I gritted my teeth and put the finishing touches on piecing my leg muscles back together. The wound may have been gone, but pain was still well evident. The surprise battle seemed to do more damage to me than I had hoped. I may have been still functioning, but only just. My body ached and I wanted nothing more than to rest with a nice cup of hot mint tea. However, rest and tea would have to wait. We first needed to make it back to Canterlot in one piece.

I groaned and got up with a slight wobble. “Is everypony alright?” I asked Twilight and her friends.

“We’re…fine,” Twilight replied out of breath from casting her shield spell while the others just nodded. Most of them looked to be in various states of shock. I honestly could not blame them. Most ponies did not even know about my kind, let alone get attacked by a horde of them. Nevertheless, thanks to Twilight’s quick thinking they did not seem to be harmed physically. Well, other than Spike who still looked as ill as he had before.

I chuckled a little before rubbing my eyes with my left forehoof and yawned. I then looked around the ruined train car and saw Night Star dragging the bag of supplies she brought with her out of the rubble. I smirked and stated “Well, it appears Gray Mane did not seem to destroy everything.”

“Hey!” Gray Mane griped at my comment as the smile on his face slowly slipped back into his usual scowl.

“Well you do, you brute! Do not worry, Captain. All the supplies are accounted for,” Night Star stated.

“Well, some good news for once. Where is Tactics?” I questioned.

Tactics came walking through of one of the broken train doors. “I am here. My analysis is complete. The train took heavy damage from the attack. We should move closer to the train engine as I do not know how our added weight in this car is affecting it,” he stated in concerned and urgent tone. Something was wrong again. His voice was not its cold and flat state. He looked at me and his eyes were extremely nervous.

“What is wrong, Tactics? I inquired with a hint of worry in my tone and swallowed in a futile attempt at calming myself.

He was about to speak when I heard a cough next to me. It appeared one of the rogue vampires close to me was still clinging to life. I was about to finished her off when she just looked at me with bloody smile and started laughing. “You’re all…so screwed hahahahaha Urk,” she spoke her final words before she gritted her teeth and expired.

My eyes widened and I quickly stated to Tactics, “What was she talking about?!” My answer came sooner than I anticipated when an explosion shook our train car. I rushed to one of the smashed in windows. I put my head out the window and proceeded to first look towards the front of the train and then the back. There was a blazing inferno at the end of the train. I slowly pulled my head back in from the window and I stated in a calm voice, “Tactics, how many train cars are on this train?”

“Ten” he replied, his tone still sounding off.

I swallowed hard and stated, “Well it appears there are now nin-” another car exploded into a blazing fireball, “Make that eight.” I walked away from the window and closed my eyes. I then took a deep breath through my nose before my eyes snapped wide open and I screeched “WE NEED TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!”

“What’s going on?!” Spike stated in a panic.

“They are trying to blow us to bits is what is going on! Gray Mane, clear the way to the train engine! I do not care if you have to tear off all the doors from here to there! Just do it!” I stated in a rush while helping Night Star with the supplies.

“Haha more fun!” Gray Mane belted out and ran through the exit of our train car. I heard another door get torn off its hinges before another train car exploded behind us. I finished helping Night Star and we all galloped to the train engine using Gray Mane’s path of destruction. It appeared true to my orders he really was ripping all the doors off in an effort to clear a path. He may have been a “brute” as Night Star put it, but at least he was useful in situations like this. With the way mostly clear, we continued our panicked escape.

We all ran out of last train car into the train engine. Shadow Dancer and Cloud Streak were sitting there completely confused. “What in Tartarus is going on?!" they both stated in unison.

“Cannot talk…train…rigged…to blow!” I managed to sputter out between breaths shortly before another one of the train cars behind us exploded. I did not have a lot of time to think. My plan was going to have to be slapped together in a rush. It was not something that I preferred to do, but given the current circumstances, I had little choice.

I made sure Twilight and her friends were safe on board the train engine before I started giving orders. I ultimately had to shout over the roar of the train and the sounds of the blazing inferno that was creeping ever closer. “Cloud Streak, I need you talk to the leader pony pulling the train. Tell them run faster, our lives depend on it,” I stated still trying to catch my breath.

“You got it,” she replied before flying off in front of the engine.

“Gray Mane and Shadow Dancer, disconnect the train engine from the rest of the cars. We need to be as far away from them as possible. Break the coupling if you need to. I doubt the train cars will be salvageable anyway.”

