Tales Around the Campfire

by Cinders of War

The Tale of the Midnight Visitors

Author's Note:

I'm back for my annual chapter. I apologize that I haven't updated anything in a long time, it seems work never goes away, haha. I do hope you enjoy what I have, even with my limited content coming out time to time, ha.

Fluttershy woke up that morning, and sat up in bed. Her curtains were still drawn and the room was in complete darkness. She wiped the corner of her mouth before getting out of bed and dragging herself over to the bathroom to wash up. Once there, she was careful to brush every inch of her mouth before jumping into the shower for a nice and warm bath. After that, she left to change into her usual attire, with the addition of two thick beige coats, a grey hoodie, a red wooly scarf, a pair of dark tinted goggles, black leggings, and brown leather boots.

When she was satisfied with what she had on, she wrapped herself up tightly, then ventured out of her house into the snowy landscape of Canterlot, where snow was still falling from the storm that had blown by just last night. The forecast mentioned it would continue for a few nights, but at the moment, it was clear enough for her to get out there to get some necessities.

Fluttershy kept the hood low over her head and pulled her scarf higher as she trudged on. Canterlot Mall wasn’t far, but after all this time, she never liked walking out here like this. She wished there were more convenient ways to get what she needed, especially if she could just stay at home.

“You do know there are grocery delivery services now, do you, Rarity?” Sunset Shimmer had interrupted the story with a cough. “If she really didn’t want to leave, she could just get her stuff that way.”

“And hey, you remember that this is supposed to be a scary story, right?” Rainbow Dash picked up a sizable stone and began throwing it up into the air to catch. “Come on, let’s have some action going.”

“Will you girls let me finish, then? The story’s barely started,” Rarity said and brushed her hair away from her shoulder. “A good story takes time to establish things.”

This camping night, Rarity was out here by the campfire with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle and Velvet Breeze. The rest of them had already either turned in for the night, or were playing board games in Fluttershy’s tent. She had recently obtained something called Erupting Equines, and everyone was crazy over it. The rest of them would’ve been there to join in too, but wanting to keep tradition for their camping nights, here they were in the cold darkness outside with nothing but their campfire to light their surroundings.

“So something to note before I continue.” Rarity raised a finger. “I would like to not be interrupted so frequently. If you have questions, please wait as I will probably cover them at a later point.”

“Sounds good to me.” Velvet pulled her legs up to her chest and leaned against her log. “Carry on.”

“Right.”

Fluttershy entered Canterlot Mall and pulled her scarf down, along with her hood. It was good to be back inside. She shook the snow off her coat at the entrance before heading deeper inside, where the Cantermart was. She spotted Sunset Shimmer at the Eastern stand, selling some takoyaki and waved to her. Sunset smiled and waved back as Fluttershy passed. It was good to see friends so many years after starting their working lives. Back in school, they would meet everyday and even on the weekends, but now as grown ups, they really only met up maybe once a month.

She passed Rarity on the way to the Cantermart, who was sitting by the mall’s fountain with her husband, who was madly good looking and super rich-

“Rarity, come on. Really?” Applejack groaned.

“What?” She lifted her head and tried to look innocent. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, darling. Can we continue, please?”

Applejack waved a hand. “Sure, sure.”

The first person to notice Fluttershy as she entered Cantermart was a man with slicked back black hair, whose name was Hush Echo. He was an employee of the supermarket and whenever Fluttershy would walk in, he would take notice of her soft pink hair and her beautiful face. He had thought repeatedly of talking to her, but he never actually got around to doing it. Today, however, was going to be the day he’d say something.

“Hello there,” he said as she walked by his position. “Hush Echo. Nice to meet you.”

Fluttershy jumped when he spoke, then blushed as she gave him a light nod. “H-Hello. I’m F-F-Fluttershy…”

“What a nice name.” Hush grinned at her. “Hey, I was wondering if you, uh, want to go get a drink together. You and I.”

“O-Oh… really?” Fluttershy’s blush deepend. “I’m so-sorry, but n-no thank you…”

And she ran off into the mart and disappeared around a corner.

