//------------------------------//
// New-born 
// Story: Bloodsong 
// by Not_A_Hat 
//------------------------------//

I floated through the open window, settling on the floor with silent wings. The inside of the mansion was just as desolately opulent as the outside, and equally neglected. Rain had puddled on the floor here. The entire bedroom was layered in mold, but the door was open. I wrinkled my nose and flared my ears, straining for sound. Fatigue tugged at my senses but I knew my mark was in here.
 
I flapped my wings once and sped down the corridor in a flat glide. At least the hideout had nice wide halls. I curled my left pinions, swinging neatly around a corner. The whisper of my flight kicked up dust around me. I rocketed through an open arch, back-scooping as I found myself above a balcony. I landed owl quiet, shoeless hooves soft on moldering carpet. I flexed the blades in my wings as I folded them, careful the imped quillons didn't snag surrounding feathers. 
 
Looking down to the floor below, I saw muddled hoofprints crisscrossing the dusty room. I frowned, trying to decipher what I was looking at. I'd traced the thief here in hopes of surprising him, but there were more than one set of tracks. I pondered for a moment, trying to decide if I needed to change my plan.
 
I flicked my wings open and floated off the balcony. I spread my senses wide, drawing on my magic to augment them. My hearing sharpened, my eyesight snapping into focus, and the world slowed as my flying senses came fully online. I frowned as a wisp of imaginary cloud floated across my vision, phantom rain tapping lightly in the back of my skull.
 
Already?
 
I tiredly pushed the Storm away, willing the illusions to fade. Eventually, they did. I breathed in relief and moved carefully across the room with the deliberate understatement of an enclosed speed-flyer. I canvassed the area as I went, drawing in every little breeze and zephyr, searching for signs of my prey.
 
Clink.
 
The noise was shockingly loud to my strained ears. I whipped my head around as a unicorn ghosted into the room, a cloud of golden medallions floating around his bright blue coat. His aura was practically invisible, the barest wisp of white curling off his short horn.
 
"Syzygy," I mouthed. 

“Silver, my good sir,” he replied with a grin, bowing as if acknowledging a compliment, steel-gray mane flopping forward to hide his warm brown eyes. I glared back. This had just gotten complicated. I… severely disliked this Hunter. He wasn't nasty, mean, or even particularly unpleasant. He was an effective and professional mercenary, unfailingly polite with an unbreakable smile.
 
I considered him brutally effective, with a perfect mask of manners and the sort of smile that haunted my nightmares. I hated his unwavering attitude, and my dislike was compounded by the fact that, most of the time, he didn't even deserve my loathing. He just grated on my nerves. Tonight, though, I didn't have much choice. If I didn't at least acknowledge him, we'd have no way to cooperate, and that would be much more trouble.
 
"Why are you here?" My eyes narrowed. "Tracking a thief?" I'd been contracted to recover a stolen heirloom, a keepsake necklace. I'd been sleeplessly working on the case for days, and I was about to wrap it up. Now things were turning complicated, and that worried me.
 
"Silver, Silver Lining my friend!" Ziggy smiled pleasantly. "Fancy seeing you here!" Both of us were speaking below a whisper, barely audible mumbles. His eyes went deadly serious. "I'm after a nightwalker."
 
"Blech." I frowned. That was not what I wanted to hear. "A vampire, here? Really?"
 
"You've heard the news." It wasn't a question; he had an excellent idea of what my sources would be saying. I nodded. There had been attacks matching a nightwalker nearby.
 
"No confirmation, no deaths, no bounty yet. Is this for your 'research'?" I hissed.
 
"A scientist needs data." His swarm of weapons shifted as he smiled, almost a shrug. "Progress waits for nopony. But that's beside the point. Now that we've met, will one of us leave? Or will you work with me?"
 
I pondered that a moment. I really didn't like working with Syzygy, but he was, at least, reliable and professional. I nodded once, and he smiled. We could finish this together and sort it out later. 
 
