//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 // Story: Pegazo Vampir Equinae // by Gecko //------------------------------// As the door in front of them unlocked, Surprise and Pinkie were already running through it. This hadn’t gone as they had planned. They had just wanted Rainbow Dash and Twilight to get together. Honestly, their plan hadn’t been the best, but it was better than nothing. They didn’t have time to think about that now though. They were rushing towards Rainbow Dash’s location to try and get Twilight to a hospital as fast as possible. Then they heard something very unexpected. It was an alarm of sorts, they knew exactly what it meant, but it made no sense. If Twilight was unconscious how could the conditions for that going off possibly have happened? They didn’t care since that alarm meant they could take a faster route through the house. When they arrived, they saw Rainbow Dash hanging over Twilight’s body sobbing silently to herself. Pinkie turned to Surprise as they were nearing Rainbow and Twilight. “You take Twilight to the hospital as fast as possible, I think I need to talk to Rainbow Dash, I am pretty sure I know what just happened.” Surprise didn’t even bother to look at her in that moment, she simply nodded. When they finally arrived, Pinkie slowly tried removing Rainbow’s incredibly hard grip on Twilight. “Rainbow, please, she needs to go to the hospital if you ever want a chance of her surviving.” This made Rainbow stop as she immediately released the grip around the purple unicorn as she backed away slowly. Tears were still running down Rainbow’s face as she watched Twilight getting carried out by Surprise. She looked at Pinkie, her eyes filled to the brim with tears. As Rainbow slowly tried telling her what had happened, Pinkie realised that what she thought had happened actually did happen. Rainbow had no idea what she was really doing when she started hunting Twilight down. She made the obvious connection to the vampirism inside her, which would make sense. Now, Rainbow just started crying even harder as she grabbed the fur of her friend’s chest. “It’s all my fault Pinkie, why did I do that? What if she doesn’t make it? I will have to live with that for the rest of my life, I can’t handle that. I don’t want her to die, Pinkie!” Pinkie could barely make Rainbow’s speech out since she was practically talking into her coat but somehow she could piece it together and get a full picture of what her friend was saying. Pinkie took her friend’s head and placed it forehead to forehead with herself as she looked into the eyes of the pegasus. “This wasn’t your fault, don’t think that. You weren’t yourself, that much even I can see. This wasn’t you! There is only one thing that could possibly be at fault here, and that is whoever created those,” she said as she poked her hoof on her friends protruding fangs. “I’m sure Twilight worked it out as soon as it was happening, I mean she is the smartest of fillies that I have ever known. She just wasn’t able to handle whatever comes with those two things. We don’t blame you Rainbow, because we know that you wouldn’t hurt Twilight. I also am quite certain you have just realised something about the unicorn yourself haven’t you?” she said with a caring smile that made the pegasus laugh nervously for half a second. Then she started to blush as she buried herself in Pinkie’s fur again. Pinkie simply smiled to herself as she rose and brought Rainbow up from the ground too. “Come on now, its all gonna be fine, I can tell, I mean, the doctors at the hospital are amazing at what they do. And I’m pretty sure that if the worst comes to pass, well, Celestia might just come, but let’s hope that doesn’t need to happen, right?” Pinkie said as they started walking out of the house. Rainbow nodded as she started to walk too. Then she realised something. “Wait, there is something really odd here… I mean, for you two to have arrived that quickly. I have a single question. Why did you two create this house?” This was not something Pinkie had expected to come now, she had hoped her friend wouldn’t have realised it yet. Pinkie gulped, she had a lot of explaining to do. Applejack stood on the top of the hill looking over the landscape. Something was wrong, she could tell. Rainbow said she was going to bring Twilight here, but they hadn’t arrived yet. It was getting very late in the afternoon, the sun was on the course of setting over the horizon. Sometimes, Celestia liked to place the sun there, and although not bringing anything practical to the world, Applejack couldn’t help but admire the view. No, it was getting absolutely too late now, she couldn’t wait for them any longer, something had to be wrong. Rainbow Dash wouldn’t just leave her hanging like this. Before she started looking for her friends though, she had the excellent idea to actually get some food herself