Rainbow Dash lost control of her vampire power five hundred years ago, and she's never been the same mare since. Numerous ponies find themselves caught in the web of this vindictive killer's game.
Rainbow Dash lost control of her vampire power five hundred years ago, and she's never been the same mare since.
Numerous ponies find themselves caught in the web of this vindictive killer's game.
Sweetie Belle is one such pony.
Twilight Sparkle was Rainbow's partner for life until that day. A vampire as well, she regained control of her power back then but became the eternal target of Rainbow's vengeance thereafter.
Crimson, the vampire who turned Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, didn't know Rainbow would turn on Twilight, but is otherwise proud of her being his legacy.
Rainbow Dash and Sweetie Belle walked side by side next to each other, after recently leaving a night club together. They stopped upon hearing voices.
"Why won't you drink?!" one stallion asked another.
The two mares paused in their trek, sensing something amiss. They backtracked a small bit to peer into a darkened area where they saw two rather handsome stallions. One stood tall with a blue coat and black hair. He was an earth pony and the one who had been yelling. The other was a unicorn only a little shorter with a beige coat and light brown hair.
The two observing mares waited and watched as the blue stallion brought out a pretty young pink coated mare with blonde hair from the shadows. The pony he held smiled drunkenly with half-lidded eyes, barely conscious. The blue stallion peeled back her mane and sniffed her neck.
"Come on," the blue stallion said, looking up to meet eyes with his companion. "She has a really pretty neck," he pointed out.
"Creep," Rainbow Dash muttered from a fair distance where she and Sweetie Belle watched.
The young mare being held seemed to realize what was happening and started to squirm in the blue stallion's forelimbs.
"Alright, that's it," Rainbow said with a determined look in her eyes, clearly ready to step in and take action.
Sweetie Belle pulled at her friend's forelimb, stopping her. "Don't," she pleaded with her concerned green eyes. "Let's just...let's just wait a minute."
Rainbow Dash hesitated for a moment but conceded and stopped to watch some more.
"I-I'm not," the beige stallion said with a hesitant step back.
The blue stallion glared at him without a word for a moment and stared deep into the mare's eyes as his own dark blue ones flashed red. "Relax," he commanded.
The mare's body seemed to go limp as she obeyed.
"Go to him," the blue stallion nodded in the direction of the beige one.
"Mind control?" Sweetie whispered and gulped. How long could she keep both herself and Rainbow Dash at bay with something like that happening? She could see Rainbow Dash seething. She tugged and held her friend tight.
Rainbow glanced at her carefully. The two locked eyes when they sensed another red flash, calling their attention back to the scene. The beige stallion was on the mare's neck, and they could see a small trail of blood running down her as he did. She whimpered, and they heard it.
"Vampires," Rainbow Dash and Sweetie Belle said at the same time.
Sweetie Belle gulped and said with quiet urgency, "Rainbow, we need to run."
Rainbow Dash stared at her friend hard for a moment, thinking quick on her hooves how to keep them safe and hidden. "Quietly," she ordered and gave a nod of the direction they should go. "We move, but do not run."
Sweetie Belle swallowed again but nodded. Vampires supposedly had a keen sense of hearing, so it was good advice.
Despite their efforts, they were heard by the two vampire stallions.
"Should we go after them?" the invigorated unicorn stallion asked.
"Give them a head start," the blue stallion told him with a sly smile. "I'm glad you are awakened to your nature."
The unicorn stallion smiled back a fanged grin with an eager nod.
The two mares kept on in the darkness, startled by any and all sounds, trying to keep their wits about them. They saw a light fixture up ahead.
Keep going or stop?
They're hunters had caught up. The two stallions watched and waited, looking for a proper opening.
"Now?" the unicorn stallion asked.
"Not just yet, but soon," the blue stallion advised.
"I want the unicorn," the beige stallion noted hungrily.
The blue stallion flashed a smile and nodded in agreement.
"Can we run yet?" Sweetie Belle asked in a terrified whisper.
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, soaking in the fear, then visibly twitched as she stated, "Slow and steady."
Sweetie Belle nervously swallowed but complied.
They went on, and the street lights guiding their path began to progressively go out, surrounding them in darkness.
Sweetie Belle audibly yelped in fear and found a sky blue hoof up to her mouth, silencing her.
Two magenta eyes flashed red with a stern look. "That was the wrong move," Rainbow said gravely.
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened, and her mouth fell open as the hoof pulled away.
"What?" Rainbow asked innocently. She looked behind her, in case Sweetie Belle was looking at something else. Nothing and no one was there, certainly not the other two vampires chasing them. "What?" Rainbow asked again in annoyance with another flash of red in her eyes.
Sweetie Belle gasped, took a few scared steps back, and bolted away with a gallop.
Rainbow Dash fluttered her feathered wings in place and shook her head, replaying the scene and recalling the emotions she felt. She saw a red flash light up the air. She had lost herself in such a heated moment, and now Sweetie Belle knew what she was, that Rainbow too was a vampire. That...could be a problem.
The other two vampires meanwhile met each other's eyes and stood back in shock and awe. "How?" whispered the beige one.
Rainbow immediately glanced his way. She dashed over to them both and glared at them with menace.
The blue stallion raised his hooves defensively like an immediate surrender. "You covered yourself well. We didn't know, we swear. She's yours, alright? Unless you don't want her, of course."
Rainbow silently fumed for a moment and then tore off. "Consider yourselves lucky," she called back to them with a venomous tone.
At that, the blue stallion relaxed. "Believe me, we do."
"We do?" the beige stallion asked.
"We do," the blue stallion told him firmly.
Sweetie Belle ran and ran and ran, internally debating with herself about what she saw. The red eye flash meant her friend was a vampire, and vampires were trouble, right? They'd just witnessed one of them feeding on a mare. Rainbow Dash herself must have had to drink blood and would maybe one day have fed on Sweetie Belle herself. If tonight hadn't happened.
Oh, if only tonight hadn't happened. She'd still be in blissful ignorance, and given her current state of fear, that didn't sound so bad, even if it did put her in danger. More danger? Less danger? She wasn't really sure. She realized she'd worked her way to an empty alley and sat on her haunches, trying to settle her pounding heartbeat.
To her astonishment, a sky blue forelimb wrapped around her torso and a sky blue hoof clamped down over her mouth. "Boo," Rainbow teased in a low voice, making her sound like the threatening vampire she was.
Sweetie Belle's horn glowed for a moment trying to move the strong limbs to no avail. She whimpered again. "Don't hurt me," she begged.
"I wasn't going to hurt you earlier, you know," Rainbow informed her.
Sweetie Belle gulped. "But now…"
Rainbow Dash sighed. "Now I have to at least consider it, maybe even kill you. Most mortal ponies aren't supposed to know."
"But some do?" Sweetie asked.
"Hmm, not lately," Rainbow admitted.
"Rainbow...please don't kill me," Sweetie begged.
"Tell ya what," Rainbow said with confident authority. "You actually stay quiet this time," she growled, "and I at the very least won't kill you now. Can you handle that?"
"Mm-hmm," Sweetie Belle agreed with a weak nod.
Rainbow Dash released her, and Sweetie Belle took a relieved breath.
"How long have you been like this?" Sweetie asked.
Rainbow glared at her.
"Right, quiet," Sweetie realized. "What do we do now?"
"I'll walk you home," Rainbow decided. The unicorn mare lived alone in an apartment complex though her girlfriend, an earth pony violinist named Apple Bloom, frequently visited.
Sweetie nodded in compliance.
Once there, Sweetie Belle hesitated. "Can you go to places even if you're not invited?"
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah," she answered casually.
"Oh," Sweetie Belle grew disappointed at this news, but she supposed it was obvious given how long they'd known each other.
Rainbow Dash sighed in annoyance. "If you want to ask about it, you do have to invite me in because I'm not answering any kind of vampire interrogation out here."
"I'm not-" Sweetie Belle started to say and caught a look from her winged friend. The unicorn mare stopped and considered things. "What happens now? Are you still going to let me live?"
Rainbow Dash glowered without a word though her magenta eyes looked on as if to say, "You're alive now, aren't you?"
Sweetie Belle knew it was dangerous and still..still she could not help herself. She was too curious, and she had a dangerous idea. "Do you-do you want to come in and tell me about it?"
"Sure," Rainbow replied with a suddenly relaxed and casual air in contrast to her glower a moment ago.
With that, the vampire entered and began to answer numerous questions, starting with one Sweetie Belle had asked earlier. "How long have you been like this?" The young unicorn prepared Rainbow's preferred drink of apple cider and magically guided her a glass.
"One thousand years," Rainbow answered and took a swig of the drink. She smacked her lips. It tasted funny.
Sweetie's eyes widened at that. "How did it happen?"
Rainbow's face twitched with a flicker of suppressed rage. "Some stallion drank nearly all of my blood, just to the point where I would die if I didn't drink his and then, well...then he fed me his blood. So I lived on as a vampire."
Sweetie gulped. "Have you killed anyone?"
"What do you think?" Rainbow retorted with a biting tone that suggested it was a sore subject. She took another drink. It still tasted funny. She bat away a growing suspicion for a moment.
"I think...you have," Sweetie admitted.
Rainbow nodded. In truth, she had, and she was very good at it. "It's not impossible to live without killing, but it's quite the challenge for our kind. Granted, all life feeds on death in some form. Just not the so 'actively killing' part."
Sweetie Belle swallowed and nodded nervously. "Can you die? I've seen you out during the day. In sunlight."
Rainbow Dash chuckled wickedly. "I'm not telling you how to kill me. You're on your own for that one, silly little pony." With that, she set her glass down with emphatic force. "But I will tell you, that whatever you put in this cider, just makes it taste bad. It won't kill me."
Sweetie Belle blushed and stared at the floor.
Rainbow Dash sniffed it and inhaled. "Garlic? Really?"
Sweetie Belle shrugged. "I'm not exactly an expert, and you've made no secret that you might kill me."
"Yeah," Rainbow said with a nod. "Too true." She grinned with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Let's make a game of it."
Sweetie Belle balked. "A game?" she asked, incredulously, backing away.
"Oh yes," Rainbow said, standing to her full height. "You got a chance to try killing me. I should have a chance to try killing you."
"That's not fair!" Sweetie Belle protested. "You're a literal vampire. You could have killed me already! I'm not just some...sport."
"Oh, but you are," Rainbow said, visibly baring her fangs for the first time, and her magenta eyes lit red with a gleeful smile.
"What is with that?" Sweetie Belle pointed at her and meaning the flash.
"They're called eye flashes. They happen when we feel...predatory. Or angry. Intense situations. Dramatic effect. Vampire flair. Whatever. It's just a thing that happens. Sometimes it makes things better and sometimes worse, but I'm stuck with it all the same," Rainbow replied. "Now then, let's consider the rules of the game."
She had backed Sweetie Belle against the wall by now and leaned in, sniffing the other mare's neck. "I hope I win," she remarked. She licked the neck a little with sincere affection, and Sweetie Belle inwardly cursed herself for enjoying it so thoroughly. She felt a prick on her neck, not enough to sense a drain, but enough to know Rainbow had bit her.
The vampire moaned with pleasure. "You taste...so good," she said with a sinister chuckle. She lapped up the tiny bit of blood and wiped it off the white unicorn's neck. "That will help track you," she noted with a wicked waggle of her eyebrows. "Better get a move on. I'm going to count to ten."
Sweetie Belle stood stock still, considering her options and correctly decided buying time in this game was her best chance of living longer. She darted out of her own apartment.
"Stay clear of Apple Bloom!" Rainbow called out to her.
Sweetie Belle heard her but didn't process the suggestion.
Rainbow Dash examined the room and yelled out, "Ten!" She stared at the numerous bottles of drinks. No blood obviously, but vampires could still taste other drinks. Even food, really. It was hard to pass for mortal without being able to do so, even if they could live just as easily without, and none of it truly compared to their preferred and real food source. She looked around for cider without garlic in it.
"Nine!" she yelled again.
She found a bottle of interest and popped it open. She sat down and considered the situation. Was she really going to kill Sweetie Belle? "Eight," she muttered. It was rather cruel, and while she was no stranger to being cruel in her long lifespan, she had managed to not be cruel in Sweetie's presence for at least a few years now.
She had done it off and to the side and at a distance, so it wasn't like she'd been a morally upstanding vampire all that time. Far from it, if she were being honest with herself. "Seven!" she yelled more loudly this time though Sweetie Belle may very well have been out of earshot by now, at least if she had any sense for her well-being. And she did. And she was.
Of course, turning the white-coated unicorn was an option, Rainbow considered. She resented the stallion who did it to her, and Twilight for letting it happen. Twilight. Her eyes narrowed. Both her red irises and bloodlust surfaced as she sneered. "Six!"
While Rainbow Dash considered the weight of Sweetie Belle's life, the young mortal unicorn grew restless. She had wandered off to the same night club they went to earlier, but it was empty. Sweetie had found a table to hide under and wait. Still, she was frantic and not thinking clearly. Rage and fear filled her. And a little impatience too. "Come and get me you cursed piece of horse manure!"
Rainbow Dash's sensitive ears perked up. Well, that made the decision quite easy, didn't it? She flung the bottle against the wall and let it shatter. "And that's forfeit," she told the empty room with a smirk. "Show time!"
Sweetie Belle inwardly panicked for a moment when she heard a door open. She soon heard wheels sliding along the floor and a casual whistle. Her heart skipped a beat, and she waited, unable to tell if it was the vampire hunting her or someone else. Maybe someone who could help her?
She chanced a look and saw a stallion in uniform, sweeping the floor. She took a relieved breath that he heard, causing him to pause and stare out at the seemingly empty room. She gulped, hesitating on revealing herself. He probably wouldn't believe her, and maybe Rainbow would….who knew what Rainbow would do?
Rainbow Dash sniffed the air and followed the scent, arriving at the room and observing the scene. "Collateral damage," she thought to herself. Too bad for him. She had stopped making a distinction on which ponies were innocent long ago. Sure, she could wait, but while he was here, she could have some fun toying with them both. She smirked, and her eyes flashed red. Lucky for her, neither one of her prey saw it yet.
Sweetie Belle was about to get up when she saw a light flicker. She gulped.
The cleaning stallion paused in his whistling and scanned the room, thinking of the breath he heard earlier. "Is someone there?" he asked the room.
Sweetie Belle shut her eyes and took another breath. Another audible breath.
"Come on out. I won't hurt you," he promised.
"It's not you I'm afraid of," Sweetie Belle muttered. It was just low enough so that the stallion could not hear her.
Rainbow Dash did though and smirked again. She was just getting started.
Two more lights flickered.
The stallion paused and sighed in annoyance. "I'm really not in the mood to play games, whoever you are."
Suddenly, all of the lights went out, putting each mortal into a state of peril.
The stallion himself took a nervous gulp, starting to realize he was being threatened. "Okay, that's enough, don't you think?" he asked with a nervous smile too.
Sinister laughter rocked the air. Rainbow Dash did it in part sincerity, for her victim was scared she wanted him to be, but also, she always had a flair for the dramatic, even as a mortal. And as a vampire, well, she had rehearsed and played this role many times before.
The stallion finally accepted that whoever was toying with him likely meant him harm. He made a dash for the door, tugging at it, only to find it somehow jammed.
"No one gets in or out," Rainbow's voice called out with a deadly tone.
"Just...stop it...please!" the stallion tried to sound firm and brave.
A light came on. A single light where she wanted him. Now, she just had to get him there.
"Who's there?" the stallion asked.
"Who indeed?" Rainbow called out in a low voice, close to his right and flashing her eyes.
He gasped, staring into the darkness and making a run for the light. It was a setup, he sensed that much, but he was still correct in believing himself safer there than in the all-encompassing darkness.
"What do you want from me?" he asked the mystery voice.
"Your blood," Rainbow told him openly. "Or your help," she added with a wicked tone.
"He-help?" the stallion asked, considering that prospect.
"There's another pony here. Sweetie Belle. Bring her to me, and I will spare your life," Rainbow Dash offered from the shadows.
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened in quiet shock, from where she crouched under a table.
The stallion himself froze at that. He swallowed. "And what are you going to do to her?"
Rainbow Dash chuckled wickedly and entered in view, allowing the light to reveal her with red eyes and sharp teeth. "We're going to have dinner."
The stallion stumbled back a couple of steps. "Vampire?" he asked her.
"What will it be little stallion?" Rainbow asked him.
He scanned the room for the other pony. Was there really someone else here? He remembered the breaths he heard earlier and connected the dots. That must have been who he heard before this vampire arrived.
"I may have all night, but I'm not known for my patience," Rainbow warned him.
The stallion swallowed and stared at her. "No," he told her firmly, partly out of a sense of moral obligation and partly out of hope that the other pony would come to his aid, that they could both escape this vampire together. Somehow.
Sweetie Belle shuddered in place. He saved her, but she couldn't just wait and watch him die. And yet...what could she do? Didn't Rainbow have enhanced hearing as a vampire? "No time!" she thought to herself, knowing of Rainbow's quickness and the threat weighing on her savior's life. She got up from under the table, magically wielding a chair, and flung it in Rainbow's direction.
The scared stallion dodged clear.
Rainbow Dash was ready though and held out a strong forelimb, shattering the wooden chair on impact.
The other two stared at the splintered shards in shock.
"Looks like I found her without you," Rainbow told him with a smirk. In an instant, she sprung onto his neck and sank her teeth in.
"Aaaaaah!" he screamed. Oh, how he screamed. Rainbow Dash reveled in his immense terror, drinking the fear in with his blood.
Sweetie Belle stared down at the split pieces of wood and looked up to see Rainbow Dash affectionately nuzzle her victim's neck for a moment. "Don't worry," she whispered gently to console him. She pulled away to pierce into his gaze with two intense red eyes. "It will all be over soon, love."
And back she went to draining him, killing him quickly after.
She pulled away again, dropping him like a sack of unwanted and useless potatoes, no longer with any sense of care as when she drank his life force. Blood dribbled down her chin, and her eyes twinkled as she stared in Sweetie Belle's direction with a sadistic smile. She wiped her mouth with a hoof and licked it clean, then audibly smacked her lips. "Don't it suck being in the wrong place at the wrong time?" she asked in a mocking tone and cackled wickedly at her joke.
"You're a monster!" Sweetie Belle told her. She picked up one of the pieces of broken wood and held it out like an impromptu stake she could use.
Rainbow Dash chuckled, looking up from the dead body and into the still living green eyes of her friend. "I know," she said, letting her red eyes light with malice.
Sweetie Belle backed away a few steps but did not flee. "You-you shouldn't have killed him."
"Oh, you're so sweet," Rainbow said. It sounded like she was mocking the unicorn, but she actually meant it. Sweetie Belle barely noticed that the fangs had retreated with the remark. Rainbow's magenta eyes darted up and down, scanning the pony before her. "Except for the whole 'getting ready to kill me with a stake' thing we have going on here."
Sweetie Belle fumed and shot it forth with her magic, aiming for Rainbow Dash's heart, but Rainbow Dash was a very fast pegasus, even before being turned into a vampire. The stake missed its mark when she dodged clear and easily thwacked it away. In the blink of an eye, a rainbow tornado formed in the room, whittling the shards to dust.
Rainbow landed softly onto the floor. "There. No stakes. Wooden, that is. There is still, of course, a stake on your life." She took slow, even steps forward in Sweetie Belle's direction.
"Are you really going to kill me...too?" Sweetie Belle asked, backing away.
Rainbow Dash smirked yet again. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"No," Sweetie Belle denied in a near gasp and shook her head. "No…" she whispered. And yet...no. She clenched her eyes shut, shoving the temptation down. Who would want to die by vampire bite? That was absurd. Certainly not her. Certainly not…no way…even if it was Rainbow Dash…she just...she just needed to buy some time. Maybe another pony could help her.
"You sure about that? Because you're not exactly trying to escape," Rainbow Dash pointed out.
Sweetie Belle opened her eyes and stared. "What about you? You're not exactly…trying...to..to..."
Rainbow Dash quickly drew in, muzzle to muzzle, magenta eyes to light green, and locked the mortal in her gaze. "Don't underestimate me," she said quite seriously.
Sweetie Belle gulped. "Why would you kill me? Even if you are a vampire, we've been friends for years…I thought."
Rainbow pulled away and took a few steps in another direction, starting to pace. "Well, mainly because you…" She paused for dramatic effect. And turned to look at Sweetie Belle with gleaming, wicked red eyes. "...invited me to."
Sweetie Belle gulped. "That..."
"It was," Rainbow replied, not letting her finish her sentence to deny it. "Plus, our little game started with you trying to poison me, need I remind you. Kinda funny when you think about it and then your moral righteousness for him." She gestured toward the dead body of the cleaning stallion.
"Oh...well...I've never met a vampire before, alright? Based on stories, they're really dangerous killers. You've only proved that to be true," Sweetie Belle argued.
"Kill the killer, huh?" Rainbow asked with a devious smile.
Sweetie Belle gulped again and took a breath. "Yeah…"
"Well, I may as well play the part then," Rainbow Dash said, still smiling.
Sweetie Belle stood, locked in place. It was working, but no one had come.
The vampire pony began to slowly draw in closer again. "You're not going to run?" she asked.
"Is that what you want me to do?" Sweetie Belle timidly replied.
