In the dark of the night

As Twilight and Vinyl walked down the corridors of the castle towards the throne room, Twilight's mind was buzzing like a hornets nest.

She was now a vampony. A creature that up until three days ago, she had blissfully thought of as naught but legends.

She now had wings.

Rainbow Dash is going to flip out over that. Twilight thought to herself, half-humored.

She had pretty much attacked Princess Luna and been told she did a good job of it!

What the hay was up with THAT?!

She had been told that there were at least nine ponies that she knew that were vamponies.

And last, but certainly not least. She had just kissed another mare.

And... liked it??!

"Uugh!" Twilight groaned quietly to herself as she walked. This was going to be a really long night.

"You alright over there Sparkle?" Vinyl asked, casting Twilight a questioning look.

"Y-yea... I guess so..." Twilight hesitantly answered. Was she alright?

The DJ's questioning look melted into a soft smile that belied her reputation as an arrogant and indifferent mare.

"You're not okay... are you?" Vinyl asked, taking her shades off.

Letting out an exasperated sigh and sitting back on her haunches, Twilight stared at the floor as she answered.

"I don't know... Three days ago, Vamponies didn't exist, I didn't attack princesses in an effort to quench a thirst for blood I didn't have... and as far as I knew, I was straight..."

Vinyl snickered at the last part, causing Twilight to look up at her with an annoyed glare.

"It happens to all of us Twilight, hay, it happened to me 500 years ago!"

At that, Twilight's full attention went to the number she had just heard.

"Five Hundred?!! You're FIVE HUNDRED years old?!!!"

She was rather startled when Vinyl chuckled.

"Hehe, no... I actually turn 724 come Hearth Warmings Eve."

Twilight's eyes threatened to pop out of her skull as her jaw hung slack for an instant.

"724? YOU'RE SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY FOUR YEARS OLD???!!!"

"Yup."

"Wait... how can your name be VINYL SCRATCH if you're that old?! They didn't invent records until fifty-two years ago!"

"Well, as you'll see with a lot of other vamponies through the years, I've changed my name every so often so a correlation isn't made. If you'll recall, there was a rather gifted mare violinist some... 300 or so years ago now, who was pretty decent. Went by the name of Alabaster Sonata. That was me."

Twilight couldn't help but doubt this claim, Alabaster Sonata was possibly the greatest violinist that had ever lived! She had been one of only two ponies to ever play the Schoenhoof Concerto flawlessly. A feat that even the best of unicorn violinists of today would consider nigh impossible. The only other pony who had played it flawlessly had been Schoenhoof himself.

"No way!"

"Yup."

"Prove it!"

Rolling her eyes, Vinyl summoned a violin with her magic and, upon making sure it was properly tuned, raised to her hind hooves and held the violin as an earth pony would. What Twilight heard next floored her.

Alabaster Sonata played for her.

Even as the flurry of notes that was unmistakably one of violin's hardest pieces made it's way to Twilight's ears, Twilight couldn't believe what she was seeing. A unicorn playing an excerpt of one of the most difficult pieces known to pony kind, on one of the most difficult instruments known to pony kind, as an earth pony would! As the last note rang in the hallway and the violin disappeared, Twilight could only shake her head in amazement.

"Vinyl Scratch? Alabaster Sonata? Any other names you've gone by?"

"A few, most of the vamponies I know call me by my birth name though... Melody Snow."

"You've got to be kidding me. There's no way you could be Melody Snow. Not with your accent! Melody Snow was from Manemansk. That's on the edge of the arctic sea, north of Stalliongrad!"

"No eto pravda, ya Melodiya Snega." Vinyl said in a PERFECT Stalliongrad accent.

Twilight just stared, her jaw hanging loosely as Vinyl went back to her "normal" voice.

"What, you think that an old pony can't learn new tricks?" Vinyl asked with a chuckle.

"It's not that..." Twilight said hesitantly, not sure how her next words would affect the mare across from her. She had recalled what the history books had taught her about the mysterious and eclectic "Mare of Manemansk."

"History remembers that Melody Snow killed herself at age 42."

Vinyl grinned and motioned down the hallway with a nod of her head.

"Yea," She said as she started walking. "In retrospect... I could have gone about it a better way. Hanging yourself, even as a vampony, kinda sucks."

