"WOAH!" I shouted as I slammed on the brakes and let Luna pass me just in time.

"Haha! We take the lead!" Luna shouted in celebration.

"Remember what I taught you all those years ago Lulu? You made the mistake in battle with the Nightmare and got hit with a big rock and you're doing it now. Always be aware of your surroundings!" I shout back at her as I stepped on the gas again. Luna turned her head to say something but stopped when she realized why I stopped and let her pass as she saw the dreaded, spiky blue turtle shell fly past me. "You should use your rear view mirrors more often!"

"Oh buck us!" She shouted as she leaned forward in her cart. Trying desperately and futilely to outrun and outmaneuver the blue turtle shell.

"Language!" I chastised.

"Oh poo!" She shouted out just before the shell got her and sent her spinning off the road and into a pipe. She looked up as her vision cleared only to see what she had stopped next to. "The poo has been doubled!" She shouted as the Ba bomb went off, launching her back onto the tracks. I drove around a corner and hit an items cube and when the little roulette box on my dash board stops spinning I see that I got a banana peel. I look up and smile. It was the last lap with me holding first place and the finish line was in sight. I check behind me and gulp as I see Luna also got an item cube and now has three red turtle shells circling her for a moment but she quickly fires them off in rapid succession. I just keep going towards that finish line while keeping one eye on the mirror and when the first shell is about to hit I'm able to just barely avoid it with a quick swerve to the side and I was able to stop the second by dropping my banana peal to intercept the shot. But that last one struck true and I was stopped while being taken for a spin just before I could reach the finish line. As I was spinning I could hear Luna cheering happily as she passed me and just as my spinning was slowing down I'm hit again and again as all of the NPCs that were able to gain on us during the blue shell incident passed me up. When it all finally stopped and I was able to cross the finish line I was in 2nd to last place. The one actually in last place was Celestia who managed to get her cart stuck on the bridge. To far over to pull herself back but to jammed into the broken railing to fall in so that she can be fished out and put back on the tracks. How she managed to get herself into that situation within the first sixty seconds of the race was beyond me. It probably didn't help that until the last go around Luna would save an item to shoot her in the backside with at each passing. I then stop with a jolt as my cart bumped into Luna's which was now facing me and she was giving me the biggest shit eating grin as she showed off her first place medal. I just grin and give her a hoof/paw bump for pulling that last second win. Even if the fact that I got blasted by every NPC so they could pass me when I was inches from the finish line annoyed me greatly. With the game over we broke into a void.

"Well that was a fun game wasn't it girls?" I asked as I look to them and see Celestia walk up to Luna while glaring at her. "Well for most of us..."

"Is there something wrong dear sister?" Luna asked innocently.

"You know very well what's wrong. You kept shooting me in the plot!" Celestia shouted.

"We were merely trying to aid thee in getting free of the evil bridge that had defeated thee and held thee hostage." Luna responded while she held a grin that threatened to split her face.

"How does having a turtle shell stuck between my cheeks help me get out?" Celestia demanded.

"Well if something like that was shot into our royal moon it would make us jump verily high. We were simply attempting to create that effect to launch thou free of the vile bridge. Whom we remind thee is the one truly to blame here. For it was the one that forced us to take drastic action to secure thy safety." Luna said in a slightly higher voice as she struggled to contain her laughter.

"Girls." I said in a warning tone to get them to stop before turning to Luna. "Luna apologize to Celestia before she gets you back with the inevitable pay back prank. It will shorten the prank war that's coming considerably." I tell them but they just give me a strange look.

"Thou want a prank war shortened? Thou love prank wars. After thou were trapped in stone we even honored thou with a holiday revolving around it every April first because we noticed thou did the most pranking then for some reason. Every little colt and filly loves Rin's Fools day." Luna proclaimed. Oh so that's the holiday she mentioned on Nightmare night... Fitting.

"Yes but you two have more important things to do. I trust you're using the weights I gave you Celly." I say to her.

"Yes aunty, every day." Celestia said with a sigh as she rolled her eyes.

"Good. And the guards?" I ask them.

"As you advised after meeting him the warden of our dungeon has been promoted to drill Sargent and giving both of our soldiers proper training. Though we did cut a few of his ideas as going a bit far. He wanted to take them into the Everfree to fight monsters." Celestia said with a shake of her head.

