> Vampires of Ponyville
>  by HarmonyRapids
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Pilot Part One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow had been walking with Vinyl back from the nightclub for quite some time, when they had heard voices. 

Voices from the shadows, and they were discussing quite interesting matters.

"Celestia Dammit, why won't you drink!" A pony yelled. 

Curious, the two mares both backtracked to where they had heard the voices.

Eclipsed in partial darkness, both figures looked intimidating, and strong. And handsome? No, both of the mares shook that thought away. But they were. They had that jawbone, that was just so dark and ragged looking. But they both mentally batted that thought away. They wanted to find out what was happening, they couldn't get sidetracked by handsome stallions wandering around in the shadows. Vinyl and Rainbow frowned, now that was just creepy. Who does that? 

Vampires. Pervs. Sexual predators. Foalnappers. And etc. 

Wow, did they really have to think that?

But if they were to be honest, the first didn't sound too bad. 

I mean, vampires aren't real so that option is out, or at least that's what they thought. 

And then they thought that the yelling pony might have been trying to force him into drinking Trodka or something.

But then, the yelling stallion retreated into the shadows, and came back out with a young mare. 

She was borderline pretty, Rainbow and Vinyl noticed. 

They also noticed that the yelling stallion was holding her an interesting way. 

A way that they didn't like. And they were about to go tell him that, and come to the girl's aid, when he peeled back her mane. 

And he started to speak again, but he didn't yell. No, this time it was more eerily quiet, and whispered. 

If Vinyl and Rainbow listened hard enough, they could hear his words. 

"Come on brother it's been so long" The yelling stallion said, whispering. 

Vinyl and Rainbow were peeking out from behind a wall 5 feet away, and even they were getting shivers from his words. 

"After all, she has a really pretty neck." The yelling stallion said, and to Vinyl and Rainbow's horror, made his way down to it. Breathing heavily, he actually sniffed her.

"What kinda freak is this guy?" Rainbow asked in a hushed tone.

"I don't know." Vinyl said quietly back.

The young mare squirmed against his steel arms, as she refused to accept her fate. 

"That's it I'm stopping this, he's hurting her." Rainbow whispered, with a determined look on her face. 

"No, Dash don't go, you could get hurt." Vinyl whispered ferociously.

Rainbow looked as if she was going anyway.

"Just give it a sec." Vinyl said. "Observe. Look what he's doing."

"Fine." Rainbow whisper huffed. 

"I'm not doing it." His brother, a unicorn, said politely and quietly. 

"What?" the yelling stallion asked in a dangerous whisper. 

"I said I'm not doing it." The quiet stallion restated. 

"Oh yes you are!" Then retreating back onto the shadows again with the girl, the yelling stallion whispered a command and she complied.

When they came back out, she was no longer struggling.

"What the buck?" Rainbow asked. 

Vinyl's mouth was slightly ajar.

"Mind control." Rainbow whispered dryly to Vinyl.

Vinyl would've rolled her eyes, but she wouldn't have put it past these mysterious ponies.

The more verbal stallion looked down at the young mare's neck again, then again at his brother.

"You are feeding on her!" The yelling stallion stated, getting as salty as Celestia when cake day was canceled. 

Rainbow and Vinyl looked at each other. They couldn't have heard what they had just heard, right? Hadn't vampires been extinct for decades now? 

Rainbow's breath caught in her throat. These guys were bad news. If they got caught- If Vinyl got them caught...

Vinyl's heart felt like it was in her windpipe. These guys were trouble. And if they got in trouble with these guys- no- If Rainbow got them in trouble with these guys...

They each gave the other a warning glare, not out of anger, but out of fear and trepidation.  

Rainbow's gaze was a deal more intimidating, seeing as she didn't have glasses to cover up what one would loosely consider red eyes.

Vinyl cowered slightly, hind quarters sinking into a dank puddle behind them.

Then they went back to watching their own live personal horror movie.

The yelling stallion widened his mouth, just enough for one pointed canine to slide out, and traced a linear line of blood where the jugular of the mare was on top of her shaded skin. When he was done with that, he put out a hoof, letting a miniature trail of blood from the young mare's neck trickle down his foreleg. Then he licked it off. 

"Even if I have to make you do it." The stallion said, watching as his brother appeared to be slowly giving in to the rapidly increasing bloodlust. 

The unicorn watched, entranced as the earth pony slowly licked his leg completely clean.

The two mares peeking out from the shadows, watched transfixed as the blood practically hypnotized the quiet stallion. 

Okay, the two mares decided, they were either sickos or vampires.

But they were both leaning more toward vampire. Not that there weren't plenty of mentally deranged blood drinking ponies. But this pony had fangs.

Rainbow gulped audibly, asking herself if the other one was just as bad.

Vinyl closed her eyes, because all she could see was trouble. 

The quiet stallion took a step closer. Closer to the shadows that his brother was hiding in. Preying in. Biting in. Waiting in.

The quiet stallion watched as his brother ran another hoof through the trail of blood that was seeping down the young mare's neck.

Then just like that, the quiet stallion's eyes flashed a shade similar to a raspberry, and he opened up his chasm of a mouth. There were fangs, and they were the stuff of nightmares. Then, he disappeared into the shadows, the young mare's scream announcing his sudden and abominable presence. 

"You know what we do now?" Vinyl whispered, startled after hearing a bloodcurdling scream from the gloom. 

"We run." Rainbow said, eyes flashing for a scary second. Vinyl didn't need to be told twice, and started at an all out gallop. She would be a vanilla blur.  She was snow, whipping in the wind, she was-

Being stopped?

Because before she could get even an inch, Rainbow stopped her. Explaining that should they make any noise at all, the vampires would catch them. 

Vinyl made a mental note to discuss the impossibility and hypocrisy of their friendship later. 

So with that in mind, Vinyl opted to tiptoe away at a fast pace.  

And Rainbow decided to fly almost completely silently. Because she's good, but she's not that good. 

Yet as the two mares were trying their best to get away, the other two stallions could hear better than most ponies. 

"Should we go after them?" The quiet one asked.

"No, just wait, the chase is the fun part." The earth stallion said, speaking from a grotesque hole in his face.

Rainbow had been flying soundlessly, and Vinyl had been silently trotting alongside her, when they saw a glowing fixture at the end of the alley. Or at least they thought they'd been completely quiet. But hey, plot covenience and all. 

They both had a hardy mental spasm, and one of them lost their minds. Was it safe to gallop away towards the light? Or should they stay blackened out like tortured ink blots, continuing along at a speed that a turtle could beat?

A twig cracked. 

Both ponies halted only to spin around, both feeling a little piece of their heart die as they imagined what could be beyond the illumination that was starting to border on sacred.

A branch fell from the roof of a neighboring business. 

It startled both of the ponies quite badly. Of course it was a branch from a roof, and chances were the vampires weren't even up there, but when ponies get scared, rationality takes the back seat. 

They were desperate to hold onto their pride in front of ome another, though, and only allowed a small whinny of surprise to escape. When in reality, their hearts were beating into overdrive. Maybe with one more sound their hearts would stop. 

And maybe they would keep on beating.

Who knew?

If only Twilight were there to reassure them with calming fancy words like she always did.

If only Twilight were there...

"Should we let them know of our presence, or have their own imaginations run them out instead?" The quiet stallion inquired with a dying spark in his eyes.

"Let them run themselves out." The yelling stallion replied, failing to notice the breathing secret that was waiting in the blackness. 

"Will we turn them?"

"Maybe her." The yelling stallion said with a rare budding interest, pointing to a familiar white unicorn. "It would be very interesting to see her reaction."

"Okay." The quiet stallion said. "And brother," he added: "One more thing."

"Hmm?" the yelling stallion said as he turned toward his brother.

"I get the unicorn." The quiet stallion said as he smiled.

"Good to have you back." The bright words juxtaposed the mouth they were coming from. 

"Okay, my bits are on running. What's your play?" Vinyl was shaken, but not stirred, slurring her words. She was drunk on fear. The magical mystical hangover cure was the light at the end of the metaphorical tunnel. 

"Just keep going slow and steady.", Rainbow said, edging them both toward the alleyway's exit. One wing was extended prodding on the small of Vinyl's soft back. One knew the challenges of such an encounter, yet the other was not-so-blissfully unaware. 

Of course, just as they were twenty feet from their sweet escape, a streetlight on another road went out.

They made a mutual decison instigated by extreme fear, and decided to gallop.

Two more streetlights went out, bathing the hope of their salvation in a sinister light. Or lack of light thereof. 

They pushed themselves even harder. Hoofs smacked on the ground rapidly like a merciless slap on the flank. White and cyan ponies both battles for breath, yet for different reasons. 

Another weary few feet was gained, as eyes strained to see in the gathering darkness. 

Another streetlight blinked out, with its light dearly departed and dearly missed by at least one pony. 

Still an admirable distance loomed before them, silently becoming a physical threat towards them without malevolent intent. 

Five more streetlights, the roads were half paved in darkness, and still they were five feet away.

They decided it was now or never. Hoofs weren't going to be enough, at least as far as Dash could tell. But the breathing secret had more important things to worry about at the present moment. 

"Fly!", Rainbow whispered, sundial terrifying in her desperation as she pulled Vinyl with her, too terrified to hesitate, too scared to think.

And as soon as that word was spoken, all the streetlights went out. 

"Well buck my life."

And only one word was spoken after that crude exclamation.  

Actually it wasn't a word, it was more of a sound.

And in hindsight, it wasn't really spoken, it was screamed.

Vinyl yelled.

It left everypony present wondering how vanilla could be so freaking loud. 

In it's aftermath, two ponies were pleased, and one was irrevocably pissed.  

Rainbow slapped her hoof over Vinyl's mouth, fighting the urge to slap the mare out of sheer frustration.  

"Shut up." She whispered, glaring. Her eyes flashed a lovely shade of red.

Well it would have been lovely, had it been somewhere else than in Dash's pupils. Of course such a beautiful color was heralded with a wonderful shock from Vinyl. 

"Rainbow?" Vinyl asked, the mouth Rainbow had a hoof over shaking with her entire body. She really did hope the pegasus couldn't see in the dark. Tears were a dedicated giveaway no pun intended. 

This made no sense. This couldn't be happening. 

But it was. It really was. A nasty shock was sweeping over Vinyl's body and she didn't like it. Not one bit. 

"What?" Rainbow asked, looking at Vinyl unimpressed and suspicious, yet blissfully unassuming. "Is there something on my face?" Her orbs flashed again in annoyance, and then the other pony was off. 

Vinyl just ran.

The quiet stallion and the yelling stallion just stood stock still. They had not seen this coming, and one could tell as they stood scared in the darkness they once had welcomed. They had seen the blood colored spasm in the pegasi's orbs. They had saw it. And yet, they were rooted to their separate spots. It was just an eyeflash. All vampires had them. But see, the problem was that they hadn't known that she was a vampire. 

They should have recognized one of their kind. No vampire could possibly cover up their blood sight without being-

Well, she had caught them by surprise. This never happened. Well, it never happened to the yelling stallion. He didn't know about his brother. His weak, just recently awakened brother. 

Vinyl ran and ran. She ran harder than she ever had. And all the while she could hear a voice behind her. The voice of the pony she'd thought she'd knew.

Just at bay, there was another voice in her mind. A voice that was screaming, 'you're going to die! You're going to die!' This was the same voice that was encouraging, no, forcing her legs to run harder than she ever had before. 

But would Rainbow really hurt her?, she wondered. 

Would Rainbow actually go so far as to sink her teeth into her neck, and kill her? Just because she knew the truth?

She didn't know. She'd thought she had. But that was also when as far as she knew, Rainbow was a normal pony. And didn't have glowing red eyes. Or fangs. She probably had fangs. 

Vampires had fangs, right? 

She couldn't think straight. All she could do was try to keep herself from the maybe monster that was chasing her.

Did Dash mean her any harm? She wasn't sure. Was Dash really a monster like those two others were? She had no idea. She could've been a regular pony just as she always was with just a trick of the light aiding in an accidental deception. 

That could've been it. But Rainbow might be a monster, still. Rainbow was a Maybe Monster. And that was that. Sadly.

Vinyl wished she weren't running through a dingy, rainy, and stinky alleyway away from her best friend and potential predator. In fact Vinyl just wanted Rainbow to be her friend.

Then again there wasn't any red light in the alleyway to help what Vinyl saw happen to Rainbow's eyes be a misinterpretation. In fact, Vinyl should just face the facts, Rainbow's eyes really did flash red.

'Then again', Vinyl thought, maybe she isn't like the other vampires. She's probably more decent and less bloody and violent. 

Rainbow looked into a puddle in the dingy alleyway. What could've happened to make Vinyl run off like that? She had gotten pretty protective, and maybe a little angry and defensive. She thought about it, bringing that surge of anger back up.

Red eyes stared back at her in the puddle.

Damn it, Vinyl knew.

The yelling stallion and quiet stallion stared at the lone mare staring at herself. Watching her eyes glow red.

This was a coin moment in life.

Heads meant she stayed.

Tails meant she went after her normal companion.

If she went after the other normal pony, they wouldn't go for her companion. They would leave her and her friend alone. But if she left her companion alone...

The quiet stallion and the yelling stallion both grinned. They would have a late night snack.

Rainbow had yelled behind her, called out to her before she had knew that Vinyl had seen her eyes. Dam it. She had to be more careful. She had to be. But something had to be done. Vinyl knew. There was no turning back now. Vinyl knew. Rainbow bared her fangs. Her eyes flashed red and stayed that way. There was only one way to resolve this.

The two stallions waited in the shadows anxiously. Would Rainbow choose tails? Would they get to hunt the other mare?

After a while, Vinyl had stopped running. Tired from dodging rusty crap, and old tires, and just working her hooves and legs to a pulp, she slunk down. And silently cried. She didn't know who to trust. She was lost in a dark, dank, cold alley, and the worst part was that it couldn't get any worse. But that was what she thought...

The other two stallions watched as Rainbow turned tail, let out a low growl, and sped off into the night with unnatural speed in the way her potential victim had run off to escape. 

Rainbow, true to her name, dashed through the alleyway, using her heightened hearing to try to detect the blood rushing through Vinyl's veins, or maybe her heartbeat. 

Path after path, Rainbow took. Turn after turn she searched.

But finally, after about one minute of searching, straining to hear her living breathing problems heartbeat, she found it. And she smirked triumphantly.

Meanwhile, Vinyl sat in an alley, both hoping and not hoping all at the same time that Rainbow wouldn't find her. She had thought that the two stallions were trouble. Imagine the havoc Rainbow could wreak if she chose. She shivered at the thought. Rainbow Danger Dash was the trouble. Bigger trouble if she was a vampire all this time! What if every time Vinyl hung out with the prismatic pegasus she was knocking on death's door?  

Rainbow had been lead to a little alleyway, about 100 feet from the main, bigger one. The heartbeat was here, stronger. The blood was pumping louder. She inhaled and exhaled. It was about time damned time. She really didn't wanna have to do this. But she had to. Otherwise her secret would no doubt be terminated. Permanently. She bared her fangs, checking to see if they were sharp enough. Yes, they were like knives. Not dull at all. Good. 

She channeled all of her rage and her predatory urges away. Her eyes ceased to glow. At least, they were duller than before. Good enough. She couldn't have anything give her away. This needed to be done quick and easy. Even if there was an urge to draw it out. Enjoy it. She squashed those urges like Parasprites. 

They weren't good for her. If anything it would make her eyes glow brighter than before. It would also encourage her predatory side to take over, and she didn't need that.

'It would feel so good', a voice in her head nagged. 'Cmon you've liked her for a long time. Draining her would feel so good.'

She banished those thoughts as well.

'She would taste so good.' The thoughts persisted.

She tried to ignore it, but her eyes glowed, giving her away.

Vinyl was wrong, it could definitely get worse, and it did once she heard a crunch of broken glass.

Coupled with a flash of red.

Rainbow had gotten distracted by her urges once again. And she had made a sound. Now Vinyl was aware of her presence.

Vinyl threw a piece of trash at the spot where she had heard the crunch. Luckily, with Rainbow's unnatural speed, she could easily dodge it. 

Vinyl had tried to attack her. 'Two can play at that game.', a voice in her head said darkly.

She shook her head.

She wasn't going to attack her. She was just going to, what? Peacefully drain almost all of the life force out of her friend, and then hope she forgets?

Yeah, that was basically attacking her.

'No', she told herself. Whether she fully realized or not, she had an admiration for the D.J.

So she decided to do it the merciful way...

Vinyl retreated back into the shadows with every little sound she heard. She wasn't thinking straight. And this lead to her walking where she shouldn't be.

One step backwards. Two steps backwards. Almost completely basked in shadows. Three steps backward, only or more inch of moonlight that she could see. One last step back. 

Then she felt a cold breeze on her neck, and something lock around her body. Darkness encased her. And she shivered. At first she though she was caught in something. Then she felt something something sharp travel down her neck, drawing blood. Then a sigh. And she realized that it wasn't a cool breeze, but rather an ice cold breath. And a voice that said in a raspy tone, "Boo."

The arms tightened. She screamed. Or rather tried to, but a hoof was slapped over her mouth before she could call for help.

It was hopeless.

But Rainbow knew what had to be done.

Vinyl knew what she would do. 

But their two thoughts were conflicting. 

Only one would get their way...

"Shhhh," Rainbow said. "You know what?", she asked. "Might as well scream. It's not like anypony will be able to help." And with that taunting word Rainbow took her hoof off Vinyl's mouth. "But it's worth a chance," she whispered. In the same tone that the yelling stallion had used earlier.

Her breath so close to her neck, and the confined space made Vinyl think things she shouldn't have thought. Especially not about the pony that was trying to attack her. Possibly kill her.

So Vinyl screamed. She screamed once. Because the blood was starting to run down her neck. And because she had no wish to upset Rainbow.

Once the blood got to a certain point, Rainbow would drink it. Maybe casually lick it off. 

It was silent for one second. One minute. It seemed that Vinyl was deciding what to say, if she was going to say anything at all, and Rainbow was trying to decide what to do. There was also an air of tension that none of them adressed.

Despite the position, Rainbow was quite comfortable. Vinyl only wished she was half as comfortable as her captor. 

"What are you going to do?", Vinyl asked suddenly. 

She had to ask. She just had to. It didn't matter if she got killed. She just wanted to know the truth.

"Well I'm not going to kill you if that's what you're worried about.", Rainbow answered.

Vinyl breathed a sigh of relief.

"I mean, I'm kind've considering it.", Rainbow said.

Vinyl tensed up.

"Just kidding. Relax.", Rainbow said.

"Kind've hard to.", Vinyl said.

"Oh right," Rainbow said. "If I let you go, can you promise not to run?"

Vinyl shook her head.

"Okay then, guess we're stuck like this.", Rainbow said, tickling her a little bit.

"Rainbow!", she said, her voice cracking.

"Right, right.", she said. 

But then she tickled Vinyl again.

"Okay that's it. If you let me go, I'll promise not to run.", Vinyl said. 

"Dang it.", Rainbow said, tickling her and burrowing her muzzle into Vinyl's neck. 

Vinyl yelped playfully.

"Stop," she whined. Trying to look tough but ultimately looking whiny.

"Are you sure you want me to stop?", Rainbow asked, looking Vinyl in the eyes. The red had gone down with all the playfulness. Now she had regular magenta eyes. They were pretty, really cool actually. 

"No.", Vinyl said, lost in them.

"What?", Rainbow asked. 

"Yes.", Vinyl said, shaking herself out of her stupor.

Rainbow smirked a second longer than needed and shook her head.

Then she let go of Vinyl.

Dropping back onto all her legs and walking like a quadruped again, Rainbow said to Vinyl, "I guess you have a few questions."

Vinyl nodded.

"Well fire away.", Rainbow said. "But," she added, "please don't make them stupid or obvious. Like asking if I'm a vampire."

"Fine," Vinyl said. "Why are you a vampire?"

"Because some stallion turned me."

"Yeah, but how?", Vinyl asked. 

"Well," Rainbow started. "They bit me, let me bleed out halfway, then had me bite them. That's how it works."

"Is that what you were going to do to me?", Vinyl asked.

"Maybe...", Rainbow said smirking.

Vinyl glared.

"What, you would make an awesome vampire!"

Vinyl blushed. Then she got angry and walked up to Dash, about ready to sock her. So she punched Dash in the muzzle as hard as she could. It didn't even leave a mark.

Dash just cracked her neck, and in a tone cool as ice, told Vinyl to "please sit down."

"Also," Rainbow said, taking off Vinyl's glasses and staring into her eyes, "don't pick a fight with a vampire."

Vinyl's purple eyes blinked and clasped shut under the pressure of the vampire's stare.

Then Dash simply slipped Vinyl's glasses back on her face. 

"Vampires have superstrength, as you ponies would say. Which means if a regular pony, even a body builder punches us, we won't flinch. We'll only feel a pinch."

Rainbow smirked.

"Which means your slap", she said continuing, "felt like a little mosquito."

Vinyl scowled. 

"Why didn't you tell me?", Vinyl asked. 

"Well if you got so freaked out in an alleyway, what do you think you would have done of I had told you earlier in your apartment? You would've thrown like a lamp at me, a mixtape. One of your best demos. Heck, I'll bet you would throw anything at me."

Vinyl bit her tongue.

"What's with the eyes flashing red thing?", Vinyl asked. 

"That happens usually in very intense situations. Like when I'm angry, or trying to protect someone. Or in bed."

Vinyl gawked. 

"Yeah, but why are they so bright?", Vinyl asked, moving on and getting over her blush.

"Cause they just are.", Rainbow replied.

"Does being a vampire give you super speed?"

"That sounds really cheesy and stupid," Rainbow said. "And no," she continued. "It strengthens all your other abilities by a lot. My best abilities are my strength and my speed, so naturally, being a vampire strengthens that. Now if Twilight became a vampire, she would be like a huge mega mind. It would improve upon her ability to be smarter, and an egghead."

Vinyl nodded, then asked another question.

"How long can you go without drinking blood?"

"Two weeks."

"How long have you been a vampire?"

"Since a couple of years ago."

"How many years?"

"About one thousand, give or take."

Vinyl just gawked.

"Did you want to feed on me?"

Rainbow hesitated slightly. For five seconds. For ten seconds. She thought. But then answered honestly. 

"Yeah, pretty much.", she said after a few more seconds of inner debate.

"Are you still the pegasus I've always known?", Vinyl asked, staring into Rainbow's magenta eyes, trying to gauge if she was lying.

"Well duh.", Rainbow said. "Other than a psychotic urge for blood and wanting to rip off everybody's head that messes with my friends. Because I actually can. I'm still basically the same Rainbow you've always known. Except faster, stronger, and slightly more dangerous."

"Slightly?", Vinyl said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. 

"Okay fine Ms. Critical, I'm very dangerous. And here I am over here trying to cushion the blow cause you just found out that your friend you've known for years is a vampire. Excuse me for trying not to freak you out."

Vinyl sighed.

"What?", Rainbow asked.

"Well, you just majorly freaked me out, held me captive for like five minutes, with threats. And you freaked me out majorly, and now you're seriously telling me that now you're not trying to freak me out. Because that's kind of what I've been doing the entire time!", Vinyl said, huffing. She had gotten closer with every word, and was now nose to nose with Dash. 

"You're so cute when you're mad.", Dash said, pushing Vinyl's face away. There was an urge to kiss the D.J on the nose, but Rainbow ignored it.

Vinyl just grumbled.

"What?", Rainbow asked again, "at least I didn't drain the life out of you." Then she smirked again. And it drove Vinyl crazy. 

"Wait!", Vinyl said, "I just have one question."

"Yes?", Rainbow said. 

"How did you get me to do what you told me back there."

"When I told you not to mess with vampires?"

"Yeah."

"Compulsion."

"What?"

"I'll explain later.", and explain later she did. In fact, Rainbow spent the whole night explaining...
> Pilot Part Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 After she had finished explaining to Vinyl literally everything about being a vampire, Vinyl had wanted to bust out the drinks. Apparently, learning that your friend is a vampire is 'too much to take'.

Ha. If only she had seen half the stuff Rainbow had seen. She would've drank herself to death.

Two times over.

Vinyl asked Rainbow what type of drink she wanted.

Rainbow opted for hard cider.

But, as it went, Vinyl actually ended up admitting something to Rainbow in a drunken conversation by the T.V. 

But Rainbow wasn't really sure if it was drunken, because the cider didn't taste alcoholic. And her stomach was beginning to hurt.

"Ya know Rainbow," she said. "You're hot. I mean, really, really hot." Vinyl hiccuped. 

Rainbow adressed that and went to check on the cider box that had held the cider that they had thrown away like 8 drinks ago. 

Rainbow had had twenty, and Vinyl had had three.

Vampires could handle five times as much alcohol as other ponies without beginning to feel the effects.

But Rainbow wasn't beginning to get a buzz yet, because, get this, the cider wasn't alcoholic. Did Vinyl think she could fake her out? And what was with this weird feeling in her stomach, and this metallic taste in her throat?

Vinyl was a very good actor. And Rainbow did want to see what Vinyl was getting at.  So Rainbow let Vinyl continue, through about five other hiccups. Then Vinyl began to speak once more.

Her mind actually a bit muddled by the regular cider, Vinyl veered off course. 

"Say, Rainbow what's it like being a vampire? I'll bet it's really cool! Are you like just as cold as the grave?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"No I mean seriously, do you feel really cold?", Vinyl said reaching over and touching Rainbow's arm. It was starting to feel very warm as expected.

The jig was up. 

"I know that this isn't alcoholic cider.", Rainbow said.

"Wha?", Vinyl asked. But her eyes were darting back and forth like a pendulum in a grandfather clock.

"I know.", Rainbow said, "so just give it up."

Vinyl sighed.

"I guess you're right. This isn't alcoholic."

"Obviously.", Rainbow said, rolling her eyes, but still feeling sick. But she shouldn't be able to feel sick, should she?