"Well, it would be more fun. You're kind of easy mode like this with the forced stalling," Rainbow Dash told her.
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened.
"Oh, you didn't think I knew? That is so cute," Rainbow said to the look she was given. "Well, anyway, don't mind if I do…" She showed her fangs visibly elongate and take shape, then fake practiced chomping the air, readying herself to bite her victim. "Prepare to die…" she said in a voice that was far too playful and friendly for what it said.
Sweetie Belle bolted.
"And we have a runner," Rainbow Dash said with a sly smirk. "Time for some drama."
"Get away from me!" Sweetie Belle yelped, using her magic to throw multiple wine glasses in Rainbow Dash's direction.
The sky blue pegasus dodged each one with ease. "But we're having so much fun!" she argued with a tease in her tone.
"Fun? This isn't fun for me Rainbow! I hate this! I hate you! I can't stand vampires!" Sweetie Belle said.
At that, Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow as if the words surprised her. "Then why are you with Apple Bloom?"
Sweetie Belle stopped throwing things for a moment and looked at her with incredulous eyes. "What? What's that got to do with anything? She's not a vampire."
Rainbow smirked. "You sure about that?"
Sweetie Belle hesitated and then stood firm. "O-of course. How could she be a vampire…?" her words trailed off. If Rainbow Dash was a vampire, why couldn't Apple Bloom be one? She shook her head. "You're just trying to trick me. I'm not falling for your mind games."
"Well, you see, I stopped by her place on the way over to find you…" Rainbow began. "We had a little chat, and I thought tonight would be a good night for her to tell you."
Right on cue, Apple Bloom stepped out from the darkness, two vampiric red eyes visibly gazing at Sweetie Belle.
"No…" Sweetie Belle uttered in a whisper. She looked accusingly at Rainbow Dash. "You did this. You did that to her, didn't you? Tonight?"
Rainbow Dash chortled. "Oh, that is rich. The first vampire you meet...well, know to be a vampire I should say...and obviously I must be the one…" she continued her fit of giggles.
Apple Bloom sighed impatiently. "No, Rainbow Dash is not the one who turned me. Now Sweetie Belle, if you would stop throwing things, that'd be nice."
Sweetie Belle looked this way and that, reaching out a hoof to grab the nearest blunt object she could find, which turned out to be a frying pan. Well, it would have to do. She lifted it with her magic and held it out like a weapon. She sure hoped it was stronger than the stake she tried earlier. Somehow.
"Stay back, both of you," she warned.
Apple Bloom sighed again. "Put that down, would ya? Rainbow is playing with you, but in case you haven't noticed, you ain't dead, and she ain't attacking."
"And you...why are you here?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Well…" Apple Bloom drawled thoughtfully.
"I let her in on my plan for you," Rainbow said with mischievous glee.
"Plan? What plan?" Sweetie Belle asked, still holding the frying pan like a warning, threatening weapon.
"I don't want to kill you, and yet I do. You don't want me to kill you, and yet you do…" Rainbow started. The voice spoke in a rhythm just shy of singing.
"No, I don't," Sweetie Belle denied.
Rainbow smiled slyly, knowing the answer was a bit of both. Mortals liked the excitement of the chase, woe they were to admit it. "Lucky for us, there is a point where you can kinda be killed and kinda still live. You know, like us vampires. Be 'undead' as they say."
"No!" Sweetie replied back firmly, the realization of Rainbow's meaning dawning on her. "You wouldn't. Apple Bloom wouldn't let you…" She turned to the pony in question. "Would you?" she asked desperately, sadness in her glistening light green eyes.
Apple Bloom's eyes darted down and to the floor as she considered her reply, before meeting Sweetie Belle's again as she said with utmost seriousness, "You found out about one of us. It needs to be done."
Sweetie Belle's mouth fell open, and she hacked the frying pan in a frantic move at nothing, finding it loosen from her telekinetic grip. "You've gotta be kidding me," she muttered and magically reached for it again.
"Seriously. You gonna take on two vampires with a frying pan?" Apple Bloom asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Well, what would you suggest?" Sweetie asked with indignance.
"I would suggest you...run!" Apple Bloom said with sincere urgency and suddenly grabbed the frying pan from Sweetie Belle's magic grip. She turned around to whack Rainbow Dash in the head with it.
Sweetie Belle stood for a moment with her mouth open, stunned.
"I'm serious! Get outta here!" Apple Bloom ordered her, hitting Rainbow Dash again soon after.
Sweetie Belle nodded and made a run for it.
Reeling, Rainbow Dash rubbed her head. "Well, that took an interesting turn."
Apple Bloom whacked her with the frying pan a third time. "I ain't letting you hurt her, and that's that."
The pegasus vampire smirked. "Oh, but you don't mind quietly feeding off her all these years…"
Apple Bloom smacked her in the face. "This ain't no game, Rainbow…"
"It is for me," Rainbow replied with an evil, fanged grin, at last attacking with a hard smack of her own with a solid hoof. Apple Bloom's entire body flew across the room, crashing into a table.
"Curse your age," Apple Bloom spat.
"Eh, you're not so bad, skipper. I'm just better," Rainbow told her cockily, punching her again and kicking the frying pan away. She straddled the other vampire pony and headbutted her.
This time, Apple Bloom's head fell back. Raising it again, she yelled and seethed, "Stop it! Just leave her alone, won't you? What did she ever do to you?"
"She challenged me. Who am I to deny such an invitation? Oh and attempted poison and name-calling," Rainbow said, headbutting her a second time with a wild grin.
Apple Bloom grit her sharp teeth. "Well, okay, that's...not good on her part, but still...ignorant mortals mess up like that. Cut her some slack."
"That's kinda the idea with the whole 'turning her' instead of 'completely killing her' thing," Rainbow explained with an evil smile.
Apple Bloom struggled from being pinned to the ground by the stronger vampire, out of breath. "It ain't right...you've won, alright? Your game? You won. You're stronger than me. You're stronger than her. We both know you're the dominant vampire here and not to cross you. I forfeit or whatever it is you want out of me."
Rainbow Dash's red eyes lit up to match her grin. "I want your blood."
Apple Bloom looked at her in confusion for a moment.
Rainbow Dash cocked her head, amused at her ignorance. "We can be drained too, skipper. And it just seems like a proper end to the vampire that fed on my prey for years. You know, revenge for Sweetie Belle and all, since you're so concerned about somepony hurting her."
"You!" Apple Bloom squirmed to no avail, soon finding a third headbutt thrust on her, followed by a drain on her life force.
Pulling away, Rainbow Dash stared down. Vampire blood was thick with power and well...a mix of the vampire's own feeding, so it had a rich taste she thoroughly enjoyed. Plus, if she could still feel remorse, she wouldn't feel as bad about killing such a creature. She grinned yet again. That really was delicious.
Rainbow Dash silently flew under the cloak of night, carrying Apple Bloom with her before finding a suitable alley and dumpster. She set the young vampire inside.
"You killed Apple Bloom?" a voice she knew asked.
The sky blue pegasus turned around to meet the sight of a very disapproving Twilight Sparkle. "Sparky!" she greeted with joy. "To what do I owe the pleasure of you literally waiting for me to bring a dead body to a dumpster. What? You obsessed with me or something?" She playfully winked.
Twilight Sparkle narrowed her eyes. "You know I need to stop you."
Rainbow Dash's eyes twinkled in contrast. "I know you wish you could after you realized what you started with me."
Twilight tried to tackle her but instead crashed into a solid brick wall, so quick was her target. The purple unicorn winced in pain.
"Tsk tsk tsk," Rainbow said. "You gave up pony blood, remember? Suddenly had a moral calling...wishing to be some kind of angel. And I...took it up in your place." She blew through her nostrils and flashed her red vampire eyes. "Your demon. 'Demon Dash', right?" Rainbow inquired, followed with a wicked chuckle.
Twilight found herself struggling to stand upright.
"That's what you call me. Crimson turned us both, but I wasn't quite the right kind of vampire for the two of you...I was too soft. Too weak. Too…" Rainbow Dash tilted her head, pausing to recall the word. "...equine?"
Two purple eyes frightfully dared to look up and met two radiant magenta ones.
The thoughtful expression on Rainbow's face morphed into a cocky smirk. "Am I not what you wanted?" Rainbow taunted her. "A vampire who has fully embraced her nature, who can kill without qualms…"
She paused again, letting the moment linger to add some drama before lifting her muzzle closer to Twilight's ear.
"...and who will never, ever leave you," Rainbow whispered seductively.
Twilight winced again at that, her own ears flattening back, striking to the heart of so much.
Cackling, Rainbow Dash punched the brick wall just to the side of Twilight's face, making the other vampire flinch. Rainbow drew even closer and sniffed at Twilight's mane, then inhaled. "Your fear tastes good tonight," she remarked, as if she were paying the unicorn a compliment with such words. "I know you weren't counting on my vengeance Sparky, but that is how you'll pay for what you did. And you will pay. Forever and ever. Eternity was your gift to me after all."
Twilight's eyes darted down shamefully, and she swallowed, saying nothing, a small tear forming in her eyes. "Rainbow, I…"
"Save it," Rainbow cut her off with sudden bitterness. "I got somewhere to be. The game's had enough intermission, thanks. Catch you later, Angel." She stepped back before whacking Twilight upside the head with a hoof, causing Twilight to be too dazed to do anything as Rainbow left the alley, forgetting about the body that brought them to cross paths in the first place.
Twilight Sparkle stumbled for a moment before gathering her strength and making her way over to Apple Bloom. She listened for a heartbeat and felt for a pulse before rolling her eyes at herself. Rainbow Dash really could mess her up. She couldn't think straight thanks to that mare. Vampires could only mimic those feelings from within, not detectable to other living creatures. Lucky for her, unicorn vampires could use magic to give them a proper insight nonetheless. Her horn lit for a moment as she scanned for signs of "life" in Apple Bloom. Rainbow had drained the earth pony to the point of lost consciousness, but there was still enough blood left that with a lot of care, yes, Twilight could nurse her back to health.
Twilight picked Apple Bloom up and put the unconscious form over her backside to carry her. "Five hundred years, and I still haven't been able to do anything about this monster I created," she muttered to herself, followed by a guilty sigh.
Maybe she could if she drank pony blood, but that was how she ended up in this mess to begin with. She was quite the bloodthirsty vampire herself once...
Nine-hundred years ago…
Rainbow Dash walked into a room and lit a candle.
"Surprise!" multiple ponies said with a cheery greeting.
The sky blue pegasus feigned a smile. "Oh, you shouldn't have," she told the room, eyes searching and finding her lifelong companion.
Twilight Sparkle trotted up to her. "But we wanted to!" the purple unicorn said with a much more sincere smile of her own.
They hugged each other since everyone with them assumed them to be partners. While this was true, the nature of their partnership, even then, was a complicated one. Twilight relished deviously in drinking pony blood, vampire or mortal, and Rainbow Dash...resisted following that path...back then….
"Who's hungry?" Twilight said, suddenly turning to the rest of the room.
Numerous ponies happily raised their hooves.
Rainbow Dash laughed nervously at the sight. "Uh...how about we eat outside?" she suggested, figuring it would be easier to fly in and save who she could.
"But I already have everything ready here," Twilight whined.
"It's okay," a voice from the group said.
"We don't mind. We'll help set everything up," another voice offered.
Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash met eyes intensely for a moment before Twilight broke into a smile at everyone. "Alright, then. Let's do that…"
Rainbow Dash carefully eyed all the other ponies and Twilight especially.
The group nonetheless made their way outside to see gray clouds in an early night sky.
Twilight magically raised a triangle and dinged it.
Numerous red flashes lit up, sharp teeth took shape, and vampires attacked mortals. Screams filled the air.
Rainbow Dash seethed but started to fly in before finding Twilight standing in front of her with a smirk, magically lifting a small orange-coated pegasus filly in front of Rainbow. The filly had small wings, short violet hair, and tearful purple eyes. Rainbow's magenta eyes widened at the sight. "What do you think you're doing?" she hissed at Twilight.
"You're too soft," Twilight told her harshly. "You know exactly what I'm doing." With that, her magic lifted the filly much higher in the air with the unspoken threat of dropping her to her doom, all as a bloody carnage played out in the background.
Rainbow Dash fumed, swooping in to tear the filly from Twilight's magical grip. "Stop it, Twilight. When is enough enough for you, huh? Attacking kids now? Where does it end with this? You're...too far…" Rainbow closed her eyes and sighed, tears forming.
"Too far gone," Twilight finished for her with an annoyed scoff.
"You've crossed a line today, Sparky," Rainbow said with a warning Twilight only later would realize to be a foreshadowing of her partner's future malice. "Even without pony blood, I can protect her, at least, from you."
Rainbow held the filly closer and tighter but gently enough to tell the younger pony that she was under protection now.
Twilight blinked and took a step back with a brief, ever so brief, glimpse into past equinity...into a fleeting sense of remorse she would not truly have back until she later pushed Rainbow herself too far...
The memory complete, Twilight Sparkle sighed yet again to herself as she arrived at the pair's house with Apple Bloom on her back. "I don't know how to get her back, even after all these years, but I swear...I'll find a way. I need her back. I need my Rainbow Dash back. Not to mention the rest of you would better off without such a powerful, sadistic killer running rampant. She really is everything Crimson and I dreamed of until I realized what I'd done."
Sweetie Belle ran and ran and ran, a mix of worry and horror at finding out that now two of her friends were vampires. Who next? Who else? Twilight Sparkle? She cringed at that. Twilight probably was one too since she and Rainbow lived together for as long as Sweetie Belle had known them both.
She frantically pushed at a door that wouldn't budge.
"No one's allowed in there tonight," an unfamiliar voice said.
Sweetie Belle hesitantly turned to see a stallion she did not know.
"I uh…" she stuttered. "I...need to uh…"
He cocked his head for a moment in curiosity. "Is something wrong, dear?"
"Don't call me that," Sweetie Belle muttered.
"Oh, my apologies," the polite stallion said. "It's just that you seem rather tense, and I was a little concerned. Really...Miss? Is it okay if I call you 'Miss'?"
Sweetie Belle quietly nodded, not wanting to go fully into exchanging names with this stranger. After four vampires in a single night, and bearing witness to one of them outright killing a mortal like her, she wasn't in a trusting mood.
"Really, Miss...is something wrong?" the stallion asked.
Something in his eyes. She narrowed her eyes, scanning them intently.
This made the stallion himself nervous, and his eyes flashed green.
Sweetie Belle was far too worked up to figure out red from green though. She mainly saw that eyes flashed a color, and she knew that as a warning, so she went back to frantically pushing at the useless door.
The stallion grabbed her tightly, aiming for restraint without hurting her.
"Let me go," Sweetie Belle begged in a whisper between streaming tears.
"Miss, you must calm down. Now, I don't know what's wrong, but you cannot go through there. Let me help you," he advised.
"Your eyes. Your eyes," she moaned frantically, shaking her head in fear.
"Yes, my eyes flash green sometimes. I'm a changeling," he informed her. "But it's alright. I'm not here to hurt you or feed on you. It's okay."
Sweetie Belle paused and looked up at him. "So, you're not with Rainbow Dash…?"
The changeling himself pulled back in surprise though he still held her tight enough she couldn't run yet. "Rainbow Dash? No, I'm not with her tonight, though we are on friendly terms from when I last saw her."
"How long ago was that?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Oh, fifty years I'd wager," the changeling answered with sincere honesty.
A whir of the wind whisked through them both, as a flying pony approached. "And here I am, in the flesh," Rainbow Dash told them with a playful and proud air as she landed.
The changeling loosened his grip but only looked at Rainbow Dash in quiet surprise while Sweetie Belle herself made no move to run just yet, looking up at him, looking at her hunter.
"So you are," the changeling said with an easygoing smile. "How have you been?"
"Vengeful," Rainbow admitted with a casual shrug.
Sweetie Belle sensed the changeling himself tense at that word.
"Danger mode?" he asked as if that phrase had some special meaning to the pegasus. "'Demon Dash'?"
Rainbow Dash smirked. "I take it you got that from Twilight."
He silently nodded.
"'Demon Dash'?" Sweetie Belle asked, calling their attention to her. "Rainbow, what's he talking about?"
Rainbow Dash looked at the white unicorn, and for a fleeting second, she seriously considered the question.
"Rainbow has a bit of a dark side, I've heard," the changeling answered for the vampire. "But it comes and goes. I myself have never seen it, only heard from Twilight Sparkle it exists. She warned me about it."
Sweetie Belle looked from him to Rainbow, a sudden rush of hope mixed with still existing horror in her eyes. "Is that true?"
Rainbow Dash's eyes scanned them both for a thoughtful moment. "Yeah, I'm in the mood to kill if you must know." Her eyes flashed in a threatening red, and she addressed her changeling friend. "You have my prey. So, if you'll just give her to me...You can even let her go, so I can chase her a little more."
The changeling hesitated as Sweetie Belle squirmed a little in his grip. "I'm not...one to...let such things happen...."
At last, he had pushed the wrong button, struck the wrong nerve, and Rainbow Dash crouched low, pouncing on him in an instant. He had just enough time to process that look and that stance to let the unicorn go. Sweetie Belle fled, not looking back.
The changeling shape-shifted into a bear and growled, fighting the rainbow-maned pegasus to no avail. Struggling and realizing he stood no chance, he transformed into a stallion she knew and hated. Thanks to Twilight, he knew the form. This shape was his last jab, last reach to get to her. And he did get to her.
Rainbow Dash seethed at the sight of a white unicorn stallion with crimson red hair. Tears streamed down her face, and she sobbed until she thought of something that put her in a fit of diabolical laughter. Twilight would be terribly distraught to see the dead form of Crimson. Oh, that would be just awful. Sweetie Belle could wait, Rainbow Dash decided. After all, she had time on her side. "Forever and ever, Sparky," she muttered bitterly as she picked up the body.
She flew home and found a part of the house where she was sure Twilight would see the mangled body. Grabbing some stakes and nails, she set to work in a proper set up that would make him look killed in a way, familiar to them both, as part of her vengeance. As she finished driving a stake through his dead heart, she heard, "Rainbow?" in a familiar voice but not Twilight's.
Rainbow Dash turned around because the source of the voice was quite a shock. The orange-coated filly had not aged a day, which was impressive because they hadn't seen each other in nearly nine hundred years. "Scootaloo? What are you doing here, squirt?"
Scootaloo only timidly backed away, saying nothing. This was not the image she knew of her sister figure from all that time ago. She looked up with tears welling in her eyes. She kept opening her mouth to say something before finally simply fleeing the house.
Rainbow Dash stared after her, then at the fake Crimson, and then after Scootaloo again. She stood stock still before slapping herself and flying after the scent.
Scootaloo found an empty alley and panted. "Was that really her?" she asked herself. "How...how...how…" she muttered frantically, pacing back and forth.
She perked up in a small panic as she heard the familiar swoosh approach. She turned around. There Rainbow Dash stood, her gaze serious and piercing. She looked cross.
Scootaloo backed away a couple of steps, trembling.
Rainbow Dash sighed, not meeting Scootaloo's eyes. "I know you made your promise to find me again, kid, but the Rainbow Dash you knew back then died about five-hundred years ago."
"No," Scootaloo moaned as she shook her head in tears. "You can't be gone. You just can't. You're here right now, right?" she asked through tears.
Rainbow Dash half-frowned at that. "I am, but I'm here because I've got nothing better to do at the moment. My prey can wait until daylight, and I am hunting. A pony."
Scootaloo averted her eyes. "What happened? How did the other you...die? Did...did Twilight do something to you to make you this way?"
Rainbow Dash chuckled. It was bitter and sadistic, and it was all Scootaloo needed to hear to know the answer was most definitely yes. "I turned heel. She turned face. Go figure," Rainbow commented casually.
Scootaloo blinked at that, a quick burst of hope that if Twilight could turn in such a way, maybe the old Rainbow Dash could still come back.
"She killed them," Rainbow Dash told Scootaloo seriously. "She killed my love, Fluttershy. She killed my other friends. Rarity. Pinkie Pie. Applejack. Spike. She killed them all, to force off my control. Well, she got her wish. But she thought that meant I would join her instead of making her pay for the rest of our eternal lives for what she did."
"Rainbow…" Scootaloo started. She ran up to her and hugged her forelimb. "Tell me what to do to get you back, and I'll do it. Please. If Twilight's changed the way you just said..."
Rainbow Dash placed a forelimb and both firmly and gently pushed Scootaloo back away from her. "My friends aren't coming back, Scoot, and neither am I."
With that, she took off, leaving Scootaloo with a knot in her stomach, full of dread and uncertainty. The filly shed a few more tears before wiping them and steeling her resolve. It would be hard to approach Twilight Sparkle without Rainbow's protection, but it had to be done.
Sweetie Belle trembled under her sheets. She couldn't sleep, she thought. She wasn't really sure. Maybe she had been sleeping, and it was all a really intense nightmare, she hoped. How long before she would get up and face the day? She couldn't cower here forever. Could she? Maybe she could wait until someone came looking for her...so long as that someone wasn't the monster she feared. She clenched her eyes shut and sobbed at the idea that maybe she could find Apple Bloom.
