Martin was walking toward Twilights place dressed in a hooded black robe and his face painted up like a skull, already the festivities of Nightmare Night were in full swing. Wherever he looked he spotted ponies of all ages dressed as ghost, goblins or other frightening creatures of myth, the human just chuckled at the fact that even though both his and their worlds were so far apart they all had similar holidays. He soon arrived at the door to the library and knocked twice before waiting patiently for the door to open, soon it was opened by none other than…..Princess Celestia? Martin did a double take, but soon realized that the princess was much shorter than normal and had darker eyes. He just smiled as he looked at Twilight, he then nodded in approval of her costume, she had painted her entire body to match the princesses and she even got the clothing done perfectly, strapped to her sides were a pair of very convincing wings, she also seemed to wear a wig on her mane and tail that mimicked the same waving effect that Celestia naturally had.

Martin walked past her, he then noticed she even had the sun cutie mark before smiling once more, “I got to say, you make a very convincing princess you almost look like her twin”

Twilight smiled at the compliment, “thanks Martin, you have no idea how hard making the wings and wigs were”. Martin just tilted his head, “I can probably guess”

Twilight then pointed a hoof at Martin, “What are you supposed to be?”

Martin then took on a confused expression, “I’m the Grim Reaper”, and Twilight wore a confused expression in response. Martin then gestured dramatically, “You know, the personification of death?” Twilight just continued to stare in utter confusion at him.

Martin just gave an annoyed sigh as he removed his hood and wiped off the face paint, “never mind it’s a human thing”, Martin looked around, “is everypony here yet or did I get here late?”

Twilight shook her head with a grin and led him into another room where everypony else was waiting for them all in costume. Pinkie pie was dressed up as a cream puff, Rarity was dressed like an egyptian queen complete with adornments and make up, Rainbow Dash was dressed in her shadow bolts costume which had some visible work done to it making it look more convincing, Applejack was dressed as an old western sheriff complete with a pony duster coat. They all bid him welcome as he entered, Spike soon followed dressed as a roman gladiator carrying drinks to all of them, after a while of exchanging pleasantries they got down to business. Since it was Martins first Nightmare Night, they had thought it would be nice to meet at Twilights for a short get together before they parted ways at the festival to enjoy the various attractions.

Martin soon noticed Fluttershy’s absence, “Hey, isn’t Fluttershy coming?”

Rarity shook her head, “Unfortunately she is feeling under the weather at the moment”

Rainbow snickered slightly, “Yeah, she came down with a severe case of the heebie jeebie’s’’

Twilight fixed Dash with a look then looked at Martin, “Fluttershy doesn’t really like Nightmare Night all that much, she tends to stay indoors and only give out candy to young ponies”

Martin nodded with an “ahhh” of understanding and finished his drink and stood up raising his hood and rubbing his hands together, “come my friends, let us join in the merriment of pranks and eat candy until we are profoundly unwell!!”, both Pinkie and Rainbow rushed to his side and joined him in pumping his fist in the air with a “WOOT!”

Everypony else just laughed as they all headed to the door and into the dark streets, soon they all parted way’s at the center of Ponyville. For the next two hours Martin went all around town sampling the various activities, he even found Luna at the spider toss to which he had victory stolen from him. After a long while he came upon a class of young ponies at play away from the festival, most likely from the amount of sugar coursing through their veins. He noticed a familiar face trying to get them under control dressed as a ragdoll.

Martin approached, “hey Cheerilie, looks like you got your hoofs full with the young ones”

Cheerilie quickly turned and smiled, “yes, I told them not to eat all the candy they got right away, but we were all young once after all”

Martin nodded, “true that-“ before he could finish he was tackled by three familiar fillies with smiles on their faces.
They got off of him to allow him to stand when he tried to move, Applebloom smiled up at him, “Heya Martin how are ya enjoin Nightmare Night?”

