Chapters The morning sun broke over the hills surrounding Ponyville, casting long shadows over the small town. The birds, which were usually vocal in praising the dawn, were strangely silent this particular morning.
Near the centre of town sat a large tree. It had originally been the town hall during Ponyville’s early years. More recently, however, the tree house had become Ponyville’s library. It was a place of peace in times of trouble and much to the residents' dismay, it was often damaged. The tree was bathed in the golden light of the morn, making the frost on the leaves sparkle like the stars. These were the same stars that the tree house’s sole occupant, the unicorn Twilight Sparkle, had spent most of the night gazing at. Twilight turned over as the sunlight filled the room, trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep before she had to begin repairs on the hole in the ceiling that Twilight’s pegasus friend Rainbow Dash had made the day before. Normally she would have fixed it before she went to bed, but at the time she had been too busy with an assignment in transmutation magic.
“Twilight... Twilight, it’s time to wake up,” said a soft voice. She opened one eye to find her assistant, the purple baby dragon Spike, shaking her with one hand while in the other, he carried a plastic tray that held Twilight’s breakfast. She sat up, raising her foreleg to shield her eyes from the sunlight. Lately, Twilight’s eyes had been extra sensitive to light and she couldn’t seem to find a cause, nor could any of the local doctors that she had been to see. Charging her horn with magic, Twilight closed the curtains, breathing a sigh of relief at the same time. Spike placed the tray on her bed, a look of concern in his eyes.
“Still having problems with the light?” he asked, untying the pink apron that he was wearing. She nodded, downing her glass of orange juice in one swift movement, then doing the same with her tea.
“Hey Spike, do we have any orange juice left?” Twilight enquired. “I’m just really thirsty all of a sudden.”
Spike nodded, taking the glass off Twilight and leaving. She rolled her dry tongue around in her mouth, confused as to why she was still so parched. Spike returned a moment later, giving the now full glass to Twilight, which she also managed to finish in one gulp.
Twilight bit into her toast, struggling to chew the stale bread. After what seemed like hours, she finally managed to swallow. She looked at Spike, her eyes bloodshot and teary with the effort. All of a sudden, Twilight heaved. She tried to throw the blanket off her in a mad rush to make it to the bathroom, only to get her hooves tangled in the sheets. She barely managed to get her head over the side of her bed before a wave of vomit forced its way out of her mouth. It was quick but very painful, as Twilight rolled over, clutching her abdomen as tears fell from her eyes. Spike ran to her side, slipping a little on the pool of vomit.
“Twilight! Are you okay? I'll get the doctor.” He panicked, turning to leave, but Twilight stopped him.
“No Spike. It’s okay. I’ll walk, just help me get up,” she tried to assure him. Her insides felt like they were being torn apart, every muscle in her body had tensed, to the point where it was almost paralysing. Spike hesitated, looking her in the eyes as if to say, ‘I don’t believe you.’ But he relented, helping Twilight to her hooves and leading her down the stairs, however, as soon as he opened the door, she recoiled, crying out at the sudden onslaught of intense light. Spike slammed the door shut, running to catch Twilight as she started to faint. She barely managed to stop herself from falling, concentrating hard on staying upright.
“I-I can’t do it Spike. It’s just so painful,” she cried, rubbing her eyes as spots slowly spread across her vision. Spike sighed, looking around the room for anything useful. He disappeared from Twilight’s sight for a moment, before reappearing and placing something over her eyes. The world changed colour to a uniform purple and Twilight realised that she was wearing sunglasses.
“Spike, these are perfect! Where did you get them?” Twilight asked, as the unrelenting throbbing behind her eyes began to fade.
“They were in the lost and found box. Vinyl Scratch left them here a couple of weeks ago. I was going to take them back but Octavia told me she’s gone on tour. Also, she probably hasn’t noticed the fact that they are missing. Something about having an entire closet full of glasses." He grabbed Twilight’s foreleg, leading her back towards the door.
When Spike opened the door again, Twilight winced, expecting the same pain that had characterised her last attempt at leaving, but was pleased to find that the sunglasses kept out most of the sunlight.
It was a short walk to the hospital but every step Twilight took filled her with agonising pain. The tiniest sound seemed to echo around her a hundred times, even the sound of Spike’s breathing. She closed her eyes, allowing Spike to lead her as she tried to block the sounds of a Ponyville morning; the multitude of ponies making their way to the market, all talking, all yelling, were a mixture of voices that characterised a typical morning. Any other day, Twilight would have revelled in it, enjoying the uniqueness of everypony in town. Today however, it was just a wall of sound that was spreading over the landscape. Just when she thought she had finally managed to push the noise out of her mind, Spike tapped her on the shoulder, indicating they had arrived. Twilight cursed under her breath, walking inside. Spike sat her on a chair in the waiting room while he set about organising her a private room.
It was noon when a doctor finally entered Twilight’s room. Twilight was still rubbing the area where nurse Redheart had pricked her with a needle in order to take some blood for testing. The doctor wasn’t one she had met before. He was a grey unicorn with a light brown mane that was tied in a ponytail at the back. His cutie mark was one typical of many doctors: a red cross. What distinguished his from the others though, was the fact that in the middle of the cross was a silver circle.
“Hello there Twilight, sorry to keep you waiting. I’m Doctor Neuron,” he smiled, offering his hoof. She shook it weakly, one eye shut against the pain of a headache that had begun to develop not long after she had been admitted.
“About time!” exclaimed Spike, putting his hands on his hips, “She’s been here for two hours and you’re the first doctor that has come to see her.” and Doctor Neuron just smiled awkwardly.
“I really am sorry about that. The hospital’s been understaffed for a while. Not to mention that it’s my first day,” he explained, levitating Twilight’s chart from the end of her bed and quickly reading it.
“Well, your symptoms are nothing like I have ever seen. But they are not atypical of a blood borne virus. Has the nurse taken a blood sample?” he asked, and Twilight nodded weakly. He pointed to the sunglasses that were resting on the bedside table.
“Are they yours?”
“Yes, the nurse told me to take them off.”
"Is the light actually causing you any discomfort or pain?" asked Doctor Neuron, and again, all she did was nod weakly. “Put them back on. Hopefully it will make you feel a bit more comfortable. As for you, Mister… Spike, was it? I’m afraid that we have to ask visitors to leave at midday so that the patients can have their lunch in peace. But you are free to come back at two o’clock.” Spike sighed, giving Twilight a quick kiss on the cheek before walking out the room with Doctor Neuron following closely.
For the first time all day, Twilight was alone. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, forcing the pain out of her mind, before lying down and letting her head sink into the pillow.
***
When Twilight awoke, it was night. White moonlight shimmered through the tiny cracks in the curtains and once again, she was gripped with an incredible thirst. She poured herself some water from a jug that rested beside her, but as soon as it touched her tongue, she spat it out, along with another wave of bile that rose from her throat. The sunglasses were thrown off her face by the force of her heaving, bouncing off the wall and clattering on the floor. When she had finished throwing up, Twilight wiped her mouth with the corner of her blanket, promising herself that she would clean it up. She suddenly noticed that Spike was asleep in the chair on the other side of the bed, curled into a tiny ball. She smiled slightly, as the cute baby dragon snored quietly and then she realised she wasn’t bothered by the sound anymore. Her headache had disappeared and the throbbing behind her eyes had completely stopped. She ran her hooves through her mane, ecstatic about the peace.
A loud rumble emanated from her belly, and Twilight smiled, remembering that she hadn’t eaten all day. Slowly making her way out of bed, Twilight searched for anything she could eat and after ten minutes of fruitless searching, decided to go back to sleep and wait it out. A light appeared in the doorway, and it opened to reveal Doctor Neuron, dressed in his scrubs, but also with a dressing gown draped around him as well.