She silently nodded to herself. Yeah. Find Apple Bloom. Because if it was just a nightmare, Apple Bloom could show her she was safe, and if it wasn't...well, she at least had a vampire friend to protect her from her other vampire friend...assuming Rainbow Dash didn't kill Apple Bloom last night. Rainbow Dash kill Apple Bloom? That was absurd and horrible. No way. Of course it was a nightmare!
So, it was with these thoughts that Sweetie Belle forced herself out of bed and to find the other apartment. She knocked and knocked. "Apple Bloom!" she yelled.
To her relief, the door opened, but that feeling was immediately squashed by the sight of a rainbow-maned sky blue pegasus with friendly magenta eyes.
"Hey, there she is," Rainbow Dash greeted Sweetie Belle with a friendly smile to match her eyes.
Sweetie Belle stepped back in horror and pointed an accusing hoof at the vampire. "What are you doing here? This is Apple Bloom's place."
"Apple Bloom's indisposed, and you and I have some unfinished business. The way you ran off last night...what a fright. You okay?" Rainbow asked.
Sweetie Belle grimaced. "I…" she stammered. She swallowed and closed her eyes. "What happened? I thought you turned out to be a vampire, and Apple Bloom saved me from you...did...did that happen? Or was that a nightmare?"
Rainbow Dash broke into a smile. "Wow, really? Was I scary?" She waggled her eyebrows.
Sweetie Belle, having grown accustomed to the proud vampire's dance, nodded.
"Cool!" Rainbow said enthusiastically. "So how did Apple Bloom save you?"
Sweetie Belle took an impatient breath to herself. "She hit you on the head with a frying pan and told me to run. I don't know what happened to her after that. But you...I remember you finding me and a changeling."
"Sounds intense," Rainbow noted.
"Rainbow, please. Please stop playing with me. Did that happen or not?" Sweetie Belle asked.
At last, Rainbow Dash smirked, stared Sweetie Belle right in the eyes and said, "Yes, it did." The familiar red flashed.
Sweetie Belle knew it was in her best interest to start running again, but she was tired of it all and overwhelmed. She sank in place to the floor. "What did you to Apple Bloom?" she whispered.
"Mm, I had a drink. A big, rich, drink...of her blood," Rainbow Dash admitted. "You wouldn't believe this, but after I left her for dead, she showed up at my house alive and breathing. Wowza! Lucky gal. I could take you to her if you wanna see for yourself."
Sweetie Belle trembled, and tears streamed down her eyes. "Why should I believe you?"
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "You don't have to. Don't get me wrong. I want you to believe me, but I'm not going to get all bent out of shape about it if you don't. It's got little meaning in the grand scheme of things. For me."
Sweetie Belle shook her head. "No no no," she moaned.
Rainbow Dash chuckled evilly. "I haven't even bit you yet."
Sweetie Belle's eyes darted up, but that was about all she could do before the vampire's fangs were on her neck, draining her. She felt herself on the brink of death when Rainbow put a cut forelimb to her lips. "Drink to live," the vampire commanded wickedly.
Sweetie Belle could have resisted. Maybe Rainbow Dash would have forced her after that. Maybe not. But the unicorn didn't test it. She obeyed and started to drink. Not long after, she lost consciousness.
Twilight Sparkle fumbled out of bed to check in on the sleeping Apple Bloom figure. With a lot on her mind and her heart, she left the room, then the house, oblivious to the fake Crimson corpse, for now. She went for a walk to clear her head. Spike, before she'd gone off and killed him, used to suggest she do it to unwind.
And Rainbow Dash definitely had her wound up today.
Demon Dash was back. Granted, that version of Rainbow never truly left. She only pretended for awhile, as was convenient to her. And last night, the pretending was over. Rainbow usually hunted in the Everfree forest and didn't so publicly discard dead bodies into dumpsters. It meant she had something wicked in mind.
Twilight had that sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that Rainbow had either concocted yet another devious scheme to make her life miserable or was about to do exactly that. Wherever she was, she wasn't at the house for now, which Twilight only hoped to be a good sign. It was little relief or reprieve in these trying years, but she took what she could get.
She paused upon hearing the frantic panting of a little filly galloping to approach her of all ponies.
Twilight turned around, and there stood Scootaloo. Twilight blinked and shook her head. She smacked herself in the forehead in an attempt to snap herself out of the illusion.
"Twilight," the Scootaloo vision said. "What did you to do Rainbow Dash? How do we fix it? She said you turned 'face'. Is that true?"
Twilight's mouth opened and closed, opened and closed, as she considered how to answer the filly. She thought long and hard. That smack she just did to herself hurt, so...she wasn't dreaming?
Several moments of silent tension passed.
Eventually, "Scootaloo?" was all Twilight could say.
"Yeah, it's me," Scootaloo said almost proudly.
"Scootaloo, how are you...here?" Twilight gestured.
"Oh. Zecora gave me a life pause spell," Scootaloo answered rather casually.
Twilight did that thing again with opening and closing her mouth, unsure of what to say. "For finding Rainbow Dash?"
Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah. What did you do? Rainbow still talked to me yet just enough to say that the version I knew of her is dead. You killed her friends. That sort of thing," she explained.
Twilight Sparkle stared at the ground in silent shame. She sighed. "I did. I made her...this way."
"Why?" Scootaloo asked angrily.
"I was wrong. I know that now. Okay? I know. But back then...I thought she was too soft. She was settling in with other ponies, and I was afraid I'd lose her forever. That she would leave me behind," Twilight noted in regret. A tear streamed down her cheek, and she wiped at it.
"I know what that's like, but still...you…" This time, tears streamed down Scootaloo's cheeks, and she punched futilely at the purple vampire, knowing she could. The old version of Twilight would have retaliated, and Rainbow would have swooped in to save her.
But that didn't happen this time.
Twilight just let her do it. And she waited.
Finally, Scootaloo's punches stopped, and she took in a long breath when she wiped her tears. "How did it happen? How did you do it?"
Sweetie Belle had no idea how much time passed when she awoke and vaguely sensed her surroundings were different. The white unicorn rubbed her head and groaned.
"Almost there," Rainbow told her. "The headache's part of the transformation. Once you get your first kill's blood in you, it goes away."
Sweetie Belle shrank back from her on a bed. "Why are you doing this? You could have killed me so many times already. I'm not sure I want this, Rainbow."
Rainbow sighed. "Yeah, I hated my sire for doing it to me. I get it. As for why, I'm doing it for kicks."
Rainbow rolled her eyes at that with a playful smile. "Sure, let's go with that."
Sweetie Belle swallowed and hoped she could continue her line of questioning. "The way you say it...you sound like you yourself don't believe it."
"I don't mind if Sparky or other ponies want to call me that. Whatever. I call myself 'Rainbow Dash' still," the vampire informed her.
Sweetie nodded. She swallowed again. "I-I'm sorry," she tried.
"Sorry for what?" Rainbow asked in amusement.
"Anything. Everything. For trying to poison you. For calling you a 'cursed piece of horse manure'. For um...'inviting' you...to kill me. For whatever is going on with this 'Demon Dash' thing. There's some part of it you're not telling me. You guard it Rainbow. I sense that much," Sweetie Belle admitted.
"Oh, you're so sweet," Rainbow said in that mocking voice that was actually sincere. "Tell you what. You let me turn you, and I'll let down my guard long enough to tell you all about it."
A tear streamed down Sweetie Belle's eye, and she shook her head. "Just...tell me. Maybe I can help."
Rainbow Dash sighed in mild annoyance. "I'm turning you anyway," she warned.
Sweetie Belle balked at that but Rainbow flew over to sit by her on the bed, making no forceful movements after. "Vampires who have lost control are the most dangerous kind. They've turned their emotions off and given into their bloodlust. But it's not like that makes them some mindless beast, like you might think would happen. No, they're manipulative," Rainbow Dash began to explain.
"You're…" Sweetie Belle said.
Rainbow glanced her way and nodded before continuing. "I tried to be as good as a vampire can be for oh...maybe...what was it? Four hundred years. Right. The first hundred were just figuring out being a vampire at all with my sire and Sparky."
"Sparky is Twilight?" Sweetie Belle questioned.
"Yeah," Rainbow answered with a casual nod. "She was my foil. She fully embraced being a vampire, to the point she'd get high off the blood. She drank a lot. I put up with it because I loved her then. We were partners when we were mortal. I'd try to save other ponies from her when I could, but I never left her. I tried to drink blood from non-pony animals and was weaker for it, but I was strong enough...I thought. But I was wrong. I never could save them all. And then...that day…"
Sweetie Belle looked up at Rainbow Dash and waited in anticipation.
"Even though we loved each other and lived together for five centuries, I had other lovers. Some of them even knew what I was and still accepted me. One of them was another pegasus pony named Fluttershy. I had friends too. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity. Twilight had an assistant named Spike who was a dragon. I was friends with him as well. There are certain key things that go into making a vampire lose control...what was done to me, Sweetie Belle…" Rainbow's voice iced over. "...it was deliberate."
There was blood everywhere. Rainbow Dash was no stranger to it after all these years. Twilight Sparkle had gone off again, reveling in yet another massacre. So much blood. She couldn't even tell one body from the other.
Twilight was staring up at the ceiling, fixated on something.
"Twi," Rainbow Dash flew over and waved a hoof in front of her.
Twilight smirked but continued to stare past the sky blue hoof and at the ceiling.
Rainbow Dash shook her companion's shoulders. "Twi, snap out of it."
Twilight shifted her eyes to the sky blue pegasus. "It's time," she said ominously.
Rainbow pulled back and looked at her with incredulous eyes. "Time for what?" She tried not to panic. Not yet.
"Time for you to change, Rainbow. They were holding you back, so I took care of it," Twilight muttered.
Rainbow's eyes widened in horror, and she immediately looked up to the ceiling. "Fluttershy!" she gasped, flying up to see a widened, shocked expression from her girlfriend. The yellow pegasus was held in place by multiple nails driven through her legs. A wooden stake rested in place on her chest, driven through her heart. "Twilight...how could you…"
Twilight simply stared off into space before she finally answered. "I was going to lose you..."
Tears streamed down Rainbow's face, and she screamed. She scanned the pile of bodies. "Who else did you kill, huh? Where are they?!"
Twilight didn't respond, just went back to staring at the dead Fluttershy. "It's time," she repeated in that ominous tone.
Frustrated and on edge, Rainbow started examining the other bodies to find her worst fears realized. Blood was splattered all over Pinkie Pie. She wandered to find other familiar coats under it all. Orange that was Applejack. White that was Rarity. Purple dragon scales that were Spike. "My friends…" she uttered in a whisper. "You killed my friends."
"I did," Twilight agreed in a drunken stupor while nodding. "Because you're going to join us. Enough with the coddling mortals, Rainbow. Or everyone, really. They were keeping you under control. Too much control. Too...equine." The last word was stated with careful enunciation. "I couldn't have them taking you away from me. It's time for you to be the vampire Crimson made you to be."
Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut, running her tongue across her fangs and upper lip. Her heartbeat pounded loudly in her chest. She heaved. More tears streamed down her face. "I'm so sorry Fluttershy," she whispered, knowing what was about to happen, bracing for it. She didn't have the emotional nor mental strength to fight it. Not with all the blood and death and pain and loss. Everything Twilight Sparkle needed to make it happen. She was counting on it.
Rainbow Dash's body numbed from within. The world stood still, and so did she. Pitch black darkness and total silence surrounded her. She opened her magenta eyes to see vibrant red ribbons of her own power snake their way to wrap around her legs, her chest, her neck, her tail, her mane, her head. They engulfed her completely.
Tightening as they folded into her body, the ribbons suffocated the pegasus to release out a long, slow breath of wispy gray smoke that held her precious care for so many things. Rainbow Dash watched the smoke swirl and twist in front of her, taking an equine shape. She twitched. Equinity? She looked on with wistful fascination, tears brimming in her still magenta eyes. She clenched her jaw. She had to let go.
She had to let go.
Her face contorted from a sneer into an evil smile, and her eyes lit to the same brilliant red as her ribbons of power. The wispy gray equine shape stretched long, tearing itself apart as it streamed away. She blew onto it, to help it along, watching it float away and taking her feelings for Twilight Sparkle with it. Meanwhile, the emboldened red power coursed through her veins. Darkness faded, and the room came back into view.
Twilight trotted over and approached Rainbow Dash. "Ready?"
Rainbow snapped out of a gaze and looked at Twilight with a sudden, cocky smirk. "Actually, I won't be joining you."
Twilight's eyes widened. As she tried to register the response, Rainbow Dash shoved her so strongly, the unicorn's entire body flew across the room and slammed into a wall.
The pegasus vampire dashed over quickly, true to her namesake, and held Twilight firm against that same wall, crushing her just enough so that Twilight struggled to breathe. "On the contrary, how about I turn against you instead?" Rainbow Dash smirked again, then snarled and bared her fangs.
Twilight grit her teeth. Her fangs elongated, and her horn lit.
But it didn't matter.
The other vampire was far too fast in her next actions. Rainbow quickly chomped down onto the purple coat and drank. Delicious vampire blood. Enemy blood. It had been too long. So long. It was the most delicious blood she ever drank. Despite letting go of so many feelings, Rainbow felt very good in that moment. It was a sensation that would fuel her for centuries.
Twilight helplessly crumpled to the floor, too weak to move yet still conscious enough to watch her monster make its next move.
Rainbow licked at the blood on her mouth. "Mm, yes. I suppose you had a point, thanks." She grinned and stared down at the collapsed unicorn.
Trembling, Twilight was too weak to make any other movement. Her horn lit and dimmed, unable to cast anything. She could only watch.
"I've coddled everyone too much for far too long, most especially you." Rainbow's eyes gleamed with a brilliant, wicked red and even sparkled as she added, "Guess we fixed that."
Twilight continued her futile efforts to move in tiny jolts and twitches of movement but not much else. She tried to speak, but she couldn't with how much blood the other vampire took.
Rainbow crouched low to look at her with a serious expression that could easily be mistaken for sympathetic. "Does it hurt?"
Her victim just kept twitching...and started to cry as she nodded.
"Perfect," the pegasus purred. She leaned forward and nuzzled Twilight's cheek, then licked at one of the tears, followed by a sinister chuckle. She stood and started to walk away but paused to look back at the unicorn. Rainbow's red eyes burned with evil intent. Her emotions were off. Her inhibitions had re-aligned. She was ready to kill anyone. Except Twilight. "Don't worry Sparky. I made sure to leave just enough so that you'll live. I won't ever leave you. Not really. Just like you wanted. I may come and go, but I'll always be back...for revenge.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go make some trouble for you to deal with whenever you recover from my draining you." She cackled as she left the room.
"Then what happened?" Scootaloo asked Twilight. "What kind of 'trouble' did she make?"
Twilight Sparkle sighed and continued the tale.
Mysterious deaths followed Twilight wherever she went. Towns-ponies met her with welcome and friendly smiles. In turn, Twilight was civil but not friendly. She was reclusive. Recovering from being drained took a toll on her. Add to that was the mental strain of understanding how high off the blood she had been for the many years that Rainbow put up with her. The lacking emotions and control had made her see things in distorted ways.
And now, without realizing what she had been doing, she had transferred that lack of control onto Rainbow instead. But they were different ponies, so Rainbow did not get high off blood the way Twilight did. She was a different sort of beast. A competitive beast. Someone whose highs came in the form of winning.
Rainbow Dash could easily mimic her old playful and assertive self. Twilight supposed those traits weren't really gone, even if they didn't stop Rainbow from killing whoever she felt like. It was more that she gained the traits of being sadistic and conniving too. Regardless, she knew how to charm the locals. Other ponies warmed up to her easily, more easily than they did Twilight. They did not know the pegasus the way Twilight did. They did not know that they had become pawns in Rainbow Dash's game.
When strings of mysterious deaths happened not long after the two newcomers came to town only days apart, the towns-ponies always suspected Twilight first.
The fact that Rainbow Dash left after Twilight was run out of town with pitchforks and torches didn't really matter. The deaths stopped when Twilight Sparkle was gone.
Sweetie Belle stared with her mouth hung agape, deep in thought.
"Well, that was a thing. Let's eat," Rainbow said and clapped her hooves together with firm enthusiasm. She lifted off into the air and made for the door.
"Wait," Sweetie Belle called out to her.
Rainbow paused. "What?" she asked in an exasperated voice.
"There must be a way to undo it, right? Get your control back," Sweetie Belle said hopefully.
Rainbow Dash smirked as her answer to that. "You say that like I miss it. I'll be back with your drink." She flew out of the room, leaving a stunned and contemplative Sweetie Belle.
The white unicorn didn't have much time to contemplate since her drink was actually an unconscious Apple Bloom. Rainbow Dash set her down on a chair facing the bed.
Sweetie Belle backed away on the bed toward the wall. She saw the door left ajar yet felt glued in place.
"Looks like I left enough for you," Rainbow noted as she sniffed her victim, pulling back the red mane to expose a yellow-coated neck. "Sparky's trying to nurse her back, but I think it's more fun this way. Revenge on her and turning you. Talk about a double win."
Sweetie Belle looked from the body to Rainbow Dash. "You can't make me," she challenged.
Rainbow smirked at her yet again, eyes flashing their malicious red, and then studied the unconscious pony carefully. "Really now...this beautiful neck...all mine for the taking…" She bit in gently, enough to make sure Sweetie Belle could see and smell the blood.
Sweetie Belle seemed to scramble in place, pawing at the wall like it would suddenly swallow her up to stop her from the awakening vampire urges.
Rainbow Dash paused and looked back at her. "There's enough room for two if you change your mind." She nodded her head toward the other side of Apple Bloom's neck.
Sweetie Belle froze in place. She stared at the pegasus sucking on the earth pony's neck. She felt left out, to be honest. And she felt like Apple Bloom belonged to her. Rainbow was...intruding. Stealing. No. Sharing. Sharing. The white unicorn slowly crept toward them. The thought of misleading Rainbow and making a break for it, to escape through that still open door, crossed her mind...but that beautiful neck. That tempting scent of blood. Those things stopped her.
Rainbow caught her glancing at the door and whisked over, closing it. "Better?"
Sweetie Belle nodded with almost quiet innocence and crept even closer to Apple Bloom. She licked her lips, and Rainbow could see the fangs had formed.
Rainbow returned to her spot and sucked in some of the dark red liquid.
Sweetie Belle hissed. She bit the other side of the neck, at last letting the blood fill her.
Rainbow pulled away with an evil smile to watch her fledgling complete the transformation.
Sweetie Belle drained Apple Bloom dry and looked over at Rainbow Dash. She wiped her mouth with a hoof and shuddered in place, gazing up to look at Rainbow with greedy light green eyes. "It's done," she said. "Almost." The light green flashed red.
Knowing exactly what she wanted, Rainbow Dash rushed over to kiss her, filling the young fledgling with the remains of the desired blood from Apple Bloom.
The young vampire didn't mind one bit and returned that kiss. She set aside her worries about Rainbow's control and simply accepted and loved the moment given to her. The worries returned when Rainbow pulled away. "Are you sure you don't have any control?" Sweetie Belle asked. "You turned me just now. How am I revenge on Twilight?"
"I can have fun how I like," Rainbow admitted with a casual shrug. "Plus, you're all kinds of trouble, believe me," she added with a wicked smile.
Sweetie Belle blushed and smiled too. She almost didn't want to try to help her...her…she paused in her train of thought. "Rainbow...what are you to me?"
"Well, the vampire who made me had me call him my 'sire' though he said sometimes 'master' was used. He figured I'd be more okay with 'sire,' which I was, so that's what we used. The girl form is 'dame,' but I don't care much for that word. So, master, sire, or mistress, is fine. Whatever you want. I'm not picky on the rest," Rainbow noted. "Okay, I guess 'mom' would be a bit too much and kinda icky."
Sweetie Belle giggled. "Mother Rainbow Dash."
"Yes. Icky," Rainbow made a disgusted face.
"Mistress Rainbow Dash?" the young vampire asked with a gleeful smile.
"It's alright," Rainbow said with mild approval.
"Okay. Do I call you that?" Sweetie asked.
"I'm not against it, but sticking with just 'Rainbow' is fine," Rainbow replied.
"What about Demon Dash?" Sweetie pressed. She returned to her line of thinking. She almost didn't want to help her mistress regain control, which she had been considering and hoping before drinking Apple Bloom's blood.
"Sure, go for it," Rainbow said with a shrug.
She really was indifferent to that one, Sweetie Belle realized. It didn't matter in the grand scheme against Twilight.
"What would you do if I went to Twilight to help her get your control back?" Sweetie Belle questioned.
Rainbow Dash approached the fledgling and met her eyes, studying Sweetie Belle with an intensity that made the white unicorn feel unnerved and small. "Maybe use you. Maybe kill you. Whatever I felt like. I won't forbid it as your mistress, but consider yourself warned."
"Right," Sweetie answered with an uneasy nod and uneasy smile. "Duly noted."
"How do we fix it? How do we get her back?" Scootaloo asked with desperation in her voice.
Twilight gently pulled Scootaloo in for a hug since Rainbow wasn't here to do it. "I don't know," Twilight answered honestly. "I've been trying to figure that out for five hundred years, but maybe...just maybe you're the pony she needs to see."
