Blood
Daughter of the Night, Sister of the Sun
A My Little Pony Fanfiction by CtrlAltDeleteMan
Written for Equestria Daily's Batpony Write-off
Sitting on a lone cloud above the quiet little town of Ponyville, there was a post office.
At first glance, one would logically assume it to be a normal post office, where its humble pegasai workers would come to and depart from on a regular basis as they carried their packages to the merry citizens of Equestria. Their assumptions would be correct. On the outside it looked like nothing special at all. Though, if they were to go inside and take a good, hard look at the interior of this building, they would realize that it was still a run-of-the-mill post office. But... if they looked deep enough...and tore apart the place piece by piece...they would find whole troves of... absolutely nothing.
It was indeed a completely and utterly average post office. In fact, it was so average that the local egghead librarian of Ponyville has published several award-winning essays on how absolutely mundane this place was. Those essays are to this day being displayed in a hall of fame by the local college so that all the young and talented students could look upon it and know that it is not a place where they would want to work for a living.
Seriously, folks, there's nothing there. Don't even bother looking for buried treasure, government conspiracies, dead bodies, or anything of the like. It's a regular 'ol post office, what's the big deal? Just... please, put down your pitchforks and go home, there's nothing interesting about this place at all, honest.
But, and this is a big but, despite the office itself being so dull, the same cannot be said for one of the ponies that once worked there. Yes siree, while the rest of the place was so average, there was one pony there that was unlike a vast majority of the population of Equestria in so many ways.
This pony is what is known as Vampyr.
O=O=X=O=O
On a cloudy day that felt just as average as the post office she worked in, a white pegasus mare named Nightlight was pitifully slumped over her desk in desperate need of something to do. She idly scanned across the room, looking for something interesting to stare at until her shift was over. Sadly, the only thing she could see was the boring old odds and ends that one would always find in an office space. Pencils. Paper. A typewriter. A cloud desk. Nothing interesting at all.
Nightlight tried to blow a tuft of neon pink hair out of her eyes, which just went right back to its out-of-place place. She tried the same thing again but to no avail. One more time… aaaaand failure. She finally gave up on the insubordinate piece of mane and sighed a long, dramatic sigh.
The mare wanted to scream. It would be a wonderful, if brief, break from the monotony. That would certainly break this haze, she thought. But alas, she had too much self control to do such a thing. Nightlight was already on the razor's edge of losing her job; she believed it best to not do something to aggravate the manager. Not to mention how one of her race did not want to draw attention like that. No matter how funny it would be.
The all too familiar sensation of hunger in her stomach made itself known, gnawing at her insides like a parasite. Nightlight shivered as she felt the lack of sustenance churn over and over inside her; it was like having her body replaced by a deflated balloon, all limp and weak. How long had it been since she last drank? The earliest meal she could remember was with that cute mare behind Sugar Cube Corner, and that was almost three nights ago. Great, I have to endure this too for another--
Nightlight reflexively checked the clock: Nine thirty-four. Over twenty minutes to the end of her shift. She sighed again and sank into her soft office chair. She knew that there were going to be are absolutely no couriers coming or going for the rest of the shift. But why did the manager insist on her staying until the bitter end of her day? Eh, doesn't matter. Just gotta bite the bullet and pray that Knot doesn't--
There was a knocking at the office door, followed by a beige colored pegasus stallion in a stylish three piece suit barging in unannounced. He sauntered up and wordlessly took a seat right across from her.
Luna damn it all.
The manager rested his elbows on Nightlight's desk and folded his hooves together with a malicious grin. "How my favorite desk jockey today, huh?"
Desk jockey. She hated that term, even more so when he said it. If it were not for her abundance of self control, Night would have decked him right then and there. Despite herself, she forced a fake smile and pleasantly returned the greeting. "I'm doing okay, I guess. It's almost quitting time on a Friday night, and... and you know how that goes. Uh, right?"
"Right, right," Windsor Knot shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Yeah, well, about that..."
