Fluttershy wakes up in her front yard, surrounded by her animal friends. The last thing she remembers is helping her friends in the orchard...

"Wh-what's going on? How'd I get..."

Fluttershy looks around at her animals, who are all looking at her with concern and worry. Angel Bunny hops over to her and squeaks rapidly.

"What?! I... I looked different? What d'you mean?"

Angel starts making wild hand gestures and points at his mouth. Fluttershy's tongue instinctively brushes the inside of her mouth. "Ow!" she says as her tongue runs over her teeth - one of them felt slightly sharper than usual. A small poke cut into her tongue, and the tiniest amount of blood leaks and spills onto her taste buds. The taste makes the yellow pegasus shrivel in disgust - and yet, at the same time, it tastes familiar - in a good way? No, that shouldn't be. Fluttershy has never liked the taste of blood.

Why would she now?

Harry the bear reaches an arm out and gently strokes Fluttershy's mane, comforting her. She appreciates the gesture, but doesn't mention the fact that it's not working.

That's when a stallion that she's seen only a few times in passing appears out of the blue, approaching her cottage.

Upon seeing him, Fluttershy gets the strangest urge - to bite into his neck. She shakes her head. Why would I get that urge?, she thinks. I'm not a vampire or anything.

She gets up and approaches the pony. "Um, hi! I'm Fluttershy. And... Who are you again? If you don't mind me asking..."

"Oh, uh, I'm Caramel." the pony pauses "And - since you're here, I guess that means I was right, and you're friends WERE lying after all!"

"What?" Fluttershy asks, confused. "What would my friends be lying about?"

"They said you were a vampire and that you killed ponies!"

"W-What?! That- I- I would never!" Fluttershy says, suddenly furious. Her wings start flapping and she lifts off the ground subconsciously. "Why, that makes me so... peeved!"

Then a thought occurs to her: Vampire? Wait... My tooth...

Fluttershy stops flying, and her face grows more curious. "Can you take me to them?"

Caramel nods, and leads the way to Ponyville.

Spike has just finished writing a letter to the Canterlot princesses, and is now working on writing a letter to Cadance and Shining Armor. All the ponies in Ponyville are busy packing their bags, intent on moving out.

"Man, if she's really a vampire, why not just shoot the fucker? Ya know, kill her?" Spike hears one stallion say outside to his friend.

"They probably don't wanna. She was their friend, after all. Besides, do you really think a bullet would kill a vampire?"

"I'm still not one hundred percent sold on this whole story..."

"I am."

Spike sighs, and closes the window. He doesn't need to hear this right now. Besides, Twilight is dead. She was practically a mother to him. Well, and a sister... It's complicated. He sits back down to finish the letter to his relatives.

Rainbow Dash flies around, making sure everypony is getting ready to evacuate. Pinkie Pie is helping her with this, while Rarity is at her boutique helping Sweetie Belle pack. She can't help but notice the pink pony is more serious than usual. And more... gray.

As she finishes a round, she spots in the distance that one idiot stallion from earlier - Caramel - with Fluttershy... Not FlutterBat, Fluttershy. Then again, thinking back, the apples from two nights ago were drained by FlutterBat, then during the day she was normal. Dash shrugs and decides to fly over to them. She lands mere feet away, far enough that she wouldn't be in danger if one of them attacked, yet close enough to see a mix of concern and fear etched on the shy horse's face.

Fluttershy hasn't stopped rubbing her fang with her tongue since they left her cottage. As she and Caramel walk through town, other ponies eye them - and especially her - with extreme caution and wariness. Some even start murmuring to each other.

As Rainbow Dash lands in front of her, Fluttershy bows her head, averting her eyes. Caramel, on the other hand, grins widely and points a hoof.

"HA! I was right! She is not a vampire, and you're a liar!"

Fluttershy angrily looks over at the stallion. "Can you not?" she asks quietly. By now a crowd has formed around the three ponies, waiting to see what happens next. Fluttershy kinda wishes they would stop staring.

The yellow stallion looks at Fluttershy, and his expression falters upon seeing her face. "Oh, uh, s-sure. No problem." He lowers his hoof and backs down sheepishly. Fluttershy clears her throat and takes a step toward Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash immediately steps back, a fearful expression on her face. Fluttershy flinches.