"It's drugged.", Vinyl said, keeping her eyes downcast, a small smile playing on her lips.

Rainbow began to feel woozy. 

"Surprise," Vinyl said, raising her head. And smirking victoriously. The teacher had been served by the student. And the student was enjoying it. Very much so.

"That's right, in exactly ten seconds you will be dead.", Vinyl stated, staring into Rainbow's eyes bravely, but then averting them as if Rainbow could've turned her to stone.

'Okay Rainbow, think on your feet!', she told herself. 'Your life kind've depends on it,' she added. Not to mention, Vinyl's life.

"Ten", Vinyl said, clearly enjoying herself. Secretly nervous because she had just drugged a vampire.

The taste is strong and pungent, also very spicy.

"Nine.", Vinyl said, popping her shades back on. Cockily putting her legs on the table.

What tastes strong and pungent?

"Eight."

She didn't feel like she was dying. Maybe it was like that sudden death thing. You know in the movies when that one guy thinks he's okay, and then he just kicks the bucket in ten seconds flat?

"Seven."

Or maybe it was a sudden flash of bright vivid pain, accompanied by an explosion of your life before your eyes?

"Six."

Or maybe it was a combination of both? 'I'm getting off topic, gotta figure out what this is.'

"Five.", Vinyl said, fidgeting slightly.

Think Rainbow. Think. It's spicy and pungent. And how would Vinyl know anything about what to give vampires to kill them? There was always Zecora, but still. If anything, she's probably wrong. Yeah, Vinyl would probably be wrong, give her something stereotypical. 

"Four."

Wait, she was starting to recognize this taste. The painfully spicy, horribly pungent taste. Yes, she knew what it was. At least she thought. She would just have to see.

"Three."

It was definitely not holy water. Holy water would only work if she drank like a bucket sized amount. And she would have to be tricked, at that.

"Two." Vinyl rubbed her hooves together. Waiting in anticipation.

Rainbow got ready to hit the eternal burning hay. To expire. To kick the vampiric bucket.

"One." Vinyl said.

Rainbow shut her eyes, hoping for the fire to consume her fast, not slow. But nothing came. Nothing but an itching throat, and an all consuming headache.

She cracked open an eye.

She was correct. The idiot D.J had tried to kill her with garlic.

I mean, it made her stomach roil, and tasted disgusting, among other side effects, but seriously? She should've known Vinyl would go with some painfully wikihoofia type 'drug'.

Unknown to Rainbow, Vinyl was slowly putting her hooves down off the table, and standing up.

Vinyl was gonna have Hell to pay.

Said pony was slowly backing away from the table. Maybe she thought Rainbow was like partly blinded from her stupid plan or something, Rainbow didn't know, but what Rainbow did know, was that Vinyl was gonna have one interesting night.

"What did you put in this?", Rainbow asked.

"What?", Vinyl asked, clearly shocked by the stunning revelation that garlic didn't cause vampires to burn up or something. Wow, what a shocker. 

"Fine, don't tell me and I'll drag your death out.", Rainbow said raising an eyebrow.

"Fine. Fine! It was garlic!", Vinyl said. Cowering. It didn't have to be this way.

'I don't blame you.', Rainbow thought. 'If you were the vampire, I would have tried to dispose of you to. Just not that stupidly.'

"You thought I would be like that one guy, didn't you?", Rainbow asked. 

"I'm sorry, I don't understand.", Vinyl said in her scratchy tone. But now it was a fearful scratchy tone.

"You know that one guy in the action movie, or the horror movie?"

Vinyl shook her head, her terrified look never leaving her face.

"That one guy who has ten seconds to live, and then he's gone. Just like that?", Rainbow asked.

Vinyl nodded, her eyes never leaving Rainbow's face.

"In ten seconds flat?", Rainbow asked, calmly, her eyes never leaving Vinyl's, boring into the wood of her soul like visual termites. 

Rainbow began to get up from the table. Walked over calmly. Halfway there, she asked, "Why?"

"What?", Vinyl asked.

"Why did you try to kill me? I mean we've been friends for years, surely you must've known I wasn't going to actually hurt you."

"Oh," Vinyl said, then backed away further. 

"I mean, until you tried to kill me. I have to admit, I had always thought it would've been your head on the chopping block, not mine."

Rainbow was standing in front of Vinyl now. 

"Have you ever heard of Hoofurabi?", Rainbow asked, taking one step closer. 

Vinyl took one step back.

"You know an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hoof for a hoof? Stuff like that?", Rainbow said, not waiting for Vinyl's answer. 

"Yes.", Vinyl said. 

"Good.", Rainbow said, pausing. "Good", she said again. "You know that rule I just mentioned?", Rainbow said.

Vinyl bobbed her head again, afraid to disagree. Took a step back.

"Well I'm a firm believer in that rule. Then again, if that rule were enacted all the time, I would be one bloodless vampire. A thousand times over, if I might add." Rainbow took a large step forward, and grinned.

She had Vinyl cornered.

"So here's my idea.", Rainbow continued, "You tried to kill me. I get to try to kill you."

Rainbow slammed a hoof against the wall, making the unicorn flinch.

All humor was gone from Rainbow's features. Where there was a twinkle in her eyes, they just eerily glowed. Blood red. Her teeth elongated.

"And true to your plan, fair is fair. I'll give you ten seconds to live. If I don't find you, then you're safe for now. But if I do...", she said trailing off. "You know what? You guess what I'll do."

"You- You'll kill me.", Vinyl said, her voice shaking like a twig in a thunderstorm. 

Rainbow just nodded. "If I don't find you in one minute, then you're home free."

Vinyl managed out a bold but quiet, "But this is my apartment."

"You know what I mean, don't play with me," Rainbow said, baring her fangs.

"Not playing with you, got it," the normally ongoing D.J managed in a little fillies' voice.

"Personally," Rainbow whispered, "I'm hoping that you don't make it." She slipped her muzzle against Vinyl's neck, inhaling largely. Sniffing. Holding it in place with her hoof so Vinyl couldn't get away.

"You would taste," she said, bending it back, lightly brushing her lips against it, "so good."

Vinyl stiffened, feeling taken aback by this sudden display of affection. She liked it. But hated herself for enjoying the feeling. It was just giving Rainbow more power.

"Oh and one more thing", Rainbow added. "Might wanna run."

But Vinyl hardly had enough time to process the warning, before Rainbow bit her.

Vinyl squeaked.

"Again," Rainbow said, stopping, "just so I can track you more easily." Rainbow remixed her mouth from Vinyl's neck and brushed her off. "There," Rainbow joked, "good as new."

Vinyl just looked at Rainbow confusedly.

"Well you have only ten seconds. Better start running."

And as Vinyl crashed out of her apartment, Rainbow called out one last thing, "Oh, and watch out for Octavia."

Vinyl ran, tearing down the steps from her apartment level. Heart pounding, mouth gasping for air that she just wouldn't quite let herself get.

"Ten", Rainbow yelled, backing away from the wall, smiling. Looking at what Vinyl had in her liquor cabinet. Nothing good, in Rainbow's humble opinion. She guessed a bourbon would have to do. Grabbing it, she popped off the cap.

Vinyl continued to tear down the steps, sprinting toward the one place she knew would be safe. It was ironic, but it was a large crowd, so Rainbow would likely get confused. Or maybe not such a large crowd... No it was a Saturday night, of course the crowd would be huge.

"Nine," Rainbow boomed, her voice shaking Vinyl's apartment. She took a swig of Bourbon. She would've had hard cider, but that wasn't strong enough. And she would rather not to be sober for what she was about to do. Plus the cider was drugged.

Vinyl dashed toward the apartment doors. Pushing them open, she surged out into the street, heading straight for the place she thought Rainbow wouldn't possibly think to look for her. 

"Eight!", Rainbow said, quieter than usual, as she was taking another swig of the Bourbon. 

Vinyl ran into the club, not noticing that there was in fact, no crowd. No music, no thousands of heartbeats, that could distract from her own.

"Seven," Rainbow said, gulping down the rest of the Bourbon, and sighing in undead contentment. 
"Well that's about as close to drunk as I'd care to get." 

Vinyl, not knowing that Rainbow had been counting ridiculously slow in order to build suspense, thought that surely Rainbow was done counting. So, cringing in fear, she hid behind a table.

"Six.", Rainbow said, examining, her hooves. They looked just as dirty as always. Whatever, maybe ponies were onto something when they got those hooficures.

Vinyl was trembling with suspense and fear. If Rainbow wanted her scared, she had got her way.

"Five," Rainbow said, dragging it out as long as she could. It would make it a lot easier to deal with Vinyl if she was already petrified. Less commotion. That type of stuff. But then she felt guilty for a split second. Should she do this? Should she kill Vinyl?

Vinyl by this point was just damned pissed. She was sick of Rainbow, and sick of hiding.

So, feeling bolder and more mad than ever, she raised her voice and called out, "Come and get me you stupid piece of horse shit!"

Rainbow's ears perked up, her motivation to kill was back. Her eyes narrowed. "So be it," she thought, throwing Vinyl's wineglass against the wall.  

But, hearing a sound from the doorway, Vinyl peeped back down, her confidence suddenly spent.

Then, she heard the door open, and wheels turning. Somepony was whistling. It was a low tone, sure, but Rainbow already had a voice like a stallion, so why not a whistle?

The whistling continued, and Vinyl just had to know. Was it her doom, or a savior?

Vinyl poked her head cautiously up above the table.

It was just a cleaning stallion...

Rainbow made her way down the stairs to the apartment, and walked out onto the street. She could literally smell Vinyl's fear. And she followed it. All the way to the nightclub they were walking home from when it all started. And now it would all end here. Rainbow ran a tongue across her fangs. Was she ready for this?

The cleaning stallion was whistling cheerfully. He was maybe in his early thirties? Vinyl couldn't really tell.

Rainbow heard Vinyl's panicked heartbeat, but it was slowing down. That sucked. 

She could also her somepony else's heartbeat, somepony else's unrecognizable whistle. She pushed open the doors quietly, hearing the heartbeat and the whistle.

She followed the two sounds to the dance club's main dance floor and bar.

There, she peeked from behind the corner at the stallion sweeping in the doorway with his cleaning cart.

He was in her way. She was just called a 'stupid price of horse shit' from one of her oldest friends. She wasn't in the mood to be merciful, or patient. Or kind or compassionate. She was in the mood, to drain Vinyl dry. She was also in the mood to kill anypony who got in her way. To bad for the cleaning stallion, he looked like a very nice pony. Oh well, too bad for him. She wanted to make an entrance. One that would scare Vinyl more than the quiet stallion and the yelling stallion combined. And that was what she was going to do. 'Quickly now,' she told herself, 'before he gets too far from the doorway.'

Vinyl poked her head up further. The cleaning stallion looked harmless. Maybe if she just asked him if he could help her...

A light flickered.

The stallion looked up nonplussed, before going back to his sweeping.

Two lights flickered.

The stallion looked up, and this time gave an inspired shrug, before simply ignoring it again.

'Okay,' Rainbow said, 'obviously Mr. Tough stuff needs more of a show.'

So, Rainbow raced over to the light switch. But of course, she just looked like a blur to other ponies.
The cleaning stallion included.

As soon as Rainbow got over to the light switch, she shut off all the lights. Mr. Tough stuff whinnied like a filly.

"Mr. Tough isn't so Celestia damned tough anymore, now is he?", Rainbow mumbled to herself, smirking.

Vinyl kept hiding behind the table, trying to be quiet, and inconspicuous, yet she couldn't stop watching. Squinting, she tried to make out who the stallion's mysterious torturer was. 

A menacing laugh echoed throughout the dark room.

The cleaning stallion yelled, and tried to get out of the room, but Rainbow had had it jammed.

"No one gets out," Rainbow had mumbled to herself as she had blocked it seconds ago. 

The stallion rattled the door handles, to blind with fear to realize that the door was only jammed by a bit. Then again, not everypony had vampire night vision, so she couldn't blame him.

She grinned, flipping on the light switches on either sides of him on dim, so he could see that somepony was coming for him, but he would never see who. He would see her silhouette, but not her. He would have one last sight of blood red eyes before dying. And so would Vinyl. Knowing the curious D.J, she was probably watching right now. Good, the arrogant mortal should see this.

She hadn't been gorging herself for fear of being caught, but tonight, no, tonight would be the exact opposite. She wanted it, and she was going to get it. She had played decent, morally inclined vampire in Vinyl's presence for too long. 

She wanted it, and she was going to have it.

In the darkness, Rainbow felt her body come alive once again. Her predatory instincts kicked in. Crouching, she plotted what to do. Should she just go straight for the kill? Should it be silent? Should she be theatrical? 

The idiot cleaning stallion was still banging against the doors. Sucker.

All Rainbow wanted to do was crouch, leap, and kill. But no, she wanted Vinyl scared. She wanted Vinyl at the point where she wouldn't even try to hide. She would just be paralyzed. She wanted something theatrical. Something that made a statement. Something bloody.

Her eyes were beginning to glow red. But the stallion and Vinyl hadn't seen them yet. She wiped away her urges for one second, and tried to be more civilized. That didn't make it, and she just ended up even more red eyed. 

So she hid.

She didn't have much time. Soon enough, the stallion's adrenaline would wear off, and he'd figure out the door, and get a flashlight or something. Rainbow couldn't have that.

But still though...

Rainbow had it. She had a plan. She had it now.

And she was gonna do it. 

Grinning, she flipped back on the lights. But only the ones where it would be useful to her setup.

He cringed, noticing half of the lights coming back on.

She crept up behind him, taking in it all. Yes, she had missed this. She had missed this so much. It was so much more satisfying to scare them first. 

She came from the shadowy side, crouching down low, and purposely crushing a can beneath her hoof. 

He tensed, body on fire with adrenaline. Should he run, should he hide?

Vinyl looked on from behind the table. Heart pounding, she wished the stallion mercy.

'That's right,' Rainbow thought, 'go ahead, get worked up, it'll be over soon anyway.'

In the heat of the moment, Rainbow allowed her eyes to flash. And it gave her away. 

The blood red betrayal was far from useless, in fact, it gave the stallion a motivation to run.

Which ultimately made it more theatrical. "Thank you, creepy eye thing," Rainbow mumbled as the stallion stumbled off, weaving through the dark and light parts.

Rainbow threw a wineglass one foot in front of him.

He shrieked, stumbling back.

Interesting, he was a tough stallion who in fact was actually a scared little colt. Dually noted.

She let him run for a bit, stumbling more often than not, and almost killing himself once.

He even ran into a wall.

He reversed, only to make another mistake, to run into something. Something strong and lean. Something that was Rainbow Dash.

Putting her strength to use, she wrapped him in a headlock, flashing over to the light switches, turning on the one spotlight that was above them, and transporting them back.

"Vincenza," she called out. "I know you're here."

The stallion struggled in her iron grasp.

Vinyl watched with dark rapt anticipation as Rainbow prepared to kill him.

"Cmon, don't be such a mama's colt," Rainbow said. "Stallion up!"

Vinyl rolled her eyes at Rainbow's joke, but then remembered that they weren't friends anymore. Averting her face from the vampire's face, Vinyl flushed a deep red. They weren't friends, she told herself. She was the hunter, and I'm the hunted, was what she told herself. 

"Vincenza," Rainbow whispered. "You may as well quit hiding, you're going to keel over either way."

'Maybe,' Vinyl thought. 'But isn't there still a chance?', she thought.

"You have no chance," Rainbow said, shaking her head. "But he might," she added, gesturing to the stallion in her arms. 

'Wow, so she's a mind reader too,' Vinyl thought sarcastically. 

The stallion looked up, curious.

"See," Rainbow started, "I don't want you to die," she said looking at him.

He looked confused.

"No no no.", she said. "All I want is for Vincenza to see what happens to ponies who threaten a supernatural being.", she said, putting extra enunciation on Vincenza.

He looked less confused, more relaxed. 

"And you," she continued, "were my example."

He didn't look confused, just terrified. 

"But...", she said trailing off, knowing he was hanging onto her every word.

He looked interested now.

"If you can bring her to me, maybe scare her a little bit, you don't have to die."

He looked determined. 

Vinyl looks scared.

"If you bring her to me, I won't kill you.", Rainbow said, simple as that.

He looked shocked.

Vinyl hid behind the table, chest heaving. Not believing what she was seeing. Would the stallion do it? Would he trade her life for his?

He spoke. "Seriously? Are you serious?"

Rainbow nodded impatiently. "Your voice is annoying, yes or no?"

He looked at the creature before him. Her blood red eyes, her affinity for mind games. He didn't wanna die at her hands. 

Vinyl waited with baited breath, hoping against all hope that the stallion would just be morally satisfied, and stop wearing such an ambiguous face, and do the right thing.

"No," he said. 

Vinyl silently shrieked with joy.

Rainbow raised a eyebrow and said, "really?"

The stallion nodded.

"Well you're boring.", Rainbow said. 

"Thanks," the stallion said smugly.

'Okay that's it', the voice in Rainbow's head said, 'make him pay.'

"Unfortunately," Rainbow said, her eyes turning redder, her fangs coming out, "I'm not a fan of boring people."

"Well than you obviously weren't a fan of your mom.", he said, as he was looking at the ground out of fake boredom.

Vinyl gasped. She partly gasped because he had said something incredibly stupid, and was sure to get killed now. And she also gasped partly, because she had never seen Rainbow's fangs before, or her face, when she was a vampire for that matter. At least, not in light.

He looked up, when he heard a little raspy chuckle, and a voice to go with it. And he panicked.

"My mom died a long time ago," Rainbow said, opening up her jaws, her eyes getting as red as vampirically possible. "And now, so have you."

And with that, Rainbow latched onto his neck with her fangs. He screamed. Oh how he screamed. But it was in vain. He was helpless.

Rainbow drank and drank and the liquid rubies flowed down her throat, quenching her undying thirst.

The voice in her head shut up.

She grabbed onto his neck, nurturing it, as she was killing him, as though it would shy away.

"Don't struggle," she whispered against his neck.

He saw her red eyes boring into his pearly grey ones with a hellish intensity.

He flailed, fought, clawed, screamed, but in ten seconds, he was dead.

Vinyl recoiled in horror from what was happening to the stallion.

Rainbow continued to drink, feeling quite content with finally feeding the beast.

"Now Vincenza," Rainbow said, as she unattached herself from his neck. "It's your turn," she said, smirking. The blood running down her chin. She let it do just that, knowing it would make Vincenza want to run far, far away.

Advancing toward her at a steady rate, Rainbow walked toward Vinyl with a bemused expression on her face. 

"I have to admit, I didn't want it to come to this," Rainbow said, wiping a hoof across her mouth to remove the excess blood.

"Uh huh," Vinyl said, "just like you totally didn't enjoy drawing the life out of that stallion," Vinyl said, keeping her wits about her while shaking in her metaphorical boots.

"What? And here I thought Ponyville was the place where all differences and mistakes were accepted.", Rainbow said connivingly.

"I will never accept the mistake you just made," Vinyl said, pointing at the dead stallion laying on the floor.

"Well, the mistake you made walking with me down an alleyway late at night wasn't very wise either.", Rainbow said, her gaze burning into Vinyl's.

"Screw you.", Vinyl said. "And this was different," she added. "You killed somepony!"

"I'm a vampire, it's kinda what I do.", Rainbow said. "However, your mistake was just stupid."

"You made the mistake with me, and that mistake didn't cost a life!", Vinyl screeched.

"I don't know about that.", Rainbow said said sadistically. "That mistake lead to this mistake.", Rainbow said, gesturing all around them.   
"And the mistake previously mentioned," she said pausing to roll a table top speed toward Vinyl, "lead to this mistake."

Vinyl barely mentioned to dodge in time.

"That wasn't a mistake," she said through teeth gritted with worry and anger.

"How should I know? I'm a cold blooded vampire, who's been alive for about a hundred years now. It's not like I have feelings or anything.", Rainbow said raising her voice. "I don't feel anything when my friend tries to poison me, or drug me, or whatever crap you tried to pull back there.", Rainbow said raising an eyebrow.

"How should I have known?", Vinyl asked. "I mean you're a vampire for buck's sake!"

"Oh I don't know, maybe if you would've asked the question? Or maybe given me more time to explain before you tried to kill me!", Rainbow said, rolling her eyes.

"You know what? You're right," Vinyl said sarcastically. "I'm sorry Ms. Dash, would you like to explain anything to me before I freak out and try to kill you?"

"First of all, that was not funny, or witty", Rainbow started, "and second of all, Celestia dammit would ya just start running!", Rainbow said motioning wildly.

Vinyl just stood stock still. 

"Oh, I'm sorry Vincenza, would you like for me to wave a checkered flag for you?", Rainbow said glaring at her.

"I wish you wouldn't call me that," Vinyl said getting more and more pissed by the minute.

"Yeah? Well you can wish a lot of things Princess, but they're not gonna happen.", Rainbow said smirking.

Vinyl huffed.

"Do you want me to run?", Vinyl asked.

"Yeah!", Rainbow said, getting exasperated.

"Do you really want me to run?", Vinyl asked.

"Honestly, what do you think?", Rainbow asked.

"Yes?", Vinyl asked, pretending to be clueless.

Maybe if she stalled Rainbow long enough somepony would show up to help. It was doubtful, but it was something.

"Honestly? This is the oldest trick in the book.", Rainbow said rolling her eyes.

"What trick?", Vinyl asked nervously, sweat running down her Dentyne white coat.

"I see what you're trying to do here," Rainbow said.

"You do?", Vinyl asked, her nervousness showing more.

"Yes, I'm not stupid," Rainbow said, "you're trying to save your furry little flank by buying time."

Vinyl gulped silently.

"But it's not gonna work.", Rainbow said, getting closer.

Vinyl scooted back.

"You know why?", Rainbow asked.

Vinyl shook her head, knowing but not wanting to believe it.

"Because you will be dead."

Rainbow stated it simple, for something that held such precious meaning. She kept a level gaze, a lukewarm one, and an honest stare.

It made goosebumps raise in Vinyl's arms. "No.", she said, stumbling back. "No. No.", she said two times, trying to run backwards. Then eventually she turned tail, running the right way.

"And now she runs," Rainbow mumbled. "It's about time."

Walking at a brisk pace, Rainbow tended to let her victims say what they needed to say before they died. You know, give them a chance to speak whatever they needed to get off their mind. But Rainbow had done something this time. Oh yes, she had brought someone. Someone who Vinyl was going to be so scared of once she figured out what they were, or at least, who she thought they were. Rainbow smiled. This was going to be a good reveal. A very good one indeed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
A couple minutes later...
"I hate vampires!", Vinyl said, glaring at Rainbow.

"Does that mean that you hate me?", Rainbow asked dully, amused by the mortal's bravado.

"Probably," Vinyl said, "actually, yes, yes I do hate you. I hate you a lot!", Vinyl said, rage dancing in her eyes. She was throwing wine glasses at Rainbow. Rainbow nimbly dodged each one, though. Not getting hit once.

"Huh.", Rainbow said. "Well if you hate vampires so much, why are you with one?"

"I'm not with you.", Vinyl said, shaking her head and throwing another wineglass.

"Oh, you think I'm talking about me," Rainbow said, shaking her head. "No no no," she said, "I'm talking about 'Octy.'"

"Did you do anything to her? What do you do to her? Where is she?", Vinyl demanded, getting in Rainbow's face.

"Relax, cupcake," Rainbow said.

"I am not your cupcake!", Vinyl said, glaring and spitting in Rainbow's face.

Rainbow pushed Vinyl back away from her face with her hoof, saying, "first of all, that was rude."

Vinyl rolled her eyes.

"And second of all, of course you're not my cupcake, you're her cupcake."

"Octavia," Rainbow said, sweeping her hoof in a grand gesture toward the darkened corner.

And stepping out of the corner, was the cellist.

Well, if you could call her that. 

She looked the same. Except for one thing.

Her red eyes.

"You are a psycho. A bucking batponyshit insane psycho.", Vinyl said flatly to Rainbow as Octavia stepped out of the shadows.

"I know," Rainbow said, smiling, not at all ruffled by the unflattering comment.

"Hello Vinyl.", Octavia said with her accent.

"Octy?", Vinyl said nervously, sweat running down her face.

"Yes," Octavia said quite impatiently. "And if you could be so kind, don't use those types of words around me."

Octavia was still classy, no, incredibly classy. But the joy and fire that Vinyl was so used to seeing in her eyes was long gone. They were glossed over, red.

Vinyl scrambled back, finding the first thing she could grab, and bringing it in front of her for protection. She hissed with frustration when she realized that it was a frying pan. 

"Vinyl, put down the frying pan.", Rainbow said, rolling her eyes.

Vinyl shook her head. 

She moved it in front of her toward whatever pony moved.

"You can't seriously think-", Rainbow started to say when Octavia cut her off.

"Vinyl, if you'll just put down the frying pan...", Octavia said, trailing off. Not knowing what to say. I mean, Vinyl was trying to defend herself against two vampires with a frying pan. What was she supposed to say?

"Look," Rainbow said trying again, "I know you hate vampires so, so much, but if you'd just put down the Celestia damned frying pan, we could get this over with!"

Vinyl was still uneasy. And really, why shouldn't she be? I mean, she was trying to trust vampires.

"Get what over with?", Vinyl asked, gulping and praying to the Goddess Sun-butt that this would all just be an elaborate prank or something, and everypony would just laugh it off. Because that's what you do in this type of situation, you laugh it off.

"Well, I was going to kill you, because, you know, that's normally what I do with arrogant mortals who call me a 'stupid piece of horseshit.'", Rainbow said moving threateningly toward her. "But then again," she said backing off, "you're still my friend no matter how many incredibly irritating Luna damned remarks you make. So, I decided that I couldn't kill you. No, that would make me guilty for another few several hundred years."

Vinyl cocked her head, trying to find out what Rainbow was planning. She also put down the frying pan that she had raised when Rainbow had started to move toward her.

"And," Rainbow said, continuing, "I was going to torture you but that's reserved for my best enemies, and no offense, but I don't really think you qualify."

