bucked some stallion after a Wonderbolts show in Las Pegasus?" She said, a slight smirk now on her face.
Rainbow's eyes widened. "I-I did. What about it?"
"Really? Because this suggests differently." She said. Rainbow felt her face redden as Twilight began reading aloud. "A Ghoul is created when a defloured individual contracts vampirism. As opposed to Dracul and Draculina, Ghouls have no free will of their own, and are zompony-like in appearance." She turned to Applejack, stifling a laugh. "Say, Applejack, does Dash here seem like a zompony to you?"
"Nope. But there is another thing I reckon she is..." The orange earth pony said, a smile crossing her lips. Rainbow looked to each of her friends, each one either grinning or stifling a laugh, all except for Fluttershy, who simply blushed and hid behind her mane.
Pinkie began laughing hysterically, pointing at Dash "D-Dashie is a vir-" She interrupted herself with laughter, unable to control herself,
"It's okay, Dashie." Pinkie spoke through her laughter "I know plenty of stallions that'll be happy to help you out! We can have a party!" By now, the pink pony was rolling on the floor, holding her stomach in a bout of uncontrollable laughter.
Horseapples...
