The New Problem

The mysterious pony that had attacked Canterlot nearly two weeks ago had finally reached as far as he could get without swimming. He found himself at the Peaks of Peril and was relieved to put as much distance between him and the castle as he possibly could. He had spent eleven days and eleven nights constantly looking over his shoulder, feeding only when he needed to in order to keep himself from being discovered. The wind echoed through the cavern passage he had found, it was dark and he liked it, but he could smell magic on the other side. He hadn't fed in the last two days and he was starting to get hungry. His pupils shrank into slits as the smell got stronger, his appetite started to grow.

"You weaklings! Give me your food!" a gruff voice yelled out from outside the cave.

"We know that you're angry and upset, but that's no reason to be a bully. Would you ask for our food instead?", a gentle voice replied.

"No! Now give me your food! You owe me for protecting you all!" the gruff voice from before stated.

The pony galloped towards the exit of the cave and saw a primate standing there with a staff, the strange creature had a mask on his face. But it was apparent that his exit from the cave didn't go unnoticed. "And who would you be? Do you come to pay tribute to this former lackey of the Storm King?" the creature asked the pony.

The gray pony instead flashed his fangs as a warning and spread his bat wings. He wasn't in the mood for any of this. He took a single step forward and the creature turned towards him. IT was at that moment he noticed the Kirin that was standing next to the creature, she had brown fur, darker brown scales and a lighter brown mane. She was also nearly as tall as the creature was. "This is no place for any disputes or fights," she pleaded.

The two male figures both started to walk towards each other and then started to walk in a circle. The two of them were sizing each other up, neither of them were willing to make the first move without getting any sort of clue as to what the other was going to do.

"I see that you do not fear me," the primate stated.

"That's obvious, I shouldn't have anything to fear from an oversized oaf like you," was the mysterious pony's reply.

The former soldier of the Storm King's army waited until the pony's back was to the Kirin and then swiped at him with his staff, expecting a quick retreat. To his surprise, the pony leapt forward over the staff and gripped onto his unarmored shoulders.

"You will never harm these creatures ever again, you will walk away now and never return," the pony demanded.

The primate's response was to try to grab the pony with his free hand, but two fangs sunk deep into his arm. The pony wasn't going to let go that easily, but something else was wrong. The former soldier's arm started to feel like it was burning. Not only that, he could feel a little bit of his magic leaving him. The strange gray pony let go and jumped to the ground. "Hear my name and remember it well creature, I am Sunrise Standing," he boasted.

The former soldier looked at his arm and started to grab it, the feeling started to slowly spread through him and he started to run away. Sunrise knew his opponent wouldn't get far until he fell to the ground and started to feel like his whole body was on fire. He turned around to face the Kirin from before, "There's no need for you to thank me for ridding you of that buffoon," he stated.

The brown Kirin looked down at him with saddened eyes, "There was no need to resort to fighting, but I guess you did get rid of the bully. I am Fern Flare and I am the chieftain of the Kirin. I'm surprised Autumn Blaze hasn't come out to greet you yet, she is usually the most excitable of us all. You do look tired and hungry from a long journey," she stated.

Sunrise nodded, "I could use some rest and food, thank you," he replied calmly and politely.

Fern Flare nodded and led him into the village, it had been a while since they had gotten any pony visitors, but they were all happy to meet the new mysterious pony. A blue Kirin walked up to him and placed a crown of flowers on his head with a smile and a wink. This caused the vampony to shudder slightly. He wasn't used to being showered with praise or shown any sort of affection, it was unsettling to him to say the least.

He started to shy away from the Kirin, not wanting the attention and fearing that if rumor got out that he was there, he'd be quickly found by the Canterlot guards. He started to walk away, but a green Kirin ran up to him and gave him an apple. He didn't want to seem rude, so he grabbed the apple and placed it in his mouth, biting into it. It tasted foul, like all other food he had eaten in the last few years. It was a distant memory of his, eating food that others ate. He forced himself to eat the rest of the apple with a forced smile on his face, even though he couldn't stand the taste.

The green Kirin smiled and went about her day as Sunrise continued to try to find some sort of solitude in this village. However, that wasn't going to happen. A white coated Kirin with green scales and an orange mane walked up to him. "Hi, I heard that you're the savior of the village. We Kirin would've handled it ourselves, but our leader, Fern Flare doesn't want us to repeat the same mistakes we once made. You see, when we get angry, we tend to turn into Nirik and she was trying to ensure that all of us remained calm. Oh my goodness, you are a strange pony, I've never seen your kind before. These wings look different from my friend's and your eyes don't look the same as they do. Oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself, I'm Autumn Blaze! What's your name?" she said rapidly and excitedly.

