I was awoken from my light slumber by the sound of talons clicking on the wooden floor. I opened my eyes in the dark and saw a pair of emerald reptilian eyes gleaming in the early morning light.

Spike, Twilight’s dragon assistant. He was an adolescent, but he was still larger than most dogs could get. I had heard a few things, and even seen the creature a few times, during what little time I’ve spent in this town. He likes to walk on two legs when he’s indoors and is just a bit taller than the average person when he does so. His purple scales had grown a bit darker since she last saw him, which explained why I could barely see him. He spoke, then, a younger voice than I thought he would have.

“So will you go up in flames if you go into the sunlight or would you be able to run errands for me outside?” He asked. That confused me, a lot.

“Huh?” I asked. It wasn’t the smartest thing to say, but I was still shrugging off sleep.

“Twilight told me what happened and that you’re supposed to help me, although burst into flames or not she did say to make sure you’re still a secret for a while so I guess I’ll run the errands... I’ve made breakfast, by the way, help yourself to it and bring some up for Twilight. I’ll think of more for you to do or help me with when I get back in twenty minutes.” He said, the light turning on as he started walking.

When he reached the door he looked back at me, I was still baffled at how he was acting.

“What?” He asked. I said the first thing that came to mind.

“Are you not afraid of me for what I am?” I asked. He chuckled and opened the door.

“Even if I didn’t know you’re a good woman you couldn’t bite through my scales if you tried.” He said and left, the door closing behind him. What he didn’t know, apparently, is that vampires, at least powerful ones, could rip through steel with their teeth alone... but he doesn’t need to know that. At least not yet.

Well, better not waste time. Besides, I haven’t eaten in two days and the smell coming from the kitchen was nothing less than deific.

There were four plates, two with bacon and eggs and two with french toast on it. I dug into one of the plates of each like a starving beggar, princesshood be damned. When I finished I used a quick cleaning spell on the plates and picked up the two full plates and made my way upstairs.

Twilight was sitting up in her bed, against the headboard, with a series of rather old looking tomes and scrolls floating about. Her hair was a disheveled mess and her bandages looked like they were the same ones from last night. When I stepped into the room in full she looked to me and smiled.

“Oh good, I’m starved. I assume Spike went out and left you to bring me my breakfast?” She asked. I simply nodded and handed her the plates and fork. She started talking between bites as she ate her meal much neater than I did, though still about as fast.

“So I’ve been reading up on a lot of those myths and legends and I think I have a bit more of an understanding of what you are. We can talk more about that in a bit, though, because once I’m done eating I’ll need help changing these bandages. You up to it?” She asked, finishing with a rather cute sideways glance.

“Do I have a choice?” I replied with a laugh.

“You do, actually, but I’ll take that as a sure.” She said, quickly finishing her food and throwing her blanket off of her. She got up, stretched and used her magic to open a door near the stairs, which led to a bathroom.

“I need to shower first, then put new bandages on. After that you can take one if you’d like. Spike should be home by then and we can all discuss what’s happening then. Deal?” She called and turned to look at me.

“I see no problem with it.” I said. She nodded and the door closed. I heard the sound of running water and had to stop myself from laughing as I heard a tune being hummed. It was catchy though and, as I sat down on the corner of her bed, I found myself humming it too.

She showers quick, since the door had opened only five minutes later and she called me in. When I got there, I nearly walked back out in embarrassment as I found her brushing her hair with no top on. She was turned away from me, though, and the mirror was only head high.

“Oh, I guess you wouldn’t be used to things like this. Sorry, I’m used to me and my friends walking in on each other all the time like it was nothing.” She said when she saw me in the mirror.

“Me and my sister are the same way, it was just unexpected from you...” I said. It was at that moment I remembered a rather hilarious night where Celestia had somehow gotten drunk and walked in on me while I was showering. I shook the rest of the memory from my mind, considering the situation, and looked at the girl’s back. I saw a barely closed wound on her lower back and two older scars vertically on her shoulder blades. Those scars reminded me of something.

“I forgot to ask before, or didn’t notice, but don’t you have wings? I mean I know you stepped down from being a princess almost immediately after your coronation...” I asked. I was very curious, if she had found a way to easily hide her own wings then I could hide my own and that would make it easier for me to be in disguise.

I shouldn’t have asked, her face fell into a very dark look as she finished brushing her hair. She gently placed the brush down and put her hands on her knees as she looked at the floor.

“Not anymore...” She said softly. I looked closer at the scars, taking a step forward, and saw the telltale sign of magical healing. The scars weren’t old. Judging by the signs, they were about as old as the wound.

“What happened?” I asked. She was silent as she grabbed a big roll of bandages and started clumsily wrapping them around her abdomen. I saw tears running down her face in the mirror and she was shaking slightly. I really shouldn’t have asked that question either. Thinking quickly, I stepped up to her and embraced her.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked..” I said, unsure of what else to do. She took a few breaths after that and wiped her eyes. I took the bandages from her and started wrapping them for her.

“Now that I think of it, it was fledglings. They were sane, though, but they were bandits. I tried to get them to leave us alone peacefully and they took me. They hurt me for fun until I finally tried to defend myself... I knocked half of them unconscious, and they knew I could beat the rest of them... Then one of them cast a spell and I lost consciousness.” She started. She stopped and took a deep breath. I stopped for a moment before continuing. She didn’t speak again until I finished, binding the end to the rest of it with magic. She stood up and checked it before pulling a tee on and walking out.

She sat down on her bed and I took a seat next to her silently. It was obviously a very painful memory.