The mare eyed him uneasily. "Oh for the love of-- What do you want now, Knot?"
"It's just...it's just that I need you stay here and hold the fort for a while," he said. "There's a shipment from Manehatten to Canterlot coming here in about two hours and we're the only midpoint available. I need you to be there to fill out the paperwork." He fished a small packet full of blank forms from his jacket and tossed it onto the desk.
Nightlight's dead heart lurched. Two more...hours?! I'd rather dive into a pool of flaming battery acid! There was no way in Tartarus that she would go with this. Nope. No way. Not a chance. Nuh uh. Not getting paid enough for this.
Night's facade of friendliness faltered for a moment. "Isn't that your job, Mister Manager?"
"Oh, come on! Please? Help a brother out for once, I have important duties at home that need my attention and--"
"No!" Night said a little more loudly than she meant to. "My off the job duties are just as important as yours." Not that hiding the fact that he's stealing money from the company is a "duty." It was almost an unwritten job requirement that managers have to be willing to steal from their customers. Ever wonder why that is?
Knot's face hardened, Night's hunger intensified as she saw a vein on his head bulge. "Hey listen, if you can't be willing to put one hundred and ten percent into you work, then we may not have room for you in our pay grade. It's company policy."
Yeah, right.
Night stood up and looker her manager dead in the eye "Is that a threat?" she asked dangerously. "Go ahead, fire me. Or don't. You'll still have to do the job yourself either way."
Knot drew back as if she'd made a swing at him. "How so incredibly selfish of you!" he shouted, pointing an accusing hoof at her. "I just wanted a little bit of time off to enjoy myself and you think that you're entitled--"
"No!" she cut him off a second time. "Mandatory overtime was not in my job description. No is my answer and I'm gonna stick with it."
"I could fire you if I wanted!"
There faces were inches away, Night no longer veiled her anger, and neither did Windsor. “You can't do that to me!" she shouted.
"Oh, I can't can I?!"
"Yeah, coz I quit!"
"Big shocker!" Windsor Knot said and struck an exaggerated pose. "I always knew you were gonna quit some day, Night. You just can't seem to wrap your head around the fact that you're not capable of doing this job right."
"Horseapples!" Nightlight retorted. "This is the easiest rutting job under the sun! All it is is filling out all these stupid papers all day!" To drive her point home, the mare grabbed a hoof full of requisition forms and tossed them at the suit wearing stallion. Of course, the projectiles just fluttered around him harmlessly, but the action was more about making a statement than causing any actual damage.
Knot swatted away the offending forms like they were flies. "If it was so easy then why the hay did you just quit?" He paused for dramatic effect. "Oh wait, I know, it's because you’re lazy. You think that the whole wide world owes you something, you ungrateful little pup!"
Ungrateful. Little. Pup. That was it for her. No more self control. It had suppressed her desires for this long, now it was time to let go. Her hoof had met his ugly mug before she knew what she was thinking. It was not a firm slap on the cheek like Nightlight had given many young stallions whose minds had thought dirty thoughts and whose hooves had begun to wander toward her. Oh no, this mare aimed to hurt and her aim was true. "Consider this my two week's notice, bitch!"
Nightlight had not held back any of the raw physical power that was afforded to her kind. Not only did she knock him on his flank, she sent the old manager sprawling half way across the room in a tangled mess of fur and limbs.
Nightlight's rage toward this pitiful excuse for a stallion had finally come to a head after three years. Night was surprised that she could only hold out for that long before her cap blew off. Strange... her time with the citizens of Ponyville must have changed her, made her more hotheaded. Fifty years ago she could have went much longer before a few of her screws got loose. I suppose being around mortals all the time does that to a mare, she mused. There was just something about that pegasus that boiled her otherwise cold blood, she couldn't exactly put a hoof on what it was. Maybe it was his arrogance, or his grating voice, or his sarcastic quips, but she knew that he was out to infuriate her.
Much to her surprise, the old fart pulled himself up off the floor and brushed the dust out of his suit. He stood shakily at first, but soon found his legs again and was standing tall with a hateful glint in his eye.
