The Castle
The sun had just set when Professor Dig Site, Bedrock, and Renny Field had reached the gates of the supposed castle of Dracula and set up camp within the castle’s courtyard. Now that their camp was made, they looked up at the ominous building.
“So what are we waiting for?” asked Bedrock impatiently. “Let’s do this.”
“Um, maybe we should wait until morning,” Renny suggested.
“Don’t tell me those superstitious villagers have got you spooked,” the blue stallion mocked.
“I’m not spooked!” she denied. “But maybe we should wait until tomorrow. After all, we did have to hike all the way from the Crystal Empire get here. Why don’t we rest for a bit?”
“We’ve made it this far,” the professor said as he used to magic to wipe his glassed with a rag. “I want to at least take a look around before we settle in for the night.”
“Besides, why do you need to rest?” Bedrock snidely asked the red Pegasus as he and the sandy Unicorn headed to the castle’s doors. “You flew most of the way while I was the one hauling the cart.” Renny wanted to protest, but followed her partners instead.
“So, what do you know of Dracula, other than legends?” quizzed Dig Site.
“Well, there was at least a historical figure known as Vlad Dracula,” answered Renny.
“Yes, but his real name was Vlad Vanguard,” lectured the professor. The trio reached the doors and Bedrock pushed against them. There was a loud, rusty creak as the doors only moved on its hinges an inch. Bedrock braced himself and pushed hard, causing the hinges to groan more. “What else?”
“Uummm… He wasn’t a count, like he is in the movies, but a prince.”
“Actually…” Bedrock groaned as pushed against the doors. “He was… a voivode.”
“What’s a voivode?” Renny asked.
“It means ‘warlord,’” explained Dig Site. “You see, he used to be the Captain of the Lunar Guard, but he was banished from Canterlot along with the other guards that sided with Nightmare Moon. He returned to Trotsylvania and conquered it. He tried to raise an army to fight Princess Celestia.”
“You know… this would go… a lot faster… if you two helped,” complained Bedrock.
“A lot of the events that happened during the battle between Princess Celestia’s guards and his have been obscured by myths and legends,” continued the Unicorn, ignoring the Earth Pony. “But from what I can tell, the battle was intense but didn’t last long. His forces were greatly numbered, but he was able to cause heavy losses for the Solar Guard. The battle only ended when Princess Celestia herself intervened and struck Vlad down.”
“Celestia herself entered the fight?” Renny asked in astonishment. The Princess of the Day was peaceful and only fought when there was no other choice. For her to face this warlord himself would have meant that he had to be serious threat. “But what about his reign over this region?”
“It was brief, but he was a cruel and vicious tyrant.”
“Yeah… they say that he would… impale all that angered him,” Bedrock added. The door hinges were almost loose enough to open the door. With one final push, the doors opened. “But I think that is… a… bunch… of… oh sweet Celestia’s technicolored mane.”
What the three ponies saw before them was unnerving. The light from outside had filled the main hall of the castle and they could see dozens of rotten wooden posts lined up in rows throughout the hall. On each of these poles was a skeleton of a pony. The poles went through the ribcages of each skeleton and out through collar bones. Some of them came out of the mouths of the skeletons. Others skeletons simply hung from the poles as it went through their ribcages and out of their backs.
Renny’s eyes slowly scanned the morbid scene, taking in each terrible sight. She screamed and nearly jumped out of her skin when a hoof was placed on her shoulder. Her heart pounded from within her chest and she snapped her head to see that it was only Professor Site.
“Renny, calm yourself,” he told her. She was hyperventilating but tried to slow her breathing down. "They're just skeletons. They can’t hurt us. Get a grip.”
“B-but…” she stammered.
“Listen, whatever happened here is over. There are no ghost, ghouls, and certainly no vampires here. Come on, you’ve done this before.”
“A-alright.” She took in a deep breath and exhaled. “I’m okay.”
“Alright, let’s move on.”
