Chapter 6: At the Last Minute
He stopped in the middle of his running to observe his surroundings. He could no longer hear the crowd of horses out for his life. Nor could he hear those who he was certain led them to him.
Immediately, though, that silence was broken.
He was suddenly thrust down onto the ground, as if something fell directly on top of him. Blinking, he swore he could see traces of a rainbow.
"Got you!"
He then realized what had hit him: The blue winged pony, a foreleg on either of his arms, pinning him down.
He grunted. "I had hoped that I hurt you enough, winged one," He then readjusted his leg. "But it appears that is not the case."
Driving his foot upwards, the blue pony shrieked as she shot up into the air on no accord of her own. The vampire started up his running once more as the pegasus was able to get herself into a flying stance. She silently cursed as she saw nothing but leaves and branches obstructing her view. Looking down, she shouted. "He's heading to the south!"
Below, Rarity and Pinkie Pie shouted back their acknowledgements before turning to each other, quickly discussing their next course of action.
The vampire, meanwhile, had traveled a considerable distance. He only wished he knew where he was going. He kept going until, out of nowhere, something burst forth from a knothole in one of the trees, startling him enough to make him trip and fall. Backing away from the tree, he realized, to great confusion, that it was the pink one of the group of bounty hunters.
"Wait!" It called out. "We just wanna talk to you!"
"I already know your plans for me, and they are wasted!" He sharply replied, grabbing a dead piece of wood and throwing it at the knothole. The pony yelped out in surprise, ducking in time for the wood to only pierce her mane. By the time she opened her eyes, the creature had sped off. Pulling the wood from her mane, she sighed. "With an attitude like that I guess any game involving throwing is out of the question..."
Once again, the vampire was alone. Though he was certain it wouldn't last - these horses were craftier than he thought. As luck (or lack thereof) would have it, he ran into the other of the two unicorns.
Or to be more specific, he ran into a trap it happened to lay for him.
"And Rainbow Dash kept saying my leaf patterns made no sense!" The white-coated, lavender-maned pony announced, staring down at the being trapped in the hole she had found and covered up. "Now, perhaps you'll see reason once that brutish crowd is directed away from us." She leaned in closer as she spoke. "Everything will be fine. All we have to do is-"
"Look into my eyes," The vampire interrupted her, hand outstretched and motioning in a waving, open-and-close pattern. She stopped speaking, mouth slightly open as she stared down at him with wide eyes. "Now...you will lift me from this makeshift grave of yours. After that, you shall merely sit. Nothing else. Only after twenty - no - thirty seconds have passed, shall you regain your free will. Now...assist me."
He gasped slightly as he felt himself being lifted, a light blue aura surrounding him. He noticed the unicorn's horn glowing the exact same color. Before he knew it, he was back on the ground, the white unicorn simply sitting and staring blankly into space. Gripping his cane in one hand, he waved his other hand over her face. No response. Smirking, he walked before running all over again.
After a percieved few moments of running, he realized he could see lights in the distance. Running further, the trees suddenly disappeared. He stopped, turning to look behind him. He had reached the end of the forest, and had returned to the small town. One complete circle; Where he appeared in this world...to where he most likely will be leaving it, one way or another.
Past a nearby bridge, he could see a large, cylindrical building - the tallest one in the town, perhaps serving as town hall. He walked across the bridge and made it to the large front doors of the structure when...
"There he is!"
"But I thought-"
"Then where were you taking us?"
Filled with dread, he turned to see the angry mob of ponies. In front of them stood the purple unicorn (dragon in tow), the yellow pegasus, and the orange earth pony. Soon afterward, the three ponies he evaded in the forest emerged as well, through the focus seemed to be on the unicorn with the dragon.
"You don't understand!" She shook her head. "All of this is scaring him! We need to keep him unharmed!"
"So he can hurt innocent townsponies?" An amber-coated mare with a gray mane, glasses and a green ascot stepped toward her. "Twilight, you know what has to be done about something as dangerous as a vampire."
"Mayor, please!" The unicorn grew desperate. "Leave him to me and my friends, we'll make sure he goes away!"
"There's only one sure-fire way of making sure a vampire stays away!" A voice in the mob shouted before the mass of ponies moved toward the vampire in question. With a flash, Twilight and Spike teleported right next to him, with Twilight's horn glowing. The other five ponies ran or flew to their side as well.
The vampire sputtered. "What...what are you doing?"
"Keeping them away," Twilight answered, "Until she comes."
"She?"
In an instant, the shouts of anger from the mob changed to shouts of surprise and confusion as a brilliant flash of light erupted from between them and the group standing at the doors. Their exclamations then changed to one of awe.
The seven-member group smiled in relief and hopefulness. The vampire, however, stood in shock at the figure that stood before them.
"Citizens of Ponyville!" The figure boomed, obviously female. "What is it you intend to accomplish through such violence and hate?"
