//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Fangs and Blood and other Things // by Kinetic Heat //------------------------------// Night. My favourite time of the day. Stars. Darkness. Beautiful darkness. How easy to hide in it, to become unseen by any mortal eye. There are many who fear it, I am not one of them. I was born in the darkness, raised by it. The darkness is my beloved, my immortal companion. There is no such beauty as a starless night. Leaning over a rooftop on a house somewhere in Canterlot sat a snow white pegasus stallion with a mane and tail as black as darkness itself. Hidden in the shadows he watched over the sleeping city. He flapped his wide wings and took off into the sky in a splint second. Flowing beneath him where the homes of the wealthy nobles of Equestria, slumbering in their beds, save because of him, even when they didn't know. With a speed that would even leave some members of the Wonderbolts startled, he kept heading to Canterlot Castle. The doors of the balcony swung open as the frost coated stallion landed on the railing, flapping his wings repeatedly to create a small whirlwind that forced the loose leaves open. Casually strolling in, he suddenly stopped midway to his desk. ''You know you cannot hide from me, your highness,“ he growled with a voice as deep as the lakes at the foot of Mount Unicornia, and with a little smirk as he looked into one particular niche next to the pompous and ridiculously large bed that took almost half of the space in the small room. The outlines of a slight horn, a flowing dark blue mane, two elegant wings and a tail made of stardust and the essence of the universe manifested right on the soft silken sheets of the bed, revealing a lustrous black and blue alicorn mare throwing a seductive look at the white pegasus. ''It was never our intention to do so, honorable Hazel Eyes,“ Luna cooed in her most beguiling voice. Hazel's smirk grew into a insinuating smile as he slowly paced towards the eagerly waiting Princess of the Night. ''I assume you are demanding the usual service, my lady?“ he asked in an even more lustrous tone. Princess Luna locked her sapphire eyes with his. ''You do not really have to ask that, now do you?“ ''I just wanted to make sure,“ he answered with a predatory look in his eyes, slowly climbing over to her. With a glow of a horn, the whole room turned completely dark as the curtains that were moved before the windows, blocked out every last beam of light. It was still around midnight when the door to the room at the end of the hallway slowly opened without making any noise. Taking a last look at the satisfied, slumbering princess, Hazel shut the door and walked to the castle's exit in utterly silence. One down, one to go. Passing through the gigantic entrance portal, the snow white pegasus spread his wings and took off, heading to Canterlot's nightlife scene. The streets became ever more winding with every flap of his wings. ''Please, leave me alone, you're scaring me!“ ''You weren't so shy back in there, now show me this cute little flank you got there!'' ''No, please stop!!'' A chubby mud brown earth pony stallion bent over a lavender earth pony mare. It was obvious that he was roaring drunk and she would never be strong enough to escape his grip. Lying beneath him, the mare was crying in horror. ''Excuse me, kind sir, but I think the lady isn't interested.“ A dangerously growling voice seemingly coming from nowhere was heard in the small alley behind a nightclub. ''Wha- who da buck shust talked? Show me yer face!“ ''Right behind you...“ the voice whispered. The drunk stallion turned around in confusion only to be staring at a lonely lantern illuminating the small lane. ''Where the he-“, before he could even finish the sentence, a light feather touched the back of the brown ponie's head. He hadn't turned his head halfway around when something really hard and really fast struck him into the right side of his head just beneath the eye. Sent flying over at least twice a pony's length, he crashed into a dumpster. As he got up, the light sent out by the lantern was reflected by something that looked awfully lot like a pony, but there were several things that didn't fit in with the image. "I told you I was behind you, you should have listened more closely,“ standing right before him was the most beautiful pegasus the brown pony had ever seen: A coat of the color of freshly fallen snow, flawless, perfect, a mane darker than darkness itself, spilling around his neck and over his back, legs that looked like they could crush a whole pack of timber wolves in mere seconds and wings that would for sure be able to block out the sun if they were just stretched out wide enough. But the strangest things were the eyes. They didn't look any special but the brown earth pony caught himself staring far too long, as if there was some kind of attraction creeping inside his head, unable to focus on anything else. The white pegasus blinked and the feeling was gone. He shook his head disapprovingly. ''It's always the same with the likes of you. You are born, raised by loving parents, but at some point you leave the right way. You rot and become scum. That's just what you are, scum, worthless, violent scum that deserves nothing but punishment. Just look at her," he pointed his hoof at the mare lying on the ground, too scared to move, ''she is but a filly. Your intentions are disgusting. For the sakes of all subjects of the great Celestia I shall be judge, juror and executioner. And my decission is: Guilty!!'' The brown stallion didn't blink. At least he thought he didn't. But there the strange pony was, suddenly standing right before him was the pegasus stallion, wings spread. Said wings slapped against both his ears, letting him tumble back, crouching against a wall. When he finally opened his eyes, which he had closed in agony from the shock of his eardrums shattering, he looked into a pair of glowing coals. Too late he spotted the two enormous fangs leaking out of the white pegasus' mouth. At first there was no feeling at all, the brown coated pony just gazed into the air, an empty expression on his deformed and bleeding face. But then, slowly but steadily came pain. But not any kind he ever experienced, no, this sort of pain was something completely new, an excruciating agony never witnessed before. He would not have believed it was even possible to endure this amount of pain running through ones body. It almost felt like the monster that was sucking on his neck was not only draining him of all of his blood, but was also injecting pure fire into his veins. The feeling was way too much to take. With a scream, the mud brown earth pony stallion sunk to the floor, completely empty of every drop of blood. ''You even taste rotten. What a loathsome meal.“ He spit out. As he turned around he noticed the cringing lavender filly still shivering on the ground. ''A shame you had to see that, but I can't let you get away with the knowledge of my existence.'' Hazel strolled over to the mare who's eyes grew wide in shock. ''Please, let me go I won't tell anypony, I promise!!'' she pleaded, but the red eyed stallion kept heading towards her. ''Of that I am sure.“ Again there was not a blink when he appeared right in front of her locking his fiery gaze upon her. The fall nearly felt infinite. Lost in this pair of whirling fire the young mare quivered. When he was sure he got her, Hazel Eyes spoke with silken voice, not growling or harsh, but demanding. ''Listen carefully now. As soon as I get away from here, you will be doing the same. Tonight you were planning to go out with some of your friends. You had a great night in the club, but you drank more than you could take and your friends brought you home. What you saw in this alley never happened. You were not in that small backyard. There are no such things as demons or any other supernaturals.'' The light purple earth pony shook her head but could only so much as see a fading silhouette before the bright moon. The sudden urge to go home hit her with incredible force and so she trotted forlornly through the hardly lit street, radiating an aura of awareness towards anypony who would be nearing her. This city will never change. Though it is very funny when you look at it from another point of view. There are the rich houses and palaces of the elite of Equestria and on the other hoof you got the spineless bunch of cowards, robbers, murderers and rapists lingering in the streets. By the way I should order the guards to clean up the mess I made in that little backyard, somepony could get suspicious. But then, who cares about a drunk head lying in the streets? Now what to do? So much time left until dawn.... And with a powerful whip Hazel Eyes stroke the air and dashed over Canterlot's rooftops.