//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 part two 
// Story: A History of Long Nights and Blood 
// by Balancer 
//------------------------------//

The rubble stirred, and Twilight froze and turned around, a look of
disbelief creeping onto her face. The top layers of rubble parted and
Vincenza drew herself from the still smoldering ruins. Everypony in
the group, with the exceptions of Rainbow Dash and Applejack,
screamed, but even they blanched at the sight. Nearly all of
Vincenza’s fur had been singed, the flesh underneath crushed and
blacked, pieces of broken bone jutting from various parts of her body.
Her chest was a mess where Twilight’s lightning bolt had struck
earlier, the entirety of her left shoulder muscle vaporized, leaving
nothing but blackened bone. Most of the ribs had been exposed, the
lungs blackened by the intense heat. Her face was severely burned, in
some cases to the bone. The left side of her face was burned to the
bone and blackened her eye gone, the right side not much better. By
all rights she should have been dead.

Twilight took a step backwards. “Holy Ayalin… protect us.”She prayed,
fear flickering across her face.

Vincenza took a shuffling step forward. Then another. And another.
Then the bones in her legs shattered; yet she still made her way
towards the bottom of the rubble heap. But as she descended, something
started happening. The bones jutting out from her flesh began to
retract, the exposed bones whitening and quickly covered with newly
grown flesh, new skin spreading across the pink flesh, which in turn
covered by white fur. Her face underwent the same process, a new mane
rolling down her shoulders as she took step after
increasingly-less-painful step. By the time she reached the bottom of
the pile, no trace of her previous injuries could be seen.

“Nice try.” She said with a smirk on her face. She spread her forelegs
wide, summoning her blades.

Twilight looked at her with fear. “H-How? How is that even remotely
possible!?” She said in low tones, too shocked for anything else.

Vincenza slowly smiled, revealing her fangs. “You’ll just have to die
not knowing I guess.” She said, mocking the purple unicorn’s
expression sardonically.

Twilight took a step back and braced herself, gathering her strength.
She lit her horn, the purple energy covering her body once more as she
launched herself into the air, stabbing downward at the vampony.

[Same trick? How boring.] Vincenza thought to herself as Twilight
streaked down towards at her. Before the blade even came close to
finding its mark she quickly stepped backwards, the blade impaling the
ground. Twilight pulled it out and rose once again to attack. [Bored
now, I’ll end this quick. The girls deserve that much.] Vincenza
thought as she stepped forward. And with a quick spin, hair fanning
out around her, she whipped her blade around. A red line streaked
across Twilight’s face, her eyes widening as Vincenza kicked her in
the chest, sending her flying across the courtyard. Twilight landed on
her back, rising she looked at Vincenza with shock written across her
features. Twilight looked down; her blood was spilling all down her
front. As she tried to light her horn, only a weak light sputtered
out. Blood continued to spurt down her chest. She slowly raised her
head to the sky and quietly gurgled. Vincenza faintly heard something
that resembled ‘forgive me’. She bowed her head in respect, and
snapped it up again when something happened that shouldn’t have. The
wound in Twilight’s neck slowly sewed itself shut. Vincenza raised an
eyebrow as the group behind her gasped in astonishment.

[How? She was too exhausted for healing spell… unless that was natural
regeneration. Impossible. Natural regeneration only occurs in Hydras,
Gorgons, Alicorns, and…Vamponies. Impossible! She’s a Vampony hunter!
She would be killed if she was… unless she kept it hidden. But even if
she was, she couldn’t be old enough to even think clearly. By rights
she should be a mindless killing machine… unless she was strong enough
to resist.]  Vincenza’s mind raced as Twilight slowly brought her head
down, her fangs glistening in the sun.

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The Pegasus looked at Twilight from her vantage point in the clouds.
As Twilight looked up, she stilled her movement and trusted that she
had crafted the cloud well enough to hide her from detection.
Twilight’s eyes were unfocused, and her lips moved, but from where she
was the Pegasus couldn’t hear what she said. As she looked intently
down on the unicorn, her eyes widened in shock. She stifled a cry
before it could escape her throat as the unicorn’s top two teeth
slowly turned into fangs. As Twilight lowered her head, she allowed
herself to breathe. Slowly, so as to not attract attention, she
slipped out of her cloud and flew away to report the news to her
superior. She would fly all night if she had to. She had a message,
and the message always got through.

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Vincenza’s other eyebrow joined its sister as it too was raised.
Vincenza smiled. “[What do you know?]”. She said out loud to no one in
particular.

