Creature of the Night

by RealBarenziah

Chapter 2

Twilight's copies of Obscure Unicorn History v.1 and Historical Black Magic Blunders slid back to their places on the shelf, filling the empty spaces perfectly. The sun was reddening and the air was tinged with the first violet of the night sky, a perfect dusk. Twilight stood at her desk refining a small stack of notes. Finishing off the last sentence, she let the quill obey gravity again and lay itself on the desk.

"Youwan' me ta pu' thos away for you Twi...?"

Twilight turned to see an exhausted Spike standing next to her, ready to serve, as always. "That's okay, Spike. You go on and get some sleep. I have a few things I still need to take care of tonight."

"Oka...y" Spike slowly climbed the stairs and fell into his little bed, falling asleep before he had a chance to get under the covers. Twilight smiled after her little friend. He was always so helpful to her. When the ink was dry she rolled her notes up in scrolls and stored them in a neat stack on her desk.

She quietly tip-hoofed out of the room and down the stairs to the main floor and wandered into the kitchen; she was feeling a little thirsty and thought a drink would help her get through the long night she had planned. She took a bottle of sarsaparilla from the fridge and took it back upstairs, opening it with magic and placing a straw inside as she went. When she reached her room again she didn't stop to study but rather passed her desk altogether and went to the balcony outside.

It was a warm night once again, and as Twilight sipped her drink the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the horizon and the last ponies that were outside disappeared into their houses. Twilight's gaze shifted up to the night sky and all the stars that filled its vast emptiness. She had always admired their gentle glow. Ponies always seem to fear the night and the darkness, but they never see how much light there really is. This probably explains why they were so afraid of Princess Luna when she first visited Ponyville after she had returned.

Twilight, on the other hand, considered herself lucky to know the patron of the night and the mother of the moon and stars. She resolved to send a letter to Princess Luna next time she wrote Princess Celestia and see how she's doing. An unexpected chill breeze blew into Twilight, causing her to shiver. Suddenly she heard a soft thump back in her room. Her heart skipped a beat, but she was quick to calm herself. It was probably nothing.

Abandoning her sarsaparilla bottle outside she trotted quietly inside to investigate, hoping that Spike didn't accidentally roll out of bed and fall over the edge of the loft. She quickly surveyed the room, but found nothing. No Spike, thankfully; he was sleeping soundly in his basket. Then Twilight spotted a book laying on the ground that had fallen, the source of the sound. She let out a soft breath. "I knew it was nothing." She approached the book, intending to put it back where it belonged, but paused. It was Historical Black Magic Blunders, the book she'd been reading not long ago.

"Maybe I didn't tuck it into the shelf enough," she whispered to herself. She still lingered though, seeing that the pages had fallen open to a curious entry. It was an article that she had come across before but never dedicated any study to. It was short, only a page long, and described a mysterious transformation that had thought to be the product of Black Magic, forbidden knowledge of dark magical studies. The entry was not backed by much fact because the subject matter, according to the author, was difficult to study without coming to bodily harm at best and death at worst, so the article could rely only on numerous myths and tales collected from pony villages around Equestria. Twilight herself never thought there was much point to the article, but she found herself reading it despite herself.

"Vampires," she read aloud in a whisper. "Little is known about these mysterious creatures, and they are commonly believed to not exist at all. Even I, a humble traveler accustomed to having faith in so-called mythical, non-existent creatures, find it difficult to believe a myth of such proportions. And yet the stories of these fearsome creatures has sent chills down my spine and set my teeth on edge. Many villages in the remote recesses of Equestria harbor tales of Vampires. They are apparently ponies that had been infected by some means, commonly from the bite of another Vampire. Sunlight burns their skin, and its life-giving rays that we so covet mean only death to them, yet many stories I've collected don't regard them as alive at all. To survive Vampires must feed of the blood of uninfected ponies, "the living" as some tales describe the victims. Blood is their only source of sustenance.

