Bats! (Alternate Ending)

The beast watches as the three ponies examine the zebra's corpse. Strange... They seem so familiar, yet so, so strange. She can almost remember their names... If she tried. All she knows for sure...

...Is that she kinda wants to taste more blood.

She wonders if pony blood is anything like zebra blood...

"Well... Got any other plans?" Rainbow Dash asks in a thick voice, staying a healthy distance away from Zecora's corpse.

I can't believe it... Twilight thinks. She ACTUALLY ate another pony... Er... drank? Before Twilight can come up with something, a loud hissing sound comes from above and everypony is caught off guard as FlutterBat dives toward Twilight, who screams.

"Run!" Twilight manages to yell as the beast, not giving the Alicorn a chance to fight back, sinks her teeth into Twilight's neck.

Without needing to be told twice, Applejack and Rainbow Dash run - AJ on the ground, Dash in the sky. "NOW what?!" Rainbow Dash asks.

"How 'bout... I distract her... While you... Go warn the others?" Applejack asks.

"What?! You can't take that thing on all by yourself!"

"Rainbow Dash, I've faced tougher than a vampire Fluttershy! Now, GO!" Applejack turns around and heads back to Zecora's, while Rainbow Dash, left with nothing to say, gulps and heads back to Golden Oak Library.

"Found anything yet? Rarity calls out.

"No," Spike says from across the room.

"Pinkie?"

"Nopers!"

Rarity starts to say something about 'Nopers' not being a word, but bites her tongue and shakes her head. It's Pinkie Pie; don't question it.

Pinkie's tail starts to twitch. Soon after, Rainbow crashes through the window, and flies straight into a bookshelf.

"Sweet Celestia Rainbow Dash; do watch where you're going!" Rarity says.

"Are you okay?" Spike says, rushing over to help her up.

"Ow... Yeah." Rainbow shakes her head, then quickly enters panic mode. She starts hopping on her hooves. FlutterBat... She... She ate Zecora and Twilight!"

Pinkie gasps. "I knew it!"

"WHAT?!" Spike asks.

"What about Applejack?" Rarity asks, tears welling in her eyes.

"She... she's probably a goner, too." Rainbow says. After a moment to process everything, she speaks up again: "We need to do something before she eats the whole town!"

"But... what can we do?" Spike asks. "Two of the Elements are dead, and a third..."

"Spike, surely there are other options than blasting Fluttershy away with the Elements!" Rarity says.

"Should we... Should we tell the townsfolk?" Pinkie asks, her voice less cheery than usual, her mane and tail slightly deflated.

"Of course we should. Three ponies died."

"Technically... Zecora wasn't a pony," Spike says. Everypony in the room gives him a look that clearly says, Not the time.

"I'll go do it," Rainbow says.

Applejack runs. She runs, and she does it faster and harder than she has ever run before. Her hooves hurt under her. This is all my fault, she thinks. If I had listened to her... We wouldn't be in this mess.

FlutterBat hisses as she lands on Applejack, who grunts as they topple over. The beast turns her over, snarling, saliva dripping from her mouth.

In a way... She's kinda pretty, Applejack thinks. Her breaths come in hot and heavy. She considers punching her... But hesitates. It's still Fluttershy.

The beast snarls, her ears twitching. No... this isn't Fluttershy. Fluttershy's gone. This is a monster. She struggles to raise a hoof, but it's too late... That moment of hesitation was her weakness. FlutterBat leans over and sinks her teeth into Applejack's neck.

Applejack screams in pain.

The beast gets up, exercising her neck. Her ear twitches. She looks up, and spots a small little cottage through the trees... It looks almost... Familiar. Like... Home. The beast slowly trots toward the building, and as she does, animals slowly pop their heads up, their faces going from happy, to concern, to fear.

Something's off with their usual caretaker.

In the distance, the sun starts to rise. As the beast sees the sun rise, her fangs shrink, and her irises return to normal. Her wings and ears lose their bat qualities, and return to normal pony ones, And Fluttershy falls forward, passing out from lack of sleep.

Rainbow flies into the center of Ponyville at the crack of dawn and looks around for something to make a lot of noise. When she can't find anything, Pinkie appears with her one-pony-band setup, and she starts playing as loud as she can.

Ponies start stirring from buildings all around.

"What the hay?"

"Uuugghhh..."

"Hey man; it's TOO EARLY FOR THIS SHIT!"

"What's going on?"

"Pinkie, you can stop playing now," Dash says once at least ten ponies are out. "We have enough."

Pinkie nods. "Uh, hey hey, everypony! Um..." Rainbow says nervously.

"What is it, Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo says amongst the crowd of ponies. Rainbow meets the eyes of her surrogate sister and swallows. "Twi..."

Do it now, the blue pegasus scolds herself.

"Twilight Sparkle is dead. As well as... Applejack and Zecora."

Rainbow's words are followed by gasps and quiet muttering. One mare - Carrot Top - hesitantly asks, "H-how'd they die?"

After a second or so of silence, Rainbow's answer comes quick and swift: "Fluttershy."

This remark leaves more gasps of horror and disbelief. You don't mean... THAT Fluttershy, do you?" asks Filthy Rich.

"Well... Not exactly," Rainbow Dash says. "Y'see... She's... it's a long story, but... she's a vampire."

"Vampires aren't real!" says one snarky pony in the back.

"What, do you think she'd lie about something like this?" asks a mare next to him.

"Who knows? This isn't the Element of Honesty we're talking to here," says another pony.

The crowd - which has gotten bigger than just ten by now - argues and squabbles until Rainbow yells out, "ENOUGH! Everypony listen: I know what I'm saying sounds crazy - but it's true. I wouldn't say something like this unless I was being 100 percent serious."

The sun has risen a considerable amount by now.

"She's telling the truth!" Pinkie says. "I was there when she was eating all the apples at Sweet Apple Acres!" The pink pony pauses. "Okay, I know that sounds crazy, but - again, it's true!"

Rarity and Spike have shown up now, and they're standing with Pinkie and Rainbow. "We were there, too," Rarity says. "If they're lying, then that means all of us are lying."

The crowd murmurs more, and they seem to believe them more. "W-well... What should we do?" one mare asks.

"H-honestly, we don't know yet," Rainbow Dash says.

"We may have to evacuate the town," Rarity says. "Get as far away from FlutterBat as we can."

"I... I still don't really believe you," says a voice near the back. "I'm going to go to her cottage, and if she's not there, then I'll believe you."

"NO!" Pinkie, Spike, Dash, and Rarity say all at once.

"Her cottage is WAY too close to Everfree Forest, and that's where she is currently!" Dash warns.

The pony looks at them, looks at the ground, then shakes his head and trots off in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage by himself.