“Oh, hello Twilight. You’re looking much better. Don’t mind me, just doing my night rounds and- oh, I see you’ve been sick. I’ll send the night nurse to come and clean it up in a minute.” He walked over to Twilight and placed his hoof on her forehead. She suddenly became aware of a faint sound coming from the doctor. A gentle ‘thud thud,’ as well as what appeared to be a tiny muscle spasm in his neck, which pulsated in time with the noise. Twilight’s heart rate began to accelerate, for reasons she couldn’t fathom. Her teeth started to ache at the same time, until the doctor pulled his hoof away.
“Well you have a normal temperature. Hmm... you really have me stumped. But I’ve gone on long enough. You get some rest. I’ll be around to see you sometime tomorrow okay?” he told her and she nodded, climbing back into bed as he left. Letting out the breath she was holding, she tried to make sense of what had just happened.
‘What was all that? And why am I thirstier now more than ever?’ She wondered, rolling onto her side and shutting her eyes as she listened to Spike’s light snoring.
The night nurse appeared a moment later, sighing irritably as she dropped the mop and bucket on the floor. Twilight shifted her body weight, trying to get comfortable in the hard hospital bed, as the sound of the heavy wet mop slapping on the lino floor over and over mixed with the sound of snoring. She smiled, taking a deep breath and letting the natural rhythm help her drift off to sleep.
***
Violent. Violent was the way in which Twilight described the following morning. Sunlight flooded the room as nurse Redheart threw open the curtains, loudly whistling some unknown tune at the same time. Twilight winced, pulling her pillow over her ears in an attempt to shut out the noise, keeping her eyes shut tightly against the assault of Celestia’s sun. She felt a weight move across her bed from the opposite side, coming to a rest on the edge closest to the window
“Hey! Be quiet! And shut those curtains!” Spike exclaimed, his voice muffled by the pillow. A few moments later, she felt a gentle stroking on her side. Removing the pillow and reluctantly opening an eye, she saw Spike, a look of concern upon his face. He moved Twilight’s pillow back behind her head, telling her to close her eyes and relax. She then felt him slide the sunglasses onto her face.
“Th... Thanks Spike. That wasn’t the way I planned to wake up today,” Twilight said weakly, a smile appearing on the corner of her mouth. Spike nodded, walking across the bed and jumping back onto his chair.
“I’m just really disappointed with the service here,” he growled, snatching a magazine from the bedside table and opening it. She giggled quietly at the thought of the small dragon staring down a full sized pony.
“You don’t have to stay here Spike,” she assured him, but he just shook his head in response. "I'm going to be okay."
“No Twilight. I want to stay. I've seen you gradually getting worse for the last couple of weeks and I did nothing because I assumed that it was just a cold or something. Then when you threw up yesterday morning... that was it for me. I realised that I should have done something earlier. I’m so, so sorry,” he muttered, placing his hand in Twilight’s hoof.
“I know, but I swear i'm going to be okay. Now go home. Let Celestia and the girls know where I am,” she instructed. Spike sighed, nodding once before climbing off the chair and making his way toward the door.
“I’ll be back tonight, okay?” he reassured her. Twilight nodded, watching Spike leave. As soon as he was out of sight, Twilight let the tears of pain flow freely. She climbed out of bed, and rushed to the small enclosed bathroom in the corner of her room. Shutting the door, Twilight closed the lid of the toilet and sat down, shutting off the light at the same time. She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths and settling into the meditation method that Princess Celestia had taught her. The thick tiled walls and the heavy wooden door effectively shut out any light and sound, giving her a moment of peace.
Over time, a feeling of calm washed over Twilight, the pain in her eyes and ears subsiding enough so that she felt normal. The fog in her mind lifted as a result, and allowed her to think about what had happened the night before.
‘What was all that last night? I felt great, better than I have in weeks. So… why?’ she wondered, mentally going through all of the medical books in her library. A sudden gentle knock on the door jostled her out of her trance.
“Hey Twilight? Are you okay in there? It’s Doctor Neuron. I have your blood test results.”
Twilight sighed, walking over to the door. Making sure that the sunglasses were secure on her face, Twilight turned the handle, squinting at the expectation of intense light, only to find the room completely blacked out, save for a very dim torch that was being held aloft by the doctor’s magic.
“Wow! D-Did you do this for me?” she asked, still utterly shocked at the look of her room.
“Yeah…I realised that some patients need more specialised care than others. Unfortunately, it’s not sound proof. Surprisingly enough, I wasn’t allowed to duct tape mattresses to the walls,” he laughed, and Twilight found herself giggling as well.
“Thank you. At least I’m not going to need the sunglasses,” Twilight joked, taking them off and throwing them onto the bed. “So, you said you have my blood tests?”
“Uh, yeah. So what it reveals is that my initial diagnosis was correct; you do have a blood borne virus. Unfortunately, it’s not one we have ever encountered before. We have made some enquires to other hospitals but in all honesty we have no idea how to treat it,” he explained, and Twilight felt a lump rise into her throat.
“W-what do you suggest then?” she whispered, as a feeling of intense sadness began to build inside her.
“Now, don’t worry. I have a few medications I think might be effective. So we’ll try them. Look… I know you’re scared, but I promise that I will make you well again,” he said, putting his hoof on her shoulder.
“I thought doctors weren’t meant to say that to patients,” said Twilight, as tears started to form in her eyes.
“Well, normally yes, but I’m confident that I can help you,” he replied, embracing Twilight as she burst into tears.
‘Thud Thud.’ The same faint sound appeared, a constant beat that filled her ears. Twilight licked her lips, as her stomach growled in hunger. Doctor Neuron pulled away and she could see the slight smile on his face that was illuminated by his torch.
“I'll get nurse Redheart to bring in some food okay?” he laughed, turning to leave. Twilight nodded, following him to the door.
"Just hop back into bed and relax alright? Watch your eyes,” he warned as he opened the door, and Twilight jumped out of the way of the beam of light, closing her eyes at the same time. When the door closed, she sighed, walking back around to her bed and sitting down.
“Now what?” she asked herself, flopping down onto the mattress. Suddenly, she felt something strange as she clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. She returned to the bathroom, lighting up her horn to illuminate her haggard face. Her front teeth were crimson from her bleeding gums and from beneath the bloody mess of leaking, red liquid there were two sharp, ivory points. Before she had a chance to examine them though, they retracted and looking at her bottom teeth, Twilight noticed the same small points, peeking through the flesh.
“What in the hay is happening to me?!”
Twilight started to hyperventilate as she stared at the tiny white points sinking into the bright red gums of her bottom jaw, leaving no trace save for a few drops of blood where they had broken through the flesh. The dim light coming off her horn went out, leaving Twilight in darkness. She started to panic, feverishly scouring her mind for anything remotely similar to what was happening to her.
‘No no no.! Think Twilight. What have you done in the past month that might have caused your symptoms?’ she wondered, breathing heavily as she pressed up against the wall of the bathroom, sliding down the tiles and sitting on the ground. She buried her head in her hooves, closing her eyes as the metallic taste of blood swirled around in her mouth.
She slowly got back to her hooves and made her way over to her bed, levitating the ‘call nurse’ button and pressing it repeatedly out of panic. Five minutes of button pressing later, nurse Redheart entered, flinging the door open and flooding the room with light. Twilight turned away from her, shielding her eyes with her foreleg. Redheart walked up to her and snatched the button away, disconnecting it from the wall and throwing it on the bed. Twilight closed the door with her magic, letting out a relieved sigh.
“What do you want?” asked Redheart bluntly, raising an eyebrow at her. Twilight could tell that she was feeling bitter about the way that Spike had spoken to her. She scowled at the white unicorn, hopping up on the bed and sitting down.