Martin dusted himself off, “it’s pretty cool, sort of similar to a holiday back where I come from called Halloween, but this is way better”, he then took on a mock serious expression, “Cheerilie says you ate all your candy already, students you got some splanin to do”

The CMC laughed slightly as Scootaloo stepped forward, “We wanted to keep ourselves awake so we could listen to a scary story and not fall asleep”

Two young ponies known as Snips and Snails nodded in unison, Snips spoke immediately after the nods, “Yeah, we tried looking for Zecora but she wasn’t around”

Martin nodded thoughtfully, “well on a night like tonight a good scare is always good, well I got to go to the pumpkin catapult event because Luna owes me a match”

As he turned to leave he was halted by a tugging on his robe, he looked down into the eyes of Sweetie Belle who spoke immediately upon acknowledgement, “Martin don’t go yet, maybe you can tell us a scary story from where you’re from”

Martin just shook his head, “Sorry Sweetie, the stuff from my world is too intense for all of you”

Sweetie and the rest of the CMC gave him the puppy dog eyes which caused him to sigh in defeat, “Alright, alright, you win I’ll tell all of you a story-“, Martin was cut off by a scoff coming from a familiar young pink unicorn with a tiara atop her head.

Diamond Tiara just smiled mockingly at Martin, “Like, you said you weren’t going to tell a story from your lame world, I bet you were going to make one up out of the blue”

Martin just stared at the young filly with a look of annoyance which soon vanished and was replaced with a calm smile; he sat down on a nearby bench as the class all gathered in front of him their teacher standing at the back of them, “well if you don’t want a made up one I guess I’ll have to tell you a true story then that took place here”

Diamond just snickered, “like, what could have possibly happened here that we didn’t already know about, we already heard all about the stories that “happened here”, she then turned to her friend Silver Spoon, “he was probably going to, like, tell us about a monster he defeated with his super powers or something”

Martin shook his head, “not exactly, tell me have any of you heard about vampires?”

Every young pony nodded as Martin continued, “Well I fought one”

Scootaloo gasped, “No way!”

Martin nodded, “Yes as a matter of fact way, well I wouldn’t say just one more like one and his army of undead and I also had some backup”

Diamond Tiara laughed immediately, “Like, yeah right everypony knows vampires don’t exist”

Martin then spoke in an ominous tone, “famous last words”

Sweetie spoke up, “what do you mean?”

Martin then elaborated on the matter, “The non-believers always say that just before the vamps drag them away to be eaten, they are always the first to go”

Diamond instinctively turned around and saw a colt dressed as a zombie then quickly looked back at Martin who just smiled, Applebloom broke the silence, “Whatta ya mean you fought an army of vampire’s?, when did this happen?, who was-“

Martin raised his hand to stop her, “if I told all of you straight out it would spoil the fun, now let me explain this tale”, Martin paused as he noticed Cheerilie saying if anypony got scared she was there to help, soon everypony leaned forward in interest as they all sat down.

Martin then exhaled, “Ok, this happened four weeks ago-“, Scootaloo groaned as she whined to her friends, “Ah man we missed it because of our class trip to Trottingham”

Martin grinned as he continued, “four weeks before this night and before you all came back frightening events transpired which could have resulted in Ponyvilles destruction, and Equestria’s fall” he then gestured to both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, “both of your sister’s, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, myself and even Fluttershy banded together to combat this army of darkness and he who lead them to prevent everypony and all of Equestria from falling under the oncoming tide, but during this fight, I had been cursed by their leader to join them and I almost did”

Diamond Tiara shook her head, “Like, you expect us to believe not only that vampires are real and you fought an army of them with the blank flanks loser sisters and friends, but you became, like, a vampire?”

Cheerilie gave Diamond a scolding look, before Applebloom asked Martin with awe, “but yer normal now, what happened?”

Martin smiled at her question, “all of these will be answered in due time, now be warned this story is only for the brave of heart so anypony who doesn’t think they can handle it, leave now”, no pony moved, “alright then, let this yarn be spun with these lines, a red moon rise's across a black sky, the land trembles in fear, and a hero is cursed, so begins the Blood Night”.

The sun was in the center of the sky casting minimal shadows across the path a certain dark Auburn haired human was running down at twice the speed of any jogger. Martin never really liked his abilities at first, but he had found them quite handy in everyday tasks around Ponyville be they major or minor. Right now he was grateful for his enhanced stamina which was contributing to his success so far and was also giving his speed a major boost with little to no protest from his muscles. As he focused on the coming horizon he came to a stop to get his bearings, only to hear a very loud smashing mixed with lots of yelling nearby. Martin instinctively ran in the direction of the sound and came to a clearing where there was a distressing sight before him. There was an open mine shaft with two colts wearing white hard hats covered in dirt with dark gold coats laying on the ground in front of it exhausted to the point of passing out, and there was dust steadily rising into the sky from the shafts opening. Martin immediately ran to assist them; one seemed younger than the other, the older one seemed to be the boss, he looked up revealing dark blue eyes with five-o-clock shadow and look like he was defiantly built for heavy lifting, hit cutie mark depicted a pick ax smashing a diamond.

