Hunted
“Hey bartender, ‘nother round!”
The tan stallion slammed his drink onto the counter. Matthew sighed, casting a glance over his shoulder towards his last customer.
“Don’t you think you’ve had enough already? We’re closing soon, everyone else already left. Besides, that’s your sixth one.”
The stallion swayed in his seat slightly, raising a hoof to point it at Matthew. Or rather, to the left of him. “N-now all three of y’all listen to—” He hiccuped. “me. I know what I can handle, and I ain’t payin’ ya to tell me to shove off.”
“Fine.” Matthew poured him another glass of hard cider, then returned to washing out cups. After a few moments, he heard a heavy thunk.
He glanced back again. The stallion was passed out on the counter.
He sighed and began to clean up the counter of the customer’s drinks. The doors to the kitchen opened behind him.
“Hi Matthew!” Berry Punch, his friend and also his boss, greeted him enthusiastically. Her smile fell when she got a look at him, however.
“Ooo. Rough night?”
“Kinda.” Matthew shrugged. “Not anything I’m not used to, really.” He turned the water on and began washing the dishes. “Same stuff that went on back home.”
Berry frowned. “Well, I haven’t got anything to do tomorrow and I plan on working a little later than usual, why don’t you go ahead and get out of here?”
He stopped washing the dishes long enough to give Berry a curious stare. “You sure? My shift’s over in an hour anyways, I don’t mind staying a bit longer.”
Berry waved a hoof. “Ponyfeathers, you’ve been here all night. Go out and enjoy the rest of your evening, I got this.”
Matthew glanced from the dishes in his hands and back to Berry, before smiling and placing them back in the sink. “Well thank you, Miss Punch.” Matthew grinned as Berry frowned.
“You call me that again and I’ll show you why my last name is ‘Punch’.” She grinned back. “Just call me Berry. Anyways, see you tomorrow?”
“Monday, actually.” Matthew yawned and took off his apron. “That’s when I work next.”
“Alright well, see you on monday! Stay safe!”
“Same to you!” Matthew pushed open the doors to ‘Berry’s Bar and Grill’ and stepped out into the cool evening air of Ponyville. The full force of his tired state hit him just then, and he rubbed his eyes. “Last time I offer to work evenings…” Matthew grumbled to himself and began walking home.
It was dark, darker than usual. The moon wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and Matthew could hardly see the dirt road in front of him. It was very unlike Equestria. While there were moonless nights back home, Matthew assumed that ponies had a moon every night thanks to Luna.
Home. Matthew clenched the bridge of his nose as he tried to rub away a growing headache. It’d been about five years since he’d wound up here. The depression spell he went through after he discovered he couldn’t return home was bad enough, he didn’t need to go through another.
Besides, he had things he could be happy about now. Friends, and ponies who cared for him.
The sound of something crashing caused him to stop in his tracks. He raised his head, glancing about the area.
“Hello?”
He heard his own voice echo into the distance. Now that he thought about it, the streets seemed utterly abandoned. He didn’t think he’d ever seen Ponyville this empty before, actually.
He waited a few more moments for a response, then he shrugged and continued to walk. “I might need to start putting a drinking limit sign over the bar, because some of these ponies really can’t hold their liquor.”
A growl.
Matthew stopped again, his muscles tensing. He slowly looked around once more. “W-who’s there? Show yourself, this isn’t funny!”
The growling stopped. Matthew was left to his thoughts once again.
He shivered, then shoved his hands into his pockets and began to walk a little faster. This time however, he could have sworn he heard footsteps behind him. He dared to look over his shoulder one last time.
Two yellow, glowing orbs stared right back at him from the depths of the shadows. They narrowed as they met his eyes, and the growling began again. They weren’t the eyes of any pony, those were the eyes of a predator.
Matthew’s breath caught in his throat, and he turned his attention back to the dimly lit road in front of him and increased the speed of his walk.
“I didn’t see that, I didn’t see that, I didn’t see that…”
The sound of something following behind him told him otherwise.
He cursed under his breath and turned his brisk walk into a slow jog.
The footsteps behind him were soon to follow.
Matthew’s panic got the better of him, and his jog turned into a sprint.