"I hate young people," he said in a neutral, almost bored sounding tone. "They think they're immortal, the way they toss around the older, wiser folk. You're no different than the rest of them. You're just heartless brute that those damned nerds at Equine Resources made me hire."
Oh, she begged to differ. "Heartless? For your information, Mister Knot..." Without warning, the young looking mare before her burst into a furious inferno of whitish blue flames. For a split second, her whole body was burning taller than a barrel of oil, yet her fire gave off no light, nor did it have any heat or leave any burns. It was as if it was an illusion, smoke and mirrors. Just as soon as it had started, that trick of hers stopped. But standing in place of the mare that Knot had known was strange to him. Never before had he seen a creature in all of his life, but it still bore resemblance to Nightlight. "I do have a heart, but it's just not beating anymore," she finished.
Windsor Knot couldn't believe his eyes. It was her, it was Night, yet it wasn't. This creature still had the silky pink mane and eggshell coat of the pegasus clerk, but vastly different. The thing that struck Knot the most was her eyes. By the Goddesses, he thought those eyes. They we no longer the soft round eyes of Night, they had mutated into the slitted eyes of a dragon, crazy with animalistic hunger. He ears had grown out to be a time and a half their old length, with small tufts of fur at the very end. And her feathered wings were gone, replaced by a pair of leathery appendages akin to that of bats. This new Nightlight...just looking upon her made the icy claw of fear tear at his heart. She was terrible, yet still beautiful, wonderful, yet still horrible, good, yet still evil, and dead, yet still alive.
The vampyr smiled at her prey, revealing a pair of ivory razor-sharp fangs that jutted out of her front row of teeth. His heart could have stopped right then and there as realization dawned on him like the setting sun. The folk tales and rumors had been true all along... they really did exist, the beasts of the night. Batponies. The Lunar Guard. The Living Dead. Blood Demons. Vampires.
"You're a...a..."
"Go ahead," Nightlight said with a sultry smile, leaning dangerously close to the prone stallion. "What am I? Say it. I'm begging you. Just say it." She drank in the fear that emanated off of him with every one of her words.
"You're a... vampire." His words were barely louder than a whisper.
"Pah!" she huffed, making Knot shudder. "Dear Luna, he knows nothing about his own employee. I am a Vampyr. Not vampire."
"Vam-peer?" Windsor Knot rolled the word around his tongue. "Uh, okay. What's the difference?"
Knot immediately regretted that question. As soon as his words left his mouth, the lady of the night slammed a hoof into the floorboards with a sickening crunch of wood splinters "The difference is HUGE!" she roared in his face. "Vampire is a disgusting word made by ignorant mortals who can't call a race of beings by the name they chose for themselves!"
"I- I'm sorry?"
"You should be."
They were was silent for the longest time, both ponies choosing to look into one another's eyes. Nightlight's draconian gaze was cool and steady, like she had before seen many stallions wetting themselves at the sight of her. Windsor Knot's eyes were filled pure terror. His brain was moving at a thousand miles per hour, and none of his thoughts had happy endings. If the legends were true, than the predicament before him held horrible implications.
He couldn't help but to voice the horrible question at the forefront of his mind. "Are, uh... Are you gonna eat me?"
The vampyr pulled away from his face and put a hoof to her chin in mock thoughtfulness. "Hmmm..." she hummed. "Well, 'eat' wouldn't be the word I would use, seeing as how I won't consume any of your fleshy flesh. Eugh, disgusting. I believe the best word for what I am about to do to you would be 'drain.'"
Windsor Knot tried to gulp down the dry lump that had formed in his throat to no avail.
"Oh don't worry," Nighlight said in a tone that failed to be reassuring. "You won't die, I can promise you that. It won't hurt either. My occasional um, ‘donors’ say that it's like getting a really big hickey, only with blood. It's not a bad experience at all. Honest. "
Despite his intense fear of the mare in front of him, Knot felt just a little twinge of relief. "R- Really?"