It wasn’t long before Doctor Neuron entered the room. He was much more considerate than Redheart, only opening the door enough for him to squeeze through. The same torch from earlier pointed at the floor in front of him. He rushed over to Twilight and put his hoof on her shoulder. Twilight explained what she had seen in the mirror, her voice shaking with fear and her eyes were welling up with tears. Doctor Neuron kept relatively calm as she spoke, listening intently and stroking her arm in an attempt to calm her down. When she had finished he pushed her down gently, telling her to lay down and relax. He pulled a smaller pen light out of his pocket and pointed it into Twilight’s mouth, while at the same time he used a depress to pull her lips back so he could examine her gums.
“Well they are a really bright red, but I can’t seem to see any sign of new teeth. I’d like to believe you, but I don’t see any evidence. I’m tempted to say that all you need is some food,” he told her, putting the pen light back into his pocket. He let out a long sigh, rubbing his eyes. Twilight took a long look at his face and the bright red tendrils that arced across the white of the eyes from the corners.
“Are you okay?” she asked and Doctor Neuron gave her a smile.
“Thanks for the concern. But I’m okay. Just very tired. There are only two other doctors apart from me working today, seeing over two hundred patients. I’m just grateful that you’re the worst of them. No offence,” he explained, blushing as Twilight raised an eyebrow. He got off the bed, throwing the used depress in the nearby waste bin.
“I don’t have any clue what could have caused the irritation of your gums. But I seriously doubt that you are growing a new set of teeth. It was probably just your eyes playing tricks on you,” he told her. Twilight nodded, understanding his disbelief. He smiled once more, before turning and leaving the room. Twilight looked around the dark room, her heart rate back to normal and thoughts of the fangs more or less gone from her mind; instead, it was replaced with a feeling of concern for her new friend.
Twilight shot upright in her bed, crying as enormous beads of sweat covered her body causing her mane to cling to her face. Her breathing was extremely heavy and she had no idea why. Whatever the nightmare had been, it must have been horrible. Her eyes darted around, searching for the source of the fear.
Twilight flung the covers off herself, walking over to the window and peeled back the thick black curtains that Neuron had put up to prevent any light from getting to her. The light of Luna’s moon hit her face and Twilight quickly shut her eyes, expecting pain, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that the white light had no effect on her. She reluctantly opened one eye and was greeted with the beautiful sight of the full moon. She moved her wet fringe from her eyes as she used her magic to open the window and took her first breath of fresh air in two days.
New and exciting smells invaded her nose as the peaceful sounds of night met her ears. Her breathing slowed as the intense feeling of fear subsided. Her stomach growled, begging for sustenance. Twilight sighed, looking at the barely touched tray of food that the nurse had brought in earlier and cringed. The mashed potato and steamed vegetables had done nothing but make her ill and she was much too scared to even try the ice-cream. Being confined to her room with not even a book to keep her occupied was starting to make her feel a little stir-crazy. She started to tap her hoof on the windowsill as the lights of Ponyville slowly being extinguished as ponies went to sleep.
Twilight took a quick look to make sure that none of the hospital staff was approaching before she charged her horn with magic, the perfect spell coming to mind. A magenta glow spread over her body as she concentrated on the sidewalk outside the hospital and teleported. A momentary flash of light accompanied her disappearance and reappearance on the street. She looked back at the hospital and was grateful that she had decided to teleport as the entire hospital was lit up like Canterlot during Hearth’s Warming. The pain behind her eyes was dulled, but still bad enough that her eyes watered. She looked down the street, taking a deep breath of cool night air, and started to make her way toward Ponyville, but made sure that she kept to the outskirts where the street lights were sparser than in the centre.
Twilight could see that the lights were still on in the library and smiled at the thought of Spike waiting up for her, reading some large book or writing a letter to Princess Celestia. She walked past it, heading for her favourite stargazing hill. When she got to the top, she lay down on the grass, and immediately set about searching for and identifying the constellations. Every single star in the sky felt like a beacon of imagination and peace, and she couldn’t help but get lost in the beautiful night that Princess Luna had provided. She managed to take her mind off the last few days of pain and frustration as she indulged in her favourite hobby.
Twilight thought of her friends and how much she was beginning to miss them. She briefly thought about going to visit them, but remembered that it was the middle of the night and that they probably wouldn’t appreciate her knocking on her door. She got to her hooves and decided to make her way back to the hospital. The moon now sat high in the sky and made it very easy to see where she was going. She took the same path back, the library, now dark and uninviting with only a single light illuminating the street. The sound of hooves on the dirt in front of her jerked her out of her trance and she saw a light blue unicorn with a dark blue and white mane step out of the shadows.
“Hello Colgate, strange to see you out so late,” said Twilight and Colgate jumped at the sound.
“Uh… Twilight, are you okay? Your lips are bleeding,” said Colgate, giving Twilight a strange look. Twilight cocked her head to the side and opened her mouth to reveal long, sharp fangs protruding from her top and bottom jaw. She let out a low growl as the light blue unicorn started to back away. Twilight looked more like a rabid timber wolf than a pony, the pupils of her eyes wide and all of her reasoning gone. All that was running through her mind was; feed.
The bittersweet taste lingered in her mouth as she dropped her prey, the barely conscious mass collapsing onto the dusty path below. With every fading heartbeat, the prey let a little more of red fluid flow from the open wound in their neck. A scowl crossed her lips at the thought of the fluid that sustained her being wasted. With a growl, she started walking back to her nest, the first warm slivers of sunlight beginning to break over the surrounding hills. She could feel herself getting weaker, the sunlight draining away the little strength she got from her feed. But she could still taste the blood around her mouth and savoured the flavour.
***
Twilight awoke with a start, snapping upright and letting out a small scream. Her mane was damp with sweat, small beads running down her face and leaving dark purple trails in her lavender fur. She sighed, leaning back and hitting her head on the steel bedhead. Her eyes began to water as she rubbed the affected area. She climbed out of bed, yawing as she started to walk toward the bathroom. Once inside the completely silent room, Twilight cast a spell that made a burning ball of white plasma shoot out of her horn and become suspended in the middle of the room. She used her magic to turn the taps of the shower, adjusting them to what she hoped was her ideal temperature. She caught the sight of her reflection in the mirror above the sink. Her eyes went wide she saw the ring of dark brown that bordered her mouth. Her fur was matted all around her mouth and chin
‘Is this… blood?’ she wondered, running her tongue over the fur. A bitter, metallic taste met her tastebuds. She swallowed, her eye twitching as she remembered her nightmare.
‘See? Nothing to worry about. I probably just clenched my teeth in fear, and I must have nicked my tongue,’ Twilight took a deep breath, turning back to the shower and stepping under, adjusting the temperature with her magic. She washed away the sweat and blood, letting her muscles relax. She stood under the water for a while, letting it run over her body as she enjoyed the warmth. She tried to recall what had happened after she had snuck out of the hospital the night before. She vaguely recalled visiting her favourite star-gazing hill and walking through Ponyville.
“Hello Twilight, how are you feeling today?” he asked, sitting down next to her bed.
“What happened?” Twilight asked, staring at the bloodied shirt.
“To be perfectly honest; I’m so very tired. I’ve done nothing but work the past three days and nights. I might have had about six hours of sleep within that time,” he explained, laying back onto the bed and spreading his forearms wide. Twilight looked at him with concern, watching as he closed his eyes and talked. He suddenly trailed off, much to Twilight’s confusion. She leant over and giggled, realising that he had fallen asleep. A quiet snore started to come from the grey unicorn. She briefly considered waking him up, but changed her mind when she realised that it might be dangerous for him to continue practicing in his condition. Twilight peeled back the blanket, covering him slightly. She got back onto the bed, propping herself up with the pillow at the other end of the bed and watching him sleep.
