Author's Note

This is the chapter that changed the story from T to M rating, specifically for the "death" and "violence" genre tags. Consider this a trigger warning for those two categories. Vampires are not just ancient teachers or romanticized ego trips that "sparkle in the daylight" after all. The plan here is to show the grimmer side of their mythos too. Far more than the original show would or could have.

Chapter 7: The Price for Immortality

As I gradually stirred awake, I grew more confused because the new setting I found myself in was drastically different from the one I recall passing out from. Last I checked, I passed out in an alleyway, but then I found myself in a soft bed in some sort of cave system. Moreover, all of my surroundings had some kind of weird glow to them as if I could visibly see their aura. It took a while for it to dawn on me that the cave system was actually in total darkness. The “lights” that I saw stemmed from another source. It sort of looked like everything around me was enveloped by a unicorn's magical glow. Each object even radiated its own color, or it prismatically shifted through a whole spectrum of colors if it was an especially large object like the cave walls themselves.

I was startled when a hoof softly caressed my cheek. When I looked up at the source, I saw Demise looking down at me with an almost motherly sort of warmth to her expression.

“I imagine you had quite the day today,” Demise figured aloud. She leaned down as she said to me more closely, “A word of advice. The next time you try to seek us out at the Fairgrounds, try the night shift.”

“Where am I?” I demanded to know tensely.

“Shh-shh-shh-shh-shhhhhh,” Demise smoothly hushed me in a way that's like speaking softly to a beloved child. “The answers to your questions will soon be revealed. In fact, that is partly why we have taken you here.”

“Which is where?” I demanded again.

“Our lair,” Demise answered. “In the caverns of Ghastly Gorge.”

I grew alarmed upon hearing that news then scanned my surroundings on high alert.

Seeing my reaction caused Demise to playfully laugh before she told me when she had my attention again, “Fear not about the giant eels. We have sort of a truce going on with them. They leave us alone, and in turn, they get to not die. It's a beneficial arrangement.” She looked outward as she added, “We sort of think of them like guard dogs.”

I lifted an eyebrow as I asked her, “You think of the giant eels as pets?”

“Sort of,” she answered me as she looked back at me. “And why not? They are no threat to us. Not even close. Not after what we have become.”

“Which is?” I asked cautiously.

“Eternal servants of the Night,” she answered me. “Basically Nightmare's honor guard.”

I shook my head as I said in objection, “But Nightmare is defeated.”

In turn, she shook her head as she said, “No. She's merely suppressed. Imprisoned under the shadow of her false self. We were the ones who helped to aid her escape from the moon, but we had no idea she would soon find herself locked in a different prison shortly thereafter.” She tapped her head as she said, “Only this time it is a prison for her mind. Nightmare is under an enchantment that is literally forcing her into thinking she's Princess Luna when, in fact, she is a far greater being.”

I still felt confused, but I decided to let that subject slide in favor of another which I considered of greater importance.

“Why me?” I asked her. “What have you done to me, and why have you chosen me?”

“The answer to your first question was to transform you into something that will help you to fulfill the greatest potential of your destiny,” she answered me. “As for the second question, we've chosen you because you are one of the greatest fliers in Equestria. A skill that can only be equaled by your greatest rival, Rainbow Dash.”

Demise tilted her head and grinned at me in amusement when I flinched and almost hissed at the mere mention of that name.

“Yes, we know about you two very well,” Demise went on. “Just as we also know, Nightmare once approached Rainbow Dash herself and offered for her to join the ShadowBolts first. During that time, Nightmare took on our form as she made this offer, but Rainbow spurned it.” Demise snarled in disgust. “Too much of that revolting light magic corrupted her which prevented her from realizing the full potential of Nightmare’s offer.”

“Nightmare took your form?” I asked in confusion. “But if you were there, why didn't you just ask Rainbow yourself?”

“Because we weren't there,” she answered. “Not yet, at any rate.”

I'm I looked even more confused as I asked, “But . . . if you weren't there, how could you possibly know about Nightmare's offer to Rainbow?”