since you can’t just go looking for late and or missing ponies on an empty stomach. That would just be silly. As she entered the house, it was quiet, it was homely. Of course, Sweet Apple Acres always seemed to feel incredibly cozy, even to visitors. The only sound Applejack could hear was Granny Smith’s snoring in her rocking chair. Apple Bloom was out playing with her friends, this she knew. She had no idea where Big Mac was located though. This didn’t bother her too much, since the stallion sometimes liked just walking through the orchard as he thought about things. He thought about things a lot, and he never seemed to share them with her. It wasn’t all too weird, he was just that kind of pony. Applejack entered the kitchen and grabbed an apple, she didn’t want to make dinner yet, it was far too early for that. Even if it was getting late, the apples liked to eat late on lazy days such as this. Today had been a resting day of sorts, so that they wouldn’t overwork themselves in the orchard. Sometimes, just because she thought it was fun, Applejack did go out and buck a couple of trees on the lazy days, since she simply felt like it. With the apple completely swallowed she went outside and towards the barn, she wanted to check if her brother was there. The possibility of him being there wasn’t all that big, but she chanced since she wanted to tell at least one family member that she was going to look for her friends. As she neared the barn, she heard a sound, it was almost as if somepony crashed into the wall or something.She now started galloping towards the barn and quickly opened the door. What she saw was something she would never have hoped for. She saw her brother on the ground with his stomach facing the roof of the barn and his face completely revealed and he looked exhausted, he had bruises everywhere. Most frightening of all though… He had fangs protruding from his mouth. Applejack couldn’t even muster a single word, she was completely speechless, her brother, a vampony? Rainbow couldn't possibly have done this, could she? Applejack was almost starting to doubt her close friend because the sight in front of her was so obscene and weird. it didn’t make any sense in her head. She tried speaking and all she could muster was a single word. “How?” Big Mac slowly rose from the ground with a pained expression as he looked her sister squarely in the eye with a determined look. “It’s not how, it’s why.” he said in his usual voice. He took a deep breath as he spoke again. “I personally asked Rainbow Dash to give me this. I always feel weak, you and your friends are always the ones saving us, I never do anything to save the farm or help it. I did this so I could finally be able to protect the ones I love and help if someone ever threatens the farm. I know I’m helpful at times, like when the Flim Flam brothers came over. I know I help, but you’re always the one in front. I overheard a conversation between Twilight and Rainbow and I head something about dangerous ponies or creatures appearing soon. I want to be able to help. I didn’t do anything useful when Marshall and his minions attack, I almost got knocked out immediately while you and the others fought them off. I love my family, I am only doing this to help us.” he sighed as he finally finished with his long speech, he usually didn’t speak much, but his time it had practically just appeared from his throat. He knew his sister wasn’t going to be happy with his choice, but he thought that if he showed that he really was trying to do something good, she might listen to him. Applejack was stunned, she didn’t know what to say. Her brother felt useless? She didn’t think of him that way, not that mentioning it now would help any, he was already turned to one of them. How could he go to such lengths though? Applejack couldn’t possibly comprehend why her brother would have gone to get himself turned like that. Applejack looked at the ground and tipped her hat over her eyes and muttered a single sentence. “Please, just go.” Big Mac shrunk, he had been expecting this, but he had hoped against it. He walked towards the barn door and stopped. He gave a huge sigh as he looked back at his sister. “I know I did something unthinkable for you, but please reconsider when I’m gone. I just want the best for Granny and Apple Bloom.” he said as he galloped off towards the sunset with tears streaming down his face. Applejack sighed as she tipped her hat up again revealing that tears were also streaming down her face. Twilight? Can you hear me? You need to wake up immediately! If you don’t you might get stuck for a very long time and we don’t have time for that! Clover’s voice echoed in Twilight’s head, but she couldn’t process it properly, there was just something about it that seemed uninteresting to her. Why should she “wake up” when she was in this paradise? Twilight loved the