Vinyl was slightly offended. But also glad. If she wasn't going to torture her, or kill her, what was she going to do then?

"Then, I thought about how much you seemingly hate vampires.", Rainbow said, slowly clopping toward Octavia. 

"I mean, your reaction when I showed you Octavia, it was to die for!", Rainbow said, pointing at Octy.

Vinyl rolled her eyes.

"Bad joke, I know.", Rainbow said, "but don't get smarmy with me, I hold your life in my hooves.", she said, smirking.

Vinyl gripped the frying pan even harder.

"So then I thought some more.", Rainbow said, stroking an imaginary beard. "And even more," she continued. "And then," she said, grabbing her head with her hooves exaggeratedly, "I had an epiphany!"

Now Vinyl was scared. Rainbow had an idea. Normal Rainbow's ideas were always already kind've unagreeable and epic. But this one, Vampire Rainbow's ideas? They would no doubt be insane!

"Ponies already fear what they fear the most very powerfully.", Rainbow said, walking toward Vinyl.

Vinyl blindly slashed the pan, demonstrating her skills with it like a stinja. 

But then the betraying kitchen device flew out of her grasp and slid across the room.

"Well shit," Vinyl said. 

"You mean, well shite?", Octavia asked.

Vinyl rolled her eyes.

"No, she means 'well shit' Octavia. Jeez.", Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, as I was saying before some ponies started their oh so important argument," Rainbow said, "Vinyl are you afraid of what Octavia is?"

"No," Vinyl said, shaking like a leaf in a tornado. Staring at Rainbow, she silently hoped a house would fall on her head.

"Be honest.", Rainbow said, suddenly in front of Vinyl. There they were, eye to eye. Rainbow's hooves reache up to grab Vinyl's face, and hold it in place. Rainbow's red eyes stared into Vinyl's struggling purple ones, and she said the same thing a second time. Vinyl squirmed. "Be honest.", Rainbow said, staring into Vinyl's soft purple irises. 

Vinyl blinked. "Yes.", she said. It was as if she wasn't controlling herself anymore. She had to speak the truth. It was in her. An instinct to not disobey. It was controlling her. She had more to say. More to get out. She was also feeling a bit aroused for some reason, what with all the close contact. Rainbow could easily just lean in and bite her. "I'm afraid that now that I know, she'll come into my room at night and do what vampires do. She'll drink my blood. I won't know, but by the time I do it'll be too late. And then she'll kill me.", Vinyl finished, shuddering.

Rainbow let her shiver a little more, then broke eye contact, and the connection broke. Vinyl gasped, still in shock at what Rainbow could make her do. Rainbow straightened up. "As I was saying," she continued, "ponies already fear what they fear the most very powerfully."

Vinyl looks up at the pegasus, fear clouding her gaze. What was she saying?

"But if something they fear is a certain thing that they could become themselves," Rainbow said, cracking her neck, "then it gets more personal."

Vinyl thought for a moment.

Rainbow waited for Vinyl to understand.

Vinyl's memory was still clouded by Rainbow's compulsion so it took longer to think. But when she realized what Rainbow meant, the results were spectacular. 

Vinyl's eyes widened to a size Canterlot scientists would have named impossible. They were roughly dinner plate sized. Next came her scream. Which I'm pretty sure broke an all time record. At least it was entertaining. 

"No.", Vinyl said. She flat out refused to turn into one of them. 

"Well it's either that, or I kill you.", Rainbow said tactfully.

"I'd rather be killed.", Vinyl said, still managing to hold onto her pride.

"Well too bad, you're going to live.", Rainbow said. 

"What?", Vinyl said, panicking, "No!", she shrieked.

'Wow,' Rainbow thought as she backed away from Vinyl, giving her space to freak out, 'I have never met another pony that was that upset about getting to stay alive.'

"Well you're going to sort've live.", Rainbow said, shrugging haphazardly. "I guess you'd kinda be half dead."

"Oh," Vinyl said, thinking for a moment. "Well I still don't like it."

"See, you're missing the point," Rainbow said, stamping the ground with her hoof indignantly. 

Vinyl flinched.

"It doesn't currently matter what you think.", Rainbow said, the words stinging like alcohol on an open wound. 

"Rainbow," Octavia said, her voice a tone thick with warning.

"Look, Vincenza, one of us is going to turn you. And it's going to be me, or Classy Lassy.", Rainbow said. "And Classy has been waiting to do it for a long time."

"Rainbow Dash," Octavia scolded.

"Fine, fine, I'll stop.", Rainbow said, enjoying the blush that was glowing on the earth pony's cheeks. "But just out of curiosity how long have you wanted to do it?", Rainbow asked.

"Rainbow," Octavia growled, but answered anyway. "Since you were a foal," she mumbled.

"I'm sorry, you're gonna have to speak louder.", Rainbow mocked.

"Since you were a foal," Octavia said, in a now audible tone.

Vinyl was shocked. Her marefriend was a vampire, and kind of a stalker one at that, and then there was Rainbow. Rainbow Dash, whom she'd also thought she'd known. She'd thought that she was awesome, but scary at times, and now she was finding out that it was the opposite. Rainbow Dash was incredibly scary, but awesome at times.

So now she had to choose. Or, did she really? I mean, she knew that Octavia was a vampire, but she wouldn't possibly have let Rainbow turn her, would she? She was about to find out though, because if you can't trust your vampiric marefriend to have your back, who can you trust?

"Not Classy or Sassy.", Vinyl said, feeling sure of herself as she spoke. Even if it was for a completely unfounded and stupid reason. Vinyl fully believed that Octavia would stand up for her.

"I'm sorry, what?", Rainbow said, looking at her, annoyed. 

"Not Classy or Sassy.", Vinyl said, beaming.

It was working, Rainbow was getting pissed. Now after Rainbow snapped, Octy would stop her.

"Okay so you don't want Octavia to turn you, but who's Sassy?", Rainbow asked, still holding on to one more smidgeon of patience and sanity.

"You," Vinyl answered calmly. Those two emotions were blown quickly away as soon as Rainbow heard Vinyl's response.

"Why you little-", Rainbow started to say, but stopped before she blew a fuse. She took a deep breath. "Nevermind, we'll choose for you."

"Octavia, me or you?"

This was the part where Octavia would swoop in and save Vinyl's butt.

But that part never came.

"I frankly don't care as long as it's done," Octavia said without emotion. 

"Octy!", Vinyl gasped. A tear started to slide down her cheek.

"It needs to be done," Octavia said, looking at Vinyl with determined hard eyes. It held hesitation in them, which Vinyl took for a good sign, but then Octavia continued. "Nopony can know about us." And with that her gaze turned hard again, and she turned to leave.

"Okay then, that was cold, I was kind've expecting her to try something stupid like charge behind me and try to tackle me with a-", Rainbow was cut off as Octavia tackled her from behind, holding something.

Upon a closer look, Vinyl realized that it was indeed the frying pan.

Octavia smashed Rainbow into the ground, shouting at Vinyl to run. Even though earth pony vampires had mighty strength, regardless of their past skill, battering Rainbow's skull with the kitchen device did nothing, since Rainbow's strength was increased by about one thousand percent more. Since Octavia as a cellist really didn't have that much arm strength, regardless of her added power, Rainbow was stronger. Rainbow had also been turned about 950 years longer than Octavia.

And it was showing. Octavia hit Rainbow as hard as she could over and over, while Vinyl stood and stared. But Rainbow wasn't even dizzy. No, Rainbow just lay sprawled below Octavia letting her win, and drumming her hoof in the floor impatiently.

"Well!", Octavia said as she saw Vinyl still just standing there, "run!"

Ironic how many vampires had told her to run.

"Are you done yet?", Rainbow asked looking up. 

Her response was a frying pan to the face.

"Wonderful.", Rainbow stated, seeing stars for one second.

Vinyl ran. She tore out of the club. Wheezing and panting, she ran as hard as she could- right into the crowded street so of Ponyville Square. 'That's great, just great', she though sarcastically to herself. Now there would be a massacre. And it would be all her fault.

Starting to turn around, she saw that the crowd had grown around her in ten short seconds. 'Magnificent', she thought, 'just magnificient.'...

"No seriously though, can I follow your marefriend now? We've given her like a two minute head start.", Rainbow said, flipping Octavia over after she had gotten sick of being hit over the head repeatedly with the cursed kitchen device. The aforementioned device spun away from them.

"Quit acting like this is a game. It's not.", Octavia said, struggling to get out from under Rainbow.

"And silently feeding off of her is?", Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow cockily.

"I'm not going to let you hurt her," Octavia said, punching Rainbow on the mouth.

"I'm not hurting her, I'm turning her," Rainbow said, spitting blood. 

"Same thing," Octavia said, somehow managing to keep a level calm voice despite her obvious record breaking rage.

"Oh cmon, lighten up gloomy pants.", Rainbow said as she smirked, punching the earth pony in the face. 

Now it was Octavia's turn to spit blood. "Hard to do that when somepony's trying to kill me.", she said, gritting her teeth.

Rainbow smiled darkly. "My pleasure."

"Curse you, arrogant ass!", Octavia yelled, trying to push Rainbow off. 

"Right back at you, goody two horse shoes.", Rainbow said as she continued to straddle Octavia, not budging an inch.

Octavia groaned. "Okay," she grumbled. "You've clearly won, you've established your dominance, now what?"

Rainbow took a moment to sit on top of the earth pony and think...

'Where do I go now?', Vinyl thought as she was surrounded by the pony horde. 'Then again,' Vinyl thought, 'maybe Rainbow will get confused, and not find me.'..

"Now," Rainbow said, "I'm going to kill you."

"What?", Octavia said, struggling to get out from under the murderous vampire.

"What?", Rainbow asked. "Did you not hear what I just said? I said I'm going to kill you."

Octavia just shook her head in disbelief.

Rainbow took that as a sign that Octavia didn't know what she meant.

So she decided to explain it to her.

"You know, right? I'm going to make you kick the vampiric bucket. I'm going to make you go bye bye. I'm going to make you bite the supernatural dust."

Octavia nodded.

"Good, now that we have that out of the way, we can just finish what we started.", Rainbow said. Her eyes glowed red, her fangs elongated and she said one last thing. "Before I terminate you, I just want you to know, that killing with a stake just seems impersonal. So I'll be draining you dry. Personally." She smiled, the malice lighting up the room.

Octavia tried to struggle from beneath Rainbow, but to no avail. 

Rainbow saw Octavia's desperation, and bit into her, reveling in the taste of vampire blood. It was just so much more, filling. She shivered, nursing the wound with a rough barrage of teeth. Octavia sighed. So this was how it ended. Well this was not the most satisfactory death. But it was definitely not the worst.

It was just very personal.

> Pilot Part Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amassed in a swirling crowd of ponies, Vinyl weaved her way in and out of the tight knit frays, wondering if she could just do this all night long. Maybe then it would make it harder for Rainbow to find her...

Rainbow wiped blood off her mouth for the second time that night. 'Well,' she thought to herself, 'she kind of had it coming.' Getting off of Octavia's limp form, she cracked her neck. 'Time to find Vincenza.'...

There was a door to the right of the circle that lead to a crowded bar. 

'Perfect,' Vinyl thought, 'maybe she won't find me there.'

Vinyl had so many questions. She hadn't even been able to ask them all, because she had been so excited to just escape from Rainbow. The notion was enticing, so enticing, that it had drive her to try to kill Rainbow. Perhaps it was her fault...

Looking down upon Octavia's limp form, Rainbow thought about where to put her. There was always the dumpsters, but that might make enough noise to alert someone of her presence. Then again, if someone came, she could just snap their neck. No problemo. Rainbow grinned.

So, picking Octavia up, Rainbow sped the long dead and drained vampire outside. Outside into an alleyway. Outside into the dumpster. Not sterile, but honestly more than Octavia deserved in her opinion. She dumped her in.

"So you're just going to leave her there?", a voice asked from the shadows. Red eyes flashed, a growl verbally illuminated the darkness. 

"Oh, another problem, great.", Rainbow said, recognizing the voice. Spinning around, she faced the shadows. 

Only to see a a lavender unicorn with a navy blue mane with pink and purple highlights step out of the dark. 

"Saint Sparkle!", Rainbow greeted her with false enthusiasm. "To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you on such a wonderful night in an extremely pleasant dingy alleyway."

"You owe me something but it's not pleasure!", Twilight said, grumbling.

"So you're the good vampire.", Rainbow said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Yeah, I can see it, a good sense of morals, weakness because you refuse to drink pony blood."

"And you're the vampire that's been draining several ponies dry a night.", Twilight said, in stark contrast to Rainbow. Her words held no humor. Rainbow's words were spoken lightly, with dark humor.

"You know you could use a chill pill Sparky.", Rainbow said, smirking.

"Do not call me Sparky!", Twilight said, her voice reaching a dangerous tone.

"What, are ya gonna do something about it?", Rainbow asked dauntingly. "Or would you prefer Saint Sparkle?"

"Neither," Twilight said, serious as always. 

"Well it's no fun if you don't pick one-", Rainbow started to say before Twilight tackled her. Well, tried to tackle her. In actuality, Twilight too was weak from only drinking animal blood to even lay a hoof on Rainbow, so ultimately, Twilight ended up grabbing thin air and crashing headfirst into the wall. 

"Ouch," Rainbow said laughing. "That looks like it hurt. You know it wouldn't have if you would've just drank pony blood like the rest of the normal vampires."  

Rainbow took a few moments to think of a good burn. "Now would Fluttershy think of you hurting all those poor little animals?"

Twilight grimaced. "Everything's a joke with you, isn't it Dash? But wherever you go, people die."

"Well, that's a given.", Rainbow said, bristling. 

"You can't hurt these ponies, Rainbow."

"Well somebody's ballsy today. Not that female ponies have balls but you get what I mean, don't you?", Rainbow grinned as Twilight's blush threatened to turn her face into a tomato. 

"Of course you do," Rainbow continued, "and you also got it when Midnight turned us, remember?"

Twilight set her jaw. "That's why you're acting like this, isn't it?"

"Does it matter?", Rainbow asked, brushing it off casually.

"You were really upset about that weren't you.", Twilight said somberly.

"You lead me right to him!", Rainbow yelled. 

"I didn't know any better.", Twilight said, trying to stay calm amidst all the regrets in her head.

"Oh yes. Of course you didn't know better! Because you knew he was normal the second you gazed into his freaking eyes and saw that they were red!", Rainbow said, punching the brick wall and leaving an indent. She turned to look at Twilight, eyes swirling in a mixture of magenta and dark red.

"Okay, I'll admit to that.", Twilight said, then took a deep breath.

"And then you had the audacity to let him turn me too!", Rainbow said, walking over to the dumpster.

Continuing in an eerily calm voice, Rainbow carried on. "Rather than warning me, you let me wait, for an hour until I finally saw it, and by then it was too late, wasn't it? You saw it go down Sparky. You saw everything." Rainbow's eyes burned into Twilight's eyes, and for one second she saw a little glimmer of pain in them before it was flushed out by the rage.

"And then, after it was over, you told me to embrace it. Whatever the buck that meant. Oh I was turned into a bloodsucking night parasite, whoopee!", Rainbow said sarcastically.

"Well let me tell you something Sparky, when you were first turned, you embraced the night to its fullest. Oh yeah, you went all out! 10 ponies a night. I mean I get that you were inexperienced, but wow, could you drink! And then to make it even better, you tried to coerce me into it. I mean, it was already new, it was already creepy. But hey, you made it work somehow. I guess. I mean you've grown into a very impressionable 1000 something vampire. Good for you."

Twilight struggled to get up. 

"I had a future, but now, since I've taken your advice, I've found a new future.", Rainbow said smiling.

Then all of a sudden, Rainbow was nose to nose with Twilight. "Making you pay", Rainbow finished. And with a solid smirk, she threw Twilight across the alley to smash into a wall.

Twilight groaned.

"Until next time Sparky.", was called out behind Rainbow as she strolled away.

'Now, to find Vincenza.'...

In her haste, Rainbow had forgotten about Octavia. Luckily for her, she could still be saved. But she would have to be saved a different way than most. Nevertheless, Twilight picked herself off the ground where she had fallen, and started to hobble towards the dumpster. Picking Octavia up, she walked home with her in her arms, ready to nurse the earth pony back to health.

Making her way through the crowd, Vinyl tried to keep her beating heart at bay. Now since she wasn't by Rainbow, she could think more clearly. She'd must've been wandering in the crowd for a half hour. Rainbow should have found her by now. Unless she wanted to make her anxious... Vinyl shook her head. It had already happened once, it wouldn't happen again. Making her way calmly to the door on the right in the bustling circle, she trotted at a brisk pace, much unlike her pursuer. And she failed to notice the onlooker staring at her neck.

Rainbow casually strolled through the streets, looking for Vincenza. Keeping her eyes peeled for her while walking with a purpose, was no daunting task, but she did get some curious looks, no doubt encouraged by her clopping rather than hovering. If only the ponies could hear what she heard. Then they would stare. And probably run away screaming. 'Where are you Vincenza?', she thought. 'I've got all night and the rest of eternity, I'll wait you out.'

Pushing through the hubbub, Vinyl trotted at a fast pace, and reached the handle of the door. It glistened like silver. And was flecked with red. From afar she could not see the sign, and by then it was too late. She had not realized just how isolated the door was from the rest of the ponies, and missed the loud boisterous chatter. Yes, she was isolated, and had not seen the sign. Those were her two first mistakes. Her second was listening to the voice that called to her from the shadows, and her third was screaming when the mysterious stranger pulled her into the darkness...

'Where are you?', Rainbow wondered again. But her hearing picked up a scream. A scream that had no doubt came from the white unicorn. Despite her ill intent, Rainbow was troubled by the idea of someone hurting Vincenza, and so she took off flying toward the haunting sound, leaving a rainbow trail in her wake, because no matter how threatening and dangerous or dark she was, she was still a pony in Ponyville, and little ponies like her with rainbow manes, and pretty blue pelts left little rainbow trails. 

"You should not touch this door.", the voice said in a rough, unintelligible drawl, while holding onto her foreleg. The pressure of the stranger's grip combined with the low menacing tone elicited a yelp from the pony, as she tried to break free. 

"Would you stop fighting?", the voice asked, clearly a stallion. 

Vinyl tried to see who he was, and of course his eyes flashed.

"Well of course, another vampire. That's just great.", Vinyl verbally bit back impulsively.

The stallion was clearly not used to this type of attitude, but nonetheless handled the situation with grace.

"You will not address me that way", he said, greatly offended by Vinyl's aptitude for brashness.

"Yeah? Whatever, vampire.", Vinyl said, cursing her situation, to tired of being pursued by evil blood sucking parasites to even care that she was probably about to die. 

Actually, yeah, at least this way she would die and not be turned.

"I am not a vampire!", he said, stomping his hoof. "I am clearly a shapeshifter. Changeling if you may. I most certainly do not feed on blood."

"But your eyes flashed,", Vinyl asked, choosing to argue, even though she had clearly learned nothing last time; that arguing with a supernatural creature must be the stupidest thing possible.

"My eyes flashed green, not red. And I don't even feed on anything. Changelings used to feed on love, but we've evolved. And you would know the difference if you stopped and took time to listen rather than being so impulsive all the time.", he muttered, after huffing at the unicorn's inferiority. "In fact, you're rather a lot like my friend, what was her name again?" The so-called shapeshifter rubbed his chin. 

Vinyl had a hunch. And it wasn't a good one. "Her name wasn't by chance, Rainbow Dash, was it?", Vinyl asked, afraid to hear the answer.

"Yes, yes it was.", the shapeshifter said, smiling in the darkness.

"And, how do you know her exactly?", Vinyl asked, half anticipating, half dreading the answer.

"Well, we met a couple years ago I believe. She knew me when I was merely 20 years old.", he said, with a thoughtful tone to his voice one would only get if they were really thinking about what they were saying.

"And how old are you now?", Vinyl asked, trying to lighten the quite literally dark mood.

"About 80, why do you ask young mare?"

"I have a name ya know.", she said impatiently. "And," she added, "just trying to make time pass before my doom gets here."

But the stallion didn't have time to process that before a voice appeared in the calm darkness.

"Heard my name", they said through the darkness. 

And with a light tone, the shapeshifter addressed the speaker. "Ah, it's been a long time."

"Yes. Yes it has.", Rainbow replied back, keeping her patience intact, if only to talk to an old friend.

"How are you doing?", the shapeshifter asked, sounding as if he was genuinely curious as to what Rainbow had been up to.

"You know, revenge on Saint Sparkle, making sure I get my fill."

"That doesn't sound like you.", the shapeshifter said, surprise hinting in his voice.

"Well it's me now. If you'd be so nice as to hand Vincenza over to me, please.", Rainbow said, being very courteous, even if venom secretly laced her facade of kindness. 

The shapeshifter went to hand Vincenza over, but stopped trying when he realized that the pony was shaking. And her comment about doom earlier definitely helped in his decision.

"I don't think she would Iike to go with you.", the shapeshifter said. 

"Well she's been running for too long, she has to."

"I don't think she should."

Rainbow, with her special vision, could see the worry lines painted on his face, reluctance between doing the right thing, and pleasing an old friend.

"That's not your decision.", she said finally, breaking from her observation of the shapeshifter.

"And it's not your decision either."

Vinyl was still held within the stallion's steel grip, and was getting more frantic though. She could feel him loosening his grip bit by bit though, hesitant to hand her over to her doom.

"I'm going to get her either way", Rainbow said, her words projected with deadly accuracy, aimed right at the stallion's choice. 

It hit. "I'm sorry.", he said, unnerved by Rainbow's drastic change in tone. 

"Don't be.", she said, her eyes flashing red.

"I'll do better next time", he tried, a hopeful tint to his words.

"See, that would be great ", Rainbow said, perfectly casual, even though she was about to bring forth the words that would condemn him to his ever nearing suspicion. "If there was a next time." 

And with that, she rushed forward, ready to take what she had heard screaming. And lo and behold, what she had been ready to take, had disappeared into the night...

"You are going to be the third pony tonight.", Rainbow muttered. 

The stallion would have asked what she had meant by that, but the answer was unbelievably clear when she dropped into a hunting stance. He was going to be the third thing tonight, that was killed. 

"I don't want to fight you", he had tried to reason.

"Well I want to fight you", she had snarled back. 

He had sighed, but before he had said another word, she had sprung, and was on top of him, tearing into his flesh, draining him dry embarrassingly fast.

He transformed into a lion, clawing at her fur, causing cringe inducing gashes, but it all just healed. He silently damned her healing abilities, and promised that he would win this. So he transformed into a bird. And he tried to fly away. And he succeeded. Almost. He was caught after just a few seconds up, forgetting that she could fly as well, and could track him, as the blood droplets were found laying on the dirty ground as well as the coppery scent of his demise. It was wretchedly hopeless, but he had made himself a promise. And he never broke promises. 

Ever.

And so he fought and he turned into a Saddle Arabia elephant. But he couldn't shake her. It just gave her more space to latch on. And he eventually couldn't think with all his blood almost gone. So he just turned into one last time thing. And that was a pony that had a coat as black as pure darkness, and a mane and tail as red as blood spilled at midnight. 

And had Rainbow seen what he was, she would have mutilated him. For he had turned into the instrument of her demise, the cause of her hatred for, quote, 'Saint Sparkle.' He had turned into Midnight...

And that was his silent taunt as she drained him. When he died as the sun was rising, Rainbow looked at the last thing he had turned into, and she silently screamed. Her mind racked with unfelt sobs and emotions. She did indeed mutilate him, and she even got a wonderful, horrible idea. Wouldn't it be terrible if Sparky thought Midnight had died? It would of course put off Vincenza for a while, but she could afford to put the D.J on chance. She would get her eventually. She had all night and all of eternity...
-----------------------
Hobbling away into the night with Octavia on her back, Twilight's mind spin. How could she be so daft! Of course Dash would've been able to dodge her! I mean, she could heal abnormally fast, like all other vampires, but she had heard what Rainbow had said just as much as you had, reader.

"I'm not going to be able to heal fast enough to defend anybody from Rainbow.", she said to herself.

She processed that for a minute. Then she kicked a loose pebble. It bounced away, and she cursed.

Then she cursed again for cursing.

"Flappy Lips!", she said to herself as she made her way home.

"Who am I kidding?", she continued. "I haven't been able to defend anybody against Rainbow so far anyway! An injury is just an excuse to get beat again."

She continued to stumble, and mumble incoherently to herself in little burst of self aggravation, until she noticed that she was grinding her teeth. 

"Calm down," she said, to nopony but herself.

"It's okay," she said to nopony but herself.

And then she stopped for a second and did a breathing exercise that her brother's wife had taught her. Cadance. Yes, her brother's wife had a nice name.

And a nice neck, her vampiric thoughts included, barging in.

No no no, she told herself. I won't feed on Cadance. I refuse to feed on Cadance.

I will never go so far as to feed on Cadance.

And so she continued her jaunty walk, mumbling to herself and sometimes the pony on her back, even though the pony couldn't hear her.

"What do you think she'll end up doing?", Twilight asked the unconscious cellist on her back. Normally the unicorn would be galloping full speed back to her house, but in her state she quite simply couldn't. Nonetheless, she kept at an admirably intense pace.

"I mean, she could do anything and nopony will be able to stop her!", unless I drank pony blood again. Twilight said the last part of that sentence in her head, for if Octavia were to wake up on her back would would she say about being taken away by a pony who drank ponies?

"But what about what happened last time?", she asked herself, her thoughts frazzling her mind.

---------Flashback to about 1000 years ago

It was a rainy, gloomy day outside. Mist surrounded the house that the stallion was in. Galloping in, running toward the light in the one room. The light, the one candle that burned in that room was his one chance to escape her, the thing that had followed him. It and started out fine, in fact it had started out as a nice quaint birthday party.

He had entered the house when she had beckoned for him to. She had looked homely. A purple unicorn with a little penchant for reading books and organizing couldn't hurt anypony could she? If your answer is yes, you're wrong. 