***
After about five minutes, Twilight’s eyes began to drift toward the blood stained scrubs, the shiny wet cotton shirt folded roughly and placed on the chair beside the bed. She looked away, only to find herself staring at it once again a few moments later, her tongue running over her lips. Twilight shook her head to break the trance. Seeing the trashy gossip magazine that Spike had been reading a few days earlier, she used her magic to bring it toward her, holding it aloft in front of her and opening it. Letting out a small groan as she started reading the article ‘Trixie Lunamoon performs for Prince Alistair of the Griffin Empire, allegedly pickpockets the griffin.’
“Can’t say I’m surprised to hear that,” she muttered under her breath as she read. She devoured the entire twenty page magazine in moments, while the entire time, Doctor Neuron was still curled up at the other end of the bed, occasionally muttering in his sleep. The clock on her bedside table revealed that it was near time for lunch, and sure enough, Nurse Redheart entered the room, bursting through the door and blasting Twilight with light. The purple unicorn just smiled, and the smile on Redheart’s face instantly turned to a scowl. The cream coloured nurse dropped the platter of food on the wheelie table, raising her eyebrow when she noticed the sleeping doctor. The scowl was replaced with a smirk as her eyes moved between Twilight and the doctor. Twilight gave her a serious glare that caused Redheart to recoil. She walked over to the doctor and gave him a shake, causing him to sit up straight.
“What are you doing?” asked Redheart, tapping her hoof on the lino floor. “You’re very late for your rounds.”
She pushed the shirt off her, scrambling away from it as though it were some giant scorpion. She started to hyperventilate, the metallic taste of the blood still lingering on her tongue. She tried to scream, but something stopped her. A relaxed feeling that scared her to her core. She pulled the towel off her head; her mane still wet and dishevelled, and placed it over the shirt, trying to hide it from herself.
***
Twilight’s stomach let out a deep growl as the towel began to soak up the dark red liquid. The taste of the blood started to drag memories of her nightmare to the front of her mind, visions of blood and the sounds of a screaming mare filling her senses. Twilight could feel her heart rate increasing as the rhythmic sounds of a heartbeat over took everything else.
‘What am I doing?’ she screamed inside her mind, but her muscles wouldn’t respond. An unrelenting thirst and hunger had overtaken her, the instinct to feed controlling her every action. Her tongue lashed out of her mouth, running along the light green scrubs and drawing the blood from the material. She slowed down as the red spot got smaller and smaller, breathing heavily as long fangs began to poke through the gums of her upper and lower jaw. The fangs stopped their descent when they became level with her other teeth. By now, Twilight was standing on top of her bed, her messed up mane falling around her face and her muzzle was all but dripping with blood. A faint sound hit her hypersensitive ears, eliciting a growl from the unicorn. She leapt off the bed and galloped to the corner of the room, crouching to hide in the darkest part of the room. Nurse Redheart suddenly opened the door, sighing as she looked around with the torch she was holding in her mouth.
Twilight let out another low, Manticore like growl, the fangs protruding even more. Redheart’s ear gave a twitch and she turned toward the sound, moving the torch in a systematic pattern through the darkness. Twilight moved to avoid the light as Redheart made her way over toward the bed. Her growling got louder as she moved closer to the scrubs, Twilight feeling defensive of the scrubs that held the traces of her meal. Redheart glanced down at the shirt, her eyes going wide as she picked it up, the near dried patch of blood facing her.
Twilight started to advance slowly, like a timber wolf when it stalks its prey. Redheart made her way back to the door, the torch still searching desperately for the source of the increasingly loud growl. She misjudged her retreat, bumping into the wall next to the door. As soon as she turned her head to find her bearings, Twilight struck. The bloodlust filled unicorn colliding with Redheart, pushing her onto her back legs and pressing her against the wall, while at the same time holding her mouth shut with magic, the torch clattering on the ground. With animalistic fury, Twilight bit down on the mare’s neck, hot fluid filling her mouth as the super sharp teeth pierced the skin. She shook her head from side to side, making larger wounds in the neck. Redheart slowly started to slide down the wall sideways, being guided by Twilight as she sucked the ponies life force out.
She increased the pressure on the flesh, her face getting drenched with the delectable life force of her still breathing meal. She could feel the prey pounding on her flank with her hooves, struggling against her animal strength. She pulled away, its head hitting the floor with a soft thud. Twilight started to lick her hooves clean as the prey began to bleed out onto the lino floor. Her ears could still hear the faint sounds of breathing as it faded.
Twilight’s tongue slid out and ran along the lino floor, cleaning up what was left of her meal as her prey twitched on the floor. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open in an eternally silent scream. Twilight briefly contemplated letting her victim live, to use her again to sustain her longing hunger. Her blood was delicious, much better than that of the blue pony, far too much nitrogen in her blood. Her current source of food had obviously taken care of herself, and it showed in the taste.
With a loud clicking sound, the delicate gleaming blades that were eager to tear at flesh extended . She brought her foreleg to her mouth and bit down hard, breaking the skin and tasting her blood. With a grimace, she rubbed the dripping red fluid straight onto the wound. In front of her violet eyes, the shredded mess that was Redheart’s neck began to heal. The fluidic sound of the muscles, tendons and blood vessels regrowing made her drool a little as she listened to the sound of Redheart’s heart beginning to get faster and faster. Her breathing became deeper and steadier. She smiled, glad that her instincts had been correct. She realised, at that point, that she had regained control over her body during the attack, and it was only her own hunger that had forced her to continue feeding on the helpless Nurse. What scared her the most however, was the fact that she didn’t feel any remorse over what she had done. It felt as though it was the most natural thing in the world, akin to sleeping or using magic.
“Why did I do this? Why am I feeding on the blood of ponies? Am I a vampire? The next creature that the elements of harmony would have to vanquish?” she said aloud, trying to make sense of her newfound urges. When she finally realised that she had gone back to lapping up the blood on the floor, she tore herself away and stared at the ceiling.
“NO! I have to restrain myself, this isn’t right. I almost killed Redheart, and I had to have been the one who attacked Colgate,” she thought as she started to pace around the room forgetting about the slowly recovering pony in the corner. Her brain went into overdrive, considering every possibility, every cause for her change and came up with nothing. No matter what she thought of, it was immediately classified as impossible in her mind.
An eardrum tearing scream pierced her hyper-sensitive ears and Twilight spun around to stare daggers at Nurse Redheart, her fangs once again extending with a resounding click. Dashing over to where Redheart was, Twilight stuffed her hoof in her mouth. Bringing her face close to Redheart’s, she bared her teeth, which managed to silence her. The white earth pony’s eyes were full of tears, and Twilight felt genuinely sorry for what she had done to her. Her hard gaze quickly turned into a sad one, and she had to blink rapidly to prevent her own eyes from tearing up.
“I-I am so sorry nurse Redheart. I never meant… I just don’t know what’s happening to me! If I let you go, you have to promise not to scream until I work something out, okay?” Twilight asked and Redheart responded with a tentative nod. She cautiously pulled her hoof away and Redheart fell to the floor in a heap, crying silently. Twilight bent down to look at her at eye level, ever mindful that her scream had to have attracted attention.
“Why?” Redheart asked, causing Twilight to hesitate. Her fangs retracted as Twilight looked to the ground in shame.
“What do you mean? Whatever you are now? I don’t understand, how could you feed on me? What did I ever do to you?” she said through her sobs. Twilight thought it best not to respond to the questions. She remained silent, unsure of what to say or how to apologise properly for what she’d put her through. But even if she was to say sorry, she wouldn’t mean it. The door beside her was suddenly bucked open, revealing both Spike and much to her horror, Doctor Neuron. On reflex, her fangs extended, cutting her lip.