“So that’s how she wants to play this, huh?” Hush sighed and pictured her cute face. She always had a huge coat around her, but he could already picture her body underneath, or at least, what he thought it looked like and in his mind, it was amazing and he really wanted to see what it looked like.

“Woah, creep much?” Velvet Breeze snickered.

“Yeah, if I heard someone saying stuff like that about Fluttershy, I’d give him a piece of my mind.” Rainbow pounded her fists together.

“Won’t we all?” Rarity placed a hand against her chest. “So anyway…”

By the time Fluttershy got back home, it had already been close to evening and the temperature outside had dropped even lower as more snow began to fall from the sky. Over the course of her time at the mall, she had gone to a beauty salon to touch up her hair, along with some clothes shopping. She had bought a new black dress and some green and pink skirts. Now back home, she shrugged off her winter garments and headed to the kitchen, where she dumped her bags of groceries on the counter. Today, she had gotten an extra load of chicken and beef for a feast, really for no special occasion. As she began packing everything into her refrigerator, she pulled out a packet of chicken and sniffed at it. She could already taste what she would be having later.

“Delicious,” she said to herself and slid it into the freezer.

She also thought of the man working at the mart who had tried to ask her out. She’d seen him a few times whenever she went there, but she never really thought anything of him until now.

“He’s not that bad looking, I guess…” Fluttershy mused. “Oh, but I don’t know, it’s so embarrassing to be asked out like that.”

“Uh, Rarity, just checkin’ again, are ya sure this is a scary story?” Applejack waved her hat at the other girl before putting it back on her head. “Ah don’t want to be sittin’ out here if it’s just gonna be some kinda romantic thingamabob.”

“It’s coming.” Rarity narrowed her eyes. “Stop interrupting and we’ll get there quicker.”

As Fluttershy put her bags away, she heard something. Just the faintest of taps against her window. The window that was behind her. She turned, but as she looked out into the snowy landscape, she could see no one, even now as the sun began to set. She wagered it must’ve been a twig or maybe even a raccoon and she went back to it, going upstairs to take a bath before dinner.

She had forgotten all about the noise outside as the showerhead rained water down around her. Fluttershy smiled at the warm water flowing over her face and ran her hands through her hair. She had always enjoyed a warm shower, especially during the winter, where everything was so drab and cold. As she almost got lost in her thoughts, there was a thump and she jumped. She looked to her right, where the sound had come from. Her bathroom had a high frosted glass window just outside the shower cubicle, but as far as she could see, there was no one there.

“Odd…” Fluttershy peeked her head past the glass of her cubicle to see if she could get a better look.

She stood there with the sound of running water pelting the floor beneath her and the smell of shampoo in her hair, hoping she wouldn’t see anything weird outside her window and thankfully, she didn’t. There was nothing out of the ordinary. She had anticipated and feared she was about to see someone standing out there trying to break in, but it was just her paranoia playing tricks on her again.

“Stop it, Fluttershy…” She told herself as she washed the shampoo from her head and flicked off the shower. “You’re okay. There’s no one out there and they have no way in…”

To her horror, she heard the sound of glass shattering downstairs and she knew she had been wrong about that. Something was awfully wrong. The only glass she had at home were her windows and shower cubicle. She didn’t even have a bathroom mirror, because she found she never really needed one anyway; she could brush her teeth and hair just fine without having the need for one. And windows would never shatter for no reason.

She quickly wiped herself down before cautiously peeking her head out of her bathroom. Her halls were deathly quiet and there was not a sound of anything, at least, nothing yet.

Fluttershy threw on her home clothes and left the bathroom and crept down towards her staircase, keeping her hands in front of herself. If it was a home invader, she would be prepared to defend herself and she would make them sorry for trying to rob her.

She peeked down the stairs and listened, trying to pinpoint if there was anyone down there. There was not a sound now. No footsteps creeping about, no breath, no objects being looted. Nothing.

And then there it was. A clinking of metal on skin. But it wasn’t coming from downstairs. No, it was coming from behind her.

Fluttershy turned around just in time to see a crowbar smack into the side of her head and everything went black.

“Woah. Ouch. You seriously just did that to Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked.

“It’s but a story, Rainbow.” Rarity waved a hand at her. “It’s all in the good name of storytelling. I can do anything I want, as can you.”