They pulled out their lanterns from their packs and headed deeper into the bowels of the castle. As they walked down the halls of the ancient ruin, Renny kept reminding herself that she had seen skeletons during other excavations. Though she has never seen them impaled like that, she has seen more in one spot before. One time, they had explored a catacomb that was filled to the brim with skeletons. She started to laugh at herself for being so scared. She always tried to be brave like her idol, Daring Do. It was because of those books that she decided to join Dig Site and Bedrock, who were archeologists from Ponyville like she was. If Daring Do was there, she would be disappointed in her. Daring Do faced all sorts of peril in her adventures and Renny can’t stand a few piles of bones.
Eventually, they came across a large tomb. Inside it were large stone pillars and an altar in the center of the room. Tapestries were hung from the walls, golden candlesticks lined the edges of altar, and golden coins were scattered across the floor. On top of the altar was a stone sarcophagus. Using his lantern, Dig Site lit the candles to give more light to the chamber.
“Look at all of this gold,” Bedrock exclaimed with excitement. Even though every archeologist dreamed of being Daring Do and finding treasure, very few actually found the treasure they were looking for. They mostly found artifacts, bones, and little clues about the past. It was almost too much for Bedrock to handle. He pulled out a crowbar and began to pry open the sarcophagus.
“Bedrock, what are you doing?” asked Dig Site, shocked at his partner’s lust for gold.
“I bet this thing is load with gold,” he answered as the sarcophagus started to open. “And I’m going to help myself.”
As the stone slab slid off of the sarcophagus, a cloud of dust billowed out. The three coughed and Renny flapped her wings to clear the air. When they looked inside the sarcophagus, there was dust still floating around. They couldn’t see any gold through the dust. Instead, they saw another skeleton. Sticking out from its ribcage was a dagger.
“Fillies and colts, I present to you Vlad Dracula,” Dig Site said as they looked at the skeleton.
“Why did the villagers stab a pony that was already dead?” asked Renny.
“Superstition perhaps. It was common to blame unexplained sicknesses or deaths on a supernatural being. An accident probably happened a while back, they needed something blame, they remembered the stories of a cruel tyrant, thought he was the cause, and then stabbed his corpse to make bad things go away.”
Bedrock grasped the dagger’s handle and dislodged it from the skeleton’s chest. He studied it, and when he saw it wasn’t gold or jewel incrusted, he passed it to Renny. As she held the dagger in her hoof, she looked back down at the skeleton. For a brief moment, the cloud of dust that was obscuring the dead pony’s face parted. She gawked at what she saw; the teeth looked like they belonged in a dragon’s maw. As quickly as the dust parted, the cloud once again covered the face and Renny wonder if what she saw was real or just her imagination.
Her distraction caused her to let the dagger slip from her hoof and it sliced her fetlock. She yelped in pain and the dagger clattered as it hit the stone floor. Renny clutched her forelimb to her chest and gritted her teeth in pain.
“Here, let me see,” Dig Site said urgently from the other side of the sarcophagus. Renny held her hoof over the sarcophagus so that he could inspect the wound. “Oh, it’s just a scratch. But we should clean and bind it anyway. Come on, the medical supplies are back at camp.”
As he was inspecting the cut, a trickle of the mare’s blood fell from her outstretched limb onto the ribcage of the deceased warlord. The drops of blood ran down the curve of the ribs and dripped onto the black, withered heart that laid within. The blood soaked into the heart like water into a sponge and it swelled. The hole where the dagger was lodged sealed itself shut and flesh began to spread from the heart. Slowly, the flesh crept along the bones of the ribcage and down the limbs. Pale, hairless skin barely covered the body and two red lights glowed from within the eye sockets.
Renny leaned into Dig Site as he helped her out of the tomb. They stopped at the door and the professor called back to Bedrock, who was gathering some of the scattered bits on the floor. “Bedrock, I’m taking Miss Field back to camp. Are you coming?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” the blue earth pony answered. “I’m just gathering some artifacts to study when we get back to camp.”
