Northern Sky opened his draconic eyes and, for the second time in a week, saw a white filly fixing him back. She was wearing a very familiar necklace and a wide smile.

"Good evening, little miss. After last time, I was under the impression that your aunt and her friends didn't like the idea of you coming here, just as they didn't like me" he said in a tired tone.

"Well, it's not that they don't like you... It's more something along the lines of fearing that you might hurt me. But I'm sure you will never do that: you said it yourself that you're not a murderer" said Rare Belle with a confident grin.

"You seem to have a lot of faith in me, uh? What if I lied?" he said observing her reaction.

"Twilight told me the whole story: I know you told me the truth" she said, her expression unchanged.

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't the whole story, anyway you are an interesting filly, and very lucky I must add!" he said with a smile "So, what are you here for?"

"I'm here to save you!" announced Rare striking a dramatic pose.

"To save me?" he asked, his confusion rising.

"Exactly!"

"And from what?"

"But from yourself, silly!"

In the ocean of confusion in which he was swimming shone the light of comprehension.

"Let me get this straight: you want to rehabilitate me? Like they tried to do with Discord when I was still a regular pegasus? Little miss, I think you're missing a piece here: nopony in his right mind might ever accept me!" he said shaking his head.

"But I accepted you" protested the filly.

"You are an idealist, a dreamer like Celestia was. If you were an alicorn, you might have been a great princess" he said gazing the distance.

"Then you don't even want to try?" implored Rare Belle with her best puppy eyes.

"Little miss, dog eyes don't work on me" he answered flatly.

"Oh, then I'll go home. Goodbye, I guess" said the defeated unicorn hanging her head and turning around.

"Wait, you're gonna walk to Canterlot in the Everfree? That would be pushing your luck a little too much"

"I suppose so" said the filly hiding a mischievous smile.

"You're such a dirty cheater, little miss" joked Sky noticing her grin that soon turned into a giggle.

He got on his hooves and motioned her to jump on his back saying: "Come, I'll bring you there"

"Oh, what a gentlecolt" she said not caring anymore to hide her smile.

In less than fifteen minutes, Canterlot was clearly visible under the pale crescent moon, and within the next five Sky was landing in one of the many plazas of the city.

"You know, I can walk on my own" protested Rare Belle when he started pacing towards the palace instead of letting her down.

"I know little miss, but you seem to have the tendency to wander in dangerous places if left unchecked" he mocked her while walking down a large alley.

It was very long, paved in light gray stone, with crystal lamps about every 10 meters on both sides of the road, and connected the plaza in which they landed with the main one, just outside the palace entrance.
There, under a massive rampant statue of the late princesses, stood a trio of unicorn guards. They all looked alike: white coat and mane, heavy golden armor.

"Excuse me, sirs" started saying the nightmare nearing the group.

"Good night citizen. I'm sorry but we have not the time to hear you out: we are on duty to find princess Rarity's niece" explained one of them wearing a stern expression.

"Lieutenant sir, did you notice that this citizen here has fangs?" said the youngest of the three.

"What nonsense are you- Sweet Fluttershy, he has fangs! He's a vampire! Seize him!" shouted the lieutenant upon spotting Sky's fangs.

"Hey, he isn't a vampire!" exclaimed Rare Belle, poking from behind his head.

"Oh, horsefeaters" muttered the nightmare guessing what was going to happen and mentally reading himself to dash away while taking a step back.

"It's the filly, he ponynapped her and has enslaved her to his will with his vampiric powers!" exclaimed the third guard.

Northern Sky didn't wait for the lieutenant to repeat his orders and started galloping away in the direction he has come from.

"What are you doing?" half shouted the filly on his back as the first light blue magical beams darted around them.

"Flying would attract even more attention so I'm running" he explained in an annoyed tone.

"I mean: why are you running?"

"Because I'm pretty sure that they won't listen to a word we say; moreover, being a nightmare doesn't make me much more well accepted than a vampire" explained Sky with a sad tone.

After a pair of minutes of randomly turning in the smaller alleys, the nightmare finally managed to give the guards the slip by skidding in an inn, hoping to be able to avoid other troubles.

"Sky, I believe we could have a little problem here" said with shaky voice the filly on his back gazing around the room.

"What problem could possibly-" he started saying as he turned around, but he stopped seeing the room.

It was a pretty plain room, with the great number of round tables you expect from such a place; everything was made of a warm colored wood the nightmare couldn't recognize, all in all was a normal tavern.
It was the adornments which were strange: there was garlic hanging in braids from the ceiling, and between the biggest two was a large banner inscribed the words "annual vampire hunters convention".
All the sixty ponies in the room were currently looking at him, or to be more accurate, at his mouth.

