//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Equine Vampiris // by The-rogue-shadow //------------------------------// The morning sun broke over the hills surrounding Ponyville, casting long shadows over the small town. The birds, which were usually vocal in praising the dawn, were strangely silent this particular morning. Near the centre of town sat a large tree. It had originally been the town hall during Ponyville’s early years. More recently, however, the tree house had become Ponyville’s library. It was a place of peace in times of trouble and much to the residents' dismay, it was often damaged. The tree was bathed in the golden light of the morn, making the frost on the leaves sparkle like the stars. These were the same stars that the tree house’s sole occupant, the unicorn Twilight Sparkle, had spent most of the night gazing at. Twilight turned over as the sunlight filled the room, trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep before she had to begin repairs on the hole in the ceiling that Twilight’s pegasus friend Rainbow Dash had made the day before. Normally she would have fixed it before she went to bed, but at the time she had been too busy with an assignment in transmutation magic. “Twilight... Twilight, it’s time to wake up,” said a soft voice. She opened one eye to find her assistant, the purple baby dragon Spike, shaking her with one hand while in the other, he carried a plastic tray that held Twilight’s breakfast. She sat up, raising her foreleg to shield her eyes from the sunlight. Lately, Twilight’s eyes had been extra sensitive to light and she couldn’t seem to find a cause, nor could any of the local doctors that she had been to see. Charging her horn with magic, Twilight closed the curtains, breathing a sigh of relief at the same time. Spike placed the tray on her bed, a look of concern in his eyes. “Still having problems with the light?” he asked, untying the pink apron that he was wearing. She nodded, downing her glass of orange juice in one swift movement, then doing the same with her tea. “Hey Spike, do we have any orange juice left?” Twilight enquired. “I’m just really thirsty all of a sudden.” Spike nodded, taking the glass off Twilight and leaving. She rolled her dry tongue around in her mouth, confused as to why she was still so parched. Spike returned a moment later, giving the now full glass to Twilight, which she also managed to finish in one gulp. Twilight bit into her toast, struggling to chew the stale bread. After what seemed like hours, she finally managed to swallow. She looked at Spike, her eyes bloodshot and teary with the effort. All of a sudden, Twilight heaved. She tried to throw the blanket off her in a mad rush to make it to the bathroom, only to get her hooves tangled in the sheets. She barely managed to get her head over the side of her bed before a wave of vomit forced its way out of her mouth. It was quick but very painful, as Twilight rolled over, clutching her abdomen as tears fell from her eyes. Spike ran to her side, slipping a little on the pool of vomit. “Twilight! Are you okay? I'll get the doctor.” He panicked, turning to leave, but Twilight stopped him. “No Spike. It’s okay. I’ll walk, just help me get up,” she tried to assure him. Her insides felt like they were being torn apart, every muscle in her body had tensed, to the point where it was almost paralysing. Spike hesitated, looking her in the eyes as if to say, ‘I don’t believe you.’ But he relented, helping Twilight to her hooves and leading her down the stairs, however, as soon as he opened the door, she recoiled, crying out at the sudden onslaught of intense light. Spike slammed the door shut, running to catch Twilight as she started to faint. She barely managed to stop herself from falling, concentrating hard on staying upright. “I-I can’t do it Spike. It’s just so painful,” she cried, rubbing her eyes as spots slowly spread across her vision. Spike sighed, looking around the room for anything useful. He disappeared from Twilight’s sight for a moment, before reappearing and placing something over her eyes. The world changed colour to a uniform purple and Twilight realised that she was wearing sunglasses. “Spike, these are perfect! Where did you get them?” Twilight asked, as the unrelenting throbbing behind her eyes began to fade. “They were in the lost and found box. Vinyl Scratch left them here a couple of weeks ago. I was going to take them back but Octavia told me she’s gone on tour. Also, she probably hasn’t noticed the fact that they are missing. Something about having an entire closet full of glasses." He grabbed Twilight’s foreleg, leading her back towards the door. When Spike opened the door again, Twilight winced, expecting the same pain that had characterised her last attempt at leaving, but was pleased to find that the sunglasses kept out most of the sunlight. It was a short walk to the hospital but every step Twilight took filled her with agonising pain. The tiniest sound seemed to echo around her a hundred times, even the sound of Spike’s breathing. She closed her eyes, allowing Spike to lead her as she tried to block the sounds of a Ponyville morning; the multitude of ponies making their way to the market, all talking, all yelling, were a mixture of voices that characterised a typical morning. Any other day, Twilight would have revelled in it, enjoying the uniqueness of everypony in town. Today however, it was just a wall of sound that was spreading over the landscape. Just when she thought she had finally managed to push the noise out of her mind, Spike tapped her on the