Gray Mane just chucked while Shadow Dancer stated “Ya got it boss.”

I then turned to Night Star and Tactics. “You two, check for explosives on the train engine. I would rather not have us get blown to pieces as we make our escape,” I stated in a tone of growing worry. They just nodded and went to work. I closed my eyes and tapped my temples with my fore hooves. “Think think think” I stated frantically to myself.

My eyes scrunched shut as my mind whirled with ideas. It stopped at a spell I have not needed to use in a while. It was horrible to maintain and in my weakened state it would all the more taxing. However, it very well could be the only thing that would prevent us from getting burnt to cinders or worse. I quickly walked over to Twilight and got my book from her before opening it.

“What are you looking for?” she inquired while still recovering from our panicked gallop.

“There is a spell in here…AH HA!” I stated in reply after finding what I was searching for. Right as I about to explain the train engine jerked and there was a sound of snapping metal.

“What in Luna’s name are ya doin’, Gray Mane?” Shadow Dancer yelled out over the noise

“Decoupling the train engine from the train cars,” he replied while spitting out a piece of metal.

“With yer teeth?!” Shadow Dancer snapped back.

“How else are we-“ Gray Mane tried to respond, but Shadow Dancer interrupted him.

“With the latch, ya dumbass! Stand aside before ya hurt yerself,” he shot back. True to his word he quickly decoupled the train cars from the engine. He then ran over the brake wheel on the train car and spun it. The brakes flared to life right before Shadow Dancer jumped back on the train engine.

“Show off,” Gray Mane grumbled as he stumbled back onto the train engine.

“No, it’s called usin’ yer head instead of-” Shadow Dance tried to reply, but was interrupted by another train car exploding.

I bellowed out over the noise “Night Star and Tactics report! Did you two find anything?”

“The train engine is clean of explosives, Captain. They most likely did not expect us to get this far,” Night Star stated. Tactics just nodded in agreement.

“Yeah...Cloud Streak tossed a rogue vampire off the train engine who was tryin' to plant a bomb right before ya got here. We already checked to make sure that dirtbag didn't do anythin' else,” Shadow Dancer said while looking away from me.

I narrowed my eyes at him and snapped “And you did not find that important to inform me of this earlier?!”

“Well…it uh…slipped my mind,” he responded rubbing the back of his head with his right forehoof.

I just glared at him before I turned around and unarmored my left foreleg. I then bit down on it with one fang and spilled a small amount of my blood in a crude circle around me. I quickly used my blood magic to form it into an alchemy circle just as another train car exploded. Light blue flames flared out of my scythe’s blade as I raised my power and started to draw in ambient life force from the remaining cars.

I was growing increasingly worried. Even with the train cars decoupled and brakes engaged, they were not moving away from us. I snarled and stated to no one in particular “Why are these infernal train cars not slowing down?!”

Tactics just replied in a flat voice “The explosions are seemly designed to propel the train forward while slowly destroying it. I was not completely certain until Shadow Dancer decoupled them.”

I glanced back at him and stated “What?! Why?!”

He took a deep breath and stated “To prevent the train from slowing down and thus minimalizing our chance of survival.”

Shadow Dancer slammed his right forehoof into one of the train engine walls and yelled out “Those sly fuckers! That’s why they didn't bother destroyin' the brake lines or tamperin’ with the train couplin’. They didn't need to.”

Tactic just nodded and stated “Correct.”

“Well everypony hang on! It appears we are in for a bumpy ride!” I yelled over my shoulder.

After I gathered all the life force that I could and then I stood on my hind legs with my scythe in my front hooves. I then fully armored up while I continued waiting for the inevitable. Every new explosion just smashed the train cars up close to the train engine again. It was only a matter of time before the closest one exploded and then the real pleasant times would begin. It was going to be a horrible feat of what I was about to do. However, it was either that or be ripped to ribbons and burned to death.

Three more of the cars exploded as I had figured. The raging inferno was growing ever closer to us. I bit my lip and flowed my power into the circle around me. The circle rotated clock-wise and a light blue beam fired out of it the direction I was facing. It stopped a few meters in front of me before it spread into a half-sphere surrounding the back of the train engine.

I always disliked using this spell. It was some awful creation I found in the Canterlot archives by Star Swirl the Bearded. It was made for the sole purpose of protecting him when one of his mad experiments went unstable, which by most accounts was quite often. This in turn brings up the fact as to why I disliked it. Due to Star Swirl’s general known paranoia of experimental failure, he left nothing to chance. So while the spell was extremely powerful at blocking just about anything, it consumed energy on the levels of insanity.