"Yes my body guards told me about that. It also explains why they favor combat with my hydra in the combat pit as a workout." I say as I enjoy the looks of shock and horror on their faces.

"What!? But that's suicidal for those young earth ponies!" Celestia shouted at my words.

"Hey, the combat pit is a controlled environment. It's not like they were fighting to the death. Besides they always win." I say and get to enjoy the looks on their faces as their jaws hit the floor. That old pony reminded me of Garp from One Piece. Well his teaching methods. That pony was too high strung to be Garp. I mean the Everfree field trips started when they were ten but only because their parents refused to let them go when they were five. But the Equestrian military needs all the help it can get so I'll keep that to myself. He's close to retirement anyways and if Celly finds out he'll be sentenced to life for child endangerment. Not that I would disagree but desperate times and all. Besides I'll make sure he won't be teaching anymore kids. "They're good at training my other minions. Even all my zoo animals. Though they favor fighting the Hydra they make time for the others." I tell them as I wait for their brains to finish loading.

"Are thou serious!? If that's the case why are we training our guards to such an extent? Those two go beyond what we expect from our forces." Luna said.

"I thought that too when I first saw one of them in a one on one with him, assuming you can call a fight with a hydra one on one. But then I took one of the guards you left in my room and tested him with more reasonable sparring partners." I tell them as I show them some images from my memory. Three out of three matches lost to my weakest black knight, a minotaur. Three out of three losses against Trixie though she's been getting good with her spells and working hard to get stronger. He never completed even the first round against Cutup.

"That is the scariest bucking clown I have ever seen." Celestia said with wide eyes as she watched her guard running around the arena screaming and crying like a little filly as he tried to keep his distance.

"Normally I'd chastise you on your language but that was the effect I was going for with Cutup so its my fault this time." I say as I shift it to the last match which really proved my point.

"Now we know our guards aren't that bad but we will still be sure they get their training." Luna said as she watched the day guard fighting desperately against a bouncy ball to a stand still while Celestia was covering her face with her wings at the sight. Though they don't need to know it's high level. "What of thou aunty? Is the Nightmare giving thee any trouble?" Luna asked.

"She was a bit of a paw full at first but she came around. Besides she's not as much of a threat as she was. After I digested her for a while her power was cut drastically. Now her magic charged to maximum level is half that of the average unicorn and she needs to keep some of it reserved for nothing but sustaining her body so she can't even cast the truly advanced spells." I tell them.

"How much of a paw full?" Celestia asked suspiciously.

"Well she tried possess me to take over the place but she's far too weak for that now. Now don't you give me those looks you two I disciplined her. She also tried to possess Trixie but ran into a problem trying that. Check out this memory I got from her." I say as they see an image of the inside of Trixie's head from the Nightmare's prospective. As the image shifted left to right as the Nightmare looked around everything got darker and when I looked up we can see a giant blue plot coming down like the moon from Legends of Zelda Majora's Mask. The Nightmare didn't have time to react as it came crashing down on her with enough force to launch her out of Trixie and sent her tumbling across the ground.

"That doth be a strange mental defense, though we must admit it doth be quite effective." Luna said as the void returned.

"Actually that was her ego sitting down. I'm so proud of Trixie. When she first came to me her ego was twice that size! I'm glad to see she's improving." I say with a smile at their bewildered looks. "And about the Nightmare, I broke off a few splinters from my soul...Don't look at me like that they were so small they grew back in less than an hour. Each one for an emotion which I attached to her soul and they will be fed to grow in her with each experience and every time she uses the doll."

"You're giving the Nightmare the ability to feel things other than greed, pride and hate?" Celestia asked in surprise.

"Hey, its working. Slowly admittedly but it is." I tell them with a shrug. Speaking of making nightmares better how is Twilight?" I ask getting a glare from Celestia.

"First of all please don't call her that again. But she is getting some professional help about her obsessive need to learn everything and her scientific equipment has been confiscated until she has control of herself... I still can't believe she had an anal probe." She said as she shook her head with a face hoof.

"Right... anyways I think its time to get back on track. We played so lets get some training in before Lulu needs to go tend to the dreams of her subjects." I tell them as I think of a game for this.

"Not that zombie game from last time I hope." Celestia said with look of disgust.

"Don't like zombie games?" I ask her.

