Applejack the Vampire Hunter

by ThePeer

1 - Recognition

The first thing Rainbow Dash felt when she slipped out of unconsciousness was a throbbing headache, followed by a numbing pain in her leg. Vampires may have enhanced healing capacity, but a bullet wound will still take a while to recover from. When she shifted her leg, she felt a clothy material wrapped tightly around the right leg; she assumed it was a bandage.

She tried to stretch her leg out further, but it was blocked by a rough material bundled around her body, digging into her skin and completely stifling any movement. She lifted her eyelids and looked down at her body. Her heart rate shot up when she saw the twisting fibers of rope coiled around her body, constricting her like a snake.

Pegasi instinctually unfurl their wings when they feel endangered. In the olden days, pegasi nearly always lived in the clouds high up in the sky. Back then, a pegasi wing being restricted more often than not was a death sentence. Thus, pegasi are genetically wired to avoid having their wings forced shut at all costs.

Even if Rainbow Dash was no longer a pegasus, the natural instincts of a pegasus still kicked in. She violently tossed and turned on the cold oak floor, desperately trying to escape from the ropes' grips in order to open her wings. Her insent groans increased in volume, followed by beastly vampiric growls and snarls.

"The more you struggle, the tighter I'll get." Rainbow Dash’s red eyes shot up to the source of the familiar voice. Sitting on a table half-way across the Golden Oak library was the hunter who tied up Rainbow Dash in the first place, Applejack. Rainbow Dash shrilly hissed at her.

Applejack frowned. "Now that ain’t no way to greet a guest, Dash."

"You weren't invited!" Rainbow growled back. She lowered her head back to her chest, extended her fangs, and tried to nibble at the rope. But immediately stopped when she heard a metal click echo from half-way across the room. She looked up and saw Applejack aiming her cold steel revolver at her. Her red eyes compressed to silts, as she stared directly down the weapon's grooved barrel.

Applejack’s semi-sarcastic frown morphed into a dead serious scowl; she had her sights aimed directly between Rainbow’s eyes. "I wouldn’t try that either..." Rainbow Dash’s fangs retracted as she gulped a lump in her throat. Applejack smiled and lowered her weapon, "Thank You."

"How do you know my name, Applejack?" The name slipped so naturally out of Rainbow Dash’s mouth, she didn’t even notice it.

Applejack was temporarily taken aback by her name being so suddenly conjured by the vampire. But she soon readjusted herself and put back on her calm demeanor. She reached into the saddle bag sitting next to her on the table and scrambled her hoof in it for a bit before finally producing a tobacco pipe and a match box. She rested the pipe on the table next to her, and used both hooves to light one match from the box. "I’d ask you the same thing."

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened, only now registering the feeling of familiarity she felt towards Applejack, even if she was her captor. "How do I know… your name?"

Applejack hovered the match's dancing flames over the pipe's bowel, setting it alight. "You see, this freaky shit is why we are here, having this discussion. So let's start with some questions, partner."

Rainbow Dash used the little wiggle room she had to lift herself from the lying position and stay up on her base. She was going to at least keep some of her dignity by sitting up in defiance, rather than being humiliated by laying down on the cold oak floor and taking it.

Applejack used two hooves to push herself off of the creaky table and onto the floor. She trotted across the room towards Rainbow Dash, dodging a couple of Dash’s bloodied snacks that were laid casually about. "How about’ we start with the fact you can talk." Applejack stopped about a foot away from her. She inhaled the tobacco from the pipe, and blew out the secondhand smoke into Rainbow’s face. Rainbow’s lungs were assaulted by the clear clouds of smoke, causing her to reflexively cough, as the mist stung at her lungs. "If all of the dead critters in here were the only thing you've been drinking, you'd have gone feral a long time ago." Applejack leaned closer to coughing Rainbow Dash, to the point where Rainbow felt her angry hot breath on her face. "The fact you ain’t could only mean one thing." Applejack’s voice lowered into an angry snarl. "You’ve been drinking pony blood."

"I-... I-..." A bead of sweat dripped down Rainbow’s face; her heart felt like it was going to blow out of her body. She had no idea how to properly respond to the earth pony’s accusation. She was scared to respond; all she really wanted to do was freeze.

"You better tell me the truth, or else." Applejack tapped the piece of metal hidden under her black cape while staring her down with an icy glare.

Rainbow Dash trembled in place before finally mustering up the will to respond in a shaky voice, "I-... I have, just travelers, I didn’t kill anyone."

"Turn any of em’?" Applejack placed her hoof on the weapon at her side.

"No! Why would I? It would just create more competition." Rainbow Dash squeaked in response.

Applejack lifted the revolver from her coat and yelled, "I know for a fact that there ain’t enough travelers in these parts to prevent a vampire from going feral unless y’ been killin’ em."

"I haven't, I swear!" Rainbow Dash felt a tear form in her eye and crawl down her face, staining and curling the fur around it.

