Hours later I woke to a feeling of overwhelming nausea. I got out of bed, my legs threatening to buckle as I tried to put my weight onto them. I felt weak, barely able to walk as I made my way to the bathroom. The moment that I was within range of the toilet I pitched forwards and rested my head on the edge of the porcelain bowl. A few seconds later my gag reflex went into overdrive, and I shut my eyes. I purged the contents of my stomach, the breakfast I'd had hours ago all coming up. I dared to open my eyes to look at it, shortly before I wretched again. It didn't even look half-digested, with pristinely white milk mixing with the toilet water and extremely mushy wheat cereal. I finished and stood up again, my legs shaking. What was happening to me? I felt like I was starving… everything on my body was too sensitive. The spot where I'd touched the toilet with my chin was as cold as ice.
A moment later I heard a knock, and I looked at the toilet in a panic. I flushed it, then walked out to the bedroom door. I opened it to see my older sister, as well as my two friends. The Crusaders went wide-eyed at the sight of me, and my sister covered her mouth with a hoof, her face alarmed. That only lasted a moment before her supportive side kicked in, and she stepped past my two friends to stand in front of me.
“Sweetie, dear… are you feeling alright? Your friends… they told me what happened last night, and you look a bit pale.”
I shrugged my shoulders, not wanting to worry her. “I'm kinda hungry… but I'm okay.” I lied, feeling absolutely starved and anything besides okay.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked between each other, as if trying to come to a consensus on what to say. I had no idea what was earning me the look they were all giving me, though. Everypony there seemed to stare like I was some kind of mutant. A few seconds passed before Scootaloo stepped forward, biting the inside of her cheek before coming out with the truth of the situation.
“Sweetie Belle, we told Rarity… she told Twilight. She'll be here tonight. In the meantime… one of your eyes is totally black. Just thought somepony should tell you...”
I blinked, looking up at my sister. She looked like she might burst into tears, but she was doing her best not to scare me. I turned, walking quickly into the bathroom to look at myself, turning on the light. I immediately regretted that. My eyes burned like I had stared through a telescope at the sun, and I let out an involuntary cry. I shut the light off again, looking at myself in the mirror. Scootaloo had been telling the truth. A thick, cloudy darkness had coated the entire white of my left eye. On top of that, the emerald colered iris and pupil of that eye seemed to have grown larger as the darkness had swallowed it. Rarity stood in the doorway of the bathroom, watching me with concern.
“Twilight said in her letter that she would do her best to be here in just a few hours… she thinks she knows what is happening to you. We just have to keep calm, okay?” She said, doing her best to keep her tone even.
I could see she was failing at the whole 'keep calm' part of Twilight's instructions. Her voice sounded like it might crack at any moment, and her whole face looked like it was fighting down her own hysteria. I didn't blame her, I was barely pushing down my own fears. My other eye looked fine at the moment, but I was sure that would change as time went on. My sister looked down at me, only about a head and horn taller. I'd grown a lot last year… it made me think about how much I would still grow, if whatever illness I had kept spreading.
A very strange and dark thought struck me as I stood there. Yesterday had been Nightmare Night, the day that ghouls and wayward souls were celebrated. Could it be that I'd been cursed by a creature of the night? It sounded like something out of a storybook… but so did everything I heard outside of Ponyville. Rarity's friends all went on journeys to far off kingdoms and did amazing things on their own time. The fact that I had ended up in a situation that couldn't be more opposite to my sister's made me feel horrible about myself. All of the tales that she told me were about her trials and ways she'd made everything work. My story was starting to look like one of those really tragic comedies we read in school, where at the end everypony ends up worse off than they were at the start. Rarity seemed to be more of an epic tale about her success and travels.