“Because Nightmare still speaks to us through our dreams,” she told me. “And me in particular. I'm sort of like the High Priestess of this Brood.” She leaned down as she told me emphatically, “Which is also how we still know Nightmare is in there inside of her, scraping desperately to get out and all the while screaming with raw fury at this indignity she's forced to suffer. She wants to be free . . . and as her greatest servants, we shall aspire to fulfill her every desire. In return, she grants us eternal life.” She sat up straight as she added, “Furthermore, once she is free, we shall rule as her greatest servants. We shall become Royal Ladies of her Eternal Night Court.

“As for why we've chosen you, it is because you're one of two of the best fliers in Equestria. You're so good that you can not only keep up with the legendary Rainbow Dash, you can actually keep up with us even though you were a mere mortal, so how much greater shall you be when you become further augmented by our dark magic strength? We're thinking you may become great enough to serve as our Wing Commander. That is to say, the leader of the ShadowBolts.” She nodded to me as she said, “I'll continue to serve on a religious front and let the Brood know the Will of her Dark Majesty, but you shall serve as our military leader.”

I mulled this over for a moment until she spoke to me again.

“Join us, Lightning! It is your destiny!” she told me with husky excitement in her tone like a sinister demon of temptation. “It's the perfect fit. Rainbow had talent, but she didn't have the heart for our work. You do, and your talent rivaled her even without our undead strength.

“And we heard about you in the Wonderbolt Academy and precisely why you 'washed out',” she said with hoof quotes. “You washed out because you wouldn't let anything or anypony stand in your way. You knocked aside your competition indiscriminately without any remorse simply because they were in your way! Not only did you refuse to allow anypony to hold you back, but you flaunted your superiority proudly as anypony with your set of mighty skills should. That doesn't just demonstrate great and criminally underutilized talent, but it is also a demonstration of the kind of moral character we are looking for. Somepony who not only has the talents we need, but is fully willing to utilize them.” She gestured to herself as she added, “We are great fliers as well, but everything we can accomplish now is but a mere extension of our raw talent alone. We are this good precisely because of our dark magic abilities; also, we can take things much further because things that are gravely perilous to a mortal is, at most, a mere temporary inconvenience to the likes of us. There is no reason to resist flying into a lightning storm, for example, when we also know that we can simply regenerate from any damage it could potentially cause to us.

“But, with your training, and with you leading the charge, the Shadowbolts could serve at their full potential. Just imagine what we could do with overwhelming talent combined with actually refined, military-like training and precision. At that point nopony, not even the legendary Wonderbolts, could possibly hold a candle to us. They might as well be spiraling and ever dizzy Dust in our wind wake.” She chuckled darkly because of the added pun of using my last name in that sentence.

She paused for a moment as she took a deep intake of breath then exhaled it before going on to say, “Think about it, Lightning. The Wonderbolts, the very organization you once looked up to and who foolishly cast you out, shall be reduced to nothing more than a living joke because, not only can they physically not keep up with us in every possible way that matters, they'd be unwilling to even try because of 'safety' reasons. After all, who wants to be stuck in a full body, wing, and hoof cast, drinking from a straw?”

Now that comment cracked me up a little bit, especially when she made a mockery imitation of Spitfire with that last sentence.

“You can show them, and everypony, what your full potential is without any holds barred,” she went on. “To show how far they could have gone if they simply had the courage and fortitude to proceed as far as you have.

“Isn't this what you wanted, Lightning? To have your strength, glory, and sheer superiority acknowledged in an utterly undeniable way? Haven't you wanted to be a leader to take others under your glorious wings? To be looked up to and aspired to . . . forever?

“Well, instead of simply having a statue made in your honor, why not settle for the real thing? As an ever immortal being, you'll constantly be available to flaunt your talents and remind others who is really in charge throughout all time. Anything you want in life can be achieved because of your constant supply of effort. No matter who tries to resist you in any endeavor you ever try, they can't possibly outlast you if they are mortal, so that which cannot lose shall always, inevitably, and eventually win in the end. It's only a matter of time which is now something you have in infinite supply.”

There was a moment of silence as she allowed what she said to sink in before she stood up and said, “Think about it.

“For now, come. There's something else I need to show you.”

Feeling enchanted and more than a little tempted because of what she said and the way she said it, I arose as I asked her, “What is it?”

She smiled at me as she said, “Something else you'll need to know in order for you to fulfill that destiny.”

