The cool forest air rushed past her as she ran, her prey just barely ahead of her, and the distance was closing quickly.
The stallion ahead of her didn’t slow, but the chase finally drew to a close as the rough terrain finally made him lose his balance, bringing him to a violent and sudden stop on the forest floor.
She slowed to a stop, giving a predatory smile to her prey as he tried to back away.
“Please, you don't have to do this!” he said desperately, backing into a massive tree that blocked his escape.
She made her way forward slowly, savoring the moment and basking in the stallion's fear as his eyes darted around, looking in vain for an means of escape.
“No,” she said evilly, “I want to do this.”
Her prey tried to struggle as she stood over him, leaning down to his neck. It was all futile though.
She paused there for a moment, drawing the stallion into a false sense of security as she drew out these final seconds just a little longer.
Then she bit down hard.
And with that, Rainbow Dash woke with a start.
-----
“Are you sure you don't need anything else?” Twilight asked as she used her magic to levitate a glass of water over to Rainbow, which she accepted graciously.
“No thank you,” she replied. Twilight had already given her a warm blanket. As a vampire, warmth and water weren't necessary, but it was more for comfort that out of an actual desire.
Rainbow had been having nightmares for weeks now. They started a few days after she killed that mare in Appleloosa. It started off simple, replaying the events of that moment, but that only lasted a short time. Since then, she had been having horrifying dreams of hunting and killing innocent ponies, whether it was ponies she knew or ponies that were simply figments of her unconscious mind.
The dreams were vivid, and all of them had the one common factor that she had enjoyed the act of killing somepony. In her nightmares, she would remember vivid feelings of enjoying every tiny aspect of it.
Being a vampire, she didn't actually need to sleep. She could get along just fine without it, but as she had discovered, it was a little uncomfortable going so long without sleep when she had spent a fair portion of her life napping. She was prone to fits of boredom, especially during the daylight hours.
Besides, there was something about these nightmares, a certain thrill that despite the terror of what she was doing was so attractive that she didn't want to stop. That was what terrified her the most, the knowledge that some part of her was actually enjoying what she was doing in her dreams.
What she feared was that she would become the mare she was in her dreams. Despite the rush she got each time she slept, she didn't want to do such things in the waking world.
For now, Twilight was the only pony who knew about these dreams. Rainbow had gone to her, hoping that by having more experience she would be more understanding of her troubles. So far however, she had only been able to be a sympathetic ear. She never went through the same troubles, instead having learned about her nature long before she experienced it. She had developed morals and self-control skills over the course of her entire life, only recently needing to use them for the first time.
“If you're sure,” Twilight said, taking a seat next to Rainbow. After a brief pause she added, “Why don't you get us started.”
Rainbow took a deep breath. “I don't know what you want me to say Twilight, it's the same as it's always been. The dreams haven't changed, and I'm worried that I kinda like them.”
Twilight tried to give her a friendly smile, but her sharp teeth made it a bit more menacing than it was intended to be. Rainbow made a half-hearted attempt to see it in a more friendly light, but at the moment she was a bit on edge.
“If nothing's changed then I can't give you any more advice then I already have. You can either try to go without sleeping, or you can try to resolve the source of the problem, but I can't do anything unless you know what the problem is,” Twilight said kindly. “I'll try to help you, but you need to be open. You know that you can trust me with anything, right?”
Rainbow nodded, staring down at her still full glass of water.
“Right, so what's the problem?” Twilight asked. She once again gave an encouraging smile that was not well received. Rainbow took a brief moment, hesitating to speak her mind, before caving in and agreeing that Twilight was better than nothing, even if she was unintentionally responsible for the entire problem.
“I... I don't know. I guess I’m afraid of hurting ponies,” she responded. “Look, I'm not very good at this whole dream interpretation thing. I need help Twilight, I can't take this anymore.”
“You're doing well,” Twilight replied. “You said you're afraid of hurting ponies, and that makes sense. All we need to do is find out why it's haunting you. Do you think it's guilt over what happened in Appleloosa?”
“I don't know!” Rainbow said harshly. “I don't know why, I just want it to stop. Please Twilight, I need help.”
Twilight gave her another reassuring smile. “I think it's because you're worried that you might do something like that again. Did you enjoy what you did?”
