The New Problem

Sunrise Standing returned to the new hive, he was livid about what had happened. He had finally won, yet he was empty inside. Changelings hissed at him as he passed by, but he shot them a glare that froze them in their tracks. They knew what happened if they attacked him, though they fed off love, he was capable of draining them to the very last drop of their magic. The vampony walked into his private chambers and sat against the wall to think about what he was going to do next.

He had believed that getting his revenge, finally breaking Moonlight would grant him satisfaction. All he felt was empty inside, but an all consuming rage was filling that void. A dark aura formed around him as he screamed in frustration. The whites of his eyes turned pitch black as he absorbed more magic. A pulse of energy flew from him, collapsing the chamber around him, but a quick barrier saved him from being crushed.

A tall changeling walked over, "Throwing a tantrum isn't going to get us any closer to our revenge," she chided.

"I saved you from that stone prison, I can put you back," Sunrise threatened.

The changeling queen hissed at him, but the vampony stood up on his hind legs and clapped his hooves together. A familiar magic coursed between them, but it was tainted and evil, "Like I said, Chrysalis. I can put you back and I can do the same to the entire hive if you'd like. Just like I can force you all to endure never ending torment through darkness," he threatened again.

The changeling queen backed off very quickly, realizing that this pony wasn't bluffing. The rest of the hive did the same, leaving the vampony alone to figure out his issues. Sunrise left his chamber of the new hive and eventually walked out of the hive itself. They had set up shop in the mountains away from Ponyville and Canterlot. He had tolerated his partner's insatiable desire for revenge because he held the same desire but aimed towards a different target.

The wind picked up and blew through his mane as the hunger returned to him. He wanted more magic, more power. But he had no goal in mind to use it. He looked out towards a village at the base of the mountain. He could smell the magic coming from it, but they weren't ponies. They were something different, half-feline, half-avian. As daylight shined however, he wouldn't dare go down there and feed, not while everyone could see him.

He waited patiently for the sun to go down, knowing that the changelings wouldn't bother him in the slightest. He eventually closed his eyes and took a peaceful nap. He was not surprised that neither Twilight Sparkle nor Luna entered his dreams. His mind was a dark place after all, full of dark magic, so he rested uninterrupted.

Night fell and he woke back up, his eyes started to glow in the dark as the hunger intensified. He slowly walked down the mountain like a predator stalking its prey. For tonight, every griffon in that village would be his prey. He licked his lips as he entered the village. There were a few griffons on patrol, but it wasn't something that bothered him too much. He slipped behind one of the solo patrols and smirked as it was a foolish tactic to have a singular person patrol any given route.

He quickly closed the distance and forced the griffon's beak shut and used magic to pin the wings to his body. No sounds would come from this griffon as he opened his mouth and sunk his fangs deep into his victim. Magic flowed from the creature into his mouth and Sunrise savored every moment of it. This griffon magic tasted different from the magic of the ponies or the kirin. It tasted much more sour, yet at the same time sweet. Almost like a lemon candy.

Once the griffon lost consciousness, he discarded the body and quickly moved towards another guard as his body continued to change from the magic he was draining. The guard he moved towards had no idea what was going on until it was too late. He was drained of his magic and suddenly a metamorphosis took place within Sunrise. His body started to ache as it forcibly changed. He felt his hooves return to being hands and feet. He could feel the fingers and toes that he had missed. His ears returned to their usual place, but became pointed. He looked at his body, the fur was replaced with hair, which was just as ashen as his skin was.

He was still the size of a pony, but he didn't care. He swiftly descended on a third guard, draining them of their magic and then using his supernatural strength to toss him aside. He regained some of his old size as he walked towards the door to a griffon house. The vampire grabbed the handle and ripped it off the hinges. Three griffons lay inside the house. None of them were expecting an attack. He quickly grabbed the child and glared at the parents. "If you care about your child, you will willingly surrender your magic to me," he bluffed.

"And if we don't!?" the mother taunted fearfully.

A smirk crossed Sunrise's face, "I've heard from Chrysalis that the love a child has for their parents and the world at large is pure and untainted. Which would explain her constant attempts to go after young ponies. Perhaps I shall deliver your child to her," he stated. The vampire turned around as the child struggled and screamed in his grip.

