I was the first one to wake with a yawn. And upon opening my eyes I realized Twilight’s body was still tangled up with mine. A small smile soon crawled up my face before I squinted and scanned the hospital room. It must have been sometime early morning as there were some sun beams hitting the floor under the window curtains. Though luckily Luna must have talked to the hospital staff about our "special conditions" as the room was still almost pitch black. But regardless I had just started to gather my thoughts when there came several quick, loud knocks on our hospital room door.

Twilight quickly snapped awake from a dead sleep as a result, said “Eep!” in a panic, and had tried to jump to her bed that was close to mine. However, she had miserably underestimated her new vampiric strength and slammed into the wall on the other side of her bed. In turn I could not help but grin as she fell to the floor and then scrambled onto her bed while shaking her dazed head. She then rushed to pull her bed covers up to her neck before she said, “Come in.”

However this proved to be a lack of foresight on both of our parts that resulted in the door being quickly opened and the lights in the room turned on. And with little warning bright light soon flooded the room. An echoing shriek soon simultaneously came out of Me and Twilight as we covered our eyes in pain. Then to our increasing misfortune a blaring “HI!” blasted its way through the now open door and assaulted our sensitive eardrums.

But eventually when my vision and hearing evened out I realized it was that pink earth pony called “Pinkie Pie” who was the cause of all this. Then in seeming obliviousness of what she had just done she just bounced into the room over to us while carrying something in her right forehoof.

“Pinkie Pie, what are you doing here?” Twilight stated while still rubbing her eyes.

Pinkie Pie merely continued bouncing and said in a giggly voice, “Just visiting the injured ponyfolk at the hospital. That also includes you two, but you don’t look injured. How'd you heal so fast? Can you teach me how to do that?” And her sentences blurred together in an overloading mess, with little stopping in-between. Twilight soon stuffed her left forehoof over Pinkie’s mouth, but this only served to muffle the onslaught as Pinkie Pie was still trying to talk beneath it. Twilight then rolled her eyes when she saw me look at Pinkie with a bemused expression on my face.

But despite all this chaos I did however manage to get a closer look at Pinkie Pie or namely what she was holding. And it was then I had realized that Pinkie was holding a blood bag. I raised an eyebrow in response before I said, “Miss...Erm Pie, where did you get that blood bag please?”

Twilight soon pulled her hoof away from Pinkie’s mouth after my inquiry. To which Pinkie just breathed in and quickly said, “I got it from the doctor of course.”

I then closed my eyes and began to gently rub the area between them with my left forehoof. After which I asked in a calm voice, “and who is the donor of that bag please?”

She merely giggled again before saying, “Well me silly, who else would I get this from? Hot off the Pinkie Pie blood stream!”

I twitched in response as I continued to rub between my eyes. I then stated, “Thank you for your…generosity. You can leave…that…on the table.”

Then after I spoke I opened my eyes to see her bounce over next to me, plop the bag down, and bounce back to where she was before. And in probably some form of curiosity Twilight had then reached for it, but I swiftly stopped her with my right forehoof. In turn she raised an eyebrow and looked at me, puzzled. To which I had just returned her gaze, shook my head and slowly moved her hoof away from it.

Silence soon reigned for a few seconds before Pinkie said, “Weeeellll I better go visit the other injured ponies. I hope you two are able to get up soon,” before she turned completely around in midair. She then bounced towards the door, turned off the lights, and shut the door behind her.

However, right before Pinkie shut the door there was a strange blur that shifted into the room. Oblivious to this, Twilight soon sat up and jokingly asked, “What was that about Blood Moon?” I just held up my right forehoof in response and stared into the far side of the dark room. A few seconds later two glowing green slitted eyes appeared from the corner with fangs bared under them before they jumped at me.

Adrenaline soon flooded my system and time had slowed down. For it appeared that I had a delightful issue on my hooves. We were at a hospital and there were little options available to defend ourselves it seemed. But luckily with some quick thinking and evermore loads of adrenaline flowing through me, I grabbed the only weapon I had at hoof. And in the their mid-jump I stuffed Pinkie’s blood bag in the assassin’s mouth and slammed the bottom of their jaw with my left forehoof. Then after I felt the bag burst, I used my blood magic to force its contents down their throat. The reaction afterwards was instant as the fiend’s slitted pupils shrank to mere lines. They then let out a gagging noise, clutched their chest, and fell over.