As I followed Demise through the caverns of Ghastly Gorge, I was struggling to adjust to my new reality. Whatever these creatures were, whatever I had become, had shattered my previous sense of normalcy. The ability to see energy in the dark made it so that I could see in the dark more brightly than I ever had, except the light sources weren't localized to any one thing like the sun in the sky. Instead, it was all around us and it, quite frankly, was very beautiful to behold.

It took me a while to notice that I didn't just see the energy, I could feel it too. It gave off a sort of warmth that was similar to the sun, but it tingled more, sort of like electrical energy.

Well . . . at least I figured out how these mares were able to navigate these tunnels so clearly before. The simple fact of the matter was they actually could see, and feel, in pure darkness, and now so could I.

When we arrived where Demise was leading me, I couldn't even tell that the lighting situation had changed until I got close enough to the new light sources which caused my eyes to wince because they needed to adjust. I thought the light sources there, which were like four torches, were just another random aura color like everything else there because those particular torches emitted light in an unusual way. To start with, the color. It was off. It was dark purple and green with swirls of black within them. Those light sources also did not flicker with light in a way typical fire did, thus signaling that they were not, in fact, actual fire. Rather than that, it looked more like luminous gas due to its billowing and swirling pattern.

Unlike most of the energy patterns I saw and felt throughout the cavern, the ones coming off of those mares, those torch-like things, and the big statue of Nightmare Moon, was radiating a different kind of energy that honestly felt more sickly and twisted. The statue in question was gazing down with a leering facial expression as if she was excitedly about to eat that which was below the statue.

As I gazed upon that statue, it occurred to me that I had seen statues like this in many places throughout Equestria. They were especially common during one holiday, in particular, that was about to come up in a couple of nights; Nightmare Night.

There was no doubt in my mind that that statue was designed for that holiday originally, but the servants of her cult commandeered one of them and had been imbuing it with real dark magic.

Twelve other mares were there, but unlike Demise, they were wearing flight suit uniforms that were mostly dark purple except on the head area. That area looked mostly black with a crooked line design resembling a lightning bolt serving as the border between the black part and the dark purple part. Their eyes were also concealed in what looked like shiny golden goggles except the strap was hidden beneath the mask, unlike the Wonderbolts uniform. Another area that was black was the front at the chest area which also had a bolt design. Also, the legs were black which ended in the same pattern. The uniform covered about ninety percent of their body. About the only things they didn't cover were their wings, mouth, muzzle, ears, mane, and tail.

On that night, the mares in question were swirling and dancing in what appeared to be some kind of ritualistic practice. I was also startled to see that they had physically changed since I last saw them, specifically in three ways. For one, their wings were now leathery like a bat. Two, they had two long upper fangs hanging down, and three, the fur extending off their ears appeared a few inches taller.

But, by far, what was most alarming about this setting was what was some ponynapped colt here. He was tied up on some stone slab almost directly under the Nightmare Night statue. All four of his hooves were tied up separately and the ropes had forced each of his limbs apart in an X pattern. He looked to be about ten-ish years old. He was a brown coat colt wearing a white and yellow striped baseball shirt and had a baseball cap still on his head. He also sported a cutie mark of a baseball bat that just collided with a baseball. There were blurry energy lines around the baseball as if to indicate the motion that the ball was about to fly away from the bat at a very high speed. What likely wasn't so standard to that uniform was the fact that the colt was also gagged.

Horror and wrongness sank into the pit of my stomach at the sight of the colt here, but I looked at Demise with apparent calmness that also demanded an explanation for this. I decided not to jump to conclusions just yet.

Funny enough, the first question I asked her was, “What's the colt's name?”

To answer, Demise shrugged carelessly as she answered, “I don't know, nor is that important right now, especially after what is about to happen to him soon.” She passed me a coy, wicked grin as she advised, “A word of warning; don't get too attached to the young lad. Right now I'm just demonstrating a point and showing you something you'll absolutely need to know to continue this existence.”

While still holding her wicked and coy smile, she held up a wing to block her face from my perspective then lowered it a second later. When she did, I noticed she was then holding a metal baseball bat.

