//------------------------------// // Shades of Red // Story: Angelic Vampire // by kurusagi16 //------------------------------// Shades of Red The next place Tony took her to was the town bakery, where one of the employees, a curly-maned pink earth pony named Pinkie Pie, jumped up from behind the counter and greeted the cheerfully. "Welcome! What I get for you today?" asked Pinkie Pie. "Whatever your specialty is for the lovely lady here." said Tony. Fluttershy felt a little flattered, being called a lady. "Will that be here or to go?" "We'll have it here." answered Tony. "Super! Be back in a jiffy!" And so Pinkie Pie hurried into the back to take care of their order. Fluttershy and Tony sat across from one another at a small round table, waiting for Pinkie to return. In almost an instant, she reappeared and set down a slice of red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting on the table. "Enjoy!" she said brightly, and went back behind the counter. Fluttershy took the first bite, enjoying the sweet taste of the frosting before looking up to see Tony boredly staring out the bakery window. "Don't you want to try some?" asked Fluttershy, offering to share her cake. "Or are you full from the picnic?" "No, I'm just a little lukewarm about cake. That's all." he said. "But it's pretty good! Just a little bite?" "I don't-" Tony was interrupted when Fluttershy placed a fork full of cake into his mouth. He was surprised by this sudden action, but ate the bite of cake Fluttershy had fed him. "Well?" Fluttershy asked expectantly. "It's pretty good." Tony admitted with a slight smile. "See? I told you so!" she said. "Indeed. Now, let's see how you like it." Before Fluttershy could ask what he meant by that, he grabbed an extra fork from the table and flung a piece of the cake that landed on Fluttershy's cheek. Both laughed as Fluttershy wiped the cake off. "I guess I deserve that." she said. "But it was worth it to get you to try a piece." "It was a bold move," said Tony. "Feeding me cake that I refused to eat." Fluttershy's smile faded and looked down in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I just, wanted you to enjoy the cake with me." she said. "You're not upset, are you?" "Goodness no. So long as you're not offended by the cake I launched at you." he said. Fluttershy gave a small smile and wiped her cheek again, making sure it was free of any leftover crumbs or frosting. "Let me help." said Tony, leaning across the table to brush her cheek for her. "There, all gone." A blush now covered her cheeks as Fluttershy's cheeks and she looked away. It was strange to have somepony, especially a stallion, touch her face like that. It made her insides feel warm and all knotted up in confusion. The best way for her to try and ignore it, was to keep eating her cake. Unfortunately it didn't really help despite its deliciousness. "So, what are you going to do after you finish your business with papa?" Fluttershy asked casually. "I'm not too entirely sure, but that's the fun of not knowing. You never know what might happen, I might travel around or stay around a bit longer. There's a certain partnership I need to terminate first before I can get to work." said Tony. "Do you think you'll be able to come back?" asked Fluttershy, tracing little circles on the table with her hoof. "It's entirely possible." answered Tony. "Why do you ask?" "No reason." said Fluttershy. "It's just that, once Twilight, Rainbow and you leave, it'll get a little lonely here. I was wondering, if maybe you could find some time to visit me again. As friends of course!" Fluttershy added the last part nervously, not wanting him to think it was weird or anything to want to see him again. Tony chuckled at how adorable Fluttershy was being, blushing while hiding behind her mane. "It would be a pleasure to visit you again anytime." he said. And then he added, "You really shouldn't hide your face like that, my dear. A lovely face such as yours deserves to be seen." Tony grinned as his words caused her blush to deepen and more of her mane to cover her face. She slowly pushed the silky strands of her mane behind her mane, looking up at him from below. "Papa always tells me that I'm beautiful, like mama. But, am I really lovely?" "Immensely so." answered Tony in a silken tone. "For your loveliness is more than just skin-deep." Fluttershy's heart was all aflutter, was she...? No, she couldn't be. Could she? It was too soon to tell. Perhaps it was his words. Hearing such flattery from somepony other than her father was nice, but it was just that, flattery. Fluttershy told herself to wait and see what happens. If this feeling was what she thought it was, she wanted to know if it was real or not. Tony meanwhile, grinned as he saw that it was working, and that she was falling for his words. Now, all that was left was for her to reveal herself, and that would be that. After the bakery, Fluttershy and Tony took a peaceful stroll down the dirt road. It was getting late as the walked side by side, enjoying the scenery. During which time Fluttershy told him about how her parents had met in a village similar to this one. "Papa had gotten injured in an accident, so he went around asking for a place to stay in the village for the night. Everypony turned him down, because they weren't too fond of strangers." said Fluttershy as she remembered the story her father told countless times. "Mama was the only one who showed him any kindness and she welcomed him into her home with open arms." "Sounds like you and your mother have a lot in common." "Yeah, papa says that a lot. Once mama took him in, the two got to know one another and they became good friends. The more time they spent, the more papa realized that he'd fallen in love with her. He courted for her and the were soon married." Fluttershy wanted to tell more, but knew it was best not to go into too much detail. Like the part where her mother saw her father's feathered wings transform into bat wings. Or any of the arguments they'd had over how they should live together. "I wish I could've met her." said Tony. "Me too." said Fluttershy sadly. "Cheer up." said Tony