Two nights later, long after his shift had ended and Night Shadow's had started, Thunderblast laid in bed in his apartment, almost completely wide awake. He had been thinking about what his friend said for over two days, and couldn't sleep because of it. He tossed and turned in his bed, attempting many times to think of something else, but the thought of having to find a vampire bat to bite him and transform him only stuck like glue fresh in his mind.
Finally, he laid on his back and stared up at his ceiling with wide open, desperate eyes. Thunder turned his head, staring at the alarm clock on the nightstand beside his bed, which read almost midnight. He stared back up at his ceiling, eyes barely moving as he thought the plan over. Shrugging to himself, Thunder climbed out of bed and trotted out into the living room of his Manehattan-style apartment and out onto the balcony. The air outside was cold, and nipped at his skin under his coat like mosquitoes.
He inhaled, then took to the skies, changing course and flying away from the city, then down towards the forest below the mountain. Shivering a little, he cursed at himself mentally for not wearing a jacket before leaving. Instead of going back, he decided to suck it up and keep going in hopes of finding a vampire bat in less than two hours. The only problem was, he was unsure of what one looked like, though he assumed one would look menacing.
Just over a quarter-till one, he continued to scan the forest by hoof, looking through the dark, shadowy trees for a vampire bat. Thunder grumbled to himself, still mentally facehoofing himself for not wearing something warm. His breath steamed as he walked, the cold air still sweeping through his coat and feathers in a brisk wind which whistled and rustled the leaves above and around him.
Before he could step any further, he heard a faint hiss from above. Thunder's pupils shrunk to pinpricks, and he slowly peered up at a branch, his eyes meeting an extremely dark grey colored bat, mostly wrapped in it's wings while hanging down a foot above his head. It's red, menacing eyes glared back down towards him, letting out another hiss as if it was warning him to leave before it attacked.
Instead of doing so, Thunder gulped and hesitantly floated up to the bat, which watched him closely and hissed once more. He stared back worriedly, then slowly extended his hoof towards the bat and shut his eyes, knowing the bite would be painful. The bat let out a quiet growl, lunging forward and grabbing hold of Thunder's arm in a tight grip, then opened it's mouth and sunk it's fangs into his muscle. He let out a loud yelp, wanting desperately to beat the ever loving wits out of the bat, but rather did his best to deal with the pain as it injected a clear liquid into his veins, which burned at the wound and his bones. When it finished, the bat pulled away, then flew away squeaking loudly, disappearing into the pitch black forest.
Thunder grabbed his arm, putting his hoof on the wound to hold the venom in, wishing the bat would have gone for a less sensitive part of his arm rather than his muscles, which only intensified the pain.
He floated slowly back to the ground, grunting some at the pain of the bite, then made his way back towards Canterlot with a slight limp in his walk. Desperate to get home, but also elated that he found a vampire bat, Thunder flew straight up towards the slumbering city, still gripping his arm which was beginning to go limp. He started to worry when he found it hard to move his arm, and flew faster, eventually reaching his apartment and trotting into the bathroom. He flipped on the light, recoiling at it's brightness a bit but quickly adjusting, then looked over himself in the mirror. Nothing had changed about him, which made him believe it wasn't going to work. Disappointed, he trotted back to bed and crawled in, snuggling into the warm blankets and almost instantly dozing off into a deep slumber.
Later on that night, he woke up in a shock, discovering his entire body in deep, throbbing pain originating from the wound. Flopping out of bed and slowly standing on all fours, he grunted loudly and dragged himself into the bathroom weakly. Thunder groaned louder, trying his best to find the light switch but failing to when more pain struck his body like an arrow. He dropped to his knees, holding his achy chest and slowly looking up at the mirror. His eyes widened in surprise when he first noticed his ears were slightly longer, and were split at the very tips as if his coat had fluffed up. Grunting more, he slowly stood back up, then put his hoof to his mouth where it was aching more. After it stopped, he moved his trembling hoof and opened his mouth.
Instead of seeing his regular teeth, he now saw two fangs hanging down from them, resembling Night Shadow's almost identically. Thunder blinked in surprise, before feeling a large amount of pain in his wings. They sprung open, and he glanced back to them. In a flash, they gradually changed into much thinner, more sensitive wings which initially appeared to be like the wings of a dragon. At another glance, he realized they were bat wings. Turning back to the mirror, he blinked once more. During so, his iris shape changed into slits, rather than their original round shape. One last thing he also noticed, was his coat was a slightly darker shade. He looked down to his arm, which was almost completely healed, and the two holes from the vampire bat's fangs were gone, left with two small blood marks. Moments later, the pain stopped altogether. Thunder stared in pure awe at himself, looking over his body.
"I'm a bat pony...this...this is amazing," he gasped softly, then turned his attention to new matters. "I've got to get to Night."
Meanwhile across town, Night Shadow patrolled the streets, dressed in full Lunar armor with the addition of cold weather enhancements to keep him warm. He held a spear in one hoof, keeping an eye out and scanning the empty streets for any signs of trouble. His ear perked, picking up a faint flapping sound coming from somewhere above. He stopped walking and looked up, unable to see in the pitch black sky. He stared in the direction of the sound, soon spotting a shadow flying towards him. As it approached, he gasped softly, recognizing the sound. Instead of pointing his spear in defense, he waited. Moments later, a dark grey bat pony stallion with a black, messy mane and blue eyes landed in front of him with a faint clop.