"These stories are consistently vague in the process by which a pony becomes a vampire other than the fact that he or she must be bitten. Is it a venom of some sort, or a spell? Is it simply the contact between the two creatures that transfers an unknown disease? We will never know, if these creatures exist, for their elusive and murderous nature would no doubt hinder any attempt at study. Legends and myths concerning Vampires were also consistently inconsistent, each one differing the exact characteristics of the Vampire.

"Despite this, though, each story I've encountered has, in one way or another, stated vaguely: 'the full moon shows them for what they truly are.' I have been unable to determine what this means, for the information is lacking and the continuing pursuit of truth in myth will serve only to distract my career from its set path. So I leave this topic here, and despite my lack of faith in this particular legend, I find myself cautioning anypony from pursuing these creatures."

The page ended abruptly, and the next page started an entirely unrelated analysis on the actions of an ancient cult-lord that burned ponies alive and reanimated their corpses with the black arts. Gruesome stuff. Twilight knew that the Vampire article had been removed from the most recent edition of the book, and thought it odd that the author had included it in the first place. And yet for some reason she felt that the article was screaming a warning at her, resonating in her heart, pleading with her for something. She quickly shut the book and tucked it tightly back into its spot on the shelf. "Silly," she said softly to herself.

Twilight shut the door to the balcony against the night, and exited the room again, down the stairs, across the main library. She paused, catching her reflection in the mirror. She lingered for a moment to try an fix her mane so if fell more nicely over her eyes. She continued to stand there, looking at herself and wondering why she looked so plain. Rarity wasn't plain; She was beautiful and stunning and always had the attention of a handsome stallion. Twilight frowned at her reflection. She was ugly. No stallion would blink an eye at her. They never had. Twilight felt sheer hopelessness starting to take hold, and she turned away from the mirror before she could think anything else about it, and left out the front door.

As the door shut behind her, Twilight noticed that it was getting darker outside. Dark clouds had appeared, and Twilight remembered that Cloudsdale had scheduled cloudy nights for the next couple of days. Disappointed that the stars would not aid her in her watch tonight, she ventured off into the town, only the street lamps shining in the dark. Her eyes adjusted and she saw everything clearly. "Perhaps this is a bit too much," She said to herself. "Bonnie is probably just away. There's no filly-napper or murderer or anything out here." A warm breeze slowly blew through the town square.

BANG

Twilight froze and her ears stood up, alert. What was that? She looked about. Nothing. Everything was still. Everything was silent. The only sound was the quiet hush of the gentle wind as it brushed the town with its soft fingers. No bird chirped, and no insect rattled or squeaked. It was like time itself had stood still.
Perhaps everything was a little too quiet.

"What's going on..." Twilight couldn't help saying it, but she quickly corrected herself. "No. That gust of wind just blew a window shut, that's all." She continued down the path. "I can't tell which direction it came from anyway."

Twilight strolled in the night and soon found herself in front of Bonnie's house. It was dark, like all the other houses on the street, but yawned an emptiness that chilled Twilight's bones. The dark windows sucked at the air, reaching out with ominous blackness, pleading for its lost owner to return, yet somehow knowing she never will. The scream from the night before, the cold breezes, the missing pony, the ominous nights; everything was screaming at Twilight, but she had been refusing to listen. And now as this house stood before her, pleading for her attention, Twilight finally accepted what the house was trying to tell her: Something bad has happened here.

"And something bad is going to happen tonight. Or," She cast her gaze around the empty street. "Something bad has already happened."

Finally starting to worry, Twilight dashed about town looking through windows, checking doors to make sure they were locked, keeping an eye out for open gates, broken windows, disturbed flower beds, anything that would give her a sign. But there was nothing. Nothing at all.

"I don't understand," She said quietly to herself. "Why am I so sure if there's no evidence?" Suddenly a patch of light appeared beside her, and she turned around to find that one of the windows to Carousel Boutique was illuminated. Rarity was up late, probably working on a new design or something.

Twilight made her way toward it, for comfort of a friend or to see if she was alright, she didn't know. Nevertheless, the next thing she knew she was knocking softly on the door to the boutique. She heard the soft patter of hooves approach, then the door opened and Rarity stood before her.

