“Thank you doctor,” Twilight said to the Unicorn in the white coat.
“You’re welcome. Let me know if you need anything else, your highness,” he said with a bow before walking away to return to his work. Twilight inwardly groan at being called “your highness.” She had known the ponies of Ponyville for years. Before her accession, she was just another citizen of the small town. She worked, played, and laughed with these ponies like any other normal pony would. But things were different ever since she became an Alicorn princess. The ponies would bow in her presence, call her by overly fancy titles, and some even seemed afraid of her. At least the other Elements of Harmony bearers and Spike still treated her the same as they did before. However, she tried to avoid meeting with the aristocracy of Canterlot as much as possible. For the most part, they were nothing but a bunch of scheming, brown-nosing, social climbing, self-promoters. She hadn’t noticed it before, but now could see the polite smile that Princess Celestia would wear on her face during her royal court was nothing but a mask. How she could stand to listen to their annoying whining and bickering for centuries was beyond her.
“Alright Spike, are you satisfied now?” she asked the dragon as they headed toward the hospital’s exit. The doctor reassured them that there was nothing wrong with Cheerilee other than the fact she seemed a little anemic. When they asked if there were any other patients with the same symptoms as her, the doctor showed them the train conductor named All Aboard. He had come in the day before and he also had strange marks on his neck, but the doctor dismissed it as a coincidence.
“Not really,” Spike answered. “But I guess there’s no other way to prove it.”
“Perhaps it’s all just an influence from the movie,” Twilight suggested. “I mean, we all had vampires freshly on our minds.”
“Maybe.” Spike then smiled and shook his head. “Maybe it was all in our heads.”
“Our heads? Don’t you mean yours?” Twilight teasingly accused the young dragon.
“Oh come on! You see somepony passed out with two marks on their neck. What’s the first idea that pops in your head?”
Twilight giggled at her son’s justification and stated, “Well, you certainly didn’t help by getting Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom all riled up like that.”
“Whatever,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “At least I was trying to be prepared.”
“While that was responsible of you, you should always try to find a rational explanation first before jumping to conclusions,” she lectured.
“Oh yeah, like the time you wildly accused the mare your brother was marrying of being evil and was casting spells on him?” Spike sarcastically countered.
“That was different,” Twilight defended herself with an embarrassed blush. “Besides, it turns out I was right all along!” Spike gave her a deadpan look and she suddenly knew what he was driving at. “Oh...”
“Yeah, that’s how I feel.”
“Okay, okay, I get your point,” she conceded. “But it’s over now. The doctor said that they’re going to be fine and there is nothing to worry about. We can all relax.” She took in a deep breath and prompted Spike to join her in the breathing exercise that Cadance taught Twilight to help her relax. Spike inhaled and then they exhaled as they moved a limb away from their chests. “Feel better now?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” he told her as they headed down the street. “I’m going to check up with Rarity and let her and Sweetie Belle know everything is going to be okay.”
“Alright, I’ll see you back home,” she said to her son. Her motherly instincts kicked in and forced her to call to him as he walked away, “Just don’t be out too late.”
“Yeah, sure thing Mom,” he called back. No matter how many times she heard him call her that, it always made her “squee.”
When Spike arrived at Carousel Boutique, he knocked on the door and waited for Rarity to answer.
“Coming!” he heard her angelic voice call out in a singsong tone. In a moment, the door opened and the white Unicorn appeared before the dragon and smiled when she saw it was him. “Spike! Oh, do come in. What brings you here this evening?”
“Other than wanting to see the most beautiful mare in Equestria?” he asked with a cocky smile.
“Oh, you!” she exclaimed with a blush. They shared a laugh and then Rarity led him to the sofa.
“I just wanted to let you and Sweetie Belle know that I went with Twilight to get more information about Cheerilee’s condition,” he explained as they sat down on the extremely soft sofa.
“Is that so?” she asked. “And did the doctor have anything new to say?”
“No. He said that everything was going to be okay,” Spike reported.
“Well, that’s wonderful to hear,” Rarity said with relief.
“We also checked to see if anypony else had the same symptoms as her.”
“Oh,” Rarity gave Spike a curious look. “You don’t mean those marks do you?”
Spike nodded and said, “I wanted to be sure. It turns out that there was another patient with similar marks, but the doctors brushed it off as nothing more than a coincidence and said that they were bug bites. So I guess we all can rest well knowing that there isn’t a vampire in Ponyville.”
“Well I’m glad that I can tell Sweetie Belle to relax. We certainly needed that good news after what happened this morning and this afternoon.”
“What happened this afternoon?” Spike asked in confusion.
“Oh, it was dreadful,” Rarity said as she dramatically reclined on the sofa. “A horrible monster invaded my home. It was so terrible and frightening. I didn’t know how I would ever survive.”
“Oh my gosh,” Spike exclaimed in concern. “What was it? What happened?”
“It was the... worst... possible... thing!” the violet maned unicorn declared.