The figure was another pony, at least twice as large as the others, more or less. She was a dark blue, and her mane was a flowing, glittering mass that reminded one of the night sky. A dark blue crown rested on her head, along with armor on her chest that depicted a crescent moon, a mark much like the one on her flank. But what was most incredible about this new pony, at least to the vampire, was the unicorn horn and her pair of wings - almost as if she was an amalgamation of the three different kinds of ponies put together.
The crowd, meanwhile, was silent. She grew angry, and shouted even louder. "Why does nopony answer my question?!"
"P-Princess," The mayor stammered. "We...were hoping to be rid of a...vampire."
"And where is this vampire of whom you speak of?"
The crowd collectively pointed their hooves behind her. She turned, rested her eyes on the creature, and widened them in surprise. The vampire quickly straightened himself out, the bottom of his cane touching the ground as he held onto it.
"We had to stop it from hurting innocent ponies!" Somepony shouted. "And killing it was the only way!"
"I see," The 'princess' responded before turning back to the mob. "But has it harmed anypony? Has it drained any blood from any one of you? Your neighbors? Has it done anything to deserve such malice, other than the affliction of vampirism?"
The crowd muttered to themselves. After a moment, the princess' eyes narrowed. "So it has not done any of this. It has done nothing to anypony." She paused. "Despite it having been able to feed all of this time. Instead of reverting to its instincts, of hunting you all down for your life essence, it has attempted to avoid such actions. And this is how it is rewarded?" The once-angry mob was now growing uncomfortable, ashamed even, as she continued. "True, property was damaged and stolen, but it is easy to repair and replace. A pony life is not. And it has chosen to spare your lives. It is then greeted with mistrust and violence."
The mayor hung her head before looking back up at her. "Princess...we apologize greatly."
The blue unicorn pegasus gazed down at her. "And it is accepted. But not required. What IS required is for you to return to your homes and your businesses. Leave this so-called vampire to your princess."
And just like that, the mob began to disperse, slowly breaking apart as the ponies heeded her words. After several minutes, the crowd was gone, leaving the now nine-member group at the front of the town hall. The vampire, after a moment, looked down at the purple unicorn before speaking.
"Twilight Sparkle, is it?" He asked. "Why did you do this?"
"I told you," Twilight raised a forleg from the ground as she turned to look at him. "We want to help you go back home. We wanted to keep you safe. Which is why, as a precaution, I sent a letter to our princesses in case things took a turn for the worse."
"And did they!" The pink one, Pinkie Pie, agreed.
The vampire then looked to the unicorn pegasus before them, now having turned towards the group. "They referred to you as a princess. Is this correct?"
"Indeed, it is," The tall blue equine nodded, putting a hoof on her chest. "I am Princess Luna. Ruler of the Equestrian night. I was sent to bring safety. And it seems I arrived just in time. But now that you know my name, and no doubt the names of those with us tonight...perhaps it is time we learned yours." She held out her foreleg with her hoof facing upward.
He pursed his lips. He looked down at all of them in thought. Their faces, their eyes, showed no signs of harmful intent. And the mere act of standing by him when the villagers advanced provided credibility to Twilight's explanation. He turned to Luna, her hoof still held out. Finally, he reached out a white, sharp-nailed hand, holding onto Luna's hoof in a way that showed off the black opal ring on his finger. "My name...is Barnabas Collins. And if you all truly mean what you say...then safety will certainly be welcomed."
The hoof-shaking was broken as Luna spoke again. "Before we make certain you are secure, there are matters that must be discussed. When you are ready, I shall take you to the castle in Canterlot."
Barnabas looked back at Twilight, who said, "It's for the best. Canterlot castle is one of the most heavily guarded spots in Equestria."
The vampire nodded. "Then it shall be so. How soon can we expect to arrive?"
"Instantaneously," Luna answered. "Celestia is waiting for us."
"Celestia?"
"Just go!" Rainbow Dash declared, "Before any more angry mobs show up!"
That was all the motivation needed for Barnabas to stand next to Luna, disappearing with her in a flash of light, leaving the Mane Six and Spike at town hall.
"...What's gonna happen now?" Pinkie Pie asked the others.
Twilight cleared her throat. "Now we start the second half of the plan: Getting Barnabas back home. And I'm going to need all the help I can get pulling out every book I have on the subject of teleportation. That and...the possibility of alternate universes."
"Alternate...huh?" Applejack widened her eyes. "You mean a whole other world?"
"It's a possibility that we can't overlook," The purple unicorn shook her head. "What it might mean for sending him back, I have no idea."
"If we gotta pull out books..." Spike yawned, "Can we do it tomorrow? He's safe with Luna, and he's not going anywhere without the Princesses telling us."
The others quickly agreed with the dragon, going their separate ways. Half of their minds wondered what they would find in the books, while the other half worried over what would transpire between Barnabas and the Princesses; It didn't take much of an imagination to create a rather morbid scenario between a vampire and a being responsible for lifting the sun...