Twilight was tired as she slowly lowered her head and focused upon the
grinning unicorn. With a noticeable sag in her shoulders she hefted
her swords. Vincenza blurred and Twilight was knocked to the ground as
the elder vampony’s shoulder collided with her. A white hoof came down
twice in rapid succession on her forehooves, shattering the rings that
held her blades in place, as well as her bones. The blades were then
picked up and tossed away by Vincenza’s magic. Twilight cried out in
pain as Vincenza placed the tip of her blade on Twilight’s chest.

“[I have a few questions.]” As Vincenza spoke, she grinned. “[Mostly
how one of your… condition… can serve a group of fanatical idiots
hellbent on killing us one by one.]” She shook her head and looked at
Twilight with mild amusement. “[But I suppose I can live without
knowing.]” Vincenza raised her blade and prepared to run Twilight
through.

“Stooooop!” A voice cried out. Vincenza looked up, and for the second
time that day raised an eyebrow. Standing in the open doorway to the
library was Spike, a scroll clutched in his claw. He took a cautious
step forward, shaking with fear as the vampony looked at him with mild
interest. He held up the scroll. “Y-Y-You stop right there! Oe-one
more move and-and I’ll send this to Celestia!”

Vincenza chuckled and lit her horn briefly. The scroll disappeared in
a flash of light, reappearing in front of her. Spike repeatedly
clutched the air in his hand, and seemed to deflate as his plan
failed. The scroll was unrolled and Vincenza scanned the letter
quickly.

Twilight’s in danger please help we’re outside the library

She snorted and the scroll was immolated quickly. “Well intentioned,
but foalish.” She returned her gaze to Twilight and raised her blade
once more. “Now, where were we?” Spike’s eyes were filling with tears
and as he made a half chocking-sobbing noise, he threw himself at
Vincenza. “Nooooooo!” Vincenza swatted him out of the air without a
thought and he tumbled along the ground. Twilight let out a cry and
struggled under the hoof pressing down on her chest, hitting with her
broken forehooves regardless the pain. Vincenza looked down on her
like one examines a bug they have caught in their grasp, watching it
struggle with futility. She raised her blade and slowly drove it into
Twilights shoulder, pinning her to the ground. As Twilight screamed,
Vincenza smiled with sick glee and began to slowly work it around.

Spike slowly raised himself from the ground. With tears clouding his
view, he watched the white unicorn drive her blade into the mare that
had practically raised him. A feeling of total helplessness
overwhelmed him as the screams entered his ears. He closed his eyes,
and curled into a ball, and sobbed as memories leapt unbidden into his
mind. His first puff of flame, and a much younger Twilight jumping
around with joy. The first time Twilight came home crying because of
the mean foals at school and him giving her a hug. The numerous times
he had injured himself helping her and Twilight kissing his head,
telling him everything would be all right. He sobbed, but something
was happening to him, somewhere deep inside. As he thought about the
only creature he had called family, listened to her screaming in pain,
a fire ignited within him; consuming his sadness, turning his feelings
of helplessness and self-pity into rage, hate, and desire to protect
his maternal figure. His eyes snapped open and flashed green. He
roared, the noise weak at first, but slowly grew stronger as his body
grew.

Vincenza looked up from her work at the noise, very quickly realizing
that she had made a big mistake. If it was one thing she had learned
on her travels, it was that there wasn’t a single little boy on the
planet that wouldn’t tear the world apart to save his mummy. And in
front of her was one preparing to do just that.

The last time Spike had transformed it was out of greed, and the
gigantic, bulky monstrosity he became had reflected that. But this
time, it was out of rage.

His body grew lean and strong, his features sharpened, and wings seemed to unfold from his back. His spines
sharpened and narrowed, the end of his tail flattened out, sharpening
like a blade. His maw lengthened and his mouth filled with sharp
fangs. He was already thrice the size of a pony and continued to grow
until he towered over the ponies below, the buildings of the square
coming up to his shoulder. He fixed his huge eyes on Vincenza, and in
a deep rolling voice that shook the glass for miles aroun with unrestrained
anger evident in his voice. “No one hurts Twilight!”

He lunged with his razor-sharp claws, Vincenza jumping backwards as
Spike scooped up Twilight and deposited her behind himself.