current place she was in. It was the most relaxing place of all. It might have been her favorite place except for one thing. She had a feeling that something was missing. She was currently on a beach resort in a far away corner of Equestria and she was simply laying there on a sunbathing chair and rested under the sun. She was alone, as in she didn’t have any friends or family with her to the resort. It was weird, because each time she tried to think of her friends, her head just started to hurt and she had no idea why this was. As Twilight was still relaxing, something incredibly unexpected happened, the sky turned gray in just a matter of seconds and thunder could be heard all over. Twilight jumped out of her chair and started to run towards the hotel so that she could get inside her room and be away from this terrible storm. As she was running towards the hotel, she was for some reason, not coming closer, she was running away. This greatly distressed Twilight as she quickly glanced towards the ocean to look if there might have been someone following her. In the moment she glanced towards the ocean, a huge lightning bolt hit right into the water and made a huge boom in Twilight’s ears. Out of the crash site for the lightning, there was a pony. Twilight seemed to remember this pony. She was some kind of blue? Not that the coat stood out the most, what really stood out about this pony was the rainbow mane. The mare stepped towards Twilight with a stern expression and started talking. “I might look like Rainbow Dash at the moment, but I’m not Rainbow Dash, I am Clover and I need to get you out of here. You need to get out. I never meant for this to happen, it was as unexpected for me, in some ways at least.” The mare said as she grabbed Twilight’s hoof and then proceeded to hold her entire body and started flying off into the sky. Twilight had been stunned by the whole thing so she had no idea how to react. This mare was possessing another mare or something? That seemed utterly ridiculous. Twilight started struggling against the grip of ‘Clover’ but she, in turn, just squeezed harder to keep her grip on the unicorn. As soon as they passed the cloud cover, something clicked in Twilight’s mind, she seemed to remember things. She remembered her friends and Clover and everything outside this stupid fantasy. “Wait, how did bringing me over the clouds work to get my memories and everything back, that doesn’t make much sense.” Twilight commented as she stopped to struggle. Clover just laughed in a very odd way as she replied. “Well, it’s a simple thing. It’s hard to wake a pony who won’t listen. Especially when they are in a weird vampony trance. Which you were. I will tell you more about this when we get out and Rainbow Dash also is present, because she needs to know as well. The reason why you remembered things when we went over the clouds is because they were the borders of your dream. Dreams are weird since you don’t always remember things outside of them, but when you wake up, you remember everything. I took you out of your dream. You might have been in a vampony trance, that it why I have been able to save you in this way. If it wasn’t me, I don’t really know who could. Anyway, it seems that we have arrived at the final destination. Simply step into that gate when we arrive and you should wake up in your hospital bed.” Clover said as she landed on the weird cloud and released Twilight from her grip and immediately ran towards the gate. Before finally walking into the gate Twilight looked back towards Clover in her Rainbow Dash from and said: “Thank you for getting me out.” Twilight smiled broadly as she turned back towards the gate and walked inside. When she went beyond the borders of the gate. All the light around her turned into a really weird mix of all colours. It was almost as if rainbows were trying to envelop her in their shiny light. After a couple of seconds of weird rainbow lights, she woke up. There was one thing she somehow remembered before she went into her trance, just before. Her eyelids had been almost completely closed but she had still seen it in her weak state. Rainbow had started crying over something Twilight knew wasn’t her fault. Then the unexpected for Twilight had come. Rainbow had… Kissed her? “Twilight?” Rainbow uttered as she she saw the eyelids of the unicorn opening. Rainbow nudged her chair closer to the bed as she casually started holding Twilight’s hoof. Twilight looked at Rainbow and smiled widely as she kind of understood the whole situation. Rainbow started to apologize a lot. “I didn’t mean to do that, I don’t know what came over me I couldn’t control myself, please forgive me.” She said as her forehead connected with Twilight’s bed. Twilight took her free hoof and used it to stroke Rainbow’s mane. “You know that I don’t blame you, even if I’m not in the best of states right now. I