"No. And that one was particularly bad. The fat ones kept regurgitating on us. The smoky ones got far too fresh with their tongues and it was all too gory for my tastes." Celestia answered.

"And when we went to aid that crying witch mare and accidentally startled her she clearly overreacted!" Luna agreed.

"Well that's ok. I was planning on stepping things up a bit anyways. "I say as the area changed from an endless void to a much nicer landscape and the game title appeared above us.

"Ninja Gaiden? This game will help sharpen our minds and reflexes for battle?" Celestia asked as she looked up at the title.

I get a wide grin from her question. "Yes, oh yes it will. Muahahahahaha!"

"Aunty thou are rubbing thy paws together and laughing maniacally. It doth be making us uneasy... Stop it." Luna said with a commanding tone but with a look of concern in her eyes. I was about to reply to her when we were interrupted. You're creature is under attack!

>>"Sorry I got to go dream training canceled today!" I said quickly as I force myself back into the waking world and immediately focused on my keeper sight. When I focused on battle I'm surprised to see that my sight is being pulled away from my dungeon past the trees of the Everfree and into Ponyville to a strange house that looked like it had two different decorators that started at each end and met at the door. I could also see that the door was open with a piece missing where the handle should be. My vision then moved inside to see a heavily injured Vinyl and Octavia being attacked by a team of ponies dressed like the ponies that attacked me at the palace awhile back with the leader . And it looked like they were winning.

"You are a powerful vampire but you can't win against our righteous might! You and you're fledgling have tasted the blood of your last victims!" Bellowed the leader as he moved in to try to finish them. They don't appear to have anything to fight vampires with so if she dies she will return through the power of the graveyard. Unfortunately they're apparently planning to kill Octavia too and I can't pull her to safety because she's not my minion. So I hit Vinyl with the healing spell which caused her to get more confident knowing I'm backing her up and left her to protect her marefriend. I can't heal Octavia unless she's in front of me or in my territory without the connection of the heart so she will have to wait till I get there.

I then focus on my minions in my dungeon and found my bodyguards still awake and in their armor. I grabbed them and two other black knights, Cluck, a few flesh golems I created after my first one was damaged beyond repair by that Deathjack in Ax's world. I decide not to bring any skeletons because they wouldn't make any difference if those guys banged up Vinyl that much and even if they did I didn't want them wandering off into town. I then create a portal to Vinyl's and Octavia's house before dropping my minions in and jumping in myself.

(In Vinyl's and Octavia's home on the outskirts of Ponyville.)

I came out in the room next to the one that the fight was taking place in as my minions quickly readied themselves for battle when they saw what was going on. I had to give Vinyl another heal spell but when I looked to Octavia to heal her I froze when my necrosense alerted me to the fact that I was looking at a dead body. I looked back to Vinyl to see that she was attacking the leader with intense rage that most would be unable to see let alone avoid but this guy was far more skilled than Strong Heart 2 and speed aside she was too angry to think much in the fight and was only still going because of her vampire speed and she was able to keep her techniques do to muscle memory. The leader was dressed in what appeared to be leather armor with a metal helmet. It wasn't decorative like the knights from last time. It was purely functional. It was a testament to his skill that it looked like he hadn't taken any hits against Vinyl as he dodged around and occasionally landing a blow with his sword. His underlings had been staying back and watching the fight but when we showed up they had moved to wall us off from their leader and Vinyl and got into a ready battle position which my minions mimicked their movements and separated them from me.

Unfortunately Vinyl made a mistake and her opponent was able to move in with his sword. She was able to get in a good punch which gave off the sound of a bone going snap but the blade still went threw her neck and her head went flying for a moment before she turned to ash. He snorted and shook his head to get some of it off of his face. While he was doing this I was thinking of the best strategy to use against them. Which won't be so limited because they killed an innocent. The kid gloves were off for this one. Speaking of innocent their leader looked down on Octavia and approached her body with caution while keeping his sword ready. He poked her leg with the blade's tip once before quickly running her through the stomach with enough force the sword made it all the way through her and into the floor and when nothing happened I could see a look of confusion in his eyes.

"Why hasn't the fledgling turned to ash?" He asked in confusion.

"Because she was a normal, innocent earth pony and not a vampire or any other kind of undead." I tell him with controlled anger. He then looked over to me with disgust like I was covered in shit before he spoke.