"F-Flutters?" Rainbow asks. Y-you're okay?"

"Not entirely." The yellow horse looks down. Then she forces herself to meet her friend's eyes. "Rainbow Dash, what-what's going on?"

Rainbow's face slowly relaxes, and approaches 'Shy. "Oh, Fluttershy..."

Rainbow Dash throws her forelegs around her friend, and starts quietly laughing - a laugh filled with irony.

Fluttershy sits on her living room couch, huddled into a ball. "I-I... Y-You're lying," Fluttershy says in a hushed voice, her eyes hyper-focused on the arm of the chair Rainbow Dash is sitting in, seeing it without really seeing it.

The would-be Wonderbolt had just told Fluttershy the events that had unfolded over the course of the last few hours, and she really wish she didn't ask.

Twilight... Applejack... Zecora... "C-can I see their bodies?"

Rainbow Dash blinks. For some reason, she wasn't expecting that response. "S-sure," Rainbow says in a deadpan voice. She gets out of the chair and slowly trots over to the door, her hooves making dull thumps with each step.

Fluttershy follows her subconsciously, her body acting on autopilot. It seems like only a second later that Rainbow Dash shakes her out of her zoned-out state, and Fluttershy gasps in horror at the sight before her.

In front of her is Zecora's house, and in front of Zecora's house are the bodies of Zecora and Twilight Sparkle, both completely dried like raisins, both containing tiny bite marks in the sides of their neck.

She feels a tear form in her eye and slide down her cheek. She can't look at this. She immediately turns away from the bodies and, sitting down, quiet sobs start to work their way through her. Rainbow Dash, upon seeing this, trots over to her free and wraps her foreleg around her.

After they've sat there for a few minutes, Fluttershy slowly looks up at the sky. The sun is directly overhead. She then lowers her head, and quietly whispers, "I've read vampire novels. Shouldn't they still be alive?"

Rainbow Dash bites her lip, slowly stroking the yellow pegasus's mane. She glances over at the bodies.

"I... I don't think you... work like the vampires in the books, 'Shy. Sorry."

Fluttershy nods. After another second, she asks, "Where... where's Applejack?"

Rainbow Dash considers her answer for a moment. "I... I don't know," she says slowly. Last I saw, she was running from you. To... distract you. She's probably elsewhere in the woods."

Fluttershy nods, more silent tears falling from her eyes. She curls in on herself, and Rainbow Dash continues to hold onto her.

"I don't... I.. I'm sorry," Fluttershy says.

"It's not your fault," Rainbow Dash says in a thick voice, tears starting to form in her eyes now.

"I don't wanna move from here."

"I'll stay with you."

"Rainbow, you don't have to-"

"I'm not leaving you alone like this." the blue pegasus makes her stance clear. Fluttershy nods.

"So does this mean we're safe?" says a pony with a Manehatten accent.

"Not... exactly," Rarity says. "We... still don't know for sure what's going on with her."

"Well, I'm not taking any chances!" says another mare, leaving the little rally that's been gathered in the town center, presumably to evacuate.

"Guys, I'm telling you, she's safe!" Caramel says with a snarky expression, and with a small laugh added at the end to boot.

As the townsfolk continue to talk amongst themselves, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike silently wait with each other, not saying much of anything. Then, catching the attention of everyone, Spike burps up a letter.

Spike snatches it and opens it. "It-it's from the princesses!"

"Oh, they'll know what to do!" says one of the townsfolk. That remark is followed by other positive words and agreements.

Spike opens the letter, and skims through it first, before saying to the remaining Elements, "She wants to see us at the castle."

"Is there anything else?" Pinkie asks, lacking any joyful undertone. Spike shakes his head.

"Of course not!" Pinkie snaps rather irritatedly. Then she sighs. "Sorry. I've just been under a lot of stress recently."

"So have we all," Rarity murmurs. The three of them get up, intent on finding Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

The sun is close to passing to the Western part of the sky.

Author's Note

I removed the horror tag, and replaced it with a tragedy tag. Thinking it over, while this story is indeed dark, it isn't all that scary.
Then again, I'm also not the most creative writer out there. This story was somewhat made with the intent to spark something, with the hopes that more talented writers could possibly gather some sort of inspiration, and make the variety with FlutterBat stories more than just clop.

Chapter 4 coming soon!