//------------------------------//
// Sky's 25th Birthday 
// Story: Team Crafted's Pony Adventures! 
// by Starkvenger 
//------------------------------//

	Sky's hooves clicked against the cobble road. They made a *clip* *clop* *clip* *clop* as he ran. Sky's heart was pounding out of his chest, his breathing short and shallow. Sky's eyes darted left and right, searching for his pursuer. His brow was sweating, making his mane stick to his face. Sky lifted his left wing, and winced in pain. He had tripped over a log and landed on it. "...Gotta...get...away..." he mumbled, as he heard the rustling of bushes. Sky didn't bother to see what it was. He knew. 
Sky picked up speed as he ran, trying his best to get away. Sky ran to Twilight's treehouse, and pulled on the big wooden door. Twilight stared at him through the window, smiling devilishly. "Looks like your in trouble." she mocked. Sky couldn't believe it. Twilight wanted him to get killed. Sky ran away from the treehouse, searching for a safe place. Suddenly, a dark blue alicorn with a shining black mane descended from the clouds. "Luna! Help me please." Sky pleaded.
The princess stared at him. "Luna?" he asked. "Adam. We apologize for your fear. But this is only a nightmare. We are here to help you." she said in a commanding voice. "But, i've had this dream for so many nights now, how do i make it stop!?" Sky yelled. "You must face your fear." the princess said simply. "But i can't." Sky said. "Then there is no hope for you." Luna told him. Then, she started to fade. So did the land, the sky, and the houses. Sky woke up in a cold sweat, panting and breathing hard. He looked around to see he was in his bed, tucked under his budder sheets. "How do i face my fear, if i soon might become it?" Sky asked himself.
The next morning Sky heard a knocking at his door. "Sky? You in there?" It was Ty. Sky groaned. "I'll take that as a yes." Ty said, and opened the door with his magic. Once the door opened, sunlight flowed into the dark room from the hallway. Sky pulled the sheets over his head and tried to escape back into his dreams. "Sky. It's time to get up. We have a busy day." Ty said, pulling the sheets off of his friend. Sky hissed and rushed under his bed. "Whoa. That was weird." Ty said, putting the sheets back on the mattress. "Sky, if you didn't want to be disturbed, you could have just told me." And with that, Ty walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Sky crawled out from under his bed. "Why did i do that?" he asked himself. Sky walked over to his dresser and pulled on his black shirt. 
He was about to put on his silver armor when something stopped him. Sky reached a hoof out to grab it, and the silver burnt his fur. "Ouch!" he said, shoving the burnt hoof in his mouth. Sky shrugged and went over to his closet. "The armor must be hot from the sun." Sky told himself, even thought his drapes were purple and let no light into the room. Sky had just noticed that he had been getting dressed in the dark. "Heh, guess my eyes are really adjusted to this dark light." he said. Sky opened the closet and was about to pull on some budder armor when something caught his eye. In the corner or the closet was some smooth obsidian armor with golden trim. "Ooh. I like this." he said, pulling it on. The armor gave him a sense of power.
Sky then walked over to his mirror to comb his mane. He picked up a brush with his wing and looked in the mirror. Sky stared harder at the mirror, trying to see something. "it must be really dark in here, cause i can't even see myself!" Sky said jokingly. Sky gulped and flicked on the small lamp by the mirror. Sky's eyes grew wide and his brush fell to the floor with a *thud*. Sky backed away slowly from the mirror, his mouth gaping wide with fear. "No. No this can't be happening. Not yet! Dad said it wouldn't happen until i was 25!" Sky told himself. Then Sky realized something. Today was his birthday. His 25th Birthday. "NO!!!!!" Sky yelled. Suddenly, he heard the clopping of hoof-steps up the stairs. "Sky! What's wrong?!?" Husky yelled. "Sky! We're coming!" Bajan screamed. "Adam hold on!" Ty yelled. Sky rushed over to the door and locked it. "D-d-don't come in! I'm not feeling well!" he said, knowing his friends were at the door. "Sky! What's wrong??!" Ty yelled as he banged on the door. Ty used his magic to unlock the door, and tried to push it open. Sky leaned on the door, but with Husky and Bajan pushing as well, Sky was no match. The door burst open and the colts rushed in. 