Her lips curled up in a malicious smile that flashed two sharp, pearly fangs. "Nope."
Before Knot could even make the connection in his brain, she was on him. The speed at which the vampyr moved was wholly unnatural, her features were just a temporary blur as she grabbed ahold of his head and forced it into a position that made his jugular vein bulge out of the neck. Nightlight could barely hold back a squeal of delight as she felt the juicy heartbeat of the stallion below her. Three days... it had been three days since she had eaten. Three days was just a bat of an eye for one of her kind, provided that they are well fed. But that same amount of time without any nourishment can be agonizing. Her hunger is almost unbearable at this point, and the mere thought of slating it made the mare shiver with anticipation. If Night were still alive, she would be salivating like a starved puppy in a bakery.
And all the stallion could do was scream.
Twin gleaming fangs sank themselves deep into the neck of that poor manager like precision scalpels. Nightlight lied about feeding, it did not at all feel like a hickey. It felt exactly like one would imagine: like being stabbed in the neck and sucked dry.
A little bit of blood freely flowed out of her mouth and down Knot's neck and into his expensive coat, leaving a crimson trail in its wake. "Oh Goddesses, oh Goddesses!" he cried as she continued to drain him. The pain wasn't the worst thing he had ever felt, in fact it would have been quite bearable had this been under different circumstances. It was the fact that a mare was sucking away his blood, his very life force, that pushed him over the edge.
Windsor knew that his cries of pain were unheard, it had just been her and him that night, everypony else left for home an hour ago. He suddenly regretted the decision in letting Ditzy out early to see her daughter. Maybe if she were there to help him, it would be different...
He began to feel lightheaded. Whether it was from his emotional state or lack of blood, he couldn't tell. Maybe he would pass out from lack of circulation; that would have been a godsend. To his dismay, he did not. He would just have to be awake until she was done abusing his body.
It seemed like that she had been going at it for ages before Nightlight finally spit him out. The feeling of sharp fangs exiting his neck was not a particularly pleasant experience, but it was a mild relief for the feeding be over and done with. Windsor let his body sink limply to the floorboards. He wasn't quite sure that he could move his extremities, they felt all numb and useless. If he could move, Knot would have curled into a pathetic ball and blubbered like a schoolcolt.
Nightlight, on this other hoof, was having a much different experience than her former boss. She was flooded with a familiar and wonderful high that came with a fresh meal. She threw back her head in momentary ecstasy as the rush of warmth crashed into her body like a wave. The longer you wait, the sweeter the experience! she thought. She licked some excess blood off of her lips. Windsor hadn't tasted exceptional, compared to other ponies she had had, his body tainted with greasy fast food and cheap take-out making his blood taste a little more sour than she would have liked. Ponies just decide to let their bodies go to hell these days. It was much better way back when everypony wasn't desecrating their blood with junk food.
Nightlight looked down upon the pathetic form cowering on the floor. More blood dribbled from his neck wounds and pooled on the oak floor. She felt pity for him, perhaps she shouldn't have done what she just did. Three days without a drop to drink does tend to cloud one's mind. Her temper had always ended up smothering her good judgement with a pillow when situations escalated that quickly. But... what's done is done. Maybe she could show him a little mercy.
Nightlight sighed and sat down next to him. "I'm sorry I had to do that," she said quietly.
"G- G- Go rut yourself," was the shaky and whimpering reply.
Night rolled her eyes. "Hey, you were just asking for it, wearing something as provocative as that." She gestured to his crimson-stained suit.
The stallion just continued to lay there and moan.
"Oh screw you, that was funny!"
He didn't seem to agree. Windsor barely gave her a glance, being to preoccupied with his minor wounds and feelings of violation.
The undead mare ran a hoof through her mane and gave a dramatic sigh. "Look, Knot," she said in an exasperated tone, "I wasn't myself when I bit you, okay? If you had been three days without food and everypony was walking around with the elixir of life mixed with liquid sex running through their veins, you wouldn't be able to restrain yourself either."