“Yeah right,” Dig Site muttered beneath his breath. “More like hoarding treasure like a greedy dragon.”
After his colleagues had left, Bedrock went back to “gathering artifacts.” As he stuffed gold bits into his pack, he could see something from his peripheral. He quickly snapped his head up to see an ancient face with red eyes glaring at him. The thing had a skeletal frame and its skin was so thin that it barely hid the muscles beneath it. The creature opened its mouth to reveal its deadly teeth and Bedrock hardly had time to scream.
Just down the hallway, Renny and Dig Site heard the bloodcurdling shriek of their partner. Dig Site ran back to the tomb as Renny flew after him, still clutching her wounded leg to her chest. When they arrived at the doorway, they could see Bedrock laying on the floor. They rushed to his side and Dig Site rolled him over onto his back. Renny gasped and covered her mouth with her hooves when she saw Bedrock’s face. His eyes were wide open and his mouth was stuck in a frozen scream. His throat was torn open as if it had been mauled by a manticore. Bedrock was dead.
As Dig Site stared down at the body of his former pupil, he felt something wet drip on to his head. Wiping his head with his hoof, he saw it was blood! Startled, he looked up and saw a horrible creature hanging from the ceiling like a bat with Bedrock’s blood dripping from its mouth. With a deep, feral roar, the creature dropped from the ceiling in front of Dig Site and Renny.
“Run, run!” the Unicorn shouted as he the beast opened its terrible maw and roared again. The blond Pegasus and graying unicorn ran out of the room as fast as they could and into the hallway. They turned corner after corner in a panic until they realized that they had gone the wrong way. In their desperation, they had forgotten the path out and now they were lost in a dark castle with a monster chasing them! Dig Site looked around and saw another room. “There! Maybe there’s a window we can climb out of.”
They ran in, but too their dismay, there was no window. Dig Site turned to exit the room, but he could see the thing down the hallway. He ran back into the room and shut the door. He grabbed Renny by the foreleg and pulled her behind one of the pillars.
“Listen to me, Renny,” he whispered to the crying mare. “We don’t have much time. It saw me, but I don’t think it saw you. I’m going to buy you some time.”
“Professor, no…” she started to argue.
“Listen,” he cut her off. “I’m going to run for it. When it comes after me, you run. Understand?”
“But…”
“Understand?” She sobbed, but she nodded. He left the cover of the pillar and headed towards the door. As he made it halfway across the room, the door burst open and the fiend was standing before Dig Site. Before the professor could react, the monster lunged at him and pinned him to the floor. From her position behind the pillar, she could hear Dig Site’s screams and the horrible sounds flesh being torn and blood being guzzled. Renny dared not to move from her hiding spot. The only way out was being blocked by that creature. All she could do was to wait until that thing went way.
“I know you are there,” a dark voice echoed throughout the room, filling Renny’s heart with despair. “I can smell the blood from your wound. I can hear your heart beating from within your chest. It calls out to me like thunder.”
Renny was out of options. Either she would die cowering behind a pillar or she could try to run. She braced herself, for she knew that she would have to fight that demon to escape. She jumped out from behind the pillar, ready to flee. However, she came face to face with a gray Unicorn stallion with a black mane and goatee. His eyes were an icy blue that seemed to glow in the dark. She didn’t expect him to be standing just on the other side of the pillar and she fell back in surprise. She scurried back to the wall as the stallion approached her. Behind him, she could see Professor Site’s lifeless body on the floor and she looked up at the figure before her. She could see strands of white hair in his mane turn black and wrinkles disappearing from his coat until he looked young again. She realized that this creature must be a vampire, for he rejuvenated himself by drinking the blood of her friends. If this was a vampire, then he must be Dracula.
“Please don’t kill me,” she pleaded as tears fell from her eyes. He smiled and she could see that his teeth were no longer fangs, except his canine teeth were more pointed than a normal pony’s.
