The warm morning light poured through the window, illuminating the wooden walls of the room. Several stray objects of clothing lay strewn about the room, a few socks and other things only worn for special occasions. The brown Stetson hung from it's post at the foot of the bed whilst the orange mare atop it lay peacefully asleep.
She stretched out, expecting to feel the warmth of her lover next to her, but only found the cool sheets of the bed. Cracking one emerald eye open, she confirmed that she was alone in the room. She also noticed that the window was left half ajar, letting a warm summer breeze seep through the crack. She ruffled her brow at this, since she knew that Rainbow Dash would have no reason to leave before she woke up. Looking around, she saw that half of the blanket was on the floor, and it looked like Rainbow had been struggling from the look of it.
"Rainbow?" she wondered aloud.
She got up, still half asleep, and looked at the bedside clock. 11:30am.
"Oh, jeez..." she muttered, "I slept in."
She got off of the bed and sleepily walked into the hall, closing the bedroom door behind her. She took a left, heading for the stairs, and headed down. Landing in the living room. Big Macintosh was sitting on the sofa, eyes slosed and chewing on a strand of hay. She could also see Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sitting together.
That's strange, where's Sweetie Belle? she wondered to herself. Deciding that if she was going to find Rainbow Dash, she would have to get herself noticed, she groggily said; "Mornin' y'all."
Big Mac looked up to the stairs and saw his sister halfway down them. "Mornin' AJ," he replied, "sleep well?"
"I know I slept in, Mac. No need ta rub it in," Applejack said defensively. "Any o' y'all seen Rainbow Dash today?"
"Nope," was Mac's reply.
"I haven't," Scootaloo said.
"Me neither," Apple Bloom finished.
"Where could she be...?" Applejack wondered.
"She wasn't in yer room when ya woke up?" Mac questioned.
"No, and I'm a little worried. She hasn't been in the best of shape recently," Applejack replied.
Mac sat there silently for another minute or two before he spoke again, pondering anything that Rainbow Dash could be doing.
"Well, I guess ya better go find 'er," he suggested.
"Was already plannin' on it," Applejack agreed before heading for the front door, swinging it open and dashing outside. Hoping she would find at least a small trace of Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy sat patiently in the chair while Twilight scanned the third book in a row about mutations. As she flipped through the middle few pages, her expression changed from one of concentration to one of shock, meaning she had found something.
"What is it, Twilight? Did you find something?" Fluttershy asked excitedly.
"Yes, but..." Twilight replied.
"But what?" Fluttershy asked.
"I don't think you're going to like it," was Twilight's response.
"What is it?"
"It says here that if a pony has two fangs sprouting from the top row of teeth that he or she has become a vampony."
"But, didn't you cure that?"
"I thought I did. But I guess it was only a theory at the time. Looks like you're still a vampire fruit bat pony--"
"Actually," Fluttershy interrupted, "I don't think I'm a fruit vampire..."
"Why do you say that?" Twilight asked.
"Because I woke up this morning with... With..."
"What? With what?"
"Blood... All over my muzzle," Fluttershy confessed. "And I had no memory of last night, either. All I remember is a huge pain hitting me and then everything went dark. I woke up in my room with blood all over my face."
Twilight was shocked to hear this. Her spell had worked, after all... In a way. But all it did was remove the fruit part of vampire fruit bat pony. "Oh..." Twilight said, beyond words other than that. "This is... Bad."
"Does it say anything about how to fix it?" Fluttershy pleaded.
"I don't know," Twilight said, looking through the pages to try and find something. "No, it doesn't say anything. I'm sorry," she said, defeated.
"Oh!" Fluttershy sighed. "Thank you for trying, Twilight."
"No prob--"
CRASH!!
"Either of you two seen Rainbow Dash?" Applejack asked as she slammed through the door, almost breaking it off of it's hinges.
"No," Twilight said, confused and a little concerned about Applejack's state. She looked like she had been running a marathon for three days straight, and still felt like going a few more miles. "Why? Isn't she staying with you?"