could see that it wasn’t you. It’s really quite obvious to me what really happened, at least, I think I know. You should know too, at least to some degree.” Rainbow simply nodded while head was still in the mattress and made a sound which sounded a lot like understood what Twilight had meant. “Now, please come up from there, we really need to talk to Clover, we need to know what really happened so that we can prevent it from happening again, okay?” Twilight said as she nudged Rainbow’s head upwards and gave a smile. Rainbow simply replied with a small nod. I can always hear you two, so you don’t even have to mention that I should appear now. I am here, go ahead, ask whatever questions you like, I am mostly prepared for them. As Clover’s voice echoed in their minds they looked each other as to discuss who would ask the questions but Rainbow shoved her hoof in Twilight’s direction. “You do this, if I want something specific, I will ask about it, but you’re probably better at this than me.” she said with a slight smile that indicated for Twilight to start her mind conversation with Clover. Ok, so first of all. We want to know why and how it happened, that is very important, I am sure you know exactly why. Twilight was still a bit rusty with this mind speaking thing, it seemed really weird to her, even if she was really good at magic it was normally not something she did. Celestia barely even used this kind of magic but she understood why Clover had to since she didn’t really have her own body. Well, this might take some time. I’ll try my best to make it as short as possible since it’s rather boring. As you know, vamponies need to consume blood at times since it’s practically their source of power so to speak. I know I mentioned you needing to drink blood when you had just been turned, I just forgot to tell you the rest of it. You see, if you don’t drink blood within one to three weeks after your last feeding, you might go somewhat awry. It’s really irregular, It’s hard to say exactly how long for each pony, but it’s generally around two weeks, even if that’s not always the case. The grunts usually last a lot longer than the stronger ranks since they generally don’t use a lot of energy. The same goes for lieutenants. The weird thing about what happened to Rainbow isn’t that she had completely forgot about feeding, since that’s what activated the whole thing. It’s a bit unstable which is quite annoying in my opinion, but it’s not really something I can fix. This didn’t sit right with either of them, but they knew they had to question her further since they didn’t get to ask her questions a lot of the time. Twilight just continued to follow on the same trail. I suspected as much actually. I makes a small amount of sense when it comes to your vampirism at least. It did surprise me since it was such a spontaneous thing. I need to know something really crucial though, I know I tried using my anti vampony magic on her to neutralize her rampage at least for the moment, but she completely deflected it, how did that happen? That is, well, I honestly don’t know. I always knew you could use that kind of magic, which is good since I thought that you could have neutralized her rampage. When she deflected your magic, I got really, really confused. Vamponies should not be able to do that. Ever. I know how the magic works in some ways, but not even I can deflect it. I always knew Rainbow was somewhat special, but this was completely unexpected. She is an alpha, which means she has a good amount of power in her, but far from my own. She shouldn’t even be able to touch you miss Sparkle. I can’t answer why she did that, but I can only expect that it means she is very special and meant for something important. There is no more that I can tell you when it comes to this, at least not at the moment. I promise that if I find something related to Rainbow’s curious case I will come back with that since I am just as curious as you two. As the two ponies heard the weird popping sound in their minds once again, they looked at each other with really weird looks as Twilight shrugged weirdly as she laid there in her bed. Rainbow looked a bit amiss as she didn’t really know how to process the information she had just been given. She was special? This was really weird. Twilight coughed to get Rainbow’s attention. The first thing Rainbow noticed on the unicorn’s face was the very small hint of a blush, for some reason, Rainbow started to blush as well. Twilight looked at Rainbow as she made a light hearted laugh. “You know, I just want to point something out that I really liked. I know that you probably did too. It’s a bit weird with me lying in this bed and all but still. I know what you did in that hall Rainbow and I certainly wouldn’t mind another one.” She said as she grabbed the pegasus head in her field of magic and brought her in for a quick kiss.