“One thing I actually do know about the boy is his love for this sport,” Demise told me. “If you had eyes in your head and used them, you might find more than one clue hinting to that fact on his person. Knowing that, I'll give him a dose of cruel and delicious irony.”

“Excuse me?!” I asked incredulously with deepening horror. “You're not going to do what I think you're going to do . . . are you?”

“Just relax and watch,” Demise advised. “Meanwhile, it's time for this batter to step up to the plate.”

She laughed a bit as she smoothly stepped away from my side towards the boy. As she did so, the other mares continued to dance around this statue within the radius of the sickly purple and greenish light. Once they were all together, they sang and danced together in some language I couldn't understand. As they did that, the boy struggled in his ropes and cried out as loudly as the gag allowed him to. I saw him crying. He was clearly there unwillingly.

My mind blanked out as my body froze in terror. What tiny portion of my sanity that was left was struggling to deny this reality out of pure necessity. The words “this can't be happening” repeated over and over in my mind and for far more than one reason. Not only was my whole world turning upside down right at that very moment, but it was also inverting horrifyingly. Warping in some tragic and also . . . nightmarish way?

When that last thought clicked into place, I looked up at the statue since I had, at last, made some logical connection. All of a sudden I realized that this whole scenario was designed to inspire fear, at least for me and the boy. When that thought clicked into place, it suddenly occurred to me that this whole scenario might be some sort of prank. Even my ability to see aura colors could be part of that prank, but if it was, then it was likely that real magic was involved to cause it at some level. Maybe a magic potion I was forced to swallow while unconscious?

“Nightmare Moon . . . luminous Lady of the Night . . . hear our plea!” ritualistically cried out Demise as she lifted the baseball bat towards the statue as if asking the statue to bless this object. “Hear your Children of the Night. Tonight we dance in succulence and ecstasy as we pray to your ever-divine and glorious majesty! Before you, we bow humbly as we extend this offering. Above us, your luminous moon glows fully and brightly like an eye in the sky gazing down upon our glorious work to you. TONIGHT we feast upon this lowly and pathetic mortal, and in your name . . . we shall serve and enjoy life everlasting!”

“Stronger in death!” the other mares chanted simultaneously. “Life everlasting!”

Demise slowly lowered the bat from the Nightmare statue above her. When she did, I noticed new blackish energy glowed around the bat as if it was, indeed, enchanted with something but it clearly wasn't sacred. With her new prize in hoof, she finally addressed the chosen victim directly. She smoothly and languidly crouched down closer to his level on the slab. Once she did, she removed the gag from his mouth for some reason.

While still whimpering, the colt struggled to calm down just enough to communicate. When he did to some degree, he begged, “Please, lady, please . . . let me go. I just want to go home.”

“Shh-shh-shh-shhhhh!” Demise bid almost tenderly as she softly brushed a hoof across his cheek. In doing so, she wiped off a tear. “Thy nightmare shall soon come to an end, but not without one last glorious hurrah. When that passes, all other struggles in this life will come to a permanent end.”

“I didn't do anything to you! I didn't do anything!” the boy cried out as he whimpered harder. “Please . . . just let me go. I won't say anything! I swear.”

Demise leaned in closer and whispered in his ear, “I believe you.”

Somehow, despite my distance, I still heard that. I wondered if the others had as well.

Demise then stood up straight and gave a hoisting motion with the hoof that wasn't touching the end of the baseball bat. In response, the ropes that were tied to his limbs got pulled further apart, but moreover, he was being raised off the slab itself specifically by the rope's new elevated height.

“Ow! No no! Please let me go! Plah-ha-heeeese let me go-ho-hoooo!” the boy stuttered in pure pain and terror as he struggled and wiggled in his ropes while he was lifted.

During that moment, Demise ignored his pleas as she turned around to face the statue, bowing to it one more time. When she did, she draped her right wing across her chest and extended her left wing up and back. While she held this pose, she said, “For you, Your Majesty. May the terror and anguish of this little one sustain you and strengthen you until the glorious night when your Night, and Nightmares, shall become everlasting!”

Suddenly, Demise whirled around and struck the boy in the left rib cage area which had been suspended before her and away from the stone slab, thus making him an easier target to strike. I heard the sound of his rib cage cracking. The boy hollered out in pure and excruciating agony, yet even as that happened, a part of my mind continued to deny this desperately. This had to be a trick!