“Twilight?” asked Spike in disbelief, and when she looked to the doctor, his eyes were hidden by his mane.
***
Twilight’s horn flashed purple as she teleported around the room, dodging the strict knife skills of the grey unicorn. She kept her eyes trained on him and her fangs bared, while at the same time searching the room for signs of Spike. She managed to catch a glimpse of his purple tail as he led Redheart out of the room, leaving her alone with the obviously crazed Doctor.
“I don’t know what you are, but I should have seen the signs, should have known that something supernatural was at work here,” he replied cryptically.
“What are you talking about, I need your help, I need to know what’s happening to me.”
“I am helping, I’m helping make sure that you never hurt anypony else,” he shouted, charging at her. With a burst from her own horn, Twilight gripped the blade with her magic, stopping it only inches away from her face. Neuron’s eyes widened in surprise and she could feel the pressure behind the blade lessen slightly.
“Magic? From a vampire? But that’s not possible,” he muttered under his breath.
“So I am a vampire, and you hunt us?” she asked, pushing at the blade harder.
“I used to, I used to hunt all sorts of things, but I left that life behind. And yet it always, always manages to catch up with me wherever I go. I’m sorry Twilight, but I swore an oath. I can’t let you live,” he said sadly, before a look of fierce determination entered his eyes. He pushed back on the knife harder, even adding his hooves to the force, and despite Twilight being the most powerful unicorn in Ponyville, and maybe even Equestria, she realised that she was beginning to lose the battle.
Neuron forced her onto the ground, standing tall over her as they both struggled. Beads of sweat rolled down both of their faces. The tip of the knife was millimetres from her left eye, and her strength was running out. She reached up to grab the knife with her hooves, but as soon as she touched it, she pulled them away as the silver burnt her skin.
“No! Leave her alone!” screamed a voice from behind them. Neuron turned just as Spike leapt at his face, his claws gripping the soft pony flesh as he began kicking the doctor in the muzzle.
“Hey get off me, I’m the good guy,” yelled Neuron, as Spike started using his tail as a weapon, hitting him on either side of his head.
“Twilight, run!” said Spike as Twilight forced the doctor back, shoving her back legs into his shins, forcing him to back away. He hobbled with disbelief and pain strewn on his face at her sudden ally and attack. She scrambled to her hooves and shot out the door, galloping as fast as she could, ignoring the strange and fearful looks of the other ponies in the hospital.
“What about Doctor Neuron?” Twilight asked, still concerned about her friend, despite what had just occurred.
“Where are we going? Shouldn’t we head straight for the library?” she wondered, and Spike shook his head.
***
As they made their way through the back paddock of Applejack’s orchard, where the trees grew more wildly, free from the numerous harvests like the rest on the farm, Twilight grew ever more curious as to where she was being taken. When they did finally arrive, she was less than impressed.
“The cutie mark crusader clubhouse? Are you crazy?” she exclaimed, gesturing toward the small wooden tree house that had been Applejack’s when she was a filly, but had been overhauled by AJ’s little sister Applebloom. “What if someone finds me here? What if the fillies are here and I… need to feed.” Spike grimaced noticeably at the last part, before letting out a sigh and gesturing for her to follow.
“Well firstly, please don’t talk like that, it makes me… nervous. And secondly, there is no risk of anypony finding you. Nopony else in town, besides your friends, know about this place and most of them are busy with work and stuff. As for the CMC, well… Applebloom is helping AJ and Big Mac with the harvest, Sweetie Bell is off in Canterlot with Rarity and Scootaloo is starting flying lessons with Rainbow Dash today. You see Twilight, everything’s going to be fine,” Spike told her, and she found herself very impressed with her assistant.
The tree house was small, but had been built to last, having no trouble supporting Twilight’s weight. Spike pulled some pillows out of a wooden chest as he lay them out as a bed for Twilight, as well as one for himself.
“I’m sorry Spike, but you can’t stay here, I can’t risk feeding on you as well,” she said only to have Spike respond with a snort.
“Look Twi, I appreciate the concern, but if my scales can withstand molten lava and having sewing needles pushed into them, I’m fairly certain your teeth aren’t going to be a problem,” he told her, retrieving a few blankets from the same box.
“Twilight Sparkle, you are like a sister to me, your magic is the reason I’m here right now. So if you honestly think that I’m going to stand idly by and let you go through this alone… well then maybe you don’t know me as well as you think,”
“You can’t and I’ll prove it… Bite me,” he said with the most serious expression that Twilight had ever seen on his face.
She opened her eyes again to find Spike holding his arm out in front of him, offering it to her. Reluctantly, Twilight extended her fangs, slowly, so as to not freak him out too much. She still wasn’t too sure when she had gained control over her new abilities, but had gathered that her new instincts had formed during the times when she had blacked out.
Sitting down in front of Spike, she lifted his arm up to her mouth with her hooves, holding it gently. Looking up and seeing Spike’s stoic expression only strengthened her resolve. Placing her fangs over his arms, she took a deep breath, before biting down as hard as she could, expecting the usual burst of hot, metallic flavour. Instead, her fangs were met with something hard, yet flexible. She bit down harder, trying to make certain that Spike was correct. Her fangs started to hurt from the pressure, but she wouldn’t give up, not until she was satisfied.
“See Twilight, you can’t hurt me. It’s perfectly safe for me to stay here with you,” said Spike, after Twilight had finally relented and retracted her fangs. “Okay Spike, you win. But now what do we do now? I can’t stay here forever,”
“You don’t have to, I have a plan. As soon as nightfall comes around, you and I will start making our way toward Canterlot. Princess Celestia will have to know some way to help you,” he explained, giving Twilight a tight hug, which she returned happily.
“How did you get to be so smart?” she asked and Spike just chuckled.
***
As soon as the sun disappeared and the full moon began to rise, Spike and Twilight left the tree house, heading for the edge of town and the train station that rested there. Spike’s reptilian attributes and Twilight’s new abilities made it easy for them to navigate the darkness.
Upon arriving at the train station, they found a sign informing them that it was closed due to maintenance.
“I suppose we will have to walk, do you want a ride?” she replied and Spike nodded, jumping up onto Twilight’s back and getting comfortable. Determined, she set off at a gallop, heading toward the mountain and the great city of Canterlot that was stuck to the side.
As they crossed an open field, Twilight noticed something in her periphery. Extending her fangs in anticipation of an attack, she slid to a halt and turned, looking into the sky and the silhouette on the moon. It suddenly dropped from the sky, heading straight for Twilight and Spike. She started to growl, preparing herself not only to fight, but to feed. When the shape landed, it landed hard, gouging a trench into the ground. Twilight covered her eyes with her foreleg, and when she removed, a small squeak escaped from her lips when she realised who the pony was that stood in front of her.
“Greetings Twilight Sparkle, welcome to my night,” smiled Princess Luna.
Twilight paled as she stared at the slender form of the deep blue pony that stood in front of her.
Princess Luna, the immortal Alicorn goddess of the moon and sister to Twilight’s mentor and ruler of Equestria. Twilight was paralysed with fear, still baring her teeth with a snarl plastered across her face. To her credit, Luna gave little reaction to Twilight’s state, her eyes widening before she looked at the ground.
“Oh. my apologies Twilight Sparkle, I was unaware of your… condition,” she said flatly, much to Twilight’s frustration. Her mind snapped back to reality and she concentrated on her teeth, cautiously sliding them back into her gums.
“You aren’t scared?” she asked the Moon Princess, who only sighed in response.
Luna remained stoic, as though contemplating something. An uncomfortable silence followed, but it was one that Twilight was used to. Since the incident on Nightmare Night, Twilight and Luna had been keeping in contact, either by mail, or in person during one of Twilight’s frequent trips to Canterlot or during a star gazing session in Ponyville. Luna’s difficulty with modern language made for very slow, deliberate conversation, which had a tendency to be often brutal in its honesty. But this particular silence seemed different, as though Luna was trying to hold something back.
