Dracula slowly awoken with a groan and his head throbbed with magical strain. His vision became clearer and he stood in the attic room of a church. The stained glass window shown in the silent glow of the moon and beckoned him towards it. There was a bed and a candle on a writing desk in the corner giving a soft orange glow throughout the small room. Dracula’s armor clanked as he walked to the stained glass window.

With his supernatural hearing he heard a whoosh across the room and the candle went out. Dracula looked behind him and he saw a somewhat familiar sight. He saw a tall pale white stallion pony with leathery bat like wings hidden underneath a scarlet red cloak that engulfed his entire body. The stallion lifted his head and shown a rugged and stern face of his father, Living Shadow. He shot his eyes open and they glowed a lighter shade of red and they stared long into his. He noticed that they both have long jet black mane with a white streak in it. But unlike, his father’s fangs were visible.

He spoke through the darkness as the thunder crashed and his severely accented deep voice nearly shook the room,”Dracula… my eldest son. I come to you now for a question.”

Dracula spoke in his gruff and intimidating voice,”Speak quickly as I may have an answer to your question.”

Living Shadow smiled and he said,”So direct… like your mother. To the point, I come to you to ask why do we have to fight? I am your father and you are my son. We should be at each others side, together to break this pathetic world in our hooves. Apart we are strong but together we would be unstoppable, after all Blood is Life.”

Dracula thought for a moment and he said,”We fight because we are too similar. We have both tasted the power of darkness and have been changed because of it. I choose to not become a monster, while you embrace what you are and find no limits to your power. You found your path with power. I found mine with knowledge.

“Yes this is a sad decrepit world that we live in. Enemies on all sides. Darkness closing in. But I found a light in the darkness. I have seen with my own eyes that there is beauty in this world beyond comprehension. You fail to see this because you are too blind by greed and deception. Arkon Shadow.”

Living Shadow hissed at the sound of his true name. Dracula then finds himself on a castle tower overlooking nothing. Endless storm over the cliff of rocks and ocean beating against the shoreline. Living Shadow stepped forward with a smile on his face. He says with a dark expression on his face,”Ah...you speak of this Twilight Sparkle. I see this now. She is the reason you do not give in to your inner demons and become a true Vampire Lord.”

“You think of her as a noose tying me down,”Dracula proclaims.”But she is in fact my source of strength. Before I used my loving memories but I found something much stronger than that.”

Living Shadow steps only a few feet away from him and he says,”Do you remember your one thousand years of loneliness?”

Dracula seemed discouraged by the question but tries his best to submerge his feelings that ached to show on his face. He listened as he heard his father continue,”Do you remember the Brotherhood and how they treated you? They treated you like a monster. For five hundred years all that you knew was pain and agony. And with each passing moment you could not think of anything else but bitter revenge and sweet relishing bloody victory.”

He circled around him when he said those words and he stopped and leaned in close to his ear and said,”Do you remember when you became a monster?”

Dracula turned to meet his father’s expression and said coldly,”Yes.”

Living Shadow continued to circle him and said with the sound of rain amplifying his voice,”Then you must know that those feelings and those visions in your head. They were me.”

Dracula gave a dark expression and Living Shadow said,”You were so vengeful; so angry that I could not pass up an opportunity like this. So I began feeding you those emotions…”

“Shut up…”

“You let me in. And you became what you have come to fear most. You became a shadow. You became like me, a monster.”

“Shut up… shut up…”

“You became such a monster that the Equestrians made legends about you. Killing anypony he saw. A monster. Your name was only spoken under hushed tones and never in the dead of night. And you have no one else to thank but yourself, and me of course.”

Dracula gritted his teeth and said clenching his muscles keeping back the anger,”So you have been manipulating me since the beginning?”

Living Shadow smiled and he said,”Yes. I became your shadow, I became you. And you know what they saw about fighting your shadow.”

Dracula slowly shook his head and he said in a cold voice,”Is there anything else I need to know?”

