//------------------------------// // Luna, and the Preparation // Story: Lord of the Night // by Blood Red //------------------------------// I woke to a feeling, one I did not know well, but knew none the less, pain. Scared witless by this all-encompassing pain I opened my eyes, and found myself looking at Zecora’s hut, with sunlight coming through the room. Suddenly I heard a scream, and a blanket was thrown across my body. The pain I was experiencing went away but I was left extremely sore all over, under the blanket, I found I could still see, I inspected my body, I was covered in heat blisters. I called out to Zecora from under the covers. “I need blood, desperately, I know I shouldn’t ask this off you, but I must have it, otherwise I shall die”. I didn’t know how I knew this; I just did, seemingly instinctively. She replied, “I shall give you my blood, Clash, gotten from a recent gash”. With this I heard a grunt then a dripping, then a small cup was handed to me under the blanket, and I partook in the blood, of a Zebra, the disgust I thought I would have felt, completely overpowered by my desperate yearning need for the blood. I turned into a Zebra under the covers, but immediately turned back, scared the change would expose me to sunlight. With the pain gone I became aware of Zecora moving objects around her hut and hammering something into the walls. “It is all right, inhere it is now night”, Zecora said. I took of the blanket, and found the windows to the hut covered by blankets and book cases, with the fire in the middle of the room burning brightly, Zecora standing near it. “I am, tremendously, sorry Zecora, no one should have to suffer on my part,” I said “I shall take my leave as soon as I am able” “Please just wait till tonight, you shall meet the antagonist of nightmare night” she replied. “You mean Princess Luna?” I questioned, surprised that they know each other. She nodded, smiling. I spent the rest of the day asking Zecora about the inhabitants of Ponyville, hoping that at some point I could go there. Soon the sun descended from the sky and the moon rose into the sky. Desperate for fresh air and to stretch my legs, I left the hut, once outside; I decided to try to learn how to walk as a quadruped. I changed into the zebra form, the first time I changed willingly, I felt my bones melt, and then restructure as a four legged animal, I fell to the ground, then got up shaking, tried to take a step, and then fell over again. However my second try was much better and soon I was able to trot along the ground at a reasonable place. I looked at my body and realised, that rather than a normal zebra I was red with black stripes, or black with red stripes. I sat on my haunches and changed back, looking up at the night sky, I saw that it was different to my own, constellations that created vague animal shapes on earth, where it was obvious what they were representing here, I could see lions, and tigers and bears, (oh my) among others. I then saw what appeared to be a shooting star, descending near me. As it got closer, I saw it was becoming increasingly pony shaped, until I realised that this was the expected Princess Luna. I bowed feeling this was the right thing to do when meeting royalty, (shut up, I happen to like being part of a monarchy), But as she landed I heard her say “Arise, Lord of the Night, you and I must talk, for I am one of those that helped your predecessor remove you from earth” I gasped at this, and replied “do you mean to say, that you are to blame for my current circumstance”. As I stood I saw that she stood at about five foot, leading me to deduce that Celestia was probably about 6 foot. “Partly” she replied, with a curious look on her face, continuing she asked “you do not seem happy young Clash, whatever is the matter?” “It’s just that I find it annoying, that I am now constricted to the night, and have to drink the blood of others to survive” I said sarcastically, I was far more angry than annoyed at this point, for it seemed she felt that the abilities given to me by Dracula, where a boon to my existence. This changed her manner, as she became defensive “you do not like my nights” she questioned, both sadly and angrily at the same time. “I like them just fine actually, but I find that it is hard to sleep anywhere when you can expect to be burning to death in the morning” I replied. “That is a simple fix; you do not need worry, for all you need is a cloak of some sort to cover your body” she said trying to reassure me “in fact I believe in the town over yonder, you will find a designer friend of mine, who should be able to help you with this, I shall lead you there”. With that she trotted off, expecting me to follow, and after a moment of digesting the fact that I was heading into Ponyville, I ran after her. As we walked I questioned her about why I was here, and she explained that, over the last 6 months, many humans had been introduced to Equestria, in a bid by the many gods of my world and hers to try to change Equestria to be better for themselves, she told me stories of humans changed to sea serpents, diamond dogs, wolves, griffins and changelings. By this I deduced that it was sometime after the ending of season 2. Then I saw that we were nearing Ponyville, and realised that its inhabitants probably would not take kindly to the sight of a 6 foot 4 human, clad in gothic armour. I asked Luna about this and with little ceremony she cut her hoof and presented it