When Martin saw this he immediately spoke in a serious tone, “you Diamondpick?,” the colt nodded causing a grin to appear on Martin’s face as he put the books he had down at Diamondpick’s hoof, “here’s the books you asked for”.

Diamondpick nodded but then took on a worried look which Martin noticed, “what happened?”, Diamondpick pointed toward the mineshaft, “My youngest son SIlverpick caused a cave in down there, some of my workers are still trapped, but thankfully we were near the exit when it accrued and-“

Martin raised his hand, “Alright I got it covered”, Diamondpick looked at him confused and was about to object but Martin had already jumped down the shaft into the darkness. When Martin landed he immediately booked it down the tunnel, five minutes passed until he found the workers all huddled under a lantern, frightened, but alive. Martin immediately pointed them toward the exit, in turn one of them told Martin that Silverpick had fallen down a hole when the cave in started, the worker said it collapsed suddenly and without warning. Martin approached the wall of debris blocking his way to the holes entrance. He immediately grabbed a boulder and threw it behind him as he squeezed through the small slot he managed to make by doing that, he soon stood at the edge of a gaping maw of a hole that seemed to have no visuals whatsoever, he inhaled sharply as he gathered his wits and leapt into the abyss.

Martin landed in the dirt face first much to his annoyance, he dusted himself off and wiped the dirt from his face and looked around at the torch lit tunnel he was in. He looked around in confusion as he walked in silence hoping that Silverpick had fared better than he did on the entry trip. After a long while of walking in the eerie torchlight he found a colt that had the same coloured coat as Diamondpick, but he looked no older than Pinkie Pie, and his hard had was discarded revealing a white mane, he had a cutie mark that resembled two crossed pick axes made of silver and he was currently leaning against the wall resting.

He turned his head when he heard Martins approach, “My pa send you?”, Martin nodded and was greeted with a relieved expression from the miner who immediately stood up and approached him, “It the weirdest thing ya know, I was just digging looking for some ore when I heard a sharp hiss under my hooves which caused me a bit of a fright and I swung wildly and then I remember a a lot of noise then I woke up where you most likely came from”

Martin nodded as he started walking, Silverpick questioned why Martin couldn’t just leap upwards up the ramp, to which he responded, “Ramps too steep, I can clear some things in a single bound, but judging by how far I fell, I would have to land and jump again which could cause injury if I attempt it and we would be worse off, so I assume this tunnel has to let out somewhere”, he then grabbed a torch and started walking with SIlverpick matching pace. As they walked they began to notice the tunnel didn’t seem like a natural formation, it looked like it was carved out by something, or someone.

Martin looked at the colt, “did you guys know about this tunnel?”, Silverpick shook his head as he explained that his father had found the shaft and set up shop thinking there might be profit to be made, they never knew anything about the any cave networks present inside the shaft, let alone the one they were walking in at the moment. Soon they came into a large domed chamber adorned with stalagmites that resembled pillars with something in the center of the room that was on top of a makeshift altar, Silverpick was already walking up to it when Martin turned to join him.

When they got close, Silverpick leapt back in terror the second the torch light spread across the thing on the altar, It was a completely mummified corpse, it looked like one of those Aztec mummies scientists find except it was shriveled up more and the strangest thing was that it was human. Martin looked at it up and down and noticed the corpse was male in structure and was adorned in rags, he just stared wide eyed at the thing, he had always thought he was the only human in Equestria, but this cadaver changed everything. He extended his arm across the body o shed some more light on it and noticed something that shocked him further, the canine teeth on the top of its mouth seemed slightly longer than normal as well as sharper, unbeknownst to both of them, a cut was on the underside of Martin’s forearm from the fall, he may have enhanced durability but he could still get wounded if enough power or force was applied, one solitary drop of blood fell into the corpses mouth as Martin turned away from it.

