Prelude
In the small village of Oaken, on a dark and eerie night, a small colt draped in a heavy cloak, hurried quickly and quietly down the streets and alleyways. He stayed close to the shadows, so that anypony who happened to be out would not be able to see him, as he headed toward his destination. Which, just so happened to be a lone shop that stood at the far end of the village, nestled between two taller, less shabby buildings. The colt wasted no time in trotting right up to the door and knocked. After a few moments, the door opened a crack, a single eye peering out from it.
"Who are you and why have you come, state your name and where you are from." said the pony that stood on the otherside of the doorway.
The colt pulled down the hood of his cloak, revealing his young, pale face, and crimson-colored mane. He cleared his throat, and said, "My name is Drake, from Castle Alucard. I take it you're the town shawmare, Zecora?"
The door opened a bit wider, revealing the face of Zebra mare. "Yes indeed, what is it that you need?" she asked.
"I was sent here by Eldra, she placed an order from you, and I've come to pick it up." Drake replied.
Zecora eyed him carefully, her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized him before finally opening the door all the way and beckoning him inside.
"Yes, I have what you seek. To prepare this order was no easy feat. Please wait inside, it'll be ready in a bit. Until then, please do sit."
Drake took her offer and sat himself down on a nearby stool while Zecora headed into the backroom, and began to take in the inside of the shop and all of its curiosities. It was a fairly small room, with mysterious masks and talismans hanging from the walls, and bookshelves cluttered with books, bottles, candles, and dried out herbs. Never before had he seen anything quite as strange as this in his life. So strange was it, that it prompted Drake to get up from the stool and began to roam around, getting a closer look at what was laid before him. As his eyes scanned over the objects, he caught sight of something that quickly piqued his interest. It was a bottle filled with pearly liquid, as white as the freshest milk. Drake picked up the bottled and squinted at its insides, lightly swishing it around, and wondering what sort of concoction it was.
Just then, Drake's ears perked up as he heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching from the backroom. Not wanting to get in trouble for poking around the store items, Drake hurried back to his stool, and watched Zecora step back into the room, carrying with her a small, white paper bag in her mouth.
She dropped it into his open hooves and said. "Take this to your mistress without delay, and tell her to give my required pay."
"She's not my mistress." grumbled Drake, getting up and heading for the door. "But I'll be sure to tell her that."
Zecora bade Drake farewell, as made his way home to Castle Alucard.
* * *
Castle Alucard was an ancient and magnificent structure that had long stood against the test of time. Made from strong, finely cut blocks of stone, it was a stronghold fit for a king, or in this case, the noble vampiric family that was the Alucards. For centuries it had been their home, passed down from generation to generation of each head of the Alucard family. However, since the true, current head of house had flown off to the New World, it had since been occupied by its next successor, Eldra.
And so it was, on this dark and eerie night, that Eldra was passing the time by lounging around and ordering the servants to do various tasks (for she liked watching how they would scurry about and fall over themselves in order to please her). As she was directing one servant on where to hang a grand pirtrait of herself, Drake had returned and entered the room with the package.
"Ah, Drake." Eldra purred, noticing the colt. "Have you brought what I asked for?"
Drake pulled out the bag and gave it to her. "Yes." he replied simply.
Eldra snatched up the bag and took a peek inside. She grinned as she looked down at its contents. "Yes, this will work quite nicely." she murmured.
"The shawmare wanted me to tell you that she'd like to be compensated for making your order." Drake added.
Eldra scoffed and waved her hoof absently. "Please, as if I'd actually pay the likes her. She should just be honored to know that I'd even allowed myself to consort with the likes of a witch. Hmph!"
Drake frowned disapprovingly, but said nothing. He knew it would be pointless, and that nothing he said or did would be able to compel Eldra to change her mind to pay back the shamare. Instead, he excused himself, and headed for his quarters. As he walked down the hallway, he wondered why it was that he had ended up getting stuck in the care of a pony like Eldra.
For you see, since he was brought to Castle Alucard just a few years or so ago, it had been declared that he was in Eldra's care and that she was his guardian. Drake could recall the times in which he'd went up to Eldra and asked how she became his guardian and what happened to his parents. To which she'd always reply that they were dead or that they abandoned him, that she was the only one who was there to rescue him from what would've been a terrible fate, and then she'd brush the discussion off to the side and change the subject. This made Drake often wonder about his parents, who they were, what they were like, and if they even loved him or not. He kept all these thoughts to himself however, because he knew that it'd be pointless to ask anypony if they knew, which they probably didn't.
When Drake finally got to his room, he took off his cloak, and tossed it onto his bed. As he did this, something slipped out of its pocket and clattered onto the floor. Drake's eyes widened as they looked upon the object, which was the bottle with the white liquid he'd been looking at while in the shop.
"How'd that get there?" Drake wondered aloud. Then he remembered how as he had hurried back to his stool, he had slipped the bottle into his pocket without even thinking about it. He slammed his hoof against his forehead and scolded himself. 'I'll have to try and return it later.' he thought to himself.
He went over and picked up the bottom from the floor, and noticed a label printed out on its bottom. He tilted the bottle so he could clearly read the script, and it read: Memorial Remedy, for the viewing and remembrance of the past.
Drake looked at the bottle in confusion, finding the label to be both informative and strange. He could understand the part about remembering the past, making it seem like this was some kind of memory potion, but he didn't understand what 'viewing' meant. Would he see the past flash before his eyes or something? A thought, or rather, a very curious thought, sprang into Drake's head. He wondered if taking the potion would help him remember his parents. It would be a long shot of course, since he didn't actually know if the potion worked or not, but even still, the possibility was almost to tempting for Drake to resist. He had long wished he could've met his parents, and now it seemed that the chance to had just fallen into his lap.
