Cheerilee arrived home early that morning, shaken up after finding Note's empty grave. The Princess needed to know about this, and Cheerilee was going to have to work extra hard to track the young pony down. She had no idea what might have happened to him, but it certainly seemed that Note had climbed out of the coffin under his own power.
Most ponies would have thought such a thing impossible. Cheerilee considered that. Note was dead, she'd been there when it happened. The mare decided that as soon as she found him, she'd ask about it.
Opening her front door, Cheerilee noticed something was wrong. There was a faint smell in the air of soil and dried blood, and a more pervasive chemical odor. She stood still, listening hard. Somepony shifted quietly in the next room.
Cheerilee carefully walked forward, searching each room. She found Note lying on the floor in front of Luna’s mirror, examining his teeth. Pearly white fangs protruded from his upper jaw with faint traces of blood around the gums. He'd washed off since exiting his grave, but apparently hadn't had soap to use. Faint traces of dirt still clung to his coat.
In as calm a voice as she could muster, the schoolteacher asked, “Why are you in my house?”
“I wanted to ask you to join us,” explained the young pony. “Mr. Crosscut probably won’t approve, but I don’t want you two fighting.”
“I was trying to stop him from killing any more ponies,” said Cheerilee, fighting to keep emotion out of her voice. "I'm not going to make friends with him."
“Yeah, he wasn’t happy with you interfering with his business.” Note got up, pushing the mirror away.
“His business is ponycide?” This time Cheerilee couldn’t keep a straight face.
Note looked annoyed. “Crosscut’s business is opportunity. Lately, his focus has been on real estate. If there’s a prospective deal, he’ll find a way to make it work.”
“By killing whoever owns a piece of property if they refuse to sell?” asked Cheerilee. That explained why each murder always seemed to coincide with a sudden change of ownership or status.
Note shrugged. “Some ponies need more persuasion than others.”
“None of this seems wrong to you?” demanded the mare. “You’re suddenly okay with murder?”
The young pony seemed to falter a little. “Well, what else are vampires supposed to do? I can’t exactly go back to my old life. Not that I’d want to. I was a nopony without any friends.”
“And you think hiding your identity in the shadows is going to give you more of a social life?” questioned Cheerilee. She shook her head. “Note, you really don’t know the can of spaghetti you’ve opened.”
“That’s what I have Crosscut for,” said the colt defensively.
“How did you come to know him, anyway?” asked Cheerilee. “How long?”
“About a week,” admitted Note. “He came up to me one day and asked for help uncovering you. He told me you were a fraud and gave me the school records to prove it. Later, he told me what you were. After you abandoned me in the park, he came back and was able to change me before brain death set in.”
So that was it. Cheerilee had never considered putting another pony through her ordeal, and therefore had never thought much about the process involved to create a new vampire. She asked, "So you just waited out the funeral from inside the coffin?"
Note made a face. "The worst part was embalming. I had to just play dead. Crosscut says the formaldehyde should work its way out of my system soon."
Well, that explained the unpleasant chemical smell. Note had been prepared just like a dead body, which technically he was.
“You did all this for Crosscut?” asked Cheerilee. “None of it seemed strange? I would have thought a random stranger asking you to help take down your high school teacher would be suspicious.”
“Unlike you, he's never lied to me!” Note shot back.
Cheerilee shrugged. “Unlike him, I’ve never killed anypony who was innocent.”
The two of them stared at each other for several seconds before Note turned away. “I should go.”
As he started to walk away, Cheerilee called, “I assume you heard about Golden Ring. Tell Crosscut that I won't let him kill my whole class."
Note stopped. “Crosscut didn’t kill her.”
Cheerilee waited a beat. “You?”
“I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to talk to her. She always thought I was such a geek. I thought maybe she would think I was cool now. She got scared, though, and I tried to stop her from screaming and running away.” Still not facing Cheerilee, Note shrugged and took another step towards the door.
“Note...come back.” At Cheerilee’s words, the young pony turned around.
“What?” he said.
Cheerilee’s head hung low. Her voice was almost a whisper, but her words were clear. “You’ve murdered somepony, Note. It’s not something that you can take back. You didn’t kill her for any good reason. You aren’t sorry about it, and you’ll probably do it again."
Note snorted. "Isn't that what I'm supposed to do? What vampire feels bad about drinking blood?"
The schoolteacher raised her head and locked eyes with her former student. "You're looking at one. I do what I have to do, but I don't kill needlessly. Nothing says you have to be a monster, Note."
The young stallion sneered. "I'm not. I'm the top of the food chain and you're just a teacher who is too scared to embrace what she really is. I'm going to go find a nice dinner. It's going to be nice and bloody, and you'll join me if you have the guts."