“Yes, what was it? What was it?” Spike urged her to continue with growing anxiety.
“It was... Count High N’Mighty!” she declared and then draped her foreleg over her face.
“What? Him?” Spike asked, taken back with surprise. “What was he was doing here?”
“It was awful,” Rarity said as she rolled onto her belly and stared sadly at the floor. “He came with his friends to humiliate me.” As she explained to her special somedragon the encounter, her sorrow became outrage. “He even had the gall to try to seduce me! But that wasn’t the worst part! He even dared to say that our love was an abomin...” She tried to stop herself and looked over to Spike with concern. Even though he had claimed he didn’t care what other ponies thought about them being together, she knew that he had only recently came to that resolve. It was like freshly mended wound; it was still sensitive and could be easily reopened. She saw that Spike had indeed been affected by the information, but he wasn’t disheartened. Instead, Spike was furious.
“What did he call our love?” he coldly asked, already knowing the answer.
“It doesn’t matter,” she told him, trying to quell Spike’s anger. He was still young and could act impulsively at times. The last thing she wanted to happen was for her Spikey Wikey to assault a noble. That would only prove them right and Spike would be branded as a monster. “A customer came to my aide and told them off.” Despite Rarity telling him this, Spike still look angry.
“I ought to give him a piece of my mind,” Spike grumbled.
“There’s no need, darling,” she tried to reassure him. “He’s gone now. Besides, we don’t care what other ponies think about us, am I right?” Spike looked at her pleading face and repeated the calming exercise.
“Yes, you’re right,” he sighed. Rarity also sighed, happy to see that he calmed down. “So, who was it that stood up to him?”
“His name was Prince Vlad,” she told him as she smiled. “Oh, you should have seen it. He marched up to them and berated them for their behavior, claiming that they didn’t live up to the chivalry of old and that they had no honor. They then tucked tail and scurried off in shame.”
“You’re right,” Spike agreed. “I wish I had seen that. This Prince Vlad sounds like an alright guy to me.” A clock chimed and Spike saw how late it was getting. “I had better go. Twilight will have a fit if I’m out too late.”
“And I need to get my beauty sleep,” she added. She walked him to the door and gave him a kiss before he left. “Remember; don’t do anything rash about what N’mighty said.”
“Don’t worry,” he reassured. “I won’t let it get to me.”
*****
Back at Professor Dig Site’s house, Renny Field had just returned from partying at the nightclub. The red Pegasus wearily made her way upstairs to her room. As she was about to turn in for the night, a dark presence enter the building and materialized in her bedroom.
“Renny Field,” Dracula addressed his thrall. Renny was halfway in bed when she heard his voice and turned around to see him standing there in the middle of his room.
“Master,” she said as she got back out of bed.
“It is time for me to find a more suitable location to reside,” he told her.
“But master, we haven’t even started to look for a new place for you,” she reminded him.
“I know,” he acknowledged. “But due to collection of fools interrupting me as I was about to convert another, we must escalate our plans.”
“What happened master?”
“I was about to feed on a mare when those fools from the dressmakers challenged me to a duel,” the dark pony explained. “I decided to make them my meal instead. Needless to say, ponies will start to ask questions when their bodies are discovered.”
“Why don’t you use your necromancy to make them zombies?” Renny suggested.
“Though it is earlier than I expected, this is a part of the plan. It is time to send a message,” Dracula said with sinister sneer. “The ponies of Equestria need to know that they have reason to fear the dark. Besides, they are nobles. Sooner or later, their disappearance will not go unnoticed. I may have need of them later, but for now they will remain where they lie.”
“But where are you going to hide?” Renny reiterated.
“I had thought about that,” he told her as he walked over to a window. Renny followed him and also looked out the window. From there, they could see the Everfree Forest bordering Ponyville to the south.
“The Everfree Forest?” Renny gulped as she asked nervously. “But it’s dangerous and full of deadly monsters!”
“And I am the worst one of them all,” the vampire proudly remind her as he grinned, baring his fangs.
“Oh, right,” Renny meekly said as she remembered that her master was an undead terror. “But still, where are you going to live?”
“Long ago, the Royal Alicorn Sisters dwelt in a castle that is now surrounded by the forest,” Dracula explained. “When Discord, the spirit of chaos, came to Equestria, one of the things he did was to cause the forest to grow wild and consume the castle. The Royal Sisters were forced to abandon their home. Even after they had defeated them, they could not reclaim their former home from the enchanted castle. That is why they built a new capital over the location where the founders of Equestria had united to repel the Windigos. Now I will take the castle as my own.”
“But the castle is lost in the forest. How will you find it?” Renny asked.
“Do not forget that I used to be the Captain of the Night Guard. I had access to a lot of privileged information, including the location of the ancient castle,” Dracula explained. “Now, I need you to prepare the cart. I will have the servants haul my coffin and the other crates to the castle as I lead them through the forest under the cover of night.”