Silverpick just looked at him, “how long do ya think it’s been down here for?”, Martin just shrugged, “judging by the look of it, a VERY long time”. Martin was about to say something more when he noticed Silverpick’s fearful look as he pointed behind Martin who instinctively turned around in time to see the “corpse” clamp its mouth on his neck. Martin’s strength failed him as he tried to pry the thing off of him, but the corpse clamped down like a pit bull and didn’t even budge, his vision began to swim as he raised his hand to strike the thing only to see Silverpick to try and help him to get batted aside by a backhand from the corpse. Martin was getting weaker by the minute, he uttered one thing at the corpse, “Let…go of me….yyou….freak”, and he then blacked out immediately afterwards.

Martin opened his eyes to find himself in the same domed chamber him and Silverpick had found, he immediately sat up straight and felt the entire room spin and hi vision swam causing him to fall backwards. He immediately heard an amused chuckle to the far right and turned to see who the voice belonged to, when he did a stabbing pain was felt on the right side of his neck to which he firmly pressed his hand to as he tried to stand with great effort. When he managed to stand he wobbled slightly and saw where the voice had come from, a man around the age of twenty four stood a good twenty feet from him, and he seemed pretty lean, healthy and youthful for his age. He had black shoulder length hair tied behind his head in a loose pony tail, he had dark ruby red irises and slightly pale skin. What he wore surprised Martin entirely, the clothes origins depicted Victorian era style, he wore a white dress shirt of which the collar seemed to naturally stick up, a dark vermillion red suit coat with gold trim and gold clasps instead of buttons with matching dress pants that had no gold on the trim, and black dress loafers .

The man raised an eyebrow at Martin who was still trying to steady himself, “careful my friend, the process is very taxing on the body you would do well to give yourself time to rest after your ordeal”, Martin just looked at the man in confusion, “your accent its Slavic right?”. The man nodded with a smile, Martin was indeed correct on the accent except it wasn’t heavy it was more Americanised to the point that no actual words were altered, but the accent could be heard.
Martin’s vision was beginning to clear and he had finally steadied himself, “Who are you and how did you get here?”, The man just nodded at the question as he most likely understood Martin’s confusion.

The man then placed a hand on his chest and bowed respectfully, “I am Samuel De Sable, my apologies to you Martin Fairbirdges”.

Martin’s eyes widened, “How do you know my name?”

Samuel just shrugged, “blood gives many things to a person of my social status”.

Martin was now greatly confused at this persons comment, what did he mean by mentioning his blood, “Ok, now answer me this, where is that corpse that was here a minute ago?”, Samuel just spread his arms flashing a toothy grin as if to say, right here. Martin took a step back in fear of this revelation and because he also noticed the canine teeth on the top of Samuel’s mouth were slight longer than normal and sharper as well.

Samuel lowered his arms and tilted his head slightly, “do not be frightened, I don’t want to kill you, personally, I want to thank you for your kind donation”, he then straightened up, “but in saying this I am the kind of man who believes in equal exchange, you gave me something of great value, and now I have given you something of equal value”, Martin was still filled with fear but didn’t understand what Samuel meant.

Samuel just sighed before continuing, “What I mean is, you gave me your blood so I might live once more and as we all know blood is the most valuable asset to all living creatures, so I have given you something that has been coveted by all living creatures”.

Upon this being said, Martin pointed right at the creature before him, “oh my god”, Samuel just smiled as the human came to the realization, “Yes, mister Fairbridges I am indeed a vampire”. Martin immediately yelled at the creature in anger, “WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!!!”

Samuel looked taken aback by the outburst, “I have given you the gift, but I understand your anger toward me and I am truly sorry, but what’s done is done”, Martin just shook his head in disbelief at what he had said, there Is no way vampire’s existed they were just in movies and books about moody teens.