Living Shadow smirked and he said,”If I were you, I’d get on finding your birth siblings. They might come in handy and keep an eye on Nightmare Moon.”

The scene slowly transitioned to the ruined castle of Canterlot. Broken stone and columns laid before him. Standing next to him was his father and he said,”You have yet to see the full might of my power. And I have yet to see yours, what you performed at your recent counter attack on the Changelings was only a fraction of what you can do I assure you.”

Living Shadow moves forward and motions for Dracula to follow. Reluctantly he follows Living Shadow he continues,”Remember that you are a Shadow. Our line has a small fraction that of dragon blood. That is what your name means,”Dragon’s Son”. When we fight, I expect you to fight like a Shadow.”

Dracula looked long into his father’s face and tried to enter his mind. But everytime he tried in did not end well, but this time he succeeded. Dracula says focusing his gaze back ahead of him,”Tell me father...what was it like only being birthed from shadow.”

Living Shadow stops in his tracks but Dracula starts to circle him and say,”What is it like to be someone’s lab experiment? It must have been quite painful when you escaped Midnight’s mind.”

“Shut your mouth…”

“Tell me. What was it like to be someponies slave? To do his every will, his every order. His every action. Oh, it took you centuries to finally escape the wrath of King Lunar I’m pretty sure. But you figured out that being pure shadow is not all its cracked up to be…”

“You will close your mouth if you know what’s good for you!...”

“You found love. My dear mother. But you could not escape the darkness within, it eventually took you over again and you became an even bigger threat. Only to be put down by Prince Talandas. And now we find you here, a pathetic waste of what used to be a powerful being.”

Living Shadow’s expression changed when Dracula stopped circling instead of pure hatred and anger it changed to that of an emotion Dracula thought he would never see on his face. Pride. Living Shadow says,”Fighting me at my own game. Well played my son. I never thought you would stoup to my level.”

Dracula thought he saw the true face of his father at that moment. But it quickly changed back to the cold and dark expressionless face of a monster and he said,”You are in a position few dare to tread. You tread in between the path of light and the path of darkness, never knowing what side to choose. You cling desperately to stay on the path of light but you will never get there, not like him.”

Dracula was about to ask what he meant by him but his body disappeared and he was left standing at a cliff face staring off into the night sky with the moon staring back at him. The stars twinkled across the sky and wonderful miasmas beamed around the cloud filled and star filled night. Dracula lowered his head and said,”Arkon you fool.”

He contemplated the conversation with his father that he just had. He saw briefly the flickering image of his true father but it was soon swallowed by the darkness that consumed him long ago. Dracula switched the scene like his father had done so much while he was with him. Dracula stares out over a cliff overlooking an ocean in the dead of night, with the light of the moon shining over the water and shine over Dracula himself. The stars shone through the darkness as well. This was a dream and he knew it, therefore his mother would not be far behind.

He knelt in the rustling grass and felt a breeze lightly brush against him and flap his trench coat in it. His mane moved as well. He felt absolute solace and solitude, a feeling he had not felt in a while. He then felt a presence enter into his dream and heard somepony walk behind him. And stop next to him as he knelt. Her serene and motherly voice was so distinctive and so unforgettable,”I give you credit for trying. Most are not strong enough to do what you did.”

Dracula closed his eyes and said,”I needed reassurance that he once was a good pony. I took those memories of his and remembered them. So I can know what my father was before this. But now I must do what every son hates and would loathe to do, I have to kill my father.”

Luna rested her hoof softly on his shoulder and says,”An act most would not have the strength to do. And you will figure out soon that tragedy befalls those that fail to sacrifice for everything they believe in and love. To protect those close to us.”

Luna held out her hoof in front of him and on her hoof was a necklace. It was a silver chain and with a star medallion that looked like Twilight’s cutie mark. Dracula took the necklace and said,”What is this?”

Dracula looked up at Luna who was slowly dissolving into mist and she smirked as she said,”It is something Twilight lost in a dream.”