Windsor Knot weakly lifted his head from the floor and gave her a look as if she had said the dumbest thing in Equestria.
"Okay, maybe not." Night rubbed the back of her head embarrassedly. "But you kind of gave me no choice. Y'know, being an asshole and all?"
What escaped from his throat just then could have passed for a gruff, humorless chuckle, but it sounded more like smoker's cough to Nightlight.
"Whatever. It's not like it's going to matter to you in a few minutes anyway. After I'm done with you, that is."
That gained her the most horrified expression from Windsor.
"Oh no no no no no! No. I'm not going to kill you. Just..." Nightlight paused to look away and gain her composure. A look of serenity that she had perfected over the decades was set upon her face. "Look into my eyes."
Almost without thinking, Knot did as his ex-employee asked, he looked into those slitted blue dragon eyes. Then, like someone had flipped a switch in his mind, the world melted away. Those eyes. Those eyes! Nothing else mattered to him at that moment than gazing deep into the pair of mesmerizing eyes before him. Where was he again? What had he been doing? Whose eyes are these? The answers to these questions seemed to fade into oblivion. Those eyes... Nothing else mattered. The face that belonged to them was gone, the bloodstained office room was gone, the pain and emotional agony was gone, Windsor Knot was gone, replaced by the eyes. His mind was blank, his thoughts were no longer coherent, focused on the draconian orbs like they were the center of the universe.
Everything was black, everything but those eyes. Then a heavenly voice came through the void, the voice of an angel. "Knot...can you hear me?"
Knot? Who was that? Oh wait, right, HE was Knot. "Yes," was his shaky reply.
The voice giggled. "Ah, good. It seems breaking into your subconscious was easier than I thought."
Everything that the voice said made perfect sense to him. He was, in fact, very weak minded. A complete fool. Windsor agreed with the heavenly voice wholeheartedly.
"Now Knot," the voice said. "You're just going to have to do what I say, okay?"
"Oh, anything for you," he found himself saying.
"Good...good." The voice's voice was so soothing! "Remember everything that happened to you in the last uhhhm, ten minutes?"
"Yeah." He did remember, though it was a little bit hazy. Some vampir-- vampyr was sucking on his neck and then...something happened after that. He couldn't recall what it was.
"I want you to forget it. Completely. Just let it...slip your mind."
"Okay." Forget about what? What was she talking about?
"Now sleep, Windsor Knot. You've earned it."
Knot suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to take a nap. The deep black cocoon of slumber overtook his mind and body completely, as he did not resist this urge at all...
O=O=X=O=O
Windsor Knot awoke in a cold sweat.
He looked frantically about the room, panicking as he momentarily did not know where he had been sleeping. He let out a sigh of relief as the memories of tonight came back to him.
Knot wiped some of the perspiration off of his brow. That's right, he thought, rubbing his sore jaw. The bitch slugged me, damn near knocked my teeth loose. She has a helluva nasty right hook. That's why he was here; Nightlight must of knocked him out cold. A mare KO'd his skinny little flank. Thank the Goddesses that there was nopony around to witness that.
Shrugging off the lightheadedness, Windsor Knot dragged himself to his hooves. He froze when he felt the warm dampness on his suit "Aw hell," he muttered. "Where am I bleeding from? This was a really ruttin' nice suit, too."
O=O=X=O=O
Now disguised as a normal pegasus once more, Nightlight merrily glided down from her former workplace, her belly full and her spirits lifted. She felt like a rainy day after month-long drought - like nothing could ever be more refreshing.
Night decided to do a quick fly-over of the quaint little town that she called home. She evened out her flight path just a little before she deftly avoided crashing into the town hall. Most of the houses at this early hour still had their lights on, the ponies inside likely out and about trying to enjoy every little hour that their hilariously short lives afforded them. Few others still walked the streets, some closing up their stalls in Market Square and some more going to and from the local pub. Why ponies were so fascinated with alcohol, she'll never know.