"I'm not," Scootaloo whined. "She talked to me, but I may as well have been some nice stranger she was talking to about the weather, the way she talked to me. She didn't hug me. She didn't hold me or console me. She didn't smile when she first saw me...she...she's not Rainbow Dash like this."
Twilight nodded in agreement. "You're right, she isn't. She's my demon. My Demon Dash."
Scootaloo stared up at Twilight, her light purple eyes glistening with a mix of worry and hope. "If you can turn 'face,' this demon version of her can too...right?"
Twilight sighed. "I don't know, but let's get you to the house and think about what to do."
Scootaloo nodded in agreement with that idea. She paused and looked at Twilight. "She won't try to kill me like you used to do, will she?"
Twilight cringed at that but answered honestly, "I don't know, but I'll do my best to protect you in her place."
The door suddenly opened much to Sweetie Belle's surprise, and she saw Twilight Sparkle immediately shove a filly out upon seeing Apple Bloom's dead body.
Sweetie herself had forgotten it was even there after her turning and with Rainbow's company. She wanted to ask if she was supposed to have feelings for her mistress the way she did now but decided it could wait. She could overhear, crystal clear, Twilight tell the filly to go to a room and wait while Twilight figured out what was going on.
The filly obeyed.
Twilight opened the door again and put on a brave face. "Rainbow, what is this?" She gestured over to Apple Bloom's body and the transformed Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie stepped behind Rainbow Dash.
"I thought it was obvious, but that's dinner," Rainbow pointed over to Apple Bloom, "and I thought you knew Sweetie Belle already."
"I do, but she's a vampire now, and she wasn't one yesterday," Twilight told her impatiently.
"Well, yeah, I turned her," Rainbow answered casually.
"Rainbow…" Twilight said, gathering her strength and taking on a lecturing, near maternal tone. "You haven't turned anyone for six-hundred years. Why would you make a fledgling as Demon Dash? You must know she won't last long with how bloodthirsty you are all the time."
"Not like how long the others lasted before you killed them, right?" Rainbow shot back. "And 'Demon Dash' is just the name you invented for me. I'm not really a demon." She blew her own bangs out of her face for a moment. "I think. Pretty sure."
Twilight let the weight of that hang in the air, then sink in since she deserved it. "Point taken." She looked over to Sweetie Belle. "You won't last long if you stay with her. She's a bloodthirsty demon. Consider that your warning."
Sweetie Belle glanced around the room uncertainly between the two elder vampires. Before the door shut again, she quickly asked, "Can we get her control back?"
Twilight Sparkle paused and looked over to Rainbow Dash "You actually told someone and didn't kill them completely? Is this progress?"
"Jealous?" Rainbow teased. "And yeah. But you know...I can kill her whenever. She knows. You know. You did just warn her after I did. Nearly the exact same words too. Adding in the 'bloodthirsty' for extra flair. I approve."
Twilight sighed heavily. She shook her head and didn't even look at Sweetie Belle as she answered, "Not easily." With that, she shut the door.
Despite their flippant talk of her life, Sweetie Belle relaxed but for a moment before the door opened again.
"Clean up this mess," Twilight commanded.
"Pass," Rainbow called out to her as the door shut again.
"Shouldn't we?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Ugh, I picked a goody four-shoes for a fledgling, didn't I?" Rainbow asked in mock disgust.
Sweetie Belle blushed. "Well, yeah…"
Rainbow flew in and touched Sweetie Belle's chin, forcing the unicorn to look up into her magenta eyes. "We could do something more fun first."
Sweetie Belle blushed again as warmth filled her cheeks. "Rainbow, I meant to ask you…"
The older vampire raised an intrigued eyebrow.
"Am I supposed to feel this longing for you?" Sweetie Belle asked hesitantly.
Rainbow smiled with a wicked gleam in her eyes. "Only if you longed for me before. You'll find you're rather sensitive to many things at first. The sights, the sounds, the smells, longings you denied yourself before now."
"Oh," Sweetie Belle uttered. She looked over at the dead Apple Bloom body. "Why don't I feel bad about that? I don't just mean the killing. I mean...the fact that it was Apple Bloom."
"A couple of reasons. One, she was secretly feeding off you, so she kinda deserved it. Revenge served up on a platter thanks to yours truly. You're welcome. And two. You're my only fledgling in this so-called 'demon' form, so I guess it does affect you on some level, inheriting some of my power," Rainbow explained.
"Wait, does that mean I don't have control either?" Sweetie Belle asked, panic evident in her voice.
"It's not all or nothing, Sweetie," Rainbow explained. "You're going to lack it in some areas just by nature of being a newborn vampire. Are you on my level? No. That takes time and blood and experience you don't have."
"Okay, Mistress," Sweetie replied. "I like that one. That or 'Rainbow'. You know, it feels right to describe you as 'Demon Dash,' yet not address you that way."
"Yeah, I can see that," Rainbow considered with an approving nod.
Sweetie Belle rushed over and planted another kiss on Rainbow's lips. "Why did you say you're not a real demon? The way you describe how it happened….it sounds like a real demon to me."
"Oh, are demons some secret expertise of yours?" Rainbow asked and returned the kiss.
"'Expertise' is stretching it," Sweetie Belle admitted as she nuzzled and pecked her mistress' cheek, mounting her as they reached the bed, "but I have studied on the subject."
Rainbow chuckled, again, returning the affection given her. "And?"
Sweetie stared into the two magenta eyes. Rainbow looked so completely serene in this moment. It was hard to believe she was the same uncaring killer that turned her only minutes ago. Charming and deadly. Sweetie Belle was surprised to find her vampire self found the combination alluring. Maybe her mortal pony self did too, and she was just finally ready to admit it in her head.
"And?" Rainbow asked again, snapping Sweetie Belle out of those thoughts..
The white unicorn continued, "And...well, you're not possessed, but it's like...your vampire power did something to you. You became something new. Something demonic. Although…" Sweetie Belle paused in her thoughts.
Rainbow nuzzled with her as she waited for the thought to form. "Although…" she echoed as she waited.
"Your appearance didn't change. Your eyes already turned red sometimes. A change in appearance is usually the signal scholars use to make the distinction," Sweetie said. "And you won't claim a new name for yourself either. Like you'll let others call you 'Demon Dash' but you said you still think of yourself as 'Rainbow' even though you went through such a big mental transformation."
"I like myself too much to give up my own name. Then have we solved the mystery?" Rainbow asked. "I'm just a vindictive killer and tormentor in vampire form."
Sweetie Belle smiled, and her own eyes flashed red. "Perhaps it is not all or nothing either. We could try asking a demon."
"Yeah, no. Do that on your own time. I don't actually care that much," Rainbow said.
Sweetie Belle giggled. "As you wish, Mistress." She leaned down about to kiss Rainbow again but stopped and looked over to the dead body.
Rainbow looked over as well. She smirked. Two sky blue forelimbs opened the door to the room and carelessly tossed a dead body into the hall, slamming the door shut. Inside the room, Rainbow Dash closed all the blinds to make the place as dark as possible. Two pairs of glowing red eyes continued their intimate exchange.
Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle stood next to each other, observing the scene of high society Canterlot unicorns mingling from their chosen place within a party.
Rainbow shifted uncomfortably in her fancy magenta dress. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this."
Twilight wore a fancy dress too, a very light pink. "Well, I know they aren't actual Wonderbolts, but a lot of these ponies attend their shows. They've got connections. Maybe, you'll find an in that way."
A white-coated red-maned stallion entered the scene, and many eyes fell upon him, the two mare-friends included.
"Who's that guy?" Rainbow asked Twilight. "Think he knows anyone or anything? He somehow feels important."
"I've never seen him before," Twilight replied. "Something about his aura though...it's…" she hesitated before admitting, "...alluring."
"Watch yourself," Rainbow teased. "You might fall under his spell," she said, not knowing how right she was.
Twilight gathered her bearings. "I want to talk to him," she decided.
"You know the drill," Rainbow reminded her.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Vampires aren't real. We've been over it a hundred times."
Rainbow shot her a look.
"Hey, no one knows what happened to those girls, alright? They're missing, not vampire victims," Twilight said. "I mean, why vampires and not werewolves or zombies with you? Not to mention that if they ventured to the Everfree forest, anything from a manticore to a sea serpent could have killed them."
Rainbow shrugged. "Yeah, I know. I guess it's just...vampires can pass for pony, assuming pegasus vampires don't get bat wings anyway. That guy's a unicorn, so...hard to say." She had grown analytical as she considered things.
"I think you like them," Twilight accused her. "And kinda want to be one yourself."
"Well, I'm not in favor of killing anypony to drink their blood, but the rest of it sounds kinda cool," Rainbow admitted. She grinned. "Enhanced senses, strength, speed, being 'alluring,'...you know...power. And the fangs. Gotta love the fangs."
"Fangs?" a male voice inquired, catching their attention.
Twilight smiled bashfully at the stallion stranger they were just discussing as he approached. "My friend has a wild imagination."
"Plus, I wouldn't mind bat wings if they had an on and off switch," Rainbow added.
Twilight glared at her.
Rainbow giggled.
"I can see that," the stallion responded to Twilight's earlier comment. "And just what exactly is it she imagines?"
"Nothing!" Twilight replied immediately in a defensive tone.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes but decided not to confess, just in case the guy really was a vampire. That could be trouble. "Just a thing between us mares. Can we help you?"
"Yes, my name is Crimson. I was wondering if either of you fine, young mares would join me in a dance," he respectfully bowed and offered a hoof.
"Which-?" Twilight started to say, but Rainbow pushed her forward.
"Sure, Twilight will dance with ya. Just don't try any funny business, mister. She's my girlfriend," Rainbow said with authority.
Twilight blushed. "She is correct, good sir. But we…share…"
The stallion raised an intrigued eyebrow and led Twilight to the dance floor.
Rainbow Dash watched, realizing she found him alluring too. When the pair completed their dance, they returned to where Rainbow stood. Crimson asked Rainbow for a turn. Only because Twilight encouraged her did she do it.
As their dance finished, Crimson's gaze pierced deep into his dancing partner. "Come with me," he ordered as his eyes flashed red.
Rainbow Dash winced but felt compelled to do as he said. He led her to Twilight and together, the three left the dance. He led them somewhere far from Canterlot. An isolated cottage on the edge of Ponyville by the Everfree forest. He told them he had lived there alone for several years.
He led Twilight to a sofa and held her chin in his hoof, starting to lean in when he heard Rainbow Dash wiggle in place, flexing her feathers. Crimson understood immediately she had grown restless and suspicious, his enchantment starting to wear off a little. He was ready for that and easily knocked her unconscious.
Twilight was still under his spell so asked quite innocently, "Why did you do that? Rainbow Dash is my partner, Crimson."
Crimson smiled at her. "I want you to be with me, Twilight Sparkle." He revealed his fangs. "My companion...as a vampire."
Twilight looked from him to the unconscious Rainbow Dash, still under his alluring spell as she recalled her talk with Rainbow earlier. Maybe Twilight would like it, she figured. Rainbow had made good points that some of it sounded cool. Twilight liked this Crimson fellow too. He could be a nice companion. "But Rainbow. I can't leave her."
Crimson's eyes darted to the unconscious form. "She…" he looked back deep into those purple eyes, deep into Twilight's own heart and her mind. She was attached. Strongly attached to her girlfriend. And the longer he peered in at the memories, the more he liked what he saw of Rainbow Dash's physical prowess and aggressive nature. He smiled wickedly. "She can join us. You will be my companion, and she will be yours. You two don't mind sharing, right?"
Rainbow Dash groaned and blearily opened her eyes. "Twilight?" she asked the air, realizing she was in a bedroom.
"Twilight is safe," Crimson said.
Rainbow blinked again, recalled some of what happened, and sneered. "I swear if you did something to her…"
She didn't get to finish as he was already on her neck, digging in his fangs, and draining her blood.
"Twilight…" Rainbow uttered on the verge of losing consciousness when she found a warm red liquid on her mouth as Crimson pressed his forelimb to her. The more she drank of it, the better it tasted, filling her with a different sense of what it meant to be alive.
When Crimson pulled away, Rainbow wiped her hoof. "What did you just do?" She instinctively licked the blood clean off.
"Twilight Sparkle's love for you is strong," Crimson informed her. "I could not have her without having you as well. You two are mine now. My companions. My sweet fledglings. Both of you. Vampires."
Rainbow blinked. "Oh no. No no no no. Look, your blood tasted good and all, but that is not…" she paused, cutting herself off from finishing that sentence.
"It is," Crimson corrected her sternly. "Something you want again and again, to drink forever. Not mine necessarily, but blood is something you desire, my child."
Rainbow reeled in unease with a headache, unable to balance herself in a proper stand.
"Relax," Crimson said. "I have fresh bait ready for you. A proper hunt is for another time. I want you to finish your transformation first."
Just then, a door opened, and Rainbow looked up to see a unicorn mare she did not know personally but recognized as one of the recently missing ones. The mare had a light pink coat and two-toned blue hair.
"Be a dear," Crimson told the mare, "and let Rainbow have you. She is a surprisingly gentle soul despite her tough exterior."
The mare nodded and approached, offering her neck to Rainbow Dash. After a moment, she said, "It is alright, milady."
Rainbow looked at Crimson and the offered neck. A thumping heart. Flowing blood. Her fangs grew, sharp and ready to pierce flesh. The blood inside that other pony's body called to her, tempting her. She wanted it. She hesitated only a moment, then felt some power in her eyes that flashed a red glow into the room. Before she knew it, her fangs were biting the other pony, and she sucked in the desired blood. After a short time, she pulled away.
"Finish it. Kill her," Crimson ordered.
Rainbow Dash cringed and obeyed, drinking more, enough that she could sense the mare die from blood loss. That blood now flowed in Rainbow's transformed body. "You…" tears streamed down her face. "You made me kill someone."
"It is part of your nature to kill," Crimson told her. "That is what made you kill her. And you will learn to kill, Rainbow Dash. Once I know you are capable, that is when you can attempt feeding without killing if you like. Or even feeding on the blood of non-ponies. You'll be weaker for it though."
"You turned me into this thing," Rainbow muttered bitterly to remind him.
Crimson smiled in amusement. "I rather like you this way. Would you rather I kill you as I do for my usual prey? An extraordinary mare like yourself. Twilight would miss you so."
Rainbow Dash sneered, and her magenta eyes lit to red again. She started to quietly think to herself. Putting a hoof to her chin and tapping it, she experimented with growing her fangs out. "My eyes…"
"Ah yes. You're an expressive mare, so it would seem your eye flashes might be rather common. They have to do with how you feel. The more predatory," Crimson told her with a smirk, "the more often they do that. Anger brings it out too. Among some other emotions, depending on their intensity."
"Predatory," Rainbow uttered in a trance, even drooling a little.
Crimson smiled wickedly, knowing full well she wanted to be an overpowering figure, such a young fledgling she was. He wanted it too. She would be strong. Perhaps his strongest fledgling ever if he played his cards right with her. A proper legacy when he was done with Twilight Sparkle.
Rainbow Dash realized she was drooling and wiped it away, shamefully looking anywhere but him.
"Come," he offered a hoof. "I'll take you to Twilight. She has already transformed as well."
Rainbow Dash reluctantly accepted his hoof. As she stood, she examined her feathered wings.
"Not yet," Crimson told her. "You are far too young for bat wings. It will take at least a thousand years."
"If I live that long, am I stuck with them that way?" Rainbow asked.
Crimson smirked. "They have a switch as you desired."
"I guess that's cool...even if it is a long time," Rainbow noted.
Crimson led her to another room.
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight galloped over in an instant and hugged her so tight she would have crushed Rainbow's mortal self had Rainbow not transformed too.
"Well, I see you got stronger," Rainbow said, gently pushing her away with the embrace over. Quickly with urgent accusation in her voice, she asked, "How could you let this happen?"
Twilight stared down at the floor with a sad expression. "I…" she hesitated. She knew she did it under Crimson's spell, but the truth was, she liked the vampire. "I...wanted it. And...you told me you wanted it."
"I do recall saying I wasn't exactly up to drinking blood and killing ponies for it," Rainbow told her with indignance.
"Well, I couldn't control that, alright?" Twilight argued. "Besides, once you've learned and fed enough, you'll get that version."
Rainbow Dash twitched, but she couldn't scold Twilight any further. All of it was true, after all. Even the pang of guilt from her first kill had already faded into a lingering memory. There was a part of her that rather enjoyed it and eager to kill again. The predator part.
"Hey Crimson…" Rainbow said.
"Yes, Rainbow?" he replied.
"Does being a vampire erase our guilt over time? I've got this weird bloodthirsty thing going on in the back of my head," Rainbow admitted, nervously stroking the back of her mane.
Twilight nodded in agreement. "I'm curious too."
"More like it dulls from habit. You grow to accept that part of your nature, but vampires can still feel for other ponies. I admit, I turned you both out of my own desire to see you live on with me in this form. Too beautiful to kill and well...too beautiful to leave as mortal. You'll both be exquisite vampires," Crimson told them. Sincerity gleamed in his eyes.
"Creep," Rainbow shot at him.
"Rainbow!" Twilight scolded. "He's our…" she trailed off. "What are you to us, actually?"
"Sire," Crimson informed her. "You may refer to me as your sire. Some call themselves 'master', but your friend is a defiant one. 'Sire' will do, I hope."
"I'm fine with calling you 'creep' still. It even alliterates. 'That creep, Crimson. Oh, Creepy Crimson. There he goes'," Rainbow Dash paced around the room with a biting tone in her voice.
Crimson's deep, wicked laugh filled the room. "I knew I was right to choose you," he said with great amusement.
"I think that was supposed to be a compliment Sire Creep," Rainbow said, sticking out her tongue. To her surprise, it came out forked and long, like a snake's. "Whoa!"
"Fascinating," Crimson said and walked over to her.
She opened her mouth on instinct to let him and Twilight examine it.
"It looks normal now," Twilight noticed.
"Yes," Crimson agreed, soon followed by a smirk. "I do believe it would only happen in a similar context as just now between the two of us."
"I could live with that," Rainbow noted and stuck out her serpentine tongue at him again.
Crimson chuckled heartily. "As could I."
Rainbow Dash glanced over to Twilight Sparkle looking at her.
"He's right you know," Twilight said with a seductive smile. "We should embrace it. We would make 'exquisite' vampires."
At that, Rainbow Dash blushed. The words meant little coming from her sire, but with Twilight's endorsement...well, she always had a soft spot for her girlfriend. As the thought of being with Twilight for eternity occurred to her, that led to another thought. A question. "Where is your sire?" she asked Crimson.
"Not here and not finding me again. That is all you need to know, my child," Crimson told her.
Rainbow Dash crinkled her nose. "Your 'child'? Really?"
"What does my precious fledgling want me to call her?" Crimson asked with a gentle manner that Rainbow Dash couldn't help but find suspicious.
Deciding the question innocent enough on its own nonetheless, she answered him, "Just call me 'Rainbow' like most ponies. I don't...like you, Sire."
Crimson nodded sympathetically. "I hope one day you change your mind, Rainbow, but I understand. I am actually quite fond of you myself."
"Thanks, I guess. So...what's next? Are we stuck with you forever like this?" Rainbow asked him.
"It's not so different than a mortal family. I'm going to help you grow and understand being a vampire. One day, you'll perhaps move on from me. Or I'll move on from you. For now, yes. You are, indeed, stuck with me. You have much to learn," Crimson advised them.
A young blue-coated stallion with dark gray hair panted in fear and ran within the Everfree forest. He couldn't see her. He couldn't hear her. But she had deceived him before enough times that it meant little. He was right as the sky blue figure swooped down instantly with an evil grin.
"Please…" he begged. "Please...I'm...I'm sorry."
"Me too," Rainbow replied and pounced with a firm bite, draining him quickly.
Crimson appeared from the shadows, approaching with an emphatic, slow clap. "Perfect. You hunt well, Rainbow."
Rainbow looked up from the dead body and licked her upper lip for an extra bit of blood. "I'm aware of that. It's enough by now, right?" she asked. "I've been a vampire for a hundred years."
Crimson walked up to her. "I have to warn you. The path you choose is very dangerous. If you falter. If you lose control, you will be a very evil mare."
"I'm a very evil mare in control," Rainbow Dash argued and gestured at the dead body. "I don't think I really get points by going after other killers who happen to be mortal, Sire." Her serpentine tongue slipped out with her annoyance.
Crimson smirked. It was so cute on her. "So be it. Yes, Rainbow Dash. You have shown the necessary skills and lived as a vampire long enough that killing other ponies is no longer necessary. I would recommend you still do it from time to time. You will sense well enough when you should."
Rainbow sighed and shook her head with annoyance and guilt. "We'll see."
Crimson stared down at Ponyville from atop a hill. His two precious fledglings were here. He could sense it. After he had Twilight force off Rainbow's control, he left them both those five hundred years ago. For all they knew, he was dead. Twilight missed him; Rainbow didn't. Rainbow...his little demon of vengeance. About to earn her wings. He chuckled in amusement at the idea.
Neither sought him out, knowing their sire came and went as he pleased, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for hundreds of years. Plus, they had their own conflict with each other. He had no wish to mediate such a thing, even if it was partly his doing.
Rainbow Dash was finally the vampire he made her to be. Powerful and deadly. A proper legacy.
And that was enough.