Vincenza looked up at the now fully grown dragon, and smiled. ‘[This
will be fun.]’ She spun her blades around and took an attack stance.
Spike turned back to her and slashed at her with his claws. Vincenza
leapt clear of said claws as they crashed into the ground, gouging
deep groves into the stone. Spike roared and swung his other claw
around in an arc at Vincenza. She rolled under it, and rose to her
feet. She shot off towards the purple arm and leapt at it, but Spike
brought his arm up and swatted the unicorn up into the air. Vincenza
spun around in the air, positioning herself with her rear hooves
towards the ground, and as she reached the apex of her arc she lit her
horn and a white glow infused her body. She hung in the air looked
down at the dragon. Spike roared at her, the surrounding group of
ponies covering their ears at the loud noise. Opening his great maw,
Spike unleashed a torrent of flame, the heat alone setting light to
the surrounding thatch roofs. Vincenza swerved in the air as the
column of flame passed her by. Spike unfurled his new wings, and with
a mighty flap that struck up a small whirlwind (thankfully
extinguishing the flames), he rose up into the air.

As Spike took off in pursuit of Vincenza, the group rushed over to
Twilight. She was slowly recovering from her injuries, although much
faster than any normal pony would. Her shoulders and chest had deep
cuts along them, and her forehooves were shattered, slowly
regenerating. Unlike the elder, her wounds healed themselves
agonizingly slowly, the cuts knitting themselves together and the
bones in her forehooves resetting and healing with sickening clicking
sounds. Her cuts healed over with scar tissue as she lay on the ground
panting, it was clear to any that she was horribly inexperienced. She
raised her head and looked at the intense aerial fighting going on
above. “Spike.” She whispered.

Meanwhile, in the air above, Vincenza was shooting around Spike, her
smaller form allowing for greater maneuverability and her magic
cutting through the air faster, but Spike’s natural amour was too
tough for her blades to pierce. Not that she cared, having taken down
tougher dragons in the past she knew how to deal with him, and was
simply enjoying having a dragon to play with until she got bored.

Spike grasped at her with his claws, but Vincenza slipped through,
raking her blades along the joints in his scaled fingers, quickly
drawing blood. Spike twisted his head at her and unleashed a torrent
of flame, which was easily dodged. He sped forwards and snapped at her
with his jaws, but she slipped through and quickly inverted herself as
she flew under the great beast’s stomach, peppering it with white
energy from her horn. Spike howled and turned his great bulk in the
air, whipping his tail. Vincenza barrel rolled over it and unleashed a
salvo of magic missiles at him as she flew backwards. The missiles
detonated ineffectively against his hide, only enraging him further.
He banked sharply, and with a massive beat of his wings, sped after
her, with missiles detonating against the thick hide of his face with
no discernible effect. As he drew close he unleashed a gout of flame,
but at his high speed he flew into his own flame, the fire swirling
around him. The green fire rippled along his scales but did not burn
him, fireproof as he was. He continued to speed faster towards
Vincenza, bringing his now searing bulk against her, the heat rolling
off him in waves. Vincenza shot upwards and around him in a corkscrew,
dodging the burning jaws and laughing slightly manically. Her laughter
was, however, snatched away by the raging winds.

[This is fun!] She thought to herself elatedly, the adrenalin coursing through her veins
exciting her as she welcomed the rush of battle. In her joy, she
missed Spike’s tail whip through the air, hitting her and swatting her
down towards the ground. She spun in the air, quickly orientating
herself to the fast approaching ground.

She grinned and put on a burst of speed, the wind howling in her ears. Moments before impact she
pulled up, and sped along inches from the ground, weaving through the
streets of Ponyville. At her high speeds, her tailwind was enough to
uproot plants and mess up ponies’ hair. She pulled up, and shot into
the sky, her white aura leaving a glowing trail in the air. Somewhere
to her rear left she heard Spike roar, and quickly rolling to the
right she felt the searing heat of Spike’s fire for a brief moment,
before her upward climb carried her past the blaze. She continued
rocketing upwards into the sky with a maniac grin plastered on her
face. Quickly looking down, she noticed that Spike had given chase and
was following her. The air quickly began to grow cold with the
altitude. Vincenza inhaled as much of the thinning air as she could
and holding it, she continued her upward climb. When she felt her coat
begin to chill and frost start to form on her face she slowed and
looked down. Spike was close on her tail, and roaring loudly. She
smiled.

The frost formed heavily on Spike, the water in his breath rapidly
freezing. In his rage he let lose at roar and exhaled a wave of fire,
the frost on his scales instantly vaporized. Vincenza’s lungs were
throbbing dully, but she soon eased them by exhaling around half her
breath. As she dodged the fire and rose a few more meters into the
air, she smiled. Spike roared again and surged upwards, the melted
water refreezing lower down on his body and frost formed once more on
his face. He surged upwards, but when he went to inhale he found the
air very scarce. Almost immediately he began to black out from lack of
oxygen to his brain. His wing beats slowed and he fell to earth.
Vincenza exhaled the rest of her breath and shot down. She collided
with Spike, and proceeded to drive him towards the ground. As they
reached thicker air, Spike’s vision cleared and strength began to
return to his muscles. He opened his eyes and saw the ground fast
approaching.