“Luna, please. If you know anything that might help me, you must tell me,” Twilight pleaded and finally she relented.
“Vampires, like me.”
“No, not like you. The vampires you know of are mere shadows of the perfect hunter that these ponies were. You are something so much more. You are of the race ‘Equine Vampiris.’”
“It means that you cannot eat normal food, that you must drink the blood of ponies to survive. If you don’t, you will become like that of an animal, unable to control yourself around friends or family. You are stronger, faster than you used to be, but you are not immortal.”
“But I thought vampires were ageless,” Spike interrupted and Luna facehooved, growing noticeably frustrated.
“Is there anything I can do to change back?” she asked quietly. Luna went quiet once more and it was all the answer Twilight needed. Tears filled her eyes as she collapsed onto the ground and started to cry loudly. Spike hugged her neck, but she shrugged him off, not wanting to be touched. Luna bent down to look her in the eyes, but recoiled slightly when she saw that Twilight’s fangs had dropped.
“Twilight Sparkle, please listen to me. I do not know of any way for you to return to your previous form, but I may know of somepony who does,” she told her, trying to sound comforting. Twilight looked up with an expectant look on her face, which only looked weird in combination with her fangs. “Chrysalis, queen of the changelings.”
***
Twilight began to assault the dark coated Alicorn with questions about her new form, attempting to aggregate all of her millennia of knowledge into something that she could use. In her head, Twilight was compiling a biological profile of her species, as well as Vampires in general.
Spike soon fell asleep as Luna tried her best to keep up with Twilight’s tirade of questions. Twilight had become an aggressive scientist, in the same what she had when researching the Pinkie sense, using the first available resource as though it were nothing but a well that she needed to drink dry.
Twilight was doing whatever she could to keep calm, and her continual questions were a part of that. She was also trying to drown out the sound of the heartbeats from the various nocturnal creatures that had come to investigate the three strange creatures that were intruding on their territory. She was a bit terrified however, when she realised that she could not hear a heartbeat coming from Princess Luna, despite being only a few feet away. Luna had just finished describing the fact that that while small exposure to sunlight would only weaken her; a full day out in the sun would be fatal.
“I’m afraid not Twilight, thou must remember that my sister has dominion over the sun itself, and its glorious light radiates from her. To be in her presence would be unbearably painful for you, and may even cause your demise,” she explained, her voice getting steadily shakier as she watched Twilight struggling to keep her tears at bay.
“Then you may never see Celestia again,” Luna said, looking at the ground as if she was ashamed with her response. Twilight just hung her head low, taking deep breaths to stop herself from breaking down and crying. Her fangs dropped once again and she shrugged Spike off her back, who awoke startled.
“Yes Spike! I fed on ponies; I might have killed Colgate and as for Redheart… I didn’t want to stop with Redheart,” Twilight told them, and both Luna and Spike’s jaws dropped. The moon princess’s eyes darted around in their sockets, looking for anything to dispel the silence. Spike, however, stuck his arms to his sides and marched straight up to Twilight, grabbing her face and pulling it down level with his own.
“Twilight! You are not a monster, you’re just sick. We just have to find the cure, and we WILL find it,” he told her, his reptilian eyes feeling as though they were piercing all of Twilight’s doubts and fear. Luna nodded her agreement and lit up her horn with magic, producing a map in a flash of white light. Handing it to Spike, Luna flared her wings and started to smile.
“Thank you, but Luna, can you do me a favour and not tell Celestia about this? At least not until I’m sure that I can change back or not,” she asked, and Luna simply responded by nodding once. She turned to leave, bending her legs for take-off, before changing her mind and turning to face them both.
“Oh, and one more thing Twilight; If you can, try to resist your urge to feed on blood. Every time you do, not only are you at risk of killing them, but you will also take on the strengths of the species of pony you feed on,” she explained.
“If you were to feed on a unicorn, you will absorb their magic, increasing your own ability. Earth ponies will make you physically stronger, to the point that the very ground will shake with your hoofsteps.”
“DO NOT TOUCH THE PEGASI!!” Luna boomed, using the traditional Canterlot voice. Her eyes flashed yellow and cat-like for a moment and Twilight could have sworn she saw lightning in the sky behind her. Twilight’s mane was blown back and Spike was knocked off his feet by the force of her voice. Luna put her hoof to her mouth and blushed at the surprised looks on the faces of her two friends. “I am sorry about that, but please understand, if you feed on a Pegasus, then there will be no turning back. Discord wanted to make sure that the recipients of his reward would never betray him, so when he designed the first of your kind, he added the fact that the combination of all three blood types would create undying loyalty for him, because he knew that eventually, the urge to find new tastes would compel them to feed on any that crossed their path.”
“Thank you Princess, I will keep that in mind.”
***
After a brief but thorough study of the map and with the ever brightening light of dawn swiftly approaching, they set out toward the supposed location of the changeling hive; the Equestrian badlands.
The vast empty plains had been the site of the first griffin war six hundred years ago and bordered both the Griffin Empire and Equestria, with an expansive mountain range in between. Endless tunnels and catacombs wormed their way through the ageless mountains, and every pony that had ever set out to explore them had vanished. As a result of this and from sightings of changelings during the siege of the royal wedding, it was suspected that it was the three largest mountains that hid the changelings.
Spike briefly thought about signalling the other elements of harmony, but Twilight disagreed, too scared of attacking her friends, even if Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash weren’t pegasi.
With the trip to the badlands being a solid four days of walking, they headed straight for the nearest town, looking to find a hotel or something similar for Twilight to stay in during the day. As well as a pony for her to sate her hunger for the trip ahead, as horrible as that thought was to both of them. They walked into the coastal town of Maneflow Springs as the sun began to rise, with Twilight almost immediately starting to feel weaker. Her walking pace slowed down and she had to close her eyes against the onslaught of light. Spike apparently noticed this, because he took a hold of a few parts of Twilight’s mane and started to lead her through the town in search of somewhere to stay.
Twilight could hear the heartbeats of a few ponies around her, which she reasoned had to have been bakers and dockworkers at that time of morning.
She was led up a set of wooden steps and through a door into what Twilight hoped was a hotel, bumping into what felt like a desk.
“Hi there, I’m looking to get a room for me and my friend here,” said Spike, the barest hint of anxiety in his voice as Twilight’s heart rate started to increase and her mane became damp with sweat.
“Why yes, as a matter of fact, now if you would be so kind as to give me my key,” she snapped, feeling her teeth starting to descend. The clerk snorted in an arrogant manner and threw the keys at Spike, who stuck out his tongue and he turned Twilight away from the desk.
As soon as they got up to the room, Spike locked the door and attempted to black the sunlight that was streaming through the window, using spare sheets and towels and whatever else was available to fill in the gaps made by the curtains. Twilight just made her way over to the bed and slumped down; exhausted from the drain the sun had caused her. Spike tapped her on the side, indicating that she could open her eyes. Once she did, she felt a strange sense of calm in the darkness. Spike sat down next to her and started stroking her mane in the same way he did whenever Twilight was having nightmares. She crawled under the covers and got ready to sleep, but as she began to drift off Spike whispered in her ear.
***
The muffled thudding sound that filled her ears was like twin explosions in the distance. It was a sound that used to give her comfort, that let her know that everything was alright, and was often a sound that she fell asleep to when curled up with her brother or her foalsitter. But now, however, that sound was associated with pain and violence, and the unending urge to feed. It was the sound of an organ convulsing as super thin membranes opened and shut in order to force hot red liquid life throughout a meaty shell.