"Oh, come on!" said the stallion in an exasperated tone as those who attended the convention started approaching, some of them recovering wooden stakes from inside their capes.

He didn't waste any more time in futile explanations and rushed into the streets, where he immediately took flight.

"I thought you said that flying catches too much attention" commented the filly gripping his neck in order to avoid falling.

"You're right little miss, but they cannot get me while I'm flying" explained him trying to suppress his usual tired tone.

"Uhm, I'm pretty sure I saw some pegasi in th-" started protesting Rare, only to stop and warn: "Look out, they're coming!"

He only nodded before dashing towards the castle, leaving behind a white trail and a group of stupefied looking pegasi.

The whole plan, even if hastily patched up, could have worked in its simplicity: fly as fast as possible towards the castle, leave the filly and run in the Everfree.
Yet, there was one miscalculation, or three if we want to be precise, that made the plan go terribly wrong: the trio of guards was still near the inn when Sky took flight and, hearing all the commotion and identifying its source, they didn't waste time and opened fire.

As the first magic bolts passed by his side, the nightmare started the descending route that would have made him land in the castle garden.
Unfortunately for him, those who where trying to get him weren't exactly newbie and eventually hit their target, who ungracefully landed in the main plaza at the feet of Celestia's statue.
There, having shielded the filly with his body receiving quite the blow, he lost consciousness.

When the three guards reached the plaza, the vampire hunters had already set up two piles of wood and were ready to set them on fire with the two ponies who stood tied on top.

"Stop this at once!" ordered the lieutenant with clear voice "That filly is princess Rarity niece!"

The angry mob didn't like the intrusion at all and proceeded in dealing with the trio.
A couple of minutes later, a sand colored earth pony with a large hat and a very long black coat stood in front of the pile and said: "Brothers and sisters, this night we purge Equestria from two horrible monsters!"

At those words, the crowd roared its approval and many curious faces appeared at the windows that gave view on the plaza.

"This night we burn those vampires! Light the fires!"

As Applejack entered the throne room she found a scene she had seen less than a week before: an inconsolable Rarity weeping in Twilight's shoulder.

"Please, tell me you found her again" implored the moon princess visibly exhausted.

"Ah'm mighty sorry Twi, she wasn't even in the Everfree" said the orange alicorn hanging her head.

"Why would my sweetie be in that dreadful place?" asked the white mare raising he head.

"Did you ask him if he saw her?" asked Twilight ignoring her friend question.

"Him? Wait, you're talking about the nightmare?" Rarity tried again to insert herself in the conversation.

"He wasn't there either. What could have happened?" said Applejack shaking her head.

Before the white princess could lash out or the lavender one could think of any explanation, a very loud filly cry came from outside the castle perimeter.

Between the cacophony the mob was making and the sudden surge of heat below, both the 'vampire and his supporter' regained consciousness.
Rare Belle, being a bright filly, understood in a blink what was happening and did what every foal in her predicament would have done: she started crying. Very aloud.
Northern Sky instead started trying the sturdiness of the silver chains they had used to tie him. He realized that he could easily break his restraint once it was a bit heated up, but waiting would mean killing the filly, whose cry was making her breath far too much smoke.
He let out a deep sigh knowing that his choice would bring far too much pain.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" demanded Rarity landing with Applejack and Twilight in the middle of the mob with an angry scowl, her magic empowered voice reverberating in the plaza.

"Rejoice princesses, for we are saving Equestria!" declared the one that held the rains of the crowd with a wide smile.

"Auntie!" scoffed Rare Belle from one of the two bonfires.

"THAT'S MY NIECE! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" yelled 'auntie' trying to make her way through the mob together with her friends.

The vampire hunters, probably prey of fanatism-induced delirium, tried their best to stop the three alicorns following blindly their chief orders. Useless to say, many of them were hospitalized after the whole thing ended.

While all this was happening, Sky finally managed to roll down the pyre and into the raging flames.
The fire, while biting his flesh, heated the chains enough for him to break them.
Fueled by the pain he was feeling and by a surge of adrenaline, with a flap of wings he was out of that inferno and went to save Rare Belle.
As the whole crowd looked with mixed emotion the scene, the coughing filly was deposed at her aunt's hooves by a badly scorched Northern Sky, who had only the time to smile before everything went black.

Author's Note

It took me longer than I thought to come up with this chapter, I hope you all like it.

I'm currently working on the fouth and (probably) last chapter, so fear not a long wait!