"Tell me the truth!" Applejack whipped the revolver out and pointed it at Rainbow Dash’s chest.

Rainbow couldn't take it anymore. She forced her eyes closed and yelled out the truth, "It's a filly!"

"A filly?" Applejack raised a brow in confusion, lowering the weapon slightly.

Tears of terror were flowing down Rainbow’s face as she fearfully shivered on the floor, "I-... I have been looking after a filly who- who lives in town. They give me a little bit of blood- every week or so."

"You’ve been supplementing your diet with fucking filly blood!" Applejack felt the urge to raise her hoof and smack Dash directly in the face, or just buck her in the chest with two hooves. She did neither. The rage was quickly washed away when the crying and terrified pegasus collapsed to the floor and curled up into a fetal position in the best way she could while tied up.

Rainbow Dash was shaking in place, letting out sniffles, as tears mixed with sweat rolled down her face. Her heart was pounding, and her fear made her forget nearly all of her vampiric instincts. Her red eyes even faded slightly, revealing the magenta hidden underneath.

Applejack’s anger was replaced with a new emotion, guilt. Did she really have to terrify her friend- a pony, so much?

She sighed and took a couple of steps back, "Sorry Dash."

"I-... I wish I didn’t have to-... I never bit them-... or took the blood out anyway forcefully."

Applejack backed up to the table and plopped herself on it. She inhaled another large puff of tobacco from the pipe, letting the calmness it provided seep into her system. She hung her head low and refused any eye contact with Rainbow Dash.

The room fell silent, only broken up by the occupational chirp of a bird outside or one of Rainbow’s sniffles.

They remained in this silence for minutes, until finally Applejack broke the silence. "Y’know where they are?"

Rainbow Dash nodded.

"Where?"

Rainbow Dash gestured her head upward.

"There’s been a filly in this house this whole time?"

Rainbow Dash looked shamefully to the floor and nodded in defeat. "I-... I’ve been taking care of her…"

Applejack took the burning pipe out of her mouth and placed it on the table next to her. "Can you call her down here?"

Rainbow Dash’s glance darted back to the ceiling and then to Applejack, the pony who not so long ago tried to kill her. Rainbow Dash stared at her with pleading eyes and said, "Promise not to hurt her."

"I promise," Applejack said blankly.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath in before she called out with the loudest voice she could muster. Which was a weak shout, "Scoots!"

There was a small stir on the floor above them, followed by a couple of low creaks matching the rhythm of steps. At the top of the stairwell, a young, feminine voice called out in response. "Dash, are you okay?"

"I’m fine, Squirt, just a little bruised."

Applejack holstered her weapon and gazed towards the top of the stairs. At the pinnacle of the stairway was a small pegasus filly with orange fur and an unkept light purple mane. Her eyes were wide and full of fear; she was visibly shivering slightly and only barely sticking her head out of the hallway next to the stairs.

Rainbow Dash frowned when she saw her little sister too afraid to even go down the steps. "It's okay, squirt; they are after me, not you."

Scootaloo looked between her tied-up sister and the vampire hunter standing on the table in the middle of the room. She glared at Applejack with a scowl before looking away and running down the stairs towards Rainbow, small streaks of tears flowing down her eyes. She particularly jumped on top of Dash, engulfing her in one massive hug. "I was so worried this bad pony killed you!"

Rainbow Dash felt the natural urge to pat Scootaloo on the back to comfort her, but she was unable to do so due to her tied hooves, so she did the next best thing, nuzzling Scootaloo with her muzzle. "It's okay… shes not a bad pony; this is just-... one big misunderstanding."

Rainbow Dash was a vampire; that was reason enough to be distrustful in Applejack's eyes, but clearly this vampire was different. She was taking care of a foal and avoiding killing other ponies. She didn’t know if she could believe her entirely, but that spark of recognition she felt every time she looked at Dash made her seem trustworthy. Applejack thought about how Rainbow was probably on the edge of going feral; that small bit of filly blood was just enough to prevent her from losing her rationality, which explains her growls and snarls.

Most vampires she hunted had gone feral long ago, while the ones who didn't were usually sadistic pony hunters. It has been a long while since she met a vampire she might be willing to have a conversation with, and a part of her even wanted to call it a friend.

That term shook her to her core. Friend. Did she really consider this blood sucker her friend? How could she? Yet it felt right; the word Rainbow Dash slipped out of her mouth so naturally that it was like she had uttered the phrase thousands of times already. Despite the fact that logically trusting this vampire may seem like a bad idea, her gut was singing a different tune. The duality of it was wracking Applejack’s brain.

Applejack lifted herself back up and approached the duo on the floor.

Scootaloo looked at the approaching Applejack and bared her teeth at her, "Stay away." Applejack ignored the filly and instead looked down towards Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash felt overwhelmed by the figure standing over her. Applejack stared down at her with a flat expression, but the clear position of power Applejack held over her made the neutrality feel threatening.

