//------------------------------// // Princess vs. Monster // Story: Creature of the Night: Episode One-The Night Guardian // by CreatureofTheNight //------------------------------// Creature looked at them as that word filled the air. The word that he hated, the word that he despised more than any other. He hated that word. He wish he could change who he was. He hated the weight that word had. That word...the accursed...vampire. Rainbow rather bluntly put it like this: "You mean like an actual blood sucking monster that would look at us like we were dinner!?" The adventurous mare said as she smirked ready for a rumble. This was, after all, her vs. an actual monster from ancient folklore. Fluttershy paused and asked "Wait, what if he's like I was?" All eyes turned to her. Immediately, she began to cower behind a stray lock of hair. "I... I just mean... when I was a vampire bat, I didn't mean any harm, or anything..." Her voice had become little more than a frightened squeak. Twilight used her magic to lift up her mane and revealed the small scar she got from Creature the other night. "Never mind," Fluttershy conceded, turning with a glare towards the 'monster'. The rest of Twilight's friends followed suit. "A vampire, a blood-sucking monster from myths and legends. I don't want to believe it..." Twilight said as Creature began to back away from what was increasingly resembling an angry mob. "But... I can't deny the evidence of my own eyes..." With the secret out, Creature didn't really care about using his supernatural powers to evade them. With a brief flash of red from his eyes, he turned into that "vampire fruit bat" that Applejack had seen when Creature had escaped her in the forest. Twilight spread her wings and chased after him as the bat-vampire pony dived through an upstairs window, hoping to lose them in the castle. The castle wasn't very big, but it was still a castle, whose layout only he knew. He found a place to hide and returned to normal. Creature landed in a darkened chamber and peered out through the arrow-slit window to the castle's exterior. The Hydra was getting closer and closer, hearing Twilight and the others searching for him. That thing had to be stopped or else... His mind was put into fight or flight mode as he instinctively dodged a magical blast heading for him. It seared past his right ear, smashing into the elegant stonework of a long-disused fireplace. He spun round to find Twlight looking right back at him. She had found him first, and she wasn't happy. "You almost turned me into one of you..." She said with disgust. "Not only that, you used your dark powers to mess with my head! Do you know what that's like?! To have studied magic for years and yet this...monster," she said bitterly, "shows up and is immune to everything you know." "Princess Twilight," Creature began as Twilight blasted at him again, and Creature had to dodge again. This blast shattered a cobweb-covered vase into dozens of tiny fragments. Creature could tell it had been meant to maim, at least. "Don't you Princess me!" Twilight barked. "I'm not going to let you terrorize Ponyville, I'm not going to let you hurt Equestria anymore. I don't know what damage you have done, and quite frankly...I don't want to know." "All the damage I did was over a thousand years ago," Creature admitted. "When I was young and stupid, and hadn't learned to care." He then looked outside, worried. "Listen, this is not the time..." Once again, Twilight blasted at him. This time, the magic found its mark, hurling Creature back and pinning him against the wall behind him. Creature fought against the restraint spell, using his natural magical abilities to negate its effects and slowly drag his reluctant body off the wall. Dodging yet another blast, he glanced out of the window to check on the Hydra's progress. It was nearly there, nearly at the castle. He could clearly see its heads towering above the outer wall. He had a choice to make at this point, either dive out and let the Hydra attack them all, or... He closed his eyes as he took off his hooded cloak and his face mask. "Monster..." Creature said revealing his now glowing red eyes under the moonlight, like burning rubies. "Do you know how sick to death I am of that word?!" Creature barked as Twilight noticed an uncomfortable pressure filling the room. "You have no idea what it's like. To have to hide from the ponies you only want to get to know, to have to act like a creepy stalker in order to protect them from the things that go bump in the dark, only knowing that you yourself will be hated and hunted for what you are. I am no monster..." Twilight sneered "A likely story..." She was ready to go for a battle. Creature sneered back showing his monstrous aura "Fine, if I have to protect you. I will give you your monster!" Suddenly Twilight felt herself being bucked backwards by Creature's left hoof, sending her flying through the air. He let out a venom filled hiss as he looked at her, a crumpled heap on the stone floor. Twilight picked herself up with unsteady hooves and spat out part of a broken tooth as the two glared at each other. Twilight realized quickly from that punch that a straight out fight was not going to end well for her, so she started to blast at the crumbling ruins of the castle. She let loose great torrents of magic at the room's roof, forcing Creature to side step left and right to avoid the falling debris. Suddenly he felt himself being lifted and thrown by an unknown force, using his supernatural speed he stopped himself just before he was slammed into the wall, which cracked behind him from the pressure at the speed he was being tossed. He bolted forward and swung for Twilight again, only for the Princess to hurl a rock at him. It was a big rock*, one of the large black stones of which the castle was built, and Creature had to leap up and soar over it. Then he felt the rock coming at him as he flew, Twilight guiding the thing with her magic. He knew that she was going to[Time and a place...] have to drop it soon, as Creature's abilities weren't like Twilight's magic. They were natural as to him as his flying. Creature jumped on the rock and kicked it into the wall cracking it more, as Twilight's stamina started to run out. Creature knew that this was the prime opportunity and went to knock her out, when suddenly Twilight smirked, revealing she had suckered him in. She revealed had learnt something from Applejack, swiveling round on her hind legs and bucking Creature in the face incredibly hard, causing blood to come out of his nose as he landed. Twilight then used her magic to start to throw more rocks at him, the rocks slamming and smacking into Creature left and right. Creature was already in excruciating pain from the blow to his face, and could only dodge a few when suddenly... BAM! One hit him in the face so hard he crashed into the wall, leaving an imprint as he slowly fell down face first. Twilight smirked as she walked towards the now groggy vampire and restrained him with her magic. Unlike last time, it was very effective because Creature himself was weaker. Twilight sighed with relief as her friends arrived, summoned by the din. Rainbow looked scornfully down at the crippled Creature. "Hah! Not so tough now, are you?" Suddenly... there was silence... as an ominous sound echoed from the outside of the castle. Thump! It was so loud that it shook the whole castle to its foundations. The girls dashed over to the window hearing the noise. In her shock, Twilight lost her grip, allowing Creature to slip away and put his disguise back on. Thump! The girls looked again as the walls shook from the size of the beast walking forward. Thump! As Creature got his gear on he looked at where the girls were standing, and paused remembering how Twilight had almost murdered him with rocks. Eventually he sighed, and resigned himself to what he had to do. Suddenly the thumping stopped. The girls scattered, seeing a huge shadow approaching the wall. The wall burst into smithereens to reveal... the Hydra.