I readied myself and gritted my teeth right as the final train car exploded. The initial impact slammed into my shield spell like an enraged hydra. It shook the train engine and almost knocked me off balance. Then the hateful flames came. They licked around the spell almost as if they were searching for a way in.

My scythe quickly started heating up under the power strain. I gasped in pain as the hot metal super-heated my armor covering my front hooves. I fell to my knees fighting the agony as my spell started to crumble under the relentless onslaught. However, just before the spell broke a light purple beam fired over my shoulder. It slammed into the inside of the half-sphere and reinforced it.

I glanced over my shoulder to see the fully armored Twilight slowly walking up next to me. Her eyes glowed with purple light as she maintained the energy flowing out of her horn. I could see the strain and the awful toll it was taking on her. I needed to think of something fast otherwise we were both going to burn ourselves out. I tried searching for anything I could use when a foolish thought decided to enter my mind.

It went along the lines of ‘Organized and planned defense was not working. How would the reckless Gray Mane remove the problem of a burning train car next to us? Oh of course…by removing its wheels…’ With little else to work with I decided to go completely against my better judgment. I yelled over my shoulder at Twilight “You are going to have to trust me on this. When I ‘Now’ please drop your shield.”

She yelled back “Are you crazy?! If this falls we’re all going to be burnt like a batch of overdone hayfries!”

“Hence the ‘you are going to have to trust me’ part” I yelled back.

Her eyes gave me a worried look and she then gave me a small nod. I drew all the power I could afford into my scythe. I then yelled “Now” and both my and her shield spells dropped. Without hesitation, I quickly swept my scythe in an arc in front of me. A wave of energy lashed out and ripped the wheels off the bottom of the burning train car. The car proceeded to jump the track and slam to a halt. I saw the other train cars smash into it as their blazing fire started to slowly disappear into the distance.

However, in its last act of hateful fury, the closest train car exploded again. Time slowed as I saw a meter long piece of metal fire straight at me. I did not have the strength to avoid it. Although, just before it got to me I saw a blur in front of me and a light purple shield slap into place. The shield deflected the metal, but it could not absorb all the kinetic energy. The extra energy caused Twilight to be thrown backwards. She slammed into me and we flew past everypony. We abruptly stopped at the metal wall behind us with a sickening crunch.

We slid down the wall and collapsed into a heap on the floor of the train engine. After my vision cleared and my ears stopped ringing I realized I was sitting with my back to wall. I could not feel my lower body and I could barely move. Twilight was on her back in my lap seemly out cold and taking only shallow breaths. I fought back the pain and lowered my armor on my left forehoof. I then lowered her helm to check her pulse. It was growing weaker with each passing moment.

I clenched my teeth and stated “Somepony…please help. Twilight has been injured. She needs blood, fast. I…do not have any to give her.” It pained me say the last part. I overloaded my body to its breaking point and I was using everything I had just to stay conscious. I glanced up and the bag of supplies Night Star had brought were burnt to a crisp. My lieutenants were all unresponsive with scorch marks all over their armor. They were all laying in front of Twilight’s friends. It seemed they were trying to block the fire when the spell shields fell.

Applejack was the only one that managed to get up and rush to us. “What’s wrong?” she stated after coughing a few times.

It was difficult to breath, but I managed to reply “She overloaded her body and needs blood. I just do not have any to give her. If she does not get it soon…she will...” Although, I could not finish as my ribs flared with pain.

Applejack gulped and took a deep breath. “What do ah need to do?” she stated.

I sucked in a labored breath and stated “She will only need…a small amount to jump start her vampiric healing. Just open her mouth and press your leg against…one of her fangs. They should be sharp enough…for the task.”

I closed my eyes and faced away from what Applejack was doing. I knew my body was overly hungry and I could not afford take any chances of losing control. After a short moment I heard Applejack suck in a quick breath and the sweet smell of blood filled the air. My mouth started to salivate despite my best efforts. I just remained facing away trying to keep my eyes squeezed shut.

After a few seconds I heard Applejack pull away from Twilight. In a small moment of temporary consciousness Twilight whispered, “Thank you…Apple…jack,” before passing out again. Her breathing normalized and she remained in a deep sleep.

