The First Hunt

The Unexpected

It was a quiet night in Ponyville. Nopony was out on the street, and all the lights were off in every cottage, except for one; Fluttershy’s. She was still up, standing in front of a full-length mirror in a red duster and wearing leather barding around her neck.

“I don’t know Angel.” The Pegasus said meekly, turning to her pet rabbit. “I just don’t think it’s me.” The rabbit bit the leather barding as hard as it could. “I know that it works, it’s just that red, doesn’t suit me.” He simply waved it off, strapping a wooden stake to the end of her hooves. “Well, I guess you’re right. Fashion doesn’t really matter if it works… Thank Celestia Rarity didn’t hear me say that.” Angel nodded, placing a red fedora gently on her head. “Thank you Angel.” She said with a nod, leaning the hat forward a bit to cover her eyes. “If I don’t make it back before sunrise, lock the door, and there’s carrots in the kitchen if you get hungry.” The rabbit nodded, tossing her a pendant of Celestia’s cutie-mark which she put over the crown of her hat. She left, taking a deep breath if the midnight air before flying off, trying to get used to the new weight on her body as she flew.

Deep in the Equestrian Badlands sits a town with no name that had a night life as lively as a day life in most other small communities. This was where Fluttershy was heading, and she was terrified. She had never been out this late, or hunting for something for that matter. She kept trying to calm herself down, though it didn’t really help.

She landed in front of a bar (also without a name) in the town with no name. “Not a lot of names around here is there?” She asked herself with a chuckle before walking into the bar. She took a seat at the bar, keeping her head down. “Apple Cider.” She said to the rust-colored stallion behind the bar in as gruff of a voice she could muster. “I-if that wouldn’t be too much trouble.” She continued, her tone reduced to her normal, apologetic one.

“It’s what I’m getting paid to do.” The stallion replied, sliding her a wooden pint. “5 bits.” She nodded, putting the money on the table. “By the way, you look ridiculous.”

“R-really?” She asked, doing a visual sweep of the room.

“Just a little. The pendant on your hat isn’t helping that either.”

“Oh.” She replied, giving a small nod. “Would you, um, like to try it on?”

“No thanks. Not a big fan of the Princess.” This comment caught the mare off guard. There was only one type of pony that didn’t like Celestia. And that was the type she was hunting.

“You know what? I insist you try it on.” Fluttershy replied.

“And I don’t want to.” The bartender replied.

“Come on, just for one second?” She asked, now having the pendant in her hoof.

“Look. For the last time. No! And that’s final!”

“Alright.” The mare replied meekly. “Just, um, one question. It’s not in my hoof. It’s not on my hat. So where is it?” The bartender’s eyes widened as he realized the pendant was on him and he screamed in pain, as if he were on fire. “Now, you want to see how it looks?” The only reply was more screaming. She pulled out a small mirror from her duster, and placed on the bar. “Sir, are you aware that you have no reflection?” Only more screams. “Right.” She turned to the rest of the bar’s occupants. “Um, excuse me?” She said meekly. “Excuse me?” She took a deep breath before banging a hoof on the wood of the bar. “Hey! Everyone out!” And before one could say “wait what?”, everypony had cleared the building. “Now, you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?”

“Go to Tartarus.” He struggled to say, getting weaker with every passing second.

“It might happen eventually.” She replied. “But as long as ponies like you are around, I don’t plan on dying.”

“Nopony, plans on it. But it always happens.” He replied, chuckling to himself.

“What’s so funny?”

“The fact that you didn’t notice the mare behind you.” She turned, seeing a gray mare behind her with a bar-stool.

“… Dangit.” Was all she said before the stool was broken over her head and she toppled to the floor. She groaned, getting back to her hooves, head pounding and seeing that the stallion had gotten the pendant off.

“You’re new to this, aren’t ya?” The stallion asked, smacking her across the face. She felt her head for a moment, feeling something drip onto her hoof. Blood. “You must be, or else you’d of know that vampire ponies don’t like to be alone. We’re just too vulnerable on our own.” The ringing persisted before she realized she had wooden stakes strapped to her forelegs.

“Actually, I do know.” She said, smiling as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I was like you once. And never again!” She circled around the stallion as quickly as she could before plunging a stake into his back. The stallion was reduced to dust as the stake clattered to the ground. The Pegasus took a moment to pant, picking up the stake and taking out the mirror to inspect her injuries. “That’s gonna bruise.” She told herself, noticing a fire-axe floating towards her. “Oh right.” She turned and quickly stabbed the gray mare in the torso with the stake she had just grabbed, and she too turned to dust with the axe sending her in every direction. “Now, where do they keep their brooms?”

Fluttershy returned home right as the sun rose into the sky, tired and in pain. She stumbled into her cottage and flopped onto the sofa with a groan. “Angel.” She called out. No response. She sighed to herself, deciding to not bother right now. “He can take care of himself for a little while.” She closed her eyes for what seemed like a minute before there was a knock at the door. “Who could that be?” She asked herself through a yawn. She opened the top-half of her door, seeing Twilight.

“Hey Fluttershy.” The Alicorn greeted before noticing the condition of her friend. “What happened to you? And why do you look like something out of a vampire hunting story?” This was followed by a few seconds of silence as Twilight was let into the cottage.

“If I tell you the truth, do you promise not to tell anyone else?” Fluttershy asked, staring at the floor.

“Of course.” The purple mare replied with a concerned nod. Fluttershy took a deep breath before exhaling.

“After I was turned into a Vampire pony, I felt… now quite right. Like what I contributed nothing. I only took. So after I was turned back to normal, well, almost,” She opened her mouth and tapped her sharpened canines with her hoof. “And I heard that there were actual Vampire ponies in Equestria, all I wanted to do was get rid of them. And last night was my first hunt. I think it went pretty well.” She lifted her head, revealing the several bruises, splinters and red-streaks in her hair she had gotten from the previous night. This was followed by another few seconds as Twilight took the info in.

“… Did they sparkle?”

“What? No, of course not. They’re blood-thirsty monsters. Have you ever heard of a monster that sparkled?

“Well…”

“Don’t answer that.”

“How do you even know that vampire ponies actually exist anyways?” She asked, beginning to walk across the room. The question was short lived as the princess tripped over a metal handle in the middle of the Pegasus’s floor. She opened the hatch, revealing a room filled with cork-boards, newspaper clippings from all over Equestria and several stacks of books.

“Does that answer your question?” She asked, casually dropping into the room.

“Um… Fluttershy, this seems a little crazy.”

“How so?”

“It’s just, a bit hard to believe.” Twilight said, taking the room in. “You. Fluttershy. The Element of Kindness, is killing vampire ponies.”

“Says the Element of Magic that dabbles in science.” She said with a bit of anger in her tone. “Now, do you want to help me with this? Re-killing the undead?”

“Why are you asking?” Twilight asked, looking around the room.

“You could be helpful.” Fluttershy replied quietly. “I’ll be honest, I’m not that good at studying.” With a few more seconds of thought, the purple mare nodded.

“Sure. But this room seems more like my type of work as opposed to… let’s call it field work.”

“As I expected.” Fluttershy left the cellar, leaving Twilight alone, who took a deep breath.

“Know thy enemy.” She said on the exhale, opening a book from one of the piles.

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