“Hey! is anyone out there?! Help!” He called out for someone, anyone to save him from whatever was pursuing him, but the houses lining the streets remained dark.
Matthew knocked over some trash cans as he ran. He hoped to slow the thing down, but a loud crash told him they weren’t doing much.
The dirt path he’d been blindly following turned into grass, and he found himself sprinting across an open field. He dared to glance behind one last time, and he saw the bright yellow eyes only a few feet behind him, the growling louder than it was before. Matthew turned back to the path ahead, whimpering under his breath. He had to keep moving, he couldn’t keep checking to see if this thing was chasing him. Next time might mean death.
Blackness loomed ahead. Tree trunks and branches came into view, spewing forth from the pitch blackness of the night. He could hear the low growling right on his heels. He needed to move.
A collapsed tree blocked his path into the woods. He rolled under it as fluently as he could. He hoped that might at least slow the thing down, but he about nearly jumped out of his shoes when he heard a swift crack and two halves of a tree flew past both sides of him, crashing into the undergrowth somewhere. Whatever the hell that thing was, it had just charged straight through a goddamn tree!
He nearly fell after he stumbled over a log, but kept running as fast as he could. With as dark as it was, he had a hard time seeing where he was going. Trees and branches only came into view about two feet before he was about to hit them. Oddly enough, he didn’t hear a single sound from behind him. He could only assume that the thing didn’t have any trouble seeing in the dark with those eyes.
...There was no sound behind him.
He wanted to stop and look, but he didn’t dare. He kept running, leaping over fallen trees and pushing branches and plants aside as he blindly dashed forward. Once he thought he’d made it a safe distance away, he hooked his arm around a rather large tree trunk and quickly darted behind it.
He peeked his head out around the side, scanning the dark of the forest for anything that seemed out of place. Those eyes were as bright as searchlights. If whatever it was was nearby, he had a feeling he’d be able to tell. He stood perfectly still, staring straight out into the open for any sign of anything out of place. It felt like hours, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. After he was convinced he was alone, he relaxed.
Then he heard the sound of something rustling right next to him.
Matthew went stiff as a board, and dared to look to his right.
Not more than a few feet away were the eyes that he’d been running from.
They shot forward with a screech. Bright, white fangs replaced the eyes, and Matthew felt something heavy slam into him. He tried to remain standing, but he lost his footing and fell down a steep incline. Whatever the eyes and the fangs belonged to had a tight grip on him, holding onto him as they rolled down into the darkness. Matthew managed to wedge a foot between them, and when the rolling stopped he kicked as hard as he could, forcing the thing off of him.
It flew backwards, and vanished into the darkness.
“Leave me alone!”
He turned and ran deeper into the forest. He didn’t dare to turn and see if the thing was following him, he didn’t want to know.
A short time later his breaths turned shallow, and he began gasping. He stopped to lean on his knees, and catch his breath. He didn’t hear anything behind him or anywhere around him, he thought he might be safe.
That’s when the growling reached his ears again.
Matthew glanced around, searching for anything he could use to help conceal himself. When he couldn’t find anything, he threw himself into a nearby clump of tall grass and made himself as low as possible, praying that the beast wouldn’t notice him.
He could hear the sound of footsteps not far off, falling steadily on the ground one after another. A low, constant growl reached his ears. He didn’t dare look up, in fear that the monster might see him.
The footsteps stopped.
Matthew clenched his eyes shut and held his breath. He tried to remain as quiet as possible.
After a moment, the footsteps resumed again, growing faint as the monster walked away from him.
Matthew released his breath, slowly lifting himself off the ground. He couldn’t see whatever it was, but the footsteps were getting further and further away. He had a feeling he would be alright now, if he was quiet.
He slowly began to walk backwards, back the way he came.
snap
Matthew looked down at his foot. A small twig was underneath of it, snapped cleanly in half.
A far off screech told him everything he needed to know, it had heard him.
He saw the pair of eyes in the distance again, but they were far off the ground. They hovered high in the air, and were shooting towards him quite quickly.
This thing could fly too?!
Matthew turned to run, but he felt something heavy slam into him and force him onto the ground. He turned onto his back. The pair of eyes that he feared so were staring down at him, only a few feet in front of him.