"Filthy demon. Seeping your filth into everything you can and now this pony is dead because of you. Just one more reason to kill you." He said with the same controlled anger I just spoke with in a tone that said he was stating a fact. My anger spiked but I kept control of myself thanks to years of training. This bastard had the gall to blame me for the murder he committed. And his underlings are all looking at me like I had killed her myself.

"We had come to catch Vinyl Scratch to extract information from her about you when we found out what she was. But we also took into account that you might show up and we have a plan for just this situation." He said ominously as the unicorns in his party charged up their horns and cast a spell... Everyone took quick glances around to see what the spells did but we couldn't see anything happening.

"...Retreat!" The leader shouted as he and his troops bolted out the door. We all just stood there in confusion for a moment at their reaction. Not sure what just happened. I quickly shook the confusion from my head but before I could shout an order there was a loud crash and a flaming boulder came crashing down through the ceiling and knocked one of my black knights too the side, breaking his arm and setting it on fire only alive now thanks to the bone armor and in continued rolling to crushed two of my flesh golems. The others in its path were able to dodge it as it rolled into the next room and set it ablaze.

"Move!" I shouted as I grabbed my downed black knight and Octavia's remains and made for the door with my minions behind me save for my bodyguards who moved right in front of me which turned out to be lucky because when they burst through the door several arrows flew and hit, bouncing harmlessly off their armor. I create a basic barrier outside for us and we came out to see that they had stopped and were waiting for us.

"Some said it would be a waste of pony power and resources but I knew she could call for help. And we know you're building an army with some kind of recruitment spell. Though I honestly didn't think you would show up personally. My name is Hunter and on this day I vow to end you vile one even if I must crawl through the pits of Tartarus itself to do it!" He said in anger as I saw a small army of ponies, griffins, donkeys and a few buffalos and minotaurs moving in from the near by woods. My eyes furrowed at this. I suspected but now I'm 100% sure they have a spy in the palace for them to know about the recruiting thing. The sun had set recently so I could see the a flame close to the forest that came from a catapult that must have been what launched that flaming boulder that trashed the house. They launched another shot only this time what was launched was a barrel with a thick, burning fuse sticking out. With a quick glance I see the unicorns have created and maintained a strong barrier. Mine is too weak for a bomb that strong so I push out with my shield and send it back to land right behind the ones that attacked inside the house and quickly put up another low level barrier just in time to defend against the blast.

I look through the cracks in my shield and see that they're ok but the bubble protecting was unstable and slowly evaporating. The army was moving closer and we were outnumbered. I created a portal to my dungeon to bring in reinforcements behind the burning house to hide it before sending orders and grabbing more minions. I give a glance and see that the windows and doors were all closed and the streets empty. Good they're all hiding. I bring in an army of trained skeletons and let them run around the house and charge the enemy forces before pulling in some stronger minions and sending my injured black knight back into his bed. I will heal him later since the healing spell doesn't work well with broken bones if you don't set them first. The undead army surprised them at first but they quickly moved in to fight. The leader and his group stayed in the bubble and let them pass as they focused on me while I took the time to make a stronger barrier to protect us while I work. I can tell that the minions with me are itching to get out and fight except my bodyguards who stayed close to me.

When they realized I was charging something up they dropped their shield and attacked. Their strikes made more cracks but Hunter just melted the shield with his presents. Or should I say his magic resistance talisman? My black knights moved to the opening and forced him and some of the enemies back but some moved around and came at me. The twins held them off till I was able to bring up a stronger shield to protect the three of us as the flesh golems used the opening to move to attack the army. With the new shield up I used my powers to prepare one of my minions myself to get him here faster as the minions I ordered to come started showing up from the portal. First was Show Stopper in the Cutup body who instantly charged the army causing frightened shouts. Then came my rogues with bottle cap sized explosives to disable that catapult who snuck around the house.

Next was the resurrected Vinyl but not from the portal. She had run here directly from the dungeon with her bass cannon on her back using her vampire speed. Considering how fast she got here I have a feeling I'm going to need to fix the shifting maze between the dungeon and it's exit. I take time to pull the black knights away from Hunter much to their annoyance, dropped them back into the portal for them to come back and heal them just in time for Hunter to be blasted by the bass cannon. Now that he was temporarily off the battlefield I focused on my work before he could come back assuming he was capable after the landing. I was almost done when there was a loud boom as I look up to see a rainbow mushroom cloud and I saw Rainbow Dash attacking one of my flesh golems after she had obliterated several of my skeletons on her entry.