to me, saying “This is the least I can do for it is partly my fault the situation you find yourself in”. with this I drank her blood, feeling my body and armour change, once I had completed this change, I decided to see my body in a nearby pond, I trotted over, and saw that rather than becoming a alicorn, I had become a black furred, blood red maned, Pegasus, with the armour covering most of my body, yet for some reason presenting the cutie mark area clearly, the princess saw me patting my forehead and my questioning look at her, and explained “You cannot be affected by magic, so a horn, something created by magic, would not work on you, neither will you have the strength of an earth pony, although this is negated by the superior strength of a vampire, nor the ability to walk and manipulate clouds like a normal Pegasus”. While she was saying this, I noticed I had a cutie mark that in itself was a little bit foreboding, three crimson tear drops. With the transformation over we continued into Ponyville, where we trotted to the carousel boutique, and knocked on the door, at this point it was quite late, so I was surprised when it was opened by none other than Rarity herself, whom on noticing the princess and myself standing out there, said “Princess Luna, how could to see you, and friend of princess, whatever can I do for the two of you, please, come in” she asked smiling brightly, so we entered the business, however when I passed by Rarity, she visibly shuddered, upon seeing my cutie mark. Inside the store, I was quite surprised to see a cyan Pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail, dressed in Japanese style robe, with her hair styled in a free flowing manner, it really looked like Rainbow Dash, yet if the show was anything to go by, she never would have dressed like this, so it couldn’t be her. However this sherlockian theory was proved wrong when she strolled over and introduced herself “Hi I’m Rainbow Dash, who are you”. Figuring that I could at least trust these two, I changed back to my vampire self, and said “Hello to the both of you, my name, is Clash, and before you ask, I am a vampire” this caused Rarity to faint and Rainbow Dash to rush at me and push me to the floor, for someone so small, she sure was strong. As I lay on the floor, I saw Rainbow Dash picked up by Luna’s magic, and moved to the other side of the room, then she picked up rarity and shook her slightly, waking her. “Please Rainbow Dash you act to hastily, this is a good person whom is here to ask a favour of Rarity, it would be good of you to show some restraint in future” She said “Clash are you alright” “I’ll live” I exclaimed, getting up of the floor, “but please don’t do it again”. Dash just fell to floor saying something about “stupid humans” or some such thing. While this was occurring, Luna and Rarity, had been talking about my predicament, and Rarity walked over, visibly scared, but sucking it up, her generous spirit making her willing to help the ‘poor’ vampire. “So you wish to use my designing skills” she enquired, removing a tape measure from a nearby draw, and walking over to me. I just nodded, and she started to take my measurements while I explained that it would have to completely cover my body and armour, which I had found I could no longer remove from my body, and then I realised my sword had disappeared, but upon thinking this I saw a part of my armour become a liquid and drip into my hand, extending outwards and becoming a sword, everybody apart from Luna was surprised by this, especially Rarity who had almost been cut by the sword, when it appeared. “I am so sorry miss Rarity” I apologised “that was a complete accident, I do hope you can find it in your heart, to forgive me” laying it on thick, she was designing my robe after all. “Of course dear” she replied “I am sure you didn’t mean it, besides I'm finished taking the measurements now, I shall work quickly, as Luna has told me of your predicament, however it will take a few hours, why don’t you go see twilight, she has been tracking the appearance of these ‘humans’ and I assume she could help you with where you should start” “Okay well we shall see you soon,” Luna said “come Clash, to the library”. With a goodbye from Rarity and a quick apology from Rainbow Dash, we took our leave; I changed back into a Pegasus, and we left the boutique. We trotted in the direction of the library, which was lit brightly, with something even brighter flying around inside, where I ascended the stairs and knocked, the door was immediately opened by Spike, who upon seeing me, asked rather rudely, even though it was the middle of the night, “what do you want”. But then he saw Luna behind me, and immediately opened the door, allowing us to enter the library, where I saw a phoenix, which I assumed was Peewee, from the dragon migration episode, flying around the library, flaring brightly, and being chased by a certain lavender unicorn which seemed to be trying to catch it with her magic, before I assumed, it burned any books. “Spike I'm sorry” she exclaimed, so distracted by the hullabaloo that she didn’t notice us “we just can’t keep Peewee anymore, his flame is just getting to hot, were going to have to….” That’s when she turned and noticed us, at the same time as Peewee, who for some reason, descended and landed on my head; I was always liked by birds and was used to attracting them, but was still surprised, especially when I wasn’t burned. Upon seeing Luna