shoulder, indicating they had arrived. Twilight cursed under her breath, walking inside. Spike sat her on a chair in the waiting room while he set about organising her a private room. It was noon when a doctor finally entered Twilight’s room. Twilight was still rubbing the area where nurse Redheart had pricked her with a needle in order to take some blood for testing. The doctor wasn’t one she had met before. He was a grey unicorn with a light brown mane that was tied in a ponytail at the back. His cutie mark was one typical of many doctors: a red cross. What distinguished his from the others though, was the fact that in the middle of the cross was a silver circle. “Hello there Twilight, sorry to keep you waiting. I’m Doctor Neuron,” he smiled, offering his hoof. She shook it weakly, one eye shut against the pain of a headache that had begun to develop not long after she had been admitted. “About time!” exclaimed Spike, putting his hands on his hips, “She’s been here for two hours and you’re the first doctor that has come to see her.” and Doctor Neuron just smiled awkwardly. “I really am sorry about that. The hospital’s been understaffed for a while. Not to mention that it’s my first day,” he explained, levitating Twilight’s chart from the end of her bed and quickly reading it. “Well, your symptoms are nothing like I have ever seen. But they are not atypical of a blood borne virus. Has the nurse taken a blood sample?” he asked, and Twilight nodded weakly. He pointed to the sunglasses that were resting on the bedside table. “Are they yours?” “Yes, the nurse told me to take them off.” "Is the light actually causing you any discomfort or pain?" asked Doctor Neuron, and again, all she did was nod weakly. “Put them back on. Hopefully it will make you feel a bit more comfortable. As for you, Mister… Spike, was it? I’m afraid that we have to ask visitors to leave at midday so that the patients can have their lunch in peace. But you are free to come back at two o’clock.” Spike sighed, giving Twilight a quick kiss on the cheek before walking out the room with Doctor Neuron following closely. For the first time all day, Twilight was alone. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, forcing the pain out of her mind, before lying down and letting her head sink into the pillow. *** When Twilight awoke, it was night. White moonlight shimmered through the tiny cracks in the curtains and once again, she was gripped with an incredible thirst. She poured herself some water from a jug that rested beside her, but as soon as it touched her tongue, she spat it out, along with another wave of bile that rose from her throat. The sunglasses were thrown off her face by the force of her heaving, bouncing off the wall and clattering on the floor. When she had finished throwing up, Twilight wiped her mouth with the corner of her blanket, promising herself that she would clean it up. She suddenly noticed that Spike was asleep in the chair on the other side of the bed, curled into a tiny ball. She smiled slightly, as the cute baby dragon snored quietly and then she realised she wasn’t bothered by the sound anymore. Her headache had disappeared and the throbbing behind her eyes had completely stopped. She ran her hooves through her mane, ecstatic about the peace. A loud rumble emanated from her belly, and Twilight smiled, remembering that she hadn’t eaten all day. Slowly making her way out of bed, Twilight searched for anything she could eat and after ten minutes of fruitless searching, decided to go back to sleep and wait it out. A light appeared in the doorway, and it opened to reveal Doctor Neuron, dressed in his scrubs, but also with a dressing gown draped around him as well. “Oh, hello Twilight. You’re looking much better. Don’t mind me, just doing my night rounds and- oh, I see you’ve been sick. I’ll send the night nurse to come and clean it up in a minute.” He walked over to Twilight and placed his hoof on her forehead. She suddenly became aware of a faint sound coming from the doctor. A gentle ‘thud thud,’ as well as what appeared to be a tiny muscle spasm in his neck, which pulsated in time with the noise. Twilight’s heart rate began to accelerate, for reasons she couldn’t fathom. Her teeth started to ache at the same time, until the doctor pulled his hoof away. “Well you have a normal temperature. Hmm... you really have me stumped. But I’ve gone on long enough. You get some rest. I’ll be around to see you sometime tomorrow okay?” he told her and she nodded, climbing back into bed as he left. Letting out the breath she was holding, she tried to make sense of what had just happened. ‘What was all that? And why am I thirstier now more than ever?’ She wondered, rolling onto her side and shutting her eyes as she listened to Spike’s light snoring. The night nurse appeared a moment later, sighing irritably as she dropped the mop and bucket on the floor. Twilight shifted her body weight, trying to get comfortable in the hard hospital bed, as the sound of the heavy wet mop slapping on the lino floor over and over mixed with the sound of snoring. She smiled, taking a deep breath and letting the natural rhythm help her drift off to sleep. *** Violent. Violent was the way in which Twilight described the following morning. Sunlight flooded the room as nurse Redheart threw open the curtains, loudly whistling some unknown tune at the same time. Twilight winced, pulling her pillow over her ears in an attempt to shut out the noise, keeping her eyes shut tightly against the assault of Celestia’s sun. She felt a weight move across her bed from the opposite side, coming