Nightlight remembered the days way back when this place was a collection of log cabins huddled around the straight dirt road to the newly constructed Canterlot. Oh what fun she had terrorising the locals. Of course, that was when she was young and stupid. Now she's not so young anymore, though the stupid part might have been debatable. The little mortal sacks of blood just ran screaming their heads off at the mere sight of her, even in pegasus form. Nowadays she can live amongst them in (relative) peace. These past few years have really given her some perspective on what makes regular day-loving ponies the way they are. No longer does she view them as mobile sources of food, but as people. Some of them have actually turned out to be somewhat amusing, and some have even proven themselves to be almost as wise and intelligent as she was.
As she flew on, Nightlight's thoughts wandered toward that stallion. Was it really a good idea to drain him like that? Ponies tend to ask questions when they wake up with blood on the floor and holes in their necks. She silently thanked the Moon Princess for glamoring; without that her life would be so much harder. Night couldn't even imagine not having complete mental power over dumb mortals like Knot. The thought of that made her shudder in revulsion.
Night banked to her left and made a swift landing in the southeastern quarter of town, her home not ten paces away. She stopped just at the porch of her tiny little one bedroom cottage and took a seat in the lawn chair that was haphazardly tossed onto her lawn. She stretched out in a reclining position and put her hooves behind her head. Nightlight noticed how particularly nice the night was. Luna had pulled out all the stops just like she always did on the week before Nightmare Night. Had it really been almost year since the Night Guard sent her to this little town? They say that time flies faster as one gets older, but never aging a single day in twelve hundred years tended to make that process come to a screeching halt. Having an infinite amount of time on your hooves left you with few things left to do.
Maybe she should go up to the local college and enroll? That would certainly be a different experience, plus it would give her a chance to "better understand the mortal world" as those other vampyr up in Canterlot preached it. She could maybe end up getting a job that didn't end up with her draining the boss. I wonder if affirmative action counts for vamps too?
As Nightlight entertained thoughts of suing the government for the right to be a documented minority, she felt a certain cool breeze dance its way across her body. This almost made her jump up and shout, because she shouldn't be feeling any changes in temperature at all. Vampyrs were cold-blooded. Always have been, always will be. She should only feel the force of the breeze, not its chilling temperature. Night hadn't had the pleasure of feeling an autumn wind blow over her body in millenia.
"Enjoying my stars?" a hauntingly beautiful voice came from directly behind her. That voice… it was like listening to the wind whisper in your ear; it chilled her to the bone and comforted her at the same time. Nightlight knew it well, and she hadn't heard it since the dawn of the new age.
Nightlight slowly and calmly pulled herself out of the lawn chair. On her hooves, she wheeled around to see the figure belonging to that special voice. Her dead heart lurched into her breathless throat as her memories were confirmed.
Standing before the vampyr was a pony like no other - a royal princess. The princess blended into the night that she so proudly ruled, with her flickering starry blue mane and her long, slender legs tipped with silvery horseshoes. Upon her chest hung pitch black royal regalia bearing the crest of a pure white crescent moon. The mare radiated an aura of pure authority and serene grace, like looking upon a starlit sky during Winter Solstice and seeing the full moon and basking in its nurturing light.
There stood Princess Luna, Ruler of the Night in all her glory.
Night did what any other pony in her position should and would do: she bowed before the splendor of the present alicorn. She bowed low, almost until her muzzle was in the dirt, and she held it for as long as she dared.
"Rise, my daughter. You have no need to make yourself humble in my presence, for I do not see you as a lesser."
Hesitantly, she did as Luna asked. Nightlight looked into the eyes of her maker. They were a cyan blue like her own, yet so much deeper and tempered with years of wisdom and experience. "Forgive me for staring," she said humbly. "I haven't seen you in a long time, Your Majesty."
Luna acknowledged her, but said nothing in reply. Instead, she voiced her own thoughts. "Why do you hide yourself?"
"What?" Night looked around the yard, she was standing in plain sight, and she wasn't quite old enough to master the ancient vampyr art of invisibility. Even then, the princess could still probably see her. "I, uh, don't understand."