Thunder rumbled in my brain, and my head whipped around.
 
"Somepony's spellcasting." I looked to Syzygy, who smiled and shook his head.
 
"Not me. I've been prowling the house. But as you can see," he waved a hoof, indicating the confusion of tracks, "it's a guessing game at best."
 
"They're out back." The sound of rain rose in my ears as the magic increased. "That way, maybe five hundred meters." I pointed with a wingtip. "It could be our vampire, if their intrinsic magic is particularly strong."
 
"He knows I'm after him, and he's desperate. One day." Syzygy gave me an almost hungry smile. "One day I'll understand how you do that, Silver."
 
"Right." I rolled my eyes. "Don’t hold your breath. I did a fly-by, and there’s a big garden behind the house. Let's split up and come in from both sides. I'm looking for a necklace, a thin silver chain with an ornate opal pendant, an heirloom and maybe magic. If you happen to find it, I'd appreciate if you'd collect it for me. I will, of course, attempt to subdue any nightwalkers I find."
 
"Acceptable terms." He smiled. "Always a pleasure, Silver."
 
I nodded once, gathered my lagging focus, and threw myself into a glide for the nearest door. I heard him chuckle softly as he ghosted in another direction.
 
The hunt was on.
 
I snaked and curled through the corridors, wafting my way forward on a carefully maintained cushion of air. I'd studied this from owls, their long silent flaps and scooping dives. Vampires thought themselves dangerous, but I would be the predator here. I'd learned from the best.
 
Eventually, my path ended in an exit of sorts. A set of stained-glass doors had been shattered, leaving a twisted lacework of lead framing and a crunching carpet of multi-colored shards. I peered out carefully, trying to understand what I was heading into.
 
Ahead, I saw an overgrown, once beautiful garden. Untrimmed trees and scraggly hedges ran rampant across uncut grass. Weeds choked flowerbeds, blooming vigorously over the corpses of their cousins. Moonlight washed the scene, the night breeze stirring everything into gentle motion. I could hear small animals and smell rain-wet flowers. A cobblestone path crept into the undergrowth, quickly swallowed by profusion.
 
This hideout was perfect for a nightwalker. Cover from sunlight in the dilapidated house during the day, swapped for games of cat and mouse in the night garden.
 
Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly. I grinned to myself as I flitted through the wreckage of the doors. Ziggy's target wasn't a complete idiot.
 
Clink.
 
Syzygy's signal was clear; he'd entered the garden to my left, and was starting to prowl. I hooted once in return. I instinctively disliked working with Ziggy, but I'd done it more than once.
 
I was careful to stay in the shadows. My maroon plumage was an advantage in the dark, but caution kept ponies alive. I floated from the canopy of one tree to another, searching for my prey.
 
The Storm strengthened in my mind, and I realized that I'd been hearing the rush of wind and dapple of rain in the background this whole time. I shrugged and let it stay. I'd been up for nearly twenty-four hours, with only a nap before that. It was difficult to deny my heritage when I was short on sleep. Besides, it might be useful in the hunt. I adjusted my course through the treetops as I heard another sleepy rumble of illusory thunder, hooting twice for Ziggy.
 
Clink, clink.
 
A grim smile spread across my face as I neared my prey on silent wings. Vampires were something of a conundrum for me. Hunting, true hunting, was an honest pleasure. I loved the thrill of the chase, the matching of minds and rush of victory. I'd worked as a freelance investigator, detective, and mercenary for years because I loved it, and nothing provided the same challenge as destroying a creature of the night.
 
Despite that, though, facing vampires always brought on a mixture of apprehension and disgust. Nightwalkers were atrocities. Real monsters, who would stop at nothing to sate bottomless, unreasoning, and bloody appetites. Every case I'd taken involving them sickened me, and fighting them was always a desperate scramble against death. One mistake meant an dirt nap or an eternity of insane servitude. I hadn't lost… yet. But I knew I wasn't invincible; just efficient, effective, and lucky. One day I'd meet somepony better, or my luck would fail.
 