Twilight’s eyes snapped open and her fangs dropped to their full length with a click. Sitting up straight, Twilight saw the last thing that she ever expected to see; Spike, his hands covered in a mix of dried blood and hair. On the floor in front of him was a light green Earth pony whose face was covered in her own blood and a large chunk of her mane was missing. Twilight crawled out of bed and made her way over, her mouth opened in perpetual shock.
“I found you something to eat,” he said proudly. Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat as she thought of biting into the ponies’ neck.
“About an hour ago. As soon as the sun set, I managed to find a pub where lots of sailors hang out. This mare left with a stallion, but he turned out to be a creep and she left him. And just who was waiting with a shoulder to cry on?”
“I’m sorry,” she said, diving onto the mare’s neck and breaking through the flesh of her neck to get at the warm liquid that was being held within.
‘I’m sorry.’
The smell of iron filled her nostrils as Twilight took a large mouthful of the liquid seeping her prey’s neck. The intoxicating taste of somepony new washed around her palette as it was coated in thick crimson fluid.
Twilight had promised herself that this feeding would be quick, more of a snack to tide her over then a proper meal. Spike stood a few feet away, watching the scene play out in a mixture of awe and disgust. Twilight made a mental note to keep an eye on him, lest his recent acts were an indicator of his more draconic attributes crawling to the surface. The prey let out another groan, louder this time, as Twilight shifted her weight, making it easier for her to bite down harder, while at the same time trying not to let the main artery bleed out too much. In an effort to keep the hotel room as clean as possible to try and not leave any evidence, Twilight was draining the pony carefully, not letting a single drop of blood past the barrier of her lips.
“I’m still in awe of the fact that your blood is a healing agent,” said Spike as he walked up to her and prodded the area on the mare’s head where he had torn out a chunk of her hair. The skin was visibly regrowing over the gash, with light fuzz the same colour as her mane starting to grow out of the new skin.
“What about Twi?” Spike asked from the other side of the door. Twilight turned the knobs on the shower, trying to figure out how to word what she was about to say while she tried to change the water to her preferred temperature, fiddling with the knobs with her compulsive mind.
“It’s just that… We might have to do some terrible things before all of this is over. Even more terrible than simply kidnapping the odd pony to feed on,” she explained, stepping under the hot water and closing her eyes as the blood around her mouth was washed away and her mane was plastered against her body.
“Are you sure? Are you honestly ready to do whatever it takes to make me well again, regardless of the moral quandaries that are undoubtedly going to be involved?” Twilight told him, as images of her previous feeds flashed in front of her eyes.
When she got out of the shower, she discovered that the mare she had used was gone, replaced with a very content looking Spike that was looking through the mini-bar.
“Why are there never any sapphires in these things?” he grumbled, retrieving a small bag of peanuts instead.
“Now I’m just going to take this gag off, and I need you to not scream. I promise that I’m not going to hurt you,” she said and the pony nodded, tears streaming down her face. She gently pulled it out of the mare’s mouth, giving her a sympathetic smile.
“Why did you do this to me?” she asked quietly, her voice croaky and weak.
“No, you will be fine.”
“Are you kidding me? I was beaten, kidnapped and had my blood drained by some... some vampire,” she shouted and Twilight could feel her fangs beginning to slide over her teeth. The light green mare resumed her struggle against the ropes as the gag was stuffed back into her mouth and the door slammed in her face.
“We’re leaving. The housekeeper can find her when she comes to clean,” said Twilight through a scowl. Spike nodded, before jumping onto Twilight’s back and grabbing onto her mane, resuming the façade of a seeing eye dragon but nevertheless hoping that the clerk they had dealt with that morning had gone home.
***
Luna’s white moon was already a quarter of the way across the sky when they finally exited the city gates of Maneflow Springs. Twilight was adamant that they headed straight for the next town, which was Remembrance city, located on the site of the first Griffin war. It was a city focussed on trading between Equestria and the Griffin Empire, which was the only reason that the Griffin embassy was located there rather than in Canterlot. Otherwise, it was simply an agricultural town, with many farms surrounding the inner city. In between both cities were flat plains, broken only by sparse groups of trees, some of which lined the track, but most were hiding the bank of the small river that lead from the mountain to the bay of Maneflow Springs.
Twilight’s ears were in constant motion, picking up sounds of the nocturnal animals in the surrounding area. A low growl, a rustle of leaves and the scratching of claws on dirt mixed with the constant sounds of varying heartbeats were starting to take their toll on her. The shiny white tips of her fangs were poking through the gums, ready to drop at the slightest provocation.
She was starting to get frustrated, wishing that everything would just go silent. Even the sound of Spike’s scales rubbing against her fur was beginning to grate on her and in a fit of anger; she bucked him off her back, Spike landing about five meters in front of her
“What the hay Twi!” he exclaimed, rubbing the arm that he landed on.
“Spike, where are you?” she called out as her new eyes pierced the void.
“He’s right here Twilight,” said a very familiar voice from behind her. Twilight’s fangs dropped as she whipped around to the source; Doctor Neuron. She paled when she saw the unconscious form of Spike held aloft by the grey unicorn’s magic. Her mouth went agape in shock when she saw his attire; for it was one she had seen many times growing up. It was the armour of a royal guard. His had been altered however, the armour being gleaming silver instead of the traditional gold, and in the centre of the breastplate was the Luna’s eye, an artefact usually bestowed only upon Luna’s personal guards.
“Neuron? How did you find us?” she asked, not shifting her eyes away from his. He smiled, letting out a sigh that Twilight could only describe as sad.
“Twilight… you’re the element of magic, you aren’t exactly difficult to track,” he explained, levitating Spike over to her and gently placing him on the ground. “I’m just sorry that I didn’t find you before you attacked another pony.”
“She might be alright now… But what happens when your disease starts to take her over?”
***
“I don’t want to fight you. I need to find a cure,” Twilight told him, hoping that he would change his mind and help her.
“I’m ready for you this time. I won’t let you get the jump on me,” she gloated as Neuron lifted his head, revealing a broken and bloody nose. His lips curled into a smirk as he brought one of his hooves up and tenderly prodded his nose, before taking a deep breath and blowing some kind of powder in her direction. Upon contact with her skin, the powder burned like fire, causing Twilight to howl in pain as it dug into her skin.
“Powdered silver, so who’s ready for who?” he said arrogantly. Twilight growled, her eyes watering with a mixture of blood and tears as they tried desperately to get the foreign element out of her eyes.
“I think you mean who’s ready for WHOM,” she yelled, charging at the surprised unicorn and hitting him with all the force of a frenzied Minotaur. Neuron was thrown backwards, coming to a sudden stop as he impacted against a large tree. Twilight began to pour magic into her horn in an attempt to use a containment spell against him. All that was produced was a few magenta sparks, prompting a confused expression from Twilight.
“Oh Twi, I’m so sorry. All this time my blade had been gradually absorbing your magic and transferring it into me,” Neuron chuckled sarcastically. With that, his horn ignited, firing a beam of white energy that hit her square in the chest, forcing her back. The light was almost as painful at the silver and it took all of Twilight’s willpower to not only stay conscious, but also to hide her pain from the doctor.
‘I’m not going to be finished here,’ she promised.
***
Twilight’s hooves dug trenches into the dirt as she pushed against the white beam of Neuron’s magic. The fur on her forelegs and chest were beginning to smoulder as tears created dark trails down her face. She could feel the beam starting to lose its intensity as Neuron’s magical energy started to wane. Seeing her chance, Twilight took a cautious step forward, waiting to see if her adversary was bluffing. When it came apparent that he was in fact struggling to keep it up, Twilight smirked and started to walk toward him, keeping her eyes locked onto Neuron’s. Her fangs had descended to their fullest extent, making her a fearsome visage of rage and pain.