“Yeah, okay. Just surprised that you’d do that to her.” Rainbow leaned back and placed one leg over the other. “Carry on.”

“Right.” Rarity cleared her throat. “So…”

Fluttershy shook the blurriness from her eyes as she tried to lift a hand to rub her throbbing head, but she realized her hands couldn’t move. They were tied down to the armrests of one of her chairs.

“Hey, Fluttershy…” A voice called. It was soft and almost like a whisper and it came from behind her. Suddenly, a man in a rabbit mask darted out in front of her and she couldn’t help but shriek in surprise. “My, oh my. You’ve got a pretty gasp. And your body. Wow, it’s everything I’ve always pictured…”

He leaned closer and ran a hand along her neck, then to her collar bone.

Then he leaned back and laughed, and his voice was soon followed by what sounded like three others. Fluttershy could see them now that her vision was clearing up. There were three more men standing at the back, next to her kitchen, each of them sporting a different animal mask. The one on her right was a short and pudgy man and he had a mask of a horse. The one next to him was the tallest of the lot and he had on a rooster mask and a yellow jacket. The last guy had a panther mask and a bright pink coat, which was rather contrasting.

“Fluttershy, I’ve dreamed day and night of you…” Rabbit Mask began running his hands along her arms now. “Your skin is so soft… I can’t imagine what it must be like under your clothes…”

“W-Who are you?” Fluttershy flinched as he leaned closer and sniffed at her through his mask.

“You don’t remember me? You’ve walked past me many times.” He clucked his tongue. “Then again, I guess it’s only fair. We only spoke once before and that was earlier today.”

Fluttershy remembered his voice now. He was that cute attendant at Cantermart, the one who tried to ask her out.

“Y-You. The Cantermart em-employee…” she breathed. “Hush Echo.”

“That’s right. You refused me. But I can’t help myself, you see…” He chuckled and moved one hand to her chest, where he began to travel lower. “I’ve wanted your body for so long. Tonight, I decided to take it. Me and the boys.”

The three men behind him laughed together again.

“Now come on…” He ran his hand down her curves, then grabbed the bottom of her shirt. “Let’s see what we have here…”

Fluttershy shivered under his touch, but then lifted a leg and kicked Hush between the legs. He squealed, then toppled over, grabbing at his crotch. He groaned on the floor and spat out a thick wad of saliva. That gave Fluttershy some sense of satisfaction, but not when Horse Face decided to approach her.

He rolled up his sleeves, then gave her two punches in the face, one on the left and one on the right. “Not so funny now, huh?”

Then he pulled out a butterfly knife and flicked it open. “How about we cut you up instead?”

“N-No…” Hush croaked. “I want her body. Don’t you cut her up till I’m done.”

“You know, we saw you. Through your bathroom window.” Panther Mask snickered. “Frosted glass or no, we could still see your body shape. I must say, it is definitely as Hush has sold. I’d like a piece too.” He began unbuckling his pants and he wrapped one hand around his-

“Rarity, woah nelly! Stop!” Applejack flinched and reared further back against her log. “Ah thought we’re keepin’ it PG here?”

“Was there that rule?” Rarity tilted her head to the side. “I don’t believe we’ve ever established that rule.”

“Well, it was kinda inferred when we started. We don’t do any of that crazy stuff here,” Rainbow added.

“So gore is okay, but not sexual content?” Rarity flicked at her fingernails. “The best horror movies have a little bit of skin, darling.”

“She has a point.” Twilight raised a finger.

“But okay, we didn’t sign up for… stuff like that.” Applejack waved her hat in her face. “Rarity, Ah’d like it if ya kept that stuff down, please.”

The storyteller sighed. “Very well, then. I shan’t mention them in detail.”

Fluttershy turned her eyes away from the man’s privates, but then Horse Face turned her back and tried to pry her eyes open.

By now, Hush Echo had gotten back up and judging from his breathing, he was not too pleased at having been kicked in the groin.

“I was going to take it slow, but you’ve forced my hand, Fluttershy.” He slowly unbuttoned his pants.