The sense of jealousy that was welling in my chest distracted me from the hunger that was eating at my stomach. She was so perfect… in contrast I'd gotten lost in the middle of nowhere, been assaulted and finally been infected with some sort of disease. I looked away from her, sighing. None of that was her fault, and the look of worry she wore reminded me that no matter what she was my big sister. No matter what happened she wanted to keep me safe. She'd failed to do that, last night. She had been the one that thought letting us go alone on Nightmare Night would be okay. It was because of that idea we were in this mess. She would never have gotten lost in the dark, or let that pegasus get close enough to hurt me.
I took my mind off of that. Cheerilee had once told me that if I did nothing but wonder about how things could be different, I would never be able to move forwards. Taking those words, I thought about Twilight Sparkle. I hadn't seen her in months, since the last time she had visited Rarity and her friends. She was a princess now, and had much more important things to do than hang around Ponyville. Whatever was happening to me, it must be bad enough that the alicorn would want to come and see me herself. That didn't really improve my spirits… but I decided to ask what the occasion was.
“What did Twilight think was wrong with me? Is it bad?” I asked, trying to hide my own fear of the truth.
“No, of course not Sweetie Belle! As long as you're treated soon, it'll be alright… I think...” Rarity said, trailing off towards the end.
I wanted to say that she wasn't really helping by keeping me in the dark, but a look over at my friends reminded me that she was just trying to keep my spirits high. I nodded, putting on a smile for my big sister.
“Okay… can I talk with my friends for a bit?”
Rarity nodded and walked away, seeming happier now that I at was acting somewhat hopeful. The moment that she was gone I used my magic to shut the door, sitting down and holding my stomach. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom walked over, the farmhand patting me on the back.
“You okay there…? I could tell you were lying, but I didn't think it was that bad.” The farmhand observed.
I shook my head, shuddering. “No… I feel awful. I threw up just before you came in. Now I'm starving again, but the weird thing is that the food I ate earlier didn't even look like it had been in my stomach. I could still see whole cereal pieces in there… and the milk looked the same as when I drank it.”
Both of them sat, puzzled. After a while Scootaloo turned to me curiously, looking me up and down. The pegasus stuck out a hoof, pushing it to my upper lip and pulling it aside. She pointed to my teeth, as if triumphant at her prediction.
“Your teeth are starting to look like that stallion's.”
I stood, walking to the bathroom and baring my teeth at the mirror. She was correct. The tooth on the upper left part of my mouth was longer, and sharp as a needle. Soon it might touch my lower teeth, if it continued to grow. I looked at it closer, seeing that a very strange groove ran up the back of it. I ran my tongue over it, surprised by how long the indent was. It ran from the tip of the tooth all the way to the middle, where it stopped. I walked back out to my friends, who were talking to each other. I arrived just as Apple Bloom was chastising Scootaloo.
“… no way in tarnation that she could be some kinda thing you hear about in those novels you and Rainbow Dash read. She probably just caught somethin' and it needs looked at…”
Scootaloo shook her head, glancing at me to acknowlege that I had entered the conversation. “I'm telling you Apple Bloom, it's too perfect. Nightmare Night, the freaky eyes, those huge fangs, and not liking regular food anymore? I'm telling you… just because something is from a book, doesn't mean it isn't true.”
The farmer shook her head, seeming to not have noticed me yet. “It ain't that it's from a book, Scootaloo. It's that what you're talking about is from fairy tales. Y'know, like living statues, plant ponies and whatnot. All that's nonsense.”
Despite her words, I could tell that Apple Bloom wasn't being honest with herself. The way her voice seemed to lower in volume towards the end of the last sentence sold me on her being in denial. She knew something unnatural was going on, she just didn't want to come out and say that she believed it. I knew how she felt… accepting that something supernatural was happening was like admitting none of us had any chance of dealing with this ourselves. She couldn't help me if it was magic, nor could I even help myself. Scootaloo was most likely right though. No matter how hard we wished for it to just be some kind of illness that could be solved with medicine or bedrest, it was no such thing. Whatever was afflicting me, it was supernatural.
“Apple Bloom… no matter what it is, it'll be okay. Alright?” I said, smiling at my friend and putting a hoof on her shoulder.