Sunlight filled the room as Sky lay on the ground. The sun touched Sky's skin and he wailed in agony. "Sky! Whats the matter!?!" Ty yelled in shock. Ty rushed to the aid of his friend. Seeing that the sunlight hurt him, Ty ordered Husky to shut the door. Sky stopped wailing and instead was left trembling. Ty picked up his friend's head. "Sky...talk to me buddy..." Ty said. Sky looked at him weakly. "I...i'm...sorry Ty. I thought it wouldn't happen...but it has.." Sky mumbled. Ty's heart stopped. "No. Sky fight it. Please buddy. No. Please!" Ty said, his eyes starting to water. Husky and Bajan left the two friends alone, not knowing really what was going on. "Tell the gang i'm sorry...Ty...You need to be strong...be...a leader..." Sky said weakly. "Sky. No. Your the leader. Please. Maybe Twilight has a cure. The vampirism hasn't taken over completely has it?" Ty asked hopefully. Sky sat up and rubbed his hoof. "No...but it will...soon.." he said. "Ok. I'll go get Bajan and Husky, and tell them to alert the" Ty was cut off by Sky shaking his head. "No. Nopony can know." Sky said, slowly rising to his hooves. "Ok. But how are we gonna get you outside?" Ty asked. "I'll make and exception to what i just said. Get Jason."
Ty scrambled down the stairs, followed slowly by Sky, which by now had full bat ears. Sky pressed them against his head hoping nopony would notice. Once he stepped down on the wooden floor, he was tackled by Husky, Bajan, WeedPony, Seto, Jordan, and Pinkie Pie. "Happy Birthday Sky!" they said in unison. Sky scrambled to get up. He was lead into the kitchen by the group to a big golden cake. Jordan walked up to him. "Why are you wearing your obsidian armor? You haven't worn that in forever." Sky just nodded and moved closer to the cake. After he blew out his candles, Bajan came up to Sky with a confused look on his face. "Dude. What's up with your ears?" he asked. Sky's ears were still flattened against his head. "I...um...the noise from the party is...uh...making my head hurt." he answered. Bajan rolled his eyes. " Not that, i mean why are your ears kinda pointed?" he asked again. Sky started to stammer and began to back away slowly. Then he turned and dashed up the stairs, leaving Bajan with a confused look on his face. Sky ran into his room and slammed the door. He slid down onto his haunches, breathing heavily. "Get it together Sky." he told himself. Suddenly, his sides started to burn. Sky stretched his wings and saw that they were becoming leathery and webbed. "No! Not Phase 2. Not Bat wings." he said, holding his wings out wide. Sky pulled on his saddle bag to cover his wings. "Ok. good, but that won't fool them for long." Sky said, tightening the strap around him. 
Suddenly, Sky heard a loud knocking on his door. "Sky? You in there?" asked Ty. Sky breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of his best friend. "Did you get Jason?" Sky asked through the door. "Why don't you ask me yourself bro?" Jason joked. Sky unlocked the door and waved them in. Jason's expression changed from cheery to shock. "Whoa. Ty wasn't kidding. You look scary!" Jason said. "Yeah, and it's getting worse. Look." Sky said as he lifted the saddle bag off of his back, revealing the dark blue bat wings. Both Ty and Jason jumped. "Phase 2 already?" Ty asked. Sky nodded. "Ok, so whats the next phase and how long do we have until it?" Jason asked calmly. Sky thought for a moment then spoke. "Ok, so next is Phase 3, which is fangs. Then comes Phase 4, which is the eyes. After that comes Phase 5, which is color, and the final step is the final transformation, where my personality becomes pure evil, and the thirst for blood becomes so strong i can't stand it." Jason gulped. Ty had a look of complete fear on his face. "Ok, so how long until...the final step?" Ty asked. "The phases happen about half an hour between each other. The wings just happened, so we have about twenty minutes until Phase 3." Sky answered. 