"You hung yourself?!" Twilight asked, shock riddled in her voice.

"Heh, yea... Artemis reacted about the same way when she saw me swinging there. She looked at me and said "Really? Hanging yourself? You DO know that you could have just stopped your heart right? That's a lot easier way to fake your death than this!!"

"Who's Artemis? And why did you want to fake your death?"

"Well, Artemis is the vampony who turned me, you'll be meeting her before long so I'll just let you find out for yourself who she really is. As for wanting to fake my death, things weren't good in Manemansk at the time. The port city of eternal winter... Anyways, I was getting tired of having ponies try and kill me so I faked my own death."

"Oh... that makes sense I guess." Twilight said, she was still trying to grasp the concept of actually hanging oneself to fake her own death. The mere thought sent shivers down her spine. Just as she was about to ask Vinyl another question, the doors to the throne room opened before them. She hadn't even realized they had arrived.

"Well, you can find out all about me later. Right now though, I'm pretty sure you have a couple things you need to do." Vinyl said with a smile.

Walking inside the throne room, Twilight approached the princess.

Luna saw Twilight and smiled. "We hope you are feeling well now Twilight?"

Twilight was about to respond when Vinyl spoke up.

"With what I caught her and Lily doing, she's probably feeling VERY well."

Giving Vinyl a slightly shocked look that melted into a sly grin, Luna turned her attention back to Twilight.

"Not even a day as a vampony and you have already attacked me AND seduced my personal florist? For shame Twilight Sparkle! For shame!" Luna said in mock reproach.

Blushing profusely, Twilight attempted to stammer out a reply before Princess Luna cut her off by raising her hoof.

"We merely jest Twilight."

"Oh... okay." Twilight said softly.

"Besides, we would actually find it odd if you did not have such... urges, this early in your transformation."

Transformation. The very word spoke volumes to Twilight. It reminded her that she wasn't quite a pony any more... That she wasn't the same.

As she was about to inquire about what the princess meant, the doors adjacent to the thrones opened rather suddenly as a squad of night guards filtered in around a unicorn Twilight had never seen before.

However... Luna and Vinyl had.

"Amaranth?" Luna whispered in shock, her emotions clearly written on her face. Vinyl's jaw hung slack as she pulled her shades off and gawked at the stallion.

"Your majesty. It appears a... message... has arrived for you." Orpheus said, glancing back at the raven-black unicorn with obvious distaste.

The stallion merely rolled his eyes as he walked towards Luna, perfectly at ease despite being surrounded by an entire squad of guards.

"Luna, I've known you for over 2000 years, and I STILL can't say hello without an armed escort?" Amaranth said, obviously humored as he motioned towards the squad of glowering guards.

Luna sighed and shook her head, a wistful smile playing on the edge of her lips as she bade the squad away with a hoof. Orpheus hesitated, but a look from Luna made him comply and disappear into the shadows. A moment after Orpheus had left, the black stallion chuckled and looked back towards Luna.

"They do know how to hold a grudge, don't they?"

"Can you blame them?" Luna asked flatly, thought the ghost of a smile still played on her lips.

"No, I suppose not." Amaranth chuckled before his expression turned a touch more serious.

"So... you intend on raising Artemis?" He asked nonchalantly as he looked Luna in the eyes.

Luna's breath caught as she looked into Amaranth's ice-blue eyes.

"H-How... How do you know about that?!"

"Oh, you know me Luna... I'm always... listening." The black stallion said cryptically as he turned his gaze towards Twilight and Vinyl.

"Though I will say that you've certainly picked quite the mare for the job. The element of magic, two-time savior of Equestria, and now vampony."

Amaranth walked over to Twilight and ruffled her mane as though she was just a filly.

"You do know how to pick them."

Twilight looked into Amaranth's ice blue eyes and involuntarily shivered. Even as he smiled and revealed his fangs, Twilight felt an odd mix of fear, awe and even trust for the stallion before her.

Turning his attention to Vinyl, Amaranth's smile grew ever so slightly.

"And Melody, or should I call you Vinyl now too? How long has it been?"

"167 years since that day in Trottingham. I meant to thank you for that, by the way." Vinyl said, having composed herself.

"Oh, I know. Had to go though, so much happening during those years and all."