He should've pulled her out into the sunlight, made the bright beams dry out her skin nice and painfully. But instead, he went inside to her.

"Welcome," she said with a cheery tone of voice. "Please enjoy yourself." She flashed him a smile. A seemingly genuine, non-predatory smile.

He followed the sounds of the party to a homey, comfy room lined with tables full of refreshments and food.

The carpet was blood red, but he had jus thought of it as regular carpet. He had not thought of it as once off white carpet now dyed with the blood of ponies.

The walls were covered in paintings with red splotches on them. And he had just thought of it as merely an addition to the warm colored color scheme, but he was wrong. He was so wrong. I mean, it's not like they were splattered with ponies' life juice or anything...

The room was abuzz, and darker, faded ponies mingled with lighter, more colorful ponies alike. He had never seen such ponies as the darker faded ones. Their manes looked as if faded by age, and their coats looked as if they had grown darker year by year, but they all looked perfectly fine. They all looked smart, fit, and ready for anything.

He made himself at home amongst the throngs of guests. He chatted for a bit, moved on to the next group. After an hour, though, the apparent special guest of honor hadn't showed up. It was very unlike Rainbow to be late for a party. Especially her party. The ponies in the room wondered feverishly, where was that prismatic wonder to be found?

But in a short time before the ponies exploded with curiosity, the door opened, and Twilight walked in.

She made her way to the right side of the room, through the masses of ponies, , until she was standing on a podium in the right corner of the room, then tapped the speaker attached to it, and cleared her throat.

The ponies quieted down, knowing that whatever the hostess had to say, that it would probably answer their questions.

"I guess you're all wondering about a lot of stuff right now.", she said, and tapped her hoof on the podium.

The ponies at attention all nodded, their necks bobbing up and down, all looking so delicious. Twilight licked her lips.

They would taste good, so good.

But with all the blood Twilight had been collecting, she was at peak intellectual performance, and she refused to deviate from her perfect plan. Of course, if this plan didn't work, she had plan B. She Ben had a plan Z!

Imagine how much more powerful she could be with all these ponies' blood.

She stopped thinking about it to prevent her eyes from turning red.

"As you ponies probably didn't know, this is in fact a surprise party. It's why the guest of honor isn't here yet. In fact, she doesn't even know! So I need you to hide and stay quiet. She'll be here in exactly one minute."

Then, she flashed one last smile, and flashed off the podium to teleport behind a plant.

All the guests hid, and silently waited for the pony they were celebrating to walk through the door.

They were all very excited, but for different reasons.

The darker, faded ponies were excited because they were starving, and the lighter more colorful ponies were excited to please a friend!

58 seconds, they said silently, scrambling for places.

47, they counted internally.

30 now, they thought, stretching.

23, they kept track of it, leaping to better hiding places.

Until they got to ten.

And then they got to five.

5, they thought, and heard the knob turning to the room.

Fortunately for Twillight, they were all to much anticipating the coming event to wonder how she knew when Rainbow was going to walk in the room.

4, they thought, seeing a hoof step through the door.

3, they tracked, seeing a body enter the room.

2, they counted with baited breath, as she fumbled and flipped on the light switch, and 1, they thought, exhaling as she turned on the light, and they shouted "Surprise!"

Rainbow recoiled in shock, but once she saw the Happy Birthday Rainbow Dash sign, she smiled anyway. It was a fake smile, but the longer she dragged this out the less ponies had to die. She knew from experience. She silently cursed Twilight.

She had pulled this in all the other towns since they had been together. She had said it was Rainbow's birthday to lure them all here, and then invited all of her vampires over for dinner. An added bonus was that each time she could try repeatedly to convince Rainbow to give in to the blood lust. But guess, what it would never work. And each time, ponies died.

She said a fake "Wow, thanks guys!", as if she were in shock and then took a quick count of all the ponies here. Fifty in total. Thirty colorful, fifty dull. The dull were vampires, the colored were normal ponies.

"You shouldn't have Twilight.", Rainbow said, narrowing her eyes, and plastering a happy expression across her face that looked entirely real to everypony but Twilight.

Twilight knew she was faking.

"Well at least there's plenty to eat," Twilight said cheerily. "Unless of course you're not hungry?" The last sentence of course had another meaning that Rainbow picked up on rather quickly.

"Why don't we eat outside?", Rainbow said, "It's such a lovely day. And surely you wouldn't object to the birthday mare." She knew, of course, that Twilight's coat still hadn't gotten used to the sun after several months as a vampire. She knew that. And that was her plan.

Twilight grimaced for a second, but remained calm. "No thank you. Rainbow, if you would like to do that, feel free, but I'm going to eat inside, where it's nice and cool."

Twilight had passed the first obstacle. But would she pass the second?

"We could stay in the shade!", Rainbow said, giving Twilight her best, please-do-this-for-me-puppy-dog-face-especially-since-you're-going-to-eat-all-of-my-guests face.

Twilight seemed to hesitate. 

"Who here wants to eat with Sparky?", Rainbow asked peppily.

Most of the ponies in the room raised their hooves.

"C'mon Sparky, it'll be fun. Just like old times. But don't eat to much, you might get a stomach ache."

Twilight rolled her eyes at the meaning behind Rainbow's words, but managed to make it look playful in front of the guests.

"All right Birthday mare, you win.", Twilight said jokingly, as they both moved toward the food line. 

But when nopony else was looking, they gave each other death glares. 

Twilight's was filled with the promise of death, and a hint of insanity, and Rainbow's was filled with a saint like quality of I'm-going-to-do-my-best-to-protect-these-ponies-from-you.

When they had both almost physically burned the other's eyeballs out, they stopped, and moved forward in line.

But when they made it outside with all the guests, it wasn't what Rainbow had expected. The guests were sitting down, chatting idly, and peacefully, but the sky...

Unfortunately, Rainbow's plan was flawed, and it turned out that Twilight would only have to use her first plan, because in the hour that they had spent waiting for Rainbow, the sun had set. No more sun, no more burns. No more burning, no more limits for killing. No more limits for killing, and no place is safe for the unfortunate normal equines at the party.

The vampires would have no boundaries, and no area would the average ponies ever be safe from the vampires. No area.

Rainbow gulped and trained around to see Twilight staring at her with a maniacal, almost dream-like intensity. "Ready for dinner?", she asked.

Rainbow shook her head curtly, her undead heart pounding in her chest.

"Don't do it Sparky.", she whispered, narrowing her eyes. "Or I'll-"

"-You'll what?", Twilight cut in smirking, "you'll defend all these helpless ponies?"

"Yes. I will.", Rainbow said, pushing her muzzle up against Twilight's muzzle.

"We'll see," she said, and then turned around, waving the little bell that had caused the deaths of many ponies in many towns.

She rang it three times.

The duller ponies looked up from their food that they didn't really have an appetite for.

Their eyes flashed. A chorus of screams echoed across the lawn, as ponies young and old alike ran for their lives from their 'friends.'

Twilight laughed darkly. "Will you defend them now?", she asked, turning around, cackling as she watched the scene unfold.

"I'll try," Rainbow said, preparing to fly in and do what she could.

"Wrong answer," Twilight said rolling her eyes, and with a twisted grin, she pulled a pony that was hiding behind the tree with her magic in between them.

She was merely a filly. She was orange, with purplish pink hair, and big pink eyes. She looked up at Rainbow with fear. 

"Stop it Twilight, this is sick. Leave the kid alone.", Rainbow said, narrowing her eyes. And they glowed red until they hurt Twilight to look at.

"You want me to leave her? Fine then. I'm sure somepony will come pick her up eventually", Twilight said with a sick grin, raising her up in the air, and preparing to drop her.

And drop her she did, but she dropped her right into the  arms of Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow dived onto the ground, and slid below, catching the filly, and flying back to an upright position.

"She is a filly! She doesn't deserve this! And she certainly doesn't deserve you!", Rainbow shouted.

Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Hey listen Sparky!", Rainbow said shouting, a little bit of her future darker self showing in those magenta eyes, "you may be smarter, but I'm faster and stronger. I know that without pony blood I'm not as good as I could be, but I'm still good enough to protect her."

Rainbow hovered victoriously, clutching the orange fur ball in her forelegs. "Leave this filly alone!"

For a moment, Twilight could see through her drainer instincts, and really see what she had done to the little mare huddled in Rainbow's legs, scared for her life. She also backed away from the rainbow haired mare, because she was right, she really was more powerful physically.

But she did have an advantage.

"You won't do anything with that little fuzzball in your possession. You're to noble to risk her life for damaging mine.", Twilight said triumphantly.

"You say that as if it's a bad thing," Rainbow said, shaking her head, then looking down at the scared creature in her possession, and flashing up into the night sky with her signature trail behind her, and a little equine in her legs.

------------------Back to the present

"No." Twilight said to herself. "It's out of the question. Never, never ever again."

She hadn't realize it, but by the time she had finished with her guilt flashback, she was standing, and staring blankly at the door to her house.

-------------

The next day, Rainbow whistled as she went through town. 

Whispers surrounded her moving form. She could hear them all of course; with her vampiric abilities strengthening her abilities that had once been satisfactory before, she could hear every word that they were saying. And then some.

"Dash is back in town.", they whispered.

"She looks so much like a pony I once knew," Zecora mumbled.

"I swear I knew somepony who looked exactly like her 30 years ago. But that can't be, right? How could she have stayed alive?", a pony that Dash remembered as Cheerilee whispered. 

"Hey? Hello?", a young colt who she thought was named Featherweight said as he ran up to her. 

"Yes," she replied, patiently. 

"Can I just ask you some questions?", Featherweight asked, the adorable gap in his teeth moving as he talked.

"Why not?", she asked agreeably, figuratively of course. Because unless they weren't about what she thought, and Vincenza had in fact blabbed rumors, she was safe. But just to be sure...

"Really? Yay!", he shouted enthusiastically.

"Uh huh," she said absentmindedly as she noticed Vincenza making her way through the hordes. 

"So, ready to get started?", he asked, practically bouncing on his hooves like Pinkie Pie.

"Sure squirt," she said, hesitantly sitting down on the bench he had taken a seat on already, and getting into a comfortable position, before announcing, "Ask away."

"Is it true that you've been around for about 1,000 years?", he asked, quill poised to write her answer down, eyes staring at the paper.

Her mouth feel open in blind shock. Had Vincenza really told him? If so how many people had she told? She closed her mouth when he looked up from his notebook, waiting for an answer.

"What do you mean by that?", she asked, trying not to look at him too suspiciously.

"I mean, is it true that your family name, the Dashs, have been around for several hundred years?"

"Well of course," she said, regaining her composure. "We Dashs last a long time. No matter what ponies do, they can't seem to get rid of us." She smirked, in her usual cocky manner, and waved at Vincenza as she stared at her. 

"So why did you come back to Ponyville?", Featherweight asked, looking up at her with those questioning eyes.

"I came back because I wanted to. It's my life anyway, I'll do what I want.", she said, shrugging nonchalantly, as she looked at Vincenza who was still staring at her out of the corner of her eye.

"Right," Featherweight said trailing off. "That was vague.", he said, writing it down.

"Sorry, I'm just a little distracted.", she said, apologizing sheepishly.

"Anyway," Featherweight said, continuing. "Is it true that you're related to Twilight Sparkle?", he said, the quill poised perfectly above the next sheet of notebook paper.

"Ya know, I actually have no idea.", she said.

"Uh huh," Featherweight said dejectedly, dropping the quill and notebook.

"Ugh," Rainbow said, mentally berating herself for being so distracted.

"What?", Featherweight said impatiently.

"Maybe Twilight can answer your questions. She was always good with history."

At this suggestion, Featherweight's face lit up.

"And if you want something really juicy, you could really just ask her what her family has done the past few hundred years. Of course, you could just ask her in the weird way you asked me in. In fact, she responds especially well if you ask if she's been around for about a thousand years.", Rainbow continued. Featherweight was confused, but a scoop was a scoop.

So he headed over to Twilight's place.

And Rainbow had a nice long stare match with Vincenza from across the street, just playing innocent until she could get her in an alley or something...
-------------------------------
Rainbow was staring at her weirdly because she was staring at Rainbow weirdly. 'Was it a dream?', she asked herself.

The last thing she remembered was stumbling into her bed that night, and feeling the dried blood on her neck. Then she had drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

Unless the uneasy sleep was in fact the night she had had with the pegasus? Either way it was confusing. She had to talk with Rainbow about it. But something in the gaze they held each other at told the other to stay away. On purpose or not, they both communicated that message to the other. She was a confrontational pony normally, but this? This was too much. Nevertheless, she was about to walk across the street to meet her, when she broke her gaze, and when she looked again, Rainbow was nowhere to be found...

---------------------------

The colt was on her doorstep and had just asked her a very personal question. Keep in mind that Twilight had been sleep depraved, worrying about Dash's plans as much as was equinely possible, and Twilight was not of sound mind. No, not at all.

But nonetheless, she had seen him through the peephole, and just to be polite, had let him in. Conveniently forgetting about the other discomforts she was exposing him to. *Cough*, morning breath, *cough*.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?", she asked, trying not to let her eye twitch too much.

Featherweight sighed, today was not his day. "I said, is it true that you've been around 1,000 years?"

Twilight's eyes widened, and she started saying "Nonononononononono!" She looked quite frazzled, so Featherweight shut the door quietly, and walked away slowly, so as not to startle the pony who's sanity was slowly crumbling away...

Featherweight was not having a successful day.

---------------------------------

Vinyl continued to stand by the side of the street, scanning for Rainbow.

At last, after five minutes, she gave up, and was about to leave when she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

It was Rainbow.

Vinyl squeaked.

"Woah!", Rainbow said, "didn't mean to scare you, just wanted to get your attention.", she said backing up.

"Dash, we need to talk about what happened last night.", Vinyl said, meeting Rainbow's reluctant gaze.

"Oh right.", Rainbow said, wincing.

Vinyl was puzzled. If it were real, she would've thought that Dash would have tackled her in rage by now, or her eyes would've turned red, or she would've yelled out a solid no. But none of that happened.

"Hey listen," Rainbow said grinning, and embarrassed. "I'm sorry for leaving you in that alleyway." She averted her eyes.

"Oh, that's what this is about?", Vinyl asked. "Cause for a second there I thought that you were-", she said, cutting herself off. "And they were-", she said again, before giving up completely. "Nevermind," she exclaimed, frustrated.

"Okay," Rainbow said, giving her a you're-crazy-but-I'm-still-your-friend-so-I'll-play-along-look. "Wanna go get lunch?", she asked.

Vinyl hesitated.

"C'mon, Scratch, we need to talk this out!", Rainbow said, putting her hooves on the D.J's shoulders and shaking her.

Well at least she wasn't calling her Vincenza.

"Okay," Vinyl said, finally relenting.

Rainbow started to walk away.

Vinyl cleared her throat.

"Well why are ya just standing there?", Rainbow asked, a joke evident in her tone, turning around.

Vinyl shrugged in confusion.

"C'mon," Rainbow said. "We're going to Sugarcube Corner, we're going to talk through this, and we're going to get last night sorted out! Oh, and I'm paying."

Vinyl just gawked.

"Well are ya just gonna stay there?", Rainbow asked, smirking.

----------------------------

The place Rainbow had taken her to was Berry Punch's Bar and Grill. And it was their lucky day, because they were being served by the manager herself.

"Oh Rainbow Dash!", Berry called out in a drunken stupor, as she stumbled over to their table.

"Berry," Rainbow said with a good natured tone, and a clap to Berry's back.

"Oof!", Berry stumbled, then righted herself. "What can I start you gals off with?", she asked with a little tipsy note in her voice, and both forelegs on the table to keep from falling drunkenly on the floor. 

"Could you give us some time to order?", Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow. "We just got here, ya drunken mare."

"Of course," Berry said lightly and then stumbled away, mumbling to herself, as every drunken mare should. Not.

Rainbow shook her head as Berry ambled away, pecking at the ground with her hooves. As if she were walking on clouds. Which she was not. But who is to say whether she knew that or not?

"So what's going on with ya?", Rainbow asked Vinyl, as she squirmed in her seat, trying to get comfortable.

"It's good. Everything's fine.", Vinyl replied, looking troubled.

"For the last time, I am so sorry that I left you in that alleyway. You must be so scared right now. Ooh. You must've been so scared then. Did they get you? What happened to your neck?" Rainbow pelted her with questions. When she noticed that Vinyl looked overwhelmed, she stopped and apologized. "Sorry.", she said sheepishly.

"So what are you getting?", Vinyl asked, eager to change the subject.

"Oh, I'm actually not that that hungry.", Rainbow said, stifling a yawn.

Vinyl saw this as her chance, "Are you thirsty?", she asked.

"Yeah, why?", Rainbow asked coolly.

Vinyl gulped, "nothing!", she said nervously.

"No, what is up with you?", Rainbow asked, peering at her intensely. She could swear that she saw a flash of red but that was crazy, wasn't it?

"Are you hungry?", Rainbow asked, looking at her weird, as if she were the crazy one.

"Yeah- no- I don't know!", Vinyl said, freaking out.

"Scratch, you are clearly not okay," Rainbow said reaching over and touching Vinyl's hoof lightly.

"I can't do this. This is just too weird!", Vinyl exclaimed, and ran out of the bar.

Rainbow got up and chased after her.

"Wait, Scratch!", Rainbow yelled as she ran, terrified, out of the doors of the safety of the loud clanging silverware, and blaring music.

It was just too risky. She didn't wanna take that chance, in fact, she didn't even wanna know. She didn't care. At least that's what she thought. But she would've been safe that night if she would've just stayed with the blaring music and clanging silverware.

Vinyl kept running, and Rainbow flew after her.

"Scratch!", Rainbow called out from behind her, she was gaining.

Vinyl kept pushing herself. Run, she told herself, run as if your life depends on it, because it does.

"C'mon Scratch, would ya just let me explain?", Rainbow yelled as she pretended to be winded from the pursuit on hoof.

"Nope!", Vinyl said, panicking extensively. "Nope nope nope nope nope!"

"You sound like Big Mac," Rainbow huffed. 

"No, I don't.", Vincenza yelled back. Sweating from the exertion of the race on hoof, she was beginning to break down.

She didn't know how much more of this she could take. 

"Vinyl! Just stop running!", Rainbow said, starting to fly after Vincenza.

"No, no I won't!", Vincenza yelled back. Her legs were burning, but she knew what could have been real, what Rainbow could be, and she wasn't willing to sacrifice her personal safety for her physical wellbeing.

Vincenza ran, and ran. And she ran some more, until she just couldn't go anymore. But her mind was just, just screaming "No! No! Run! Run!"

It was fight or flight, and the muscles she had gained spinning beats didn't nearly match up to the athlete's strength Rainbow had.

Rainbow was getting sick of this. She was going to take care of Midnight's corpse first, but this was stupid and she was impatient.

"Vincenza!", she shouted. "Vincenza Scratch. You want the answer to your questions? Well here's that one answer is that you seem to be so scared of finding! Last night happened. And I'm going to get you."

Luckily for Rainbow, nobody had heard her death threat except for her target, because Vincenza had a habit of picking alleyways rather than open, safe, and busy streets.

Vincenza had her answer. She was screaming in her head, and her voice was getting hoarse. "It was real", she mumbled to herself. "It was real."

But wait, she wasn't just screaming in her head, she was screaming in real life. She was really screaming.

She squealed, and picked up the pace, only to come to a dead end.

"Don't worry, I'll make it easy for you," a menacing voice said from the only exit. A dark shadow, with glowing impenetrable blood red eyes, staring at her soul. 

And then, in a flash, Rainbow Dash was on her, latched onto her neck, feeling the blood rush into her mouth, and in a blind frenzy, she grabbed Vinyl's neck in a tighter position, and turned her around. Rainbow unattached from the wound just long enough to run her tongue over it. It made Vincenza shiver, and Rainbow laughed.

"It'll all be over soon, don't worry Vincenza.", Rainbow said, looking at her in the eyes. "You'll be done before long. Any last words?"

Vinyl just made an "Mmph" sound.

"Didn't think so.", Rainbow said, pressing Vinyl up against the wall into an even tighter position.

Rainbow bent her neck back, and let her fangs pierce so deep into her jugular that she was surprised Vincenza didn't shriek. 

It was rather impressive how Vinyl could keep her emotions so silent.

If Rainbow were in her position, she would've kicked the vampire several times by now.

When Vincenza had almost been completely drained, when she was on the precipice of disaster, Rainbow forced open the pony's mouth to force feed her some of her own blood. Once Rainbow was sure that Vincenza had taken in enough, she tilted her head upward so that the blood rushed down her throat.

Then she headed home, Vinyl in tow.

Meanwhile at the house Rainbow and Twilight shared, Twilight was in a deep restless sleep.

Rainbow layed Vinyl down in her bedroom, on the bed, beside her, but headed outside to do something first.

She walked around the house, unlocked the cellar door, and took out the shapeshifter that had last transformed into Midnight. She took one look at his mangled form, and decided that that would be enough to freak out Twilight. Then she got a stake, and a nail, and found a nice part of the house where Twilight would surely see her mangled 'love interest'. 

'Oh yeah,' Rainbow thought, 'this'll work.'

So she set to work nailing in the corpse, so it looked purposely like he was murdered. Then she jutted the stake through his heart for extra effect. And when she was done, she looked at her work with a satisfied smirk. This would have Saint Sparkle screaming for days.

At least she was satisfied, until she's heard the whimper of a filly behind her, who was orange, with purplish pink hair, and looked at her with fear in her eyes...
> Season One, Episode Two, Discovery 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The filly stared back at the mare she'd thought she'd knew. The fear in her eyes kept increasing to impossible lengths. What would you do if the pony that was once your protector turned into the thing; acted like the thing, that almost killed you?

Run. At least, that's what Scootaloo did. She ran. And she ran some more. She expected Rainbow Dash to chase after her. So she kept running, knowing that, no, thinking that the once noble vampire was behind her, nipping at her heels. And she ran away from the house, she ran away from the pony she had waited to find for 998 years...

Flashback 998 years ago........

Today was the day. Today was the day Rainbow Dash was leaving. Rainbow was the one who had protected her, and what would she do now that she was leaving, now that she was as good as gone? The small filly ground her teeth in frustration as she saw the house that Rainbow and Twilight had owned for 2 straight years. That house had held terror, and mischief. And all awful memories of torture and all the times Twilight had almost gotten her. Twilight. She said that name with fear and conviction. Twilight was the one that had tried to kill her, smash her skull into a thousand pieces without batting an eye. 

Rainbow had always been her savior, and Rainbow had been her relief from the mean colts that prowled the streets in the dead of night. Scootaloo lived on the streets, as it was well known that she was an orphan. Everypony wanted to help, but nopony had the time, the room, or the money. And the ones that did were unwilling.

They thought that she might be scarred from living in the house with the two murderous mares, rumored to be cousins, with rumors flying around them like a class one hurricane. 

They thought that she might be tainted from the time spent with the pegasus and the unicorn, as it was never possible to tell which one was the good one, and which one was bad. Because nopony who investigated made it out alive. 

So as she watched Rainbow leave that day, fly out of her life probably forever, she made a promise to herself. As she watched Rainbow prepare for takeoff, to leave this town forever, she thought up a promise.

And as the rainbow-maned mare wrapped her hooves around her, she promised herself that she would find this one supernatural protector no matter how long, and be wrapped in her hooves again. She would be muzzled goodnight, and fed and loved by this pony. And she wouldn't stop until she was reunited with her. 

She lived in a box, with pitying glances from all who surrounded her. She had never had a good role model. She had never had anypony tuck her in. She had never had anypony care for her, defend her as much as the pegasus had. And she hadn't even known her! Scootaloo wiped away a tear, about to drop down her cheek and disappear into the air in a short while, like her idol.

"Rainbow," she said softly, as she gazed up into those cerise eyes.

"Yeah squirt?", Rainbow said in return as she looked down, trying not to cry.

"I'll find you. I promise, one day I'll find you.", Scootaloo replied. And then she buried her face in Rainbow's chest and sobbed.

It wasn't fair. Why was it that the only thing that had ever made her feel right in this Celestia forsaken world had to be taken away from her?

Her, of all fillies! It could have been Prim Proper, the jewelmaker's daughter, but no, here the universe was, punishing her for something she hadn't done. What had she done? Tried to have a normal life, check. Tried to open up and be loved, check. And look where that had gotten her! Bawling into her one light in this world's chest? Check.

Sobs racked her spent body. Days of anxiety about this moment left her body in the form of tears, splattering on Rainbow's fur.

"I don't want you to leave," she whispered, her words muffled by Rainbow's fur.

"I know," Rainbow said softly. "I know squirt."

She looked up. Her idol was crying, surely she could cry too. So she showed her face, no longer ashamed because her idol was crying as well, and then they held each other in a tight hug, for as far as they both knew then, that could've been the last time they would see each other for the rest of eternity.

End of Flashback-----

'998 years of her trying to find me, wasted', Rainbow thought. "What have I let myself become?", she asked herself out loud. 

She looked at the changeling in the form of Midnight. She had done too much to stop now. Sparky had to pay. Revenge above all else.

Scootaloo could wait. Midnight before all else. Then again, that was how it always was. 

Twilight would put him before her. It made her so angry all of a sudden she couldn't even see straight.

She needed something to numb it. And she needed it now. Before she lost it. Before she blew her cover. But Scootaloo had already seen her. Then again, would she tell? 'No', she told herself, 'if she does I'll take care of her.'

Now Rainbow was pretty far gone. But not far gone enough to not slap herself for thinking about doing something that horrendous to her little filly. So she did. Slap herself, I mean.

Hitting again and again. Berating herself for letting it come to this, and then restarting the cycle. 

After 15 minutes she was tired, and spent, and so forlorn with her own mind, that she could have hardly looked at herself in a mirror without breaking the glass of it into a million tiny shards. 

"Why?", asked herself out loud. 

"Why did I let myself become this."

But it was a statement, not a question. She knew the answer. It was because of Sparky.