Then he dashed forward and grabbed at her shirt and ripped it off, or at least part of it. Shirts weren’t all that easy to tear off.

“Amazing…” He raised both hands like he was holding two balls. “Now, it’s time…”

“N-No, please, no!” Fluttershy squirmed back in her chair.

“I’m gonna have my way with you all night long!” Hush Echo rubbed his hands together and licked his lips. “I’m going to enjoy this. Very much. I’m gonna run my tongue all across your naked body and then much more.”

His friends around him continued to chuckle and they began handing money out to each other, probably from some kind of bet they were having. Fluttershy didn’t know what for, but one thing she did know is that she had already let them have too much fun. Now, it was her turn.

As Hush Echo reached for her face, intending to kiss her, Fluttershy broke the bindings around her hands and reaching down, she grabbed him between his legs and pulled. Hard. Blood splattered against her face as Hush fell back screaming, his hands between his legs as blood seeped between them.

Horse Face and Rooster Head both took a step back in surprise, but Panther Mask still had his knife out and he wasn’t having any of it.

“Why you little…!” He ran forward and tried to slash Fluttershy across the neck, but then she was no longer there.

In the dim light of her house, it almost looked like she had vanished into the shadows when she moved. Panther Mask felt a hand on his shoulder, followed by the ripping sensation of the side of his neck detaching from the rest of his body. He squealed like a pig, then fell to the side and clutched his wound as Fluttershy now stood over him, a grin from ear to ear plastered on her face. In her mouth among her teeth were twin fangs, and her pupils had become a faint red glow.

“What… are you?” he croaked and tried to shuffle back, but Fluttershy stepped down on his left leg and stopped him.

Fluttershy licked her lips and bent lower. “I’m hungry…”

Her mouth wide open, she darted forward and sank her fangs into the man’s open wound. He began screaming and thrashing his arms and legs around, but to no avail as she began to suck his life from him.

Fluttershy’s mouth was a bloody mess by the time Panther Mask stopped moving and the other two members of Hush’s group stood behind the couch, shaking from head to toe. As Fluttershy growled, the already dim lights in her home began to darken until the brightest lights in the room was the glow of Fluttershy’s red pupils.

They disappeared in a flash as she leapt for them and the two men scrambled to the left and right. Unfortunately for Rooster Head, the right led him straight into a bookshelf and he smashed into it head first. He fell back, reaching for anything he could find to stabilize himself, but all he did was pull the entire bookshelf down on top of himself.

With his friend down, Horse Face stumbled back and fell over a chair as Fluttershy stalked closer and closer to him. He picked up books from the fallen shelf and threw them at her, but Fluttershy didn’t even bother to hit them aside; she never flinched once as they smacked against her before falling to the ground.

“Stay away! Stay awaaaaay!” He raised both hands to his face as Fluttershy suddenly vanished.

After a while of nothing happening to him, Horse Face opened his eyes again to see she was no longer standing there. Not wasting another breath, he got to his feet and took off down the way they had come: the kitchen window. He fell a few times, scrambling like a mad man to get away, but just as he touched the windowsill, his left leg was yanked back and he slid down, smashing his face against the kitchen counter and then the floor as he was dragged away from freedom.

Fluttershy spun him around and all he was able to see was the smile plastered on her paling face, where her veins looked black on her alabaster skin. He knew this look well and it was a look he and the others had made when they were carving their way through the streets. She was enjoying this.

“Night night,” Fluttershy said and sank her fangs into Horse Face’s neck.

His struggles turned into panicked flailing, and his flailing turned into convulsion as his blood drained away from his body, and then his convulsion turned into stillness as Fluttershy finished her meal. His body was nothing more than a grey dessicated corpse now, emptied of all life as its head fell to one side.

“So tasty… ohhhh yes…” Fluttershy hugged her shoulders and shuddered as blood ran down her mouth. “Mmmm, I can never get enough of it…”

She sucked on one of her fingers, covered in the blood of her intruders and grinned in satisfaction. So far, Hush’s blood tasted the best. It had a sweeter tinge to it, something that she knew came from one repeatedly going down on others, be it man or woman.

“Ew, Rarity…” Twilight’s glasses fogged up as she breathed. “It doesn’t even make sense. His blood wouldn’t change if he, uh… did that.”

