Twilight was in the library once again, but surrounded by far less books than before and, instead of reading two books at the same time, she was reading a single book.

"Here it is! 'Son of the Dragon' was the title given to Vlad III (131 CE – 176 CE), also known as Vlad the Impaler." she read out loud. "His father, Vlad II, was known as Vlad The Dragon, and received this title after being inducted into the Order of the Dragon, which was founded to overthrow the Princess and separate the three tribes once again. The plan was a failure and the Order was disabanded, though the House of the Dragon kept working in the shadows, making deals with all sorts of creatures to accomplish their goal."

"Vlad III was last seen in 176 CE, and his whereabouts were unknown until the year 220 CE, when a crypt was found in Hollow Shades, with the words 'This is the resting place of the Son of the Dragon'." Twilight put down the book and sighed. "History is a very interesting subject, but none of this is helping me in the slightest."

She rest her head on top of a pile of books. "If only I had a spell that could send me back in time to Ancient Equestria, so I could see with my very own eyes what--" her eyes widened. "Ancient Equestria, that's it! They still used the ancient Equestrian language back then!" she levitated some more books from the shelves and opened them on the table. After translating the name she gasped.

"In Ancient Equestrian, 'Son of the Dragon' means 'Draculea'! If the Son of the Dragon is a vampire, then that con only mean one thing!"

Her train of thoughts was interrupted by an explosion, followed by screams coming from above. She immediately left the library and ran upstairs, freezing when she finally reached the second floor: several vampires had invaded the HQ through a giant hole in the wall and were attacking all the members that were unfortunate enough to be there at the time, sucking all of their blood out of them, killing them instantly and not giving them the chance to come back as vampires.

Twilight immediately teleported to the Chief's office, since it was the most secure place due to the reinforced doors and windows. Apparently she wasn't the only one who had that idea, since some other ponies were there as well.

"What is going on here?" Twilight asked.

"They came out of nowhere." a mint-colored unicorn said while tending to an injuried cream-colored earth pony who was lying on the floor. "We were taken by surprise, and there are so many of them, the only thing we could do was hide!"

"Where's the Chief?"

"I don't know. We came here hoping that she had some sort of super weapon or something to protect the HQ, but she was gone!"

"Well, in that case, there's only one thing left to do." Twilight said as she levitated all the bookshelves in the room, using them to block the door an the large window. She then levitated the two crossed swords mounted on the wall and gave one to the unicorn while keeping the other. "Hold the fort! Remember to cut off the head, otherwise you'll be just slowing them down."

The unicorn nodded and Twilight teleported away, reappearing on the corridor outside the room. The vampires were startled, but immediately got ready to attack.

"Yes, come at me!" she challenged them. "Let's see how good you Neck-Suckers can be." she swinged the sword around. "Just a warning, though: I killed my first vampire when I was nine years old, and I've gotten a lot better since then!"

The vampires hissed, but just when they were about to attack Twilight, an unicorn jumped over them from behind. She had a dagger clenched between her teeth and, with the help of her magic, she created a large blade made out of magic around the dagger. With a powerful swing, she cut off the head of several vampires, but not all of them. The survivors immediately flew out of the hole they came from.

"Thanks, Trixie!" Twilight said.

"Don't mention it." she said while cancelling the spell, turning her weapon back into a simple dagger. "I should be the one thanking you for keeping their heads turned to the same direction. I don't think I would have been able to take care of them on my own!"

"That was a powerful spell you just cast. Why don't you use it more often?"

"That's what I like to call my 'last resort' spell. Super powerful and stuff..." Trixie then fell on her rump. "...but extremely exhausting..."

Twilight helped Trixie stand again and wrapped her foreleg around her neck. "I'll take you somewhere you can rest."

"Thanks. By the way, that was a nice bluff! ' I killed my first vampire when I was nine'! I swear, I saw half of them flinch."

Twilight chuckled. "That wasn't a bluff!"

"You... What? You're kidding, right?"

"Well, my brother landed the killing blow, but I helped quite a lot?"

Twilight stared at her for a moment. "Are you even real?"

While on their way back to Chief Harshwhinny's office, an earth pony crossed their path.

"Oh, there you are, Chief!" Twilight said.

"Isn't this supposed to be your day off?" she asked.