“I woke up back in my bed two days ago, I had been taken three days prior... According to my friends I was found just inside of the everfree, battered and bloody... and my wings...” She continued, but couldn’t finish. Instead, I noticed a slight movement behind her and when I looked I saw the glint of purple peek from under wing-slits in the shirt.

In a flash of movement, something extended out of the slits and I was shocked and a little horrified. I’ve heard of clipping someone’s wings, but this? The only thing left in the things was the wing frame. Everything else was missing, and I can only guess that dark magic was cast over them so they would not heal. Black magic not even I could tamper with. There was a very powerful fledgling with that group of bandits.

“It horrifies and scares me and everyone else, so I use an old spell I found to retract them... I can show it to you if you’d like, it’s not very hard...” Twilight said, looking back at the mangled things. They moved and I realized that I could see some of the muscles and tendons under the remains of feathers.

“I can actually still fly with them, too... I just need to patch them up with magic to do so... I don’t want people to see me like this though...” She continued. I looked at her and I realized something. She was ready to put an arrow through my head last night. I hadn’t thought anything of it then, but now I remember how sweet and innocent she used to be.

“The funny thing is, I don’t remember what happened after I lost consciousness, but I still felt the pain of everything that happened. There were so many scratches and bite marks on me I must have wandered through the everfree for at least a full day.

What those bandits did to her changed her, if only slightly. It made me feel terrible that such an innocent spirit went through so much pain and suffering as to change like that... The wings fanned out and arced forward so she could look at them. She almost glared at them.

“This is a permanent reminder to me that not everything can be fixed with words anymore...” She said lowly. She pulled her legs up to the bed, wrapped her arms around them and rested her chin on her knees. Her expression was blank and emotionless. It actually kind of scared me. I didn’t know what to say, what could I even say? I haven’t even gone through something that painful...

“You can drink my blood, I really don’t care...” She suddenly said, startling me from my thoughts. I looked at her with confusion and she glanced sideways at me.

“What better way to learn about vampires then to study one directly? Go ahead, I know you’ve been restraining yourself with the smell of it everywhere.” She continued. She was right, I had been smelling it since I arrived here and I thought I had been hiding my urges quite well. Apparently not, as she flipped her hair over her right shoulder to leave the left side of her neck bare for me. I didn’t know how to respond.

“You’re... not hesitant?” I asked. She smiled and shook her head slightly.

“Why would I be? You’ve given no reason for me to believe you’d hurt me, and I want this nightmare to end... You said that drinking my blood will help you try, is that true?” She said.

“Even a single time feeding off of you would return a large portion of a strength to me, and after three or four times it will start increasing my strength. Potentially, your blood alone could increase my power potential by two times at least.” I replied.

“Good, then do it.” She said simply. I didn’t know what to do. I don’t know why I didn’t know what to do but that’s how it was. Maybe the way she brushed off me biting her and drinking her blood, I don’t know.

“Are... are you sure?” I asked. She just gave me a look. It was a look that very clearly stated ‘just do it already’. I sighed and let dark magic flow into me, which I haven’t done in a long time. I know Twilight was witnessing a few changes, namely my eyes gaining a red tint and my teeth sharpening. The most pronounced, though, was my wings turning bat-like and fangs extending. Her confidence didn’t falter, though, as I leaned towards her.

She hardly even flinched when I bit down. I actually froze for a second when her blood started filling my mouth, though. It was like drinking the finest beverage in the nation mixed with the taste of magic and that metallic taste that always compliments blood.

It took all of my strength not to suck her dry, and good lord I almost did it. I stopped, though, unlatching my jaws from her neck in a rather cliche manner. I took a few breaths before wiping my mouth, and I saw something out of the corner of my eye when I did so. I turned and looked at the stairs to see Spike standing there.

He had a worried and angry look on his face.

He just saw me feed off of Twilight. I looked to her to find that she was laying down, apparently I had forced her down without realizing it. She gave a weak thumbs-up to Spike, though, and the dragon calmed down. I quickly used a cleaning spell to make what little blood was spilled disappear, the bite wound already completely healed. Most vampires, like myself, use a healing spell on their teeth when they feed so that any damage done is instantly healed, though sometimes it leaves a scar.

I looked and saw nothing, so it didn’t scar. I sighed in relief and then remembered that I had forced her down, even though she offered.

“Sorry about that, I couldn’t really control myself...” I said. She chuckled and sat back up, though she looked tired. I didn’t mean to drink that much, but I could already feel my strength rising. It wasn’t back in full, maybe somewhere between halfway and a third.

“Just glad you didn’t suck me dry... It was actually kind of pleasant...” She said.

“That would be the anesthetic properties of vampire saliva. Well, the more diluted and insane fledglings don’t have it but mine would be the most potent out there. I’ve noticed sometimes it has an effect similar to minor aphrodisiac, though the fact you aren’t moaning in pleasure tells me that if it had that effect on you it was incredibly scarce.” I explained. I probably didn’t need to mention that last part, but it just came to mind.

“That’s interesting, do you know why?” She asked. That surprised me. This girl was good at that. Spike seemed a bit surprised by her reaction too.

“Just like you to try to milk everything for as much information as possible... You can study sexy vampire spit later, right now we have more important things to talk about. Those bandits are back. And they have help.” Spike said.

Author's Notes:

so anyone who knows my work knows that I love Twiluna. Those of you who don't like it need not worry, though, as I intend to make it a very gradual thing and it will certainly not be the focus of the story. It's more on Luna trying to get things back to how they were with Twilight's help. I may have others included, but as of now I have no idea.
What do you guys think? tell me if you think it's heading in a bad direction and how it could be fixed.
and I already sense repeating questions or complaints, at least from experience, so please pay attention to the comments so I don't have to constantly repeat myself.
thanks, hope you enjoyed