"An eye for an eye," she grumbled to herself, in the backyard of the house she shared with Twilight.

Rainbow was a good pegasus, no matter how impulsive or dangerous, or lost and hardened she could become. Deep down, she had feelings, and she was good.

But her stubbornness, and hatred, built up by years of seeing everypony she cared for, tormented by Saint Sparkle? That was what was winning currently.

So she rode that emotion, all the way back inside the house, to wait until daybreak, for her plan to start. It wasn't just Midnight. Oh Celestia no, she had something much bigger planned. Something that would make Twilight crack. Something that would make the unicorn pay. Something dangerous.

---------------- 

'It can't be,' the little filly thought, rocking back and forth in the shadows of the alleyways. 

"She can't have changed that much," she said to herself, trying to reason with herself. 

Even the street urchins moved away from the little filly, she was that manic. But in her state of panic she didn't mind. No, she didn't mind, not one bit. 

"I don't mind", she said to herself.

"Yes you do.", she said in a frantic tone, answering herself.

"No, I don't. It's not like the one pony I cared for totally turned into a psychopath!"

"Yes, she did," she deadpanned, attacking herself with contradicting words.

"No. She's still in there. Maybe I should go back, knock on the door.", she said to herself, rolling faster and faster, eyes darting back and forth as fast as the bullet trains in Cloppan. 

Beads of sweat rolled down her mangy coat.

She opened her mouth, and streams of no came forth.

"No." She said. 

"No," she said again, trying to stay calm.

"I can't go back there. She'll kill me."

"Little filly," an old mare that she hadn't noticed before said. 

She regained her sanity, to say "what?"

"Little filly," the old mare said again, reaching for her. 

"What?", she asked again.

The old mare reached for her again, trying to drag her into her old crony hooves.

"Have you got my rusty horseshoe?", she asked. 

"No!", Scootaloo yelled. "Geez, leave me alone!"

--------------- 

Now Twilight couldn't sleep, hadn't been able to sleep. What if the little colt knew? Featherweight was his name, was it not? What if the news would be out by tomorrow?

Would the news even be out? What if she misinterpreted it? A long time ago, she used to have an assistant named Spike. He had always told her to not get to worked up, to clear her head before her mind was lost for the night. Sadly, the one night that she hadn't listened, was the night that she had lost it. The night that she had lost it, and by doing that, lost him.

She had lost a lot of friends.

It was time to be a better pony. She had been telling herself that the past 1000 years though, and only through 400 of them had she ever stayed through her promise.

So before she lost it, she decided to take a little walk to clear her head. Spike had always said that that had always worked. Back before she had gotten high and killed him. She swallowed. Yet another sure fire reason that Rainbow had lost it, and was out to get her.

She threw off the covers on her bed, that were covering her lithe form, and trotted out of bed. She clomped down the hall, and took one look at Octavia through her doorway, sleeping soundly, still holding on in her room, before leaving.

That was a mistake.

She clopped down the stairs, almost silently. She went out the front door, just like Rainbow knew she would. Twilight went out the back door in the morning, and the front door at night. That's how the pegasus was sure that the unicorn would be sure to see the carnage when she wanted her to see it.

And as she trotted away from the house she shared with Rainbow, she kept on thinking of all of the things she'd left for the pegasus back when she was reckless, and cunning, and conniving. And, (in fact), pretty evil.

She was ashamed of the pony she used to be, and if only she could make the pegasus feel her guilt; surely she wouldn't torture her so after she had felt the emotions that the unicorn had felt. Felt the regret and the sorrow. Felt all the self hatred that was manifesting in her gut again and again every time she thought about who she used to be.

She looked down at her hooves. They, like her, were in Equestria, just being controlled by everything. Everypony.

She felt bad for her hooves. She felt bad for herself.

She felt bad for everything.

Everypony.

Every mistake she had ever made.

Every pony she had ever made a mistake with.

She felt crappy.

So she kept trotting. She kept trotting and trotting. Because in her mind, the worse place her hooves could take her was a place she deserved to go to. 

And she trotted right into a bad neighborhood. 

Now, given her homely appearance, she didn't look very tough. Ironic, she could drain you in ten seconds flat.

"Ten seconds flat," she said to herself. 'Now where have I heard that?" But she got her answer when an image of Rainbow Dash popped into her head.

She groaned lowly.

---------------

Scootaloo scooted back up against the wall. 

"You got my rusty horseshoe!", the strange old crone accused her, waving her hooves in the air.

All the other street urchins looked on as if this was normal. Some even laughed.

The old crone crept closer. 

Scootaloo could smell the old mare's dusty, musty, stinky breath as she cornered her up against the wall.

'Where are you Rainbow Dash?', Scotaloo thought to herself as she shook, her little body racked by the stink of desperation on the old mare's coat.

"Give me my horseshoe!", the crone said, raising a hoof as if to slap her. Her eyes were aglow with something Scootaloo hadn't seen in years. Love, was it? Yes, that could be it. But what stung was that the love was not for her, it was for that rusty horseshoe.

--------------------

There was a commotion in one of the darker corners of the alleyway, and Twilight could recognize taunts and jeers, and the whine of a filly in terrible peril, praying for a savior.

As she looked closer, she could see two shadowy figures, surrounded by ranting crowds of street urchins all slumped up against the walls in pockets of darkness. The first aforementioned figure was raising her hoof as if about to strike the smaller figure, probably a filly.

And as the hoof came down, Twilight leaped toward the shadows...

--------------------

And as she was thinking about the love being not for her, the hoof came down, and was inches from her muzzle, when all of a sudden, another hoof stopped it, the hoof of a stranger, or could it be, Rainbow Dash? 

But when the crone cried out in surprise, she was spared, not even a threatening bark. It was very peaceful of her savior.

It was very unlike the Rainbow Dash she had known. Until a whisper was heard, and the sound of bone snapping reverberated throughout the alley. 

A quaint sentence was whispered into the dead pony's ear, "Somepony may have taken your rusty horseshoe, but that doesn't mean you can take Scootaloo's life. I tried to once, and it was wrong. Which means you have no excuse."

--------------------------

I had gotten over to the little corner just in time to get a good look at the offender and who I was saving.

It was Scootaloo. The little pony I had tried to kill once. It made me so mad, to be reminded of that, that I guess I kind've snapped.

And I might've taken it out on the old putrid mare, but she deserved it!

Trying to hurt a little filly like that for no reason but a rusty horseshoe? Really?

Then again, I was so much worse.

Back then, I was horrible.

-----------------------

But Rainbow had never tried to take my life!

And when my protector turned around, I saw that it was not who I'd hoped, who I'd ran away from recently. It was who I'd been running away from for centuries.

It was the unicorn mare with the navy blue mane, and the purple and pink streaks. This time, though, unlike all the other times, it wasn't stained with the coppery tone of blood.

And the angry look in her eyes wasn't directed at me for once, it was directed back at the dead mare.

And when she looked at me with a kind look in her eyes, I almost cried. Who knew that Twilight could be so protective. So generous with her abilities. So much like, like Rainbow Dash. 

It made my filly heart flutter.

But when she looked at me, there was also sadness in her purple eyes. There was regret, and sorrow and words that she didn't have the strength to say.

I passed myself up against the wall, thinking that it must be a dream, Twilight was the bad one, and Rainbow was the good one. That's how it always was.

But when she came closer, and I expected to be touched harshly, I was instead initiated into a warm hug, despite her cold form. And an "I'm so sorry," was whispered from her mouth to my ear.

And then I cried for what must have been the thousandth time since I'd lost Rainbow. I'd since I'd lived in fear of Twilight, yet here she was, hugging me. The irony was painful.

---------------- Rainbow POV

"Well well well, what do we have here?", I said as I noticed Vincenza waking up.

She groaned, rubbing her hoof against her head.

"Feels like you just had a massive hangover, doesn't it?", I asked, rubbing my hooves together.

She sat up suddenly, but just fell back down from the sudden pain that came with darting upwards, mumbling, "Dam it."

"Hey, only nice words in the Sparkle household.", I said wryly, pouring myself a glass of Neighpolese wine.

She sat up slowly, managing her temples. Then all of a sudden, she panicked.
"Oh Celestia! We didn't?", she asked, trailing off, trusting me to know what she was implying.

"Yes.", I said, smirking.

Her face paled considerably.

"Geez, I'm just kidding. No, sadly, we did not."

She exhaled in relief. "Wait, what do you mean, sadly we did not?", she yelled, her face contorting that way it does when she's trying to look intimidating.

"I'm just saying I wouldn't have had a problem if we did," I mentioned, downing my glass.

Her face scrunched up like one of Fluttershy's bulldogs.

"Breakfast wine?", I offered.

She shook her head, making a very disapproving look at me.

"What? You're going to have to have some sort of routine, given that you'll unofficially live for eternity."

Her mouth opened, and then closed. Then opened and then closed. And then she glared and made some offensive words come out of her mouth.

"Ouch," I said, nursing my pretend wounds. "You sure you don't want any wine?", I asked again. "It helps dull the cravings."

She just stared at me like some Fluttershy would stare at somepony asking her to eat a quarter pound of meat.

"Let me put it in terms you'll understand.", I said slowly. "The more wine you drink, the more time you get to prepare for draining Octavia."

Her face turned purple, almost as if some invisible force was choking her. And then she reached toward my neck at an impressive speed, and tried to strangle me.

But I stopped her hoof halfway, effortlessly. 

"Look on the bright side," I said, smirking. "At least once you're a vampire you'll be able to punch me without it feeling like a pesky mosquito."

She just growled, and I let go of her hoof. 

"You're in the transition phase," I said, as she rubbed her hoof, glaring at me benevolently. "Drink Octavia's blood, and you're good. Changed for eternity, in fact. But don't drink it, and you die."

She cowered, disgusted by the choice she had to make.

"Personally, I'm hoping you avoid the latter. I mean I already fed you my blood, so all you need to do is kill Octavia, and you'll be immortal. Invincible. Dangerous.", I said, filling my wine glass back up. 

"Alluring.", I said swishing the blood red wine around. "It's pretty new. But you'll learn to love it."

I looked up, glancing at the clock on the wall of the room we were in. "And will you look at that it's time to bring Octavia in.", I said with fake enthusiasm, downing my wine and setting the glass down with a loud bang.

"Unless you want breakfast wine."

--------------- Twilight POV

I held the filly as she sobbed into my coat, shaking and muttering about Rainbow Dash and how she'd changed and how nothing was right anymore.

----------------- Scootaloo POV

I sobbed into Twilight's fur as she held my tiny frame. 

"There there," she said, soothing me with the same voice she'd once used to soothe her prey.

But this time it was for real. And it was directed at me.

------------- Rainbow POV

She didn't want breakfast wine. The pony didn't want breakfast wine.

What was she thinking?

It would dull cravings, it would make her susceptible to numb feelings so when she killed it wouldn't sting as much, and it would make her feel better.

Her loss. Breakfast wine is awesome.

And I whistled as I thought about breakfast wine, all the way to where Octavia lay, conked out on the chair, snoozing away, barely holding onto her life force. But she still had plenty of blood.

I licked my lips. So much blood. I could hear it rushing through her veins. It was so tantalizing. So delicious. So, so, mine. It would be easier to tempt Octavia if she could see what she was missing by not completing the transformation.

By the time I was done, she would live for the blood.

I picked Octavia up, and carried her to the room with Vincenza, where she was drinking gulp after gulp of breakfast wine.

I put Octavia down immediately, and took the glasses of wine out of her hooves.

"You're going to get sick.", I said, glaring at her.

"I thought vampires couldn't get sick," she said defiantly, sticking her muzzle up in the air like a stuck up prench mare. 

"You're only halfway to being a vampire, which means you can still get sick.", I said with a tense, kind of worried tone to my voice.

"You sounded like you actually cared deeply for a second there.", she mumbled.

I rolled my eyes, and stole the wine from her desperate prying eyes.

"Look are you gonna murder Octavia or not?", I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She shrugged, not out of defiance, but out of terror and confusion. Actually, it was probably the first motive.

"Here," I said sighing. "I'll make it easier for you. Either you kill Octavia and complete your transformation, or I'll find a way to make you do it either way.", I stated, smirking. 

"I love how subtle you are," she said sarcastically, groaning.

"I love how subtle I am too," I said, setting Octavia up closer to her.

"Can I have more wine?", she half whined, half asked.

"No," I said, glowering at her. "Look, just get to it, otherwise I'm going to make you."

"You wouldn't.", she said, gulping back a pained lump in her throat.

"Is that a challenge?", I asked, eyes flashing a shade of red. 

"No," she said.

"Well too bad, so sad. I'm taking it," I said, pulling Octavia over to me.

Vincenza looked shocked that I was actually going to do it.

"See the special thing about ponies like Octavia is that they're vampires. And drinking the blood of a vampire is so much more filling than the blood of a regular mortal. It may even make you stronger than most.", I said, peeling back the curtain of hair that hung over Octavia's neck.

I leaned in close, feeling my fangs elongate, and brush the top of her perfect grey coat. "They smell so much better too.", I added. "Once you've tasted their blood, there's nothing else like it in the world."

I looked up at Vincenza's face. She had her eyes shut tight. Ah, she was probably at the part when she could hear every rush of blood in her desired prey's body. "You can hear it can't you, Vincenza?", I asked. "You can practically smell it," I continued, stroking Octavia's hair that hung across her face.

I buried my muzzle in the tender flesh of Octavia's neck. "In fact, if you're close enough, you really can  smell it. The nice coppery taste filling your body with more lust then you care to admit. It'll make you crazy, and you'll do anything to get every last drop."

She shuddered, fighting the urge to feed, and I could see that her eyes were rolling up in her head.

I brought my face out from the folds of Octavia's perfect, tantalizing neck, and whispered in Vincenza's ear. "Open your eyes, I want you to see what happens next."

She did indeed open her eyes, to glimpse what was going on. But that did nothing to help her terrible cravings. Her whole body shook as she fought to not give into the ripe smell of Octavia's blood, and just drain her and be done with it. 

Her eyes, stayed open, glued to mine, and my fangs were showing as I carefully carressed the skin covering Octavia's jugular. 

She groaned in frustration.

I pulled Octavia's hair back. I sniffed at her neck, and then ripped a controlled stream of blood down it, licking at it, making sure that Vincenza saw all of it.  

She was gripping the chair so hard, that her legs were turning white. And that's saying something, because she's already white.

I continued to sink my fangs into the wound, expanding the wound, making it bigger and bigger. I let  bloody trails leisurely run down her grey neck.

"You have to feed," I said, pulling back Octavia's neck with an audible snap. My red eyes flashed at her, and blood dribbled down the corners of my mouth.

She began to let go of the chair, shuddering more profusely, but still holding back.

I disconnected from Octavia's neck, and smiled. "C'mon, there's room for two. She has a really pretty neck."

And then I moved onto the other side of Octavia's neck.

Taking special care to let the blood drop down her neck slowly and strategically, I continued to suck her blood, hearing Vincenza gasp. 

'Give it a couple more seconds,' I said, watching the unicorn through half lidded eyes with intent.

I nuzzled Octavia's neck a couple of times too, just trying to get a feel for my target area.

I let the blood continue to cascade down my prey's neck, and looked up to see Vincenza barely holding onto the chair.

Good, it was working.

"Don't try to tempt me!", she yelled.

"Oh I don't have to try, Vincenza," I said, enunciating her name perfectly. "You'll give in yourself. Eventually. Having me going after your prey just awakens some instincts that will be activated soon enough. Soon enough for you to kill Octavia, and soon enough for the transformation to be complete."

Her face turned from an expression of blood lust, to an expression of shock, and then to one of pure fear.

"It'll also be soon enough for your equine instincts to be lost. You're going to end up helping me, whether you like it or not.", I said, smirking darkly.

She said, "no!", and grabbed the chair again.

"You can't make me.", she said, her voice shaky and trembling.

"I'm not making you do anything. You're the one still holding onto the chair. You could've ran out of here a long, long time ago. But you didn't. I think your new body is trying to tell you something." I said it all with a razor sharp truth that probably made her head hurt.

She trembled in huge waves, and then as I drank Octavia's blood, out of the corner of my eye, I saw her. She crept closer, her purple eyes taking on a nightmarish red hue. 

She had given in to the bloodlust. 

I smiled, thoughts already circulating in my mind about what I would do with Vincenza once she was turned.

I broke off from Octavia's neck. Looking at the pony crouched before me, and ready to attack for Octavia's blood, I smirked.

She should only be able to focus on the sound of the blood.

She was hesitating, though. Perhaps her vampiric and equine instincts were at war?
Either way her vampire side would win.

"Oh dear Vincenza, you seem to be having a struggle.", I said, gazing at her form, torn between natural and unnatural. 

"Let's make it easier for you," I said, using my fangs to pierce a long winding trail of blood down the side of Octavia's body. 

I let it drip.

She smelled the blood, I know she smelled the blood.

She practically felt the blood rushing into her mouth.

She could imagine how good it would taste to kill.

And in a split second, her eyes flashed red in a total eclipse of her usual purple eye color, she growled primally, and she leapt onto Octavia, tearing into her neck with the intensity of a killing machine.

"Like I said," I said, after she had drained Octavia, "I know its new, but you'll learn to love it."

And when she turned around and smiled, I could tell that she wasn't done yet. The blood that was on my lips was still beckoning her.

But she wasn't gonna get it without a proper chase first...

-------------------- Twilight POV

After a couple minutes of shooting the street urchins mean looks, and having the filly cry into my stomach, I decided to let her stay at the house I shared with Rainbow. 

"What could possibly go wrong?", I asked myself, as I was walking along with Scootaloo.

"Who are you talking to?", she asked, looking up at me with those big filly eyes that I once wanted to rip out of her skull if I remembered correctly.

But no, that wouldn't happen ever again. I shuddered at the memory.

"Myself," I replied, nervously.

"That's not heathy you know?", she said, looking downward, expecting me to scold her, or snap or something like that.

But instead, I just said, "I know,"  and sighed, and we kept walking.

"But will she care? What will she do?", I asked myself again, making myself crazy with worry over what the vampire currently living in a house with me would do to Scootaloo.

"Is- is she, Rainbow Dash?", Scootaloo asked, eyes downcast, dreading the answer.

I took a deep breath, thought abut sugarcoating it. But it was far too late for sugarcoating. Way too late. The filly stopped being able to be sugercoated at that stupid party I threw 998 years ago.

I groaned.

"Does she want to hurt me?", Scootaloo asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. She looked up at me with big trusting yet worried eyes, and I just had to take a page out of Applejack's book. And tell the truth.

"Honestly, little filly? I have no clue.", I said, wishing I could reassure her. But looking down at her eyes that shone with tears unshed, I realized that I wanted to protect this filly. A lot.

"You know what? On second thought, if she does, I'll try my very best to protect you.", I said, meeting the worried filly's eyes with a measured and determined gaze. 

"But it might not be enough," I said, looking away, and mumbling the last part at a volume where she couldn't hear me...

----------------------------- Scootaloo POV

As I met the unicorn's gaze, I couldn't help but wonder how she'd changed this much.

How she could be this good inside after having been so twisted for all the time that I'd known her?

I didn't know, but I wasn't complaining.

After all she was giving me an actual bed, rather than a dirty old mattress and a crusty old box.

She looked away, mumbled some thing, and I didn't think much of it.

But there was still one thing I had to know.

"Twilight?", I asked in a meek voice.

"Yes," she said, turning around, and looking at me with a knowing and encouraging stare, that spoke of patience through her eyes.

"Why is she like this?", I asked with a tremor to my voice. "Why have you changed? Why does she want to hurt ponies?" 

Make that several things I had to know.

The questions came like lightning. Never ceasing, so many I wanted to ask.

"What happened to make her so hateful? So dark? What happened without me? Why isn't she here right now holding me?" My voice shook, threatening to crack.

My eyes had started to produce what seemed like thousands of tears with every word, my body that had been so spent before from the sobs, making up for the lost few peaceful quiet minutes.

"Where is she?", I asked, nervous.

"Why is she doing this?", I asked, my body collapsing into he ground like a saggy balloon.

"What is her problem? Can we fix it?", I said, looking up, and I must have been displaying serious levels of franticness in my eyes, because Twilight looked like she knew where this was going.

"How could you let her get away with this?", I said, suddenly filled with rage at her calm expression. She was acting as if there was nothing we could do, but there was so something we could do!

And finally, the last one. "Who did this to her?" I stared into her eyes, already knowing the answer.

I could see her answer in the way she shifted her weight, and clomped her hooves.

She looked at me, eyes full of guilt, and started to say something.

------------------------------- Rainbow POV

I raced through the house, Vincenza stumbling behind me. She had to get all the blood that was left, her new instincts wouldn't let her refuse to. If she didn't get all that was left, she couldn't become what she wanted to be. But that didn't mean that I had to let her get it easily.

"Come on Dash!", she shouted from behind me. 

"Nope," I said, laughing playfully, zooming through the house at an even more fast pace. 

"Aww," she said, whining, as she was left in the dust again.

I took off from the second story kitchen to the main floor, and darted down the stairs as fast as possible. 

"Can I at least have more wine?", she asked, batting her eyes from the top of the stairs.

"I don't know, can you?", I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

When she realized what I was teasing her about, she clomped down the stairs, running at me. "This is not school and I'm not a filly and you can't lecture me about my grammar!", she yelled, charging me.

When I dodged, she asked, "Can I at least just get the last of the blood?", she said, in a whiny tone. "And slow down!", she yelled, as she prepared to charge.

"You mean, may I get the rest of the blood? And I can't slow down, I'm a vampire. Even when I was normal, I wasn't capable of slowing down.", I said, smirking as she barreled toward me again. 

I dodged her again, and asked, "I thought you didn't wanna be a vampire?", with a look on my face that read of intrigue and suspicion.

"Well I wanna be one now!", she bellowed, and all of a sudden had me on the ground. Legs wrapped around my waist, and a triumphant look in her eyes, she had me in a position where my wings were on the ground.

I couldn't move without throwing her off and injuring her. And I didn't wanna do that. Well, not enough to actually do it.

She moved in closer. And closer, and her face was getting closer and closer to mine when all of a sudden the door swung open, and a hearty shriek was heard. She darted upward, turning to glare at who had interrupted her.

And I looked too.

And I wish I hadn't. 

Because there in the doorway stood Saint Sparkle, (that's one cringe right there,) and Scootaloo. I still felt bad for what she saw me doing. (So, Scootaloo is cringe number two.)

I barely had enough time to mumble out an "oh crap," before Scootaloo's and Twilight's faces turned red at what they thought we were doing.

------------------------- Scootaloo POV

Well, that was a first, I told myself, as I saw my 1,000 year old maybe idol, mottled with blood, being straddled by DJ Pon-3. 

"You know, sadly that is not the most disgusting thing I've seen today.", I said out loud, expecting a scolding from the mare standing next to me, but her face stayed red and she said nothing.

But I did get something from Rainbow. She sat up, pushed off Vinyl and laughed like she hadn't laughed in a million years. She also gave a weird smile.

"Yeah that was a good one squirt, but we gotta get going so...", and she let it hang on that, and zipped out of the room with DJ Pon-3. 

--------------------- Twilight POV

My face was as red as one of the Apple family's relative's tomato gardens.

What was she doing? And in the entry hall too? Ugh. This was too much!

I'm pretty sure steam started coming out of my ears.

I guess that's when I started to walk away, to try to see where she had gone. This was useless, for all that I know, she might be on my bed by now.

In fact she probably was on my bed by now, doing some questionable things.

There was a voice coming from behind me, but I didn't care, I needed to find Rainbow. That was all that mattered at the moment.

The voice got louder, and I ignored it, vying for the appearance of Rainbow over addressing the voice behind me.

The voice got to an unbearable volume and I turned around and shouted. "What?", very loudly.

I'm pretty sure that my eyes flashed because the filly that owned the persistent voice was starting to gallop away. 

And when she galloped away, it took me a second to process what was happening. "Wait!", I called out, trying to get her to stop. To just stop. To not see me as the monster I used to be.

------------------------ Rainbow POV

I had rushed down the halls, into Twilight's bedroom. 

Then I had locked the door, and let go of the hoof I'd been using to pull Vincenza out of there as fast as possible.

Then I had seen all the blood that was in Octavia's body, that was smeared all over me.

Then I had seen all the blood on the floor.

"Man, Saint Sparkle is gonna kill us.", I said, grinning as I looked all over the room. Turns out Vincenza had thrown Octavia's bloodless corpse into one of Twilight's prized paintings. And it was a Poney one too. The one with the water lilies.

Oh well. 

Then I looked around some more, and discovered that the room was now splattered with blood, making it a deep, richly enticing shade of red that only a real vampire could appreciate.

Saint Sparkle would obviously hate this; I whistled. It smelled better than the spring flower air freshener she always put in here.

I looked up at Vincenza, who was looking at me with a great lust in her eyes.

"Guess the chase is over," I tried, laughing a little bit as she trotted closer, shushing me.

"Stop talking, it makes it harder to get the blood on your lips.", she said, eyes flashing.

She came closer to my lips, and closer, and this time when she was a centimeter away, she paused, making sure that no purple unicorns or little orange fillies would barge in. 

"In fact, it makes it harder to get the blood, everywhere.", she said, pulling me in.

It felt like an eternity, but really it was a couple of seconds, until she touched her lips to mine.

Bringing her tongue up to lick the blood off of my lips, she backed off, somewhat hesitant to continue her quest for blood.

But I made her inner conflict easier. "Looks like I'm just gonna have to make this easier for you as well, Vincenza," I said, my eyes no doubt dancing feverishly in the moonlight streaming through the window.

The window. My eyes flicked over to it. With too much light, we were sometimes hesitant to feed. 
Maybe this was her case. And even if it wasn't, feeding in the dark was much more satisfying than feeding in the light. I guess it was just more comfortable?

I walked over, and closed the window, leaving no light left in the room. 

As soon as there was no light, her red eyes lit up the dark, like a hellish, possessed nightlight.