to a rest on the edge closest to the window “Hey! Be quiet! And shut those curtains!” Spike exclaimed, his voice muffled by the pillow. A few moments later, she felt a gentle stroking on her side. Removing the pillow and reluctantly opening an eye, she saw Spike, a look of concern upon his face. He moved Twilight’s pillow back behind her head, telling her to close her eyes and relax. She then felt him slide the sunglasses onto her face. “Th... Thanks Spike. That wasn’t the way I planned to wake up today,” Twilight said weakly, a smile appearing on the corner of her mouth. Spike nodded, walking across the bed and jumping back onto his chair. “I’m just really disappointed with the service here,” he growled, snatching a magazine from the bedside table and opening it. She giggled quietly at the thought of the small dragon staring down a full sized pony. “You don’t have to stay here Spike,” she assured him, but he just shook his head in response. "I'm going to be okay." “No Twilight. I want to stay. I've seen you gradually getting worse for the last couple of weeks and I did nothing because I assumed that it was just a cold or something. Then when you threw up yesterday morning... that was it for me. I realised that I should have done something earlier. I’m so, so sorry,” he muttered, placing his hand in Twilight’s hoof. “I know, but I swear i'm going to be okay. Now go home. Let Celestia and the girls know where I am,” she instructed. Spike sighed, nodding once before climbing off the chair and making his way toward the door. “I’ll be back tonight, okay?” he reassured her. Twilight nodded, watching Spike leave. As soon as he was out of sight, Twilight let the tears of pain flow freely. She climbed out of bed, and rushed to the small enclosed bathroom in the corner of her room. Shutting the door, Twilight closed the lid of the toilet and sat down, shutting off the light at the same time. She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths and settling into the meditation method that Princess Celestia had taught her. The thick tiled walls and the heavy wooden door effectively shut out any light and sound, giving her a moment of peace. Over time, a feeling of calm washed over Twilight, the pain in her eyes and ears subsiding enough so that she felt normal. The fog in her mind lifted as a result, and allowed her to think about what had happened the night before. ‘What was all that last night? I felt great, better than I have in weeks. So… why?’ she wondered, mentally going through all of the medical books in her library. A sudden gentle knock on the door jostled her out of her trance. “Hey Twilight? Are you okay in there? It’s Doctor Neuron. I have your blood test results.” Twilight sighed, walking over to the door. Making sure that the sunglasses were secure on her face, Twilight turned the handle, squinting at the expectation of intense light, only to find the room completely blacked out, save for a very dim torch that was being held aloft by the doctor’s magic. “Wow! D-Did you do this for me?” she asked, still utterly shocked at the look of her room. “Yeah…I realised that some patients need more specialised care than others. Unfortunately, it’s not sound proof. Surprisingly enough, I wasn’t allowed to duct tape mattresses to the walls,” he laughed, and Twilight found herself giggling as well. “Thank you. At least I’m not going to need the sunglasses,” Twilight joked, taking them off and throwing them onto the bed. “So, you said you have my blood tests?” “Uh, yeah. So what it reveals is that my initial diagnosis was correct; you do have a blood borne virus. Unfortunately, it’s not one we have ever encountered before. We have made some enquires to other hospitals but in all honesty we have no idea how to treat it,” he explained, and Twilight felt a lump rise into her throat. “W-what do you suggest then?” she whispered, as a feeling of intense sadness began to build inside her. “Now, don’t worry. I have a few medications I think might be effective. So we’ll try them. Look… I know you’re scared, but I promise that I will make you well again,” he said, putting his hoof on her shoulder. “I thought doctors weren’t meant to say that to patients,” said Twilight, as tears started to form in her eyes. “Well, normally yes, but I’m confident that I can help you,” he replied, embracing Twilight as she burst into tears. ‘Thud Thud.’ The same faint sound appeared, a constant beat that filled her ears. Twilight licked her lips, as her stomach growled in hunger. Doctor Neuron pulled away and she could see the slight smile on his face that was illuminated by his torch. “I'll get nurse Redheart to bring in some food okay?” he laughed, turning to leave. Twilight nodded, following him to the door. "Just hop back into bed and relax alright? Watch your eyes,” he warned as he opened the door, and Twilight jumped out of the way of the beam of light, closing her eyes at the same time. When the door closed, she sighed, walking back around to her bed and sitting down. “Now what?” she asked herself, flopping down onto the mattress. Suddenly, she felt something strange as she clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. She returned to the bathroom, lighting up her horn to illuminate her haggard face. Her front teeth were crimson from her bleeding gums and from beneath the bloody mess of leaking, red liquid there were two sharp, ivory points. Before she had a chance to examine them though, they retracted and looking at her bottom teeth, Twilight noticed the same small points, peeking through the flesh. “What in the hay is happening to me?!”