After giving it some considerable thought, Drake decided to drink the potion, but only a bit of it. He uncorked the bottle and sipped the milky liquid. It had an odd taste to it, but other than that, it wasn't too bad. He wanted a moment but nothing seemed to happen. He was about to call the potion a dud, when suddenly a light filled his eyes, and he felt himself being transported somewhere, even though he was still remaining in his room.
Drake blinked, and his vision cleared. He found himself in the living room of what appeared to be a humble cottage. "Where am I?" he wondered. He then noticed a Pegasus mare nearby, sitting in a great armchair and humming to herself as she knitted a blanket. Drake could tell she was pregnant, because of her swollen belly, and that's when he realized that this mare was his mother.
"See the twinkling stars, within their moonlit sky, dream the night away, as I sing my lullaby." The mare sang sweetly, pausing from her knitting, to rub her belly gently.
Drake just stood there, taking in the whole scene. "My wonderful baby, I can't wait to finally meet you." his mother whispered.
He listened to every word she uttered, never before hearing her voice until now. He could feel his eyes beginning to well up, and quickly wiped them. Then, the scene began to fade away, bringing Drake back to reality. He looked down at the bottle, amazed at how it worked. His mother was making a blanket for him, was singing a lullaby to him,...she loved him. It filled Drake with a warmth that he'd never felt before, filling his heart and spreading throughout his body. Without hesitating this time, Drake took another drink from the bottle, this time a larger dose.
Same as before, his eyes filled with a bright light, and he found himself back in the presence of his mother, this time lying tiredly in a bed. A mare in an apron came up to her and handed her two bundles before leaving her. Drake trotted up to the bed to get a closer look at the bundles. It was then he saw two Pegasus foals, one he recognized as himself, and the other was a filly that bore a similar resemblance to him, but had pink hair instead of crimson.
His mother beamed as she looked down at the pair. "I'm so happy." she breathed. "Happy to have been blessed with two adorable fouls." She cuddled them close to her chest and whispered, "Drake, Fluttershy, my beautiful babies."
Drake stared unblinkingly at the little filly next to his younger self. He had a sister. He had a sister. All this time, he'd thought he was an only child, the thought never crossed his mind that he could have a sibling, but now it turned out that he did! It all seemed incredible. For the next few minutes, he watched his mother contently as she doted on her dear newborns, but the touching scene was soon shattered, when a sinister laugh pierced from the shadows.
Drake's mother pulled her foals into a protective embrace, and called out, "Who's there?"
Out from the shadows, stepped Eldra herself, grinning cruelly. "My, my. Isn't this just precious!" she said sarcastically. "The touching sight of a mother and her spawn."
Drake felt frozen in place. What was Eldra doing here?
"What do you want?" his mother asked cautiously.
Eldra inched past Drake to the bed. "What do I want? Quite simple really." she said. Then, in a lightening fast move, she pinned Drake's mother by her neck. "I want you and my brother's little brats dead, so that I can see the look on his face when he learns that his dear wife and newborns, who he loves more than anything in the world, are gone."
A fire lit up in Drake's eyes. He ran at Eldra and tried to attack her, but ended up hitting nothing but air. 'That's right.' he thought. 'This is all just a memory.'
"Please..." His mother choked. "Leave my babies alone. You can whatever you want with me, but let them be, they're innocent!"
Eldra smirked. "As tempting as that sounds, I already have something quite dreadful planned for you." Her ear twitched a little and she added, "And they should be here at any moment now."
"They?"
Eldra didn't reply, but rather, she gazed down at the two fouls that Drake's mother was still clinging to. "On second thought, there's a slight change in plan." she said. With great ease, she wrenched young Drake from his mother's arms, causing both of them to cry out in protest.
"NO! GIVE HIM BACK!" Her pleas fell upon deaf ears however. Eldra peered down at Drake's bundle, then looked over her shoulder at his mother and sneered at her.
"So sorry, wench, but as I said, there's been a change of plans." Then began to stalk off, adding, "Say goodbye to your darling son, and perish knowing there was nothing a weak thing like you could to save him, much less your daughter or yourself. Farewell." And with that, she was gone.
Drake's mother tried to get up from the bed, but was too tired and weak to do so. She collapsed onto the bed and broke out into heavy, hysterical sobs. Drake's ears then pricked up, as he heard the sound of ponies yelling and shouting coming from outside. He hurried over to the window and saw a mob of ponies with pitchforks and torches heading toward the house, cursing his mother. He watched as they began to set the house ablaze, the intense fire and smoke filling the room, suffocating his mother and sister. It was at this moment that Drake was pulled away from the memory. He let out a cry of protest as it happened, not wanting to leave her or his sister, but he had no control over it and returned to his room.
* * *
For what seemed like forever, Drake sat on the floor in the middle of his room, processing all that he had seen. His mother...his sister...they were both taken away from him and left for dead...and Eldra was responsible! The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, feeling like such a fool for doing as she said and helping in whatever tasks she gave him. Drake narrowed his eyes over at the potion, imagining Eldra standing in its place, mocking him and making snide comments about his family. He reached over and picked up the bottle, the remaining liquid within swishing as it moved. He still had more questions about the past, and this potion could help provide him with some of the answers he craved. And once he had them, he'd begin to plan his revenge. Revenge on Eldra, and make her pay for everything she'd ever done to his family, and everypony else. And so it began...