Since the carriages weren't unavailable at the moment, Rainbow Dash had to carry Applejack to the L.R.E. HQ. They were currently hiding in the bushes, watching.

"It's finally our day off, and this happens." Dash whispered. "Why this sort of thing only happens during our day off?"

"Eyes peeled, RD." Applejack warned. "There are enemies ev'rywhere, we don't want 'em sneakin' up on us!"

"Right, right. You never told us the plan, though! What are we doing here in the bushes instead of there, kicking each and every flank that crosses our path?"

"If ya wanna destroy the hive, aim for the queen." Applejack said. "First, we find the leader of this attack and take 'em out. After that, the rest will be easy pickin's!"

"Do we even know who is that leader?"

"That's why we're hidin' in the bushes!"

It didn't took long for a pony they knew very well and hardly knew at the same time to walk out of the front door. The vampires standing outside immediately saluted her.

"The Organization is out of the way." Chief Harshwhinny said. "The path is open! The Princesses will fall tonight!"

All the vampires outside the HQ cheered. But to an outsider, it didn't sound like cheering at all; it was just a very high-pitched collective scream that made Applejack and Rainbow Dash cover their ears.

But, just as soon as the cheering started, it stopped and all the vampires stared at nothing, with a blank expression on their faces. Chief Harshwhinny was the first to grin.

"He's on his way!" she shouted. "After so many centuries, Lord Dracula is finally returning!" her maniacal laughter was louder than the new round of cheering of the other vampires.

"That no-good rattlesnake." Applejack whispered. "She's been mastermindin' ev'rythin' all this time."

"It makes sense, too. Remember what Flash said?" Rainbow Dash asked. "He said he was instructed by somepony with a higher rank than a captain's!"

"Yeah, accordin' to Trixie, the Chief has the authority of a Lieutenant Colonel! How did we not notice that?"

"That explains why he was in her office the day Twi was taken by him!"

The vampires formed two lines and walked toward the edge of the cliff, then jumped and took off. They watched as every single one of them flew away, except for one.

"Where's Chief?" Applejack asked.

"If I'm not mistaken, today is your day off." Harshwhinny, who was standing right behind them, said. Rainbow Dash and Applejack immediately jumped away from her, assuming a fighting stance. "Then what are you doing here?"

All the vampires invaded the castle at once, subduing all the guards that tried to stop them. Many were injuried, some died, others were taken hostage. The Princesses wanted to do something, but while their subjects were endangered, they were powerless. Suddenly, the main doors opened and two ponies walked in.

The first was a mare, also known as the Chief of the L.R.E. Organization, Ms. Harshwhinny. She was accompanied by a pony Luna has never met before, but Celestia knew very well.

"It's been a long time, Dracula." Celestia said.

"Please, Celestia, you know you can call me Vlad!" he said in a very smooth voice. The stallion had blue coat, white mane, a pointy goatee, equally pointy ears and was wearing a black cape. His blue eyes were captivating, but his gaze was very cold.

"You are not Vlad!" she said. "Vlad died when he decided to follow his father's footsteps. All left behind now is a shell, a shadow of what he used to be."

"You hurt my feelings, Celly! That was his dying wish, I couldn't just say 'no'!"

"Yes, you could. But you chose him over Equestria! You chose him over peace! You chose him over everything that was worth fighting for!"

"It's what they say. Family comes first, right?"

"One day, you will fall, Dracula. The Elements of Harmony will--"

"Oh, you mean these Elements of Harmony?" he nodded to one of his minions, who pulled a chain. That chain was binding Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Twilight together. Luna and Celestia gasped.

"How did you--?"

"My little sweetheart here." he said while patting Harshwhinny on the back. "She's done a fine job since I left. And to think that I almost killed her when we first met! I'm glad that Belmont stopped me when he did, otherwise she wouldn't be one of us, just a pile of bones."

"I think it's time, dear." Harshwhinny said.

"Oh. Yes, that's right! Thank you! Well, Princesses, I'd love to chat some more, but I don't have time to waste. Well, as a matter of fact, I do, I just don't want to!"

Harshwhinny grabbed a bloody knife from her saddlebag.

"You're going to fall in due time, Celly. But first, I need to take care of those pesky Elements. Now, if you do--" he suddenly stopped talking. Dracula looked down at the knife that was stabbed in his chest and the orange hoof holding it. He looked at Harshwhinny, who was grinning at her.