giving her a light nudge on the shoulder. "I'm sure wherever your mother is, she's happy seeing what a lovely young mare you've become." Fluttershy giggled and was about to reply, when her throat tightened, she realized just how parched she was. With everything that had been happening, the attacks and having guests stay in her home, Fluttershy hadn't had much of a chance to drink from her apple reserves. Apples were like blood for other vampires, not just food but a vital source of nutrients. Without blood, a vampire grows weaker and weaker, until eventually they become sick and may very well die of starvation. But because Fluttershy was a hybrid, that meant she needed a larger intake of apples. Somewhere around 5-10 apples would last her a few weeks, or a month if she was lucky. Fluttershy put a hoof to her throat, trying to swallow. "Are you alright?" asked Tony with concern. Fluttershy nodded. "I'm just a little thirsty. Do you mind if we stop by the Golden Apple real quick?" she asked. "Of course." Fluttershy tried to take her mind off of her thirst, but the irritable dryness plagued her to no end. Half of her wanted to control this, to just enjoy the evening with one of her new friends. But the other half pressed and urged her to drink. To quell this burning thirst and let the sweet juice slide down her throat. When they got to the tavern, they immediately saw how packed it was. "Oh my!" said Fluttershy. "I've never seen it this crowded before." The two squeezed in through the doorway, where Applejack was working to try and serve full mugs of cider to all the customers. But once one was taken care, two more popped up in their place. Applejack looked up and noticed Fluttershy. "Oh, hey Fluttershy!" she called. "What's going on?" asked Fluttershy. "A bunch of townsponies from a nearby village were traveling toward the capital. All of them are a might thirsty and hungry after their long journey." answered Applejack. "I'm afraid I won't be able to help you right now for what ever you came here for." "Oh, that's okay Applejack." said Fluttershy understandingly. "It wasn't important anyway." A fight then broke out between two stallions, fighting over a beautiful, red apple. "It's mine!" "No. It's mine!" "I bought it!" "Well I'm much hungrier than you!" "Nu-uh! I saw you eating just five minutes ago." "Yeah, and I'm still hungry!" Fluttershy's eyes followed the apple. She felt tempted to snatch it from them, she could feel her fangs itching to sink themselves into the fruit's red flesh. One of the stallions tripped and apple flew out the window. The stallions broke out into a hoof fight and were too busy to notice. Fluttershy turned to Tony. "Um, excuse me for a moment, I need some air." she said, and hurried out of the tavern. Fluttershy ducked down the alleyway, searching for the apple she knew had to be there. When she found it, she reached down and lifted it up like it was a prized trophy. She rubbed it against her cape, and took a bite, sucking the sweet juice from it. Her eyes lingered, to survey the alley, and that's when she saw it. It was so horrifying that she dropped the apple and stared. Also in the alley, there was a dead body, lying in a pool of it's own blood. Fluttershy was too scared to scream. "Fluttershy? Is everything alright?" Fluttershy turned, and faced Tony. She'd forgotten to retract her fangs, and was now looking at him face to face. His eyes fell onto her fangs, and then on the body behind her. "I...I..." she tried to say. "Fluttershy?!" Fluttershy's eyes widened, coming out from a nearby hiding place, was none other than her new friends, Twilight and Rainbow Dash. They'd seen her fangs. Fluttershy's face turned a deep red. They'd seen her as a vampire. Fluttershy's eyes watered, and she pushed past Tony and the girls, taking off into the air. "Fluttershy, wait!" called Twilight, and the girls chased after her. Tony however stayed behind, transforming into his true self, Discord. He walked further into the alley, and stopped when his foot nudged something. He looked down and found a shriveled up apple. He picked it up and found that it was missing half of its juices and that it had to puncture marks. Discord looked up at the body. It had been dead already, from what he could tell, for an hour or more. Then he looked back down at the apple. "Was this what she was thirsty for?" he wondered aloud. He'd asumed that when Fluttershy wanted to come to this place, that she might try to covertly drink somepony's blood. But instead, it appeared as though she drank from the apple instead. Why? She was a vampire wasn't she? So why didn't she drink the blood from this corpse, or any other pony? "Just who are you Fluttershy?" Reports of bodies and attacks were flooding in, the pure bloods were debating endlessly about what course of action they should take. "I think we can all agree that running away from our homeland was a terrible mistake." said Scarlet. "Which is why I think we should consider the option returning there." Shouts from the other pure bloods went out against this. "Are you mad?!" "We worked hard to get to this place. And you expect us to abandon it?!" "We're doing no better here than we were there." said Scarlet sharply. "It seems wherever we go, a path of blood and destruction follows in our wake." "What do you intend that we do?" asked Alistair. "We'll seek out the half breeds, we'll split up to deal with them efficiently. Then, we'll issue word to the remaining vampires, tat we're all to head back to the Old World. Should they stay and disobey our decision, we'll give them up to the hunters and slayers." "You can't do that!" Alistair argued. "Hold your tongue Alistair." said Phobos. "You may hold power and respect among us, do not forget that it is our responsibility to see that no further conflict between our species and the ponies ever happens." said Scarlet. "Do you understand?" Alistair sighed. "Yes." "Good. We'll reconvene later and hunt down the half breeds. Meeting adjourned." Alistair stayed behind in the meeting room. 'Maia," he thought. 'Please give me strength. Help me and our daughter, who I can't help but feel is in great peril.'