Crimson wanted to see the wings develop and tell her how proud he was of her. She might still hate him and even try to kill him, but he was confident he could take on such a challenge. He was her sire after all.
Twilight Sparkle opened the door to see Scootaloo. "Sorry about that. Rainbow Dash doesn't usually leave her kills here, or turn ponies into vampires, so it took me by surprise."
Scootaloo swallowed nervously. "That girl was a vampire too?" She still couldn't really tell the difference other than maybe vampires somehow felt pretty or important.
Twilight looked at Scootaloo with a serious and curious gaze. "Have you actually lived for 898 years like this? You still act and talk like a filly. I get the feeling you think like one too."
Scootaloo's eyes darted down and scanned side to side. She bit her lip. "Sort of?" she said meekly.
The unicorn vampire rolled her eyes. "Zecora," she muttered. Taking in a deep breath, she began to probe further. "How many vampires have you met since Rainbow and I left?"
Scootaloo shrugged.
"So, what, it just wipes after you can't find her when you move from one place to the next?" Twilight inquired, trying to understand the mysterious life pause spell. She had some vague knowledge of it but no experience when it came to it being cast on a child.
"Blurs," Scootaloo confessed. "That's part of why it took so long, I think. I'm supposed to be like when we knew each other. Otherwise, I would just be an old mare stuck in a filly body."
"Right," Twilight replied and nodded in agreement.
"So...that girl was a vampire too?" Scootaloo asked again.
"Yes," Twilight answered. "Her name is Sweetie Belle."
Upon realizing Twilight had nothing else to add and with another question on her mind, Scootaloo hopped up onto a nearby bed and sat on it. She began, "Um. Not that I want you to kill Rainbow...but um...is there a reason you don't? Knowing how she's like...this. Five-hundred years for revenge is like half your vampire lives. That's a lot of k-kills too."
Twilight stared off into the room, not meeting Scootaloo's eyes, giving the matter serious thought. "Well, I suppose the main reason is I simply don't want to. I love her. She's my partner. Always. I want to stop her and have my Rainbow Dash back more than anything. I can't do that if I kill her.
"And to be honest, I'm not sure I could. Other ponies have certainly tried, and they always end up dead...after she plays with them. You haven't been around her much, but this demon version of her is a bit of a sadist," Twilight informed Scootaloo.
Scootaloo shuddered in place but said nothing as she sensed the list of reasons had a bit more to go.
"I may have tried to...repent, but I did kill her friends and am responsible for forcing off her control. I try not to kill ponies, even vampire ponies, anymore, to keep my own control still on," Twilight admitted. "That's why."
Scootaloo nodded, having gathered the information she wanted. "Oh. Okay." She supposed she couldn't fathom bringing herself to kill Rainbow Dash either...well, maybe in self-defense. Rainbow would want her to do that at least.
"I'm going to take care of some things around the house. You can stay tonight and...for as long as we need to figure this out, but I have to warn you. Living with Demon Dash is..."
The pair heard a thud, and a door shut from outside the room, putting the pieces together that the very pony they spoke of probably threw a dead body into the hall.
"...difficult to say the least," Twilight said uneasily. "It might be easier for you since you're not her target though."
Scootaloo nodded nervously, but Twilight Sparkle was right about that. As terrible as Demon Dash sounded, she had made no attempt to harm Scootaloo herself. She hadn't even told Scootaloo to leave her alone or go away, just made clear she was a different pony than who Scootaloo remembered before taking off.
With that, Twilight left the room. Scootaloo heard her sigh in annoyance and magically lift the dead body while clip-clopping away.
Sometime later...
"That's weird," Sweetie Belle commented, nestled in the crook of Rainbow's shoulder, as they cuddled. "And it was only ever when you were with him?"
Rainbow nodded. "Yup." She stuck out her tongue and winced as if she were trying to force it to change. "Weird but at least a little amusing. As the legend goes, we vampires are born from Discord and Nightmare, so occasional quirks like that pop up from the Discord side. I hate to admit it, but I do miss that even though I never forgave him for turning me. I hated him. Mostly."
Shifting her thoughtful light green eyes side to side from where she lay, Sweetie Belle quietly noted, "Discord is the lord of all demons."
Rainbow inhaled lightly and nodded in silent agreement. After a moment she added, "And chaos."
Perhaps vampires are a type of demon or part demon already, Sweetie Belle silently contemplated to herself. She blinked. "Can you read my mind?"
Rainbow thought of how to answer. "When I was after you, and you thought you could stall me...I could read your mind. It was about me during the hunt. Just now? I know you thought something, nothing that is a direct threat to me, but I can't quote it or read its meaning beyond that."
"Can we talk telepathically?" Sweetie Belle asked.
I don't know, let's try it. How's this? Rainbow asked with a smirk through their minds.
The fledgling's eyes widened.
"Mind you, most vampires don't. Both of you need to open the channel at will. It does wear off pretty fast, like a few seconds," Rainbow explained. "Otherwise, it's too invasive. You can read a mortal's mind that you're hunting, if they are thinking of you and especially if they know your name. Most of them don't know how to close their channel."
Sweetie Belle grew quiet and thoughtful. "If I never forgive you for turning me…"
Rainbow shrugged. "Wouldn't blame you."
Silence.
"And if I do forgive you…?" Sweetie Belle wondered.
Rainbow took a small breath and replied, "If I could still feel guilt, that would ease it."
The fledgling blinked again, getting the feeling that Rainbow did feel guilty. Not much, she suspected, not much at all, which was why Rainbow Dash refused to claim it. As Sweetie Belle understood it, Rainbow's emotions weren't truly 'off' in the sense of being non-existent. They were 'off' in that they were notably distorted. They didn't stop the driving bloodlust in her. The minuscule guilt she felt made no difference in her decision to turn Sweetie Belle. Even so...
"I...forgive you," Sweetie Belle told her.
"That was fast," Rainbow said with an amused laugh. "But thanks. I do mean it when I say you're 'sweet' you know. Not just the taste." She ran her tongue along her upper lip. "Or name."
Sweetie Belle blushed and nodded. "You're sweet sometimes too."
"It's all a lie!" Rainbow denied with exaggerated enthusiasm, intentionally blurring the line of if she were being sarcastic as she said it. "I am a monster!" she playfully declared and chomped at the air.
The two laughed together.
Suddenly, they heard a very loud scream.
"Speaking of which…" Rainbow said with an evil grin, closing her eyes at that sweet music to her ears. "I do believe Sparky finally found Crimson."
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened. "He's here?"
Rainbow Dash giggled and waggled her eyebrows with mischievous glee. She lifted out of the bed and flew out the room.
A very intrigued Sweetie Belle followed.
Outside the room, down the stairs, Rainbow crouched behind a corner and watched. Sweetie Belle copied her.
Twilight Sparkle lay curled into a ball on the floor just outside the threshold to the dining room of the house. "Crimson," she uttered between tears streaming down her face.
"Twilight?" Scootaloo slowly walked to approach her, having arrived before the two observing vampires.
"Crimson," Twilight repeated. It was all she could do. Just say his name. If she said it, maybe she could wake up from this nightmare. "Crimson Crimson Crimson," she said and shuddered.
"Twilight," Scootaloo said again.
Twilight shook her head. "Crimson! You're not Crimson!"
Confused, Scootaloo scanned the room and gulped. She had already seen the set up. A white unicorn stallion with crimson red hair nailed in place to a wall with a stake driven into his heart. So that was his name? But wasn't Crimson the stallion who turned Rainbow and Twilight? Come to think of it, Twilight never said what became of him in her story.
Scootaloo shook Twilight's shoulder. "Twilight, snap out of it."
"Twi, snap out of it!" Twilight heard her in head, the repeated statement from centuries ago. Snap out of it! Snap out of it! Snap out of it! How many times had Rainbow Dash told her that before Demon Dash replaced her? Snap out of it!
In Twilight's distress, Scootaloo's voice became Rainbow's. The unicorn's mind took her back to a place and time before Rainbow Dash changed. It was Rainbow Dash she heard. A gentle, caring Rainbow Dash.
"Crimson," Twilight moaned. And she pretended that Rainbow embraced her in consolation. Concern. That love she had lost. Twilight sat up and rocked herself in place.
Slowly, reality crashed down on her like the steady flow of waves to an ocean shoreline. The vision corrected itself as Scootaloo blurred into view. The waves thinned into steady flowing tears as Twilight shuddered and reached the more logical conclusion that the body splayed out in the room was somehow Demon Dash's work. "Scootaloo?" she quietly realized aloud.
The filly nodded.
Twilight stared at the body in silent contemplation and slowly stood, then looked at Scootaloo with piercing purple eyes. "I need you to answer me honestly. Did you see her kill him?"
Scootaloo gulped. "I...I…" she stammered. She looked away. "He...I think he was already dead," she admitted.
Twilight looked up over to see Rainbow Dash straining between giggles before breaking into a fit of sadistic laughter. The distraught unicorn marched over to the sky blue pegasus, trying to appear as threatening as she could. It didn't work, but the point was to try. She was a threat to everyone else in the house and the town, just not this vengeful monster. "Did you kill him?" Twilight asked crossly.
"Yeah, and he was delicious," Rainbow Dash replied with relish in her voice.
Twilight lost herself in the moment and tried to push Rainbow, but the pegasus' reflexes were too sharp. A ready forelimb flung her across the room, into the wall adjacent to the dead body, just missing the dining room table, all while Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo watched. Scootaloo looked on in a state of shocked terror while Sweetie Belle smiled with a touch of evil pride at her mistress.
"You need better drinks before trying a stunt like that on me," Rainbow Dash reminded Twilight. She flapped her sky blue wings to lift herself into a hover.
Scootaloo blinked and felt a firm white-coated forelimb on her shoulder. She looked up to see Sweetie Belle holding her in place though the unicorn's eyes were locked on the scene of the other two vampires.
Twilight grit her teeth, fangs visible, staring up into Rainbow Dash's furious red eyes. "Did you kill Crimson? Is that Crimson?"
Rainbow Dash smirked back at her. "Maybe." She waggled her eyebrows. A swish of movement, and she was right next to the dead figure. Putting her hoof to her chin, she pretended to study it analytically. "Or maybe...you don't need me for the answer."
Twilight looked over at the form. It made her tremble, but she moved forth and approached it to examine Rainbow's work. Her horn lit, and sent a magic beam over the body, revealing the dead changeling. "You killed Flexion?" she asked in a horrified gasp.
"Yeah, he was in the way, so I took care of it. You know how that is," Rainbow said with a wicked gleam in her eyes as she winked, pulling a little further back while still hovering. "Kinda funny that I have you to thank for even being able to do it, huh?"
Twilight closed her eyes and exhaled in guilt. "My demon…" she muttered.
Rainbow Dash reclined casually in the air, resting her head on her own forelimbs and chuckled. "You're too easy Sparky. Like Crimson could be done in by a common stake at his age. Or that I could drain him enough to do the deed. I knew it wouldn't fool you for long. Just wanted something long enough."
While Twilight knew these things to be true, she also knew Rainbow Dash was resourceful. After all, one could not know if the stake was common or enchanted without a more thorough examination. Similar could be said of the drain. The unicorn mare decided not to point these things out since she definitely didn't want to give Rainbow any ideas for when they might really see him again. If they ever saw him again.
After a pause, the pegasus added, "His blood was delicious way back though. I'll grant him that." She sighed nonchalantly. "Sire Creep still lives. Maybe." She stuck out her tongue to the air, but it came out forked and long as it used to do in his presence centuries ago.
None of the others saw it. Twilight had been staring intently at the floor in her contemplation. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had a view with the hovering figure's back to them.
Rainbow Dash saw and felt it herself. She slowly descended to the ground, staring at the entire room with heightened suspicion, as if the sire she spoke of cloaked himself inside the walls, ready to burst out any moment.
Scootaloo sensed a rise of tension in the already frightening figure and instinctively drew inward toward Sweetie Belle, hoping that the unfamiliar vampire would not harm her.
"Something wrong, Rainbow?" Sweetie Belle asked, bordering on the protective nature Scootaloo hoped to find in the mare.
Twilight looked up and at Rainbow to see what Sweetie Belle meant. Something could be genuinely wrong or Rainbow was already at work on her latest scheme.
The sky blue figure ignored the question posed to her and trotted closer to the front door. She sniffed the air. "Sire," she growled to herself, and her eyes turned red as she did. The other three ponies heard her conclusion crystal clear.
Twilight's own purple eyes widened, and she started to groom herself by patting down her mane with her hooves. She sniffed the air as well to confirm and looked over to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
"What? Is he really here?" Scootaloo asked.
"Rainbow…?" Sweetie Belle gently called out, unsure of what she should do in support, if anything.
Twilight looked at Rainbow again. "Rainbow...get over here and help me clean up this mess first."
Rainbow looked back at her, eyes still red and even glowing. She had no plan. Operating on pure instinct, she looked toward the door and bid her time walking slowly toward it.
"Rainbow!" Twilight hissed, her own eyes flashing red in her growing frustration. "Don't forget about these two."
Rainbow Dash glanced at the trio, and her eyes finally returned to their standard magenta. They shifted to lock on the door yet again, but she finally moved back toward the other ponies, which surprised Twilight at first. The wisteria unicorn began to magically pull the nails out from the body. Rainbow finally diverted her eyes from the door, looking at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. "You two can go," she told them in a warm, gentle voice.
They exchanged a look. Each swallowed, and together, they left the area for the senior vampires to attend to their business. Sweetie Belle escorted Scootaloo to her new room. She guided the filly into bed, placing beige sheets over her petite hind legs and stomach.
"Sweetie Belle…" Scootaloo began, sitting up in the bed.
Sweetie Belle looked at her with an innocent blink, quickly assuming Twilight must have told this filly her name. "Hmm?"
"...are you…" Scootaloo gulped. "...a good vampire?"
Sweetie Belle blushed and stared at the sheets on the bed, not meeting the small pony's eyes. "That remains to be seen," she confessed. "You've seen my mistress, Rainbow Dash. She has some influence on me. I tried to be a good mortal, if that helps. She still thinks I'm sweet and even called me a 'goody four-shoes' earlier after she turned me."
Scootaloo smiled at that. "Oh. Okay. I hope we can be friends. I'm Scootaloo." She held out a hoof.
"Nice to meet you, Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle replied, gently shaking it. "I hope so as well, but remember what I just told you. Rainbow Dash very recently turned me."
Scootaloo nodded seriously. "Yeah. Got it."
The two ponies wished each other good night and parted ways as Sweetie Belle left the room.
Meanwhile, downstairs, Rainbow Dash pulled out the stake in the dead changeling body and examined it.
"Demon, don't you dare," Twilight hissed. "You don't have the magic you need for that."
Rainbow smirked at Twilight and looked at the stake again. She casually tapped it against her chin as she spoke. "Fair point. Got a match?"
Twilight rolled her eyes and magically lifted the changeling. "You'll at the very least not kill him while I move this body away, right?"
Rainbow Dash chuckled evilly. "I guess you'll find out when you get back."
Twilight shot her a look but continued along. She suspected Rainbow was going to try but did not expect to succeed since Crimson would not go down easily. That would have to do for now.
The pegasus walked her way to the door and stopped to massage her back. She stared down at her wings. Now? Really? She rolled her eyes. Five-hundred years of revenge on Twilight Sparkle, and this, Rainbow's upcoming bat wing development, was what got him to show up? If she still had feelings for Twilight, she'd be so angry on her partner's behalf right now.
But since the feelings had twisted in her lost equinity, the matter mildly amused her instead.
She opened the door, saw Crimson, and pounced, throwing them both to the ground. Her teeth stopped just short of his neck, held in place by a magical light blue aura.
Crimson used his unicorn magic to lift her upside down to face him, staring into his light blue eyes, as he easily stood himself. He was one of very few unicorns with strong enough magic to fight off her vampire age, being an even older vampire himself. "Is that any way to greet your sire, Rainbow?" he asked with a smug voice.
"Sparky didn't have a match, so yeah, it is," Rainbow replied with a playful, evil smile despite being so contained and seeing the sire she hated so much. She stuck out her forked tongue at him.
Crimson chuckled in amusement and set her down with a moderate amount of care and respect.
"Based on what I've pieced together, you've become a little demon of vengeance since I last saw you. Your greeting here confirms my suspicions," he remarked. "Perhaps that tongue was a way of Discord foreshadowing your path, hmm?"
Rainbow dusted off her forelimbs while hovering in the air, before descending as the wings ached a little. "Who knows? I certainly don't do it to make you happy. That's just an unfortunate side effect."
Crimson chuckled. "I missed you," he said with full sincerity.
"Rest assured, Sire, the feeling is not mutual," Rainbow quipped.
"Hmm. Apparently so," Crimson agreed, eyeing her. Yup, she still hated him. She wasn't going to invite him in, and he would not forcefully intrude. He would have to wait for Twilight. "Still, I am proud to see you became the vampire I wanted you to be."
A pause.
Rainbow narrowed her eyes. "Interesting choice of words."
Crimson smirked. "It was time," he nearly whispered.
That Crimson influenced Twilight to force off her control was news to Rainbow Dash, but it was not surprising news. In her lost control, it mattered little to question it. He always had an easy in with Twilight from the night he turned them both; the unicorn mare had a bad habit of knowingly letting him use her. Rainbow Dash was plenty aware of this fact since it was this easy in that led to her becoming a vampire at all. In response to even more familiar words from that day, the pegasus vampire simply raised an eyebrow and asked, "Something special about turning 500?"
"Well, you did become quite powerful, didn't you?" Crimson reminded her.
Rainbow snickered. "You had another 500-year-old fledgling right there who fully embraced it the night you turned her. Twilight was plenty powerful already."
"She was," Crimson agreed seriously with a nod, "but her control was already lost. Easily and long before. I had enjoyed her companionship and ready to move on, like I told you both the night I turned you. I thought you would be a suitable legacy once I gave you a turn and well...nothing I've heard since has changed my mind. You cover your tracks very well, but I was able to piece things together. And...here you are. A powerful vampire. I am pleased with my choice, whether you like it or not. You do know that you are a powerful vampire, yes?"
With an ice cold glare, Rainbow Dash replied honestly, "Yes."
"And you do like being powerful?" Crimson asked though he meant it more as a reminder that he knew her so well. He had overheard her say as much the night he found the pair.
Rainbow looked away from him and set her jaw, eventually admitting, "Yes."
"A powerful vampire," he pressed.
Rainbow Dash furiously blew out her nostrils. "Yes!" she hissed, and her eyes lit to red as her snake tongue slipped out between her fangs.
She slammed the door in his face.
Crimson waited a couple of patient seconds for her to re-open it.
Which she begrudgingly did, glaring at with him with silent rage in her red eyes.
He smiled, his own light blue eyes twinkling in contrast. "Good girl."
At that moment, Twilight Sparkle trotted up to the scene.
"Crimson," she greeted with a bright smile. "I thought you left us forever."
"Should we be so lucky," Rainbow Dash muttered bitterly and walked away.
Twilight sighed, watching her leave, then looked at Crimson. She leaned close to him. "You do know what happened, right?"
"You did as I wished," Crimson told her with a proud smile.
Twilight looked shamefully at the floor. "Crimson, I shouldn't have done it. I'm not the same either after that. I…"
"I know," Crimson said, "and it's alright. You had your turn. Now it's hers."
Twilight gave a thoughtful pause and said, "I take it that means you won't help me undo it."
"You're right. I won't," Crimson said. "I like her this way. It suits her."
Twilight gulped, recalling full well her agreement to that same idea. It had not taken much to convince her back then. She expected as much, that he would not help her. It was still disappointing, and she shook her head. With another sigh, she asked, "Why are you here? Rainbow Dash just faked your death on me only a few minutes ago. I really don't want to have to grieve you twice."
Crimson smiled at her with fascination. "Really? How?"
Twilight shook her head again, annoyed with him. "A dead changeling that knew she hated you."
The sire laughed heartily.
"I didn't find it funny! Seriously, Sire, why are you here?" Twilight asked again. "You must know it's dangerous, even for you."
"Have some faith in my ability, Princess. Am I not standing before you still in one piece? And besides that...you may recall...she is a pegasus vampire who recently turned 1000," Crimson reminded her.
Twilight's eyes widened. "Now?" she glanced back into the house. "Do we need to do anything for it? Is she more dangerous or less dangerous? Should we tie her down? Freeze her? Gag her? Please tell me she doesn't get even more bloodthirsty because I don't think Ponyville could handle it."
"Calm down, Twilight," Crimson commanded.
Twilight took a deep breath and calmed. "Yes, Sire."
"Soon. Very soon. Probably in the next 24 hours. It's going to hurt for a few minutes, and then they're just...there...when she wants them. It's a very simple process," Crimson said with reassurance.
"Should I wake Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo?" Twilight asked herself aloud.
Crimson's eyes narrowed. "Scootaloo is here?" He never met the filly, but he was very much aware of the impression she made on Rainbow Dash for those brief two years.
Twilight looked up at him. Shoot! "I can accept that you won't help me, Crimson, but don't work against me on this either. You've chosen to stay out of it for five hundred years," she said with a warning in her voice and stern, pointing hoof.