Maybe today.
 
I pushed the thoughts aside. I didn't abandon a commission, especially not this close to the end. I wasn't specifically prepared for this, but Ziggy was. And despite my misgivings, he was a brutally effective fighter.
 
I landed in a tree as a clearing opened ahead, straining my eyes by starlight to see what we were up against. Two figures crouched side-by-side, blurry in the dim light. The vampire and the thief? Were they both vampires? A vampire keeping company with a normal pony was beyond unlikely, but the spellcasting... I searched for signs of the magic I was hearing. For the Storm to react, it would mean the spell was more than ordinary. Perhaps the necklace?
 
Something glinted between the two figures, and I hissed in surprise as the flash of spell-light revealed frightened violet eyes and rope. I hooted twice for Syzygy and launched myself into the air. That was no compatriot. I had no idea who'd stolen the pendant, or what the spell was for, but I was looking at a vampire and a captive. Around a bloodsucker, that could usually be shortened to 'snack'.
 
My stoop was perfectly accurate and silent. I dived at the vampire from his blind spot, hooves placed to crush his skull.
 
He heard me.
 
I flinched as his head whipped around moments before I impacted. Aim thrown off, I blasted into his shoulder, throwing him across the clearing. I recovered on touchdown, flaring my wings. The vampire tumbled to his hooves. I stole a glance at the captive. She was tied helpless, and a trickle of blood marked her graphite coat. Wide, scared eyes watched me.
 
Unable to help, I re-focused on my target. He moved lithely, with the power and grace of a feral predator. He slunk sideways for a second, probing my defenses, before leaping straight for me.
 
I moved a wing as if to block. As he drew near, I whirled, changing it to a slice and bringing my hidden blades to the fore. The vampire snarled as I lay lines of red across him, deep slices that cut to bone. I saw smoke rise as he healed, the magic that animated and drove his corpse forward sealing the wounds nearly as fast as I opened them.
 
I flinched at that. This one was strong.
 
More than that, I jumped in surprise as his horn sparked. A vampire who retained enough intelligence to cast magic was beyond rare. Most of them were completely mindless, with only a wily cunning and complete lack of fear raising them above natural predators. I'd assumed I'd been feeling the pendant or instinctive magic, the sort an earth pony or pegasus might have, boosted by the transformation.
 
I flapped a wing, rolling sideways in the air to dodge the magic bolts he was snapping off.  I cursed Syzygy quietly, but I understood his holding back. He'd strike when I needed it most, or when he could assure victory. I knew it was logical, but he was a cold bastard. I blinked as the last of the vampire's magic washed over himself, bathing his body in a cold glow. For a second, I got a good look.
 
He was nearly completely transformed. His eyes were slit, his coat thick and rough. His mouth was splayed with fangs, almost comically large carnivore teeth in a mouth not made for them. As I watched, his horn melted away, replaced with a pair of dark, leathery wings.
 
I gulped. Was I dealing with a something more than a nightwalker? A vampire intelligent enough to control the transformation? That last spell might have been a buff. I was beginning to wonder about my 'thief', and who had hired me. I pushed the thoughts aside as he lunged again.
 
I dodged, barely. Even my accelerated senses had trouble following the attack. I lifted into the air, daring him to come after me. Fatigue surged again, and phantom rainfall swelled around me. Illusory clouds began gathering at the edge of my sight, somehow enhancing my vision instead of obscuring it. I grudgingly surrendered more to the Storm and felt the air in the clearing start to spin slowly as it began intruding into reality. That would call a harsh toll later, but for now, I needed power.
 
The vampire followed, lurching into the air with ungainly flaps. He was fast and powerful despite his clumsy movement. I danced around him, my quillons taking slice after slice before he managed to get in a blow. I hissed as his fangs sliced me. I shook it off and tried to fight on, but I felt a cold sting spread from the wound. Horror welled up as I realized I'd been poisoned.
 
