The Hunt

Buhh bum.

That is the sound of a heartbeat. The sound of blood flowing to the limbs. The sounds of life, and the faster it beats the more scared they are. Dancing between life and death, skirting the edge of the knife. For a pony like myself, it is the calling of the feast. To drink from the eternal lifeblood of pony kind. To take strength from a foe, one who would deny me my life, my talent. This is what I survive for, thrive for.

Like with all hunts, I begin by donning my cloak. Its black velvety nature hides my appearance. Masking my wings just like my hood masks my horn. Like my mother before me, and her mother before her. We, the females of the shadow legacy, have always feasted on the blood of life. It is a necessity, for if we stop we age like normal ponies, and we die. In small amounts, less than an ounce a day, we can pass for normal ponies. We will age like they do, we are able to mask our eyes, and above all else, we do not die from lack of blood. If one of us does not feed for two days, we shrivel up and die.

Our mates of choice are always aware of our nature and provide us with that little amount, willingly of course. I have yet to find one, and likely, never will. I live for the hunt, and I see no reason to stop. I may be a pony of figure, a leader, but I am myself first and foremost. Being that I track down problems in Equestria, I get a free pass with feeding upon them. Celestia has long despised the idea of me feeding on blood but to keep me alive, has agreed that I would need to be allowed to feed. Usually, I just get an ounce at night, but when a pony violates a major law, I get to feast.

When I was young my mother taught me how to hunt. We would take out thugs and criminals in Canterlot and we would feed on them. Eventually, when I was old enough I started practicing magic. After a rather famous incident I became Celestia’s student. She had no idea what I was, at least for the first few years. There was an incident in the castle around the start of spring.

An assassin from the Griffon Kingdom slipped into Celestia’s chambers on one of the nights that we were stargazing. We were looking at the stars when I heard a third heartbeat in the room. I turned towards the source, and as I did so did Celestia. She was shocked as the griffon lunged, but I was ready. As he lunged I grabbed him around the head and sunk my teeth into his neck. I drained him dry right in front of Celestia.

Needless to say, she was shocked. She had past dealings with my kin, and they were never pleasant. I tried to explain to her that it was okay, that I only ever attacked criminals. She refused to listen until my brother told her straight up that he was disgusted with how she was treating me. I can’t believe that he would say such a thing to a princess of all ponies. Though Celestia wouldn't accept it until Cadence told her off for it too. After that she would give me an ounce of her blood each day.

Even after I moved to ponyville she continued to send me her blood. That is, until my friends found out about my difference. During a group sleepover it came to light when I was drinking my nightly blood. We were having drinks and chatting when mine accidentally got mixed up with Applejack's. She ended up spitting out some of the drink when she noticed the taste of blood. When the chaos over what happened was over I had to explain why there was blood in one of our drinks. Awkward.

They eventually accepted me. Not that having Celestia herself tell them that I wasn't a threat, and that I wouldn't attack them, didn't hurt. After a while things were back to normal… well mostly normal. It was after that when they actually offered to let me have some of their blood to keep me alive. There was also that incident with the vampire fruit bats. Please note, they have no actual relation to my species, they simply share a name, and they definitely do not suck blood.

After that fiasco Fluttershy approached me and showed me that she still had her fangs. I helped her of course, and together we discovered that she could feed on any fruit like a vampire fruit bat. We also found that, while she could feed on blood, she didn’t need to. On a side note, I have found that if Fluttershy were to drink blood regularly she would be able to live twice as long as a normal pony.

Sweet Celestia. I seem to have gotten lost in my thoughts while on the hunt. My target is Starlight Glimmer. Former leader of “Utopia,” a town she corrupted with her magic by stealing the residents cutie-marks. Celestia had authorized her termination, and I eagerly volunteered. It’s not often that I get to hunt so I jump on any chance I get.

So here we are, Starlight Glimmer is terrified and her doom incarnate is here.

I stalk my way through the shadows, hiding just behind her. I give a hushed whispers as I shift behind the lush green bushes next to my target. My calling causes her to whip around in fear,

“Wh-who’s there?” Starlight asked the darkness, her horn lighting up trying to find the source of the noise. After a few moments she turns and continues on her way. My shadow continued following her, switching from side to side, hiding behind trees, rocks, and bushes. With a quick flick of my magic a root shifted and tripped Starlight. With quick action I managed to get Starlight to roll onto her back.

I landed on her and quickly placed a magic inhibitor on her horn. “Such a shame Starlight Glimmer. Had you only learned to back off from stealing cutie-marks then you would have lived longer.” I whispered into her ear as my teeth scraped the lower part of her ear.

“W-why are you doing this.” She asked, stuttering in fear. Tears glistened from her eyes, falling onto the earth below.

“I am doing this because you need to pay. Celestia ordered your termination, and I am here to deliver it.” I say, my fangs scraping the side of her neck.

“Please, don’t kill me! I’ll do anything you want. I’ll teach you how I use my magic. I’ll tell you everything I know. Just, please don’t kill me.” Starlight begged, tears freely flowing down her cheeks.

I said nothing. Licking her neck I prepared to enjoy my meal and then it happened. Three words that I needed to hear before killing her.

“I’m sorry Twilight.” She screamed into the night.

“Thank you for apologizing. I promise to make your passing a smooth as possible.” I said as I sank my teeth into her neck. The next moment I was in heaven. Her blood was like wine, rich, flavorful and filling. I drank, and drank, and drank some more. I stopped when she had just enough left to live on. I grabbed her with my magic, and placed her on my back.

“You know, Celestia never actually ordered me to kill you,” I whispered to her, “just to incapacitate you and bring you in. Perhaps next time you will agree to a game of The Hunted and The Huntress.” With that done, I headed back towards Canterlot, happy, filled and with my mission completed.