However, in the next moment, I started to observe what might be the real point of the attack. After he got struck, magical energy leaked from his body and it wasn't originating from his wounded area precisely. Instead, it was more like a gas that rose from all over his body. The moment it did, it suddenly streamed out to every mare in the area except me. Curiously, some of it even seemed to stream into the Nightmare statue as well. I would even venture to say that the lion's share of that energy was immediately sucked into the statue and, just like the others, the energy funneled into their mouths in particular.

There was another reaction to this part of the ritual, too. The mares around this area shuddered as if they, too, had been struck. The only difference was, instead of screaming in pain, they screamed in pleasure. Their scream was almost as intense as his was, too, though it was also about a second delayed.

When these wicked mares recovered somewhat, Demise struck again. This time the baseball bat collided with the left pelvic bone and appeared to shatter it. The boy's shrill cry of pure agony renewed after it briefly died down as if Demise was waiting for him to recover slightly before revving up his pain anew. He cried harder this time, and a second later, so did the other ladies.

But as his cries continued, the mares, aside from me and Demise, resumed their dance. Their faces were swimming with pure ecstasy and almost sexual-looking pleasure. As I continued to observe this, it occurred to me that there was a direct correlation between how much he was in pain and how much pleasure they were enjoying. It was as if one directly caused the other.

And I just stood there . . . too numb to even feel a sense of denial. I was too overwhelmed for any coherent thought or feeling. I was broken. I was like a bucket, or barrel, with no bottom anymore. Any attempt at thoughts and/or feelings would just fall through this endless black pit beneath it.

Despite overwhelming sensations pulsing all around me, my senses started to grow numb and distant. My vision darkened and ringing arose in my ears. I stared forward blankly and lividly as if all light and life was drained from my soul, leaving me feeling colorless. As this continued, I very vaguely got the sense of time slowing down. Motion slowed. Colors dimmed. The sound got drowned out by the ringing in my ears.

I honestly didn't know how long this continued. Things continued to happen in front of me but I didn't register it, nor did I wish to. I could almost feel my brain looking upon this memory at this very moment and deciding on the spot, “You know what? This is too strong for me to hoofle, so I'm going to bury this. There is simply nothing else I can figure out what to do with this awful piece of garbage. It's just too strong. Too overwhelming. It really can't be real, so there is no reason to hold on to that which is fake.”

I fell to all four of my knees back at that moment with a blank, far-out, and livid stare. By that point, I felt dizzy as if I was standing on water. Everything about my environment swirled and rippled around me which even further added to the surreal sensation of it all and therefore even further seemed to verify that that moment had to be fake. Normal life does not ripple like this as if I were underwater, at least not while I stood on dry land.

Very slowly and gradually, my senses returned to me along with my wits. When it did, I noticed things had calmed down around me too. The ripple of energy in the air wasn't as intense which therefore reduced my sense of vertigo. The mares seemed to have calmed down as well and were relaxing on the floor as if recovering from the strain of several explosive orgasms.

It was at that moment it finally dawned on me why these mares felt so different from anything I've ever known. That gut feeling I had ever since I first met them finally has a word for them; demons! These aren't ponies, despite their appearance. They were pure and true demons! Nopony I had ever met acted anywhere near this depraved. The closest life form I had ever encountered to something like this was Lord Tirek when he drained my magic in Mustangia. I remembered how that sensation felt when all of my magic was drained from my body. This boy's twisted and then mangled body looked like that too. Not only did he look beaten within an inch of his life, but I finally noticed that his color was drained, too. That meant only one thing; he had lost the vast majority of his magic.

Yet even Tirek didn't relish the power he stole from his victims to this degree. He had more of a warrior mentality. What he had done was simply a means to an end for him. Yes, he did enjoy it some, but it was in pursuit of a larger goal.

In contrast, inflicting pain and terror seemed to be the entire point of this ritual. That, too, was a means to an end, in a way. They acted like this method was required for them to drain his magic, and since they worshiped Nightmare Moon, a creature that feeds off of fear, it weirdly made a sort of sense in this case.

