Creature of the Night

by RealBarenziah

Chapter 3

"OOF!"

Twilight's breath was knocked out of her when she was thrown rather suddenly onto hard earth. Coughing out the dust that was thrown into her face, she took a moment to let the dizziness and the foggy vision subside. She shook her head of it, and remembered that Rarity was in danger.

"Rarity!," Twilight cried, taking in her surroundings for the first time. When she did, her voice stuck in her throat. Before her lay a clearing in the twisted depths of the Everfree Forest. Scattered about it were ponies. Ponies living in darkest parts of the forest? It was unheard of. But then Twilight's foggy head cleared and she remembered what happened in Rarity's store, and was instantly gripped by caution and paranoia.

She gazed out at the mass of ponies. They were beautiful. More beautiful than anypony Twilight had seen before. The mares and the stallions rivaled even Rarity's elegance. They seemed to be occupied with their own business, clumped together in groups, eating...something. Drinking something. Twilight's insides twisted in shock and revulsion when she saw that some of the beautiful ponies' mouths were smeared with red, and all of them bore the same ivory fangs as the mare that attacked Rarity at the store. Suddenly their beauty became grotesque and unnatural to Twilight. Who were these monsters? Where was Rarity?

"Rarit-!" Twilight's desperate cry for her friend was cut short when a solid hoof struck her in her shoulder, pinning her to the ground. Twilight shouted in pain and looked up at her captor. It was a large, and rather handsome, male unicorn. She would have thought him beautiful if he hadn't been staring down at her with scarlet eyes, a cruel, sharp smile etched across his face. Twilight could feel massive strength in his one hoof alone, and shuddered to think of what he could do with all four.

"Our hunt tonight was more than a success!" He said down at her with a smooth, oily voice. It was the kind of voice that in any other situation could easily persuade anypony of anything. "Not only did we catch ourselves a whole two pretties, but we had quite a bit of fun in the process, didn't we Craeva?"

The mare from the store came into Twilight's view. She noticed that Craeva was much rougher than the rest, but still beautiful in her own brutal way. "Indeed, Knight."

Knight, the pony holding Twilight down, turned to Craeva and gave her a strange look. "You're a mess," he said without sympathy. Craeva returned the remark with an annoyed glare. "Wash up for dinner would you?"
"Oh, shove off Knight. I'll do and look how I like."

Twilight desperately cast her gaze around as best she could. There was no hope in wriggling free of Knight's grasp, and she knew that she might have to attempt another teleportation, but she needed to get her bearings first. Looking more closely now she saw that the clearing was divided, for the most part, into several sections, presumably separated according to use. Mostly the sections trailed off into the cover of the woods, what Twilight thought could be their resting area. She was able to determine the most likely use for each part of the clearing. The section she was in, for example, was obviously the dining area.

There were bones. Big bones. Bones that could only belong to ponies jutting out of the ground as if their bodies were buried there carelessly like a dog burying a bone.
There was blood. Fresh red was smeared here and there in the dirt and grass, giving off a metallic, sour smell. Older, dry patches of brown encrusted the earth, giving off a fainter, rusty smell.
Twilight had no doubt that the only reason she and Rarity were there was to be eaten. Eaten by grotesque, deformed, twisted ponies that might as well not have been ponies at all. Or perhaps not eaten but drunk from. Bled dry slowly until there was nothing left but a dry husk of skin and bone. Twilight thought back to that ridiculous book that didn't seem so ridiculous anymore.

Suddenly a glimpse of pinkish mane caught Twilight's eye and saw another pony laying not too far away. It was strange seeing things from that angle, but Twilight realized that it was Bonnie, her soft yellow coat and magenta and purple mane were ragged, dirty, and touched in some places by blood. She was breathing, from what Twilight could see, but only just. Her eyes were half open, half closed, and Twilight wondered if they were seeing anything at all. Forgetting herself, she called out, "Bon...Bonnie!" There was a pony standing over her. The bat-winged stallion leaned down and suddenly bit down violently on little Bonnie's fragile neck, right over bite marks that were worn and ragged, as if they had seen multiple use.

"Bonnie!!" Twilight squirmed to get closer to her, to get that thing off of her. "Get away from her!!" Bonnie's eyes closed and her face weakly contorted into an expression of dulled, exhausted pain. Knight's hoof slammed down harder onto Twilight's shoulder, and she cried out in surprise and pain. She had forgotten, in her panic over Bonnie, that she was helpless.

"What do you think you're doing?" Knight said, amused. "She's gone, hon. Gone too far for you to help her. Don't worry, she'll still last a few days at least. But then, I figure she'll last a lot longer now that we have you two to divvy up amongst the coven."