Ponies on the ground scattered as Spike’s huge bulk plummeted out of
the sky. Spike strained his body upwards, trying to pull out of the
dive, but Vincenza let lose another burst of force and increased the
speed. Seconds before they hit the ground Vincenza lit her horn, and
they disappeared in a black haze. The ponies on the ground looked up
at the averted catastrophe as Twilight searched the sky franticly for
signs of them.

“Where did they go?! Where did she take him?! She shouted as she spun
around. There was a loud bang from the east and everypony turned,
searching for the source of the noise.

As Spike and Vincenza reappeared over a field outside of Ponyville,
Vincenza placed her rear legs on Spike’s back and gave him on last
shove. The push sent her clear upwards, while forcing Spike into the
hard earth. He rammed into it with a gargantuan boom, earth and stones
flying into the air as Vincenza lowered herself to the ground in front
of him.

“Now that we’re away from the others, let’s stop holding back.” She
lifted a blade in pointed it at Spike.

He raised himself from the crater, brushing dirt from his scales and
chuckling, the sound waves vibrating the loose dirt thrown up in his
landing. “Agreed.” He sprung forward, smashing his fist into the
ground, the shockwave of which creating a wave of dirt. Vincenza
jumped high, the wave passing underneath her as Spike unleashed a wave
of fire. Vincenza immediately formed a shield, the flames passing
around her harmlessly. Spike flapped his wings, propelling himself
backwards to dodge Vincenza’s stab to his head, the whirlwind
buffeting her backwards. She spun in the air landing on her rear
hooves, then back flipped to avoid being roasted, the green flame
warming her as it passed beneath her. Spike tilted forward, speeding
towards the unicorn while slashing his claws at her. She saw him
coming halfway through the flip and twisted so that she landed facing
away from him. She hit the ground running at a dead sprint, Spike’s
claws close on her tail. They passed millimeters from her exposed
back, catching a bit of her tail and slicing it off. Vincenza
disappeared in a puff of black smoke, reappearing behind Spike. She
jumped into the air, using her considerable strength to propel herself
onto Spike’s back. Spike responded by pulling up sharply, quickly
twisting into a corkscrew in an attempt to dislodge her. Vincenza’s
horn flashed white and her rear hooves glowed dimly, wind buffeting
her as the horizon spun. Yet her hooves refused to part from his back,
held in place by the spell she had cast. She sprinted up to one of his
wings, and as she approached she timed herself to jump, and launched
herself forward. She swung her blades in front of her in a scissoring
motion, bursting through the wing, and teleported back to the ground.
She skidded a short distance away as Spike roared in pain, his torn
wing causing him to drop out of the sky.

Spike landed with a dull thud, this time only scuffing the ground. He
turned his head towards Vincenza and let lose another roaring blast of
flame. Vincenza blurred and appeared to his left, much closer and
running swiftly. Spike adjusted his aim as he rose from the ground.
Vincenza blurred and reappeared on his far right, Spike closing his
jaws and lashing out with his claws instead. Vincenza gave a slight
jump and as his claws sailed underneath her, she landed on his hand
and ran up the connected arm. Spike opened his maw once more and
billowing fire spewed down his arm. Vincenza blurred a third time and
reappeared in the air in front of his face. She landed and stepped
forth, thrusting her blades into his eyes, and with a quick flash of
her horn an electric charge ran down her blades into his eyeballs.

She leapt clear, landing on the ground as Spike howled in pain, his
eyes exploding. Clasping his claws to his eyes, the blood flowed down
his face as he fell onto his back. Vincenza grinned.

“[Dragons.]” She mocked. “[You boast about how your scales are famous
for their toughness. But you forget that even you have your weak
spots.]” She examined the blood on her sword as she walked over to
where the gigantic reptile was curled up in a ball, screaming in pain.
The ground had cracked at the sheer volume of the noise. Vincenza
winced as her ear drums burst and the world fell quiet, but she didn’t
bother regenerating them. She walked up behind Spike’s head and turned
around, plunging her blades fully into the ground. She lined herself
up and unleashed a buck, Spike jerking from the blow and falling
silent. There was a low rumbling noise and Spike quickly shrunk back
to his normal size. Vincenza caught him in her magic, dismissing her
blades and teleporting them both back to Ponyville.

