Equestria's Dark Shadow

by InTheStands

Settling In

Chapter 3: Settling In

Pinkie descended the stairs, leaving the bedroom of the library and rejoining her friends. "Okie dokie! Spike's taken care of, Twilight! What do you want me to do...now?"

Pinkie realized she was the only one in the library. Then she heard noises coming from outside; The voices of her friends. The pink pony quickly went outside. "There you are!"

"Pinkie, shush!" Rainbow Dash quickly quieted her. "Ponies are still sleeping!"

The party mare paused for a moment, then whispered, "There you are. What are we doing now?"

"What's it look like?" Dash responded. "Whatever that...thing was..." The pegasus moved out of the way for Pinkie to see. "It left it's coffin."

The five ponies surrounded the casket. It seemed to be old, with traces of recent refurbishing. Twilight stepped closer to it, talking to her friends as she inspected it. "What could it have been doing in here?"

"Suppose someone buried it before making sure it was dead," Applejack guessed. "But then there'd be a lot more dirt..."

"...Hey, wait a minute," Rainbow Dash murmured aloud. She stared at the coffin, then widened her eyes before darting back into the library. The other four followed the pegasus in time to see her gliding around the room, past the bookshelves, searching for something.

"Aha!" Dash grinned as she plucked out a book from one of the rows. She quickly skimmed through it, muttering as she turned page after page. "There we are! M-hm...m-hm..."

"Rainbow Dash, what is it?" Fluttershy asked. "Is it...something we need to know about?"

"Oh yes it is!" Dash touched down, placing the open book on the floor for the others to see. "It all makes sense! The pale skin, the sharp teeth, the coffin..." She used a hoof to point at a picture next to a block of text. A picture that, while being that of a pony, contained the same characteristics as that of the new creature. Rainbow Dash then announced, "It looks to me...like we're dealing with a bona-fide VAMPIRE!"

Three of the ponies gasped. One, however, did not.

"Dash," Twilight shook her head, "I thought we all learned not to jump to conclusions like this."

"Who's jumping to conclusions?" Dash grew offended. "Look at this picture. Then think about that...thing. Now tell me they don't look almost exactly alike!"

"A lot of things look alike, Rainbow Dash," Twilight reasoned. "That doesn't mean they act alike. Or for that matter, are even the same thing."

Rainbow Dash simply huffed and shut the book. "Of all the times to be a skeptic, Twilight...why are you choosing now?"

"I'm just saying we need to go on more than appearances. We can't just prance around and make accusations. Maybe there's even a way to get it back from wherever it is it came from."

"Um..." Fluttershy grew timid. "Wouldn't that mean getting close to it? As in, within grabbing distance?"

"She's got a point, sugarcube," Applejack spoke up. "Whatever it was, I reckon it ain't too happy with us right now."

Twilight thought for a moment before sighing and shook her head. "Alright. Obviously we're all getting tired. We need to get home, get some rest, and think about this when our heads clear up."

"Fine by me," Dash placed the book back in its original spot. "But I sure as Tartarus am not going out alone. Applejack? How about I follow you home before I head back myself?"

"Ooh, ooh! I get to pick Fluttershy to follow me back!" Pinkie declared.

"That's....a bit obvious, Pinkie," Fluttershy pointed out. "I'm the only other pegasus."

"And that's why I picked you, silly! Come on, let's go!"

"Wait," Twilight stopped them before they departed. "Can you all do one thing when you get home?" The four nodded their answer as the unicorn continued. "Lock everything. Your doors, your windows, EVERYTHING. Somepony tell Rarity, too. As little as we know about this creature, Applejack's right in saying it's extremely angry at us. There's no telling what it would do. Or even what it may be doing now."

§§§

Ponyville Hospital had ended visiting hours a while ago. The night staff went about their duties, patrolling the halls and tending to whoever needed care at the moment. Most of the lights had been put out to both save energy and so as not to disturb anypony sleeping.

Doctor Stable, as usual, sat in his office, reading, completing, and organizing whatever paperwork needed to be dealt with. The calm that usually came during nighttime was the optimal time to get something like this done.

Tonight, however, the calm was interrupted by a sharp scream that echoed across the hospital.

The tan-coated unicorn stallion darted upwards, dropping his papers and running out into the hallway. He quickly laid eyes on one of the nurses, a white earth pony with a flashlight in front of her.

"Redheart!" Stable breathed out. "What's going on? What was that?"

"One of the patients," Nurse Redheart answered. "He says he saw something watching him."

"Is this any of the known hallucinators?"

Redheart shook her head. "But that's not all. He says...he says it's in the hospital."

"What?" Stable grew even more concerned.

They then gasped when they heard a second sound; The sound of glass being broken. Stable turned back to the Redheart. "Get the other nurses! We're finding whatever's doing this!"

The white mare immediately took her flashlight and ran down one end of the hall. Stable retrieved his light source just as the nurse returned with several of the hospital staff.

As one, the group kept a steady pace as they marched through the hospital, searching for the intruder. They turned a corner when their lights reflected off of several objects on the floor.

Looking closer, they saw it was broken shards of glass.

Glass and blood.

Immediately, Stable moved his light beam from the floor to a nearby door - one that clearly was the source of the broken glass. Inside, the group could see shelves of clear plastic packets holding a red substance.

"Blood?" Redheart grew surprised. "They were after the blood?"

Another scream pierced the air, followed by a shout for help. Their lights were turned in such a way that the blood puddle on the floor was revealed to be part of a long, coagulating trail of the fluid.

"COME ON!" Stable shouted to the others, who immediately obeyed. Bounding down the hallway, they flashed their lights into the rooms they passed, seeing only unharmed (but terrified) patients. In time, they noticed a dark blue glow emanating from the next turn: One of the larger windows of the hospital.

They also noticed the trail of blood turning the same corner.

Taking no chances of letting the thief escape, the group made the turn and shone their flashlights at the direction of the window. Stable began to call out. "Stop right there! You...you..." His voice degraded from a courageous boom to a horrified stammer. "What in Equestria ARE you?!"

The offender gave no response as it glared over its shoulder, crouched at the window and ready to jump. It merely bared its teeth, mouth running with the same red color as on the floor. Much like the plastic packets it grasped in its arms, its fangs shone in the lantern-like light, silently warning them to stay back. Then, without warning, the creature leapt from the window, disappearing from sight as it fell.

The group was frozen in place. Doctor Stable let his mouth hang open for several seconds before falling sharply to the ground, having fainted.

The rest ran screaming, searching for the quickest route to a law-enforcement official - and perhaps a news reporter. Whatever had happened, the word had to be spread as quickly as possible, before somepony was actually harmed by this monstrous, bloodthirsty being.

Comments

[killer007]

[CrypticMetaphor]

Sweeeeeet!!!