Shortly thereafter I heard two pieces of metal clatter to the floor as I got up out of bed. I then trotted over the light switch and turned it on. This in turn showed that to the right of my hospital bed, laid a small quivering dark red female pegasus wearing a black cloak. Additionally two jagged daggers sat discarded next to her body. However without a second thought I picked up the daggers with my magic, looked them over, and place on the table by Twilight. I then said with mild amusement, “And that, is why I moved your hoof away from the bag."

Twilight let out a gasp immediately afterwards and in shock stated, “Oh my gosh! You think that pony poisoned it?!”

I chuckled in reply before I said, “No, I believe that is how it normally is. It did make a useful disabling agent though.” I then smiled and thought to myself, 'Pinkie Pie’s blood should be labeled as a bio-weapon or at least unfit for use by anypony sane…' My right eye soon twitched as a memory from my horrid dreams flashed through my mind.

A few minutes later Spike opened our room door. “Hey guys, I came here to check on yo…What’s going on?” he said as his tone turned to confusion near the end of his sentence.

I merely smiled in response before I stated, “Ahh Spike, just the dragon I wanted to see. As you can see, this is a failed assassination attempt. Can you please send a letter to the princesses to request a few royal guards to collect said failed assassin?”

His eyes widened as he hastily said, “Yes sir!” and ran out of the room.

Afterwards I walked over to the assassin, yanked off her cloak, and checked it for poisons. I then sighed when I located two small vials. And with great care I lifted them with my magic, uncorked them one at a time, and smelled their contents. A frown soon appeared on my face when I recognized their scents. One was a powerful anticoagulant and the other was a strong paralysis poison.

My frown continued as I re-corked the vials and placed them next to the jagged daggers. For my mind slowly became uneasy as troublesome thoughts begin to work their way in. 'Either one of those would have been enough. Somepony did not want to take any chances,' I thought as my frown deepened. But I ultimately brushed those thoughts away for a short while, while I pulled the sheet from my bed and picked up the small pegasus with my magic. I then tied her to a chair next to the hospital room door with the bed sheet.

In turn I just stared at our twitching would-be assassin. And I probably would have felt sorry for her condition if she had not tried to kill me moments earlier. But even still she just sat in the chair wide eyed and staring blankly at the floor while still twitching. Then about thirty minutes later Spike returned with two Solar Guards. And as they were untying the assassin, I threw them Pinkie’s empty blood bag. “Tell the princesses to threaten her with another one these when they try to squeeze information out of her. That should get her to spill her secrets,” I said grinning. They just nodded in reply and dragged the pegasus out by her front legs. Afterward I brushed off my hooves and turned to Twilight before stating, “Well with that out of the way, how about we check on your friends?”

She gave me an uneasy smile in response before she said, “Okay,' and hopped out of bed and trotted out the door with Spike following her.

I soon followed her as well but not before I armored up, grabbed the jagged daggers and vials, and clipped them to my sides with loops I formed from my armor’s liquid metal. 'I really hope I do not need these,' I thought as paranoia started to creep up in my mind. I then picked up the metal box containing my old broken armor and tossed in the assassin’s cloak. The metal box then clattered as I placed it on my back with my magic. It took me a few moments to get moving. There were so many memories attached to those black armor plates, not all of them were good ones. But in the end I took a deep breath and walked out the hospital room door.

But after a second or two I realized that any hope for positivity that I may have generated soon crumbled to dust. For all along the hallway there were injured ponies on cots or just blankets on the floor. Many of them had broken legs or were wrapped in bandages. And their groans of pain began to eat me to my core. I in turn had little choice but to continue onward with my mood souring further.

Eventually I managed to catch up to Twilight who was just about to enter another hospital room before I stopped her. She looked at me puzzled as a result before I draped the black assassin’s cloak over her and put the hood up. I then gave her a weak grin behind my helm and stated, “You are a being of the night now, remember? They will most likely have the curtains open.” She just frowned and nodded in response before I opened the door.

Sunlight soon unpleasantly greeted us and its burdening effect became greatly uncomfortable. But that was not the worst of it. For in the room I noticed the orange earth pony from before called “Applejack” was sitting up in her hospital bed. Tears were rolling down her face as she held her bandaged and cast hind legs.