"Twilight!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing out here at a time like this? Come in!"
"What are you doing up so late, Rarity?" Twilight asked as she crossed the threshold and the door shut softly behind her.
"Well I had a few designs I need to get done before tomorrow. The real question is what you're dong up so late, Twilight. And outside, no less."

"Oh, well...I was just planning on studying the movement of the stars during the night," Twilight lied. "But the Pegasus ponies scheduled a cloudy night. I saw that your light was on and decided to check up on you."
"That was very kind of you Twilight....I've been needing to talk to you anyway. I wanted to apologize for earlier today. Our conversation was interrupted and-"

"No, don't worry," Twilight interrupted. "I didn't mind. I know your busy with your customers sometimes and I didn't want to muddle your business."
Rarity raised an eyebrow at her. "Twilight. You know very well he wasn't there to buy any dresses."
"Okay. I know your busy with your fans and I didn't want to muddle your business-" Twilight stopped short, cursing herself inwardly. She tried to swallow the bit of venom that came into her voice. Before she could stop it, though, "he didn't want me there anyway," slipped out.

"Twilight!"
"What? It's true. Every guy in town wants to talk to you, not me. It's better that I just get out of the way." She shook her head violently, trying to shake these feeling from her head. "Nevermind. Forget I said anything. It's no big deal."
Rarity trained her sympathetic gaze on Twilight. She said, "Twilight, don't be silly. You're-"

BANG BANG CRASH BANG

Twilight and Rarity nearly jumped out of their skin at the sudden racket. "What in Equestria was that?!" Rarity cried.
Heart racing, Twilight said, "I don't know. It sounds like it came from the back."
Rarity gasped, "My dresses!!!" she cried, running toward the door to the back rooms.

"Rarity!" Twilight yelled after her. "Wait! Stop!" But Rarity had already reached the door and when she flung it open a great dark thing flew out, knocking her over then darting around the room so fast they couldn't tell what it was. Finally it stopped on top of a wardrobe, and both Rarity and Twilight froze at the sight that snarled above them.

It was a pony. Or rather, what should have been a pony. She was a pegasus, but her wings were featherless and leathery like the wings of a bat or a dragon. Her teeth were sharp and grotesque, and she had two canines that were longer than the rest. Her coat was deep red and her mane was shaggy and black. The only relatively normal thing about her was her cutie mark, which was a graceful quill, but it seemed faded and sunken into her coat, and instead of ink there was a drop of blood coming from the tip of the quill. Worst of all, though, were her eyes. They were normal at first, for the most part, but when they trained on Rarity, when the mare smiled cruelly with her demented teeth, the black of her eyes widened and engulfed the scarlet irises, leaving only shining onyx set in ivory. She was like a shark who had just smelled blood.

Rarity was terrified. She tried to speak, ask what that was on her wardrobe, but nothing would come. Suddenly the creature screeched an unearthly sound and dove towards Rarity. Rarity screamed and the mare grabbed at her, clutching her hair and neck as she writhed desperately to get away.

"RARITY!" Twlight cried.
"TWLIGHT!" The mare shot towards the window, Rarity in her grip. In flash of light, Twilight teleported outside the window just as the creature crashed through the glass. Twilight grabbed the mare carrying Rarity, managing to get a grip on her shoulders. The mare screeched angrily at Twilight and continued to fly seemingly unaffected by the added weight.
"T-TWILGH-" Rarity tried to yell for help. Suddenly Twilight was knocked violently off the mare by what looked like a black cloud populated by bodiless leathery wings. As she fell, the cloud engulfed her and she felt invisible limbs constrain her. She kicked and squirmed against it, somehow catching a glimpse of a unicorn screeching at her the same way the pegasus was. But just as quickly as it had appeared it was gone, and Twilight was unable to free herself from the grip of the ethereal creature.

Unable to escape, Twilight and Rarity were carried off into the darkest reaches of the Everfree Forest.

Comments

[DreZoma]

OOOOOH SHIT

[DontTellNobodyImHere]

ZOINKS, SCOOB!