There. Ponyville, my old home. Vampires swarmed everywhere, making it difficult for me to make my way through. I still clutched the cross to my chest, hoping above all hope that it would help. I spotted a procession of ponies wearing cloaks, probably some sort of twisted religion, seeing the things they were carrying: /torches, a table and a goblet filled with a yellow liquid. I only knew the colour of the liquid as they spilt a slight bit.
I followed them in the shadows, watching as they turned down a corner. I reached out with my magic and slowly removed the cloak from the back figure, only to find they were wearing a mask. That would be harder to deal with. I slipped my cloak on, tightening it around my neck. I created a copy of the mask, using illusion magic and I ripped their mask off, attacking the stallion. The others turned around, seeing one dressed just as they were being attacked by some random stallion. This was perhaps a bit too cruel, but I had to, to save my friends. The ones bearing the equipment continued and the rest came to my aide. This was risky as if they recognised him or his voice, they would have turned on me, luckily this seemed to be a secret organisation, with silence as a rule.
The actual member was quickly dispatched before they continued on their march, to which I fell in step. The procession continued towards my old castle. It was dying, the lack of harmony in the area draining it as it tried to balance it out. We headed in, the ones who were bearing the candles, table and drink before were waiting for us before they opened a door I didn't remember from my time there.
The door opened. The bearers headed in and we waited. What I saw? Fluttershy, even more corrupted than last time I saw her, as well as all of my other friends.
They set up some strange ritual, and kept the door open so we could watch.
Fluttershy commanded us to restrain my other friends. I followed them in and took it upon myself to restrain Rainbow Dash.
Applejack lay down on the table and Fluttershy... She bit Applejack and I watched. I wanted not to, but I couldn't stop.
Fluttershy commanded Applejack to 'Rise', which she did, and go to retrieve her friends.
As Applejack approached us, in a new vampiric form, I released my grip on Rainbow, stabbed the cross into the vampire next to me and shouted "Run!".
Rainbow started off confused before I lowered my hood and the mask faded. Then she understood. The vampire I had stabbed was holding Rarity, so she got free as well. Rainbow freed Pinkie Pie by punching her captor and then the four of us ran off, Applejack in pursuit.
We made our way out as fast as possible, Pinkie and Rarity fighting those who tried to block us while Rainbow and I were taking down any pursuers. We stormed into the old carousel boutique, rummaging through boxes until we found weapons. We found a throwing spear, a lance, an axe and a longsword. Rainbow took the spear, Pinkie took the axe, I took the sword and Rarity took the lance. We then made our way up to Rarity's old bedroom before we flew out the window; Rainbow and I flying, Rainbow carrying Rarity and myself carrying Pinkie, Rarity and I using levitation spells to lighten the load.
The vampires seemed distracted for a second before a few, including Applejack, took to the skies, and I could see Fluttershy leaving my old castle.
We soon had to drop to the ground, the unladen vampires being faster than us, so we landed on the tracks one more and started sprinting, making sure we took the right turning this time. The vampires were surging behind us, and we had lost our bow, so we couldn't do much. Rarity and I took turns, casting weak spells to delay them.
We continued this, the vampire hoardes slowly closing the gap. As we found our way to some mountains, the Foal Mountain, we heard something surprising.
"Fire!"
A volley of arrows rained down from the foothills of the mountain, striking down the vampires, not killing them but wounding them so that they blacked out.
"Who did that?" Rainbow queried, asking what was on all of our minds.
"Ponies, up here!" A slightly familiar voice said as a few deer crested over the rise.
"Blackthorn?" I asked as we walked up the rise to the deer.
"Yes. We barely managed to escape Thicket before the forest became overcome with evil." The deer, Blackthorn replied. "Come, leave these vampires to nature."
"There is one I want to bring with us. You remember Applejack?" I replied.
"Why yes I do. Is she one of them?" Blackthorn asked.
"Yes, but I will make sure she stays restrained. I will try to bring her to her senses." I stated.
Blackthorn sighed. "Alright. Follow me."
We followed Blackthorn for what felt like an hour. We finally came to a camp in a hidden cave in the mountains, obviously the deer were uncomfortable here, but they obviously had to find some place to stay.
"I will alert King Aspen as to your arrival. Wait here, and make sure your friend doesn't wake up." Blackthorn commanded before walking off towards the far side of the cavern.
We finally took this opportunity to rest after our chase with the vampires.
"You came in the nick of time, Twi." Rainbow said, referring to how I managed to break them free with not a moment to spare.
"Rainbow is right, darling. You see we had a plan, but it didn't quite work, as you saw." Rarity added on.
"I did what I had to, I couldn't leave you to that creature." I stated.
Pinkie was the next to speak. "Well, I don't know how you got in and saved us, but ow we are here we can settle down and party!"
Blackthorn returned, said to us that the king acknowledged our arrival and my demand, and then he showed us to a small area for us to rest.