Week 1 - Bats!

After using a spell to restore Fluttershy back to her normal self, Twilight Sparkle finds herself unable to sleep while researching the ancient tales of vampirism. Many sleepless nights of research later, she transforms into Princess Twilight Sparkle - Mistress of the Night, and huddles inside her darkened library home in fear of what will happen when Princess Celestia arrives.
[Teen][Gothic Clothes][Angst]

(Vampire Twilight, by Alasou at Deviant Art used by permission)

“Spike! Are you still out there? Make sure nopony comes in here until the Princess arrives. I don’t want anypony to see her drive a stake through my heart and cut off my head. Oh, no! I should get some towels. Or a washcloth. Maybe a bucket. Spike, do you know where you put the bucket? And the garlic. She’s going to need garlic to stuff in my mouth. Oh, I hope she cuts my head off first, that stuff tastes awful!”

Spike sighed and leaned against the library front door while looking up into Ponyville’s clear sunny sky in the vain hopes of seeing Princess Celestia. He had sent her that letter an hour ago, and although she had written right back saying she was on the way, there still was no sign of her. The Ponyville Golden Oak library had been transformed over the last few days, with heavy (but tasteful) curtains over all of the windows, skull decorations (artificial) over each of the doors, and a constant blare from the television which was working on the third time through the entire ‘Twilight’ series, including each of the movies.

After having been dragged into assisting with the blizzard of post-it notes and annotations now scattered across the whole first floor, Spike had finally lost his temper. He had been able to stand it for the first few days, but it had been almost a week now, and despite Twilights plaintive begging, he had written the letter she should have written days earlier.

“Yes, Twilight. I’m still out here. In the sun. Just like I’ve been for hours. The bucket is under the sink, right where you left it. And we’re out of garlic. Would an onion work?”

“Maybe. They’re the same genus. Let me do some research.”

The faint sound of feathers in the sky was the only warning Spike got before Princess Celestia touched down gently at his side. The Royal Gaze swept over the darkened library and its new decorations before she looked down at Spike with a loving smile. “About an 8.5?”

“More like a 9.2 if you ask me,” grumbled the dragon. “She’s been awake since she zapped Fluttershy out of her vampire bat spell, which she caused by zapping a bunch of vampire fruit bats in the first place. If you’re going to zap her, I’ll be waiting over there. Way over there.”

“Don’t be silly, Spike. What Twilight is going through is perfectly normal. For Twilight, that is. It’s just probably just cranked up a notch due to her panic and lack of sleep.”

“But she really is turning into a vampony, Princess. She spent days and days researching everything she could find about them even including those movies.” He shuddered. “Those horrible, horrible movies. She started stalking around the library in a cape, complaining that her skin itched, taking experimental bites out of everything including our bowl of wax fruit, and now she wails about her unnatural thirst. She has red glaring eyes, she won’t go outside, and she even eavesdrops when you’re trying to have a private conversation.”

“I do not!” There was a rustling inside the library before Twilight continued, “much.”

Celestia shook her head and smiled at the closed door. “Oh, Twilight. You remind me so much of my first time through this. There really is nothing to be afraid of. It’s very natural.”

The wail from inside the library peaked into an intense shriek as Twilight shouted, “There’s nothing ordinary about this insatiable hunger that is consuming me with unholy desires! I’m burning up! I bit a pony yesterday in the library!”

“Caramel,” explained Spike. “And they’re just plastic fangs, although he seemed to like it. Pervert.”

“Now he’s doomed to walk Equestria as one of the living dead!” wailed Twilight. “And it’s all my fault! I goofed up Fluttershy’s spell! I turned myself into a being so evil it cannot stand the light of day!”

“She thinks she sparkles,” said Spike, looking slightly nauseous.

“Yes!” sobbed Twilight. “It explains everything! Why my cutie mark looks like a bloodstain. Why I’m named after a vampire movie and their cheap special effects! Why I even have the full collection of Twilight movies and books and collectable posters autographed by the actors! Those handsome, hunky actors. I can’t help but stare at his soft, smooth flank, glistening in the moonlight. His cutie mark, two red drops of blood, far redder than any apple. That soft smile, with those darling fangs. And those powerful muscles. Um…”

Celestia fought back a smirk as Spike pointed a claw down his throat and quietly gagged.

“Twilight, I can assure you, what you are experiencing is… Twilight?” Celestia put an ear to the door and looked at Spike. “What in heaven’s name is she doing?”

“Chewing on the furniture. She says she’s trying to keep her fangs short. So, can you help her?”

“There’s no help for me!” howled Twilight with a clatter of hooves as she ran around the library. “Just unsheath your terrible sword and cleave my head from my torso so that I might find rest from this life of tears! The bathtub! I’ll get in the bathtub so you don’t make a mess!”

“And run a cold shower!” shouted Spike, before turning to Celestia with a sniffle. “I’m really worried, Princess.”

“Don’t be, Spike.” Celestia rested a hoof on the little dragon’s shoulder and smiled. “Do you remember when you first started living with Twilight Sparkle and you asked me why she was so grouchy once a month?”

“Yeah. You said it was a natural cycle where her hormones were going a little crazy, and that all mares were like that. And that I just had to tolerate it when it happened.”

“Yes I did. And now that she’s become an alicorn, she has a few more changes than just the wings to deal with. Instead of going a little ‘crazy’ a few days every month, now it can be a year or more between her cycles.”

“Oh. That’s good?”

“And alicorn magic can make that time considerably more intense.”

“Oh. That’s bad.”

“By several orders of magnitude.”

Spike paused in thought. “Is this why you visit northern Equestria every few years, and bring back that candied lichen?”

“Among other things, yes.”

An anguished howl burst from the darkened library as the sound of splashing could be heard. “The water’s not cold enough!”

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” called Celestia. “I sent one of my young guards to get you some medicine.”

Spike scowled. “Not that creepy Flash Sentry, I hope. He’s always bumping into her and hanging around like a stalker. ‘What can I do for you, Princess?’ ‘Do you want to dance, Princess?’ He writes her these goofy little love notes and tries to slip them into her paperwork.”

Celestia giggled. “Did you know he carved ‘Twilight and Flash’ into the prize elm tree in my garden last month?”

“No!” gasped Spike. “Did you punish him?”

“Princess Celestia! Princess Celestia!” The Royal Guard in question came flapping down and landed in front of the princess with a deep bow that just happened to block Spike’s sight with an extended wing. “I got all the things you asked for, the chocolates, the flowers, and the wine. But I really don’t understand —”

“You will, Flash.” A golden magical aura surrounded the stunned guard and his basket of romantic presents. Opening the library door and giving an experimental heft of the armored stallion, Celestia smiled in anticipation.

“Twilight! I brought your medicine.” With a surprised bleat of fear, Flash Sentry found himself tossed into the library and the door slammed behind him. His girlish shriek rose out from the library, followed by a feral growl and the sound of running hooves. After a brief scrabbling at the door, now glowing a soft gold, the crashing and bellowing proceeded around the library. Princess Celestia calmly extended her spell as the sounds of armored hooves clattered towards an open window, only to seal it off at the last second. Spike watched the competition in awe, and clapped politely when the last of the tree was covered in Celestia’s golden barrier spell.

“There we go. One overworked and overimaginative alicorn properly medicated.”

Spike glanced between the golden glowing tree and Celestia. “Don’t you think that was a bit harsh?”

“Well, he asked my permission to spend a few days with her.” The crashing and running noises inside the library had died down, and Celestia added a sound muffling layer to the spell wrapped around the library, just in case.

“I think about three days should cover the damage to the elm tree.”

(Courtesy of Anonymoose)