Ty and Jason nodded. "But i cant go outside. The sunlight already really hurts, and once the fangs come, it will kill me." Sky said. Ty gave him a sad look which quickly turned to joy. "I know!" he said, galloping out of the room. Ty came back about five minutes later with a black cowl held in his magic. "Perfect!" Sky said happily. Sky threw on the cowl and pulled the hood over his head. Ty walked down the stairs with Sky and Jason behind him. He opened the front door and Sky hissed. Sky shook his head and got ahold of himself. "Get it together Sky. Don't let it take over." he muttered. Ty, Sky, and Jason walked through Ponyville, the occasional "You ok?" or a hiss from Sky, right before him telling himself to get it together.
Eventually, the trio arrived at Twilight's library. Ty knocked on the door, and Twilight answered almost immediately. "Hey guys! What brings you here?" Twilight asked cheerfully. Ty, Sky, and Jason walked into the library. Jason went around to all the windows and started closing the drapes. Ty lit up some of Twilight's lamps, while Twilight sat on her haunches giving them confused looks as they worked. After they had finished, Ty and Jason nodded to each other. "Sky your good." Ty said, sitting on his haunches. Sky then removed the cowl he was wearing to reveal his bat wings, pointed ears, and newly sharpened teeth. "Oh no. Phase 3. Fangs." Sky said. "Twilight, we have a problem." Ty told her. 
After telling Twilight the entire story, Sky was pooped. "That's about it." Sky finished. "Wow." Twilight said. She stood up and stretched her wings, letting her back pop. She sat back down and began to talk. "Believe it or not, Fluttershy's gone through the same thing. She became a vampire pony because of a miscalculation from my spell." Twilight said with a blush. "But she's not a vampire pony anymore." Ty said, looking at Sky with concern. Suddenly, Sky started blinking a lot. Then, his eyes became yellow and slitted. "What just happened?" Sky asked as he stared at his friends with his new eyes. "Why are you guys rainbow?" Sky asked. Twilight gave him a confused look then walked over to her desk and brought back some goggles. She put them on and looked at Sky. "Sky, your seeing in thermal. In other words, your see the pony your looking at's body temperatures, but, since your a vampire, you see where they have the most blood in their body." Twilight said, taking off the goggles. 
Sky blinked a few times and stared at Ty. "Ty's blood is all in his heart." he said. Sky then looked at Twilight. "Whoa. Twilight. Your almost all red." Sky said, his mouth beginning to water. "You look really delicious Twilight..." Sky was stopped by Ty slapping him. "Snap out of it Sky!" he yelled. Sky shook his head. "Sorry. The urge is getting really hard to fight." he said. "I know buddy just try to hold on." Ty told him, putting a hoof on his back. Twilight blushed. "Well, that's because i'm an alicorn, and we usually have more blood flowing through our bodies than other ponies." she said. "Oh. Well Twilight, we were needing to know if you had a cure for...well for what Sky's going through." Ty asked, pulling Sky in to his side a little closer. "Well, Fluttershy got cured using a counter spell, but she was transformed using a spell. I'm not sure it would even work on Sky. It might just make it worse." Twilight said, giving them a sympathetic look. Ty looked upset. 
Sky couldn't stand to see his friend in this condition. "I'm alright buddy...I think...maybe its fading." Sky said, trying to cheer Ty up. It didn't work. "Sky, you, and me both know that its not going to fade out. We have to find a cure." he said. Suddenly, Twilight's face lit up. "I think i may know somepony who can help!" she said cheerfully. "Who?" asked Ty and Sky in unison. "Who's the pony that can help?" Jason asked. Twilight giggled. "Well, its more like some Zebra who can help." And with that, Twilight, Ty, Jason, and a covered Sky ran towards the Ever-free forest in search of Zecora.

To Be Continued! :)