Pieces of Eight

by GhostQuill

A Mistaken Vampire

A black bat pony with short red hair trotted to the entrance of the cave her colony lived. The moon was high and the sky clear. With one last glance at the only home she’d known, she beat her wings and took to the winds.

Lullaby was a simple pony, she didn’t get bothered by much and was more likely to follow others than to suggest they do something else. But tonight, things were different. Her home bored her, and more than that, it just wasn’t home anymore. For years she’d lived there, and only a few of those years had her parents been there. Ponies can be so paranoid sometimes.

She wasn’t sure why tonight of all nights she decided to leave, she just didn’t feel like staying anymore.

The night air felt wonderful. She felt wonderful, and because of that, she start to sing.

There were no words, just music, beautiful music that sounded over the land, lulling all those who heard it into a comforting sleep. Like a lullaby.

Something hit her in the stomach and suddenly her wings were pushed to her sides. The music cut off as her scream echoed in its place. She was batted against trees like a cat’s toy, squeaking as she hit them. The landing was horrible, hard dirt slammed into her face like a punch. The laughing didn’t help.

Dazed and confused, she realised the laughing wasn’t coming from the ground, and instead from some ponies coming towards her.

“We got her!”

“Stupid blood-sucker should know better than to try and attack our village.” Blood-sucker… Vampire… These idiots though she was a vampire. She had to meet paranoid ponies.

“Hurry up, before she gets up. You got the axe ready?” AXE?! That was enough to clear her mind. Her head shot up as did her legs. She saw three ponies; a unicorn and two earths before she sprinted off. Their shouts followed her as she darted between the trees, her wings still tied down from the bola wrapped around them.

The tree line ended suddenly and she found herself in an open clearing. Right in front of her was a huge cliff-wall. She skidded to a stop just before hitting it, her head rising to stare up at its towering height. She only stared for a moment, but it was enough. She looked on in fright as a looped rope came around her neck and was she pulled backwards off her hooves.

***

It had been a few days since Alto and Bardley left their home behind, they had decided to find a new one, one where they wouldn’t have ponies hurting or judging them. They were stopped at a lake for a drink when they heard beautiful music. It drifted through the air and made them smile with how comforting it was. They paused, just to listen to the music. They were shocked out of their dreamy state from a shrill scream.

Both Bardley and Alto were in the air in seconds, speeding to the source.

They found a terrible sight; three ponies were coming towards a bat pony whose wings were tied. She pulled against the lasso around her neck, hissing at the earth pony who held the rope. A unicorn had an axe in his magic, slowing walking towards the bat pony.

Alto grit his teeth at the scene, angry at what they were doing to that bat pony. Bardley however, rushed forward immediately. He grabbed the axe in his mouth, it being the most dangerous thing there, and swung his head downwards, snapping the blade off the handle. The unicorn looked up in shock, and was rewarded with a harsh head-butt. Alto flew down and knocked the earth pony holding the rope over. Lullaby pulled her head free of it and Alto backed up to stand in front of her as the earth pony stood up. He didn’t beat Bardley in height, but he was certainly bigger than Alto. Deciding he wasn’t going to let this pony get the first hit, Alto ran forward and charged the earth pony, sending them both tumbling into the forest. Lullaby stood scared and shocked as the unicorn attempted to blast the huge bat pony with magic. Bardley skirted out of the way and reared up trying to kick the unicorn, a magic shield taking the brunt of the attack. The third and last earth pony, after the shock, took out his own lasso, and threw it at Bardley.

Big mistake.

Bardley scowled at the pony, with eyes burning with rage. Spreading his wings, he flew high in the air, the earth pony tried to pull against him, but he was soon plucked from the ground. When he was high enough, he dived down quickly to the earth. He watched the ground come up towards him. As did the earth pony; his scream full of terror. Bardley slowed his decent before he hit the ground, but the earth pony couldn’t do that. Just as he was nearing the ground, he suddenly stopped in mid-air. His unicorn friend was straining, but he managed to catch him in his magic. The earth pony’s heart was going a mile a minute as he sucked in air faster than his lungs could handle. He fainted as soon as he touched the ground and fell down. Pulling the rope from his neck, Bardley glared at the unicorn.

Alto wasn’t having as much luck as his friend, the earth pony he was up against was definitely a better fighter than he was, and stronger. The proof being when he was picked up over the earth pony’s head, and thrown back into the clearing hitting Bardley. While he didn’t fall over, Bardley was surprised and thrown off balance when Alto suddenly appeared crashing into his side. The unicorn hit Bardley with a magic blast he wasn’t able to dodge and his chest was singed. Biting back the gasp, he looked down to his dazed friend and told him to help the bat pony, she needed to get the ropes off her wings. Alto held his head trying to focus but quickly ran to the bat pony. Bardley faced off with the unicorn and remaining earth pony. He ran at them, head-butting the earth pony and bucking the unicorn. The unicorn jumped out of the way, and took the chance to thrown a bola at him. He aimed at his wings to tie them down, but Bardley saw and quickly turned towards them so it wrapped around his neck. The ropes were tight, and the metal balls on the ends thumped on his wind-pipe, but he could deal with that. Alto had pulled the bola off of Lullaby, but her wings were hurt from the crash landing down the trees and couldn’t fly, at least not without difficultly. Running forward, Bardley pushed the unicorn down and quickly sprinted to Alto and the bat pony.

“Get on!” Without hesitation, she climbed onto his back and they flew into the sky.

The unicorn glared up at the bat ponies, he wouldn’t let those pony-killing blood-suckers get away. Taking the rope in his magic, he threw it into the sky. It caught Alto’s leg, tugging down towards them. Alto flapped against it as he shouted for Bardley’s help. Bardley took one look at what had happened, and dived down at the unicorn. Slamming him with the full weight of his body, the unicorn was thrown to the ground. Lullaby was thrown forward on his neck from the force and saw Bardley’s hooves next to the pony’s head as he stood over him. Small craters were in the ground from the force. Bardley glared down at the pony, huffing hot air on his face. The unicorn’s eyes bulged as his entire being shook with terror. And as quickly as Bardley had landed, he was in the air, following the now free Alto, away from the other ponies.

When they were out of harm’s way, and far from anywhere those ponies could get, Bardley was looking over the bat pony’s wings, seeing how harmed they were. They didn’t look too seriously hurt, nothing broken at least. Just scratches and gashes from hitting the trees, though they would probably hurt for a while from being slammed against the trees.

The bat pony was reddening from how close and how intimidating he was. His hoof was almost half as big as her wing. Alto came forward and asked her;

“Are you alright?”

“Mmhm.” She nodded.

“My name is Alto, this is my friend Bardley.” There was a pause before she replied;

“Lullaby.” Her attention turned back to the towering Bardley.

“So is your home nearby? We could take you there.”

“Nope.”

“Um.. So it’s far is it?”

“No.” She still hadn’t taken her eyes from Bardley. Alto wasn’t sure what to say, she’s wasn’t helping much with her answers. Bardley instead asked;

“Would you like to join us?” She smiled sweetly and gazed up at him.

“That’d be cool.”