Setting her hooves down against the fractured marble with a soft clack, Artemis appraised her nine guardians with a stoic expression.

"Nightshade, step forth."

Her tone was cold and commanding, prompting the mare in question to move quickly as she complied. As she came to a graceful stop, before she could even bow as she intended, Artemis' voice once again rang through the chamber.

"Present thy throat."

Gulping silently, Nightshade did as she was bade and lifted her chin, baring her throat to her Mistress. She knew what Artemis was about to do and that it would be, without a doubt, the most blissful experience of her entire existence. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of overwhelming nervousness wash over her.

Before the long fangs could grace her throat though, a cold voice cut through the air.

“ARTEMIS!”

Sighing in annoyance, Artemis glanced over her shoulder to Luna; who was now standing in the doorway by Amaranth. Said stallion was grinning at Artemis in a taunting manner.
Narrowing her eyes, Artemis turned back to the two of them. Her voice was cold as she gave them a wholly fake smile that served only to tell them of her growing ire.

“Do neither of you know when to heed a mare’s warning?”

Luna stepped forward, a hard look in her eyes. “We do not wish to fight, Artemis. We would talk, if thou wouldst listen.”

In nary the blink of an eye, Artemis was nose to nose with Luna, baring her fangs as she snarled out her reply.

“I will not listen to the words of the witch who so betrayed me! Nor shall I suffer her further!”

With that, Artemis lunged at Luna’s throat and plunged her fangs deep into the alicorn’s neck. What followed was of simple design. A way to keep Luna and most all who might attempt to follow her... preoccupied.

She began injected Luna with the entirety of the venom that her regeneration had created.

Luna couldn’t keep the gasp that left her mouth from turning into a lewd moan as more vampony venom than even she had ever received before began coursing through her veins.

As the last of her venom slipped into Luna, Artemis dropped the spasming alicorn onto the floor with an unceremonious thud before regarding her nine guardians again; her disdain rather clear in her voice.

“Tend to her. I trust you nine can follow that order!”

Then, with not so much as another word, Artemis unfurled her wings and flew out the still-open outer door and into the night.

Smirking as he shook his head, Amaranth felt the presence of another pony beside him and looked to see Twilight staring, mouth agape, as the nine guardians of Artemis and Vinyl rushed Luna into another room amidst the mare's increasingly desperate and lust-filled moans. Looking across the room, he also saw her five friends in a similar, if more fearful state as they had seen the entire scene unfold.

“W-what. Just. Happened?!” Twilight whispered as a few strands of her mane came askew of the others.

Sighing internally, Amaranth opened a door and motioned towards it.

“I’ll explain in here. I don’t know about you lovely mares, but I could use a drink.”

"Not blood, I should hope?" Rarity asked with obvious trepidation.
"Not at all, I'm rather in the mood for a good wine though." The stallion said with a chuckle as he walked through the door.

Nodding in mute agreement, Twilight followed the stallion into the room, followed closely by her traumatized friends. Taking a seat at the long table in the middle of the torchlit room, Twilight watched as Amaranth walked over to a wine rack that spanned the entire height and breadth of the wall behind it. After passing over a few selections, Amaranth finally pulled a pristine bottle out and smiled.

“Ah, a nice 207 year old Canterlot Bordeaux should do quite nicely. Second batch from the now-renowned winery of the Pranceton family.” He said, noting the vintage.

Popping the cork, he took a deep breath, his smile widening as he did so.
“One of the better vintages they ever made in my humble opinion.” He said as he reached out with his magic and grabbed seven ornate goblets from the hanging racks on the wall behind Twilight and set to pouring the wine in equal measure.

“Now then, where to begin?” He asked as he took a seat at the table himself, looking at the mares with a cryptic smile.

“The part where that previously dead madmare just bit one of our princesses and dropped her where she stood while you acted as though she did nothing out of the ordinary! THAT, I believe, would be an appropriate place to begin.” Rarity said with a shaky voice as she sipped on her wine.

“Yeah... Not to mention that she kinda tore your throat out right before that.” Rainbow added while she idly toyed with her own goblet.

“Ah, so she did, but that hardly matters.” Amaranth said before breathing deeply of the wines bouquet. Taking a long sip and uttering a low hum of approval, he answered Rarity’s question.

“What does matter is that a regeneration like the one Artemis just went through is a rather painful process in many ways. I surmise that what we just saw was her getting rid of her venom. With the rapid regeneration and magical assistance from Luna, I’d imagine Artemis had two or even three times the venom that an average vampony has ever carried at any given time. Perhaps even the most a single vampony has ever carried in recorded history. Not that anypony records such things, mind you."

“So what is it going to do to Luna?” Applejack asked flatly as she stared over the rim of the goblet in her hoof.

“Nothing TOO bad, I assure you. Not from a vampony standpoint anyways.” He said with a chuckle.

“Care to elaborate?” Twilight asked impatiently.

“But of course.” He said, setting his goblet down.

“You see, on regular ponies, vampony venom can cause anything from a slight numbing sensation at the site of a bite, to a burning, excruciating pain unlike anything they have ever felt before. Twilight could probably recount the experience of her own... 'ascension' with bone-chilling clarity on that matter presently." He said, giving Twilight a small nod as she shuddered at the all-too-recent memory.

"On other vamponies however," He continued. "The venom has quite a different effect. It is, essentially, the ultimate aphrodisiac for our kind. The scorching fire that would course through a regular pony turns into a constant state of near-orgasm until the majority of the venom wears off. Even then, something akin to an orgasmic 'hangover' can last for up to a few days after. Bliss is an understatement, really. ”

“Wait… so you’re telling me that Luna-” Twilight started.