“I’ll pack my things,” Renny announced. “If I’m going to live in the Everfree Forest, then I’ll...”
“No, Renny Field,” Dracula interrupted her. “You will not be coming with me.”
“But... master...” Renny was at a loss for words. She wondered if she had displeased her master and he was abandoning her.
“I need you to remain here in Ponyville,” he told her. “I am certain investigators will come and I need you to report to me on their doings.”
“I... I understand master,” she reluctantly said, not wanting to be separated from her master. She lowered her head in a bow while she looked downcast at the floor.
“Despair not, my dear,” Dracula comforted her as he raised her head with a hoof. “Serve me well, and I shall reward you.”
“Really?” she said with renewed hope.
“Yes, when the time comes, you shall become one of my children of the night,” he promised her as he looked at the marks on her neck. He smiled to himself as he recalled that it was her blood that reawakened him. It only seemed right to him that he properly awarded her.
“Oh, thank you master,” she said as she humbly bowed again. “You’re very generous.”
“Go now and earn your reward.”
“Yes master,” she said before running often to prepare the cart. Dracula turned again to the window and gazed upon the sleeping town and then up to the moon above in the night sky.
Soon, Dracula thought. Soon I will avenge you, my love. She will pay for what she did to us. First, I will make her precious sun worshiping followers my own and then I will raise an army to bring the walls of her castle down. After she sees the ruins that her kingdom has become, the dark will finally blot out the light.
After Renny had prepared the cart, the reanimated bodies of Dig Site and Bedrock were hitched up to the cart and the cargo was loaded on. The vampire then led the two zombies down the trail that headed towards the Everfree Forest. Though it was late at night, Dracula was cautious. His form shifted and he took the appearance of a bat that hovered just in front of the lumbering and moaning corpses.
Fluttershy was out in her yard tending some of her nocturnal animals before she retired to bed. She was finishing feeding an owl when she noticed a cart being pulled by two ponies in the distance. They were walking down the trail that went by her cottage that led into the forest.
“Why would they possibly be going into the Everfree Forest this late at night?” she asked the owl, which hooted in response. The yellow Pegasus was confused; nopony would dare to enter the forest, especially at night. She debated with herself on whether she should say something to them. “They should know better than to enter the forest. But maybe they know what they are doing. They do seem to have supplies with them. But what if they don’t know what they’re doing? They get themselves into trouble. I should say something. But what if they get mad at me for bothering them?”
As Fluttershy debated with herself, the cart headed closer and closer to the forest. Finally, her urge to warn the travelers overcame her social anxiety and she flew after the cart.
Almost out of sight, the bat thought. He then heard a voice calling from behind him.
“Excuse me, sirs?” Dracula turned around to see a timid yellow pony with a light pink mane approaching them. “I don’t mean to bother you, but I must warn you, the forest is very dangerous and full of monsters. You shouldn’t be going in there while it’s nighttime.” Dracula thought quickly and came up with an idea. He transformed into a shadow and reappeared behind the Pegasus mare.
“Do not worry,” Dracula said behind Fluttershy, causing her jump at the unexpected sound. “We are quite capable of looking out for ourselves.”
“Oh!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “Forgive me, but I didn’t see you with them before. It must be your dark clothes.” As she talked, she started to feel uneasy.
“Thank you for your concern, miss...”
“I’m Fluttershy,” she timidly introduced herself. There was something about this Unicorn that she found intimidating, even though she didn’t exactly what it was. Maybe it was the way his icy blue eyes seemed to pierce her to her soul.
“Do you live in that cottage?” Dracula asked, his eyes glancing over to her home.
“Y-yes,” she squeaked.
“And what is it that you do, Madam Fluttershy?”
“I-I take care of animals.” With each passing question, she seemed to shrink lower to the ground and her voice became quieter.
“Interesting,” Dracula commented. “I also have a way with animals. That is why we are in no danger going into the forest.” Despite his calm explanation, she still trembled like a leaf. Obviously he would have to use more than words. He gazed into her eyes and said, “Do not worry, everything is fine.”
“Everything is fine,” she repeated. A strange calm overcame Fluttershy as she looked into the glowing eyes. Her fears started to leave her and she smiled at the stallion. She started to wonder why she was ever frightened by this pony. He seemed to be nice and friendly.
“Go home, Madam Fluttershy,” he encouraged her. “It is late.”
“Yes, I should go to bed,” she agreed.
“Perhaps I shall come to visit you soon.”
“Maybe we can have a cup of tea,” she suggested and then headed back to her cottage.
“Yes, I could go for a drink later,” he chuckled to himself as she walked away. He turned his attention to his slaves and they continued down the path into the forest. As Fluttershy made it back to the cottage, she suddenly felt confused and lightheaded. She stopped, shook her head, and looked over her shoulder. The three ponies were already out of sight.
“What just happened?” she asked herself. One moment, she was scared out of her mind, and the next, she was having a pleasant conversation. She shrugged it off and went inside.