Heir To Darkness

by Leafdoggy

Chapter 19: A Talk

Fluttershy was stunned. “You… The Visitor is…” She sat up straighter, suddenly very worried about making a bad impression.

“I am simply The Visitor,” they replied. “Please, do not feel the need to give me any special treatment. I’ve been a friend to your successors since long before they took the name Dracula.”

Fluttershy swallowed and tried, unsuccessfully, to relax. “Um… W-What did you want to talk about?”

The Visitor stared at her for a long moment, giving the impression of contemplation. “How was your day?”

“I—” Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion. “What?”

“How was your day?”

Fluttershy hummed in thought. “Good?” She shrugged. “The ‘day’ part, at least. You know, before I…”

“Died?” They laughed. “Yes, that does tend to sour one’s day. How did you find that, by the way? I can’t imagine it was very enjoyable.”

“It hurt,” Fluttershy said. She rubbed her legs together. “It hurt really, really badly.”

“And beyond that?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “It just hurt.”

“That isn’t true,” The Visitor told her. “Part of you held it back. How did that part feel?”

Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. “I… Don’t know.”

“What kept you going? Power? Confidence? Ambition?”

“I was scared.”

“Of dying?”

“Of failing.” Fluttershy ran a hoof idly over the boards of the raft. “I don’t think Dracula would have let me die, but… I didn’t want to let everypony down.”

“Hm.”

They floated along in silence for a bit, the only sound the occasional splash of the oar. After a bit, Fluttershy laid down at the edge of the raft and experimentally poked at the water with a hoof. It felt strange, like it only gave just enough resistance for her to know it was there, and her hoof was still dry when she pulled it back up. She also noticed that the water wasn’t reflecting her image, but she couldn’t be sure if that was because of the river or because of her.

She spent the next few minutes running her hoof through the water as they floated along, making odd shapes and symbols with the wake she left, and soon enough she started to feel a bit more comfortable in the strange place she’d been brought to.

Eventually, Fluttershy decided to ask a question, although she didn’t look up from the water to do so. “Why won’t anyone talk about you?”

“It simply isn’t in their nature,” The Visitor responded. “Part of life is to ignore the inevitability of death. To speak of it, or of me, would invite the idea into their minds, and thus into their lives. Only by necessity do the creatures of your town even acknowledge my existence.”

“I’ve been thinking about you ever since I found your portrait, though,” Fluttershy said.

They chuckled. “Despite what some may wish to believe, I do pick favorites.”

“Oh.”

There was another beat of silence between them. The reflection of the moon in the water drew close to the horizon.

“Was I always meant to become Dracula?”

“Not at all. In truth, I shouldn’t have even spoken to you until you took the throne, but… Well, I do pick favorites.”

Fluttershy felt her cheeks get hot. She pursed her lips and turned away.

“She won’t give up the throne willingly, you know,” The Visitor said.

“I have to try,” Fluttershy replied. “I don’t want to hurt anypony.”

“And if you fail to reach her with words?”

“I…” Fluttershy shook her head. “I just can’t fail. I have to find a way.”

“Mm.”

The moon in the water touched the horizon, and the world around Fluttershy started to dim. It got hazy, like a dense fog had rolled in, and her ears started to ring.

“You should start thinking of a title.” The Visitor sounded miles away. “‘The Heiress’ will be obsolete before long.”

Then the world blinked out of existence.

Fluttershy took in a deep, gasping breath and sat bolt upright. The first thing that hit her as she awoke was the pain, a dull ache that radiated through her body alongside a sharp stabbing pain that shot through her any time she moved her neck. Her back was sore, her legs were mostly numb, and she had a horrible headache.

Soon after that, the world started to fill in around her. She heard muffled voices and the scuffle of movement, and saw the shape of a dark room around her. She was sitting on some hard surface, and two ponies loomed over her.

The first one she made out was a familiar face. Dayfall sneered down at her, looking incredibly frustrated to see her open her eyes. Beside her was a stallion Fluttershy was sure she had seen before. He was old, incredibly old, but solidly built. His fur was a deep orange, but was discolored all over with the marks of a long life. A messy gray mane fell down over his scarred face, and his sharp eyes stared down at her with suspicion.

“You’re…” Fluttershy narrowed her eyes as she fought to remember him.

“I was wondering if you’d recognize me,” he said. His voice was gravelly and made every word sound like it hurt to say.

“Applejack’s great uncle?”

The stallion winced, and a frown crossed his face. “Van Helsing!” He turned to Dayfall with a look of anger. “Don’t you all teach new vampires anything anymore?”

Dayfall shrugged.

Fluttershy coughed and shook her head hard to try and knock away her grogginess, but all she got was a harsh reminder of the wound on her neck. “So,” she said with a groan of pain, “you’re not—”

“Yes, I am Applejack’s great uncle, I’m just mad that that’s why you know me.” He huffed and stomped off across the room.