A high-pitched scream suddenly pierced the air, and Twilight knew at once that it was Rarity. Twisting her head, she saw two of the creatures trying to get to her neck, but she was squirming and kicking so much that they were having a great deal of trouble.

"Get away! Get away from me you disgusting, rabid beasts!" she cried. In a snarl of frustration, one of the ponies slammed Rarity's head into the ground by her temple and held it there. He bared his fangs and opened them up to pierce her skin.
"RARITY!" Twilight cried. She landed a swift kick in Knight's stomach, causing him to flinch just so. It was probably more the shock of the blow than the actual damage it did that made him react but it game Twilight enough time that in a sudden burst of magic she disappeared from under Knight's hoof and reappeared over Rarity.
The two ponies trying to get to her were blown back in a flash of violent sparks, and all that remained was Twilight standing protectively in front of Rarity, who was trying to get herself on her feet again.

The commotion started attracting attention and it wasn't long before the ghastly ponies of the forest started to gravitate towards Twilight and Rarity, circling around them to watch as a few of the diners approached them with teeth bared.

"Twilight," Rarity whispered, terrified. "What- What in the world are these things?"
"I think..." Twilight cast her gaze about the advancing ponies. Their sharp teeth, leathery wings, eating habits; There was no denying it. "I think their vampires."
"Vampires?" Rarity replied.
"I was reading a book that talked about them. They're ponies that live in darkness and feed off the blood of the living."
"What do you mean, 'living'?"
"It's said that vampires are the walking dead."
"I-I don't understand...."

"Their creatures of dark magic, Rarity. They rely on pony blood to survive. They plan on feeding off of us for as long as possible. I'm guessing their food has been scarce. Maybe trying to steal ponies discreetly, keeping their existence secret."

Rarity eyed the vampires warily. "Did that book of yours say anything about how to defeat them?"

An earth vampire pony, one without a horn or wings, suddenly lunged forward. Rarity yelped in surprise, and in a flash of pink Twilight summoned a protective barrier around her and Rarity. The bubble sparked and shot the pony backward once again. It was a strong defensive spell that Twilight had never really practiced before. It was so strong that is was making her perspire with effort just trying to keep it going.

"Not really," Twilight said in answer to Rarity. "All it said was: the full moon shows them for what they truly are."
"Well," Rarity huffed, half annoyed, half terrified. "That doesn't help us in the slightest."
"Maybe," Twilight had to stop for breath now. The spell was becoming tiresome. Through the pinkish barrier she saw Knight approach.

He laughed at her and Rarity cowering behind the barrier. "Do you think that's going to keep us from you?" His horn started to glow with a magical aura, as Twilight's does when she casts a spell, but his was different. The aura was black and spindly, reaching out into the air and clawing at the empty space with an insatiable hunger. As Knight drew nearer, the black magic wrapped itself around Twilight's barrier and dug its cruel talons into it. Twilight physically reacted to the added strain, her legs buckling slightly, her body being pushed down. But she didn't give up. She fought against Knight's magic.

They pushed against each other, back and forth, Twilight growing ever weaker and Knight seemingly unaffected by the struggle. Soon Twilight could no longer hold and the barrier ripped violently apart between Knight's ethereal claws. Before she hit the ground Knight's hoof slammed into her chest with remarkable speed, flipping her and pinning her on her back. She was too weak to fight anymore, physically or magically. The only hope was to run. With the fading shadows of her remaining strength she began to conjure the spell that would teleport both she and Rarity from the hollow to somewhere else.

Knight smiled cruelly down at her. "Just try it," he said. "Go ahead. Teleport away from here with no magic to ride on. Rip yourself to shreds, appear over a canyon or at the bottom of a lake, leave part of your friend behind." he lowered his voice to a threatening whisper. "Just try it."

Twilight knew he was right. Trying to cast a spell in her current state would only spell disaster for them both. She wondered whether it would be a better death than was to come, but didn't get the chance to decide before the magic died out of her completely.

"There's nothing that can save you," Knight said. "...say it." Twilight was silent. Knight pressed down treacherously on her chest.
"Twilight!" Rarity cried in terror. She was cowering not far away, unsure of what to do. She didn't know any kind of offensive magic. Only useless levitation and silly things like that. None of the other vampires were approaching. They were just watching, as if they had all come to see a performance. They circled around the stage, waiting to see what would happen next.

Twilight felt her rib bones creak under Knight's weight, and felt that one of them was dangerously close to snapping. "Say it!" he yelled at her.
"There's..."
Knight smiled at her again. "You're going to feed us. You're going to feed us tonight, tomorrow, the next night, and every night for as long as there is blood in your veins." His jaws parted, revealing two shining fangs. Twilight felt the tips of them press through her coat and push against the skin of her neck.
"Twilight!" Rarity shrieked.

