The night was silent as always, everypony in Ponyville sleeping in their homes and the nocturnal creatures roaming the moonlit land. However, one particular orange coated pony was not sleeping, nor indoors. She was instead walking outside her home in Sweet Apple Acres, walking around the apple orchard, for seemingly no apparent reason.
However, Applejack did have a reason for being outside so late. It hadn't been that long after the vampire fruit bats infested her orchard and caused a problem with one of her friends that she knew she wanted to forget, however, the fruit bat sanctuary made close to her orchard reminded her that she would never forget. It was precisely the reason why she was out, she didn't believe the bats would so easily stay in the sanctuary without coming back for one of her apple trees. It appeared, however, her doubts and fears were moot, for she had found nothing that night, and she was already making her way back home.
"Heh..." She tipped her hat slightly before putting it back on place. "Guess I shouldn't be so skeptical about them bats. That Fluttershy...I should have listened to her from the start." She could see her home nearby, and so she sped up the pace, trotting towards her house. It was in the middle of the trot when she thought she saw something moving out of the corner of her eye, making her stop. "...Who's there?" she asked, looking around.
There was no response, only silence. Applejack shrugged and kept walking, but then saw something moving again, too fast to make it out completely. She remained quiet and looked around once more, making sure to breathe lightly so that the sounds of her breathing wouldn't interfere with the sounds of the environment. It was then when she finally heard something, and immediately afterwards saw a shadow moving quickly from one tree to another.
"...Oh no, I knew it!" She instantly glared at the shadow. "Another bat! I knew you wouldn't be leavin' so easily!" She slowly approached the tree the shadow was last seen in. "I'm warnin' ya, little creature, if you don't return to yer sanctuary, I'll make you!" she said aggressively. She took off her hat and took a flashlight from inside, turning it on and pointing it at the shadow. "Now let's make this-" Applejack suddenly dropped the flashlight and stopped midsentence, shocked at the revelation of the shadowed figure. "...No..." She began taking steps backwards, her heartbeat increasing in fear. "...We got you back to normal!"
In front of Applejack, visible thanks to the light, was no mere bat. This bat was bigger, yellow in color with a pink mane, four hooves and red big eyes, but with fangs and leathery wings. It was not a mere bat, it was none other than Fluttershy, in the same form that caused Applejack and her friends realize their solution to the vampire fruit bat problem was a faulty one. They had returned her back to normal in the end, and they thought it was the end of it, but now it was in front of her. Fluttershy was still half vampire bat, and still feral by the looks of it.
"...Fluttershy...No, this ain't real!" Applejack said in disbelief. "You're just pullin' a prank, right? Funny! Heh heh..." She quickly noticed Fluttershy was not reacting in any way other than hissing and glaring. "Fluttershy, come on! You got me!" she insisted.
Fluttershy only hissed and licked her fangs as she approached Applejack with a fearsome look on her face.
"H-Hold on!" Applejack said, backing off slowly. "Y-You don't eat ponies, remember?!" It was then when she noticed that Fluttershy wasn't looking at her directly. She was looking at her cutie mark, three apples. "...Oh by Celestia...It's just a mark! They're not real!" she shouted in absolute fear.
Fluttershy took the shout as an act of aggression and quickly pounced, aiming for the cutie mark on Applejack's flank. However, she missed by an inch, giving Applejack enough time to run away to the safety of her barn. However, Fluttershy was quick to fly after her.
Applejack ran at the fastest speed her hooves allowed her to, barely getting to the barn and shutting the doors before Fluttershy could get to her. She put her back against the door, breathing heavily and sweating cold, her eyes watering slightly. It had to be a nightmare, that was the only explanation. She tried to convince herself, but was quickly interrupted when Fluttershy broke in through a weak part of the wall, freezing her in fear.
Fluttershy approached the shocked pony, licking her fangs and ready to attack at any minute. And she did that precisely. Without warning, she flew in and bit Applejack's flank, her fangs piercing her skin and going into the muscles.
Applejack screamed in pain and instinctively struggled to break free. She finally managed to do so after a long moment of pain, kicking Fluttershy in the face with her hind legs immediately afterwards, though she did not intend to. She painfully held her flank, not wanting to look to see the wound or the blood she knew was coming out. She instead focused on Fluttershy, who landed on her face after the kick.
Fluttershy got up shortly after landing, groaning in pain. She shook her head and looked around, confused, seemingly only noticing her surroundings at that very moment. She felt something strange in her mouth and put a hoof to it, noticing right after that it was blood, but not her blood. She was shocked and slowly turned around, looking at Applejack.
Applejack saw her friend's face again, and saw the blood coming out of her mouth, shocking her even more and making her forget about her own pain, putting both of her hooves on her mouth as she gasped. "F-Fluttershy...What have I done to you...?!" She remembered the kick she gave her, and assumed she broke something in her face. Applejack shook her head in disbelief, how could she do that to her friend?
Fluttershy, though unable to communicate nor think more than bats do, seemed to realize what she herself had done, deducing the blood in her mouth was from the bite she gave Applejack. She sat on the ground silently, unable to think of an apology, but the part of her that was still Fluttershy made her begin to cry.
Applejack quickly assumed she was crying because of the pain, and against her common sense and what she should have done knowing her flank was bleeding, began walking towards Fluttershy. They found each other face to face, both faces wet with tears, the short distance closed quickly when Applejack hugged her and began crying on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Fluttershy! I'm so sorry!" she said as she began kissing the yellow bat pony's forehead. "Shh, shh, don't cry, I'm here."
Fluttershy couldn't tell her anything, nor think of a response, but she understood the gesture and slowly began calming down. It was in the middle of the hug when she saw the bleeding cutie mark again, and her still feral mind only made her think of one thing to do. She leaned in and pressed herself against the wound, attempting to control the bleeding.
The orange pony was confused by her friend's actions, but had no desire to protest. She slowly sat on the ground so that both of them were more comfortable. With Fluttershy pressed against her wound, she could feel the blood wasn't coming out as much as before, and she was thankful for that. But she was more thankful knowing her friend was still there and was helping her now. With a sigh of relief, she began relaxing, and the exhaustion from the long run, the pain and the earlier struggle began kicking in, and her eyes slowly closed, making her drift off to sleep.
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The morning sun came in through the window, flooding a certain orange pony's bedroom with light. The pony in the bed woke up because of the light, feeling light-headed. She tried to get up, then felt pain in her right flank. She opened her eyes wide and uncovered herself, realizing her cutie mark was covered in bandages. It was not a dream, Applejack and Fluttershy did have a bad encounter last night. But then where was Fluttershy?
It was then when Applejack noticed a note on her nightstand, right next to a yellow feather. She deduced who it was from and took it, trying to read it despite feeling dizzy.
"Dear Applejack,
I am really sorry about what happened last night. I would never hurt you or anypony, I don't know what came over me. The kick you gave me, it hurt, but I really needed it. After you passed out I brought you to your room, and I was myself again. Don't try to move too much, it's still a bad wound.
Thank you for being there for me, Applejack. I'll go see Twilight and tell her about this today, maybe she'll figure out why it happened. In the case she doesn't find a cure, I promise I will stay away from your orchard as much as I can when something like that happens to me again. But more importantly, I promise to never hurt you again.
Fluttershy."
Applejack smiled tearfully and let her head rest on her pillow. On one hand, she was worried that Fluttershy would possibly still transform into a vampire pony, but on the other, she was relieved that even in that state, Fluttershy was still Fluttershy, and that she was not going to hurt this apple again. Before thinking of anything else, she found herself going back to sleep, after all, with such a rough night, work could wait another hour.