"Yea, wasn't a pretty decade." Vinyl said, nodding her head in agreement. Her own smile growing as the mysterious stallion walked to the windows to look at the moon above.

"You know, Luna..." Amaranth started slowly.

"Artemis went into the vampires sleep for a reason... I'm afraid that she grows weary of her existence. She has not known many things in several centuries. Fear, remorse..."

The stallion then looked over at Twilight and smirked.

"Love, true passion... So many things she hasn't felt in far too long.

Twilight blushed slightly under Amaranth's gaze as Luna spoke.

"What is your purpose Amaranth? Why do you tell us this?"

Shaking his head and looking back to Luna with a saddened grin, Amaranth explained.

"I tell you this for the same reason I told you to be wary of yourself when Nightmare Moon first manifested within you. Artemis was on the precipice of losing herself when she went to sleep. You may have a hard road ahead of you, trying to help her find herself again."

"Then we shall help her find herself. I know Artemis, Amaranth."

"I know you do. I just thought it well to warn you beforehoof."

"A warning which I appreciate. However, you have another reason that brings you here... Don't you?"

"...Yes, I do."

"And what is this reason?" Luna asked a bit tersely.

The stallion's lips curled into what could only be called a deadly smile as he answered in nary a whisper.

"To prevent your death."

Everypony froze except for Amaranth. In that brief moment, he was able to teleport across the room next to a statue and hurl it with blinding speed towards a dark corner at the top of the room.

Everypony cringed though, when they heard the agonized scream of a mare.

In that instant, the room was flooded with guards from what seemed to be every shadow. Pegasi, Unicorn and Earth Pony alike, all in Night Guard Regalia flooded into the room from what seemed like every shadow to surround Luna. Some went over to the source of the pained cry... a masked unicorn, now laying on the ground, who's legs and back were bent at unnatural angles.

Amidst the confusion, Twilight and Vinyl had merely stood with jaws hanging as the whole scene unfolded. Neither had really seen Amaranth move. Twilight hadn't even felt his magic... it was like he wasn't even there.

"BE STILL!!!" Luna shouted as the cacophony of ponies trying to make sure she was okay drowned out all sound in the room.

Suddenly, all was still. The guards seemed to hold their breaths as Luna walked up to the mortally wounded unicorn and pulled her mask off.

"Who sent you?" Luna asked flatly.

Taking a shaky breath, the unicorn gave a pained chuckle before responding.

"You know full well who sent me princess. Heh, He knows everything that's happened here. Even about your little pet."

The mare cast her gaze to Twilight before coughing, the blood splattering on the cold stone floor as it left her mouth.

"You can't stop him princess. What makes you think that fledgling can?!" The unicorn spat contemptuously.

"Are you quite through?" Luna asked, showing her impatience, despite the sight of the maimed mare bleeding to death before her very eyes.

"Heh, I suppose I am. There's no way I could recover from this. Not with how hard that bastard hit me with that statue. I'm done. Just know this princess..."

The mare looked from Twilight into Luna's eyes, fiery hatred and contempt burning clearly in her eyes as she said, "He's coming."

The room was then filled with a sickening crack as Luna's hoof landed on the side of the mares head, splattering blood onto the walls as her hoof fractured the mares skull and sent bits of grey matter flying. Twilight started retching at the sight.

Luna turned around and started walking towards the throne room doors, a hard look on her face.

"Orpheus."

"Yes, Milady."

"Have this mess cleaned up. We're going for a walk."

"Yes, Milady." Orpheus bowed and started barking orders to the stallions around him.

Stopping next to Twilight, Luna spoke again.

"Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight looked up to see Luna's apologetic expression.

"I apologize for what you just saw... but I had rather that mare died quickly than have to suffer the pain of her injuries."

Still shellshocked, Twilight could only nod as she looked around the room at the chaos Amaranth had caused. As she looked around for the stallion though, she did not see him anywhere.

"Where is Amaranth?"

Her question prompted everypony except Luna to start looking around until the lunar princess spoke.

"You won't find him... nopony ever has. However, unless I miss my guess... we will see him again soon. Melody, Twilight, come... let us go for a walk."

Both mares nodded and followed Luna out the doors of the throne room and to a waiting carriage.

A carriage that would take them to Ponyville.