Still facing away I stated “Please cover your wound, Applejack.”

She stated in a concerned tone, “Are ya alright?”

I merely replied “Please, just do what I say.”

I heard her walk away followed by the sound of ripping cloth. After a few moments I opened my eyes and turned my head to see Apple Jack standing in front of me. She had her right foreleg against her chest with a ripped piece of cloth wrapped around it. Other than her leg, she looked to mostly unharmed. My lieutenants must have indeed taken the damage from the fires in her stead.

After a minute I saw Twilight’s friends get up looking no worse than Applejack. My lieutenants also stated to stir. Night Star shook her head and muttered “Luna damnit. The supplies have been destroyed.” She then sat up against of one of the walls of the train engine and held her forelegs over her stomach.

“Well ain’t that just fantastic,” Shadow Dancer griped and sat up in a middle of train engine. The others just got up and sat next to Night Star.

Applejack spoke up and stated “How’s everypony?” to which it was only answered by a general groan. She then looked at me and stated “Are ya alright, sugar cube?”

“I am…fine,” I stated as I moved my eyes to looked away from her gaze.

“Yer lyin’” she reply in a knowing tone.

I suppose it was foolish to think I could deceive the element of honesty. No doubt she had time to hone her skills down the years. Although, it did not matter as I never was a good liar anyway. I closed my eyes and retracted my helm. I took a labored breath and stated “I am...damaged. I have drained my body to dangerous levels. I…did not even have the strength to move away from almost being impaled. If it was not for Twilight risking her life I would have surely met a terrible end.”

I looked down and brushed Twilight’s mane away from her face. A red tear welled in my left eye and dripped into her cheek. I took another labored breath and stated, “I…did not even have the strength to save her. I had to beg somepony else to help her.” The act of admitting that crushed my spirit. It hurt worse than any physical injury I had. The hard fact of knowing you were powerless to help somepony dear to you. The very same pony that you should have been protecting.

I did not look up from Twilight, but I added “I do not have enough blood in my body to repair myself. I am only conscious due to a waning force of will. A will that grows weaker with each passing moment.” Darkness soon began to threaten the corners of my sight.

“Ah could give you some of mah blood,” Applejack stated.

I looked up and gave her a weak smile. “You offer that freely out of an act of kindness, but I cannot accept. I am too hungry. I do not trust myself to stop feeding off of you until you would…” I stated, but I could not bring myself to say the last word. I would never forgive myself if I accidentally hurt or killed her.

Applejack narrowed her eyes and bit down on the cloth that was covering her wounded leg. She then yanked it off with a hard tug. I only got the words “What are you do-” before she stuffed her wounded leg in my opened mouth.

She merely stated “Repayin’ a favor,” before she quickly pushed her leg into my fangs. She then added through gritted teeth, “Try not to drain mah body dry,” while her blood poured into my mouth. My eyes closed as my tongue seemed to savor the flavor. It had interesting sweet yet pleasing strong taste to it. I dispelled those pleasant thoughts with haste. Applejack was trusting me even though I did not.

It was such a simple act of selflessness. She was giving of herself to help me in my time of need, even if it led to her doom. My willpower flared to life. I was not just some mindless beast. I was a Reaper Knight charged with protecting Twilight and her friends. As the moon as my witness I would not allow any of them to perish under my watch. My rekindled will strained against my terrible hunger. I only allowed my body to take two medium sized mouthfuls before I forcefully pulled myself away.

Applejack stumbled backwards and clumsily re-wrapped her wounded leg. She then held the side of her head with her left forehoof and wobbled a bit. She gave a ragged chuckle and stated “Ah think ah am gonna go sit down now. Ah seem to have made mahself a might bit light headed.”

I swallowed the last bit of Applejack’s blood and gave her a weak smile. “Thank you Applejack. You have aided me more than you will ever truly know,” I said feeling my body’s vampiric healing starting to rebuild me.

“Ah seem to get that a lot,” she replied with a knowing smile and then stumbled over to the rest of Twilight’s friends. Fluttershy grabbed a first aid kit off the wall and began to properly bandage Applejack's leg.

I took a deep breath and stated to myself “Well, no use just sitting here. I have a job to do.” I then touched my left forehoof to my now cold scythe and I raised my power. My eyes and horn flared with light blue flames as I began to painfully reconstruct my damaged body.

I apologize for the delay on this chapter as I have been rather busy as of late. However, I do hope everyone enjoys it.