Year 987 CE (Celestial Empire). Canterlot. Twilight Sparkle, age 9, walked down the streets of the capital of Equestria, her muzzle buried in a book like usual. All the other fillies around her age thought it was weird for her to be more interested in studies than friends, but they didn't bothered her with questions. She was snapped back to reality when she heard her brother calling:

"Twily? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hi, Shining Armor!" she said with a smile. "I wasn't really paying attention where I was going, I'm sorry."

"You should leave now." he said while nudging her with his head. "Something... Bad happened here."

"What happened?"

"No-Nothing you're supposed to know, Twily. Please, go home now, before--"

"Officer Armor!" a stallion called.

"Uh-oh..." he mumbled before turning around and saluting. "Y-Yes, sir?"

"Mind telling me who is that little filly and what is she doing in a crime scene?" a dark brown unicorn stallion with yellow mane asked.

"S-Sir! She's my little sister, sir! She was just passing by, sir!"

"Is that so?" the stallion stood in front of Twilight Sparkle, looking down at her. "Didn't you saw the 'Do Not Cross' tape back there?"

"I-I'm sorry, Mister, I wasn't looking at where I was going..." she said, feeling very intimidated by the bulky stallion.

"Is that so? What about your big brother here? He wasn't leaking information to the public, was he?"

"S-Sir, I would never--" Shining Armor started.

"Quiet, Armor. I am talking to the filly. So, was he?"

Twilight Sparkle shook her head.

"Oh, are you sure? But, looking at you, I can tell that you are quite the curious filly, aren't you? One of those who always has a book by her side?"

This time, Twilight smiled before nodding. Her love for learning was something that brought her pride and joy.

"Then why don't you come over here for a second?"

Before she could reply or Shining Armor could object, the stallion wrapped a foreleg around the filly and led her to a back alley not too far from there.

"Sir, I don't think she--"

"Remember when I said 'Quiet, Armor'?"

Shining Armor whimpered and silently followed them. Twilight's eyes widened when she saw what was happening in there: a few Royal Guards were examining the body of a pale mare lying on the ground. At first Twilight didn't know what was going on, but when the rancid smell of a rotting corpse hit her nostrils, she felt sick. Twilight's sight almost glanced past it, but she also noticed a pair of small holes on the corpse's neck.

"So, what's the causa mortis?" he asked.

"Sir!" one of the guards saluted him. "We'd say it was loss of blood, sir, but not a single drop was found on the crime scene. We have yet to confirm this, but it seems that she was... Well... Sucked dry!"

The sight was too disturbing for someone her age and Twilight tried to flee from the scene, but the Captain of the Royal Guard wouldn't let her.

"She this young mare?" he said, holding Twilight's head in place so she wouldn't be able to look at anything or anywhere else. The longer she stared, the stronger was the sensation of bile raising in her throat and tears running down her face. "We have no idea when or what killed her, but she was probably just a curious filly who ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, like you. So, I suggest that you look at where you're going. This time you ended up at a crime scene investigation. Next time, you might walk right into the next crime scene we will eventually investigate, and Canterlot will have one less curious filly wandering where she shouldn't! Are we clear?"

Twilight nodded as fast as she could, no longer trying to hold back her tears. The Captain then let go of her and patted her head. She immediately turned around and ran.

"Officer Armor, would you kindly escort that youngster back home?"

"Sir!" Shining Armor saluted him before running after his sister. "Twily, wait up!"

He caught up with her when she stopped to empty her stomach in a nearby trash can. Shining Armor sat by her side and aided her by rubbing her back.

"There, there, it's ok, it's ok." he said.

"Sh-Shining..." she said, turning her head to look at him, her eyes red due to the crying. "Am... Am I really going to end just like her?"

He picked Twilight up and hugged her. "Don't listen to the Captain, Twilight. He's just a big, mean jerk."

She hugged him back. "I-I was so, so scared."

"I know, I know, but it's over now. I will never let anything happen to you! BBBFF promise! Let's go back home now, okay?"

She nodded.

That night, Twilight did what she loved to do the most before going to sleep: she hid under her blankets with a lantern and her favorite books. Since her parents were very busy, they only got home after she was asleep and, with Shining Armor's new job as a Royal Guard, he was very tired when he got home and always went to sleep even earlier than her, nopony could read her a bedtime story, so she did it herself. She didn't wanted to accidently wake up her brother, whose bed was on the other corner of the room, with the light of the lantern, and that's why she hid under the blankets to read. But, that night, something unexpected happened:

Her reading session was interrupted by the sound of a trash can being knocked over right outside her window, which was right above a back alley. Twilight was always fascinated by pets, but since her father was allergic to cat fur and her mother was allergic to dog fur, pets were strictly forbidden in that house. She loved to observe and feed the street pets that took shelter in that alley.

Grabbing the can of treats she bought and hid under her bed, she ran straight to the window, opened it and looked around for the animal with the help of her lantern. But what she saw there wasn't a dog or a cat, but a mare and a stallion; the stallion was pressing the mare against the wall of her house and had his muzzle pressed against her neck. At first she thought they were doing adult stuff, but when she saw the look of sheer terror on the mare's face looking up at her, she knew something was wrong.

"HEY!" Twilight shouted. "LET GO OF HER!"

She then threw the can of treats at the stallion, hitting him on the head. He let go of the mare, who fell on the ground, then looked up at her. She felt the blood leave her face when she saw the face of the dark brown stallion with yellow mane staring at her with bright, glowing red eyes. She almost screamed in terror when he grinned at her. She immediately closed her window and sat on the ground, her heart pouding with nearly double the speed.

"Remember what I told you ealier today?" her heart now almost stopped when she heard that voice whispering those words in her ears. "Looks like Canterlot will actually have one less curious filly."

