//------------------------------// // V: TwiBat // Story: The Nightmare Blessing // by PixelMoon //------------------------------// The Nightmare Blessing (Rewritten) Chapter Five: TwiBat Written by PixelMoon As I left my room in the castle my stomach growled again, making it hard to concentrate. I closed my eyes in pain and hissed. It seemed being a vampony also meant hunger was even more painful. Well, I guess that makes sense. If blood if the source of my power and regular food does absolutely nothing to benefit me anymore, then I suppose it could make sense. My stomach growled once more, causing myself to growl in annoyance. The worse my hunger got, the more I lost myself to my vampiric ways. I trotted out of the castle as fast as I could while low on food. That was, unsurprisingly, pretty fast compared to average ponies. Heading into the forest, all of the creatures around me instantly stopped making any sounds. Even the crickets seemed to stop chirping. I let out a low growl as my stomach decided to create a loud noise, causing whatever animals that were brave enough to ignore me to fall deathly silent. "Come out, come out, wherever you are..." I felt a smile tug at my lips as I watched with satisfaction every creature who thought they were hiding from my gaze shake with fear. At least these animals were smart enough to see that I was at the top of the food chain. My red eyes suddenly widened. What was I saying? Shaking my head, I growled once more. It seemed that becoming a vampony had affected my train of thought. But my hunger got the best of me. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, and when I opened them out once more, my pupils had become slited. I smiled a fanged smile as all of the sanity seemed to slip away. I hissed, and with a swift motion, I became a bat. My forehooves became batlike wings, and my backhooves transformed into the feet of a bat. My fur became a incredibly dark purple, almost black and my mane and tail seemed to just disappear. I took flight and smiled, my fangs gleaming in the moonlight. I quickly flapped my new wings and exited the forest and began to fly over Ponyville. My eyes scanned over the town when my ears suddenly twitched as I heard a sound. I heard the flapping of wings, and what sounded like ponies talking. "We found nothing, Dash." the first voice said. "Well try harder! Twilight has to be around her somewhere! We haven't seen her all day and even Spike hasn't seen her. Fluttershy, do you think you can talk to some animals and see if they've seen anything?" The third pegasus in the air slowly nodded her head. "I can for Twilight... As long as you want me to, of course." Dash nodded, and with that Fluttershy flew away. She scanned the skies for any flying animals to start, and her gaze landed on me. She gasped with joy and quickly flew to me. "A bat! Oh how amazing!" She paused when she took a closer look at me. "Your eyes... Oh you poor thing! You don don't loom like any bat I've seen!" She attempted to hold me, but I hissed and she immediately backed off. "Stay away..." I growled. Fluttershy gasped. "That voice... Bats aren't supposed to talk like ponies. And you sound just like Twilight!" she immediately grabbed onto me before I could react, and she folded my wings so I couldn't fly away. I yelped in surprise and I suddenly felt my logical mind return with my vampiric instincts fading away for now. "Fl-fluttershy! Let me go! I need food!" "Twilight, it is you! Oh you poor thing! Whatever happened to you?" Fluttershy continued to fly back to where Rainbow Dash and the other pegasus were flying with me struggling in her grasp. "Need... To escape... Food..." I groaned as I attempted to flap my bat wings. "We'll get you some warm coca and a daisy sandwich once we get you back home, Twilight. Don't you worry." "No, Fluttershy! You don't understand! I don't need pony food! I need something else!" "I'm sorry, Twilight! But we need to help you as soon as we can!" Fluttershy reached Dash as she said those words, leaving me miserable. I stopped speak and attempted to act like a normal bat. "Rainbow! I found Twilight!" Fluttershy said. Rainbow's eyes lit up with happiness. "Really? Where is she?!" Fluttershy held me up to Dash, who gave a confused stare. When she didn't catch on, Fluttershy stqrted to explain. "Dash, the bat is Twilight!" Dash rose an eyebrow. "Uh, Flutters? Twilight isn't a bat. She's a pony." For some reason, that line made my blood boil. I hissed and bit Fluttershy with my fangs, and ripped free from her grasp. Fluttershy yelped in pain and held her hoof as tears began to form in her eyes. When I saw her face, I immediately felt guilty. "I'm so sorry, Fluttershy!" I flew back to the crying pegasus and landed on her hoof. Rainbow just stared with wide eyes at me. "T-twilight? Is the that you?" Rainbow stuttered. My eyes instantly widened as I realized I gave myself away. "Uh... No?" Rainbow was about to say something, but I stopped flapping my wings and began to freefall from the sky. "Hey, wait up, Twi! What happened to you?!" Dash flew down to catch up to me, to which she did fairly easy. "Uh... I'm not Twilight! I'm...somepony else!" Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Yeah right, Twi. Now what the hay happened to you?" I groaned at the pegasus next to me, and I began to flap my wings again. "Can I please just get some food?! Is that so much to ask?!" Rainbow nodded. "Oh yeah, sure! We can go to Sugarcube Corner and have Pinkie make us some food. She doesn't go to sleep until like, five A.M." I growled for the hundredth time that day in irritation. "No! No, no, no, no, no! You guys don't understand! I don't need pony food! I need blood!" I immediately stopped flying and just flapped my wings in place. My eyes widened, and I gasped before staring at Rainbow. Her wings slowly flapped and her face held no emotion. "What do you mean, 'you need blood?'" "I..." I sighed as Fluttershy slowly glided down to the level the two of us were on. She held a look of fear, and hide behind the other pegasus. "Rainbow, Fluttershy... I'm a vampony. I got turned into one by Nightmare Moon, who also happens to be Princess Luna instead of being a creature made with jealousy and hatred like my books said. I'm ao sorry." Rainbow's eyes widen while Fluttershy squeaked in fear. I gulped and gazed at my two friends. A silence filled the air once more after neither of the two mares said anything. I sighed, before hanging my head low. "I'll just be on my way. Maybe I could move into the Everfree and away from everypony else so you could be safe. I don't know." I began to fly away, before hearing a slight sound come from behind me. I turned my head slightly, and saw the Rainbow had flown away, while Fluttershy was on the ground, running to some unknown destination. I sighed and flew to the ground, before transforming back into a pony. I walked slowly down the dirt road with my head low enough to touch said ground. "My friends hate me now..." I muttered. "Now that ain't true, sugarcube. None of us think that." I gasped and looked up to find all five of my friends, smiling at me. Even Rarity, though she seemed to shake a little when I made eye contact with her. "You're still our Twilight, vampony or not." And for the first time in what felt like forever, we all did a group hug, with me in the center.