I fluttered weakly to the ground, stumbling and falling on impact. The bloodsucker floated after, alighting gently. Suddenly desperate, I pulled hard on the Storm. I felt my head whirl as my drained magic reserves plummeted further. Wisps of cloud appeared in the air around me, barely enough to notice. The vampire strode forward, victorious, and I cursed.
 
"Ziggy, you splintered bastard of a timberwolf, GET OUT HERE!"
 
"Of course, friend!"
 
I spat as the blue unicorn pranced out of the treeline. The vampire whirled, eyes widening in shock as he realized I wasn't alone.
 
ZotZotZotZot!
 
Syzygy attacked immediately, his swarm of blades suddenly glowing red-hot as they flashed for the nightwalker. They impacted with a series of sizzling hisses, each leaving a trail of burned flesh on the vampire.
 
I ignored the fight, focusing on my own magic. I willed the Storm to fight the poison. The phantom rain was strong enough to feel drops tapping on my back, running down my coat, each imaginary rivulet carrying away a little of the vampire's icy power. I would not fall to the Night.
 
Finally, the numbness in my limbs started to fade. Still blocking out the fight, I stumbled over to the captive. She mumbled incoherently as I leaned over her, trying to understand what had been going on. The vampire had cast something on her. I was certain of that. I surveyed for pulsing sigils or glowing things. I was no magician, but it seemed that magic usually left noticeable marks.
 
There. The glint I'd seen earlier came again. It was a pendant on a thin silver chain, hanging around her neck, glowing redly. I leaned in, trying for a closer look.
 
It was smeared with blood. Beside it, a set of neat puncture wounds told at least part of the story. My blood ran cold as I guessed the depths of what happened. This was some sort of ritual magic. A ritual involving the most intelligent vampire I'd ever faced, and an enchanted amulet of unknown origin.
 
I was in over my head.
 
I gently nudged the mare, intending to move her so I could cut her bindings. As I did, her pupils narrowed. I gulped.
 
Had she turned?
 
I stepped back. For a second, her eyes focused on me.
 
"P-Please." She gasped, pain thickening her voice. "Help."
 
I froze at that, trying to think.
 
It was a truism that nightwalkers were vermin, infectious predators that needed to be put down as quickly as possible. It was all in the name; 'nightwalker'.
 
There were rumors though. I glanced at Syzygy's fight. The vampire was casting magic, spells clashing with spells. I shook my head. Nightwalkers, by definition, weren't intelligent. Still, there were stories that, rarely, a vampire could turn and retain their mind. Hunters who claimed to have faced them called them 'daywalkers' and usually displayed maiming wounds. Those who returned.
 
"P-Please!"
 
I gulped. Here was a dilemma. If this mare was turning into a vampire, saving her was impossible. If she was turning into a nightwalker, killing her now would be a kindness. I shook my head and pushed the thought away. She was talking.
 
She could be an invert. Like Scratch Despite the bite. The thought floated up in my mind, and I grasped it. Vampires were complicated, and there was no one-fits-all solution to their infection. This mare had been affected in some way. That was certain. Still, she wasn't turning normally. It would be wrong to deny her even a chance.
 
"Is she okay?" I turned. While I'd been thinking, Syzygy had finished his fight. A smoking corpse lay on the ground before him, and cheery splashes of blood adorned his blue coat.
 
"She'll be fine." I stepped forward, placing myself between him and the mare.
 
"Hey, relax!" He gave me a sunny smile. "None of this is mine!" He laughed, wiping a smear of blood off his cheek. "You, on the other hand, look like you've been bitten." His eyes narrowed as his grin widened.
 
"Just a scratch." I waved his concern away. "Nothing to worry about."
 
"Not worried about a vampire bite? Hmm." He eyed me again. "And that mare?"
 