Twilight looked up as Octavia gasped and pointed. Vincenza strode
towards her with an unconscious Spike in her grip. Vincenza tossed him
towards them and he rolled along the ground. Everypony gasped at the
sight of the blood down his front. Fluttershy rushed over and
inspected him, and stopped breathing when she lifted an eye lid to
test his light reaction. The group rushed over to look at him, all
recoiling at the sight. It was gruesome, to say the least. Little was
left of the actual eye, and looking back at them was not the large
green eyes they knew, but empty black sockets.

A hoarse cry ripped out of Twilight’s throat, brushing past her
friends and ignoring her own fatigue she threw a vicious punch at the
elder vampony. Vincenza nimbly dodged and ripped into her side. The
blow connected and Twilight grunted, jabbing out with her other hoof.
Vincenza, however, blocked and lashed out with her own. Twilight
ducked out of the way and threw her right forehoof into Vincenza’s
stomach, Vincenza doubling over in surprise.

Twilight brought her left forehoof down on her head and savagely
brought her knee up into her face. Spinning around she brought her
right rear hoof down in a brutal stomp-kick. Vincenza threw herself
into Twilight, and as she connected she slipped her left hoof between
Twilight’s legs and her right under Twilight’s left foreleg, using her
momentum to lift her up and slam her into the ground. Twilight landed
and lashed with both her rear hooves. Vincenza blocked them and swung
down in a punch. Twilight rolled as Vincenza’s forehoof went past her
head and smashed into the ground.

Twilight rose as Vincenza wrenched her hoof free from the ground. They
looked at each other, Twilight panting heavily as Vincenza watched
her, a smirk on her face.

“[Why do you continue]?” Vincenza circled like a shark, Twilight
watching her closely. “[Look at you, tired to your bones, yet you
continue to struggle. It would be heroic if it were not so pathetic.]”
She blurred, and Twilight found herself hanging in the air, suspended
above the ground from the roof of a nearby house, Vincenza’s glowing
hoof on her throat. Her friends below called her name and Rainbow was
already ready to catch her if she dropped. She tried to break free,
hitting the leg holding her. The leg snapped under her blows but
healed just as fast as it broke, Twilight quickly exhausting herself.

“Twilight… why do you continue to fight? What could possibly give you
the strength to continue this pointless battle?” Vincenza studied her,
Twilight simply returning the look with a glare. “Tell me, of all the
fights you had to pick? Why me? Why start a fight you could never have
won?” Twilight only bared her fangs at her in a snarl.

“You want to know why?” Twilight hissed at her. “It’s because of a
reason you know very well. Revenge, Vincenza, revenge and hate. Your
kind stole my parents from me, took my brother’s childhood and
destroyed it, and tormented me in my dreams until I was unable to
sleep. Revenge, Vincenza. Revenge for life that I never got, revenge
for what my life has become. That’s why I didn’t kill myself when I
turned, that’s why I continue to live this… charade I call my life!
That’s why I haven’t given up so far and that is why I won’t give up
now!” Something in Twilight snapped, primal magic bursting up from
deep inside her. Her eyes glowed white and a slight pinging sounded as
she flung her head back and legs out, a wave of energy coursing out of
her horn. The wave of energy shattered the magical grip holding her
and caused Vincenza to flinch as the energy rolled over her. Twilight
floated backwards over the courtyard, her mouth hanging open as the
magic raged through her. The wind howled and magic discharged into the
air, scorching anything it touched. The last time she had even come
close to feeling like this was during the entrance exam.

Back then she had been unable to control it, being too young and
inexperienced. But this time she was in control, her mind clear as she
casually observed the power flowing through her.

She turned her head towards Vincenza. Vincenza immediately blurred and
shot forward. This time however, the world seemed to slow as Vincenza
blurred. Twilight noted how the magical discharge that crackled in the
air, the way it flowed from her into the surrounding atmosphere. She
turned back to Vincenza as she closed the distance between them. The
elder’s eyes were wide as she noticed that Twilight moved in
comparatively normal time. Twilight thrust out a hoof, a pulse of
force exploding under Vincenza, sending her into the air. Twilight
took a moment to watch her and then shot after her, a corona of
magical energy surrounding her as she tore through the air. Her
friends on the ground opened their mouths, awestruck.