"She was, but I woke up this mornin' an' she was gone," Applejack explained.
"Do you have any idea of where she could've gone? Maybe it was something important?" Twilight suggested.
"I don't think so, Twi. She woulda told me," Applejack said.
"Was there anything weird going on recently?" Fluttershy asked.
"Whaddya mean by that, 'Shy?" Applejack asked.
"I don't know, anything. Strange behaviour, maybe marks or something?"
"She did have a coupl'a bite marks on her neck, and she was havin' nightmares ever since they showed up," Applejack explained.
"How long?" Twilight asked.
"A few days, maybe? Why?"
Twilight shot a knowing glance at Fluttershy, who returned the look nervously.
"Applejack," she began, "I think Fluttershy might know what happened."
Applejack looked at Fluttershy, confusion, worry and sadness written all over her face. Which made it that much more difficult for Fluttershy. She knew how much Applejack and Rainbow Dash loved each other, and the extents to which they would go to keep the other safe. She slowly opened her mouth, revealing the fangs that stuck out like a bee in a swarm of black flies.
Upon seeing the fangs, which were a perfect match in distance to the marks on Rainbow Dash's neck, Applejack's expression quickly changed from one of worry to one of anger. She lashed out at Fluttershy, tackling her to the ground and wrapping her hooves around her neck.
"What the hell have you done to Rainbow Dash?!" She almost screamed. "Where is she?!"
"Applejack, calm down," Twilight said, trying to pull the anger driven mare off of Fluttershy. "It wasn't her fault."
"Oh yeah? Then whose fault is it? Because whoever it is is gonna hafta deal with me!" Applejack declared angrily, releasingher grip on Fluttershy.
"It's mine," Twilight said, "when I turned Fluttershy back to normal, my spell must have only taken away the fruit vampire parts. But it still left her with some vampire blood in her."
"What? Yer not makin' sense," Applejack said, confused.
"Fluttershy is responsible for the bites on Rainbow's neck. But she has no memory of doing it. My guess is that the vampire blood takes over her body at night and leaves her with no will over it," Twilight explained.
"So what you're tellin' me is that Fluttershy is an unwilling vampony and that she's been drinkin' Rainbow Dash's blood? That still doesn't explain what happened to Dash," Applejack said.
"I don't know where Rainbow Dash is, but I'll help you look for her," Twilight said.
"I will too," Fluttershy agreed. "It's my fault all of this is happening, so I want to at least help fix it."
"Then let's get goin'. Time's a wastin'," Applejack said, leading the other two mares outside. She then stopped and faced them. "I think we should split up, we'll cover more ground and find her quicker."
"Good idea," Twilight agreed. "I'll check the east side of town."
"I'll look in the west side," Fluttershy said.
"I guess I'll check the farm then, never bothered to look there yet," Applejack said. "We all meet back here at five, ya hear?"
"Alright," Twilight said, heading east while Fluttershy headed west.
Applejack then turned on her hooves and galloped for home, praying to Celestia that Rainbow would be found safe.
The darkness of the barn surrounded her as she hung from the rafters. Outside, she was calm. Eyes closed, mane and tail hanging loose, wings wrapped around her slender frame while she hung upside down. Inside, however, she was fighting a mental battle as the vampire blood tried to consume her entire being. She watched in horror as memories of her past faded away into nothingness, replaced by the never ending thirst for blood. The good, the bad, all of her memories were disappearing right in front of her. And then came the memories of Applejack. She fought to keep these the hardest, for she knew that if she had to choose only one thing to remember, it would be her. She was the one thing that mattered most to her in the world, and if she lost her, she would have no reason to live. Slowly, the last image of Applejack's smiling face faded from her memory, and she tried and tried to hold on to that with all her might... To no avail. The image of her lover faded from her view forever, and she was left empty.
Outside, a single tear made it's way down from her eye to the ground as Rainbow Dash forgot the last thing she had.