"Like I said, she'll be fine."
 
"Right. Well, if you don't object, I'd like to check her." He stepped forward. My quillons sprang from my feathers, ozone hissing off the razor metal.
 
"Silver, Silver!" He stepped back. "Really, now. You know the protocol. Anypony with known contact to a nightwalker is presumed infected."
 
"I checked her." I grated. This probably wasn't a good idea. I'd probably regret it after a night's sleep. I could hopefully deal with it then. "I'm not letting you drag her off to your lab. For research," I spat.
 
"Again, I can't escape the feeling you've got the wrong idea about me." He relaxed and shrugged. "Well, if you say you've got it under control, I'll leave you to it. Here." One of his coins flickered towards me, bouncing off my hoof.
 
"What's this?"
 
"A sample of the vampire's blood. Of course, if you checked her, she's fine. But the lore I've recovered says the thrall of a newborn can be broken. If they drink the blood of the one who turned them." My eyes widened, and he laughed. "Really, Silver. Why are you shocked that I know about vampires? They're only my life's work." He grinned down at the corpse at his feet. "And now I have at least partial confirmation of daywalkers. I'm in your debt here, Silver. Let me know if I can ever repay you." His coins re-arranged, forming a crude rune. Power flashed from his horn, and he vanished with a crack, taking the corpse along.
 
"Magicians," I cursed, and turned back towards the mare. "Slimy, smiling, magicians."
 



 
Her heart stopped beating right before I landed.
 
"Sleet," I swore. "Hail and lightning." I'd flown as fast as I could, but 'the countryside' was a long way from downtown Canterlot. I might be fast, but even a strong flyer would be hard-pressed to carry a limp earth pony at top speed. I was shaking from exhaustion, and the Storm was really raging now. I'd be firmly out of commission tomorrow. I'd be lucky to recover inside of a week.
 
I carefully set her down, wincing as the thick mud of the alleyway soaked into her dapper gray coat. Still, if alleyway muck was the worst of her problems… I'd come to the back door, for obvious reasons. Even in the 'bad' parts of downtown, a stallion carrying an unconscious mare tended to attract guardsponies.
 
Thump-thump-thump.
 
I listened after knocking. Although I'd made up my mind to do whatever I could after hearing the mare's plea for help, the only real hope I had was 'maybe she's an invert'.
 
Come on, come on, I know you're home, I can hear your music—
 
My thought was cut off as the door flicked open a crack. I caught a glimpse of electric-blue mane, fuchsia shades, and white—sorry, pale yellow fur, before it slammed shut again.
 
"Viny!" I yelled, trying to penetrate the door and the noise. No response. "Vinyl, please!"
 
"Go away!" The reply was muffled, but it was enough. "We had an agreement, Silver!"
 
"It's not about me!" I allowed all the desperation I was feeling to creep into my voice. "It's… I don't know her name! She's hurt, Vinyl, and I think she's turning!"
 
"You idiot!" The door slammed open, and Vinyl Scratch gave me a scathing glare. "So you brought her here? Because you haven't caused me enough—" She cut off as she saw the mare laying in the mud. Her eyes flickered behind her shades, and she drew a short breath through her nose. "Fine." With a grunt, she levitated the dead mare. "I'm going to regret this, but come in."
 
"There's no protocol for this, you know?" I made weak excuses as I followed her into the tiny apartment. "I just saw her, and she needed help, and I don't know—"
 
"Start from the beginning." Scratch glared at me. "The very beginning, and tell me everything."
 
"Alright." I let out a shaky breath as Vinyl lay the corpse on the table in her kitchenette. She turned to the sink and started drawing water, searching for a clean dish cloth. "It started two days ago, when I got an urgent message from one of my contacts…"
 



 
"…and so I brought her here." I trailed off, unsure. I rubbed my eyes tiredly. "Sorry."
 