Vicenza turned to face the ground as Twilight collided with her. As
Twilight hit the unicorn her body grew transparent, only a purple
outline dictating her position against the background. She passed
right through the vampony, electricity sparking as she made contact.
To Vincenza, it felt like the time she had been hit with a steam
train, but more intact. As Twilight passed through to the other side,
she exploded into six small orbs, the orbs zipping around Vincenza and
pulsing, purple magic being unleashed in a wave. Vincenza felt herself
suspended in the air, held in a magical grip. The orbs slowly rotated
around her, each opposite another. She started unraveling the spell
holding her in place when Twilight flashed out of an orb and passed
through her, and as she disappeared into the opposite orb she shot out
of another. Vincenza was helpless to defend herself, suspended as she
was. Twilight was speeding up, as soon as one copy hit, another was
already on its way. They smashed into her relentlessly, Vincenza being
obscured from the ground concealed by purple energy, until all of
Twilight shot back out of the orbs above Vincenza. She hung there for
a moment before shooting through her, and as she burst out the other
side she regained her normal form and the orbs exploded
simultaneously.

Twilight punched the ground as she landed, Vincenza falling to the
ground with a dull thud behind her, smoking slightly. Twilight’s
shoulders notably sagged from sheer exhaustion as the glow faded. She
was breathing heavily and turned around to see the other vampony’s
condition. Vincenza was standing up, smoking slightly but what little
damage visible was fast disappearing. She brushed some burnt hair off
her shoulder as she turned to Twilight. She was wearing a smirk that
practically shouted ‘Nice try’.

Twilight was spent; she didn’t have anything left in her to fight
with. She slumped on to her side weakly, propping herself up with her
forelegs. Vincenza sighed and took a step forward. “Time to die
Twilight, though before you go I do commend you for giving me a great
deal of amusement.”

Rainbow shot in front of her. “Vinyl, I can’t let you do this!”
Applejack and Rarity joined her. “Yeah!”

Vincenza tilted her head. “You do know I can just slip past you,
right?” Applejack nodded.

“You probably could, but you won’t.”

“I won’t? Why not?” Vincenza asked.

Applejack looked her directly in the eyes. “Because you could have
killed Twilight at any time during that fight and because you could
have slipped past us already, I reckon you don’t want to kill
Twilight. I reckon you want to help us get our families back and keep
our friend.”

“That’s what you reckon? Well…” Vincenza blurred behind them, facing
Twilight. She stopped to look over at Applejack. “You reckoned wrong.”
She flashed a smile and as she turned back to Twilight, she recoiled
in shock. Octavia was standing above Twilight on her rear hooves, her
forelegs spread wide on either side of her, tears in her eyes.

“No more Vincenza. Please stop, no more.” She implored, staring into
the hard eyes of the unicorn standing in front of her. Vincenza stared
back at her, and looked away, her teeth grinded as she fought down her
emotions. She paused for a second to focus her thoughts.

“Va bene.” She whispered quietly.

She snapped her head back up as Octavia screamed.

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Twilight watched as her friends rushed to intervene, to try and stop
Vincenza. She lay on the ground as her body and fatigue slowly pulled
her into total blackout. She dimly felt a shadow fall over her, and
she turned her eyes to look at the owner of the shadow. She expected
to see Vincenza, and was startled to find Octavia holding her forelegs
wide as Vincenza talked to her friends. Twilight sighed and began to
black out, her vision fading when she felt something begin to slip in
her mind, something she had kept an iron leash on at all times,
something that she no longer had the strength to hold back. The blood
lust was rising. Twilight fought to suppress it, but was too weak to
do anything.

Twilight turned her head upwards, taking in her surroundings slowly.
Around her were six ponies, six sources of food, of sweet blood. And
she was parched. She looked up at the pony above her, so close she
could smell her sweat, hear the pounding of her heart. She agonizingly
propped herself up, and with flagging strength she flung herself at
the exposed flank, her teeth biting deep. The metallic taste of blood
filled her mouth and ran down her throat, her thirst flaring as she
felt strength return to her limbs. She was about to reposition her
fangs for a better bite when a hoof smashed into her face. The blow
sent her flying backwards, ripping her teeth out of her victim along
with a chunk of her victim’s flesh.

Vincenza snapped her head up and saw Twilight latched onto Octavia’s
flank. She surged forward, ramming her fist into Twilight’s face.
Twilight was sent flying backwards, a sizeable chunk of Octavia’s
flank in her mouth. Vincenza caught Octavia as she fell and cradled
her to the ground. Tenderly she placed her hoof on Octavia’s cheek.
Octavia was screaming, her eyes shut, and she was tossing about.
Vincenza held her tightly. She lit her horn and two white lights spun
around it, the lights jumping from her horn to Octavia’s head. The
lights spun in circle around her head before descending along her
body. As the lights passed her eyes Octavia ceased struggling and fell
asleep, the lights sweeping over her torso and continuing to the wound
in her flank. When they reached it, the lights dove into the wound. It
glowed brightly, and when the light faded the wound was gone. Vincenza
looked back up at Twilight who was busy finishing the chunk of flesh
she had in her mouth, and was looking around for more. They soon made
eye contact and Twilight snarled at her. Vincenza was unperturbed,
tears in her eyes.