and myself, she blushed, and I just smiled. “Hello, Princess and friend, welcome to the Ponyville library,” she said, waving at the bookcases around her “what may I help you with”. Hoping to get a funny reaction, I decided to return to my vampire body again, which caused twilight to just look confused and spike to jump behind a couch, all the while Peewee remained on my head, at which point I reached up to touch him, surprised again when I did not feel any heat. As I scratched the phoenix, Twilight looked at Luna, and just pointed, asking a question without even talking. Deciding to introduce myself I said, “I am Clash, Vampire and The Lord of the Night”. I really did like that title, but was still surprised when Luna looked at me in askance, as if not liking me using that title, but if I was the heir, to my predecessor then I figured I inherited his title. So I just smiled at Luna, who nodded her head, accepting it. I looked back to twilight, whom had trotted over to us and was proceeding, to right down my appearance and everything I had done as of yet, in a little notebook in front of her. “Miss Twilight, I am here to ask for your help, I was told by my predecessor that I must find other humans and see if they are worthy to remain in Equestria, and, while I do not necessarily want to do this, I feel that I must do something, and should start with this” realising as I said it that that really was how I felt. Continuing I said “Rarity, whom I just met, told me that you might have some idea, where I should begin”. “Well, while I wouldn’t say I can tell you exactly where, apart from a few, there are humans, I can tell you of a few places, in Equestria, that have been experiencing particularly bad problems with a range of different animals, that are acting in ways they have never done before” Twilight said “And I must say, you are far nicer than others of my kind you have met”. “Thank you my dear, I aim to please, for you see, I try to always be polite, for without manners, humans are truly no greater than the apes, to whom we relate” I replied, continuing “I believe that I may have a solution to your problems with the phoenix, why don’t I take him of your han…, err, hoofs, that is, for though it does seem he likes you, having him live in a library would probably not be for the best”. With a look from Twilight at Spike, whom merely nodded his head sadly in agreement, I gained a pet, which, appearing to understand what had happened, flew over to Spike, landed on his claw, and wrapped his wings around Spike, and then released him and flew back to me. “Well then Miss twilight, I would be much obliged if you could give me some sort of map with where these strange occurrences have happened marked on it”, I asked, hoping to return to Rarities as quickly as possible, as I feared their might not be much time till sun up. Within moments I was in possession of a such a map, and so I took my leave of the two and started to walk to rarities, Luna and the Phoenix in tow, not bothering to return to pony form, as I had decided no one else was likely to be about at this hour, as we were walking though, Luna looked up to the sky and said “Oh my, this took us quite a longer while than I planned, I must return to the castle, but first let me explain what I require of you”. After this she told me all that had occurred over the last six months, namely the adventures, of a human-griffin, a human-diamond dog, a human-wolf, a human-changeling, and a human-serpent, when mentioning the last one Luna blushed considerably, something I wouldn’t have even believed she could do. Then she proceeded to ask me, to seek out spies, placed around Equestria by evil beings, whom her sister and herself, among others, where now against. She was asking me to do this, as I had the ability to tell between a human that had been changed and a normal being. When I asked how she merely said “You will know” and handed me a large bag of bits, and flew off into the night. With that I arrived back at the boutique, where a tired looking rarity was just finishing an accompanying satchel to the dark brown robe and sunglasses she had created for me. “Hello darling”, she said, on seeming enter the shop, either not noticing Peewee, are just ignoring him, “I hope you don’t mind but I placed some enchantments on the bag, glasses and robe, all will change form to fit you, regardless of what you look like, and the robe will never slip unless you want it to, and the bag is much bigger inside than outside”. I placed the robe on my body and found it covered everything but my eyes and fit perfectly, going all the way to the ankle, where my feet where covered, by the metal plating of the armour. I tried to pay her, but she would not allow it, saying I was far too polite, especially when compared to other humans she had met, "whose been so rude to these guys?"I thought "they seem nice, even Rainbow Dash apologised to me" , to pay for a simple robe, that she had found fun to make. So with a “Chow Bella” I left and turned back into my pony guise, I saw the sun was rising so placed everything that rarity had given me on and opened my map, which said that I should return to the Everfree Forest, where it seemed a griffin had been attacking ponies, who on trying to communicate with it, just heard shrieks of laughter and screaming about New York. This seemed like a good a place as any to start, so I turned around and trotted towards the forest, with the phoenix on my back.