"You should be." Vinyl coughed. "But not for this. No, I understand."
 
"So, can you help her?" I gave a relieved smile.
 
"No." Vinyl shrugged. "You know it, vampirism is incurable."
 
"Then why—"
 
"I'm the same as you." She lowered her shades and peered over the lenses. "I'm not willing to give up on her just yet. There's a chance she's not a nightwalker."
 
"Is she an invert?"
 
"Good question, but I don't think so." Vinyl frowned. "I don't remember much of my… conversion. But the fact that she's been bitten isn't a good sign. I guess… there's the possibility she's a daywalker." She frowned. "But that… might be even worse."
 
I nodded slowly. We knew nothing about daywalkers, except that by all accounts they were even more dangerous than nightwalkers.
 
"Oh!" I pulled out the coin Syzygy had left me and dropped it on the table. "This is from the vampire who attacked her."
 
"Blech." Vinyl sniffed the blood-smeared coin, and spat. "That's a vampire, alright." She gave me a curious glance. "You said Syzygy gave you this?"
 
"Yeah. He seemed almost… I dunno. Nice."
 
"He's not so bad," Vinyl murmured, gazing into the distance. "For a Hunter."
 
"Wait, you know Ziggy?"
 
"Something wrong with that?" Her gaze pinned me.
 
"N-No! I mean, of course not." I frowned. "I just don't like the guy, that's all. I shouldn't let that affect me so much."
 
"Damn straight." She snorted. "Anyways, help me get her into the living room, and then we wait for dawn."
 
"She definitely won't rise before then?" I pushed my exhaustion down to heave the stiffening corpse onto my back and trotted out of the kitchen.
 
"Definitely."
 
"Oh, good." I gave a relieved sigh as I let her slide onto the couch. "Then, if you don't mind, I need to pass out for a while."
 
I didn't even catch Vinyl's reply as the Storm finally engulfed my mind.
 



 
I awoke to a battlefield.
 
"Oh, Silver." Vinyl grunted as she fended off a living corpse. "Nice of you to join us."
 
"Huh?" I said stupidly, watching as the gray mare hissed and spat. As I watched, Vinyl threw the new-born vampire across the wrecked room.
 
“Huh?” she mocked. “Stop gaping! Get up and help!”
 
“What? How? What happened?”
 
“It’s dawn. What do you think happened? She rose!” Vinyl gave me a scathing glance. “So far, she’s acting like a normal—” She grunted as the vampire dashed across the room. Her neatly trimmed mane was unkempt, and her coat was starting to thicken. Her violet eyes had darkened a shade, and her pupils were noticeably narrower.
 
I could see similar changes in Vinyl, although much less pronounced. She still had her unicorn magic, though, and more importantly, she was thinking. The new vampire wasn’t displaying any indication of personality or intelligence, which made me grimace.
 
“It’s a good thing I was watching. If I’d left you two alone, she’d have drained you dry. And judging by that cut on your foreleg, you’ve already lost a little.”
 
I looked down. My torn shoulder had been washed and bandaged.
 
“Thanks, Vinyl.”
 
“Don’t stand there thanking me! Help!” She pounded the vampire again. It steamed, healing, and stood back up. “Keep this thing down!”
 
“But she’s not—”
 
“Don’t give up yet!” Vinyl gritted. “I’ve still got to try something!”
 
“Okay!” I nodded, willing to trust her for now. “Leave her to me. I'll…” I drew in a deep breath, feeling every single ache and pain from yesterday roll back in, along with the beginnings of magic exhaustion. “I’ll keep her busy.”
 
“You do that.” Vinyl threw the mare at me and vanished into the kitchen. I took a stance, and the blue sky in my mind started to cloud.
 
“Sometimes I wish I’d gotten the eyes of my ancestors instead of the wings.” My mind started to rumble as the Storm rolled in.
 