Nevertheless, they relished their job far beyond what they had to. This wasn't just a sacred duty to these mares, it was their downright pleasure to do this.

Normal ponies were not like this. In contrast, they sort of tended to have this happy obliviousness to them. With everything they do, there was this undeniable sense of innocence. There was a skip to their step that was just a heartbeat away from breaking out into a full-fledged song and dance with the rest of the town around them. They prance in the light with the simple joy of just being alive. Magic and harmony influenced them all, at least on a subconscious level.

That was not always apparent in normal ponies, but tended to be true more often than not.

“Kill me,” the boy whimpered extremely faintly. Blood, mixed with tears, dripped from his eyes during that moment. “Please just kill me.”

I looked back at him when he said that. When I did, I realized that the sight that greeted me was none other than a young, innocent boy who had given up all sense of hope for recovery. At that point, he could only see one possible option for salvation from this nightmare, and that was to die.

“Shh-shh-shh-shhhh,” Demise hushed him as she bent down and tenderly kissed him on his forehead. “My precious little pony . . . thank you. Thank you for all you have unwillingly given us. We shall cherish this gift for all of eternity.”

“Please just kill me,” he whimpered harder as his face scrunched and his lips quivered in both emotional and physical agony. No doubt he was also mourning the fact he would never see his loving family ever again, nor would they see him either. All his goals and hopes for the future were dashed too. Stolen by these wicked mares.

“As you wish,” Demise whispered to him softly before smoothly gliding back then whacked him one final time, this time with a deathblow severe enough to make his head explode. Right after that, Demise licked some of the blood and brains off the baseball bat as she elegantly glided around the corpse so smoothly that it seemed more like she was floating, not trotting. She also passed up the other mares, who were still writhing on the floor with pure ecstasy, to close in on me.

“Perhaps now you have a deeper understanding of what we are, Lightning,” Demise said as she flipped the baseball bat around and stabbed it to the ground. From there, she leaned on it with both of her forehooves on the upper tip of it, thus propping her forward body up at an approximately thirty-five-degree angle. “We are eternal specters of the Night. We can never grow old . . . and we can never die.” She leaned down towards me as she added emphatically, “But we must feeeeeeeeeeeed!”

At first, I looked up at her eyes mostly lividly, but then I stared forward blankly.

After giving her last information a few seconds to sink in, Demise stood up straight again as she went on to say, “And you must understand that. Do not think I am unfamiliar with the horror you are currently experiencing either. I have lived for centuries, so I have seen it all. Many of us went through the same transition too. It typically is rough in the beginning, but it will get easier. You'll understand, after your first feeding, how utterly addicting and intoxicating this is.” She gave me a sly grin. “And don't think I haven't noticed that you didn't partake of it this time. That is a perfectly normal psychological response at this stage of your development, but you need to know something.”

She waited until I looked back at her before she continued.

“What you need to know is,” she said as she tilted her end of the still bloody and dripping baseball bat at me to indicate to me. Notably, what probably was once the boy's most cherished tool in life. “that the hunger will never stop growing and accumulating. Those with a strong will, like you, I suspect, can resist it for a while. Probably even longer than most could, but there is a problem with that. Sooner or later the need to feed will overwhelm you. Like it or not, your body will literally force you to feed. If, for some reason, you still can't, like you are trapped in a cave or something, then the hunger will gradually erode all that you are until you are nothing left but the hunger. It will never actually kill you, mind you, but it will rob you of all of your wits and sense of self.”

She took a deep breath, held it, then released it slowly before she went on to say, “While it is technically possible for any of us to hold out that long, especially if we're locked up somehow, we strongly recommend against it because you could eventually accumulate permanent damage to yourself. Damage that can be cured by certain methods, but never on your own. Never naturally. What you need to understand is, if you hold out that long, you'll gradually become more feral permanently until there is nothing left but a savage animal. At that point, it'll be impossible for you to enjoy the finer and more complex things in life.

“So do yourself a favor and don't hold out that long. Struggle to resist it for as long as you feel you have to, for that is a perfectly normal part of the process as well, but just be warned that, in the end, the hunger always wins.”

With that, she gave me a smooth bow and then glided out of my sight behind me, thus leaving me feeling blank and lifeless while I contemplated how doomed I was.