I laughed at the prospect of it.

Then again, my eyes were probably burning mini-pits of hellfire right now too.

She listened for the slightest sound.

And as soon as she was sure that nopony was coming, she leapt on me. Tackling me onto the bed, she pressed her lips against mine. Sucking on them to get all the blood she could, she soon moved on to another part of my body. Like my neck. As she nipped at that, I sighed. I had forgotten how good it felt. She started biting at it, and I let her kiss it, whatever she had to do to just be turned. And when she moved on to even more unusual parts of my body, it was obvious that this wasn't just blood lust..

Oh Luna no. This was something more than just bloodlust. This was lust. When she crawled on top of me though, I had to ask.

"You're not just lusting for blood, are you?", I asked, tickling her ear when she leaned down, eyes glowing, to try to plant her kisses down my body.

"No, not anymore," she purred, slitting her eyes in what every vampire knew as the eternal bedroom eyes.

"Well okay then," I said.

------------------------ Scootaloo POV

I knew she hadn't changed. Why would she have changed? It didn't make any sense. I was almost to the door. 

I wanted to get to that door more than anything in Equestria. But when she had told me about how Rainbow had lost control, what she had done...

I shuddered. She had seemed so sad, so guilty. And yet I had seen the look in her eyes. I was an inconvenience currently. And I would probably never be anything more.

So why was it so hard to run away for the hundredth time? 

She was galloping behind me, I could hear her panting.

Then, all of a sudden, I was almost to the door, and my body was slowing down, when a bright flash attacked my eyes, and I found myself on the floor, thinking back to when Rainbow had lost it...

Flashback 600 years ago (Rainbow POV)...

There was blood on the floor, blood everywhere. I snorted in disgust as I flew into the living room of the tenth house we'd been in. We'd had to keep renting out new houses in the town to keep our presence from being connected with the recent string of deaths.

I dropped down to the floor, trotting into the feeding room, which was, ironically, not the dining room or the kitchen, rather, the living room. Ironic how many ponies died in the living room. I almost laughed. Almost.

But any chance I had of laughing was extinguished when I saw how many ponies were lifeless on the ground. There must have been about ten, easy. And I couldn't even tell who they were, they were so covered with blood. I wanted to get it. I shook myself out of the urge, focusing on finding Twi. My little psychopath.

"Twi.", I said, finding her, laying on the couch, in a bored pose like the Queen of Saddle Arabia. Blood framed her mouth, and she wore a contented smile, while her eyes were glazed over yet concentrated on something.

"Twi," I said, again, louder to make sure she heard me.

She focused her glassy eyes up at the ceiling. "Not now Rain, I'm focusing."

"Hey!", I said, trotting over and waving my  hoof in front of her placid features. 

She grumbled, but her eyes darted over and looked over at me. "Hi.", she said curtly, before returning her eyes to the ceiling.

"Whatever you're planning, I'm telling you in advance, stop planning it.", I said, rolling my eyes, and once again taking in the carnage that littered out living room floor.

She shrugged and stared, in a death glare at the wall. "They won't see it coming," she said, sighing, a disturbing smile gracing her features."

The tension in her eyes and the easiness of her smile unnerved me. This couldn't be good. She was on it again.

"Did you drink all of this blood?", I asked, sighing.

"Maybe, maybe not.", she said, smirking at the ceiling.

"What are you looking at?", I asked exasperatedly, laying down with her just to see what the buck could possibly be so Celestia damned interesting on the ceiling!

But to my surprise I saw it. She was on it. She was definitely on it.

"What the buck is wrong with you?", I yelled as soon as I saw what was on the ceiling.

I darted off the couch, gesturing to what she had done to the poor equine. 

"How the Tartarus you come up with this is beyond me!", I said, bellowing. "You shrunk and killed a stallion then had him glued him to the ceiling!"

She nodded. "What the buck is wrong with you?", I asked again. And when she didn't answer for a couple of seconds, a pregnant pause could be heard in the dead room.

"Hello!", I yelled, waving a hoof in front of her face.

She flipped over, turning to face me. "You won't see it coming," she said.

Now I was pissed and curious. "Okay that's great.", I said, rolling my eyes yet again.

"Who is that anyway?", I asked, flying up to get a closer look.

"Soarin?", I asked, eyes graced with the presence of disbelief. His eyes eyes were graced with the touch of disbelief too. Imagine, being invited to tea with the town librarian, only to discover that she was a bloodthirsty monster.

And as soon as I turned around to face Twilight, my eyes were also graced with anger.

"What the Hell is wrong with you?", I asked, glaring at her with more heat than Celestia's precious sun.

"They never see it coming.", she said, getting off the couch. "You never see it coming." Her moves, smooth and practiced, she was an equine representation of death. 

"You can't do this!", I said, shaking my head, as I tried to figure why she would do this.

"Come on Rain, why do you care about him so much? He's only a colt, a silly colt.", she said, moving toward me.

"He's MY silly colt!", I said, my voice cracking with emotion. My eyes peered at her from beneath my mane, accusing her, tormenting her with their gaze.

She was coming slower toward me now, her movements seeming less fluid and more shaky and forced.

She was not a representation of death, I realized, she was a representation, of dead souls. They were shaky, dark, and haunted, and moved as if being pushed or pulled by something, be it lust or need for control. No, not with vampires. Vampires didn't thrive on the need for control. The most dangerous vampires thrived on not being able to control. On controlling others instead.

"Why do you keep yourself so under control?", she asked me in a conniving, almost pitying voice.

"Because it's the right thing to do. I made her a promise. I made him a promise.", I said, my voice shaking as if possessed with 800 wing-power. 

She just shrugged. 

"Where is she?", I asked her, glaring her down. "Where is he?", I asked, becoming quite insulted when she didn't cower.

"You mean your parents?", she asked with a flat, lackluster tone.

"Yes!", I said, "don't tell me you did anything to them, too!"

She didn't seem to want to respond. But she was going to. Even if it took some special convincing.

I growled, and grabbed her neck with my hoof, forcing it against the wall. I pressed against it, enjoying the sounds she made when she struggled to bring air into her undead lungs. "This feels good. I like the fear in your eyes," I said, listening to the words she was trying to squeeze out. "So I would suggest telling me where they are, and what you have down with them before I find the vampire everypony's been looking for and bring her into town. Dead or alive." My eyes flashed red at this point. I was done with her, and she knew it. 

She struggled to pry off my pressing hoof from her trachea but she couldn't. She began to gasp, trying to yank at my hoof, trying to breath.

But her eyes, they sparkled with enjoyment, because if I killed her I would have lost control.

I wouldn't let her win.

I couldn't let her win.

So I released my hoof and she fell down, clawing her neck with her hooves. "Now where are they?", I asked in a hardened, lackluster tone similar to hers. 

When she just stared down, I yanked up her head, forcing her to look me in the eyes and tell me what she'd done with them.

"Where are they. What did you do with them.", I asked, but there was really nothing of a question about them, they were weirdly, in a way, just statements. Because I guess, somehow, I knew.

Somewhere along the lines, I knew that among the bodies on the floor, I would find my parents.

Somehow I knew what she had done with them.

Somewhere along the lines I knew, that when I saw how she'd disposed of everypony I'd cared about I'd lose it.

And she thought that it would be all one big bloody party when I lost control. That we'd plan together, that she'd always win, that she'd always be on top.

But deep down, she didn't have the knowledge that I had. See, I had a certain type of knowledge. I had knowledge of my own mind. How could she plan against me if she was too busy trying to find a way to survive?

And when I saw the bodies of my parents, I screamed. 

"Why the Hell did you kill them?", I yelled, tears streaming down my face.

"Because they were keeping you under control.", she replied, coldly. Her eyes flashed a heated shade of red, and they danced with the fires of obvious attitude.

"And you killed him for the same reason?", I asked, staring at her straight in the eyes.

Somewhere in the verbal hale, I was gonna lose control. 

Sorry mom and dad, I just have to.

I have to.

"I killed him because he was distracting you from your nature. He was making you mentally and emotionally weak. By depending on him for comfort you were losing critical-"

I cut her off. I cut her off hard.

"Critical what, Twi? Critical what?", I screamed. "Do explain why the only stallion who ever made me feel good, is bad!" 

"He changed you.", she accused, staring at me flatly.

"He changed me for the better!", I yelled. "He helped me control it and so did they. And now they're gone. They're all gone!"

"If he had you, I couldn't.", she said, averting her eyes.

"You couldn't what, Twi? You couldn't what?", I asked, yelling my lungs dry.

"I couldn't have you!", she yelled back. Her eyes rocketed back up. "If he had you, I couldn't have had you." Her eyes were actually showing real emotion now. Shining, I looked at them and saw that they were full of tears. I almost felt sorry for her, almost. But then I remembered that she had slaughtered my family to get me to join her.

"Why did you want me to lose control?", I asked. 

"So you could join me and Midnight!", she said, a note of urgency shining through in her frantic voice.

"What would we even do?", I asked, hysterical with all that she had done, and drunk on her decision.

"We would do whatever we wanted. Who would be able to stop us?", she asked, snarling with a ferocious leer in her words.

She wasn't crying anymore. Now she was angry, and desperate. Her eyes shone with greed and lust for power and the blood.

I flew up to the ceiling, trying to pinpoint the corpses of my parents. There they were, and the room was full of blood. So much blood. 

In order to lose control, a vampire needed three things. One, lots of blood. Two, the desire to turn off all of their feelings in favor of bloodlust. And three, motivation. My fangs came out, and I ran my tongue over them, hoping maybe the pain from my punctured tongue would ease the pain from my punctured heart. Spoiler alert, it didn't.

The room was full of blood. 

I didn't want to do whatever we wanted. I wanted to do whatever I wanted. And right now, I wanted to find my parents, and hold them before I lost control for good.

Spotting my mother's prismatic mane, I flew down to her, and picked up her light body, cradling her frame against my body.

I just wanted to feel this moment.

I just wanted this moment before I lost control.

Then I kissed her on the head one last time, and let a few tears dribble onto her pearls. She always loved her pearls. And now, she would never get to love her pearls again. Because she was dead. And she was dead because of Twi. 

Then I trotted over the blood-ridden floor to my dad's dead body. I kissed him lightly on the cheek, and then sat there, in silence. I began to find it weird that Twi hadn't interrupted my silent vigil, when she cleared her throat.

"You will be joining me," she said, trotting over to me. Her eyes had calmed. But my eyes hadn't. They may have looked calm, but my eyes were the picture of a calm magenta ocean right before a storm. 

And the storm was coming. I got up off of the ground, and stared at her in the eyes. I had lost it. Now I had lost control. I had let my emotions go, and I had no feeling for her left. And somehow it still managed to feel so good to think about how she would be when I was done with her.

"Actually," I said, "I don't believe I will."

Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Just because I've lost my control doesn't mean I would ever join you. Why would you assume that?", I asked, gathering my wits up again. My eyes flashed red, a darker shade then she'd probably ever seen.

"What's the matter Sparky? You look scared.", I said, developing a haughty smirk. I began to push my muzzle up against hers. 

"One little problem with your plan. I'm gonna do whatever I want, and you're gonna try to stop me.", I said, grabbing her and pulling her in. Getting her into a position where she couldn't escape, I locked her legs behind her back, and pulled her neck back.

I tucked her hair behind her ear, and she struggled, but my grip was iron.

"You were right," I cooed in her ear, venomously. "I was fighting my true nature.", I said, my fangs grazing her ear. "I'm so grateful you got me to stop."

She shivered under my touch.

"You smell good.", I said. "Might be a little too much, though."

She stiffened. "Did you just insult my taste?", she asked.

I hesitated for a moment, then finally settled with an honest, "Yes."

She tried to stick her muzzle up the air haughtily, but since I already had her neck, she couldn't.

"Ah ah ah," I said. "Careful Sparky. We don't want this beautiful neck going to waste."

"Don't you dare," she mumbled.

"And how exactly do you plan on stopping me?", I asked, cocking an eyebrow, and smirking against her neck.

"I don't need to stop you. You're not going to do it. You're a good pegasus," she said, shakily.

"And you're not that smart today Sparky." Before she could respond, I had my fangs in her neck, drinking her in. 

Her jugular had been ruptured right on point, and I drank her blood because I hadn't drained in months.

Her blood was the best thing I had ever drank. Drinking a friend's blood was special, but slowly making your enemy weaker is so much more satisfying.

"Stop me, Sparky. Stop me.", I whispered in her ear. 

She struggled while I fed. "Oh wait, you can't, because you had me turn off my emotions," I said, faking sympathy.

I looked up, and she was staring at me in fear as I fed from her. Her whole body was trembling in terror and it was delicious. 

She must have seen how dark my eyes were, because she trembled like a leaf. She gasped. "Shh," I said, "you're my prey now. And I don't intend on doing anything with you. I plan on doing everything against you."

I drank the rest of her blood, leaving her to deal with the immense pain that comes after being drained by another vampire. And I wasn't done. No, I wasn't even close to done. She would suffer. I would make sure of it. She would pay for killing my family. She would pay for tricking me. But above all, she would pay for challenging me. 

And right before I left I whispered one last thing. 

"Hey Sparky, I'll be back. Don't worry, I'll always be back."

And the last thing she saw was my saccharine  eyes, flashing, before she passed out...

--------------------------- Twilight POV

She had fainted. The filly had actually fainted. I knew I shouldn't have told her, shouldn't have let her know all that had happened to make Rainbow this way. She probably viewed me as a monster.

Rushing over, I pressed a hoof to her heart. It was beating strongly, pumping blood healthily to all parts of her body. Her blood was healthy too. Nice, healthy blood. I inhaled, and closed my eyes. 

When I opened them I jerked back because I had realized that my fangs were an inch away from her chest.

'What is wrong with me?', I thought as I scooted back away from the filly on my haunches.

-------------------- Rainbow POV

"Well I'll be damned," I said, glancing around at Twilight's room.

"You already are damned.", Vincenza mumbled as she nestled into the crook of my neck. The post-transformation haze. I loved the post-transformation haze. They were so quiet.

And cuddly...

Wait what?

Oh no. Oh no no no no no.

I am not falling for a newborn vampire. I am like a thousand years old, and she's the first one I've turned in a long time.

I don't love her, I love...

Him. 

But he died a long time ago. He died the second Psycho-Twi stuck him to the ceiling, dead and shrunken.

He was gone before then, too. I wasn't going to turn him if he didn't want to be turned, and he would die. That was how it would end. 

But he didn't die the way he should have.

I don't love her, I love...

Her.

But the mare I loved died a long time ago. She died the second Psycho-Twi crushed her slowly, from the inside. Until the mare I once loved was shrunken.

She was gone before then, too. She was going to be turned, he could feel it, and the real her would die. Of course I would always wonder. That's how it would end.

"She is gonna have a Hell of a time cleaning this up," Vincenza said, interrupting my own haze of thoughts.

I snorted, brought out of my stupor. "Heh, yeah she is!", I exclaimed, then nestled closer to Vincenza.

There was silence. I guess we were both just looking at the mess we had left in Twilight's room.

More silence.

And more silence.

And shattered silence, when Vinyl said, "I'm bored."

Wait, Vinyl? Apparently now I'm using her nickname! 

I. Do. Not. Like. Vincenza. 

I guess I stayed quiet for too long. Cause Vinyl decided to speak again.

"Will you finally stop calling me Vincenza?", she asked, huffily.

I thought about it, but I already knew my answer. I was already thinking of her as Vinyl not Vincenza, so...

"Yeah.", I said, and she lit up the dark room when she smiled.

"Thanks. It was creepy.", she said, pulling Twilight's covers over us.

"That's the point," I said. 

-------------------------- Scootaloo POV

I blinked. Another bright flash appeared in front of my eyes. 

---Flashback 500 years (Twilight POV)

In every town I'd been in, she'd been there not a few days after. One or two days later after I'd settled in, mysterious deaths would suddenly start happening. And everybody would blame the bogey-pony.
Since I was new and Rainbow was also new, but also a conniving, and social charmer, unlike me, they tended to see the weird recluse as a more likely murderer than the social flirt that was Rainbow Dash.
And every time I got ran out of town, I would always see her sitting off to the side casually, waving as they chased me away with pitchforks. 
But then again, psychopaths always look normal.

And it happened again and again, and after several days, and she'd hunt me down, and make her moves.

It was all a game to her. 

Revenge was a competition. 

Maybe she could be more volatile than I was. Maybe not. But she proved she could be one summer evening during a lovely town meeting...

I was already slowly turning my emotions back on, and learning that good had to balance out the bad. One fact I had missed while on a very high amount of blood. It was ironic for me to miss anything factual like that when I was on the blood like I was then. Then again, intelligence of feelings and integrity doesn't come with the super-smart-brain-vampire-package.

It was so peaceful when the Head of the Town Council stood up to talk; the collar of his shirt fluttering in the light breeze. You could see the feeling in his sparkling, twinkling eyes when he talked. And as the Grandfatherly figure stood up to talk...

The sun was high in the sky, but the windows closed.

A string of words were intended to come from his mouth, but instead a mighty holler was heard. 

And when everybody tried to get the lights, a loud snap was heard.

The power had been cut. I panicked. Oh yes, I panicked alright, the lights were off, the power had been cut, and there was only one pony I knew who would be gutsy and conniving enough to do this.

I heard a pony shriek about how the door was locked. 

Celestia, she was being smart about this!

A chorus of loud snaps was heard from the room. A snap on the right, then a snap on the left. An agonized cry of course signaled each little one, and before too long, it felt as if there were only 20 ponies in the room with me. 

A whispered plea of a middle-aged upperclass unicorn, then a snap.

The threatening language of a desperate stallion, then a snap.

The silence and mere squeak of a kid. Then the snap of their neck being broken like a twig. 

I waited a little longer, and soon it felt as if only 15 were left.

I dropped down underneath a table, not wanting to face my demons.

My demon.

Saint Sparkle, Demon Dash.

Shouldn't be this way though...

--------End of flashback

----------Twilight POV

Thinking fast, I went out the back door, hoping to maybe get a bucket from outside, to fill it with water from the hose. 

Clomping out the back door, I hummed to try to keep my sanity.

And as I trotted through the threshold, I caught a view of a sight that was quite repulsive. It was a sight repulsive enough to make me scream.

-------------------- Rainbow POV

As nice as it was, it was getting pretty tiring just laying with Vinyl. 

But I hadn't gotten bored or tired in centuries, and I wasn't gonna start now.

So, I suggested that we see how Squirt was adjusting, and how Saint Sparkle was reacting.

As we left the bedroom, and clomped down the stairs, I couldn't help but wonder if she'd seen him yet.

------------------------ Scootaloo POV

The bright flash of light stopped when I heard a scream.

It sounded like Twilight.

Maybe Rainbow had done something to her!

But that didn't sound right. I mean, I wasn't used to it sounding right for Rainbow to do something like that.

But maybe she had.

Another scream sounded. 

I followed the shrieks and wails outside, where I saw Twilight bawling, and shaking uncontrollably. 
"Midnight," she mumbled, hiding her head inside her hooves. She was curled up in a fetal position, rocking and shivering.

"Twilight?", I said, trotting over and gently touching her on the foreleg. 

She just cried harder, and gently pushed my hoof away from her frail form.

"Midnight," she screeched, pointing behind me.

-------------------- Twilight POV

"Just rock a little bit Twilight," I told myself. 

"You'll be fine Twilight," I told myself.

"But I won't. Not without him. Not with him dead."

"Rocking makes everything better. Like I'm in a nice comfy chair, anywhere but here. Like I have a nice house with the pony I love.", I told myself.

I felt a hoof, touching my foreleg in silent reassurance. 

But I didn't need silent reassurance.

I needed him to come back.

I needed him to come for his little China Doll.

"Come back, I'm still your China Doll," I said, the words blazing a trail in my mind when I closed my eyes. 

And as tears blazed a trail down my cheeks, I gently pushed the hoof off of my limp, shaking form, and focused on holding onto my sanity.

"I'm still your little China Doll," I whispered, pushing the strands of hair that dangled in front of my face away forcefully. I yanked on them, pulling them harder and harder, until some came out.

Somepony was saying hey, over and over again, and trying to get a grip on my hoof.

I ignored them, preferring to dwell in my own pit of despair, that was quickly graduating into a pitiful whirlwind of deep depression. 

When the heys got louder, I still ignored them, opting to continue to do the one thing that dulled the pain of losing Midnight.

And when a couple more heys were said, each increasing in volume, my hoof was finally grabbed. 

And she wouldn't let go. I yanked and pulled away, but she had strength. She had too much strength.

I looked up, and it wasn't Scootaloo who was holding my hoof. It was Rainbow. She had this look in her cerise eyes like she had always had 600 years ago, like she was disappointed in me for letting myself get to this.

She stared into my eyes, and her silent chastisement burned a hole through my breakdown like an arrow perfectly piercing a bullseye.

My heart hiccuped. It had been so long. "I'm sorry," I croaked out.

And I blinked. But when I opened my eyes, I was looking at Scootaloo. 

And Scootaloo didn't have a knowing stare, she didn't even have a silent scolding hidden in her pupils. In a way, I was strangely disappointed. 

'Calm down,' the voice of Rainbow 600 years ago, said, echoing in my mind.

"Okay," I said aloud. And I must've sounded insane, because Scootaloo looked at me like I was a Hydra or something.

"I'm sorry," I said, apologizing to her. Scootaloo, I mean.

"It's okay. Let's get you inside," she said slowly.

"No," I said. "First I have to know something." 

Her eyes looked back at mine, searching them for another brief loss of sanity, but they found nothing.

"Did you see her?", I asked slowly. 

She didn't process it at first. But then she asked, "Did I see her doing what?", with a curious look.

"Did you see her kill Midnight?", I asked, with baited breath.

But when she started crying, it was my answer.

"Oh you did, didn't you?", I asked. 

"Yes," she breathed, more than said, as she shook with sobs again that night.

"You know what?", I asked, rising up, and staring down at her with a motherly gaze.

"What?", she asked, sniffling.

"We're gonna go to bed.", I said, with a finality that rivaled Luna's Canterlot voice.

"What?", she asked, again, pouting, and looking up at me with puppy eyes.

But when I met her gaze, all she could say was "yes ma'am."

So we walked inside. I would deal with Midnight in the morning. For now, what mattered was getting her into bed. 

We had a guest bedroom, though it wasn't used really, at all.

So she slept in there, and I got her settled in.

And as I walked out of the room, she called for me one last time, and said, "Promise you'll protect me?"

And as she looked at me with those eyes, I already knew what I had to do to get my Rainbow Dash back. Scootaloo was the one thing that was keeping her tethered to her equinity at the moment, and if I was correct, Rainbow would get her equinity back with an event involving the filly. Whether it was forced or not, Rainbow would save Scootaloo if she were faced with a choice of being her savior, or watching her die. And I planned on using that to my advantage.

As I looked back at Scootaloo, I couldn't bring myself to say yes, because if I needed to trade her life for Rainbow's equinity, I would. I would in a heartbeat. Don't get me wrong, Rainbow is a selfish, hazardous dick, but she's my selfish, dangerous asshole. I need her back. I thought a long time ago that I would need her gone, that her losing her equinity, her loyalty, would be beneficial, but I was living in a bloody, messed up nightmare world. A world that she hasn't left yet.

So I nodded.

And she looked back with those shiny eyes, and trusted me...

-------------------------------- Rainbow POV

She found Midnight.

She found Midnight and there was nothing. Nothing.

All I get is a little psychotic breakdown and that's it?

Let's just say that it was disappointing, and a way less grandeur turn out than expected.

But I've got an Ace up my sleeve. I've got Vinyl.

And she's got squirt. Yeah, cause she can play Squirt real well when it comes to actual fighting.

I mean, yeah, I guess she could use the kid as a shield. Or throw her off a building to help me regain my equinity and emotions, but it's not like Saint Sparkle is gonna do that.

I really hope Sparky finds her room soon...

--------------------------------- Scootaloo POV

As I lay in the guest room, I stared at the ceiling in the dark, thinking about what the two friends I already had in this town, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, would think. They each had a sister. 

I wonder who their sisters were?

I heard another scream. Twilight was screaming again. Guess I'd better get used to it. In this household, I could already tell that quiet would be a rare and appreciated occurrence.

---------------------- Twilight POV

What did she do to my room?!

She just had to get the painting bloody?

Really?

It was the Poney one, too!

I would say that I would get her back for this, but I don't have the slightest clue how.

Or maybe I do?

I screamed. I couldn't help it.

It was too much.

First Midnight, then this?

Really Rainbow? Really?

"Is this the best ya got Rainbow?", I yelled in my hoarse voice.

I saw how muddled and dirty my sheets were, they were very bloody. Almost as if two ponies had been tossing and turning half the night. Together, roughly and, wait. Passionately? So I was right!

"Rainbow!", I yelled. "Get in here!"

"Yeah?", she asked, rolling her eyes as she poked her head through the door frame.

"What did you do with Vinyl?", I asked, choosing to ignore her attitude.

"We had sex," she said, casually, flying into the room.

"Ugh.", I said, moaning. "Wait," I said, "you had sex with someone who is like, 1,000 years younger than you? She's a minor. That's against the law!" I glared at Rainbow.

She rolled her eyes again, sighing at my ignorance, "Yeah, but according to modern law I'm only 20, the same age as Vinyl."

My mouth fell open and stayed in that position. For a minute at least.

"Shut your mouth Sparky," she said smirking. "It's rude to gawk. Plus," she added, "she'll be a couple hundred years old soon."

"You turned her?", I asked, incredulously.

"Yeah, and you're invited to the Birthday party. After all, mine were always so much fun," she said.

Of course one second, she was casually blowing her bangs out of her face, and the next she had me up against the wall in a choke hold.

"But you always had more fun then I did, didn't you Sparky?", she said, and I could smell Vinyl's blood on her breath as I was losing air.

She narrowed her eyes. "In fact, you always had more fun then me, Birthday party or not."

I struggled to breath, clawing at my throat.