“Fear not, I will not kill you,” he told her. As he spoke, he stared into her eyes with his seemingly glowing blue ones. As he stared, she felt a strange calmness overcome her. She started to relax, despite being cornered by a monster and her thoughts became hazy. The more she looked into his eyes, the more a sense of euphoria seemed to fill her. With her fear melted away, she smiled at him with a drunken grin. “I need somepony to serve me. Tell me, why are you here?
“We’re archeologists,” she answered in a dreamy tone. “We came to study history and to bring back artifacts from the castle to research.”
“Where are you from?”
“Ponyville.”
“I am not familiar with that place. Where is it, my dear?”
“Just south of Canterlot.”
“Hhhmmm…” he mused. Just south of Canterlot. That would be an ideal location to rebuild my strength and to plan my revenge. He then turned to the body of Professor Dig Site and his horn glowed. “Rise.” The body slowly stood on its hooves and it let out a moan. Soon, the body of Bedrock walked into the room to join them. Dracula returned his attention to the mesmerized Renny. “In the morning, you will take us to Ponyville. These two will prepare coffins for us to travel in. One of them will contain treasure. If you are asked what is in the boxes, you will show them the treasure. When we arrive in Ponyville, you will take my coffin to a secluded place. Do you understand?”
“Yes master.” He smiled with satisfaction. With a wave of his hoof, his undead servants went to fulfill their master’s wishes. Now that they were alone, he beckoned Renny to come closer. She got up close to him, looking up into his eyes.
“I said that I would not kill you and that is true,” he whispered to her. He caressed the side of her face with his hoof. “However, I am still quite thirsty and I need to ensure your continued service.” He gently tilted her head to the side to expose her neck. She gasped slightly as he leaned in and carefully bit her neck.
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I kind of hope Spike will become a badass vampire.
2488436 Do you mean Vampire Hunter?
Also, DOUBLE UPDATE! And shit is about to get real.
I wonder what kind of powers Spike is going to get in this fight?
2488672 Nope.
2488804 I still don't see Spike becoming a vampire. Dragons have thick scales remember. I don't think that Dracula would be able to bite Spike. And if he did bite Spike, Dracula's teeth would probably shatter (like in a cartoon).
What does everyone think of the music I included so far? I'm trying to have it match the story and to enhace everyone's reading experience. If there is music you want to hear or think I should use at a certain spot, let me know.
2489887 Hey you should have Dracula watch that movie and rage at it causing the mane six and Spike to show up and Spike agreeing with him out loud by accident.
2488436 Vampires can supposedly control those that they bite, so that'd be a bad idea I think.
2489916 The music makes reading the story much more entertaining.
2489916 This is probably not specific enough, but can you include Cave Story music? I'm a huge fan of the game. If you don't want to, that's fine.
I don't know why...but even though the Fic hasn't really shown me it's "Gist"
I still felt like drawing a image for it.
It's a quick sketch though, tell me if ye like it and I'll finish it, ok?
It has more of a CASTLEVANIA feeling to it, but I guess that was because of a certain somepony's comment in the first chapter.
If you want something that looks more like the movie (Bram Stoker's Dracula) just let me know, ok?
i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll10/zweiterversuch/sketch_zps56b1ae16.jpg
2534680
Incredible! Please finish it and I'll use it as my cover art. A few things, make sure Dracula has a goatee, is a unicorn, a dark gray coat, and a black mane. As for the eyes, either make them a glowing blue or red irises surrounded by black sclera.
Or you could do a ponified version of the Bram Stoker's Dracula logo I'm already using (a unicorn face with a mouthful of fangs with a wolf head on either side).
2536124 What about a ponified version of Vlad Dracul's armor from the movie?
.... wow... you'd think ponies would learn that it's not impossible... magic exists... idiots.
6199841
You have no idea.
Me after reading this comment:
3748013
Which one?