Neuron’s face was strained, eyes scrunched in a look of concentration as Twilight finally reached him, giving him a tap on the shoulder. Neuron’s eyes snapped open, looking up at Twilight in shock and deactivating the spell.
“W-what in Tartarus are you?” he asked exhaustedly, watching the shiny burns on Twilight’s forelegs and chest heal over.
Twilight turned, taking a few steps away before her legs gave out from under her and she collapsed, crying out from the pain of the silver and the magic. Her body was trying to heal, but something was slowing down the process. She looked back at the unconscious doctor, and more specifically, at the blood flowing from his nose.
‘It would be so easy,’ she thought, running her tongue over the tips of her longest fangs. ’But I shouldn’t, he probably has silver in his blood or something.’
***
Twilight was lying to herself, rationalising away the truth that she just couldn’t bring herself to hurt him.
A quiet groan reached her ears and she painfully made her way over to Spike, who was just starting to recover from the Neuron’s assault. When he saw her, he leapt to his feet and ran to her, looking at his hand in surprise as it became covered in silver dust when he grabbed her.
“Neuron?” he asked, looking around as though he was expecting an attack.
***
Spike scratched his head as he thought, looking around for something to use to clean it off. His eyes suddenly lit up as he formed an idea.
“Can you stand? I think I might be able to get rid of all the silver,” he asked and Twilight shook her head, shakily getting to her hooves. “I’m going to use my green fire and send it to somepony.” Trying not to react, Twilight stared at him for a moment, terrified at the thought of being engulfed in magical fire designed to send mail.
“Are you sure that’s going to work?”
‘This has got to be my worst idea ever. Of all time,’ she thought as Spike took a deep breath and exhaled a blast of emerald fire that completely engulfed her.
Author's Note
Sorry this one took so long, my editor and I got held up with going back to university study. Chapter rate should be speeding up from now on, but as a trade off, quality may be diminished.
Twilight could feel the gentle warmth of the raging green inferno spiralling over her body, licking it clean of Neuron’s powdered silver. If Spike was right, and Twilight silently prayed to Celestia and Luna that he was, then the silver would be appearing in front of Rarity within minutes. As the pain and burning started to subside, Twilight opened her eyes to find Spike red in the face from the exertion of exhaling such a large quantity of magical fire. Her vision was still hazy and her eyes continued to water as she gave her friend a quick pat on the back.
“Uh… Twi, your eyes are still bleeding,” Spike told her and when Twilight lifted a hoof to investigate, she found the area slick with fluid.
Twilight remained silent as she was led toward the river bed, the sound of underwater creatures thrashing around below the surface making it hard to concentrate on coming up with a plan. Spike sat her down near the edge of the water and pulled open her eyelids one at a time around Twilight flinching from the pain. After she had calmed down, Twilight used what little magic she had left to flush her eyes out with water.
“I suppose I’m going to have to go for a hunt aren’t I?” she asked dejectedly, slowly dripping water onto her eye, flinching with every cold touch.
“But then hunting comes with the risk of you finding a Pegasus, and we both know what happens if you do,” Spike retorted, moving around to face Twilight and checking for any last signs of silver.
“Well… I may have a plan. What about Neuron back there? He’s fit for being drained,” he suggested and Twilight immediately looked away from his almost sardonic gaze.
“True, but the safe option would be to leave him alone and try to find somepony else.”
***
Remembrance City was one of Twilight’s favourite places in Equestria, right along Canterlot. She loved Canterlot because of its grand architecture and history, as well as the fact that it was her home town. Remembrance city however, she loved because she considered it the most orderly place in the entire country. The city streets were laid out in a grid system, built in such a way that the roads followed the latitude and longitude lines on the map. Outside of the walls was multiple farms that ran around the city in a circle, with the farm houses being nearby the main gate in a sort of makeshift village.
When she saw the first few flickering lights of the farm houses, Twilight’s ears pricked up and her fangs dropped down to just below her normal teeth.
“Twilight! Wait… Don’t go!” he shouted after picking himself up. Twilight just growled at him again and then turned and started galloping toward the farm houses, only stumbling every now and then due to her weakness.
The deep feeling of panic that was gripping his heart spurred him forward, he had promised to keep Twilight safe and more importantly, keeping her from falling to Discord’s influence by feeding on Pegasus blood.
***
Twilight moved silently through the night, crouched low to take advantage of the darkness and the low shrubbery around the farms. A soft growl escaped her lips as her head whipped about in search for a moving sack of meat and blood. Her enlarged pupils pierced through the darkness like a Pegasus through a cloud, absorbing every tiny source of light and illuminating the area for herself.
Her ears twitched and moved with the faintest noise, scanning for the tell-tale signs of prey. They turned at the sound of a deep chuckle and Twilight instantly disappeared in a cloud of dust, the strength of the Earth-Prey providing her muscles with speed.
She soon came across her targets, a group of Unicorns and Earth ponies, standing around a bonfire, laughing and celebrating something unknown to the hunting Twilight. She gradually got closer, changing her posture to try and blend into the group. A tall unicorn stallion greeted her warmly, giving her a tight hug. Her nostrils filled with the smell of fermented apples and rotten hay fries. Another low growl showed her disgust at the stallion and he backed away from her, startled at the sound. Twilight then opened her mouth and presented her fully extended teeth. The stallion looked around him for a moment, his eyes darting around in search of somepony looking his way, only to be ignored by the partying ponies.
The stallion stumbled as Twilight shoved him in the side, colliding with a barrel of water and falling over. Twilight dashed up to him and covered his mouth with a hoof to stop him from crying for help. He started to struggle against her, but was stopped with a swift punch to the side of the head.
Running her tongue over her teeth, Twilight laid down next to the stallion. With a furious hunger on her face, she sank her fangs into the stallion’s neck, not caring about letting some be wasted as she ripped at the flesh of his neck. His hot, alcohol infused blood rushed across her palette, prompting her to bite down harder and focus the blood into her mouth. Slowly, she could feel the strength returning to her limbs and the fog in her mind starting to clear.
***
Her pupils contracted back to normal as she pulled her mouth away from the neck of the stallion. Underneath his tan coloured fur, his skin was a pale pink and his breathing had almost stopped. She wiped the blood off her chin and got back to her hooves, breathing heavily from the exertion of the hunt, as well as the euphoric feeling that had followed every single one of her previous feedings.
A cold shudder ran up her spine when Twilight looked down at her prey and at the unrecognisable mess that she had made of his neck.
“Well? What are you waiting for? Heal him, before we get caught,” he said irritably, the scowl in his face burrowing into Twilight’s soul. She nodded quickly and bit into her arm, accidentally nicking a vein and causing a tall squirt of blood to shoot from her wound and splatter across the ground. Spike sighed again and Twilight rushed to spread her blood over all of the cuts and larger wounds on the stallion’s neck.
As her own cut healed over, Twilight stared intently at the tan stallion, finding herself praying to Luna and Celestia that her blood worked, even if she knew that it was going to.
‘I-I feel so sick. I hunted this guy, attacked him when he was having a great time celebrating with his friends, did… THIS to him,” she thought, cocking her head to the side instinctively to study the reconnecting meat. ‘I know I shouldn’t blame myself, that it was Neuron’s fault I gave in to my animal side. But even then, I’m a horrible pony.’
With a loud gasp, the tan Stallion sat upright, looking around him as though searching for danger. When he saw Twilight, he let out a deep, fearful scream until Spike strode over and hit him square in the jaw, his nigh-invulnerable dragon scales adding to the force of the punch. Spike looked over to Twilight with an angry expression and simply said;
“Run.”
Author's Note
Sorry this one took so long, I got really swamped with University assignments.
Also, kind of a short chapter, but this is probably the easiest length. So all coming chapters will be between 2000-2600 words.