Of course, I wasn't the only pony who could detect a lie. The way that Apple Bloom looked at me made it crystal clear that she saw through my bluff. I hugged her tightly, sighing. She was warm and soft, and I was thankful that she was there. I didn't like to lie about how I felt. It was better than wallowing in my own despair however. I hoped that she would forgive me for the lie I'd just told her. I didn't feel like I'd be alright at all… but being close to her made it better. She smelled like apples and earth… along with something else. I couldn't put my hoof on it, but it made my mouth water a bit as I pressed my muzzle to her side.
A moment later I heard a knock at the door, and I stepped away from the farmhand. A very recognizable princess strode into the room, free of a crown or any kind of other royal articles. Twilight Sparkle seemed to have an aura of confidence as she walked into my bedroom, looking towards me. Our eyes locked, and her proffesional demeanor wavered a bit. She seemed to wince at the sight of me, like she was seeing an open wound. Her horn lit, and she conjured a bag to her side. She walked over to me, shutting the door behind her with magic before kneeling down to my height. She took out a sort of armband with runes on it, wrapping it around upper front leg with magic before it tightened on its own.
“Sweetie Belle, I need you to give me specifics about last night. Where were you bitten, what time was it, what the pony looked like…” She rambled on and on with instructions.
“It was right on my left leg, here.” I pointed to the two perfectly circular wounds on my upper foreleg. “It was late… past eleven for sure. The pony looked like he hadn't eaten in weeks, and his eyes were sorta like what my left one looks like, now.”
As I told her that she took the armband and shook her head. “Your heart is beating very slowly… what other symptoms are there?” She asked, taking out a stone covered with similar runic symbols on it and pushing it to my forehead.
“Well… I can't keep food down, and when I threw up earlier it didn't look like I was even digesting the cereal. The milk looked the same as when I'd swallowed it.”
The alicorn seemed to take on a rather serious face as she put the stone away. “You're freezing cold, Sweetie… I have two more tests to give you before I call it for certain. I need to see in your mouth for just a moment. Open wide, please?”
I did as she asked. She used a sterile stick to pull my lip out of the way and get a good look at all my teeth. A moment later she motioned for me to shut my mouth, shaking her head. I had the feeling that whatever she thought was wrong with me, she had all but confirmed it. She took out a small flashlight. She clicked it on, and pointed it at my right eye. I blinked a bit from how bright it was, but otherwise didn't react. She brought it over to my left eye, and I shut it, turning away. My hoof instinctively went up and held my eye. It felt like she had lit a fire behind my cornea as I cradled it, waiting for the pain to fade. I bit the inside of my lip, not wanting her to see how much that had hurt. She seemed satisfied, and took out a notepad.
“You've been afflicted with a curse, Sweetie Belle… one that I've only read about in the Canterlot archives and fairy tales. It's an affliction caused by magic, but it acts like a disease. It started thousands of years ago as a result of experimental magic, and I honestly didn't think anypony was still alive that could have it. It's an arcane horror known by a lot of names, but the most common one is Vampirism. It changes a pony's body over a few days, and transforms them into nocturnal creature that derives its nutrition through the blood of others.”
I nearly fainted, looking up at the alicorn with terror gripping my heart in its cold, vice-like talons. “There's a cure though right? Or a way to stop it? Maybe make it so that I don't turn into a monster…?”
Twilight looked uncomfortable, not meeting my eyes. “I truly don't know… the only way that vampirism became so obscure is because anypony that had it was… well, killed. They were often burned and had their ashes scattered over miles, so they could never come back. Nopony ever studied them or their habits because it was dangerous. All I really know is from one set of research notes done by a single wizard, a thousand years ago. That's all there is, in terms of objective truth. The rest is just rumor and superstitions built up over the ages.”
I suddenly recalled what the stallion in the forest had said to me, and looked hopefully up at the princess. “Right before I was bitten, the pony told me that I could be cured if I passed it on to four other ponies. Do you think that would work?”