Twilight's body was frozen in fear. She wanted to run, she wanted to scream, she wanted to call her big brother, but her body wasn't responding.

The Captain of the Royal Guard was suddenly sent flying against a wall. Twilight turned her head and saw her brother standing behind her in a fighting stance. She couldn't see from where she was sitting, but he had an expression of pure rage.

"Officer Armor." the Captain said. "How dare you attack your superior?"

"Well, sir..." he said, the sir dripping with sarcasm. "...you can boss me around all you want, you can call me names, you can give me silly orders, you can humiliate me in front of my friends and my marefriend, but you will never, I said NEVER threaten my sister and get out without broken bones!"

He grinned again, showing his long, sharp and still covered in blood fangs. "This sounds like insubordination!"

"H-H-He's a vampire!" Twilight said. "I-I don't get it! He was in the sun, vampires burn when touched by sunlight, right?"

He chuckled. "For a bookworm, you sure are dumb! You shouldn't trust the words of novelists. We don't burn when we touch sunlight. We just get a little weak. Just a little! I can still crush pathetic excuses for guards like you, Mr. Armor, without even trying."

"A stallion, a captain, a vampire, you could be an Alicorn and I still wouldn't care!" Shining Armor said. "Twilight, go hide."

Twilight immediately hid under Shining Armor's bed. The vampire laughed!

"You call that hiding? If you think this will protect you from me, you couldn't be more wrong!"

"You are the wrong one, sir!" he said. "That's just so she won't get hurt by accident while I kick your flank!"

He laughed even more. "Oh, I can't believe you're serious! But this is your lucky day; I was feeling bored and looking for entertainment, so I won't kill you immediately. Now come, hit me with your best shot!"

Twilight watched as her brother charged against the stallion, but he dodged it with a jump, landing on Shining Armor's back with an elbow drop.

"Is that all? I taught you better, Armor!"

Shining Armor got up and charged against him once again. The vampire smirked and jumped once again, but the Royal Guard wouldn't fall for the same trick twice; the moment he jumped, Shining turned around and kicked him with both forelegs. The vampire hit the wall, making a large crack appear on it. But he simply got up and smiled.

"That's better!"

With a supernatural speed, the vampire headbutted the stallion, sending him flying. Before Shining Armor could get up, he sat on the unicorn's chest and proceeded to punch his face.

"There, now you got me all bored again." he said nonchalantly while punching the already swollen face of Shining Armor.

"GET OFF MY BIG BROTHER!" Twilight shouted as she cast a spell. The spell was supposed to push him away from her big brother, but it ended up throwing him out of the window.

While still in midair, a pair of bat wings appeared on his back and he tried to fly back up, but the moment he saw Twilight Sparkle's eyes glowing white, he deciced that retreating was the best option. The moment her turned around, though, he felt a tug on his tail and couldn't fly away anymore. He tried to flap his wings as hard as possible, but he wouldn't budge. He looked back and saw a magic rope wrapped around his tail. The magic rope was being cast by Twilight's horn, her eyes still glowing white. He saw Shining Armor getting up, holding the very spear he game him when the white unicorn graduated.

"You're dismissed, sir!"

Shining Armor jumped out of the window and, for the first time since his transformation, the vampire tasted of fear. The adrenaline made it easy for Shining Armor to trespass his Captain with the spear. When they fell on the alley, Shining was the only one to get up. He sat on his haunches and sighed.

"How am I going to explain this to the Princess?" he said.

"There's no need to!"

Shining Armor immediately looked up and saw the ruler of Equestria landing right in front of him, his little sister lying on her back, her eyes no longer glowing white.

"Pr-Pr-Princess Celestia!" he said while bowing. "I-It's not what-- I--- He-- We--"

She lifted her hoof and Shining Armor immediately shut his mouth. "I just one thing to say, Mr. Armor."

Shining Armor looked down, waiting for the Princess to tell him he would spend the rest of his life in a dungeon, but what she said was completely unexpected:

"You don't truly kill a vampire until you cut off his head."

Shining Armor looked up and saw her smiling down at him.

"Y-You know he...?"

"I suspected there was a vampire among the Guards." she said. "But vampires are very good at concealing their identitites, and I couldn't just arrest every single pony I suspected to be it! The moment I felt Twilight's magic surge, I knew something was wrong and came as fast as I could. To my surprise, the vampire was here and, to my double surprise, he was already defeated. By both of you!"

"So, I'm not in trouble?"

"Trouble?" Celestia giggled. "You deserve a medal!" she rubbed her chin with her hoof, pondering for a moment. "Well, your batallion will need a new Captain now. What do you say, Mr. Armor? Or, should I say, Captain Shining Armor?"

The information of his promotion took a few moments to register in his brain, but when it did, he saluted her. "I gladly accept your offer, Your Highness!"

The vampire, still lying on his belly with a spear on his back, chuckled.

"So that's how it works, huh?" he said. "I'm not even dead yet, and you already took my place?"

"Well, we can fix this immediately!" the Princess turned to Shining Armor. "Captain, can you finish the job? I have to check how's that mare he attacked!"

Shining Armor saluted her and approached his ex-superior.

"I taught you well, Captain Armor." he said with a chuckle.

"Want to know a fun fact?" he asked. "When I got home earlier today, Twilight was reading a very interesting book called 'Alice In Wonderland'! And that book has a quote that fits very well in this situation!"

"Oh, is that so? What, pray tell, is that quote?"

Shining Armor created a rapier with his magic and held it on his right foreleg, then raised it.

"'Off with your head.'"

And his head was no longer part of his cursed body.

Author's Notes:

Ok, I am done with the flashbacks! For now...
And today my college classes start again, so I have no idea when I'll be able to write more! Stay tuned!