Somewhat rested, I was better able to control it. I didn’t have the strength to banish it completely, but I could keep it from sapping all my energy at once. I doled out power in dribs and drabs, just enough to maintain an edge over my opponent.
 
It really wasn’t that hard. Despite her raw strength and ferocity, the vampire didn’t understand even the basics of fighting. Again and again she rushed me; again and again, I simply threw her back.
 
“Please, don’t get up.” I begged as I kicked her across the room. “I really don’t want to hurt you anymore.” I sighed as she healed and rose. She really was extremely powerful. “Vinyl! What’s keeping you?”
 
“This!” The unicorn zipped back into the room.
 
“The coin? What are you-” I grunted, deflecting another bite “-thinking?”
 
“If she’s not an invert, she’s probably thralled. If she’s a nightwalker, you wouldn’t be able to tell, but that sort of heavy mental magic can really be bad for a pony. If she can think at all—”
 
“Less talking, more acting!” I skipped into the air, flitting across the room.
 
“Fine, fine.” Vinyl steadied the coin in her aura. “If I’m right, we need to get this blood into her. It’ll break the thralling, and she might… I dunno. If it’s what’s making her crazy, then maybe she’ll be less crazy?”
 
“Sounds crazy. I’ll hold her.” The Storm was really pounding away in my head. I sighed. I’d be passing out again. Double doses of draining sickness, yay. My magic was incredibly useful. It was also incredibly demanding. I’d never found a sweet spot between ‘off’ and ‘full throttle’, so I tended to resist using it.
 
Well, that… and I held my trumps close, for obvious reasons.
 
“Here goes.” I accelerated, spreading my wings and leaning into a hairpin turn around the vampire. As I spun, I flared my feathers, pulling the air in the room after and around. With a shove and a twist, I ‘tied off’ the airflow and gave the Storm as much magic as I dared.
 
I backed away and watched as my rusty aura, shot through with streaks of ash, swirled into a tiny, localized tornado. It threw Vinyl’s furniture around, wavered, grabbed the vampire, and pinned her to the ceiling.
 
“Here goes nothing.” Vinyl strengthened her aura around the coin, waiting for just the right moment. When it came, she slipped it between our opponent’s snapping jaws.
 
For a moment, nothing happened. I tensed, ready to resume the fight. My heart sank as I realized that, if this didn’t work, our options were severely limited. We might have to—
 
I stopped myself angrily. I wouldn’t give up yet. As my localized tornado died down, the vampire settled to the floor. I was ready for an attack, but she just stood there. Slowly, something vicious and animal drained out of her eyes, and she started shaking.
 
“Are you alright?” Vinyl spoke softly, but the gray mare started at the words. Her eyes focused on Vinyl, then me, then started darting frantically around the room. I realized she was starting to hyperventilate and stepped forward, but she shied and spun.
 
“After her!” Vinyl yelled, as the mare dashed for the door. She didn’t even bother to open it; she just bulled through. If it had been latched, she’d have splintered the lock.
 
I reached it a split-second later, ready to give chase, but it was unnecessary. From just outside I heard a pained shriek, and she stumbled back in. I stepped back in surprise as she tumbled into the room, wincing as I realized what had happened.
 
It was dawn and yellow sunlight was washing across Canterlot. Vinyl’s front door didn’t get anything like full sun, but there was a broad band of gold at about head-height.
 
I locked the door and positioned myself before it. The newborn vampire had a band of smoking fur running across her muzzle. She’d stepped directly into the sunshine.
 
“Easy, easy there.” Vinyl gave a lighthearted chuckle. “Just... calm down a minute. Please?”
 
The gray mare spun frantically around again, searching the room for another escape. When she saw none, she froze, and with a slow, unstoppable momentum, dissolved into tears.
 
“Scratch, can I faint again?” I asked hesitantly.
 
"Fine," Vinyl gritted. "But I swear, Silver, if I need you awake, I'm kicking."
 
"Oh good, becau—"
 
The mist rolled in.