“Is currently aroused enough to buck anypony she can get her hooves on until they can’t even see straight? Yes.”

“And those nine ponies that went in with her?” Applejack cautiously asked, her eyes wide.

“Are going to all get bucked until they can’t even see straight. Long story short, unless you want to get pulled into an orgy with a bunch of sex-crazed vamponies and potentially turned or killed… With killed being the more likely of those two, I wouldn’t go in that door if I were you Applejack. Same goes for Rarity and Rainbow. Though I would imagine none of you have any business going in there anyways. Seems Luna’s plans didn’t quite go as she had hoped they would in that regard."

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, suddenly curious despite the blatantly lewd turn the conversation had taken.

“Well, the fact is, Luna was hoping to see Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash turned by the end of the night. Seems that isn’t going to happen since she’s… occupied. So, it would seem the three of you have some time yet before you make the choice to join the night. If you so choose to do so at all.” He said in a casual manner as he lifted up his glass to finish off what was left of the admittedly decadent wine before continuing.

“You see, the Elements of Harmony won’t work on Caedis. His darkness isn’t something that can be purged from him like Nightmare Moon was from Luna. No, I’m afraid his darkness is something far worse. He's misguided by his own foolish ignorance of what he believes is the best thing for vamponies.”

“Which would be?” Rainbow asked before grabbing, then downing the entirety of her goblet in a single draught. Rarity cringed at the blatantly ‘uncultured’ display of merely chugging a priceless wine, but Amaranth just shrugged slightly as he answered.

“He intends to make all non-vampony Pegasi and Unicorns vanish from the face of Equestria. Along with The ruling Alicorns, the gryphons, the dragons, and the zebras. The last one is mainly because, despite the lack of magic as most unicorns know it, zebra’s are the best vampony hunters out of any species in the world. Aside from that, shamans among the deer tribes may be targeted as well, as some have quite the connection with the innate magic of Equestria."

"Okay, that leaves just us earth ponies then?" Applejack asked hesitantly.

"Indeed. As I told Twilight earlier, a hellish existence would await any survivor... Which is why we are going to stop him."

"An' just what did you tell Twilight earlier, exactly?" Applejack asked in an adamant voice. It was clear that she wanted the whole, honest truth.

Sighing slightly, Amaranth shrugged.

"That the entirety of the earth pony race would then be no more than meals on legs, and slave labor at that point. Sure, an earth pony may be able to kill a fledgling, maybe even better if they've been equipped and trained well enough. However, most vamponies would leave an attacking earth pony as a bloody smear on the ground, no matter how well they had been trained. Some of like mind to Caedis would likely do so to anypony who dared to merely talk out of turn."

"Even foals?" Fluttershy half-whispered in horrified curiosity. As Amaranth nodded, she suddenly found the previously untouched wine before her to be a rather excellent distraction.

"It's an unfortunate truth, but many vamponies subscribe to the notion that they are better than regular ponies. Problem is, that's only in the physical sense. We still need mortal ponies to survive. We may be faster, stronger, and able to use the magic of the night in ways no known unicorn can. We may heal faster, need little to no sustenance, and be 'immortal' in a sense. But we are still a race that feeds on the living. In all truth... We need mortal ponies more than they shall ever know. We're parasites really. Leeches in the likeness of a pony." He said with a lopsided grin as he leaned back in his chair.

"So how does Artemis fit into-" Twilight started as Applejack stood rather suddenly.

"Excuse me ev'rypony. Ah... Ah need a minute." She said as she pulled the brim of her Stetson down and quickly walked out of the room.

Sighing, Pinkie Pie looked at her friends with a small smile as she said, "I'll go talk to her. I think it's best if you girls stay here with Amaranth... Earth pony stuff, ya know?" Her voice was incredibly level as she stood and walked out to follow Applejack.

"So she is in the forest, but the rest have not left? Is she hunting?" Caedis asked as he tapped a hoof impatiently on the table. The unicorn before him had his eyes closed as he ‘watched’ Artemis.

"No, she's on a cliff some ten miles away, facing the east." Tirok said, a rather confused undertone finding it's way into his voice. "Why would she-"

"To see the sunrise." Caedis said softly, causing Tirok to open his eyes and look at the other unicorn with uncertainty as Caedis explained.

"Artemis is like few other vamponies... She saw fit to keep many of her habits from the time of her mortality. One of which, was to watch the sunrise. She always was an odd mare in that regard."

"I see. So then, shall I watch her further?" He asked.

"No. It's unlikely she'll be going anywhere. Not unless she gets hungry, that is. After all, that level of regeneration is no small feat." Caedis said with a small smirk.

"Yet, it's still incomplete..." Tirok mumbled quietly.

"Indeed, now... If you would be so kind Tirok, would you please go get me a snack. You know the kind I like."

Nodding his head, Tirok chuckled as he turned to leave.

"One earth pony mare coming right up."

"Oh, and Tirok?"

Pausing, Tirok turned to look at Caedis.

"I'm sorry about my outburst earlier, I've been under quite a bit of strain as of late. You know this, but that's no excuse to take it out on my closest friend." He said with a forlorn smile.

Giving Caedis a small smile of his own, Tirok nodded.

"I know, water under the bridge now though." He said with a small chuckle as he trotted out the door.

Author's Note

Well... I'm back... again.

Seems every time I try to post, something comes up! Net goes screwy, computer bonks, I lose my flow of creativity... all that jazz. However, this story is FAR from its completion, so stay tuned!