“Of course not!” Rainbow replied violently, dropping the still full glass of water, which Twilight caught in her magic before it could hit the ground and shatter.
Setting it within reach of Rainbow but in a place that it wasn't at risk, she asked, “I need you to be honest with me right now. I know you hate what you did, but did you like it at the exact moment it happened, before you realized what you had done?”
“NO!” she said at first, but after seeing the look Twilight was giving her she added, “Alright, maybe a little bit, but what does that have to do with anything?”
Twilight sighed. “That actually has a lot to do with it Rainbow. It usually impossible to control yourself the first time, and I don't blame you for enjoying it, but I think that's part of the problem. The fact that you denied it at first is proof that, on some level, you're angry at yourself over it.”
“So,” Rainbow said defensively, “Fluttershy could do it, why shouldn't I blame myself?”
“It's not the same thing, she...” Twilight said, but her argument fell short as soon as she realized that what Rainbow was saying was entirely true, “Fluttershy... I don't know, maybe she was just stronger, but she still enjoyed it. That's the point, it isn't something you can control, you'll always enjoy feeding no matter how much self-control you have or how much you hate it. You can't overcome your own nature Rainbow.”
“Fine, but you still haven't explained how that fits into my dreams.”
Her voice carried agitation and aggression, but Twilight could plainly see on her face that she was tired of these dreams. Her anger wasn’t directed at Twilight, she just wanted a solution, one that Twilight couldn't easily give.
“I think that might be the problem, or at least part of it,” Twilight explained. “I've never been an expert on dreams, and I don't want to get Luna involved in any way unless I absolutely have to, but I think that you're conflicted, between enjoying it and hating it. I know it doesn't make much sense, but I think that your problem is that you're horrified by what you've done, and you're projecting that in your dreams. At the same time, you're also horrified about how you enjoyed it, and that's also being reflected. I don't have an instant solution for you Rainbow, you need to deal with this yourself, all I can do is support you.”
“So... my problem is that I hated it, but I loved it at the same time, and I can't decide which one it was?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight gave her another friendly smile that Rainbow still didn't find comforting. “Not quite, what I'm suggesting is that the nightmares are happening because you're still horrified by what you did, and the fact that you enjoyed it is making it worse.”
Rainbow didn't reply. She took a sip of her water, but didn't say anything else. Sensing that the situation wasn't going anywhere, Twilight said, “Rainbow, I know that I've said otherwise, but I do sort of understand what you're going through now. When I was nine... I went through something similar when I found out what I was. I want you to know that you aren't a monster because of what you are.
“As for what you did... well, you feel remorse, don't you?”
As she carefully set down her water to avoid dropping it again, Rainbow replied, “I know what you're going to say Twilight. You're going to say that I'm not a bad pony because I regret what I did, but that still doesn't change what happened!”
“And because you can't accept that, you're having trouble moving on,” Twilight said. “You're going to have to work this out eventually Rainbow. You can choose to do it now, or you can live with this pain for the next few hundred years.”
“How?” Rainbow said, her anger flaring again, “I can't just forget everything that happened. Applejack is devastated, and she's going to be even worse after she gets back from the funeral. How am I supposed to... if I could, what would I tell her?”
She simply couldn't say any more than that, and she didn't need to. Twilight was painfully aware, now more than ever, that she had no idea how much Rainbow was hurting, or Applejack.
And it was all her fault, Rainbow was right about that. Fluttershy may have been too kind to admit it but she felt the same way, and the fact was slowly starting to grow on Twilight.
Some things were beyond her control, but she also needed to accept that it was her choices that led to this. Her choice to stay in Ponyville and make friends may have been one that she wouldn't change for anything, but turning her friends and keeping her nature secret had done nothing but lead her downhill from the very beginning.
“If you could Rainbow... I don't know either,” Twilight replied. She wanted to go over and comfort Rainbow, but she knew that Rainbow would react harshly.
“Why can't we tell them what we are Twilight?” Rainbow asked, repeating the question Twilight had already heard so many times from Fluttershy, and from herself. Tears started to flow from Rainbow's eyes, and she didn't even make an effort to hold them back.
Truthfully, she didn't know how to answer. Twilight looked down at the ground, and in a saddened voice, she said, “I wish I knew myself. Maybe someday we will, but... not now. I don't think any of us are ready yet.”