“That’s just weird, ain’t it?” Applejack scratched her forehead.

“My story, girls.” Rarity tilted her head up proudly. “I get to decide, crazy or no.”

The darkness grew around Fluttershy and she was back in her living room once again, standing by the bookshelf. With one hand, she lifted the entire shelf back up, gazing at the unconscious man in the rooster mask below.

She licked at her lips, then bent lower to sniff at Rooster Head’s neck. Under his skin, she could see a glow each time his heart beat, sending blood throughout his body, specifically, the veins on his neck. Opening her mouth, Fluttershy stuck her fangs into the man’s throat and leaned in close, drinking as blood began to ooze from his wounds.

It had been so long since she had the taste of human blood and Fluttershy knew, whether it tasted good or not, that this wasn’t something she should be doing. The more she drank, the more she felt herself slipping away, giving rise to something darker, something from the bowels of her heart and soul, pushing her to drink, to consume and then some more.

An eternal hunger for human blood.

She hadn’t always been like this. Fluttershy had been normal all the way through high school and college.

“Ooh, backstory. This I like.” Rainbow grinned. “It’s like a superhero first gaining their powers!”

“Or in this case, someone turning into a monster.” Velvet pointed out.

“Meh, it could be like the superhero, Sword.” Rainbow shrugged. “A vampire hunter who turned part vampire, gaining their powers, but none of their weaknesses, like sunlight or garlic.”

“Never heard of him. Then again, I haven’t really seen that many movies.”

“No matter. We’ll be sure to get you to more movies, Velvet dear.” Rarity wiggled her fingers at the campfire. “In the meantime…”

Once she had drained Rooster Head dry, Fluttershy stood up and wiped at her mouth. Her interlopers were dealt with and only one remained, squirming on the floor, all the while trying to get himself away from her, but with the pain coming from between his legs, he couldn’t even stand and he had only been using one hand to drag himself further.

“How pitiful…” She licked excess blood from around her mouth.

It had been in the year of her first job at an animal shelter. Fluttershy had gone out back, tasked by one of the higher ups who had been jealous of her looks to take the trash out, a job nobody else had wanted to do. Everyday, Fluttershy would diligently take it out, sometimes even without needing to be asked to, but one fateful day, as the door had slammed shut behind her, a figure emerged from behind one of the dumpsters, clad in a dark hoodie and ragged clothes, breathing heavily.

She thought perhaps he was a junkie, needing money from her to continue his habits, but then he jumped forward and attacked her and she thought he was a sexual predator. It was only after he had sunk his fangs into her neck did Fluttershy finally understand what was on top of her.

To this day, everything after that had been a blank spot in her memory, but she remembered waking up in the alley, coated in blood, her clothes torn and tattered. It was soon after that that she realized she was no longer able to consume normal food. It just tasted bad and it made her sick. The only thing she could find relief in was the blood of humans, animals, or that of raw meat from the supermarket.

She could still go out into the sunlight, but it hurt her eyes and it gave her a splitting headache whenever she did so. To counter that, she would always have to cover herself up as best as she could before leaving.

As for work, she could only take night jobs now, to make sure the sun was out of her eyes, and she would have to control herself when she was around her colleagues and friends, but tonight, tonight she didn’t need to.

Fluttershy stalked over to Hush Echo, who was now madly mumbling something as he pushed against a carpet, staining it red and slowing his already slow escape. Wiping the back of her hand against her chin, Fluttershy reached down and flipped the man around so he was facing her. In the dim room, her most distinct feature were her eyes, and even though the front of her shirt had been torn off, he could not peel his eyes away from hers.

“P-Please, no. Anything. I’ll leave now. I-I’ll never… I’ll never come back. You’ll never see me again. Please!”

He raised a shaky hand in front of himself.

Fluttershy snorted and closed her mouth, her fangs sticking out past her upper lip. She reached for the end of her torn shirt and removed it. Then she bent down and removed her shorts, revealing her-

“Rarity, again? Come on!” Applejack fell back over her log as she covered her face. “Unnecessary! Really!”