Cheerilee took a step forward, glaring at him. Her lips pulled back automatically to reveal her fangs. "I'm not going to let you do that."
Seconds passed. Note made the first move.
Well then.
This is gonna be freakin' epic
i.imgur.com/f4qnA.gif
yeah Note great idea fight the pony that has years of experience being a vampire while you have only been one for a few hours, GENIUS I SAY
anyway this story is getting realy good im glad i found you man.
Note... you really have no idea what you are doing.
The impression that a nerd, if given a little extra power, would turn out to be just as bad as the people who tormented him is turned up a little over the top for my taste. We just don't know much about Note to consider the shift of persona believable, but that's a relatively small complaint considering he's a minor character. I think.
1194025
I meant to explain this a little better in the next chapter.
Still not a good idea to mess with nerds.
1194012
You should see what I have in mind for the final battle with Crosscut.
1194052
Lol, you're right. I have a five swords literally five steps away from my computer desk.
You never know when that one time you are going to need them will arise.
Silly Note, prepare to be DESTROYED!
Well... unless his first move is to run away I suppose.
Either way, I hope Cheerilee kills him.
1194155 That seems a bit.... Completely insane....
1194211
Hey, I was hoping Note would be a cool sidekick, but instead he became evil!
For this betrayal he must die.
I don't make the rules, I just follow 'em... well... I follow them when it suits me, at least.
1194240 He can still be a cool sidekick! All it says is he made the first move! What if it's saying sorry?
C'mon, Note, you could'a been Robin! Then you had to blow it and become a bad guy.
1194012
And now I'm gonna edit that and make it look like there's something thrusting into her
I know how Note feels. I accidentally kill people ALL THE TIME.
But in all seriousness I like what you did with him. I assume that Crosscut turned him knowing that this would happen? That's clever. If Note kills her, Crosscut wins. If she kills/incapacitates/spares Note, Crosscut doesn't lose anything. Very smart of him to use his vampiric empowering like that.
Wow, Vampire Note is an absolute dumbs***. Note: Side effects of strains of vampirism include photophobia, sparkly skin, and the transformation of smart people to fools.
I'm afraid I cant let you do that Note.
What did I tell you about cliffhangers, eh? Best to leave 'em hanging, I think.
Anyway, love what you've done with the chapter. Just keep it up! Oh - and congrats on the fave. Told you it would happen!
This story is epic. Just sayin'
1194266
I'm waiting for him to die, too.
She does not have to kill Note, if they are indeed comming to blows
As the Elder in this fight, Cheerilee could just incapacitate Note until the Guards show up, and have them take
note away to Luna for education and interogation.
1194063
3 steel, 1 wood, a staff, 1 dagger, 2 pocket knives, medical-grade scalpels (need to restock those...) & exactos, and about 80 lbs in lead bricks.
1194571 to be fair his brain DID almost die
1197403 True.
1194425
Oh, man, I know what you mean, like, I'm just walking through the park and it just HAPPENS! So annoying.
Ansyways, I was hoping for and opportunity to post "Well that escalated quickly" but no. This story just had to have a reasonable, enjoyable buildup.
And Note's a dick, not gonna lie.
1197388 "3 steel, 1 wood, a staff, 1 dagger, 2 pocket knives, medical-grade scalpels (need to restock those...) & exactos, and about 80 lbs in lead bricks."
I have no weapons by my computer.^_^
I have only my own body here.
I'm so awesome I don't need anything else now.^_^
1194025
Seems realistic to me. The tormented soul suddenly gets a taste of power and he wants to give as good as he got.
Unfortunately, his second target won't be nearly as easy as his first.
1198275 *rubs the lead bricks on your keyboard*
*lead poisioning*
*u r ded*
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I gotta say man, you are one hell of a writer.
I've killed most of my days off going through your A Dream story all the way up to the latest Vampire Cherilee.
Keep up the good work man, I've got your bookmarked for future followings!
I also facehoofed when I put together the "Death Note" pun.
1200675
I...I didn't even see that pun.
Now I know why my prereader didn't suggest any other thing to name him.
1194052
Indeed. Any poor tormented soul, even weak ones will be the stronger with a push. Where the physically strong will beat you around the mentally developed will blackmail you in elaborate and genius ways. Essentially: You do NOT mess with nerds.
Excellent piece of fiction, I must say!
I have a sudden urge to tape a shotgun underneath my desk. Oh well, I guess I just have to do with the rather large selection of kitchen knifes right behind me (I sit beside a kitchen). And throw the entire drawer.
1194014 more like JENIUS
1194392
arch.413chan.net/shut_up_amd_money_take_my-%28n1300896078157%29.jpg
1403238 I don't get it. Why would you tape a shotgun under your desk? You couldn't even fire it or anything if it was just stuck there.