//------------------------------//
// 12 - Taking Flight 
// Story: For Want of a Vampire 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

Richard flew off into the strange city and Orange turned to the others. "Alright, um, Wolf, welcome." He turned to the newest pony. "You!"

"Um, yes? Yes, sir?" He smiled with fanged teeth. "Did he tell the truth? Did he kill me?"

Orange sighed softly. "He killed most of us." He sat up. "But you got better, and your new name will be Night Sky."

"Night Sky... I like that."

Lilly bobbed her head. "It's a nice name."

Wolf Field waved a hand idly. "Eh, it's not as cool as Wolf Field." Her eyes lowered to Orange. "You know I ain't not following your orders, right?"

Orange blinked up at her. "First, that's a double negative."

"Bite me."

Orange flipped his ears back. "Not an insult I think we should use."

Wolf pushed off the wall she had been leaning against. "Look, unlike the rest'a'y'all, I ain't forgot who I was. I should be freaking the ever loving hell out more that I'm part horse or whateva, but here I am." She put her hands on her hips, leaning forward. "Now how'm I gonna break this to m'boy? Hey, sorry, gotta call it off, I caught a bad case of horse flu."

Sunrise and Sunset looked at each other, then back at Wolf. "We have each other," They said in perfect harmony before throwing a leg over the other's withers and hugging close.

Night's ears went down. "Did I have someone? I don't remember. What if they're worried?"

Lilly tilted her head left and right at Night. "I'll be your special someone if you'd like."

Orange blinked at that. He had only met Lilly shortly ago, but he didn't know how to feel as she hugged Night and was hugged in return.

"Don't even think about it."

Orange glanced up at Wolf Field. She was the only female left, but she was bipedal, and he was a full on vampony. How would that... He shook the thought from his mind before it became any worse. "You made me think of it."

She flashed a fanged smile. "Fully intended. Alright, what we gotta do?"

Orange spread his wings wide. "Lilly, take your new boyfriend with the others. You know your jobs. The Master better return to a castle that shines when he gets back."

All four ponies saluted and moved off in pairs, leaving Wolf and Orange behind. Wolf looked down at Orange. "So, what were you before you got put on all fours like that?"

Orange lifted his shoulders a little. "I was an accountant... It wasn't glamorous work, but it paid well enough."

Her hand came down on his head, stroking over an ear. "I like smart boys."

He flushed brightly in his cheeks. "A-as your master--"

She held up a finger. "Ask me nicely or don't ask."

Orange swallowed thickly as he nodded. "Right. I want to look around for a library. I think the Master, um, Richard. I think he hasn't read through what he has. I bet there's an answer, or at least a clue towards an answer there." He rose and began to lead the way deeper into the castle proper.

Wolf followed after him with a faint frown. "What problem are you trying to fix? Gonna turn me back into a human 'gain?" She rolled her shoulders as one hand rubbed through the green fur of the opposing arm. "I didn't expect to sprout no tails today, lemme tell ya."

Orange swiveled an ear back at her as he climbed a flight of stairs. "Would you mind if I said you grew a nice tail?"

"You're looking at my butt?" She raised a brow. "You're braver than you look."

Orange felt his cheeks growing warm as he reached the top of the stairs and let out a slow breath. "Alright, it's time to be honest."

"Yea?"

Orange turned to face Wolf. "You're pretty." There, he had said it. She couldn't tease him about it anymore. He wasn't even sure exactly how she was pretty anymore. Part of him wanted to find something that looked more like himself, a pony. "I have no intention of using my 'master' position over you in any way."

Her bat wings spread of their own accord and she was quiet for an awkward moment. "Y'ain't too bad either, fruit for breath. Now where's this library ah yers?"

He returned to leading the way, even as curiosity gnawed at him. "You said you remember, right? What's it like, I mean... then compared to now?"

"You don't?" Wolf stepped up beside Orange. "You weren't just joshing wit' me? You don't remember a damned thing?"

"Only scraps of who I was, not really what I was." Orange looked sideways to her before moving for the door to the library, nudging it open after depressing a little catch that would cause a scythe blade to come down. "Be careful with this door, it's trapped and dangerous."

Wolf stepped into the room with a brow raised at the dangerous door they passed through. "Keep that in mind. That sucks though, more than vampires haveta." She flashed a grin at her joke. "So ya just remember being a pony?"

"A vampony." Orange spread his wings wide and twitched his tufted ears. "Richard only makes vamponies when he bites people. It bothers him greatly." He waved a hoof around. "The answer might be in here, somewhere. You can read, right?"

She hiked a brow high. "Tell me why I shouldn't kick yer butt around for that?"

Orange blinked at her with genuine confusion. "Do people read more these days? That's good." He shook his head. "I didn't mean any insult, promise."

"These days?" Wolf grabbed a book at random off a shelf. "What 'days' are you from?"

He began to tell her of his time in the 'wild' west, which wasn't so wild in his telling.