Fluttershy took the lull in conversation as a chance to make out where she was. There was a small bed in one corner, which was notably empty, and a table beside it. Near that was a small wardrobe, and a mostly-intact bookshelf sat on the opposite wall filled with some books and knick-knacks with no rhyme or reason to why they were there. Besides that, the room was empty and dull.

Fluttershy was lying on the floor, and took a moment to sit up in a more comfortable position before turning her attention to Dayfall. “The stallion?”

“He’s with the doctor,” she replied with a glare.

“Why am I here?”

“The doctor doesn’t take vampires,” Dayfall said. “Some agreement with the old codger.”

Helsing walked back over to them with a needle between his teeth. “I like to keep an eye on you lot,” he said.

Dayfall rolled her eyes.

“So you helped me?” Fluttershy asked Helsing. “Thank you very much.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he replied as he walked around behind her. “You woke up before I could stitch that up.”

“Well, I still—” Fluttershy started, but was cut off by a sharp pain as, without warning, Helsing started to stitch the wound on her neck closed. Fluttershy inhaled sharply through her teeth, and Dayfall laughed at her.

“Did you tell Windbreaker what happened?” Fluttershy asked through gritted teeth.

Dayfall scoffed. “When would I have done that? You told me to wait.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy said. “I’m sorry. It was the only way to stop you.”

“You’re right about that,” Dayfall said, “and you better be ready to do it again after this ‘talk’ of yours.”

“No fighting in my room,” Helsing said. He pulled the last stitch tight. Fluttershy winced, then sighed in relief that it was done.

Dayfall grimaced. “Fine.”

Helsing patted Fluttershy on the back and walked back around to stand beside Dayfall. “You’re all set,” he said. “All told, you did more to yourself than she did to you. Give it an hour or two and you’ll be back in top shape.”

“That’s it?” Fluttershy was shocked. “I thought I’d be in bed for days.”

Helsing shrugged. “You heal fast.” Then he went and sat heavily on his bed. “Well, I’m done. You two can have your talk.”

“Yeah, let’s get this over with,” Dayfall said. “Then we can go back in the hall and I can get back to ripping your throat out.”

Fluttershy frowned. “I still don’t understand why you want to hurt me.”

“I told you, it’s fun,” Dayfall said.

“It’s not fun for me.”

Dayfall scoffed. “So? Why should I care how you feel?”

“Well, you should care about everyone in town,” Fluttershy said, “but I guess for now you should care because I’m going to be Dracula some day.”

“If you survive.”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said, “if I survive. Then I’ll be Dracula, and you’ll have tried to kill me.”

Dayfall’s expression softened. “Are you threatening me?”

“I’m just saying that you should think things through more,” Fluttershy said. “Enjoying fighting doesn’t mean you have to be cruel. You’re in control of yourself, you could have thought of another way at any point in your life. You need to stop making excuses.”

Dayfall laughed. “That’s rich coming from the pony who just brainwashed me.”

“I just told you to do something,” Fluttershy said. “I couldn’t change how you think. I can’t do any more than Dracula could do by commanding you to do something.”

“Yeah right.”

“It’s true, watch.” Fluttershy took a deep breath, then snapped her eyes wide open and locked them to Dayfall’s. “Kill Helsing.”

Dayfall took a step back in shock. “W-What?” She looked back and forth between Fluttershy and Helsing frantically. “No! I can’t do that, that’s insane!”

Fluttershy shut her eyes and let her breath out, then looked back up at Dayfall. “See?”

Across the room, Helsing laughed. “That was a nice demonstration, Heiress, but I think you’re underestimating what the vampires would do if Dracula told them to.”

“Well, it got my point across,” Fluttershy said. She looked hard into Dayfall’s eyes. “Even as Dracula, I could not force kindness onto the vampires. Being kind is a choice you have to make. That means you’re choosing, every day, not to be kind. Every day you wake up and ask yourself ‘Am I going to be kind today?’ Every day, you say ‘No.’ Why? What makes you choose to be unkind?”

“Please, I’m not ‘choosing’ anything,” Dayfall said. “This is just who I am.”

“I can’t make you believe me,” Fluttershy said, “but maybe tomorrow, when you wake up, you’ll hear yourself ask that question, and you’ll hear yourself say no. That’s all I can hope for, for now.”

“You’re so full of it,” Dayfall said. “I’m done with this. Come on, let’s go finish what we started.”

“No,” Fluttershy said, “I’m not going to fight you. We both know I can stop you. I just did it again, and I didn’t collapse this time. Just go.”

Dayfall growled and made for the door. “Fine. Have it your way, Heiress.”

“Oh, Dayfall?” Fluttershy asked before she could leave.

“What?” Dayfall snapped.

“Is Windbreaker still back in that room you took me to? I need to have a talk with her.”

Dayfall scoffed and walked out the door. “Yeah, she’s there. Go get yourself killed.” Then she slammed it shut behind her.

Comments

[Ocea Lights]

Eesh, Dayfall really needs an attitude adjustment. Now to see what goes down with Windbreaker.