He tried to get up, but the thing jumped on him and held him down with its weight.
Matthew struggled, but couldn’t do much else as the bright, white fangs appeared again, a pink appendage tracing over them slowly as he felt something wet dribble down onto his shirt.
Oh God. This thing was going to eat him.
He whimpered softly as the eyes descended towards his face. He prayed that his death would be a quick one, and shut his eyes tight. He felt the monster’s hot breath on his bare skin, and he tensed. This was it. He was going to die.
“I told you I could catch you, Matthew.” Someone whispered into his ear.
Wait, what?
His eyes shot open, blinking at the yellow orbs standing over him. They weren’t narrowed anymore, they were round and wide with slitted pupils. Overhead, moonlight began to peek through the clouds that had gathered overhead, bathing the forest in a silvery light.
And that was when Matthew recognized a very familiar, if loathed, Batpony.
“Echo?!”
The Batpony burst into laughter, rolling off of him as she clenched her belly with her hooves.
“Oh my Luna, your face! You were so scared of me!” She screeched happily, her legs kicking in the leaves as she rolled about.
“You almost gave me a heart attack!” Matthew shouted indignantly, grumbling as he stood and brushed the leaves off of himself.
“Aw, is matty-watty scared of the big, scawwy Echo?” Echo screeched again, legs kicking in the air as she laughed.
“Shuttup.” Matthew blew some of his hair out of his face and crossed his arms as Echo struggled to hold in her laughter. “You knocked me down a hill and almost made me go into a panic attack, you’ve got nothing to be proud of.” He frowned.
Echo finally sat up, rubbing the tears out of her eyes with her hooves. “Oh C’mon, don’t be like that.” She grinned, showing off her fangs as she stuck out her tongue. “You can’t tell me you don’t enjoy a mare chasing after you for once. Besides, your reaction was priceless!” She screeched in happiness again, trying and failing to hold in her laughter as she held a hoof over her mouth. “Help! It’s going to eat me!” Echo did a poor imitation of Matthew’s voice before screeching again.
Matthew tried to retain an angry face, he really did, but after a moment the corners of his mouth began to turn up, and he snickered as he joined in laughter with Echo. “Okay, alright fine, you got me good. Really good, actually. How did you even manage to pull this off?”
“I have some pegasus friends in the weather team, it’s relatively easy to schedule an overcast and cloudy night, wouldn’t you say?”
The two shared laughter for a few more minutes before Matthew was able to breathe again. “Alright, I need to get home. it’s getting late and I have a whole day of being lazy ahead of me tomorrow.” He waved as he turned to leave.
“Where do you think you’re going, hmmm?”
Matthew stopped, cursing under his breath.
“I distinctly remember you saying something this morning about me being ‘too adorable’ to be scary, and ‘too lazy’ to catch you if I tried.” She slowly trotted up to him, her tail swinging side to side behind her as she made a low purring sound in her throat. “Then I remember what you said I could do if I did manage to do those things.” She grinned.
Matthew gulped as he recalled the events from this morning.
~~~~~Earlier this morning, obviously~~~~~~~
“But Mattheeeeeew!” Echo droned overhead, screeching as he got ready for work. “I’m going to sleep soon, I could use a full belly before I call it a night!”
“No.” Matthew told her for what felt like the fiftieth time. “I need to go to work, and I’m not going to walk around all day with two puncture holes in my neck. Besides, I don’t know what that’s gonna do to me all day.”
Echo stuck her lower lip out, pouting. “But I’m hungryyy…”
“Then get some fruit! You eat that stuff all the time anyways!”
She clung to his back now, her head on his shoulder. “We can’t live on fruit all the time, we need blood to tide us over too. So pleeeease?”
“No.”
Echo threw her hooves up and returned to the air. “Honestly, you’re impossible.”
“There are such things as ‘blood banks’ you know.” Anon pulled on his apron.
“But that blood is so stale!” She flailed her hooves about. “Besides, I’m part predator! I need fresh blood!” She whined.