"No! We'll surrender our magic to you!" screamed the father.

"I thought you griffons didn't care about anything except for yourselves. I guess you really have changed from what you used you be," Sunrise stated as he gently placed the child down.

The vampire turned around and placed his hands on both of the griffon adults. He drained them of their magic, only to the point where they fell unconscious, he didn't want to drain them completely. As he walked out of the house, he looked towards the child that he had used against her parents, "Relax kid, I wasn't going to harm you, I'm not a monster," he said reassuringly.

The child ran to her parents as the vampire left the house. His hunger had yet to be sated, but he knew where he could find the best source of magic in the village. He strode to the elder's place and kicked down the door. Guards heard the sound and rushed towards the house, but Sunrise waved his hand behind him, "Sleep!" he commanded as he cast the spell to make them sleep. The elderly griffon in the house lunged at the vampire in a vain attempt to make the attack stop, but it didn't nearly as well as he had hoped.

The vampire sidestepped the griffon and grabbed him by the neck. Magic flowed from the elder into Sunrise who regained his original size as the hunger was finally sated. He let go of the elderly creature and looked down at it with a smile.

"Why... why are you doing this to us? We didn't do anything to you!" the elder protested.

"The weak exist to serve the strong. As an aberration, I am the strong and you are the weak. Your magic exists to be food for me, nothing more. You can't even use it, that's how weak and pathetic you are! Oh and don't bother asking for help, I have an entire army at my beck and call. If you griffons are good little birdies and let me come down and feed once in a while in peace, I'll mostly leave you all alone to your own devices. But if you try to fight back, if you try to resist, if you try to get help? Well, I'll raze your village to the ground," Sunrise taunted with a gleeful and sadistic smirk on his face.

"But why?" the elder asked again.

The vampire didn't have an answer to this, he had lost his meaning for living. He had lost his purpose, as of now, his only purpose was to feed and grow ever more powerful. He was determined to do this at the very least. It was his new purpose, he had no other purpose that he could think of. Every attempt to try to take over Equestria in the past had failed, he had no reason to think that if he attempted to do so, he'd fare any better.

"Because I am a vampire that feeds off magic, you are creatures with magic. All I wish to do for now is figure out a plan how to go forward. All I need is a little sustenance from time to time," Sunrise replied finally.

He left the elder's house, more guards came to try to arrest him but he towered over them, looking down at them with a glare. He stretched out his arm and a cape formed around him, covering him as his red eyes glowed at the griffons. His glare was enough to get them to back off as his cape shapeshifted into a pair of wings, allowing him to take flight within the night.

Though he had an army of changelings at his beck and call, he didn't quite know how long Chrysalis would remain loyal to him. This was something that deeply bothered the vampire and as he landed on a branch in a tree, he looked over his new dominion. There were no Special Investigators coming to stop him, there weren't going to be any armies coming to try to stop him. His new village would keep quiet about what had happened there, he was sure of it. He formed a cup out of magic squeezed a few fruits that were on the tree into the cup.

He drank from it and then threw it down to the ground as he stood up and teleported from the tree to the ground. He started to laugh as he walked deeper into the woods. This was his new purpose for now. He was going to be the Lord of this land, the one the villagers paid tribute to. Now that Moonlight Gleam was demoralized and thus out of the way, there would be no one who would know how to stop him. He looked at his clawed hand and vaguely wondered if even the Alicorns' magic was out of his reach now.

He shook his head, realizing that such a move would be risky at best and foolish at worst. He turned back to his village and suddenly came up with an idea. If he could find some way back into his world, he could use the army that he had raised in the changelings to take over his world. On top of that, he could gain enough power to raise an even larger army, with more than just the changelings in it. He believed that there would come a point where he'd be unbeatable. A smile crossed his moonlit features as he started to laugh maniacally.

His path was set he was going to quietly accrue more power and once he was strong enough, he would lead his army through the mirror back into his world. Once there, he was going to crush the Special Investigators and from there, the world would be ushered into a new era of darkness, with him at the throne. With this new path in mind, he wandered back towards the new hive, ready to tell his partner what he had in mind.