Martin now asked one question which had bothered him the first time he laid eyes on the bloodsucker, “how did you come here, I’m the only human that has ever come to Equestria and-“

He was cut off by Samuel laughing slightly, “Is that what those pompous princesses told you?”, his laughing subsided, “oh, how they excel in keeping dark and shameful secrets from those who don’t need to know”

Samuel then regained his composure and spoke in a serious tone, “You see I and my coven came to this world in the time it was ruled by a being known as Discord, he said he had been keeping an eye on our race and brought us to Equestria to keep our species alive, and to wreak chaos as we saw fit to which we happily obliged”, he then began to reminisce more deeply, “the nights were long and the days were short, as was the way Discord ran things, this gave us ample time to feed and propagate ourselves with greater speed and efficiency”, he then took on an irritated tone, “then those dammed alicorns imprisoned Discord, and we were forced to hide and feed as we had always did, but we did not expect that the Princesses controlled the sun and moon”, his tone then dropped to a saddened one, “we were hunted to the point of extinction, only I and few of my coven survived, some were foolish enough to still feed, others hid where they were told to and I remained here until such time as I could bring my brethren and sisters back from oblivion to take back what was stolen from us”

Martin then narrowed his eyes when Samuel turned to face him, “and you think Im going to allow that, not a chance”

Samuel sighed, “You couldn’t stop me even if you tried, your still weak from the process and your original abilities have left you”, Martin was about to speak but was silenced by Samuel, “yes I know about what you could do, as I told you your blood taught me much about you, and how the world is now, it has truly been a long time I might just have to go back and start again when I’m done here”

Martin then pointed at him once more, “That’s not going to happen, I may not get my abilities back, but I’ll stop you no matter what”

Samuel just raised his hands to the sky and spoke in an exasperated voice, “WHAT is WITH you, you’re old abilities augmented you, it was pathetic”, Martin lowered his hand, “what do you mean old abilities?”

Samuel smiled, “Those abilities you had before are weak compared to what you will soon gain, your strength will return first, but then you will move faster than ever before, you will be as silent as a whisper and your senses will be incredibly acute to all things, and soon you will gain powers that no mortal could ever dream of, but I’m afraid our time here is done”, Samuel stepped aside revealing an unconscious Silverpick, “It is night now, so you will be able to return from whence you came with your associate”.

Martin walked past Samuel and hoisted Silverpick on his back with great effort, Samuel then pointed to an opening at the far side of the wall behind him indicating the exit, Martin then approached the vampire, “this isn’t over, capiche?”

As Martin walked away Samuel said one last thing, “You know while I’m out one night, I might have to visit the one known as Rarity, even her name sounds deliciously elegant for a pony”

Martin then cast a, “touch any of my friends and ill rip your f*&^%ing head off” look and walked into the tunnel and out of sight. Samuel then reached behind the altar he had been when he was a corpse and pulled out a makeshift stone chalice filled with fresh blood and chuckled. Twenty minutes pasted by until Martin was once more above ground, he gently deposited Silverpick to his father then he left for a nearby lake. When he reached the lake he looked at himself in the surface of the dark waters and almost cried out in fear, staring back at him was indeed Martin’s face except for a few things, his skin was pale; his irises were the colour of blood and seemed to glow ever so slightly in the dark, and he looked at the canines on the top of his mouth that were now sharper than before and had gotten slightly longer since the last time he checked. He immediately washed of all the dirt, grime, and dried blood off of himself and looked down the front of himself and sighed.

Running down from the rightside of the collar down to the waist of the T-shirt he wore when he first arrived was a large blood stain, “Rarity’s going to have a conniption when she sees this”, and he then ran as fast as he could muster back toward Ponyville.

Twilight was pacing in front of her friends checking off various locations on a clipboard of places they had already failed to find Martin, “Alright everypony, we need to expand our search outside of Ponyville’s borders”

Rarity nodded slightly nervous, “But Twilight, its dark out and shouldn’t we trust Martin to come back of his own accord, after all he can punch through solid stone like it was cheap paper…. so to speak”

Twilight acknowledged this, “that may be true, but there might be something out there that he might not be able to overcome, and as his friends we have to try everything in order to ensure his safety and-“

All of a sudden a knock was heard on the door of Twilights home, Pinkie bounced up and opened it, “FOUND HIM!” she yelled. Martin stood in the doorway as everypony looked in shock at their human friend who just weakly smiled at them, “Hey, sorry I made you worry”, when he walked into the light they got a better look at him and Fluttershy immediately hid, Rarity fainted at the sight of the blood, everypony’s eyes widened as they looked at how Martin looked since they last saw him.

Twilight then spoke in an absolute worried tone, “What in the wide wide world of Equestria happened to you?”

Applejack pointed, “Yer skin an teeth”

Pinkie was even frightened, “and your eyes”

Martin just raised his hands, “it’s a long story, but I’m still the same Martin you guys know, nothing’s changed about that”