Crimson's nostrils flared. "I will do as I please, Twilight Sparkle, but rest assured, I will not harm her while I am here in this house." He gestured to the outside air. "Out there, she is fair game. Unless you prey on her yourself of course."
Twilight sighed nervously but nodded in agreement. She suspected Scootaloo would not leave the house unaccompanied anytime soon, and that Crimson himself might depart quickly once he saw Rainbow's wings.
Rainbow Dash massaged her back and walked through the upstairs hall, stopping at the room she knew Twilight Sparkle would have given to Scootaloo. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching and opened the door.
She stared down at the sleeping filly, using her enhanced senses to be sure Scootaloo was, indeed, asleep. The vampire looked behind herself once again before gently stroking the short violet mane with a hoof. "I'm sorry I can't be her anymore," she whispered. She glided stealthily out and shut the door, scanning the hall to see that the coast was still clear.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rainbow Dash thought she saw something gray and wispy float by, like a ghostly snake or dragon tail, but when she looked again, it was gone. Maybe my equinity remolded itself into a snake form she thought to herself with a touch of humor. She stuck out her tongue out of curiosity. Normal. She thought of Crimson, wondering if it would work with him being close, as it did earlier right before he arrived. No change. Evidently not. She shrugged in place, then stared at her hooves and coat. Everything looked normal there too. She checked her tail and swished it to see and feel its varying colors of hair. It was actually kinda cute, she thought to herself with a cocky little smirk.
With that examination done, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and focused within her mind. Bloodlust. Strong bloodlust. She was still a pony who very much wanted to drink blood and kill whoever got in her way. So, "normal" for her past five-hundred years. Oh, who was she kidding? Past one-thousand years. The bloodlust was turned up several notches these days, but she had it the moment she was turned, drinking Crimson's delicious blood. Mm. Maybe he'd give her some while he was here. Tomorrow.
Rainbow walked to her own room, where Sweetie Belle was already asleep, and turned in for the night.
Meanwhile, the wisp she had seen molded itself into an equine shape outside the window.
The palm of a lion paw faced up and grabbed at the wisp. It seemed to dissipate with his touch, but the lord of all demons knew he had it. "About time," Discord noted with mild annoyance.
He held his palm out again to summon the wispy thing and watched it grow bat wings. "Perfect," he declared. "Now come on. Show me. What's the weapon like?" he asked it.
The wisp formed into a scythe.
Discord scratched at the bottom of his chin with his claw. "Are you sure?"
With a poof, it turned into a lance. Then an axe. Then a scythe again.
"Pretty sure," Discord translated to himself. "Well, come on. What's next?"
The equine shape pointed to its bat wings.
"Right," Discord agreed. "Let her get those first. Then we'll talk."
The next morning, Scootaloo woke up and stopped by the door that had to be Rainbow's room, wondering if Rainbow Dash or Sweetie Belle were inside. What would she even say to either of them? "Please don't kill me"? They hadn't yet, nor had they tried or even indicated they would try. "Please stop being so evil"? She couldn't imagine that would go over well with Demon Dash, and Sweetie Belle might not actually be that evil. Yet? The filly shook her head. She supposed she could try a simple greeting and hope for the best. She knocked.
Sweetie Belle opened the door. "Good morning, Scootaloo," she said with a warm smile.
Scootaloo smiled nervously at her. She definitely could not tell this pony was a vampire if she had not already known. "Good morning."
"Do you need something?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Is Rainbow here?" Scootaloo inquired.
Sweetie Belle opened the door fully, allowing her to enter and see Rainbow sitting on the bed, flexing her feathered wings.
Rainbow looked at Scootaloo with a welcoming smile. "Hey, Squirt. Want to see something cool today?"
"S-sure," Scootaloo hesitantly replied. "So long as it's not um….I mean….sure."
Rainbow lifted an eyebrow and let out a small laugh. She pointed to her wings. "My wings are getting an upgrade. I'll be able to change them to bat wings soon. They'll have a switch." She smiled and waggled her eyebrows. Her playful magenta eyes looked very sincere with no hint of cruelty.
Scootaloo smiled in turn but paused on reflection. "Is it because you're a demon now?"
Rainbow giggled. "It's my age. I'm a little over a thousand as a vampire. The demon thing Sparky goes on about is more about how my mind has changed." She tapped at her temple on her head. "My bloodlust has control over me."
"Oh, sorry," Scootaloo said with a blush.
"No harm done," Rainbow said. She spread her wings wide. "It's definitely going to help me look the part."
"And vampires might actually be part or a type of demon already, I think," Sweetie Belle informed the pair. "If Discord really is part of their origin."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense," Scootaloo muttered, having a vague awareness of the same legend Rainbow had told Sweetie Belle. "So, do you know when it will happen?"
"I need some blood," Rainbow admitted hungrily.
"Not mine though, right?" Scootaloo asked with a nervous smile and recoiling a little.
"You?" Rainbow asked, as if the idea hadn't occurred to her. Her magenta eyes darted up and down, analyzing Scootaloo's small form. "Of course not."
Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief.
"You're too small, weak, and the blood has this magic energy mixed of off-kilter age. Blehhhh," Rainbow added, pretending to gag.
"Hey!" Scootaloo said indignantly.
Rainbow smirked at her.
The filly blushed in embarrassment but smiled too.
They both heard an audible sigh of relief from Sweetie Belle, who had watched the entire thing.
"You're so sweet," Rainbow said to her with a friendly wink.
The white unicorn mare visibly blushed with a quiet smile.
"Come on, I'll walk you downstairs," Rainbow offered Scootaloo. "Sweetie Belle and I are going out for a bit."
The small pony blushed but went with her. Scootaloo reminded herself what Twilight said about how easily Demon Dash could imitate Rainbow's past self, holding onto familiar characteristics.
As the three made their way downstairs, they saw Crimson using his light blue unicorn magic to hold and read a newspaper.
"Good morning, Rainbow," Crimson said.
"Sire," Rainbow replied with a curt nod.
Upon seeing her company, he prompted, "You'll introduce me, won't you?"
She rolled her eyes. "Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, this is my sire, Crimson. The real one. He is the vampire who turned myself and Twilight a long time ago. He's here to see my wings develop. Crimson, this is my friend Sweetie Belle. She is also my fledgling. This is another friend of mine, Scootaloo. We go way back."
"Thank you, Rainbow," Crimson said warmly. "Ladies," he bowed his head respectfully at them.
They blushed but bowed their heads too.
The sound of a blender in the kitchen filled the air.
"Breakfast," Scootaloo said with an eager smile and rushed in to find Twilight.
"Good morning," Scootaloo greeted her.
"Good morning. Did you sleep okay?" Twilight asked. "I'm glad to see you still in one piece."
Scootaloo gulped. Right. She was in a house with four vampires at the moment. "Yeah, I slept okay."
Rainbow Dash walked into the kitchen as well. She found a tube of sunscreen nearby on a counter and passed it to Sweetie Belle. "Put this on. Sunlight won't kill you, but it's going to burn for the first year without sunscreen."
Sweetie Belle looked at her in quiet surprise but obeyed.
"You're going out at a time like this?" Twilight asked. "Your wings…"
"...aren't coming until I've got some fresh blood in me," Rainbow finished for her as she started to rummage through some random drawers. "Your demon hungers," she feigned a sinister monster tone, shoving a drawer shut. Then more casually, she added, "And her fledgling should learn a thing or two about hunting, especially with the kid here."
Twilight winced but did not argue the point.
Crimson quietly watched the whole scene and offered, "I could provide you a little appetizer."
Rainbow stopped rummaging, gave him a smooth look, and smiled. "I'll take it." She slammed another drawer shut with emphatic force and gestured with a forelimb for him to follow her to another room.
Crimson smiled warmly, got up from his seat, and went with her.
Sweetie Belle glanced at Twilight and Scootaloo in curiosity.
"It's just as he says. As the sire, he has magic that will force her to stop," Twilight explained in response to the unspoken question. "A bloodthirsty demon can certainly appreciate free food."
"I wonder if that's what she meant when she said she 'mostly' hated him," Sweetie Belle noted quietly.
"It is. Think of Rainbow like a rebellious teenage daughter to him, and their relationship makes a lot more sense," Twilight said. "Except for you know...being murderous vampires. It's not identical given how she became his daughter...and never forgave either of us for that."
Scootaloo crinkled her nose. "Wouldn't that make you like his daughter too and then her sister? Or are you more like her mom?"
Twilight became visibly flustered as she blushed and widened her eyes. She shook her head. "He took me in as his companion. Rainbow was my companion. He adopted her to have us both since I was so attached to her."
"Are you going to have some of his blood too?" Sweetie Belle asked innocently.
Twilight blushed. "I-I might later," she confessed.
"Why was she looking through the drawers?" Scootaloo asked.
"Knowing her, she was looking for a matchbox," Twilight grumbled.
In the living room, Crimson leaned his white-coated neck forward, ensuring all of his red mane was to his left. This setup allowed Rainbow Dash to bite him easily. Her two forelimbs clutched tightly at his neck as she drank in his blood. When the sire felt she should stop, his horn emitted a light blue spark.
The fledgling pulled away and wiped her mouth, licking her lips. "Thanks," Rainbow told him honestly.
"My pleasure," Crimson replied with a respectful bow of his head.
He was even more pleased when he saw her bite her own forelimb.
"Only a dash," she told him in a mocking voice and held it out for him.
Her sire happily accepted and a red spark emitted from Rainbow's own eyes when she wanted him to stop in turn.
She definitely took more than she gave, but Crimson expected that. And it really was for the best since her wings were coming in soon.
"Someone was busy recently," Crimson remarked on the variety of taste he sensed in her.
"I was," Rainbow agreed, closely watching the wound on her forelimb heal itself, then looked up at him. "Aren't you just icing on the cake?" She stuck out her serpentine tongue at him.
Crimson blushed and smiled, once again finding the tongue very cute on her. "An honor, I'm sure."
Rainbow snickered and turned around, flicking her tail at him. "Back to business, Sire Creep."
"As you wish, Precious," Crimson replied and followed her back to the kitchen.
Not long after, Rainbow Dash left with Sweetie Belle for a morning hunt.
As Rainbow Dash and Sweetie Belle neared the Everfree forest, Sweetie Belle gulped nervously and asked, "Are we really going in there? Isn't it dangerous?"
"Yes," Rainbow answered her first question, not looking at her. Regards to the second, she added, "It's dangerous because of me, but I'm not hunting you anymore."
"You!?" Sweetie Belle asked in a shocked whisper.
Rainbow finally turned to look at her and smirked. "Yeah, me. I've been hunting there on and off for a millennium. Let's start with something quick and easy."
"O-okay." Sweetie Belle replied.
"We don't see anyone already, so we listen first," Rainbow advised.
Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and eventually pointed in a direction that seemed to have more sound.
Rainbow nodded and led her to a solitary gray coated earth pony mare with a light purple mane in hiking gear, taking notes while examining the plants in the forest.
"Her?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Yeah, that's an easy one. Watch and learn," Rainbow said.
Sweetie Belle put a hoof to Rainbow's chest to stop her. "Do you have to kill her?"
Rainbow looked at the gray mare. "Well, no. Okay. I can go easy on her for you. Because we're trying not to kill her, you have to consider being seen. Either try to blind them first or compel them to forget you. I'll try making sure she doesn't see me, except maybe for the red glow. It's hard to hide that during a hunt."
Sweetie Belle nodded, ready to observe.
She watched Rainbow Dash plod along like a stealthy panther, finding some nearby bushes. Sure enough, the pegasus' eyes glowed red, which caught the earth pony's attention. The hiking mare squinted and walked closer.
A ready twig whacked the mare in the face, directly over her eyes, and Rainbow lunged, covering the mare's mouth while biting into her neck at the same time. The mare struggled for a bit and eventually her limbs slacked. Sweetie Belle could hear the heartbeat slow down.
Rainbow pulled away to see the mare was unconscious.
Sweetie Belle stepped forward to look at her. "That's it?"
"Yup," Rainbow replied. "Easy. Boring. But easy. For the kill, you just drain more...until the heart stops."
Sweetie Belle blinked and found herself licking her lips at the sight.
"You want a taste? She's alright. You can't have much without killing her though," Rainbow said.
The white unicorn nodded. She crouched down and nuzzled the neck before draining the mare a little more. To her own relief, Sweetie Belle was able to pull away and resist the urge to kill her.
Rainbow smiled at her. "Good job. Alright, come on. Let's find another one for you to try."
They did, and that went plenty smooth. After that, Rainbow told her fledgling she was in the mood for something she hoped to be a little more fun. The older vampire led them to a campsite where two unicorn stallions were packing their items.
Sweetie Belle watched as Rainbow Dash seemed to disappear and re-appear from one place to another. The older pegasus stepped on a twig to make a loud crack.
One of the stallions looked up, ready, alert, and tense. "You hear that?" he whispered to the other.
The other glanced at him. "Think it might be the vampire?"
The first stallion nodded and reached for a wooden stake.
Sweetie Belle watched from the bushes, waiting.
Both of them slowly walked their way to the source of the sound. To their surprise, the next crack sounded like it came from the opposite direction of their campsite. "What the-" the second stallion said.
"We know you're there!" the first stallion yelled. "We're only trying to defend ourselves. Leave us be, and we won't hurt you."
"If I kill you fast enough, you won't hurt me either," Rainbow told them from yet another unseen place, between where they heard her the first and second time. "And believe me, I am fast."
The first stallion gulped. "R-right, fair point. Still…we've heard of your mercy, Miss. Just tell us what you want…"
"You boys know what I want," Rainbow said.
The second stallion breathed nervously. "Blood," he announced.
"Mm, that does sound tasty," Rainbow's voice called out again.
"C-could you take only some and let us live?" the first stallion asked.
"My, my, word does get around," Rainbow said in a seductive voice. "I hope you know the terms for that. Ten paces apart, blindfolded."
They exchanged a look and returned to the campsite. Each took several steps apart and put a blindfold on.
Rainbow Dash swooped down to the scene and motioned for Sweetie Belle to join her, then pointed toward the second stallion.
The young fledgling quietly obeyed, surprised by the whole affair. She had not asked to show mercy this time. Wasn't Demon Dash a ruthless killer?
She got her answer soon enough.
"Now!" said the first stallion. He immediately threw off his blindfold and drove his stake forward hoping to catch his target. Rainbow caught the strike with her hooves and smirked at him. "And that's forfeit." She punched him in the jaw, elbowed him in the stomach, and grabbed around his body to smash him into the ground.
Sweetie Belle easily dodged the second stallion's attempt on her, punched him to the ground, and dove right in with her ready fangs. She drank his blood, and felt him twitch as she drained him dry. She nuzzled and found herself copying Rainbow a few nights before as she said, "Don't worry. It will all be over soon, love." She gazed at him with red eyes.
Once she knew him to be dead, looked away and saw Rainbow Dash behaving in much the same way, nuzzling the neck of the first stallion. "Thanks, love," the pegasus said with an evil smile and glowing red eyes.
Once done, she dropped him and looked over to Sweetie Belle.
"Mercy?" Sweetie Belle asked with curious suspicion.
Rainbow Dash quirked an eyebrow. "What of it?"
"You let some of them go?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Sure," Rainbow said. "It helps make fools like these guys. Ponies hear somebody made it out alive, and they think 'oh you just say the right words, make the right deal'. Then they think the beast is something they can kill or capture.
"But they can't because they underestimate me. Notice how I didn't tell them to disarm? Makes them more agitated and ready to fight. Like they stand a chance."
Sweetie Belle gawked at her. She really was manipulative.
"Oh, you thought my mercy might be a kindness," Rainbow realized. She smiled in amusement with a mildly wicked gleam in her eyes. "See, it's a good plan."
Sweetie Belle stared at her in part horror, but then her lips curled into an equally amused evil smile. She giggled.
Crimson eyed Twilight and Scootaloo carefully, trying to decide what to do about the filly. If anything. As far as he could tell, Rainbow Dash was still very much beholden to her own bloodlust above all else. "What exactly are you hoping to achieve by staying in a house with three vampires?" he asked plainly.
Scootaloo looked up at him and looked at Twilight as if she needed permission to address Rainbow's sire.
"I invited her here to be with Rainbow since the two used to be like sisters," Twilight told him. "She accepted."
"You must be so disappointed," Crimson noted carefully.
Scootaloo stared at the table with a sad expression.
"We're working on that," Twilight said with an uneasy smile.
Scootaloo nodded quietly.
The sire grew contemplative and analytical. "Are you thinking they'll adopt you and that you can grow up in the company of three vampires?"
"I spent two years with two vampires, sir, and I came out alright," Scootaloo said defensively.
"I beg to differ," Crimson argued. "You have survived well past your time and warped your own memory and mindset to find one particular mare that you knew full well needed to drink blood to survive. Pony blood to truly thrive. That decision is not in any way…alright. You had a life to live, and you gave it up...for a vampire."
Scootaloo frowned in annoyance. "You're one to talk since you turned her."
Crimson nodded, not arguing her point. "You've put yourself in grave danger being here. I promise you...Rainbow Dash herself would give you maybe twenty years to grow into an adult form...and then she'd turn you." He narrowed his eyes. "Are you prepared for such a consequence? Maybe you even want it."
Twilight put a forelimb down to catch their attention. "Rainbow will be herself again before that and even if she somehow isn't, she very rarely turns anyone. Sweetie Belle is an exception, not a rule."
Crimson took a deep breath and silently fumed but said only one last thing to Scootaloo. "You shouldn't be here. You should leave as soon as you can."
"That is enough, Crimson," Twilight said sternly.
"I agree, actually," he replied. "When you are ready, Princess, I wish to speak with you alone."
Scootaloo had finished her breakfast in that time so simply excused herself and went upstairs.
Twilight glared at Crimson. "That was completely uncalled for. Despite the years she has lived, she is as close to being a real, little filly as she can be."
Crimson chuckled wickedly. "Regardless, I do wish to offer you some of my blood as well. It has Rainbow's in it," he told her with a smirk.
Twilight looked up at him with hopeful, widened eyes. "She let you?"
He grinned wickedly. "She did. You must be ever so thirsty for it."
Twilight licked her own lips, and her fangs elongated. She could not resist that offer. She simply couldn't, and Crimson knew that.
She lunged forward across the table and pounced, knocking them to the ground, and she bit in.
Crimson smiled wickedly with two contented light blue eyes as he let her have the taste before his horn sparked that she should stop.
Twilight stood and felt her entire body strengthen. Finally. She felt...well, not whole...only the real Rainbow Dash could truly fix that...but she was as close as she could be otherwise.
"Now then," Crimson told her with a sly smile. "About that filly…"
Twilight hungrily licked her lips and looked up at him with interest.
His eyes lit red. "You should kill her. Won't Rainbow Dash appreciate that? To have you destroy that last remnant of her past self."
Twilight winced and groaned. "Stop it, Crimson."
Crimson raised an interested eyebrow. "Or perhaps Rainbow would not appreciate that. Perhaps you should also be a vengeful demon, hmm?
Twilight clutched at her head in pain and shut her eyes. "Stop," she begged.
Crimson pulled her close. "Look at me, Princess. I just gave you her blood. A gift from me to you. Look at me."
Twilight opened her eyes and looked at him, tears streaming down her face.
"Kill Scootaloo," he commanded.
Twilight's eyes flashed red. Right. Kill Scootaloo. She always wanted to kill Scootaloo, and now there was no Rainbow Dash around to stop her. She sneered. And wouldn't that be a sweet revenge on the monster. Yes, yes, of course.
With a wicked smile, Twilight nodded in agreement and stumbled her way up the stairs to Scootaloo's room, opening the door.
When Scootaloo saw her, she noticed the predatory look in Twilight's eyes, all too familiar from so many years ago. And the drunken posture.
"Twilight?" Scootaloo asked nervously.
Twilight smiled evilly at her. "No one's here to protect you now."
Scootaloo gasped in fear and covered her head with her forelimbs. "Twilight, snap out of it," she pleaded to the air.
Twi, snap out of it Rainbow's voice echoed in Twilight's head.
Twilight's head jerked up in paranoia. Was she here? Now? The hunt was a ruse for this moment?!
Snap out of it! the words commanded her. Snap out of it! Snap out of it! Snap out of it!
The night before. Crimson. Dead. Fake. She snapped out of it then. She snapped out of it thanks to Scootaloo. And a memory of Rainbow Dash. The one who cared about her back then.
Again, Twilight clutched at her head.
Scootaloo saw her chance. "Twilight," she said seriously, "Crimson is using you to get rid of me. Just think. That means he thinks we have a real chance if little old me is a threat. Right? Don't throw away our chance to work together. You want Rainbow Dash back more than anything else, remember?"
Crimson...using...her…Twilight groaned.
She can join us. You will be my companion, and she will be yours. You two don't mind sharing, right? Twilight flinched at the memory of him convincing her to have Rainbow turned as well.
Because it's time...for you to make her the vampire I wanted her to be. Another memory of being encouraged to turn off Rainbow's control. She flinched again.
Even last night…and just now...Crimson wasn't hurting Scootaloo directly, but he was using Twilight.
"All this time," she uttered, and she heard a distant shatter in her mind. She had always known it, but somehow it hit her harder with how weak and desperate she had been all this time. He never came to her aid in the past five-hundred years and now...preserving Demon Dash was more important to him than caring about Twilight or even Rainbow's past self. Some hapless filly was a perfectly acceptable sacrifice.