Which made the next thing Applejack said all that much more unexpected.

"Can I trust you?"

Rainbow Dash blinked. She opened her mouth to say something but then shut it again; her entire brain simply froze, completely and utterly confused by the seemingly sudden change of mood.

They stood in silence again for a moment before Rainbow Dash shook herself out of the trance and thought about what Applejack asked.

Could she trust her? If Applejack let her go, would she use the opportunity to get rid of a future potential threat, somepony who tried to kill her, somepony who tied her up, somepony who knows where she lives and could have come back and killed her if they ever changed their mind. But again, she hasn't killed her yet. "Jack-... why haven't you killed me yet?"

"Because I know you, Dash. I mean, for fuck's sake, I am even calling you by a nickname Rainbow. I don’t know why or how this freaky shit is happening; all I know is that it is." Applejack pursed her mouth and took in a deep breath. "And I know you feel it too."

Rainbow Dash curled her lips. Applejack was right. She didn’t know why or from where, but she felt like she could trust this pony; it felt like that scuffle was only one hiccup in a long relationship with Applejack, even if she had no memories of it. Rainbow Dash opened her mouth and asked. "Can I trust you?"

Applejack drew her revolver out of her coat, causing Rainbow’s heart to skip a beat, but instead of using it, she cracked open the cylinder with a quick hoof movement and pointed the gun upwards. The bullets slipped out of their tight restraints and clanked on the oak floor. "Yes you can."

Rainbow Dash smiled, "Then you can trust me."

Applejack reached into her coat again, searching around for a knifed object. She thought about how much of an unnecessary risk she was taking right now; was she really going to free this vampire on a hunch, on merely a feeling? Logically, this was a stupid decision, but sometimes loyalty and honesty surpass logic restraints. Even if it was against her training, even if it was against logic, she was going to trust this vampire.

Applejack produced her trusty dagger from her coat and placed it in her mouth. She then approached Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo held onto Rainbow Dash protectively, still glaring at Applejack, beckoning her to stay away from her sister.

Rainbow Dash noticed this and gave her a reassuring nuzzle, "Squirt, it's okay. We can trust her."

Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash with a look of disbelief. "But Rainbow, she-"

"Just trust me."

Scootaloo frowned and looked between the two ponies. She hopped off of Rainbow Dash and gave Applejack the room she needed to cut the rope.

Applejack walked right up to Rainbow Dash, dug the knife under the rope, and thrusted it forward, cutting apart all of the fibers, before taking a couple of steps back and dropping it to the floor.

Rainbow Dash now had the advantage, even with her busted leg. With her superior vampiric strength and the ability to fly, she would be able to eventually overpower an unarmed Earth Pony. But instead of succumbing to her vampiric urges, she simply said, "Thank you."

Applejack held out a hoof for Rainbow Dash, "You think you can still walk?"

Rainbow Dash looked down at her bandaged right back hoof. It didn’t feel as bad as it did earlier. The shot was not as bad as it seemed; it mostly grazed past the bone and didn’t tear through any major muscle. That did not change the fact that it still did a lot of damage to her leg; it would be a while before she could walk without feeling any pain. "Not well, but I can always fly." Rainbow Dash took Applejack’s hoof and allowed the hunter to help her up.

Applejack pulled Rainbow to her feet. Rainbow Dash felt a stark pain temporarily shoot up in her leg when it hit the floor. She let out a groan and stammered a little bit, but luckily she was still able to get her bearings and not fall over.

"You okay, Rainbow?" Applejack asked when she noticed her visibly groan.

"I-... am," Rainbow Dash, looked back up at Applejack, and felt a new, unexpected urge grow within her. Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof to Applejack’s shoulder and pulled her into herself.

Applejack was taken by surprise. For a second, she panicked, thinking that Rainbow Dash had betrayed her, but those feelings quickly melted away when she felt the warm embrace of Rainbow’s hooves wrap around her.

Applejack felt Rainbow’s warm breath merely inches from her neck, but the concern that it would normally bring felt distant. It felt like hugging an old friend after a long time apart; the warmth of the embrace and the rubbing of their fur were no longer a sign of danger but rather a type of intimacy she hadn’t felt for a long time. Applejack closed her eyes and allowed herself to be consumed entirely by the moment. She relaxed and banished all other worries, only focusing on the warm feeling she felt in her stomach. It all just felt so right.

They remained like this for what felt like minutes, until the silence was suddenly cut off by Scootaloo’s shooken voice, "Your- you're-."

Applejack opened her eyes and saw Scootaloo staring at them with an agape jaw. Or rather, their flanks.

"Your cutie marks. They're glowing!"

Comments

[TearingNose24]

There was at least one point where pegasi was needed in place of Pegasus and plump isn't a noun so try a different word for what you mean.

Overall story wise it's getting even better and I can't wait for more! Only criticism I really had with anything was those previously mentioned so yay.