"I'm surprised you didn't hear it when I told that creature that was attacking your village my name," the vampony said, amused a little.

"I was out around the edge of my village, I was looking for some more flowers, because I like flowers. So does every other Kirin, I also like putting on performances and plays for my fellow Kirin. Do you have anything you like to do?" the orange maned Kirin said, still talking fast.

Sunrise could tell that she was very excited, but everything before a few years ago was a blur. It's as if none of that existed, as far as he could remember, he focused on one thing and one thing only. Making sure that Moonlight Gleam suffered as much as possible. Was it for revenge? Was it something he was ordered to do? Was it just his fate? These were questions he didn't have the answer to. He raised a hoof to his face in a vain attempt to try to coax anything out of his mind, but nothing came.

"You look like you're in thought, is something wrong?" Autumn Blaze asked, concerned for her new potential friend.

The vampony started to feel the hunger start to rise. What little magic he had taken on his way here and from that creature he had fought wasn't enough to satisfy him. He needed more to sustain himself. He was out here alone with this lone Kirin, he could feast off her magic without anyone knowing. But something in the back of his mind told him not to. This was an innocent who had a lot of friends. It wasn't worth the risk to feed on a little bit of her magic. He stood up and started to try to leave.

"Where are you going? Can I follow? I'd like to get to know you!" The Kirin quickly stated.

"You don't want to follow me, I'm a monster. I have been for as long as I can remember," Sunrise warned.

"You don't seem to be a monster. A monster wouldn't help out my village!" Autumn Blaze replied.

The vampony raised his hoof at her, he muttered a simple incantation under his breath and the Kirin's eyes started to grow heavy. She started to wobble about and her stance became unsteady. She tried to keep herself awake, but it was to no avail. He caught her before she fell completely asleep and gently placed her on the ground. "Forgive me, but I cannot risk you following me," he said.

Sunrise wandered through the woods, trying to get away from all of the Kirin and their delicious magic. He didn't want to bring harm to any of them. He figured that if he could lay low and only feed off of the natural magic in the land, he would be able to survive. But he didn't know how he would do so, despite the fact that this land was full of it. Back home, it wasn't the same. The land did have a lot of magic, but the people had more. His mouth opened and he started to salivate at the thought of draining something of a bit of their magic. Not all of it, but just enough that it'd sate his hunger.

His body turned around on its own, he started walking towards the village again. He started trying to fight his instincts, none of the Kirin deserved this. He could tell that none of them had ever met Moonlight, they didn't have her stink on them. He tried to pull his body away from the path that he was walking, but his legs didn't listen. The hunger started to grow even further, it was consuming every ounce of his mind.

He reached the edge of the village and by that time, he was single minded. All he knew was hunger. All he wanted to do was feed. His eyes were narrowed down to paper thin slits. His fangs bared and his mouth salivating. The Kirin took notice of this and they all looked concerned. He stepped forward slowly towards one of them, causing that Kirin to back away and then run. This was a mistake. Sunrise's instincts kicked in, his wings unfurled and with a flap of them, he took to the air.

Sunrise flew towards the fleeing Kirin, screeching as he did so. The other Kirin tried to stop him with their magic, but he swerved between their magical fields. He quickly caught up with the fleeing Kirin and swooped down with a hiss. He was able to tackle her to the ground and he placed his hooves on her face. Magic entered him and he could feel the hunger start to subside, but as he feasted, his coat grew slightly darker. His eyes became a brighter red than they were before. His fangs grew a little longer and claw like protrusions burst from the ends of his wings.

The vampony let go of the Kirin, he was done feeding. His mind was no longer clouded, he could tell exactly what he just did and he was ashamed of himself. He turned to see all of the Kirin that were there behind him. They were all very irate with him and he could smell that they were on the verge of a transformation into the Nirik that he had been told. "She will recover on her own," he tried to reassure them.

This did nothing to placate them. Fern Flare stepped forward and gave him a stern look, "I do not want you to ever return to this place. I will not have you endanger my Kirin ever again!" she demanded.

Sunrise nodded and turned around, he flapped his wings for the second time since he arrived at the Peaks of Peril and started to fly away. He would need to not only put distance between himself and Canterlot, but now himself and the Peaks of Peril. He had no idea where he was going to go, but he knew deep down that he would need to find some way to gain some allies in this world. Otherwise, he'd be alone when Canterlot finally did end up finding him and he knew in the event of that happening, his only choice would be to flee. Yet, he doubted that they would allow him to get away a second time. He would try to find some answers, but he didn't know how long it'd take or if he did find help, where it would come from.