No more. Twilight sneered. No more. Tears streamed down her face. There was no wispy equine shape, no ribbons, nothing like that...but she let go. She let go of her feelings for Crimson. She wouldn't help Rainbow kill him. No, she was not that far gone into the depths of her hatred.
She just knew that she might end up letting it happen now that she had felt what he let happen to her yet again after all this time. After all, she had already mourned him the night before.
"Twilight?" Scootaloo asked, snapping the unicorn mare out of her thoughts.
Twilight held the filly's shoulders and hugged her. "I'm so sorry," she whispered through tears.
"It's alright, we fixed it," Scootaloo told her with uneasy encouragement.
"Maybe you really shouldn't be here," Twilight uttered. "If I mess up again…"
Scootaloo gulped nervously. She hated to admit it, but maybe that was true. Maybe that was Crimson's real plan all along. She said as much to Twilight.
Twilight furrowed her brow. "That's possible," she agreed. "Let's tell him we've reached an agreement that you can at least stay until you've seen Rainbow's new wings."
Scootaloo gulped but nodded in agreement.
"Twilight?" Crimson's voice called out.
Twilight took a deep breath. "Your plan didn't work, Crimson," she called down. "Scootaloo's alive and well, and I plan to keep it that way. But...you showed us the danger as you meant, we think. She'll be on her way after Rainbow develops her wings."
Crimson chortled. "So be it, my dear. That is certainly an acceptable term for me." As far as he knew and suspected, he was getting what he wanted. Even if it were a trick, he had full confidence he could take care of the matter.
Rainbow Dash and Sweetie Belle returned to the house.
"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo rushed over to greet them, fluttering her small wings for a boost.
"Heya, Squirt. I'm glad to see you still on one piece," she announced with a smirk in Twilight's direction.
Twilight rolled her eyes, doing her best to mask how close she had come to failing on that front.
"Are your wings ready yet?" Scootaloo asked.
"They're close enough that she should be in bed," Crimson announced, entering behind them.
This time it was Rainbow Dash who rolled her eyes though her sire was correct.
"Yeah, yeah, let's get this over with," she muttered, sensing her wings starting to ache more than they had before the previous night.
All five ponies made their way to her room.
Rainbow Dash herself cringed and started to breath heavily.
Sweetie Belle stood next to her, holding her hoof, then looked up at Twilight and Crimson. "Is this normal?"
Crimson nodded. "Yes, she'll be fine. It's just a few minutes."
Twilight took in a deep breath. "I've never seen it happen myself."
"You should probably all back off," Rainbow grunted between her heavy breaths.
Twilight magically pulled Sweetie Belle away, much to the fledgling's annoyance though she didn't protest.
Some crackling sounded, and a red force-field surrounded the bed on which Rainbow Dash lie on her stomach.
"And that?" Sweetie Belle asked Crimson.
Twilight looked worriedly at her sire, who intently studied it.
"I've only witnessed this once before, and there was no force-field," Crimson noted thoughtfully. "Nor have I ever heard of one from other stories."
"Mistress, are you alright?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Rainbow was panting between deep breaths. Her fangs were visible as she gnashed her teeth and clenched her eyes shut. "Augh!" she screamed.
The wings transformed to bat-like in front of everyone and soon reverted back.
Rainbow Dash continued panting. "Alright as I can be under the circumstances."
"This part is normal," Crimson announced to the group.
Rainbow's wings flapped between feathered and bat-like a few times before everyone's eyes.
"You had better be right about this 'few minutes' business," Rainbow told Crimson with a glare and gritted fangs.
Crimson nodded, still very much intrigued by the force-field. In truth, he had never seen a pegasus vampire develop bat wings either, but he had met at least a couple. Pegasus vampires were quite rare, even moreso at that age. He knew of the brief pain from that and his own instincts.
Discord watched from being perched on the room's ceiling fan, making sure his force-field protected the pegasus. He was small and invisible to the entire group. The wispy equine shape was also small and invisible, hovering near his shoulder.
A few more minutes went on with everyone watching and waiting as Rainbow Dash panted and grunted in pain. Her altering wings flapped until finally a strong gust of wind shot out from her center. The force-field disappeared.
Rainbow Dash smiled at the sight of the bat wings and immediately fluttered up to test them out. She tried flying at varying speeds, a glide here, a hover there, a dash, a flip, and so on. Eventually, she descended to study them even more closely, curious to see if they had any other special power. She supposed they felt more firm and could perhaps be used as a shield.
"So, it's...good, right?" Sweetie Belle asked hesitantly.
"Are you kidding? It's awesome. This took way too long, but I like it," Rainbow Dash replied with a sly smile.
Scootaloo could only stare in awe. A small part of her did fear the look, but another part was actually very happy for Rainbow Dash. Again, she mentally reminded herself that Demon Dash could easily imitate Rainbow, but her bloodlust had to still be in control.
Twilight looked on silence with a touch of hope and gratitude. Rainbow did not protest her presence and seemed to have even forgotten her.
As if in response to that thought, Rainbow ordered everyone else out of the room so that she could talk to just Twilight.
It would seem we should let these two have a moment Discord telepathically told his companion.
The equinity nodded in agreement, and they popped out of the scene.
Twilight Sparkle stayed quiet and patiently waited for whatever doom the demon had in store.
Oh no. And yes.
She knew what it was.
It was better than being drained at least.
Honestly, it was just a big tease compared to the physical attacks.
She kinda liked it.
But still.
She knew that look.
"What do you think, Sparky?" Rainbow Dash asked with a cocky smirk.
"They're 'awesome' just like you said," Twilight replied with a hesitant smile.
"You know it," Rainbow replied with a proud glint in her eyes.
She drew several steps closer to eye Twilight, close to her muzzle.
As Twilight expected, an outstretched wing touched her shoulder. That felt nice.
Rainbow came even closer to her cheek, as if about to kiss her.
But that was the point.
"How awful it must feel...to know how much I hate you on this day of my life," Rainbow said. "To know that I wish this point," she stuck in the tip of her wing, "could pierce your flesh and draw your delicious blood for me." She sniffed. "Although it seems you already had some of me and Crimson."
Twilight gulped. "Rainbow, stop..."
"Why?" Rainbow asked, feigning sincerity.
"Because...don't you want this day to be...special...w-without...h-how much you hate me," Twilight suggested. "Maybe you could pretend for a few minutes..."
The wisteria unicorn was surprised when Rainbow lifted the sharp tip of the wing and kissed her.
A long, deep kiss. A kiss she had not felt in her for over five-hundred years.
No, don't fall for it! Twilight warned herself in her head. Demon Dash will not die so easily.
Rainbow threw her to the bed and pounced with an evil smile. "You like?"
Twilight grinned up at her, eyes flashing red. "Yeah, I do."
A sinister chuckle. "Good. One more kiss, Twi. You ready?"
'Twi'? Oh, the torment, but Twilight accepted it all the same. Another passionate kiss.
The bat-winged pony then began to kiss at Twilight's neck. "I want your blood," Rainbow moaned.
"Even knowing what I drank earlier?" Twilight asked.
"Yes, Twi. Give yourself to me," Rainbow said.
Twilight gulped. "I should probably confess before you do."
Rainbow stopped. "Don't ruin this."
"I already have. I almost attacked Scootaloo earlier," Twilight admitted.
Rainbow snorted. "You think that surprises me in your sorry state with Crimson around?"
Twilight blushed. "Well, I admit I did, but so long as you know what's what…"
"Your blood," Rainbow hissed viciously to remind her.
Twilight giggled. "Very well. Don't drain me dry, Demon."
"Oh, alright," Rainbow said and bit right in.
Twilight cringed and gasped in brief pain.
But Rainbow let her go once satisfied enough. Her eyes glowed red, and she happily wiped her mouth, then licked at her lips to be extra sure she got every last desired drop.
Using her new wings, she fluttered up from the bed and descended to the floor. "Pretending over, Sparky."
Twilight sat upright in the bed and sighed. "I wish it didn't have to be."
Suddenly, the entire house shook, and the ground rumbled.
Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle quickly ran down the stairs to find their company all standing in confusion in the living room.
"Crimson, what's going on?" Twilight asked.
"I do not know," he admitted. "This is not my magic."
A column of light surrounded each pony, and they all disappeared in a flash.
Rainbow Dash found herself in a dark room with multiple TV monitors and a couple of empty chairs. A TV station control room? That was odd. Each monitor featured one of the ponies that had been with her moments ago. Scootaloo shuddering in place in the dark hall of a castle. Crimson standing atop a snowy hill. Both Twilight Sparkle and Sweetie Belle stood in a forest though neither mare appeared aware of the other, as if they were at a notable distance, out of range from the other.
The sky blue vampire squinted and stared out into the room. "Alright, I don't know who you are, but I can tell you've got some strong magic. How about you show yourself and tell me what you want," she called out.
The lights to the room flickered on, and a small draconequis poofed himself into her view, hovering in front of her face.
Rainbow Dash blinked with curious interest. "Lord Discord?"
Discord grinned and bowed. "In the flesh."
At that, Rainbow sighed. So he was real. How odd. In her thousand years, she had never heard of him personally addressing other vampires she encountered. She just knew stories. In those, he tended to be elusive and cryptic, hardly the type to spell out his intentions plainly. "I don't suppose you plan on explaining all of this to me." She gestured at the monitors and their room.
The demon lord smiled at her again, gesturing as well. "It is a simple game. Find them, find me, and then you and I are going to have a talk. Oh, and you might want to hurry since each one is in danger. Except Crimson. I'm saving him for something special for you." Discord shook his tiny hands together with gleeful anticipation
At that, Rainbow smirked. "Not that I mind, sir, but why can't we just talk now?"
Discord shrugged. "I thought it would be more interesting this way. Make you earn it. You know. I've you seen you play with your food, so now I'm playing with you. Fair deal?"
"Fair deal," Rainbow replied, silently hoping that didn't mean she was dinner for him.
A door opened with a bright white light.
"Chop chop!" Discord ordered, clapping his hands together.
"See you on the other side," Rainbow Dash told him with a salute.
With that, she was off.
Scootaloo stared side to side within a dark hall at numerous metal-clad pony shapes. "Hello?" she called out with a small voice. "Rainbow Dash?"
No answer.
"Twilight? Sweetie Belle?" she asked with hope. She dare not seek out Crimson.
A hoofstep.
Scootaloo gasped and turned around.
A black alicorn with a starry ethereal mane stared back at her.
"Nightmare?" Scootaloo asked.
The dark mare smiled sincerely. "Yes."
The filly gulped. "What are you doing here? Where are my friends?"
"They'll be along," Nightmare said calmly. "As for me, I'm here to take care of a little problem we have with you."
Scootaloo looked at her in confusion. "What problem?"
"Your age," she replied simply. With that, she took Scootaloo into her telekinetic grip and bit the filly's neck with her fangs.
The small form whimpered, but instead of feeling her blood drained, it was the magic of the life pause spell that had been on her for nearly nine-hundred years.
Scootaloo's body ached as her body aged quickly. "S-stop," she begged.
Nightmare, surprisingly to her, obeyed.
When Scootaloo was set down, she found she looked full-grown. She stood tall and spread her feathered wings. She clutched at her head as some of her blurred memories molded into something more clear, somehow helping her mentally mature a bit. After that, she looked at her body and felt her hooves to her face. She had to be close to Rainbow's and Twilight's age when they were turned. Maybe Sweetie Belle too. Before she could ask anything more, Nightmare took shape into a dark blue mist and encircled Scootaloo several times over.
The orange pegasus felt her bones and muscles tighten, and two of her teeth sharpen. No! She was being turned right now too?! Without blood?
The mist completed its work, and Nightmare reshaped herself nearby. She stood close and put a hoof to Scootaloo's chin. "It was the best I could do for you under the circumstances," she confessed. "I could not grant you a childhood with her. That prospect has long since been lost. But this way...you can join her family."
Scootaloo began to cry, a mix of pain and gratitude. She fell forward into Nightmare's chest.
The dark alicorn stroked her back in comfort. "And now, I must fulfill my other duty," Nightmare warned. "Prepare to defend yourself."
With that, she disappeared into the shadows, but the armored pony shapes standing along the wall began to creak and move.
Scootaloo gasped. Flapping her wings, she flew upward and stared. One of them threw a spear her way, and Scootaloo dodged. The ceiling was low and space limited, so another simply trotted up and stabbed upward.
"Hey!" Rainbow's voice called out to them.
The orange pegasus gasped. "Rainbow Dash?"
There she stood, staring coldly at the others.
The armored beings paused to look at her.
Nightmare reshaped in the center. "It is a pleasure to see you so close, Rainbow Dash."
"Lady Nightmare," Rainbow replied with a respectful nod. "Am I to fight you for Discord's game?"
"Just my minions," Nightmare said, nodding at the armored beings. "Are you ready to continue?"
The sky blue pegasus nodded.
The armored beings began to march toward Rainbow instead of Scootaloo. The sky blue figure immediately barreled through the armored minions, knocking them down like bowling pins. For one of them, she pulled off its helmet, revealing a gray unicorn stallion. The vampire bit in, drinking his blood.
When another attacked her to disrupt the meal, Rainbow was thrown off balance, skidding several feet. The one she had bitten shook several times, dissipating into a gray wind.
Scootaloo's eyes widened, but she immediately followed suit, finding another minion to attack in the same manner. They tasted good even though she suspected mortal pony blood had to taste different.
Rainbow herself attacked her own attacker, and the two pegasi found themselves battling the small platoon of minions together.
One soldier successfully rammed a spear into Rainbow's chest.
"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo cried.
"Eyes on the prize, Scoot," Rainbow told her. "I'm a vampire. It will heal on its own quickly enough."
The other pegasus nodded and threw herself back into the fray.
The wound did heal, and Rainbow grabbed a nearby helmet to bite in for some blood.
A few minutes later, and the room was cleared of the armored ponies.
Nightmare stood proud with a smile at her two progeny. "Well done."
With that, she faded into the shadows.
"You have a short time before the next phase, Rainbow Dash," her voice echoed across the hall.
Rainbow took a moment to catch her breath and look at Scootaloo's adult form. "She turned you into an adult vampire?" Rainbow asked with some confusion.
Scootaloo nodded. "She said I could not have a childhood with you, but like this, that I can join your family. At least, I assume she meant you. I think she was trying to help me."
Rainbow nodded in agreement at that idea. "Yeah, she and Discord are not completely destructive in their evil. They're manipulative like me. This is all to get me where they want me. For some reason."
"Is that bad?" Scootaloo asked worriedly.
Rainbow shrugged. "Depends on what they want but from the looks of things...not that bad. I mean, you're kinda still alive."
Scootaloo gulped and nodded.
A white light started to glow nearby.
"Time for me to go. See you later, Scoot," Rainbow said. And the light stole her away. Scootaloo herself flashed into an area surrounded by snow. A moment later, a block of ice shot up and froze her within it.
Sweetie Belle stood in place, gazing at the trees, trying to make sense of everything that happened. One moment, she was happy for her mistress getting her bat wings, then letting Rainbow and Twilight do whatever, then some eerie rumbling, and now this? The absurdity of it made her wonder if Discord himself was somehow involved. But she stopped herself short. If he were, she really had little idea what came next, given his chaotic nature.
Soon, she was granted a distraction from her pondering, as green vines rolled near, and suddenly, a very large plant mouth, akin to a Venus fly trap, took shape, clearly intending to eat her.
The young fledgling stared up at it in curiosity. Rainbow Dash had seemed so strong, and their hunt that morning had gone so well, the white-coated pony had a hard time believing this thing was a threat to her.
The plant shot a fireball at her, and Sweetie Belle felt properly threatened.
With a gasp, she dodged clear. She tried to push the plant back with her unicorn magic, which while enhanced with her new vampire status, was still not enough.
She heard a blast, and Twilight Sparkle herself leaped over to join her.
"Twilight!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "What's going on?"
"You got me," Twilight confessed. "All I know is this forest is out to kill us. Come on, that fire is starting to spread. That can definitely hurt vampires."
Sweetie Belle nodded, and the two began to sprint away.
A sudden flash of light, and Rainbow Dash plopped into the scene.
"Rainbow!" They both exclaimed.
"Sweet and Sparky," Rainbow said with a smirk.
Twilight gulped nervously. "Do you know what's happening?" She really hoped this wasn't one of the demon's schemes.
Rainbow smirked at her. "Yeah, I do." She grabbed Twilight and flung her back toward the flames.
"Rainbow!" Sweetie Belle said indignantly.
"Vengeance on Sparky. It's what I do," Rainbow said with an evil smile.
In response, the fire immediately subsided, leaving Twilight Sparkle unharmed.
"What…?" Twilight asked.
"So that's his play," Rainbow muttered analytically. He wouldn't really threaten Twilight. Not now. That was far too easy for a creature who wanted the purple unicorn to suffer.
"Who? Crimson?" Sweetie Belle wondered.
"No. Discord. He's playing with me. It's a game," Rainbow explained.
The large plant slithered like a snake to surround Rainbow Dash and Sweetie Belle, closing in on the white unicorn. It started to wrap itself tightly around her.
"Mistress?" Sweetie Belle asked nervously.
Rainbow Dash zipped back to Twilight and dangled her body in front of the hungry, menacing plant.
"She's older," Rainbow told it. "Trust me. Even though she doesn't drink pony blood, her age still makes her blood quite delicious. And she had some vampire blood earlier today as an exception. I had a taste not too long ago myself."
Twilight flushed red in embarrassment. "Y-yeah. I'm much more tasty."
The plant looked from its trapped prey up to the offered one, weighing the options.
Rainbow didn't wait though and threw Twilight right at its mouth.
The startled plant stumbled, releasing its tight hold onto Sweetie Belle. The white unicorn rolled onto the grass and looked up nervously.
Twilight Sparkle held the plant's open mouth in place with her four hooves, trying not to be eaten. "A little help here, Demon?" she said between a strained breath.
"Let it eat you," Rainbow suggested.
"Rainbow Dash-," Twilight started to snap back but upon further reflection, she took a deep breath and hopped off right into its mouth. She felt its tiny sharp teeth prick at her body, opening some cuts, but all told, Twilight knew her body to still be whole. There was no fire or burning either.
And that was all Twilight needed to make her next move.
Taking in a deep breath, she fired a blast of magic into the plant's throat.
Outside, the plant began to cough and choke until at last, Twilight broke through.
The wisteria unicorn wobbled her way out of a sticky green substance.
The plant itself suddenly burst into flames and withered into nothing in an instant. "Ouch! Hot!" Twilight said, clearing herself out of the way as quickly as she could. She looked up at Rainbow Dash. "Thanks, I guess."
"Just part of the game," Rainbow said casually, dusting off her forelimbs.
Discord himself flashed into the forest.
Twilight gasped and ran up to him. "Lord Discord," she said and bowed.
Uncertain, Sweetie Belle followed with a bow but said nothing.
Discord snapped his lion paw fingers together, putting each into a block of ice and then flashed them away. He looked over at Rainbow Dash with a silent smirk and faded into nothing.
The wind picked up, and suddenly a cold flurry of snow surrounded the pegasus vampire. The sky turned to a darker, more grayish blue, and Rainbow felt her body descend to a snow-covered ground.
She fluttered her wings and stared around her. No one else. Recalling that Crimson had been seen atop a hill, she trekked forward and upward.
The further up she went, the more the snow subsided. At first, it felt she landed in a blizzard. Now, the wind had mostly settled, and she could see him clearly, standing and waiting amidst a starry, night sky.
Rainbow Dash approached. As she did, at some distance stood three blocks of ice, each containing a familiar pony she had encountered within the game.
"Was this your plan all along?" Rainbow asked Crimson, staring at the blocks.
Crimson followed her gaze and could not hide his own surprise, having not even realized they were there with an audible gasp. He looked back at Rainbow Dash. "No," he confessed, "but I know Lord Discord's magic when I see it. I have stayed in place, waiting for his move, and it appears you are it."
Rainbow nodded. She looked around, waiting for the draconequis to show himself, but no such thing happened. She sighed in annoyance and lunged forward at her sire.
As expected, he held her in his magic. "You had to know that wouldn't work," Crimson said.
"In this game?" Rainbow asked with a wicked smile. "The rules are different. They must be tested."
Crimson eyed her thoughtfully but set her down.
The two stood in an extended silence.
"You know," Crimson began, "I couldn't help noticing you're not actually trying that hard to kill me."
Rainbow Dash raised an intrigued eyebrow at that accusation. While it wasn't wrong, she told her sire, "I would gladly drain you all the way right now. Just lean forward and don't stop me."
Crimson sighed. "Not quite what I meant. I believe that. And yet...there's just…" his voice trailed off.
He thought hard.
Another long silence.
Rainbow Dash stared at the distant three blocks, and Crimson stared at her staring at them. He couldn't have her go back. "It really was time when I had Twilight force off your control to grow into this form," he gestured at his fledgling. "You were five-hundred years old, Rainbow Dash. You needed to let go. Not many pegasi are turned into vampires, and even fewer survive to a thousand to see their bat wings."
Rainbow frowned and turned to face him. "There you go again. Thinking you're doing me a favor. When you know full well who I was and what I wanted."