Twilight had quickly rushed to her side when she saw this. “What happened Applejack?!” she blurt out as heavy worry appeared on her face.

Applejack just wiped tears from her eyes and replied while sobbing, “The doc just came. He said that ah'll be lucky if ah’ll ever walk again, let alone buck apple trees.” She then broke down into crying again. And in immediate response Twilight’s eyes had welled up with red tears as she hugged Applejack and started to cry as well.

I in turn could not bear to see the sight of so much sorrow so I looked at the other hospital bed next to Applejack instead. This however proved to be just as depressing as who laid there was the purple maned white unicorn called “Rarity” in a body cast. She had a black eye and seemed to be sleeping with great pain on her face. Spike obviously aware of her current state had walked over and began to dab her forehead with a wet washcloth. Tears soon began rolling down his face as he worked.

Knots formed in my stomach while I watched this and I eventually had to walk around the room, close all the curtains, and turned on the room’s lights to cope with it. Everything had begun to become too hard to bear as my overwhelming sorrow started to convert to rage. 'This should have never have happened. There is so much harm to innocent ponies. So much senseless destruction,' I thought. I then put down my metal box and sat down on the floor. After that I just retracted my helm and held my face in my forehooves trying to fight back more anger.

A few minutes later had past before Applejack managed to regained some of her composure. She then explained what had happened outside the townhall. The pegasi called “Fluttershy” and “Rainbow Dash” were in the intensive care unit. They both got hit from an exploding building while trying to save some animals. The only one of Twilight's friends that was seemingly unharmed was Pinkie Pie. But that was the only good news because Ponyville itself was in horrible shape and the Apple family’s apple orchard was mostly ruined. And while there were no casualties, almost everypony in town was hurt and the hospital was overloaded.

I bit my lip and scrunched my eyes closed as my thoughts began to race in response to the news. And this continued until it stopped at two unpleasant solutions. 'They could work, but one of them would cost me a horrible price, the other…could be even worse,' I mentally concluded. However, I could not just stand idly by and watch all this injustice without doing something. It was not the pony I was, or the pony I ever wished to be. So the decision came easy. Needless to say just cleared my throat and said in a shaky voice, “I may be able to help with this hospital's injured ponies…and the Apple family orchard."

I soon opened my eyes to see Twilight, Applejack and Spike staring at me. I then put my forehooves down, sucked in a deep breath, and stated, “I would need to travel to the Reaper Knight outpost outside of town. I require something very important to me.”

And not but a second later Twilight quickly blurted out, “What are we waiting for?”

I took another deep breath and said in reply, “I shall warn you, the path may be dangerous and my…methods…to fix the injuries and damages are…risky.”

This however did little to assuage Twilight as she pleaded, “We have to try! This is my home and these are good ponies that have been hurt!”

And in the end the decision was simple. For all I had to do was look into Twilight’s tear stained eyes before I said, “then we shall go.”

Afterwards Twilight told Spike to watch over her injured friends as we were discharged from the hospital. We were then told by the front desk that both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were paying for many of the hospital bills and supplies. In turn I had thanked them for the information before I pulled the cloak Twilight had on her up further. I then activated my helm as we walked out into the day.

The Sun soon beat mercilessly down on us but I was somewhat overjoyed to discover that my new armor was blocking the worst of it. Twilight on the other hoof, was not faring so well. For when we were only half way to her library to retrieve my pack she collapsed, breathing heavily. I ultimately had to shut down my suppression field and carry both her and my metal box the rest of the way.

But luckily after enduring only ten minutes of the miserable day's sunlight we had reached Twilight's library. In turn I opened the library door, set my metal box down by the fireplace, and re-activated my suppression field. I then set Twilight in the middle of the floor as I closed the window curtains and front door with my magic. Darkness soon covered the room and she quickly recovered. “What in Celestia’s name was that?!” she said trying to stand up while still breathing heavily.

“That...that was something foolish on my part. I was hoping that the cloak would be enough. It seems it was not,” I stated while sighing.

After a few moments she looked at me and said, “What are you talking about?”

I retracted my helm and weakly grinned in response. “The sun is…unpleasant to us. We dwell in the night. The only reason we did not burst into flames is because I, and indirectly you, have some of Princess Celestia’s blood and power in us,” I stated.