"This feels good," she said, smirking. "I like the fear in your eyes."

And her eyes, they were burning. In the moonlight they cracked and sparkled like a bonfire in the night. 

They were mesmerizing.

But in the worst way.

They pierced into me, making it hard to breath two different ways.

Looking past my front, to how scared I was, shaking because she had taken over my role from 400 years ago, and the tables had turned.

This time, she wasn't letting go.

But she still wasn't letting me win.

She could kill me and she knew it wouldn't give me any satisfaction, because I'd be on the ground, crumpled like a paper doll.

Her equinity was already lost, therefore if she killed me I won nothing. There was no strategy this time, no win-win mutual relationship. 

Only her hard, burning eyes.

She searched me, as if peering into my soul for an emotion that her hard gaze seemed to think I should possess. And when no recognizable spark came, she relented.

She let go of me, letting me crumple to the ground alive,

"Did you find Midnight yet?", she asked, casually, almost as if this were an everyday occurrence. Rubbing the hoof she used to hold me up against the wall, she continued talking casually, "Apparently he's been dead for quite sometime now. Last night he was found, roaming the streets. Got roughed up and drained from messing with the wrong pack of Lycans. Then of course a close clan of vampires stepped in, and got their revenge on him. They say he was a real dick.", she said, putting extra emphasis on the word dick.

"But I don't know," she said, meeting my eyes as I looked up into her eyes, sparkling like red wine. "Was he a dick?", she asked me, plopping down on my chaise lounge. Smirking as she did.

I wanted to tell her to get off of my chair, but that would've just made things worse. So instead, I told her what I thought, whether she chose to slam me up against the wall for it or not. "No, no he wasn't. He was a good vampire. I know it's hard for you to see, but he was. He was a good stallion." I looked up at her with pure, shining faith, and she stared back with this look of, what-the-hell-did-he-do-to-you.

"Was he? Was he really?", she asked, quirking an eyebrow in that smart alek way that always made all the other vampires want to punch her in the teeth.

"Yes, yes he was," I said, looking sure, but not really sure of how I felt anymore.

And I thought back to what he had done, and wondered if Rainbow really was right...

-----------------Flashback 1000 years ago-------

It was a dark and stormy night, and the place he had told me to meet him in was fairly huge. It was a castle, actually, with huge turrets with flags, flapping in the violent wind, and tapestries decorating the very lavish interior.

Why he had me meet him here I did not know. It gave off an unsettling vibe, yet I was somehow intrigued. 

Somehow fascinated, once he had not shown up, I began to look around. The architecture was breathtaking. Once you got used to the gothic feel, you could really admire the unique embellishments.

I climbed up many stairs, as I always seemed to do in castles. Even in the smaller ones, there always seemed to be so many stairs!

Whatever was the deal with all the stairs in a castle?

Following the harsh glow of the dim candles in their positions on the stairwell walls, I squinted to make out what I thought to be a note. 

Turn Back, it said, and was scrawled in frighteningly messy handwriting that appeared to be written in blood. Of course, I was a pony of logic and science, and ponies of the two aforementioned things took no heed to notes that appeared to be written in blood. It simply wasn't logical.

So, I continued onward on my quest to understand this mysterious castle and it's probable ancient knowledge.

Trotting ever so stealthily up the stairs, I forgot that I could not actually trot stealthily up the stairs. There were various cracks in the hard stone I walked on to get up the stairs, and I was never a very active, or physical pony. As such, I was not as coordinated as I should have been.

Missing a step, I feel backwards, and I found myself toppling down the stairs.
I closed my eyes and whimpered.

This was it, I could feel the wind rushing toward the back of my head.

I was going to hit my head and die, just like my mom had always told me never to do.

I could remember the first time I was scolded for playing on the stairs. My mother was very gentle about it, but as I grew older, when I was 5 years old, she grew weary of my escapades on the long winding staircase in our three story house. The stairs were carpeted, of course they were carpeted.

But these stairs were stone. How many more seconds did I have before I died? It felt like I had been falling forever.

I could feel my ears lightly touch the ground first, flicking the cold, hard stone before I toppled and would die, my soul knocked into oblivion, with my body stuck here.

But all that the bare stone kissed, was my ears.

I was suspended, hanging in thin air.

Opening up an eye, I squealed momentarily from the shock of almost dying, while simultaneously yearning to know what had broken my fall.

I got my answer when I saw Midnight standing with a rather serious look on his face. As I looked around, I realized I was enveloped in a violent red aura, which was nonviolently holding me from my stony death.

I giggled nervously, my face taking on a hue similar to the ripest strawberry in Equestria. "Hi," I managed out shrilly.

"Hello, China Doll," he said, raising an eyebrow as he levitated me upright into a standing position.
I giggled nervously again as my hooves touched the ground.

"I'm sorry," I said, "I'm horribly clumsy today, I'm afraid."

He responded with, "You must know, my fair lady, that part of the reason why you're tripping might be because of the rather unbelievably frilly thing that the ponies of Celestia's royal court call a dress."

I looked down at the atrociously accessorized thing. Frowning, I analyzed all of the lace trim.

"Not to say that you don't look horribly alluring. It does look quite fetching on you, hugging your form in all the right places.", he said, smiling naughtily which sent my heart a flutter.

I blushed. "Midnight," I said, "you must stop." Remembering what my friends Prim and Proper always said, I took it upon myself to scold him for such a lascivious comment. "That is no way to treat a lady," I said, taking it upon myself to set a reasonable standard. Raising my nose, as if I could avoid the flood of his rather uncouth comments, I couldn't see how Prim and Proper did this. Not only did it strain your neck, but it also made you look quite stuck up.

I looked at him from over my muzzle that was still raised ridiculously high in the air.

He looked as if he was quite entranced by me.

His eyes followed my face, and then dropped from my face to my neck, and then dropped lower and lower until they stopped at my chest.

I pulled at the neck line to my layered dress uncomfortably, afraid he was not pleased with what he was seeing.

'But that's ridiculous,' I thought to myself. 'I am a perfectly attractive mare. I have good confidence in my image and body.' Nodding to myself, I pulled down the neck line.

He came closer, entranced by something on my body.

I watched as his eyes never left that one part of my body.

I had thought that it was my chest that he was staring at. It had never occurred to me, that Midnight hadn't ever even looked at my chest. 

I didn't realize it yet, but he had been captivated by my neck the whole time.

He trotted almost soundlessly up the stairs.

I never dropped my head. Instead my mane was draped over my neck in a perfect wave, and with my head raised high, I was showcasing my neck for him to see.

Eyes still glued to that one part of my body, he stopped, hesitated, and then all of a sudden he was in front of me and on me.

"Twilight," he said, grabbing me and pulling me into him. My lips melded with his, him pushing his against mine so hard it was sure to leave a very unladylike bruise. But still, he persisted, grabbing the small of my back, and stealing my oxygen. It was ironic how he never even seemed to have to breath.

He kissed me till I was breathless as one of the housekeepers in Canterlot Castle on Celestia's Cake Day.

When we separated, it was like all of my air had been sucked away for several years. I gasped, panting, exerting a lot of energy to try to heave precious air into my lungs. 

He was dashing, even with his piercing red eyes, and as I breathed a heavenly deep breath, he pulled me under again.

Pressing me up against the wall, he pressed his tongue against my lips in an uneven, desperate rhythm.

In the light, through partially closed eyes I could see his eyes. They always were red, an unusual shade of red, actually.

But now it appeared as if they were glowing.

But even though it was insane, my irrationally alert instincts were telling me to run far away from Midnight. I ignored them, in favor of my more logical thoughts.

Thoughts that told me that I liked the feeling.

I kept those thoughts, and imagined pressing the unsettling ones down my many frills and ruffles.

Not quite ready to let him in, I denied him satisfaction, not opening my lips.

I must have imagined it, but I'm pretty sure that he growled.

A roar of thunder sounded outside, and the candles flickered eerily.

I shivered, and he brought his soft lips to my ear.

"Are you scared m'lady?", he asked.

I whispered a soft "No," despite my frightened state.

I did not want him to stop.

He kept his lips by my ear, kissing at it, and nibbling at it, which he knew I enjoyed from all the starry nights we had spent looking up at the galaxies above us.

When he nibbled at it, though, it felt painful then heavenly. It felt as if he was nibbling at it with sharper teeth than usual, but I knew not of his true state.

Either way it was blissful.

When he let go of my ear, he brought his lips up to it yet again, whispering another little question.

"Why are you not scared, fair lady?", he asked, his breath tickling, my ear. It was like a frozen blizzard, his breath, and it chilled my ear.

I shivered again, and I might have been imagining it, but I'm pretty sure I heard a dark laugh.

"Because I have you to protect me," I said, opening my eyes, and looking at him puzzled.
He just smiled. 

The candles flickered. Thunder rolled, and lightning flashed, and I shivered again.

The candles lit again, and as he asked another question, not that I would've known it at the time, but this was his last question, he stroked my neck with a hoof.

He nipped at my ear, and he was smiling like a cat getting his canary.  

"And what if I'm the one you need protecting from fair lady?", he asked, his eyes dancing seductively in the dim light of the wildly blowing candles.

He smirked, and I was so sure that I could see something sharp in his mouth. His eyes, they seemed different too. Even more red, if that was possible.

He dragged his lips down the side of my face, planting tender kisses along my cheek, and my forehead.

Once he got closer to my neck, I felt something sharp protruding from his mouth, tearing down my neck.

I closed my eyes, gasping, shocked and somewhat aroused by the sudden change in affection.

He kissed my neck, sucking at it, nipping at it, and even grabbing it.

I gasped quite a deal to his methods. They were strange, but they worked.

I felt something sharp pierce my neck and draw blood.

"Midnight!", I gasped. 

The thunder cracked, and the lightning flashed again. And the candles were blown out. This time, however, they did not reignite.

My eyes flew open, and I looked around the stairwell. 

We were in fact, all alone. He could do whatever he wanted, and get away with it, and I couldn't stop him.

The lights were out, and the thought occurred to me, that perhaps the impossible was maybe a little bit possible.

"Am I hurting you, m'lady?", he asked.

I closed my eyes, sighing.

I felt two things pierce into my neck. 

And as I screamed, I was sure I heard him laugh.

"What if I'm the thing that you need protecting from?", he asked, again.

And as I opened my eyes, I saw a faint red glow from below.

And as I seeked out the blood red glow, I saw Midnight, ask again, this time looking up at me with blood red eyes that shone in the dark. 

"What if I'm the thing you need protecting from?"

And I tried to scream, but terror took the sound before I could make it.  Tried to look away, but that just shocked and terrified me more, because there, in the glow of his eyes, was his entire face highlighted in the eerie color.

And, protruding from his mouth, was the last thing I wanted to see.

Fangs.

As I tried to stretch away, it just opened up my neck area more, and he looked at my cowering form, and gladly whispered one last question.

"Are you scared now?"

And with a flash of his blood red eyes, and a glint of fangs, he was feeding on me. He imbibed himself with my blood, although it was slow and painful for me.

He was on my neck, and his fangs were buried deep in my jugular.

Grabbing my struggling form, he kept a steel grip on my wiggling body. 

I could scream now. 

So scream I did. I screamed so much that my throat hurt.

He pushed me up against the wall, drinking from me rapidly, sucking my blood like a parasite. It was painful.

Once he detached himself, he bit me on my lips, drawing blood.

"I could've compelled you. But it's just so much more satisfying when you scream. It makes your blood that much more filling.", he whispered in my ear, blood dripping down my earlobe, and cascading down my face. He licked it off.

He kissed me, forcing himself upon me. Using me. But even after he turned me, even after hundreds of years, I'll still refuse to admit that Midnight is a dick.

Because I still remember the Midnight that nibbled my ear when we went stargazing....

-----End of Flashback------

"Hey, Sparky you okay?", Dash asked, knocking me out of my stupor.

"Yes, I'm fine Rainbow," I assured her, giving her a slight nod as a sign that I had heard her question and processed it.

"Good, that means I can still make you not okay," she said smiling. And before I could process what she meant by that, she left. 
Before she fully exited, though, she turned around and winked, saying, "Good luck."

Before she left though, I just had to know something. "Rainbow!", I called to her disappearing figure, and when she turned around, I asked the one question I was afraid to know the answer to. "Where's Octavia?", I asked, and was answered with a smirk and a roll of her eyes. 

"Vincenza had to feed on somepony to turn, and a vampire like Octavia, we'll, she was the very best option," Rainbow said, and looked me dead in the eyes as she said so.

"Of course," she continued. "Sometimes ponies like Octavia are just in the wrong place, at the wrong time, in the wrong unconscious state of mind."

And then she walked out. 

And I was left in my room, wondering what else she could possibly do. She'd made me have a mental breakdown, trashed my room and made it smell very tempting, and then proceeded to brag about killing the vampire that turned me, while simultaneously being nonchalant about all of her other little surprises she had left for me. Wonderful. There was literally nothing else she could do. Oh wait, I forgot, to top it off, she went and made Vinyl kill off Octavia.

So, after several hours worth of cleanup in my room, I finally fell asleep on my only partially bloody sheets.

-------------------- Rinbow POV

As I trotted out of Twi's room, I took a glance back at her expression. She was horribly distraught. Sweet Luna, tears already Twi? You're too damned easy. It's time to find somepony else to incorporate into this tiny bit of mass destruction. 

And I know just the person. 

If I'm gonna torment the egghead, I'm gonna torment her the right way. Cause if I'm playing the game, I might as well play to win.

Where was Vinyl? I needed her for this to work. 

Trotting up the stairs, I got to my bedroom and peeked inside. She was snoring very softly. I swear if it were anypony else, I would've waken them up, but there's something about Vinyl. I don't want to take this peace from her. As long as I'm in her life, she'll get very little peace. 

So I take my head out of the doorway, and go to Scootaloo's room. For a second I linger outside of her door, not sure about what I'm about to do. But then I go inside. Braving the chance of my image of toughness crumbling, I gingerly fly in, hovering over the filly. Closing my eyes and not letting myself doubt, but first checking to see if she's awake, I lean down, and plant a gentle kiss on her forehead the way I used to. 

"Good night Squirt," I whisper to her sleeping form. "I wish you didn't see me like this."

Then, with a small sigh, and a ginger beat of my wings, I glide out of the room, and land in the hallway, closing her door softly.

-------- Scootaloo POV

When I woke up in the room Twilight had me sleep in the night before, sunlight was streaming in through my window. I grinned happily, enjoying the feeling of the beaming rays on my face.

I could hear through my door, the sound of a blender. It sounded like somepony had stuffed a cat in the blender, but the appliance still seemed to work fine, despite the disturbing noises I heard coupled with it.

And through the thick wood of the door, I could smell the most wonderful thing, wafting up to my room.

'Wait, was this my room?', I asked myself. I mean, Twilight had given it to me to spend the night in. Was it mine?

Never mind, I could ponder that later, right now, all I could smell was the glorious scent of, ooh, eggs, and bacon? Woah, ponies eating pigs? Well, pigs tasted good, but Twilight would probably say that it was barbaric.

I threw off the blankets that were laying haphazardly on top of me, and fell out of bed.

If Sweetie Belle's big sister Rarity was here, she would have had a cow with just how, 'ungraceful' I was being. Then agin, stumbling out of bed while rubbing sleep from your bleary eyes and coming close to falling again from almost tripping on a rug isn't exactly a flawless wake up.

Grabbing the door handle with my hoof, I exited the room, and actually took a moment to look at my body. Saying some words a filly my age shouldn't know, I looked at the cracks in my hooves and flinched. I was covered with dirt, and I could really use a shower. 

So I trotted downstairs, stumbling a bit on the steps, but I righted myself. Regaining my balance after half the flight, I trotted mostly awake completely down the rest of the way with no trouble.

Twilight was the one making the smoothie, and trying to smash several fruits uncut and unchopped into the blender. A foul looking mess decorated the inside of the appliance, and poor Twilight was having quite some trouble. 

Grinding her teeth together, Sparkle was jamming as much fruit as possible into the blender, while simultaneously trying to write various scrolls.

"Good morning," I chirped, happily trotting into the kitchen.

"Hi," Twilight said, taking a break from the pounding of the fruits, and her furious scribbling.

Looking up, she wore a face of relief, as if she was happy I had made it through the night. But what could have happened to me?

The jingling of keys and a chorus of whistling started to come from the back room, and Twilight sighed, for she knew who it was. 

"Rainbow Dash!", Twilight yelled.

"Yes," Rainbow said, popping her head into the kitchen. "Morning Scoots," she said, nodding to me.

"Where do you think you're going?", Twilight asked, glaring at her. "You know you have quite the mess here to clean up, correct?"

"Yeah, I know. Get off my case Sparky," Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. "And I got somewhere to be."

"So are you going to clean it up?", Twilight asked, miraculously completely disregarding the last part to Rainbow's response.

"Soon," Rainbow said waving a hoof.

"How soon?", Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Only about a hundred years," Rainbow said casually.

"No, we are not doing this again," Twilight huffed.

"You never cleaned up your messes anyway, back when you were a big drinker," Rainbow said, smirking.

I shivered, remembering when Twilight was a 'big drinker.'

Rainbow noticed and rolled her eyes. "Aw c'mon squirt, she's a saint now."

"Where do you have to be?", Twilight asked, trying to find a wormhole in Dash's story, but I knew she wouldn't. When Dash wanted to be smooth, Dash was smooth.

"Why do you wanna know, you jelly that I get to leave the house and you're stuck here?", Rainbow asked raising an eyebrow.

Hoof steps came from by the doorway, and then another head popped in, this head with electric blue hair, and a coat as white as porcelain. And her eyes, her eyes were already red. She was a unicorn, too.

"Hey, what's going on in here?", the head asked. 

"Guys, this is Vinyl," Rainbow said, messing up the pony's hair.

"Hey," Vinyl said, growling playfully, and grabbed Rainbow's hoof.

"Help. I'm being attacked by a menacing vampire," Rainbow said sarcastically.

"Oh there's a menacing vampire in this room but it's definitely not her," Twilight retorted angrily.

"Oh, so we're gonna play that way, huh? Because I may be menacing, but I haven't broke your all time massacre record yet, have I?", Rainbow asked mockingly. "No I don't think I have," she continued, "maybe this'll be the town?" She smirked as she said it, knowing she was getting a rise out of the purple unicorn.

"Rainbow Dash," Twilight said with an element of warning in her tone.

"Fine, fine," Rainbow said, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes, "But you did ask where I was going, so I better tell you before you explode."

I cracked a small smile.

Rainbow noticed out of the corner of her eye and I think she winked. But was that a friendly wink, or was she just trying to get me on her side?

"A mystery place," Rainbow said wiggling her eyebrows. "So we'll be going now," she finished casually.

Pulling their heads from out of the doorway, they both walked away, and I followed their hoof steps with my ears until I couldn't hear them any longer.

------------ Dash POV

As we drew away from the kitchen, back towards the back door, and got ready to leave, Vinyl pulled me along, wanting to get away from the house as soon as possible.

It was quite early morning, actually, about 5:00 AM. 

The perfect time for feeding. Not to late that it would be suspicious. But early enough that not many ponies are out, so less chances of being caught, and if we're seen, less witnesses.

As soon as we were outside, though, she shrieked, and darted into the shade, motioning at her pelt. I looked, but wasn't too surprised.

"Beginner's Burn," I said, rolling my eyes.

"What?", she asked.

"It's sunburn," I explained, "but worse, because you get it every time you're in the sun for the first few months that you're a vampire."

"Well is there anything that can help it?", she asked, wincing at the pain that was probably blossoming across her body from the harsh rays of the sun.

"Sunscreen," I stated flatly.

She raised an eyebrow, laughed a little, and then said, "Oh, you're serious."

"Yep, I'm serious," I said, laughing a little. "Lemme go get the sunscreen," I said, and turned around to trot back inside.

"Okay," she said, "but hurry."

I popped open the door, and trotted back inside.

"Sunscreen," I mumbled to myself.

Finding it quickly, laying around on the table nearby, I picked it up and popped back open the door, trotting back outside and applying it to Vinyl.

She groaned as I applied it to her, not expecting for me to actually put it on her.

"Dash!", she exclaimed, after I had lightly slapped some on her nose.

I just laughed, and said, "Let's get going."

This time, when she stepped out into the sun, she just inhaled deeply and smiled. 

"Better?", I asked, but I already knew the answer.

"Yeah," she said, popping on her shades.

"Let's go get something to eat," I said, casually flying low to the ground beside her.

She followed behind me, occasionally asking questions, like, "Where are we going?", and "Aren't we getting pretty far from civilization?", and "Isn't civilization where all the ponies are?"

"You'll see where we're going," I said casually, as we made our way toward the Everfree Forest.

"We're going to the Everfree Forest?", she asked.

I nodded confirmation.

"But aren't there seriously dangerous things in there?", she asked.

"What kind of seriously dangerous things?", I asked. 

"Things that go bump in the night," she responded, but quickly realized her flaw in judgement.

"Vinyl, we are the things that go bump in the night," I said, smirking, "Besides, it's nice and dark in here. In some parts regular ponies can't see a thing. Which is wonderful for us. The darker it is, the better we are."

I continued to fly to the forest, and she still followed faithfully. 

Once we had reached the edge of the forest, I asked her if she was ready.

"Now this is the perfect place to show you the ropes. Even if we fail to hunt successfully, or leave a loose end, our mess is easily cleaned up. The prey can't get away," I explained.

She nodded loosely, looking nervous.

"I know, the first real kill is always hard. You're just not used to it."

She gulped still though, not used to the prospect of being the hunter, and no longer being one of the hunted.

"Well, come on in," I said, disappearing into the foliage.

"There are always plenty of ponies trying to explore the Everfree. Trying to be brave. But there's a reason only a few ponies ever make it out alive."

"And why is that?", Vinyl asked.

"Because of me and all the other creatures in the forest," I replied.

She gulped again. 

"Aw c'mon Vinyl, you can do it," I said, and with a hesitant step, she crossed into the forest.

"Good," I said.

And then I started walking again.

"Where are you going?", she asked.

"Wherever fresh blood is," I answered. "I can smell it."

She continued to follow me, just going where I went.

"Okay," I said, stopping at a point where I could hear a pony's blood.

Peeking out from where we were, it was hard to see the pony because of the leaves and foliage in front of our faces.

Standing serenely by a stream, about 20 paces away, stood a very important figure head in the town of Ponyville. And in all her glory, there she stood, greying hair, and luxuriously boring tan coat. It was Mayor Mare, the perfect pony to aid in a little piece of mass destruction.

Of course, she was wonderful for the plan, but Vinyl needed somepony she could really kill, not somepony I needed alive. 

"We're moving on," I said, trotting silently away.

"What? Why?", Vinyl asked impatiently. 

"Because she's crucial to the plan," I said, continuing to trot the other way, forcing Vinyl to submit to my direction.

"What plan?", Vinyl asked.

"The plan where I give Twilight the Grandaddy of all pain," I casually replied. And after walking for a couple more minutes in comfortable silence, I stopped and put my hoof up to my lips.

"Do you hear that?", I said, turning around and asking Vinyl.

"No," she said, shaking her head, confused.

"Okay," I said, walking over to her, "Close your eyes, and listen very closely."

Vinyl looked at me with distrust in her eyes, but I trotted over and wrapped my forelegs around her barrel. 

She sighed.

"You're breathing heavily," I said, "slow your heart rate, and silence your mouth breathing. You need to learn to breath through your nose."

She glared at me, but closed her eyes and slowed her breathing, closing her mouth and taking in silent, long exhales of air soundlessly.

"Now what?", she whispered.

With my legs still wrapped around her barrel, I brought my lips up to her ear and whispered one word. "Listen," I said, my breath chilling her.

"What am I listening for?", she asked.

"You'll get it, just keep hearing the sounds around you," I said, confident that she could figure this out on her own.

After one peaceful minute, she whispered, "I can hear something."

I whispered, "Elaborate," and she did.

"It sounds like rushing water," she said, sighing pleasantly. "But it's not water," she said, sniffing the air. "It smells metallic, like a coin, but I know that I can drink it. So, my best least obvious guess would be an edible penny."

Rainbow silently sighed. 

"I know it's blood though, jeez, I'm not stupid Dash," Vinyl joked, poking me in the ribs.

"Vinyl!", I said. "Don't be such a menacing vampire!", I teased.

She shushed me, and I was quiet for her sake.

After waiting a second, I spoke again, blowing on her ear first, though.

She neighed because of the ticklish sensation.

"So, you wanna try to track the scent?", I asked, blowing on her ear more while she squirmed.

"Dash!", she whined.

"Hey, it's not my fault that you're hopelessly ticklish," I added, whispering.

"Hey!", she shrieked.

"Careful," I said. "We don't want our food getting away, do we?"

"No," she said, after a second of contemplation.

"Can you tell me how many there are?", I asked.

"Yes," she said after a second, hesitantly.

Sniffing deeply, she made her assessment. "Two?", she guessed.

"Yes," I said. "Good job."

She exhaled, relieved that she was correct.

"Can you take us to them?", I asked her. "Of course you'd open up your eyes first," I added, reminding her that she would, in fact, need to pay attention to where she was stepping ; that she was powerful enough to see in the dark but not powerful enough to see through her own eyelids.

"Right," she said, giggling nervously and glancing around.

"C'mon Vinyl. Don't be nervous," I reminded her.

I could tell she was speaking through her teeth when she said, "I'm not, but you should be."

There were two ponies about eight hooves behind me, with cute little vampire hunter weapons, I knew that. One was big, and built like a workhorse, and the other was comically tiny, and scrawny. A little glance from behind me by Vinyl confirmed my suspicions. "They're right behind me aren't they," I whispered in her ear.

She slightly nodded to confirm her answer.

I thought for a minute, broken out of my trance by her shaky whispering, "They're right behind you, Rainbow. Only about 5 hooves away."

"I know Scratch I know," I cooed in her ear. "But it's okay, you know why?"

"Why?", she whispered.

"Do you want easy food or hard food?", I asked her.