“Do you know what you have done you stupid little cazzo?” She spat the
last word with vehemence. Twilight didn’t answer, but readied herself
to leap at Vincenza, or rather Octavia.

“Do you know what you have done?!” Vincenza roared. Twilight snarled
in reply and took a step forward in order to leap. Vincenza’s eyes
flashed red and Twilight fell to the ground writhing in pain. Vincenza
glared at the purple unicorn as she squirmed in agony. Her eyes
flashed red again and Twilight arched her back, her face contorted in
a silent scream.

Twilight felt her mind being ripped apart. She felt another presence
in her head, and it burned like a star. The pain overwhelmed all
things, the only thing she could see was white, and the only thing she
could hear was static. The pain washed away the bloodlust and she
became aware once more, and then that too was drowned in a sea of
pain. She had no control over her body whatsoever as her nerves fired
repeatedly in no order. It felt like she was being drowned, burned,
mutilated, tortured, raped, strangled, torn to pieces and dismembered,
all at the same time.

Vincenza watched coldly, as the unicorn writhed in pain, voiding her
bowels subconsciously. She was prepping another level of pain, one
that would burn all the nerves in the little cazzo’s brain, fusing
them into one defective bundle, when she felt a familiar, yet alien,
presence brush her mind.

‘[What do you want.]’ She thought, making no effort to mask her foul mood.

‘My my Vincenza, is that how ponies these days show respect? Tisk
tisk. I would never have thought you to be one to jump with the
crowd.'The voice chided her.

‘[Oh go buck yourself. I’m busy. Can for five minutes this not wait?]’

‘Slipping back to archaic tongue I see. You must be upset.
Relationship trouble? Your mare put you out to dry? Did you catch her
in bed with another? Please, do tell. I so love gossip.’

“[Fie Fie, what are doing here, aside from being a pain in the flank.]’

‘Funny story… I was strolling by when-’

‘[We both know you don’t stroll. You skip, like girl.]’Vincenza interrupted.

‘You know, sometimes I wonder why I put up with you.’

‘[Because you’d be bored without me. Tell, what do you want.]’

‘Twilight’

‘[…What]’

‘Purple unicorn ‘bout same size as you, roughly 27 years old, Element
of Magic-’ The voice listed, before being interrupted once again.

‘[I know who she is and no, you can’t have her.]’

‘…I’m going to pretended that I didn’t hear that and try again. Stop
torturing Twilight, I need her for something.’

‘[A second time, no. Find someone else, i.e. me, to fulfill whatever
schemes you’ve got running at the moment. Leave me to feed my
revenge.]’

‘Let’s be reasonable about this. Stop killing the unicorn and we won’t
have to get messy about this.’

‘[No! She is mine! You cannot have her!]’

‘…Buck this. This is your last chance. Cease and desist or I will make
you. You once swore an oath to me, or is your word no longer iron?’

‘[…]’

‘Well?’

‘[No.]’

‘I see, I forgive you and apologize for what needs must.’

Vincenza arched her back, and as she flung her forelegs out to either
side of her body, screamed in pain. The ponies around her that had
been begging her to stop jumped back in shock. She soon slumped
forward over Octavia, silent. As she did Twilight too fell still,
curling herself into a ball and starting to sob weakly.

After a long moment Twilight summoned the courage to look up from her
foaltal position. She searched her friends’ faces, imploring them, but
received shell-shocked stares as each had been pushed to and over the
limit of what they could handle.  She turned her gaze slowly,
fearfully, to the elder vampony, a mortal fear unlike any she had ever
felt before raging inside her as she forced herself to look at the
white unicorn. She found herself looking at a slumped over,
defeated-looking figure of pony .Twilight was puzzled, and struggled
to rise when Vincenza slowly raised her head. They locked eyes and
Twilight’s blood froze, temperature dropping and the sun fading in the
sky. The black of Vincenza’s pupils was moving, seemingly flowing
endlessly, like an ocean. The black broke free of its constraints and
flowed throughout Vincenza’s eyes, dispersing like a drop of food
coloring in water until the entirety of her eyes were flowing pools of
darkness. Twilight worked her mouth silently, her voice frozen by
fear.

Vincenza opened her mouth to speak. “Peace vampony, Peace.” But the
voice that issued forth was undoubtedly male.