Luna gave her kin a motherly look. "You are vampyr, yet you hide behind that layer of false flesh. Are you not proud of the gift that I have bestowed upon you and your brothers and sisters?"
"I am!" she said instantly. "It's just that--" Nightlight rubbed her arm, embarrassed. "--not many ponies around this place even know that the vampyr even exist. They aren't ready to openly accept a race of beings that must feed off of their life forces to survive."
The night princess nodded. "I understand your thoughts. You have forcefully fed on and glamored dozens of ponies in this town, have you not?" Night nodded. "And your ‘coming out of the coffin,’ so to speak, would give them all clear explanations about those mysterious marks on their necks. Naturally, their first response would not be beneficial."
"Hey, I've been doing it for three years and nopony noticed!" Night protested. "I've been careful."
"You've been lucky," she countered. "You do not plan anything out, do you? The only reason that you got away with that stallion is because he believes that you knocked him out cold."
Night shrunk under the princess's gaze. "You know about that, huh." It was more of a statement than a question.
"It was not and exceptionally subtle or unpredictable move," she said in still a neutral tone. "At this rate, the public will learn of you before you can even confess. Trust me, Nightlight, telling them is much easier than when they find out."
"If they find out. Right?"
"No, when. You will be revealed soon, that much is clear to me. And please, I am urging it. You must be the revealer if you want a chance at gaining the acceptance of these ponies."
Nightlight huffed and moved to sit back down into her comfy lawn chair. "Why should I want their acceptance? All they've ever done is drive us off with fire and steaks and leave us to starve."
"Oh, dear daughter, their love and acceptance is everything!" Princess Luna shot a pleading look her way. "It is the only way to bring your people back from the brink of extinction. How many vampyr have you met outside of the Guard? Two, maybe three? Your numbers are dwindling, all because the mortals that you look down upon are key to survival and reproduction."
Nightlight was staring intently at the blades of grass as they reflected slivers of moonlight. The princess was right; she had not met many other vampy like her in the last decade. Nopony wanted to be a Maker anymore. All her people have done is worry for their children, and it was becoming simply too hard to raise a newborn anymore. Most of them just end up in deep bouts of depression when they do something too impulsive, most commonly feeding upon their friends and family to the death.
Luna saw the sadness upon her subject's features, she knew that she had struck a personal chord.
She was silent for the longest time as she hung her head, but when Nightlight spoke, it was little more than a murmur. "So that's why you're here?"
"Yes. And I advise you to take a night and day to think on it. The choice is yours to make, and it is not a decision made lightly. I will be here tomorrow when you have chosen. No matter what way you decide, I'll say that you are still my subject, and it is my duty to protect you."
Luna solemnly turned and spread out her wings in preparation for flight, she turned her head to say her parting words. "Goodnight, Nightlight."
Night said nothing in reply, she just gave her sovereign a sad smile and waved her goodbye. And with that, the Lunar Princess pumped her powerful wings and took off into the rising moon. She stood there staring at the goddess as she slowly became a small silhouette on the horizon… then she was a blotch… than a pinprick… then she was gone.
Nightlight stood there a little longer, staring up at the night. It was such a wonderful sky on that October evening.
Sighing, Night let her facade fall. That blue flame burned once again, then her true form was revealed. She felt completely comfortable being out here in the open, risking a chance that somepony will see her premature to the decision that she would make.
Night shuffled back into her oddly messy cottage, not bothering to turn on the lights seeing as how she didn't need them. She plodded up the stairs into her bedroom and sat upon the useless vanity placed at the end of the wall, pushing some of the makeup and old candy wrappers off of it. There she sat looking into that mirror for the longest time. Sadly, Night still could not see herself at all. The makeup and trash was just there for show. Funny... she had made her home a perfect picture of mortality. She worked hard to keep her lie a lie, yet she was finally having second thoughts about it.
One thing was for sure; tomorrow was going to be a hell of a night.
End