"Easy," she squeaked.

"Okay, so I guess we won't drain these guys," I asked quietly.

"I don't know. Do you think we can take them?", she asked nervously.

"Scratch, we could take these guys in our sleep," I said breezily. "They have tasers. Tasers don't work on vampires, we're partially dead. We have no nervous system for them to shock. They clearly have no idea what they're doing."

"Two hooves away. And they're readying their tasers," Vinyl whisper yelled.

"Game on," I said, smirking. "Just follow my lead," I whispered.

-----------Vinyl POV

I watched as the two ponies raised their tasers behind us, and just as they were about to plunge them down onto our seemingly naive figures, Dash spun around, and punched them both in the gut. While they were reeling from that, she roundkicked one towards me. 

"You know what to do Scratch," she yelled, and as she looked over at me, I could see that she expected me to do what I could.

Smiling, I looked at the pony's hunched figure. He looked dazed, albeit he looked to be very strong. But he couldn't probably fight very well in this state.

As he was getting up, I realized that he was the bigger one, and for a second I was worried. But then I looked over at Rainbow, and remembered that she wouldn't give me anything I couldn't handle.

As he rose to his full height once more, he ran at me, lowering his head, and got ready to ram me. 'Is he for real?', I asked myself. But I soon found out.

He was the bigger one, and even though I at first wondered why she would give me such a large, intimidating opponent, I soon figured out that what he lacked in speed, he made up for in strength. Which was bad for him, because vampires are stronger than mortals. Therefore, his normal advantage was useless in this fight. With my magical strength advantage, he was destined to lose.

As he got up from the second smack down, he grunted in pain. I could see that blood had begun to leak from his head. I licked my lips and could feel my fangs elongate.

I could hear it rushing again. My eyes zoomed in on the crack in his head that had begun to bleed. He raised his head, and I must've been a sinister sight, counting in my sunglasses-less face that featured no longer concealed piercing red eyes and sharp fangs.

He squeaked a little, and I laughed, finding amusement in the notion that a big stallion like him would be afraid of somepony so much smaller like me.

"Well, come at me Blood-Bitch," he snarled though, keeping his tough facade up, and raising his bloody head high into the sky.

The insult made my blood boil, and would make killing him even more satisfying.

I glimpsed his neck, and that was all it took. I could see his taser pitifully hid behind his back. 
He was grinning like a sick, sick bastard, and that was it. I was so done. 

"Game on," I said, cracking my neck and grinning.

To my satisfaction, this seemed to scare him a lot. Picture this, a maniacal twenty something vampire grinning at you evilly and cracking her neck with sickening sound effects to go with it all.

How would you feel?

So, with those last words, I rushed over, knocking the taser out of his hand as he tried to drive it into my neck.

Instead, I went for his neck, slamming him against the bloody tree, and sinking my fangs into his flesh. Using my magic to cast a paralysis spell so he couldn't move, I carved my initials into the skin of his neck. Blood Bitch. Ha, right. He was gonna see what a real blood bitch looked like if I could help it.

Burying my teeth deeper into his flesh, and listening to him whine while drinking from him was satisfying. Even more satisfying than the best track on the market at the hottest club in Equestria. 

I removed my fangs and relished in the taste of his blood. 

"Mommy," he squeaked.

He was not as strong as originally thought.

It was time to finish him. Plunging my teeth back in the bite mark, I pulled back his head to reveal more of his neck.

"Let me- let me go," he said, shuddering.

"No," I whispered, as I ripped a steady stream of blood down the other side of his neck.

He shivered again.

I sank my fangs into the other side of his neck, and dug around in the wound.

He gritted his teeth, trying not to yell.

Drinking his blood felt almost as good as drinking from Octavia.

I moaned. Drinking faster and faster, until his tense body was limp, I stopped only when he was dead.

Looking up, I noticed Rainbow leaning against the one of the trees, applauding me for my efforts.

"See, I told you, you knew what to do," she said smiling.

I got off my haunches, and trotted over to Rainbow, sick of sitting by the dead pony's body.

"Who were those ponies?", I asked, curious about why they had chosen to attack us.

"Those were vampire hunters," she said, "and they were hired to dispose of yours truly," she said, gesturing to herself.

"Who hired them?", I asked, fascinated as to who they were working for.

"Mayor Mare of course. She can't have a dangerous vampire running rampid in her town," Dash replied, giving me a toothy grin, "but she already does, and once she figures out that she can't stop me with her pitiful mortal forces, she'll try to control me with something too big for her to handle."

"What happens when she tries to control you with something too big for her to handle?", I asked, interested in what would happen to Ponyville's prominent figure head.

"Then she gets killed in an accident," Rainbow remarked casually.

I let my jaw drop at what Rainbow was implying. 

Rainbow looked up, saw my shocked expression, and smirked.

"What?", she asked, "she'll end up killing herself anyway. It's not like she'll survive one fourth as long as she thinks she could. She doesn't even know that she's one of the very few normal equines in the town. Her ignorance and naivety will be her downfall. If I'm chosen to help her demise along it'll be secondary."

I closed my mouth. 

And before I could stop myself, I opened back up my mouth and said, "I want in."

I slapped a hoof over my mouth as soon as I made the demand, wondering what in Equestria made me try to order around an 1,000 year old vampire.

"You've got spunk, I like it," she said, looking me over. "Yeah, sure, I'll let you in," she said casually.

When my only response that I gave her was very noticeable balking, she looked amused.

"What?", she asked, "you second guessing already, Scratch?"

Maybe it was all the blood. Maybe the blood made me bolder...

"Nah, Dash," I responded. "We can do this."

And she looked back at me with a sparkle in her eyes that I'd seen so many times before. When we would do something that could get us in trouble. When we were putting ourselves in a risky situation that somehow always turned out fine.

"We good then Scratch?", she asked, with a curious look on her face.

"What do you mean?", I asked, cocking my head to the side, and making her grin, thoroughly entertained by just the look on my face. 

"I mean, are you good to hunt on your own?", she asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"Yeah," I said, nodding like I was kind've a nimbus. "Yeah I'm great Dash."

"Okay, cause I got some stuff to take care of," she said, winking, before turning around and taking off in the other direction.

And I was left alone to hunt.

Rainbow POV--------------

I took off away from her, trusting her to find her own food, while I worked on finding the first cog in my plan. 

Last time I checked she was standing right over here by the river...

And after flying a bit, I landed right where I was before. Peeking through the bushes, I caught sight of Mayor Mare staring at her reflection in the water, and mumbling about certain plans.

I heard a bit of information about a plan to keep supernatural creatures contained, but that was as much as I heard before I grew weary of collecting information from hearing her talk to herself.

Taking off from the ground, I silently flew to another point where I could pretend to trot absentmindedly into her view in a clearing and then approach her as if I had just got here.

Touching down softly, I gingerly trotted into a clearing where she could clearly see me. I made sure to make some casual noise, "accidentally" nudging a rock.

She looked up, and as a startled look flashed across her face, I glimpsed at her, feigning an are-you-okay-because-you-seem-way-too-paranoid look.

She responded with the visual equivalent of an elephant dying from asphyxiation.  

I rolled my eyes, and started to trot over.

She averted her eyes, and trotted back.

I shot an are-you-kidding-me look, and she responded with a look that screamed, stranger-danger!-stranger-danger!

I started to trot quite a bit faster, and she started to canter.

I started to canter, and then she'd start to gallop.

This was never going to end. So I did the only thing I could, I chased her.

If I was gonna control this town, I was going to control it the right way, using the right people.

Starting with the Mayor.

After a couple seconds, I had caught up to her, though, and was standing expectantly in her line of sight.

She tried to get around, but I just blocked her. Eventually, after she still hadn't settled down, I slammed her against the tree, and was already perusing her neck.

"Tried playing nice with you," I said. "But it didn't work," I continued, "so here I am playing dirty."

"As your Mayor," she said, shaking, "I must ask you to leave me."

"Or what?", I growled, biting into her jugular.

She screamed, struggling feebly.

As the blood rushed down my throat, I could feel the high coming on. "What are you gonna do Mayor, burn my records at Town Hall?"

"Maybe," she blubbered.

I dug deeper into the wound, getting a shriek out of her.

"Stop! Just stop," she yelled. "I'll do anything!"

"Anything?", I asked, finally detaching from the wound.

And as I looked up to see her dull, frightened eyes, I realized that I really did have to keep her alive.

"Fine," I said, "you tell me what goes on in our great town, and I won't kill you."

And as she looked into my eyes, I could tell that she knew she had messed with the wrong vampire.

And as I pulled her in closer, activating compulsion, I whispered, "You will tell me everything. I want to know your plans for getting rid of all the supernatural creatures, and your true intentions when it comes to disposing of all of the unnatural equines. I want to know everything that anybody of authority is planning, and I want you to leave nothing out. You will call me and address me with respect, calling me Ms. Dash. There's this thing called professionalism, but I don't expect you to understand as fully as a real agent of government. You will report to me and tell nopony of our agreement or the circumstances and events surrounding it, is that clear Madame Mayor?"

And as her eyes flashed, I could tell that it had worked.

"Yes Ms. Dash," she said.

"Good," I said, straightening her tie, patting her perfectly coiffed mane, etc. "You might wanna cover up that bite mark," I said, averting eye contact for a second.

"Do I have to Ms. Dash?", she asked.

"Cover up the bite marks," I said, compelling her again.

"Yes Ms. Dash," she said, and pulled up her collar, after pausing for a moment, and asking, "There will be more?"

"Yes," I said, never breaking eye contact. "You are not allowed to speak of those either."

"Understood," she said.

And after taking one last look at her and deeming her good to go, I dismissed her, and went to see how successful Vinyl had been when it came to hunting.

------ Twilight POV

Dash had said she was going somewhere but wouldn't tell me where. This just reeked of suspicious activity. As I was thinking this, I accidentally dropped the scroll to plan a funeral for Octavia into the uncovered mess of fruit in the blender.

"Horseapples," I muttered, and my eyes shot up to see if Scootaloo had heard me.

"Whuh?", Scootaloo asked as she looked up from her food. Celestia, I could swear that that filly was just as lost in thought as I was.

"Nothing Scootaloo, just go back to eating," I said, but Scootaloo was way too engrossed in something on the floor to respond.

Come to think of it, it seemed like Scootaloo was comatose at times. She had only known reckless Rainbow for a day now, and I think it was taking a toll on her.

Celestia, I wished I could do something for the little filly to help her get her mind off of Rainbow.

Looking back down at the now fruity flavored funeral scroll, I sighed and levitated it out of the blender.

What was I gonna do?

Octavia's friends and family had to know that she had passed away. I didn't want them looking for someone who would never be found.

Unless they could just go through the grief on their own? Maybe I could just plant her bloodless body somewhere and wait for them to find it? 

Celestia Twilight, don't be so brainless, I scolded myself.

Octavia's family deserves to know, and yet, I can't bring myself to tell them.

I can only picture the revelation.

Oh hey, by the way, your daughter's/ wife's/ mother's  body was found in my house, because I have an old 1,000 year old vampire friend who kills for kicks. And she has a friend too, so that's why there are two teeth marks and not just one...

Because that would just end swimmingly.

Adding onto the stress of Octavia's departure and funeral ideas, I figured I might as well put Scootaloo in school.

Now that I was thinking about it, the last time I had seen Scootaloo until last night was 1,000 years ago. How did she survive?

What was Scootaloo?

Had Scootaloo been cursed, spellbound to stay this age, maybe?

Who was Scootaloo? I always knew her as an innocent filly, but she was probably more, and wise beyond her years.

I guess I might've zoned out, because when I woke up from my trance, I saw that Scootaloo was looking at me curiously, and when I looked down, I discovered that my scroll had plopped back down into my blender and the fruity mess of crap in it.

Ugh, I thought, cursing my weak levitation abilities when I was concerned with other matters.

-------------- Vinyl POV

It was my second kill, and I had dragged it out.

Yeah, I knew it was wrong.

Yeah, I knew it was bloody, give me a bucking break.

After that came my third kill, and then my fourth, and my fifth.

By the time Rainbow came for me, my muzzle was covered with blood, and I probably looked incredibly deranged. 

"Aw, my little vamp is growing up," she said, looking me up and down.

"Shut up," I said, smiling, rolling my eyes playfully.

"Okay then," Rainbow said, "Fine, how about my little vamp is growing old?"

I pouted.

"Hey, why are you so upset? You'd still look just as attractive with grey hair," she said, and trotted over to look at what I'd done.

She whistled. "Correction," she said, "My little vamp is growing into a psycho. What is this, eight ponies dead? You have a serious problem with your bloodlust."

Her eyes bored into mine. "Not that it's bad. It's just unexpected."

Her mouth sailed up into another one of her smirks, and I knew I'd just surprised her again.

"We should work on your technique though. You're getting sloppy," she said, looking back down at the carnage that surrounded her.

I opened up my mouth, waiting for a stinging insult to fire back to her to come to me, but none came.

I internally cursed.

"But we can fix that," she said, staring back up at my face. Raising an eyebrow, she projected an expression that screamed this is gonna be fun. "Are you still hungry?"

I said, "I will never be full," and listened to what we were going to do.

----------Twilight POV 

I mean how does someone survive for 1,000 years without having an unnatural life span like that of a vampire, werewolf, witch or shapeshifter? She's probably under a spell. Maybe she's cursed?

I couldn't stand this, so I had to ask.

"Scootaloo?", I said, grabbing her attention to me rather than the floor.

"Yeah Twilight?", she said looking up.

"How did you survive?", I asked, expecting a denial, or a close to my question, but instead she uttered one word out. 

"Zecora," she said like it was no big deal, but it was a big deal.

I was very surprised that Zecora would do that for Scootaloo given who Scootaloo wanted to stay and meet again. Zecora was one witch that didn't get along with vampires, especially not Dash or I.

"What did Zecora do?", I asked, now consumed by questions.

"She gave me a life pause," Scootaloo said matter-of-factly.

"What is that?", I almost asked. But I knew what a life pause was. Why didn't I think of that before. Of course!

A Life Pause spell was a merely basic spell if one had the appropriate ingredients and qualifications. It was a spell where someone was allowed to live but pause their age, therefore never getting older. For example, if Scootaloo was 8 when we left, even after a thousand years she would still be 8, because the spell paused her age and her aging process. A set person that the client of the spell cared about deeply was required to end the spell. The spell would end when that certain person that the client loved and was searching for was found. The Life Pause spell was a spell designed for searching for immortal beings. However, the caster would have to know who the certain person was in order to cast it correctly. So what I was wondering was, why would Zecora cast the spell and help Scootaloo when she hated the person Scootaloo was trying to find?

At least, I assume the being Scootaloo was trying to find was Rainbow...

I must have been very deep in thought, because Scootaloo decided to ask me if I was constipated.

And then she proceeded to ask why I got constipated, which lead to me telling her I was in no way shape or form constipated, which lead to her rolling her eyes and smirking, and saying sure sarcastically.

Sometimes that filly is too much like Rainbow Dash.

----------- Rainbow POV

I drop Vinyl back off at my house, wait, now our house, and go to a place where I can bring back something good to eat. After I get my fill. What can I say? She had plenty. The least she can do is wait an hour.

Pony's Best Bar and Grill, oh, how I love thy name. Shall I count the ways? Good hunting, good food, good hard cider. Oh yes, I love it.

And if Vinyl hadn't gorged herself so much, she'd probably be here too.

I drifted in just minding my own business when out of the corner of my eye I saw none other than Rarity, the town flirt. And Rarity was of course drunk, again.

When a pony is drunk they're off and unobservant, a target that's off and unobservant is an easy one. And I don't want a fight, I just want a bite.

Rarity is the epitome of the drunken high class pony. Normally stuck up ponies are fun ponies when they're chock full of alcohol. Drunk ponies are fun, therefore Rarity is like the new flavor of the century, or something. Whatever the kids are saying nowadays. 

"Another drink please," she said, setting her glass down on the table. I swear she was the only pony who ever drank wine at this place.

"Lady I think you've had enough-", the bartender started to say but was caught off by her lips.

"Mmmffff," he said, trying to talk but her lips blocked his words.

Grabbing his face, she pulled him in.

By the time she was done, he was starstruck and ready to offer her as many exotic wines as she wanted for free.

Trotting over, I plopped my keister into a stool by her and said, "Hello," with a smile. I recognized her, I didnt know if she recounted any memories of me, but she should've. She was Prim Proper. The jewelrymaker's daughter.

She turned around and said, "You look like trouble," with a cautious look on her face.

"Don't worry you can spank me if I'm bad," I said, ordering a hard cider.

"Darling I'd hate to break it to your surely very dirty mind, but I'm as straight as a board," she said smiling teasingly.

"Not anymore," I said, looking into her eyes and trying to compel her but nothing was happening.

"What the Hell?", I said, after she wasn't affected.

"What?", she asked, rolling her eyes. "Really, if you are going to use that type of ruffian language I'd suggest censoring it around ladies such as I."

"Why isn't it working?", I asked myself internally.

"Why isn't compelling me working?", she asked. "Is that what you're wondering?"

She must've not known, how could she have known what I was thinking, how could she have known what compelling was? How could she have known about compelling in the first place?

"You see this necklace I wear?", she asked me.

"Yeah," I said, acting bored, but very interested now, "What about it?"

She rolled her eyes at my suddenly appearing lack of interest.

"It's filled with enough magical concentrated garlic in a big enough enchanted dose that it could burn you if you touched it. It prevents compulsion and the touch of supernatural creatures that I don't want near me. That includes you.", she said batting her eyes tauntingly. "Don't even try to get with me. Like I said, I'm straight and already taken."

"Honey," a voice said from the doorway of the bar in a warm fatherly tone. 

"Sweetie," Prim said in an excited tone.

The stallion that the voice had come from was none other than Blueblood, another somepony I had managed to aggravate a couple hundred years ago.

Blueblood was in short, an arrogant jerk. He had bit off more than he could chew, and I thought I had killed him but he was obviously back. Wonderful.

"Come here Man of the House!", Prim said, and I guess that was her nickname for him.

"Talk about Daddy issues," I mumbled under my breath.

As Blueblood made his way over here, he recognized me.

As soon as he was close enough to Prim, he started whispering, but my ears could hear what he was saying.

"That is the vampire that almost killed me," he whispered, glaring and gesturing toward me.

Prim asked him if he was sure, and lectured him about how rude it was to point at somepony.

I winked at him, and then made the beheading motion slicing my hoof beneath my neck. I then glared right back.

He flipped me off. I flipped him off twice.

He stuck out his tongue. I bared my fangs. He growled. I growled. And so on...

Until him and Prim turned around. I guess Prim recognized me then, because she wasted no time identifying me. 

"Murderous Cousin?", she asked. 

I face-hoofed, and she took that as an incentive to guess again.

"Scootaloo's adoptive mom?", she wagered, and I smacked my head down onto the bar. 

"I'm Rainbow Dash. But most people call me Dick," I said with an artificial smile. 

Prim's smile disappeared. Blueblood growled. 

"Why do they call you Rainbow Dash?", Prim asked. "You don't have many colors on you."

"When you've lived for 1,000 years, your color tends to fade a little bit," I said. 

"Ohhh," she said. 

"Come Rarity let us go and leave this humbled peasant coven," Blueblood said.

Rarity? So it wasn't Prim Proper? 

Okay then. So I take it Prim Proper is dead. Yet there's a pony who looks exactly like her named Rarity. Dually noted. Not creepy at all. 

Another note to self. Blueblood is alive. Saint Sparkle is gonna like this even less than I do. This is just peachy. 

Oh well, time to have some fun.

"Hey Rarity," I said as she was getting up. "Ever wonder why your 'Man if the House' talks so old fashioned?"

She turned around, eyes flashing full of curiosity. "Yes I am quite curious. Although I am getting the, how do you say, vibe, that you are not a truthful vampire."

"The only reason I tried to kill him was because he played a part in killing my boyfriend."

"Blueblood," she asked, her eyes piercing him now. "Is this true?"

Blueblood was pleading with me with his eyes, begging me not to reveal him. Pleading me not to expose him. 

But Blueblood defiantly shook his head even though sweat was beginning to bead on his perfect porcelain forehead. 

"In fact," I continued. "How many years ago was this?", I asked Blueblood. "Was it only a couple?" 

He nodded his head vigorously, sweating like a pig on a pork farm. I got that analogy from AJ. 

"You're right, this was only about, what, 1482?" My eyes glared at him demanding the truth. He shook his head. 

"Nope nope nope nope nope," he said, his eyes darting back and forth.

"Blueblood," Rarity said. And only now could I see the tears gathering in her eyes like little pools of clear colored blood. "What are you?"

"Fair Rarity," he said, sweating as if on fire. "Please let me explain!" His voice shook. He actually cared about the mortal. Adorable. Stupid and meaningless, but adorable. 

"Go ahead, tell her what you are Blueblood," I said, smirking lightly. "Tell her the secret you've been hiding."

Rarity looked between me and Blueblood with terror clearly visible in her face.

"What are you?", Rarity asked. And for a second I felt bad about their doomed relationship. Just a second.

But then I smiled. This dick killed Soarin. This is the least he deserves. 

"I'm a vampire," he whispered, his mane falling front of his glassy eyes. 

"Burn in Hell," Rarity said, her voice ragged and rough. Then with one last shudder, she left.

"How could you?", Blueblood asked. 

"Easy. I told Rarity your secret. The end."

He looked up at me with burning hate from the pits of Tartarus in his eyes.

"You killed Soarin," I said, my eyes flashing a hellish red. "I'll be damned if I miss a second of making you suffer."

"You already are damned," he said, voice shaky and cracked.

"So are you," I whispered. 

He glared at me with what I'm sure was all the hatred he could muster.

I forcefully pulled him in close, ripping him apart with my expression. "Let's get one thing straight. I don't know how you survived that stake I drove through your heart, but if you ever look down at me from your Luna-damned porcelain nose again I swear I will rip your heart out. Slowly and painfully. Don't forget, you damned me, so I'm gonna dam you."

I let go of him, carefully averted my eyes, and put on a false satisfied expression. 

"We all clear?", I asked grinning.

He nodded, his expression now exactly similar to that of a pony who had just seen a ghost. 

"Great," I said. "I'm gonna walk away now, just like this never happened."

And as I trotted away I could feel his gaze burning into my flank. 

I smirked. As long as the bastard knew his place.

------- Vinyl POV

"It's about time!", I said, as Dash paraded in with several ponies in tow.

"Do you want party pony, posh downtown pony, or designer hick from the south?"

"I don't know," I said. 

"Well the hick fashion designer, her name is Suri Polomare. High maintenance but very tasty. Then there's Berry Sweet, who's blood is ironically very sour. And last but not least we have Pinkie Pie, I believe," Dash said.

"Yeah I didn't even need to compel Pinkie Pie, she just came of her own free will," Dash said, clearly baffled. "Hey can you watch them?", she asked. "I have to go deliver some bad news to Saint Sparkle," she sad, her face darkening with a dangerous smirk.

"Is there a squirrel under this pot?", Pinkie asked, lifting it and tossing it around in the air, all while singing, "Mr. Squirrel is that you?"

I face-hooved. Maybe Dash should've compelled Pinkie.

----------Twilight POV

I was in my room reading, when Rainbow came trotting in. 

"We need to talk," she said, smacking my romance novel out of my hooves.

"Hey," I said. "I was just about to find out if-"

"I don't care about Pony Princess Poofy or her husband Prince Shmoofy," Rainbow said with a deadpan tone.

I huffed. 

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Look, like I said before, we need to talk."

Normally her eyes would be full of amusement or mischievousness. But they were serious and focused. That was a warning sign.

"What happened?", I asked sighing.

"You knew Prim Proper, right?", she asked, snorting a heavy breath out of her nostrils.

"Yes I did," I said. "In fact, she helped me study to get into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. We had so many sleepovers and-"

"Don't care Sparky," she said cutting me off.

"Hey!", I said protesting.

"Luna Dammit Twilight we are in danger!", she said, eyes wild and angry.

"What did you do?", I asked, eyes glancing ominously into hers.

"Prim Proper has a doppelgänger named Rarity!"

"So?", I asked.

"She knows about us!", she said urgently. "Anytime somepony could come knocking at our door."

"How could you tell her!", I yelled.

"Well ya see I kinda tried to compel her..." , Rainbow started to say then trailed off as she saw the death glare I was giving her.

But then she developed her cocky smirk back. "Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Blueblood is back in town as well."

My face paled.

"Don't worry I won't be worried. In fact why am I worried?", she asked. "If any pony comes knocking at our door I'll just kill them," she said, realization dawning on her face. "Yeah in fact that's exactly what I'll do. I'll just kill them." 

"Problem solved," she said with a sick grin on her face, and walked out of my room leaving me to remain in my state of extreme shock. She was worried and then completely freaking calm. What the heck? Was this all part of her plan to get me to break down? I was so confused.

Celestia why must she be so complicated?

------------Rainbow POV

I made my way up to my room, where Vinyl was waiting with all the ponies. Suri Polomare was currently being sucked dry by Vinyl. 

Which left Berry Sweet, or Pinkie Pie. Wait, no. On second thought, Berry Sweet was dead, too. 

Which only left Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie was curled up in a corner, rocking back and forth. "I thought this was just a weird party," she said, tears streaking her cheeks.

"Are you gonna kill me?", she asked, fear ever-present in her baby blue eyes.

Yeah she needed to be compelled. Or maybe not. My more animalistic side screamed at me to just kill her and be done with it. But the small bit of equinity I had left lectured me about killing such an innocent pony.

I trotted over, tilted her head upwards, made eye contact, and compelled her not to be afraid. 

Her crying stopped. The fear disappeared. The bubbly pony I had known before at the bar sprung back in her place. 

"Are you gonna kill me?", she asked with those baby blue eyes and that genuine smile, but as a tear dripped from my eye, I knew what I had to do.

"You're not gonna move," I said lowly. She nodded. 

I came up behind her pulled her mane back behind her ear, and......