Suddenly Knight was thrown violently away from Twilight, bowling into the front line of spectators many feet away. Twilight saw four slender white legs standing over her.
"Rar..." She said. She looked up at her, but it was not Rarity. She was white like rarity but her mane was a orange and flowed smoothly, subdued compared to Rarity's style. She wore a simple scarlet thread around her neck. Her equally scarlet eyes glared after Knight. This pony was a vampire, and she had just saved Twilight. The notion that perhaps this creature was a friend was immediately evaporated when the mare's eyes cast down coldly at Twilight, sharing the same icy glare she had given Knight.

"Get up," she said in a voice that would make Tartarus freeze over. Twilight complied, getting into a sitting position, and Rarity immediately flew to her side. The mysterious vampire mare turned back to Knight. "Fool!" she cried at him. "Do you know who this is?"

Knight snarled at her, "I see nothing here but our dinner. Or have you forgotten that we're starving?"
"You're a fool, Knight. Don't you see? This is the one His Majesty has been waiting for." at these words the congregated vampires resonated with a collective intake of breath, turning their heads to look on Twilight and whisper amongst themselves.

"Now, if we're quite done," the mare said. She turned to Twilight. "You. Come with me. Leave you're friend, please."
"No." Twilight said sternly. The mare turned her head and glared at Twilight. "Didn't you hear what I said? I told you to leave her."
"No. If you want me to follow you, Rarity's coming with me."

The mare and Twilight scowled at each other for several moments, the silence dragging out as the onlookers anticipated the next reaction. At last the mare sighed in annoyance. "Very well," she said. "You can bring...Rarity," she said the name like it was distasteful in her mouth. "Now stop sitting around in the dirt and come with me. Unless you'd rather be eaten, of course."

The mare started towards the line of vampires and they parted ways to let her through. Twilight forced herself to stand, finding that she was already starting to recover from the magical strain.

"Twilight," Rarity said quietly. "Are you okay?"
Twilight let out an indifferent huff and joked, "First stallion to throw me down and he's trying to kill me." She sauntered on, but Rarity could just see the smallest tendons in her legs and back trembling. Twilight was such a brave pony, but her self esteem seemed downgraded as of late. Rarity followed her, sticking close by her side while they followed the mare across the clearing. Behind them the crowd dispersed, and the hollow was once again dotted with the vampires as they scattered about back to their resting places, conversations, etc.

When they reached the edge of the clearing Twilight saw that they were heading for a tunnel in the dense growth of the forest.
As they passed through it Twilight's eyes adjusted in the dark and she saw that it was quite a short tunnel, spotting a patch of dim light ahead of her. They emerged, and Twilight braced herself for whatever she was about to encounter.

But there was nothing. It was a small clearing with soft patches of grass here and there and a large grassy nest-like area near the back, probably a resting area, but that was it. There was nopony there except for the two mares and the vampire.
"I don't under-"
"Shut up," the mare cut Twilight off. A soft breeze tussled her orange mane as she took a few steps deeper into the clearing. Twilight and Rarity stayed where they were.

The mare lifted her gaze to the cloudy night sky and said with a spectacularly loud voice, "my lord, we've found her. The unicorn you've been waiting for." Her voice resonated in the trees, echoing up into the air and the clouds.

At first nothing happened, then the air started to shake with some malevolent presence. The clouds above swirled ominously above them, flashing with the dim light of lightning as it struck behind the hazy surface, never breaching the clouds themselves. The wind picked up, tearing at Twilight's mane and bending the forest around them. Then something burst from the clouds and descended.
The clouds began to calm, the wind returned to it's former stillness, and before them stood a great alicorn, bearing the horn of a unicorn and the great leathery wings and scarlet irises of vampire. He stood nearly as tall as Princess Celestia, but he was so much darker than any pony Twilight had seen before. His coat was ashen, his mane was shades darker, and his face, though quite handsome, bore an ancient and evil nature that took the voice from Twilight's throat. His cutie mark was a slender crescent moon, red and dripping with it.

"Twilight Sparkle," he said. His voice was like nothing she had heard before. It was a beautiful voice, in its own way, but incredibly dark. "I've been looking for you for quite a long time."

Comments

[Thespurgin]

Typical. Twilight gets grouchy about Rarity getting all the stallions and it turns out that the first to REALLY show an interest in her is a vampire lord that decided to kidnap her and her friend rather than meet her himself.

Poor twilight... it's terrible being a weirdness magnet. First the elements of harmony being certifiably insane, and a dragon with an interspecies romance with an older mare, a pet phoenix... now a vampire love interest. WHY FATE WHY!?