"Sw... Sweetheart?"

"Dead pony's blood! It will keep you at bay." she said. "You think I liked being a vampire for five hundred years? I watched all my loved ones die around me. I nearly killed several of them when I could barely hold my bloodthirst! You know who was that Belmont who stopped you from killing me? My fiancé! He couldn't bring himself to kill me, so he killed himself in shame. I watched him hang himself with his own whip! You know how much it hurts? Of course not! You have no heart!"

She twisted the knife in his chest. "And you wanna know why I created the L.R.E. Organization? It wasn't a plot to make the Princesses trust me so we could strike, no! It was all to make you crawl out of your filthy den, so I could end you with my own hooves! Killing you won't bring my fiancé back or turn me back into a normal pony, but it brings me so much satisfaction!"

"Why, you..."

"Trixie, if you don't mind."

"Yes, ma'am!" the unicorn came through the front door, bringing with her a silver rapier coated in vampire blood.

Dracula chuckled. "The only pony I thought I could trust is the one who double-crossed me. There's a life lesson hidden somewhere between the lines! How did you get them to cooperate, even after you betrayed them?"

"I just told them everything before coming here. Honesty gets you everywhere!"

"Darn tootin'!" Applejack said with a smile as she straddled and punched the vampire that had been dragging them. The chain had a weak link, planted there by Harshwhinny herself, and the three mares freed themselves as soon as Trixie walked in.

"Well, it was nice catching up. Trixie, could you...?"

Trixie nodded and swung the sword. Dracula's head flew across the room, still with a smile on its face. Rainbow Dash grabbed her knives, all of them wet with dead pony's blood, and threw them at the vampires in the room.

"Bat hunting season is open!" Dash said with a grin.

Applejack, Twilight, Trixie, Rainbow Dash, Chief Harshwhinny and several other survivors stood outside the HQ, in front of a recently erected large memorial stone, with the pictures and names of all the members who lost their lives in that bloody night.

"I never meant for this to happen." Harshwhinny said. "I told them to not hurt a single pony, just tie them up or knock them out." she sighed. "I guess keeping secrets can be hurtful too..." she then took off her scarf, which had a purple and white L.R.E. badge pinned to it. "Well, I guess that's that. Trixie?"

"Yes, Chief?" Chief Harshwhinny wrapped the scarf around the unicorn's neck. "Wh-What is the meaning of this?"

"I am retiring." she said. "My business here is done. Besides, I don't think the ponies here would be very comfortable having a vampire as their leader, don't you think?"

"Bu-But, ma'am, I--"

"Good luck to you, Trixie. To all of you!"

Trixie looked around at all the ponies she was supposed to guide from now on, all of them staring directly at her with different levels of excitement. She looked back at her former Chief and nodded.

"I accept this responsibility, Chief Harshwhinny!"

"From now on, Ms. Harshwhinny will be fine!"

"Yes, ma'am!" she turned around to look again at her new subordinates. "L.R.E., salute!"

All the ponies, donkeys, griffins, zebras and sirens who proudly wore the L.R.E. uniform and flashed their badges saluted their former leader. She was strict and a vampire, but she also meant well and truly wanted to make Equestria a better place. After that last farewell, Harshwhinny smiled, nodded, saluted them back, turned around and left.

"Foolish mortals." the cloaked pony watching from the woods next to the HQ said. "Such ambition, even though they stand no chance against the evil that lurks in this world. They even think they managed to kill me! Foolish, foolish mortals. But again, that's also fascinating. I'll humor them. Let them believe they vanquished me! Those L.R.E. ponies truly intrigue me. I'll be watching their progress."

"Lord Dracula?" a high-pitched voice from a young mare called from behind him. "Your carriage is ready, do you intend to leave right now."

"Undoubtedly!" he turned around and followed the mare. "Until we meet again, L.R.E. But maybe, next time, not on the battlefield!"

Author's Notes:

L.R.E. is finally over. Sadly this didn't turned out to be what I had planned, I had to cut lots of edges, edit out lots of stuff and I rushed past many things (especially that ending. I'm sorry). I wish I could have turned this into something great, but it wasn't meant to be...
Well, at least I had fun for a while, and I hope you did as well!

P.S.: If you're a fan of "The Mysterious Maiden Do Well", I'd just like to write two words for ya: stay tuned!