Matthew laughed. “You? A predator? Please!” He bopped her on the nose, and she scrunched up her muzzle in return, holding her hooves to it. “Preadators are pretty damn scary, and you ponies are too adorable to be predators.”
“Hey!” Echo shouted indignantly, pouting again. “I could be scary if I wanted to!”
“With how often you lay around all day?” Matthew crossed his arms and grinned. “You couldn’t even catch me, let alone scare me!”
“You wanna bet?” She lowered her face to his, baring her fangs. He only rustled her mane.
“You’re adorable. I’ll tell you what Echo, if you can scare me, and catch me, I’ll let you suck my blood.”
Her eyes grew wide at that. “R-really?”
Matthew pulled his work shirt on. “Yes, really. Your first taste of human blood, if you can scare me and catch me.” Echo seemed to hesitate at that. “That’s what I thought." Matthew grinned again, making his way for the door as he waved. “later, Echo!”
Echo, in the meantime, sat on the floor. He hoof went to her chin as she began to think.
~~~~Good old scene transitions, god I really suck at these~~~
Echo stood on her hind legs, planting her hooves on Matthew’s chest and forced him to sit down against a tree. “It’s time to make good on your bet, Matthew.” Echo chuckled deviously.
Matthew squirmed as she climbed up onto his lap and began to bump her muzzle against his neck softly, making a small purring sound. She let out a screech every once in a while as she did.
“Geez, you batponies really are like giant cats sometimes.” Echo’s hooves slowly worked around him and kept him still, as she laid her head on his shoulder and breathed softly, inhaling his scent. Matthew was a little nervous, Echo said she’d never tasted human blood before. He was a little concerned with how she might react. After a few more minutes of gentle purring and stroking with her muzzle though, matthew gave in.
“Alright, fine. But just be gentle pl—” No sooner had the words left his mouth than Echo lunged forward, plunging her fangs into his neck. Matthew cringed, grabbing onto Echo and clenching her tightly. Echo worked to keep him still, but gently. Not forcibly. Her embrace was more reassuring than it was hostile.
At first, Matthew felt pain. But after a moment he felt a strange calm overcome him. His muscles began to relax, and he could hear his own breathing echo in his head. Echo noticed the lack of resistance and let up on her grip on him. Then, after a few moments, she began to drink.
Matthew felt very odd. He was aware of what was going on, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to care about it. He grasped lightly at Echo’s fur, his hands exploring her incredibly soft and sleek body as Echo made a low hum in her throat.
He blinked a few times. He didn’t want to pass out on Echo, but he felt like he had to fight to keep himself awake. They had only just started, and yet Matthew felt like she’d drank over half of him already. He shifted a bit underneath of her, and she readjusted her grip, but continued to suckle still.
His eyes became unfocused, and he could feel his eyelids beginning to droop a little. Even still, his hands wandered across Echo’s body. He could feel the muscles just below her fur, they were unusually firm for something so small. it seemed to defy nature how something so small and unbelievably adorable could be so strong.
Echo gave another low hum and shifted in his lap a little, leaning into him as she took a few more gulps. Matthew didn’t try to resist, he blinked slowly and tried hard to focus on what was going on, but it eluded him. he could feel himself drifting further, losing himself in the utter softness of Echo’s embrace.
Finally, Echo broke off. Fangs poked out from her mouth, and a trail of red dribbled down her chin. She leaned back into Matthew and licked his throat slowly, closing up the wound she’d made. This seemed to snap Matthew back to reality. He felt like he could focus again. And right now, he was focusing on the fact that Echo was laying against him, hooves over her belly as she screeched softly.
“Mmm… you taste really good. Not like a pony, but different. Not in a bad way either.” She swiped her tongue across her lips.
“Yeah…” Matthew tried to form words out of the haze in his mind, but it wasn’t going so well. Echo looked back at him.
“Oh, you’re feeling the effects of my venom. Batponies have this gland that kind of...numbs their prey when we suck blood.”
“Mhm…” Matthew nodded numbly, swaying a bit. Echo got to one side of him, using her body to help him stay upright.
‘Okay… let’s just get you home. You need to sleep anyways.”
“Sure, whatever….” Matthew stumbled along as Echo helped guide him back towards town, and back towards their home.