"Thunder?" Night's eyes widened in surprise.
Thunderblast nodded. "It's me. I found a vampire bat, I just turned into this form."
"Sweet Luna, Thunder. I had no idea you would go out tonight and do it!" Night Shadow set his spear against a street bench, staring at his friend with some concern.
"I couldn't sleep...I had to go do it Night. Look, I think it would be best if we leave tonight for your colony."
"You...you think so?" Night continued to stare in concern, his ears pinning back. Thunderblast nodded in response. "Alright...but, we will have to change your name. Thunderblast doesn't sound...bat pony-ish..."
"What? No way. I'm not changing my name!" Thunder groaned. "Let's just go, alright?"
Night groaned a little. "Alright, fair enough. Should we fly or take the train?"
"I'm not taking the train looking like this!"
"Fine, fine you big baby," Night gave a fangy grin. "Let's go."
Many hours later, Night Shadow and Thunderblast made their way high in the skies over western Equestria. The sky was slowly becoming light behind them as morning came to the eastern regions of the land. While flying, Thunder found it harder to stay airborne in the colder temperatures.
"H-h-how...h-how does your k-kind survive in th-this w-weath-ther?" Thunder shivered, flapping his wings hard to keep up with Night.
"Don't ask me...hey, you need help?" Night asked, slowing down and allowing Thunder to fly somewhat ahead. "You don't look like you're doing good."
"I h-hate this body...sure my coat is a-a lot warmer and s-softer, but my g-gosh, it sure ain't easy to f-f-fly with these wings. Especially at this-s altitude!"
Night smirked a little. "Want to ride on my back the rest of the way? We're close, I won't mind."
Thunder panted and shivered more, spotting a cloud below and swooping down to land on it. "S-sure," he looked at Night tiredly.
Night Shadow flew down beside the cloud, allowing Thunderblast to climb on. Night fell a few inches after he did, and Thunder wrapped his hooves around his neck to hang on.
"A-am I too h-heavy?" Thunder asked, still shivering.
"Not really, hang on!" Night smiled back at him, then flew forward as fast as he could with Thunder on his back.
Some time later, a cluster of clouds bunched together could be seen ahead, with what appeared to be dark-colored squares resembling houses and other buildings. The clouds were stationary, almost like Cloudsdale, but much smaller and didn't have rainbow falls flowing down to earth.
"W-wow...i-is this your home Night?"
"Mmhmm, well, kind of. Long story, and we don't have much time for it. For now, get ready to meet my parents!"
Night Shadow began descending towards the cloud city, lined up for one of the presumably basic housing streets and landing, trotting to a stop in front of a two story house made of stone. "Here we are, my parents' house!"
Thunder slowly climbed off of Night's back, still somewhat shivering and panting. Night knocked on the front door and took a step back.
"You think th-they're even awake?"
"I'm sure my dad is, he starts his shifts early. Who knows, he may have already left."
Inside, heavy approaching hoofsteps could be heard before the unlocking of the front door. It swung open, and immediately a large bat pony stallion could be seen, standing a half of a head taller than the both of them. The stallion's jaw opened a little in surprise, and his deep blue eyes widened.
"Night Shadow? You're back!" The stallion said happily, pulling Night into a tight hug. Night chuckled and hugged back.
"Yup, I'm back! I missed you dad."
"I missed you too," Skywatcher let go of Night after a few moments. "What have you been up to?" He then glanced over to Thunder, who was smiling innocently. "Who's your friend?"
"Oh! Of course. Dad, this is Thunderblast, my good friend. Turns out I wasn't alone in Canterlot all along," Night smiled happily.
"Ooh, well good for you son! I'm happy to see you found another one of our kind. Pleased to meet you Thunderblast, I am Skywatcher, Night's dad," Skywatcher extended his hoof to shake with Thunder's.
Thunder extended his hoof and shook Skywatcher's. "It is a pleasure to meet you, sir."
"Please, do call me Sky," he let out a deep chuckle. "Come on in, get out of the cold."
Both Night Shadow and Thunderblast entered the house, which was barely lit by a few lanterns. Inside was comfortably warm and cozy, which relieved Thunder greatly and allowed him to warm up.
"So, son. What brings you back around, anything wrong?"
"Nope, just thought I'd come by for another visit. Hey, you don't mind if me and Thunder share a room for a couple days, do you?"
"What, you two like each other?" Sky formed a glare on his face.
Both Night Shadow and Thunderblast's cheeks heated and turned dark red. "N-no, dad. That isn't what I meant!"
Skywatcher burst out laughing. "I'm kidding, Night. You two should see your faces right now!"
Night's ears pinned back, while Thunder looked away, embarrassed. "Dad, neither of us are interested in stallions. I'm going to leave it at that."
"I knew that, Nighty. I'm simply messing with you two. Yes, you can share a room. We haven't touched your room since you left, son," Skywatcher said, still with a grin on his face. "I'd better be off to work, I'll see you two when I get back."
"Alright dad. See you!" Night smiled to his father, watching him walk out the door and shut it behind him. After the door shut, he turned to Thunderblast.
"What?" Thunder was still blushing a tiny bit.
"He got us."
"He did," Thunder looked down a little. "But you did kind of set us up for it."
"I did not!"
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Did too!"
"Shush, Thunder."
"Giving up?"
"No, really, shush. My mom and sister are still asleep."
"Oh," Thunder started to whisper. "Sorry," he blushed in embarrassment.