“Fine. Fine…” The storyteller sighed. “I’ll tone it down. It’s not my fault you girls don’t seem to have an ear for good storytelling.”

“This ain’t good storytellin’.”

“That’s your opinion.” Rarity coughed. “Anyway…”

Fluttershy sat down on top of the bleeding man, running one hand from her left thigh up to her left shoulder. Even now, Hush could not take his eyes away from her eyes, her very terrifying eyes.

She bent lower, brushing her fangs against the man’s cheek. He shivered and began to cry out and Fluttershy wrapped one hand around his neck, choking his voice.

She sniffed at his neck and smiled. “Mmm… Tell me, did you think that it would be me eating you tonight?”

Hush Echo shook his head.

She let go of his throat and caressed her fingers along it. “I don’t normally resort to this, but you forced my hand, Hush. Feeding on human blood hasn’t been on the top of my list. But perhaps now, with you here…”

Fluttershy left home the next day, covered from head to toe as she braved the morning sun to make her way to the nearby scrapyard. It had been a long time since she’d been there, because she really had no reason to go. This time, she carried with her a giant white sac, slinging it easily over one shoulder as she adjusted her goggles on her face. The weight was trivial to her, and she was soon at the scrapyard without breaking even a drop of sweat. After all, she could no longer sweat, not even if she was doing something hot and heavy like-

“Rarity…” Applejack groaned.

Rarity sighed. “Fine, fine. We’re almost done now, anyway…”

Fluttershy was soon at the scrapyard, keeping one hand over her eyes as she trudged through a thin layer of snow on the ground. Even with her hood and goggles, the sun was much too bright in the sky today and it was giving her a grievous headache. She just wanted to be done here and get home to the comforts of the dark.

Finding what she came here for, she swung her sac over to her other shoulder, then over her head as she let go of its end, letting it fly at least two meters before it landed in a yellow metallic box that sloped down. Fluttershy walked to its controls and fiddled with the knobs before pressing a big red button. The entire machine began vibrating and soon, grinding noises were heard below as the sac began to descend into the machine. Blood sprayed up into the air above her and she avoided getting it on her clothes as she slid back faster than the eye could blink.

With her work done here, Fluttershy returned home, glad to be out of the sunlight. She removed her extra layers of clothes before descending down into her basement. There was nothing much she kept down here, save for solvents, extra buckets of paint, and an old couch. The floor here was pure concrete and most of it was still dusty, as she had only started coming down here again just yesterday night.

There was a muffled gasp as she descended the stairs and the rattle of chains. Once she reached the bottom, she smiled and curved around the stairs, finding a chained up Hush Echo cowering in fear as he tried to speak through the gag around his mouth.

“Hello, it’s good to see you again, Hush Hush.” Fluttershy peeled off her shirt and-

Rarity glared at her friends and raised a finger, daring anyone to say anything. “I’m not going into detail. Don’t speak.”

She ran a hand down her body and leaned closer to him. “This was what you wanted, wasn’t it? As a reward for being my eternal slave, I don’t mind showing it to you if it keeps you sated…”

Hush mumbled and tried to back away, but there was only so much he could do while binded.

Fluttershy’s fangs sank out of her gums and she grabbed the top of his head. “Now stay still. This will be over in no time. Fluttershy’s hungry now…”

“The end.” Rarity clapped her hands together.

“Well, apart from all that… ya know…” Applejack took off her hat and looked at the stars in the sky. “Not bad. Not bad, Ah say.”

“Yeah. If you ever tell a second part, make her a hero or something. She can like, go out and fight crime at night!” Rainbow punched a fist forward.

“Seeing as these are meant to be spooky, I don’t think it’ll fly.” Velvet smiled weirdly.

“I did like the twist though.” Twilight stood up. “Even if I saw it coming from the very beginning.”

“Yeah, I did like how those crooks got what they deserved.” Rainbow leapt up and placed one foot on her log. “Oh well, shut eye time. Who wants to do the honours?”

“I’ve got it.” Velvet picked up the bucket. “Safe travels to the tents, everyone.”

And she poured it over the fire, concluding yet another night of spooks and thrills.

Comments

[Dashie04]

Rarity’s going to horny jail.