Vincenza smiled. “Do not be scared. I have, regrettably, exerted my
authority over my agent here and stayed her hand in your execution.”

Twilight worked up the courage to ask in a shaky voice. “Who… who are you?”

The thing using Vincenza smiled. “Be at peace, you have known me all
your life and will know me by the end of it.”

“What is your name?” Twilight asked, some of her courage returning.

“When you know my name, you will know me, as all do in the end.” The
voice answered.

Twilight blinked. “That’s not an answer.”

“I am not obliged to give you one.” Twilight opened her mouth to
retort, but was cut off. “Twilight, I have saved your life so that you
may serve a purpose.”

“What purpose?”

“I will tell you… in time. For now, sleep.” At the last word, Twilight
sagged and dropped to the ground, her world fading to black.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



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Twilight woke with a start, her dream fading fast as she resumed her
presence in the waking world. As she took in her surroundings she
realized that she was in a hospital room. Pushing herself off the bed
she looked around the room. There was a note on the bedside table. It
read:

Octavia and Spike, room 39, ward 16.

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. Ward 16 was the critical condition
ward. Only ponies with major injuries were taken there. She looked
around the room and found the tattered remains of her cloak thrown
over a chair, bottom still stained brown, and after some inspection of
herself, revealed that neither she nor her cloak had been cleaned. She
was troubled by this; usually the staff would have cleaned her and
dressed her in hospital gown if she had been admitted unconscious. She
folded the cloak over her back, and pushed the unease of her dream to
back of her mind. As she stepped out into the hallway, the first thing
she noticed was how everypony stopped their activities to look at her.
Many were wearing scowls on their faces and whispering angrily to
their neighbor. Twilight knew that they were looking at her, and
quickened her speed to a brisk trot as she hastened her way to the
room that housed Octavia and Spike.

She weathered the silent way everypony she met stopped and silently
glared at her, though it still disturbed her greatly. She reached the
door to room 39 and walked into the room, not knowing what to expect.
There were two beds, close together. In the closest one was Octavia,
her friends huddled around her, quietly talking to her. In the other
was Spike, a bandage around his head at eye level, fast asleep.
Vincenza was sitting in the far corner, obviously deep in thought.
Sensing another presence in the room, her friends stopped talking and
turned around. They fell silent, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity glared
at her, whilst Rainbow looked away uneasily and Fluttershy hid behind
the others. Vincenza looked up and regarded Twilight not with the
scorn she had expected, but with pity and sadness. Twilight felt her
throat constrict and forced herself to look at Octavia. Her heart
stopped as she received a clear look at the cellist, noticing with
immense shock that the formerly beautiful mare looked tired, wasted
even, as if she had been suffering under a debilitating disease for
the past year. She looked weak and sickly, but that didn’t stop her
from glaring at Twilight with the utmost vehemence capable of being
expressed. She weakly propped herself up and opened her mouth to
speak.

“You...What are you doing here?” She said in a rasping voice. What
made it the most sad was that she was probably shouting at her full
capacity.

“I-I-I-I” Twilight couldn’t even come close to forming a sentence, her
mind frozen by the sight in front of her. “What… what happened to
you?” She asked.

“You happened to me. You bit me, that’s what.”

“But how-“

“How did end up here? Well, as Vincenza puts it you’ve cursed me.
Because of you I’m doomed to waste away, because of you I can’t go
outside without catching a cold and dying.” Twilight stumbled
backwards in shock. “I thought you were my friend Twilight.” Octavia
slumped back into her pillow, utterly exhausted.

Twilight looked at her friends. Rarity immediately turned away with a
huff, Pinkie and Fluttershy joining her with a sniffling sound,
Pinkie’s her mane and tail flat. Looking to Applejack, the most
dependable pony, for support she was shocked to find her turning away
from her as well. “Applejack….”

Applejack stopped and turned her head slightly, most of her face
hidden by her hat. “We trusted you Twilight.”And she turned away.

Twilight looked to her only remaining friend. “Rainbow… Please.” She
begged. Rainbow was torn, her conflicting loyalties battling from
dominance, the strain showing on her face.

Rainbow gritted her teeth and turned away, her herculean effort
evident. “Just go Twilight.”

Twilight turned and fled out the door. She burst out of the room and
came face to face with a doctor. The doctor narrowed his eyes and with
evident venom in his voice rebuked Twilight.

“Coming to check up on your hoofiwork?”

Twilight flinched under his gaze, looking around the hall. All the
other doctors, nurses, and patients were giving her equally scathing
looks. 

Unable to take the pressure, she teleported away in a flash of
light.