Twilight shook her head, growing alarmed at my suggestion. “Sweetie Belle this is a horrible condition we're talking about… why would you want to curse somepony else with this? You might be relieved of your own vampirism, but what about the guilt you would feel, condemning four other ponies?”
I looked at my hooves, trying not to think about that. She was right of course. I had spoken purely out of my own self-interest, not wanting to live with this. Twilight sighed, trying to look at me once again. I locked eyes with her, and she seemed… oddly wary of me. I didn't know how to react to that at all. The way that she was tensed, her front hooves ready to push her back and away from me, all made me feel like she was afraid of me somehow.
“Whatever you do, I need you to not infect anypony else, alright?” The alicorn said sternly.
“Okay, but how am I supposed to eat? I'm already starving, Twilight… I can't keep down normal pony food anymore.”
The alicorn was torn, looking between me, my friends and the door. She had nothing to say to that. The answer was simple and blunt, but not one that I wanted to hear. She eventually looked at her hooves.
“While I figure out what I can do, you need to sustain yourself any way you can. Vampires can go anywhere between six days and a year between feeding, depending on how much they drink and their level of activity. If they only get a gallon or so, they can sustain themselves for about a week just following a normal routine. Well… as normal as a pony who can't stand in the sun without suffering burns and complete blindness can be. You also won't need to sleep, once you're a full vampire.”
“What about giving somepony what I have? Won't they be like me too, if I… you know, suck their blood?” I asked, worried about being forced to make somepony else like I was.
“You don't release venom unless you want to… trust me, it's nothing you can do on accident. Your saliva heals wounds over extremely fast, but your venom leaves scars, and of course… it makes other ponies into vampires.”
The alicorn began to pack her things up, moving to leave. I got up and walked towards her, wanting to wish her goodbye and ask one last question. Twilight nearly fell over her own bag trying to move away from me, her horn lighting. I stopped when I saw her reaction. The feeling that I'd been choking down the entire time she was talking to me surfaced, and I looked away from her. She was legitimately afraid of me. A master of sorcery feared a teenage pony with no magical training. All of it was because I was some kind of monster. I tried to bite back the harsh words that rose to the front of my mind. I felt awful at her reaction… it was like she had forgotten I was still a pony.
Twilight walked to the door, looking back at me. “I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle… I'll try my best to find a solution to this. Just try and hang in there.”
The moment that the door latched I looked at my hooves, tears welling in my eyes. The way she had just treated me was completely unfair… I couldn't help that I was like this. She had acted like I might reach out and bite her at any moment. A second wave of hopelessness washed over me from what she'd said to me about my condition. She had nothing that could help me whatsoever. I was stuck as a monster until she managed to come up with a way to change me back. Of course with her being so busy, that might take months… or longer. I was all but abandoned to this curse, on my own. I sniffed, wiping my eyes and trying to think of what to do. I had no options… especially since I was starving to death as I stood there.
Apple Bloom went over to me and reached out, putting her hoof on mine. Scootaloo did the same thing, offering me a light smile. I buried my face against Apple Bloom, letting out a sob of pure misery. All the despair I had been pushing down since last night was pushing its way out of me and I couldn't stop it anymore. I cried there for what felt like forever, my tears staining the earth pony's yellow coat of fur. She hugged me, holding me close while I did my best to calm down.
By the time that I was done my eyes were swollen and I was exhausted from my emotional outburst. Something about the pure release of bawling my heart out onto her shoulder had taken any energy I had left. I was still so hungry… but sleep took any kind of priority. I stumbled towards my bed, barely able to walk with how weak I felt. Apple Bloom came up alongside me, letting me lean on her for support. She led me to my bed, helping me into it before she got in next to me. I curled against her, shivering. The whole room felt like it was freezing, on its own. Even under the covers it was cold for me. She seemed to have the opposite reaction, shivering a bit when I touched her. I probably felt like ice to her… but no sooner did the thought occur to give her some space was I out, snoring loudly.