"Rainbow Dash," Crimson said sternly.
"So I'm good at being a vicious monster, so what?" Rainbow asked in annoyance. "One wasn't enough for you with Twilight, huh?"
"No, Rainbow Dash, it wasn't. You two were inseparable. You still are. Even now with all your revenge on her, you won't leave her. You could just kill her and move on, but you don't. You may have fooled everyone else, even her, but I know you did it because if you do it this way…"
"Shutup…." she warned him with a threatening tone.
"If you do it this way, then if you ever crawl back from this, she'd still be there because you let her until you regained control. It was your best chance, wasn't it? That the two of you might somehow still be together as lovers again, if you just held on until someone fixed it for you."
"And so what if I did, huh?!" Rainbow yelled in a fury. "How can anyone fix it? My friends aren't coming back, and even if Discord himself resurrected them, what about everyone I killed after they died, huh? Is he going to resurrect them too? Will he erase their memories and their pain and mine, so we can all move on like it never happened? Is that who fixes it for me? Because my friends would die all over again if they knew what I became after I lost control."
With a pained expression, Crimson looked away from her, saying nothing.
"Is that my happy ending?" Rainbow asked bitterly. "To have half of my vampire life erased? The half I enjoyed because I gave into my bloodlust."
"I do not know such things," Crimson admitted. "But I know that you are suited to what I have made you."
"Yeah, I am," Rainbow agreed with a nod. "I'm enjoying being the evil murderous monster you wanted back then, alright. I am very good at it. I thrive on it. I relish in it. I'm all the things you ever wanted of me, but I haven't forgotten all the blood and pain and loss it took to get me here. And that you did it through the mare I loved more than anything!"
Crimson fumed. "I love you both, Rainbow. But I could never…"
"You could never have me the way you had Twilight because the only love I feel for you is the fact that you're my master, and I'm your fledgling. Oh, and this weird tongue thing I get when I'm annoyed or angry at you.
"I didn't go after you because...you aren't worth it. Good riddance. Simple as that. So long as you're away from me, that's perfectly fine."
Something dawned on the pegasus as she said those lines.
"And that hurts you more than it would if I did try to kill you."
"Is that why you haven't?" Crimson asked, and his blue eyes looked a little sad and frustrated that his precious fledgling would prefer indifference to feeling anything for him at all.
"There is no pain I could bestow upon you to make your death worthwhile," Rainbow said with vicious ire.
"Isn't there?" Discord's voice said through the wind until he materialized himself, standing tall and proud.
"Lord Discord," Crimson said with a bow. "I see you've finally revealed yourself."
"That I have. It would seem your little 'demon of vengeance' project is going quite well, so I figured I'd...help it along," Discord replied.
Rainbow stared up at him. "I really am turning into a demon?" She glanced over again to the blocks of ice holding Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Twilight Sparkle, lingering on her fledgling in particular. During her talk with Crimson, they had evidently been slowly inching their way toward the area.
"You already are a demon," Discord corrected her, holding his index claw up. "All vampires are. You're just...branching out. Maybe. That's why I'm here and made the game."
He followed her line of sight to the ice blocks.
"Ah yes. They are safe. I just wanted them restrained for our talk," Discord said.
Rainbow gave them one last look before meeting his gaze. "So, what, you convince me to branch out and then set them free or something?"
Discord shrugged. "It might go that way. Then again, it might not. I'm the Lord of Chaos, not Prophecy. Let's go back a bit. You know, I could do all of the things you just said about resurrecting your past friends. Returning you to that life. Undoing that which has been done. Erase it all. Give you not a completely clean slate since you had five-hundred years before that. But still...a fresh reboot. I could, in fact, grant that to you."
He hovered near the side of her face. "What do you say?"
Rainbow stared at him with cold, deep suspicion. "No," she said.
The demon lord kept smiling and slithered in the air away a bit to sit down on nothing. He drank some tea he poured for himself. "Why not?"
"You could do that, but you won't," Rainbow told him with certainty. "I'm not worth all that to you."
He kept smiling and set his tea cup down, magically whisking it away. "Good girl. You've passed the first test. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I wish to share my power with you, but I will not extend it so broadly."
"You have my interest," Rainbow informed him.
"I have a proposition for you," Discord said. "See, you've been busy the past thousand years, and I couldn't help noticing a lot of it was in the name of revenge."
"Well, Twilight Sparkle killed my friends, so-" Rainbow began to say.
"Tut tut. Not just that, although don't get me wrong, that is a big gold star on your record. Even before being turned, you acted out against this fellow, ready to attack and defend Twilight's honor. Then of course there's that first hundred years you spent trying to find guilty targets you didn't feel as bad about killing. A sort of indirect revenge for those they wronged.
"And during your four-hundred not-quite-as-evil years, when you did slip up, and you did slip up, it was still against the guilty."
Rainbow Dash heaved a heavy sigh. "Yes. And? Since when do you care about 'revenge'? Isn't that too...orderly or something for the Lord of Chaos? There's a set pattern."
"Oh, my dear, you are on a roll." A pair of dice appeared and rolled into a set of double ones.
Rainbow noticed, "Snake eyes."
"There actually is a pattern, even in chaos, to seek out the unexpected, the interesting, the thrilling. So, revenge actually fits in just fine. After all, you don't just kill your victims, Rainbow Dash. You play with them. Because if you didn't, well, that would just be too dull," Discord pointed out.
"Okay. You got me," Rainbow admitted with a shrug. "What of it?"
"How would you like to be an official demon of vengeance?" Discord inquired.
Rainbow's eyes darted up with interest and mild suspicion. "How is that different than being an unofficial one?" she wondered.
Discord grinned wickedly. "I thought you'd never ask." Reaching up into the night sky, he pulled down a scythe and threw it at her.
Rainbow Dash caught it, and felt her eyes light red when she felt its power in her grip.
"That's not just any scythe," Discord informed her. "It is very specifically attuned to a demon of vengeance. The strike must be vengeful or defensive. It is actually quite harmless if you tried to strike down an innocent, such as a child. Like your little friend over there if she still had a child form. That's one difference. With the upgrade, you can summon it in the exact manner you saw me do just now. As a vampire, it is useless. I have allowed you to feel its power as you would if you accept my offer."
Rainbow Dash tapped her hoof to her chin thoughtfully and glanced Crimson's way. "Does the strike hurt more than what I could do as a vampire?"
Discord smiled evilly, and flames lit up in the yellow sceleras of his eyes. "Yes."
With a quick swipe, Rainbow Dash hacked into Crimson, and her sire screamed in agony. "Aaaaah!"
"Huh...looks like it works," Rainbow commented.
Discord burst into wicked laughter.
The three blocks of ice slid forward to where Rainbow hovered.
The pegasus raised a curious eyebrow at that.
"Lord, please…" Crimson begged.
"Right, right," Discord said, snapping his talons and healing Crimson immediately.
The white unicorn stallion stood, recomposed himself, and dusted off his forelimbs. "Some warning would have been nice, Rainbow."
"You didn't give me any when you bit me the first time, Sire," Rainbow reminded him with a sharp tone. She switched her attention back to Discord. "So, it doesn't kill him?" she asked.
"You weren't trying to kill him. You were trying to make sure it hurt him a lot," Discord reminded her. "The intent in your strike matters. But don't try killing him just yet. You haven't agreed to the terms."
Rainbow nodded. "Which are?"
"I'll send you occasional requests in the name of revenge. You may choose to accept the ones you like," Discord said.
At that, Rainbow became contemplative. "What else?"
"Bat wings should be on when you wield the scythe and are on a mission. You know, to fit the 'demon' image properly. Red eyes. Eye slits."
"Eye slits?" she asked
"Snake eyes, right?" Discord said with an excited grin.
Rainbow's pupils turned into slits with ease, and she could sense that they did even though she couldn't see her own eyes. She blinked, and they returned to standard circles. "Right."
"And...to make it interesting...kill Twilight Sparkle," Discord said with an evil smile.
Rainbow Dash quickly flung the scythe back at him without hesitation. "Pass."
Crimson's eyes narrowed, quietly observing the three ice blocks, trying to calculate his next move. He recognized that at some point, the filly's body had altered.
"I could kill her myself," Discord warned Rainbow Dash.
"And?" Rainbow challenged, while glowering.
The draconequis shrugged. "And then you're free to accept my offer."
"The term was, 'kill Twilight Sparkle.' If I don't kill her, I have not met your term," Rainbow pointed out.
Discord tapped his claws thoughtfully to his chin. "You aren't wrong, but...I could amend the term. Accept my offer after I kill Twilight Sparkle. Since you're too much of a coward to do it."
Rainbow snickered. "Right. 'Coward'."
"You deny it?" Discord asked.
"Lord Discord, I like making Twilight's life hell. It's not a question of fear. I want her alive. Eternal revenge." She shrugged. "If I ever got my equinity back and she still has hers, maybe we'll skip off into the night together forever again."
"What if I swap it again?" Discord challenged. "Hers goes off; yours comes back on."
"You're the Lord of Chaos. You tell me," Rainbow challenged the draconequis again.
"Pain," Discord said seriously. "A lot of emotional pain."
Rainbow stared at him, her face revealing nothing.
Discord stroked his beard. "You want it back?"
Rainbow scoffed. "My equinity?"
The draconequis nodded.
"It kinda made things difficult," Rainbow said.
"That wasn't a 'no,'" he noticed.
"It's off right now. No, I don't want it. But the desire is in the equinity itself, isn't it?" Rainbow pointed out. "Which one is the real me? I know the original, and I know what I am. One version loves Twilight Sparkle. The other version hates her. I'm the version that hates her, so why would I want my love for her back? It's a pain, like you said."
"But?" Discord inquired.
"But I'm the fake," Rainbow said with a shrug. "This bloodthirsty power is in me and with me, but it's an invasion...it's not who I was without...you...and Nightmare…and him," she pointed at Crimson.
Discord blinked and nodded.
Rainbow sighed. "Do I want myself back? I loved her before I was turned into a vampire. Yeah, I do. So, here's my proposal. You let me kill Crimson with the greatest pain imaginable with the scythe."
"I object to that idea," Crimson interjected. A zipper formed over his mouth.
Rainbow and Discord otherwise ignored him. "Leave Twilight alone. She's mine to do with as I please. And...I'll be your demon. Equinity or not. You're the Lord of Chaos. You want to 'make it interesting,' so pick whichever one suits you for that. My main desires in this form are blood and revenge on Twilight."
A wispy bat-winged equine shape form appeared over Discord's shoulder.
"Equinity," Discord said with a serious expression.
Rainbow gasped and blinked. It had grown bat wings since she last saw it in full all those years ago, but it was the same wispy thing from her vision back then.
It floated over to her and reshaped into a potion, diving down into a bottle Discord created. "If you won't kill Twilight, you need it back. This needs to cost you something, and that will be pain."
Rainbow glanced up at him with serious red eyes and nodded. It sucked for the other side of her, but she, the one Twilight called "Demon Dash," would be gone. She sniffed it and inhaled. Soon, she downed the drink.
It did hurt. Her insides burned, and she screamed. She wailed. She cried. The screaming intensified so strongly that the ice blocks began to crack.
Crimson clutched at his head and grimaced, finding he could not move.
The ice fully shattered, and Twilight covered her ears. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo did as well.
The entire ground rumbled.
Twilight could see that the pain emitting from Rainbow, aside from the screaming, was actually taking a toll on Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. She cast magic from her own horn to shield them all, soaking in the pain on their behalf. It was like a massive weight on her back, but she endured.
Rainbow Dash screamed and screamed and screamed. She tore at her mane and seethed, gritting her teeth. Rivers of tears.
The wailing continued.
Wailing.
Screaming.
Tears.
Sobs.
All told, it was thirty minutes before the screaming and sobbing quieted.
During that time, Twilight slowly sensed the weight bearing down on her and the other two ponies lighten.
Rainbow sighed and breathed. She wiped her tears and sat up, taking in her surroundings. She glanced over at Discord. "Thank you," she uttered between her tears.
The demon lord tossed the scythe at her, which she caught. Discord watched her intently.
Crimson sneered and magically gripped all three of Rainbow's companions. "Maybe I can't use them to shield me from your strike, but I am still a threat. And your equinity…"
"...never meant I wouldn't enjoy killing you if the right opportunity came along," Rainbow said.
Crimson threw his hostages into the snow, but a rainbow blur whisked through, and somehow broke his magical grip.
They fell but softer than Crimson intended.
Crimson tried to use his magic to pull the scythe from Rainbow's grip, but it was useless. He tried to lift her body and realized he couldn't any longer. So, that was how she broke his hold on the others.
"Not bad," Rainbow commented as she realized the power the scythe gave her.
Her feathered wings switched to be bat-like. Her pupils narrowed into slits. She felt her tongue change as it often did around Crimson. Demonic power flowed in her veins, and it did remind her of when she lost her equinity centuries ago. Not identical but similar, she quietly considered to herself. In any case, it was time to act.
She swiped the scythe toward Crimson again, and he leaped clear. "I'm not going down that easily, Precious."
The demon smirked and said nothing. She wasn't really sure she was Rainbow Dash at the moment, but she could think about a name for this form later. All that mattered right now was to inflict pain and kill this unicorn in front of her in the name of revenge. She threw the scythe up into the air, and it disappeared.
Crimson seized his chance and tried to cast another hold on Rainbow's companions before a rainbow blur tackled him to the ground. Mounting him, Rainbow Dash grinned evilly and hungrily before she headbutted him. Dazed, he felt her sharp teeth chomp down on his horn. "No, Rainbow, don't!" he yelled.
Pain. It burned. What was she doing? She didn't bite it off, but after the burning, it went numb.
Crimson's eyes widened in horror. "No," he uttered.
"Relax, Ssire," Rainbow hissed. "If you ssurvive thiss, it'ss only temporary." She cackled. "If you ssurvive."
Crimson headbutted her back, and that succeeded in throwing her off him.
But then she disappeared.
The white unicorn stallion glanced around. He knew this play and immediately glanced behind him, then up.
Lightning sparked as the demon's hind legs slammed into his right side. She laughed with bombastic vigor.
The scythe reappeared in her grip, and she cut into his right forelimb. "Augh!" Crimson screamed in tremendous pain. Worse still, the new wound wouldn't heal on its own like cuts usually did on his body. "No!" he whispered. "Rainbow, stop! Please!" Crimson said.
The demon grinned at him. "Why should I do that, Ssire?"
"Stop trying to kill me!" he ordered.
She pointed the scythe at him with authority. "Overruled," she said and nodded in Discord's direction where the draconequis hovered in the air on a couch, eating popcorn as he observed the scene. He gave Crimson a friendly wave.
Crimson seethed and not really sure what other tools he had at his disposal, he tackled her to the ground and bit into her neck.
Given that she still held the scythe, this proved to be a bad decision as she pushed him off while holding its hilt, then sliced a gash into his left hind leg. He screamed again. Stinging, searing pain ripped through all his veins. "Stop it," he ordered again. "I'll do whatever you want, Rainbow, but please, stop it."
"I want you to die!" she said viciously and swiped down into the top of his head.
The scythe stayed in place, and no blood came out this time. No, it was much worse for a vampire since vampires thrive on blood. Instead, Crimson saw his body start to disintegrate. "What? No. Rainbowww…" he moaned as his voice faded away with his body.
Twilight, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle watched the whole thing in horror and ran up to the scene.
Discord snapped his talons and froze them in ice blocks again.
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and looked back up at Discord. Time for another talk apparently. "Satisfied, Master?"
Discord grinned. "Quite." He gave an enthralled clap at her performance.
"He is with you?" the demon asked.
Discord smiled down at her. A poof sounded, and a wine bottle appeared in the demon lord's hands. He shook it and began to pour the liquid into a materialized wine glass to match. It very much resembled blood, but Rainbow knew it wasn't that or wine either for that matter. Discord swished it in the glass a bit. "Care for a taste?" he asked.
"Is that him?" Rainbow asked in turn.
Discord shrugged. "Sort of. It is his power. Your...inheritance you might say." He extended his clawed arm close to her muzzle, holding the glass. "I have a new name for you if you accept."
"I like being Rainbow Dash, Master. I did just pour out my soul for it if you recall," Rainbow said.
"Of course," Discord agreed. "It's an addition, not a replacement. I do admit, it is related to...him, being his fledgling and slayer, but still, I think you might like it."
Rainbow looked at him with intrigue. "Well, what is it?"
He grinned wide. "Scarlet Strike."
Rainbow put a hoof to her chin in thought. "'Scarlet' for the red and 'Strike' for the kill?"
The demon lord nodded.
Rainbow blushed as she rolled her eyes and asked in a low voice. "My mane is still rainbow-colored instead of red though, right?"
"I am Discord, Lord of Chaos and All Demons. I can make it cotton candy pink if I like," Discord boasted.
"And?" Rainbow pressed, unfazed.
"And that means I'll grant you the power to make it red when you are Scarlet. You won't always be her, you see. Just when you serve a mission. Come now, is that so bad?" Discord asked.
"It isn't," Rainbow admitted.
"So, how about it?" Discord said, swishing the powerful liquid in the glass again.
"You can undo it all and bring him back whenever, even if I drink it, right?" Rainbow asked.
"Yes, but I can also flip your control on and off like a switch. As you yourself said, I could undo the last five-hundred years, wipe all memory of it, a full-scale reboot...and yet…" Discord remarked, bringing the power to his lips and drinking it.
"I will do no such thing." The blood-red liquid quickly refilled the glass. Then he shrugged. "Unless I change my mind and feel like it, of course."
Rainbow chuckled. "Of course."
Discord blew onto the glass so that it looked like thick white smoke blew out from the liquid, then levitated it over to Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow instinctively switched to her demon form and used her bat wings to grip the glass. "Bottom's up," she said nervously to the air and took in the drink.
The power spread through her veins, and this time it felt even more like when she lost control so long ago. She supposed that made sense. Her own vampire power originated from Crimson already after all.
The entirety of her visible eyes, sceleras, irises, and pupils turned into a bright scarlet red, her mane and tail followed. The color faded into her body, resetting her features to their usual form of a rainbow-maned pegasus with magenta eyes. She exhaled with a thrilled smile. "That's rather...delicious."
"I thought so too," Discord agreed.
His snapped his eagle claw talons again, and the three nearby ice blocks broke to release her companions.
"We'll be in touch," Discord told Rainbow Dash with a smirk.
Rainbow nodded and watched as he flashed himself away.
"Mistress, is everything okay?" Sweetie Belle asked timidly.
"Yeah, turns out we're all demons, but I got a bit of an upgrade into an official demon of vengeance," Rainbow informed her. "I even got a demon name: Scarlet Strike."
"Oh wow," Sweetie Belle uttered. "Congrats?" she asked with hesitance.
Rainbow shrugged. "Sure."
"Does this mean you don't actually have your control back?" Scootaloo wondered with a hint of fear.
"I've given myself to Discord," Rainbow confessed, "and so far as he is concerned, I should actually have it. That's what all the screaming was about earlier. I'm not giving up pony blood again though."
"Oh," Scootaloo replied, scratching at the back of her head. "So um...can I join your...family even though I'm not anyone's fledgling?"
Rainbow laughed and met Twilight's eyes. The wisteria unicorn nodded with a shy smile. "Sure, kid, sure," Rainbow said.
The two younger vampires cleared themselves away as Twilight drew in closer to speak with Rainbow Dash.
"So uh…." Twilight gulped. "Where do we stand with each other?"
"Well, I killed Sire Creep. What do you think of that?" Rainbow asked.
"I could only kinda see it and not hear it, but did you drink him?" Twilight asked with a touch of disgust and suspicion.
Rainbow chuckled. "His power. He wanted me to be his legacy, so Discord offered that as my inheritance. My master could actually bring him back whenever, just you know...don't count on it."
Twilight nodded and sighed. "I let him go...the way you did with me...so...um...I'm not happy about it, but I don't hate you. I get it."
"And you protected my friends. I'd say you have paid," Rainbow noted seriously. She held out a hoof and timidly, Twilight accepted it, finding herself embraced with a warmth she had not known since they were still mortal. "I won't apologize," Rainbow said through tears. "But I...I never thought I would live to have this moment with you."
Twilight stroked her backside. "Me neither," she said with tears in her eyes as well.
The two pulled away.
"So...are you two together again?" Scootaloo asked.
"For now," Rainbow replied. "Eternity is a long time, and change happens. I am a real demon of vengeance now."
Twilight sighed and wiped at her tears. "Yes. That."
Sweetie Belle surveyed their surroundings. "Where are we and how do we get back?"
"We're in some remote part of the Frozen North," Twilight informed them. "As for the second part, I don't know."
"Let me see if I can figure it out," Rainbow offered. She switched to her demon form and summoned her scythe. Then she struck its bottom tip into the ground. "Teleport home," she commanded it.
The four ponies flickered out from the snowy landscape and landed in the living room where Discord had first teleported them all away.
"Wow, cool!" Scootaloo declared.
"Way to go, Scarlet," Sweetie Belle said with a gentle punch to the demon's shoulder.
"Nice work," Twilight added.
Rainbow Dash blushed and grinned. "My pleasure," she said, tossing the scythe up into a void and resetting to her usual pegasus features. She was looking forward to her double life as a vampire with her recently transformed family and an official demon of vengeance.