A heavy frown soon overtook Twilight's face after she fully recovered. And upon seeing this I lifted her chin with my left forehoof and looked into her eyes. “I am sorry for what I needed to do save your life. It was a last resort as I did not have any other option at the time,” I said. She gave me a weak smile in response and nodded. “We will wait until dusk before leaving. And I do hope we can get you your own suit of suppression armor while visiting the outpost. It should alleviate quite a bit of the sun’s harshness along with hopefully prevent...other problems,” I added. And while she had questioned me on this I merely stated that I will explain after we left.

And so we waited for a few hours for dusk to arrive. I in turn grabbed my pack by the door and placed it on me. It mostly just contained flint and tinder, a map, and three enchanted two-liter blood filled cylinders. Said containers were specifically made to prevent the stored blood inside them from coagulating or turning foul. Almost every Reaper Knight or Night Guard had at least a few of them. But after a few minutes I reactivated my helm and nodded for us to start heading out.

Our journey however started on an amusing but sour note after this though. Because right before I was able to get the door Twilight grabbed the door handle with her magic. My eyes quickly widened and I yelled, “PRINCESS WAIT!” moments before she tore the door right off its hinges. And small sigh soon followed as I shook my head. “Princess, you must be more careful. I was going tell you later but as you see your new vampiric body’s magic is more powerful than before,” I stated. Her expression went from shock to embarrassment as a result.

She then groaned before grumbling out, “Well Spike isn’t going to be happy. He already had to repair it recently after Rainbow Dash tested out one of her tricks. Let me write him a note...”

But shortly after Twilight wrote the note and stuck it to the door as we tried to partially put it back into place. I merely shook my head again at this and could not help but laugh as we started walking out of Ponyville.

Silence then reigned for the better part of an hour before Twilight spoke up and asked, “Sooooo how long until we make it to the outpost?”

“Hmm?" I replied somewhat lost in thought before I added, "Oh, it will take about twelve more hours. We will need to stop a little over half way to prevent you from collapsing from the sun."

In response she began to look deep in concentration and said, “Why don’t we just teleport there? It’d be faster.”

A cold shiver raced down my spine after she spoke. I then cringed and stated, “The last time I somehow managed to teleport somewhere, I ended up on the roof of my destination with my mane and body charred. I then proceeded to empty the contents of my stomach all over said roof. I prefer to walk…” She just giggled to herself in reply as I let out a nervous laugh.

Afterwards I began focusing on clearing my mind again when she piped up, “Sooo…umm…nice night tonight.”

The comment quickly broke my concentration before I replied, “Indeed it is, the cool air is soothing.” And it was quite obvious that she was attempting to make conversation. Because after only a few more seconds she began to speak again.

“I’m...I'm sorry…for back at the hospital. I don’t know what came over me,” She said as she looked down at the road and blushed.

I could not help but smile at this. “Do not worry. It was not exactly an unpleasant experience. Although, it is generally thought proper to ask somepony to dinner first,” I said before winking at her. And a hearty laugh soon came out of both of us.

In turn this little banter truly broke the ice as it were as we continued to walk and converse about random topics afterwards. But eventually, as these things usually do, the conversation started to turn personal before she said, “So have you ever done…you know…with anypony else?”

I Just grinned in response and thought, 'It appears somepony is curious about my personal life. I suppose I could indulge her.' And I was about to speak when I froze in place and held up my right forehoof to tell her to stop. My ears then perked up and my eyes became wide open as I scanned down the road. After this I slowly pulled Twilight’s assassin cloak's hood over her head with my magic. “I was wondering when they were going to show. Play along and talk to them. It will be hard for them to recognize you in the dark,” I whispered.

I then quickly jumped behind the tree line next to the road. Twilight soon began looking at me with a nervous expression on her face. However I only pointed my left forehoof to my eyes, pointed at her, and then pointed down the road in front of her in reply. And luckily she got the message and faced forward.

Afterwards a deep breath left my lips as I quietly slipped off my pack and got close to the ground. I then placed my front hooves over the jagged daggers at my sides in preparation. For not long after there was quiet snickering and laughing coming from down the road. And soon three ponies with glowing slited eyes and black assassin cloaks appeared and walked towards Twilight. I frowned in response and thought to myself, 'I dread when my paranoia is correct. They never send just one...'

At least this time Blood Moon was not the poor fool who drank Pinkie Pie's blood.