With only him at the cliff he put the necklace around his neck and looked back out at the shoreline. He closed his eyes and listened to the rhythmic sound of water crashing against the cliff side and the waves of the the ocean. And he knew that when he opened his eyes this world of silence and solitude would be gone and replaced with a world filled with strife and war. He breathed in a deep breath and remembered the memories he stole from his father. And got lost in the sound of the ocean and solace.

“Silver?...Silver.”

Dracula slowly opened his eyes and blinked away the haze from his eyes and turned over to Twilight who was looking at him with bright eyes and she says,”You okay? You spaced out for a second there.”

Dracula stared deep into her eyes and he felt that feeling of solace and serenity and he said slowly breaking his gaze into her eyes,”Yeah...just...contemplating…”

The cool afternoon breeze brushed past them and Twilight shivered at it. Dracula looked over at Wraith and said,”One more order. Have your men patrol the outside walls of Ponyville, and send small scouting teams in the Everfree Forest. I do not want anymore ambushes or invasions. Double the watchmen.”

“Yes my prince.”Wraith saluted and went away down the steps. Dracula turned his attention to Twilight and said.”Come on lets get you inside.”

Twilight nodded her head chattering her teeth. Dracula spread out one of his wings and covered it around her. She felt warmer than before but it did not cut off the bone chilling wind. They began to walk down the steps off of the wall and onto the near desolate streets of Ponyville. To Dracula’s surprise and alarm these ponies have not experienced a snowstorm such as one like this.

They always had the weather ponies alter the weather to make winter somewhat comfortable conditions. No pony was prepared for something this bad. As Dracula noticed all the ponies that would pass by them were trotting past them. Even their clothing seemed unable to fully protect them from the cold. The Children of the Night never had a problem with the winters. Vampires were technically undead, so the cold never really affected them. Werewolves had more fur and would constantly be in their Werewolf forms to beat the chilling wind. Phantoms were part spirit and part pony. And Lichs...well they pretty much use ice powers.

Dracula looked as a thick blanket of snow covered the thatch roofs of the many houses of Ponyville. Not many of the houses had wooden roofs. The overall structures of the many buildings inside of the town were poorly constructed and not prepared for blizzards like this. Dracula focused on the snow covered street ahead of him and the snow crunched underneath his hooves. He looked at Twilight who was underneath his right wing. Her eyes were focused on the path ahead of them and nothing else. Her violet eyes were soothing and warm despite the cold.

Dracula could feel the heat radiating off of her and it brought comfort and a warm feeling inside of him. Dracula focused back at the path ahead of him and saw that the snowflakes falling from the sky were large and their shape was very identifiable. He saw through the light mist the form of a tree and he saw the sign say,”Golden Oak Library.”

He walked to the large oak door and the interior was dark and Twilight stepped ahead of him and he shut the door with a loud slam. Dracula said,”You should probably go get some rest.”

Twilight nodded and went up the nearby steps into her room. Dracula looked around and found himself in the main foyer which was very large and had books filling the shelves and a statue of a pony head in the center. There were doorways leading into other parts of the house and Dracula gave himself a tour of the house and seemed to quickly remember what every room was. Finally after a few minutes he went up the long stairs and he found himself in Twilight’s room.

The sun finally set down over the horizon and he saw on a small perch was Twilight’s bed and over at the foot of the bed was a small bed that he suspected was Spike’s bed. He saw the snow continue to fall through the window near the bed. Dracula noticed that there were even more books in her room.

Dracula walked closer to Twilight and saw that she was still shivering despite being under the covers. Dracula stood next to the bed and she must have been half asleep because she said,”Silver? If that’s you can you hold me...I’m so cold.”

Dracula went over at the other side of the bed and got himself settled and embraced Twilight warmly. For a few minutes he found himself staring off into the dark. But finally his eyelids grew heavy and he began to fall asleep. He felt the necklace around his neck press warmly against his cold flesh and he smiled as he remembered that on that chain was something that he would constantly remember who he was. And who he loved most.