"Rainbow stop attacking the good guys!" I shouted which caused her to shoot back up into the air and looked at me in confusion. She looked at me, then the undead, the giant scary clown, the black knights. Then she looked at who they were fighting. In their white, heroic looking clothes and armor.

"Seriously?" Rainbow asked me with a skeptical look.

"Don't listen to the demon! It's a deceptive monster!" One of the white knights shouted up to Rainbow causing her to glare down at me.

"Ya that makes sence! Why would the aunt of the princesses be working with monsters!? You're some kind of shape shifting monster aren't you!?" She demanded as she flew at me. No!... well ok technically yes but I don't pull that trick often and it's an illusion not real shape shifting... and I'm not evil!

"No wait don't!" I shout but before I can finish the warning she collides with the shield which was the same energy eating shield the nightmare used. It doesn't steal magic like what Mr. Nibbles did but it sucks the energy out of it. If a magical being were to make direct physical contact with it, it's going to hurt. Rainbow screamed in pain when she hit and the energy inside her body was being forcefully pulled out of her to be used as fuel for the shield. She will be fine but she will need a good long power nap when this is done. Despite the danger I dispel the shield to free her, allowing her to fall to the ground where she groaned from the experience. Several of the archers and mages took advantage of the dropped shield and opened fire. I quickly cast the low level barrier but it didn't last long under the bombardment. My guards got in the way and took the shots that got through. The armor protected them as I gave my personal protectors full body armor. It was light enough for them to fight in. I grabbed them and Rainbow in my magic and jumped behind the cover of the burning house and set them down to see that Unyielding had the misfortune of having an arrow hit an opening in her armor and in her flesh but in her strong and silent type nature she pushed the arrow all the way through with a pained grunt and took it out the other side of her foreleg.

I heal Unyielding and thanked the twins before focusing on the portal and growing it bigger and bigger. I had finished prepping and brought in two minions. First was Crocodile as he flew up and landed before taking his whip from his belt in preparation. Next came Rhino in his steel body armor. He oinked excitedly before Crocodile whipped the ground to get his attention and get the giant bore to calm down and directed him to turn and charge the army. Directing his charge to avoid my guys and started plowing through the now panicking enemy troops that were quickly trying to get out of his way.

"With all do respect my lady. Why are you here? Can't you help the way you are from the safety of the dungeon?" Swift asked as I closed my eyes to get the keeper's eyes view and started healing the hurt minions. I frown when I see that I lost most of my flesh golems already. I'm starting to wonder if it's worth the effort to make them.

"I know that tactically speaking it would be best if I was but I can't cast against enemies unless I'm there and I'm the strongest caster." I stuck my head out to cast the turn cote spell on what I can tell is their strongest caster before pulling my head back before the magic blasts and arrows could hit me. "Though the fact that they're so focused on killing me specifically makes this more difficult." I say as the projectiles fly past me. "I wish I knew why they hate me so much." I say as I use my keeper sight to look at the catapult to see that my sabotage team had succeeded in disabling the thing so that's a relief.

The problem was Cutup. The ghost inside was fine but I can't use the healing spell on a fake body. Luckily few were willing to get close to it while Cutup was swinging his giant blades around and he was launching the firework frag grenades from his body but it wont last much longer. I was about to pull him back when there was a bright flash and I saw that Celestia and Luna had teleported in with their own forces. I smile at their much better reaction time. Even if Celestia was without armor. With the reinforcements of the girls and their guards the enemy sounded the retreat. The casters of their army tried to grab up as many of their downed troops as they could but I was having none of that so I casted the turn coat spell once more on the one carrying the most before shooting several others with thunderbolt spells just strong enough to disable them. While I was doing that I heard the sizzling sound of a lit fuse behind me and I turned to see Hunter behind me with one of those exploding barrels tied to his back and he was charging right at us.

"I told you I would slay you no matter what and I will!" He shouted as he charged at me with a look of malice and murder in his eyes. I quickly raze a basic barrier and started growing it to push him back but not fast enough and there was an explosion and I blacked out just after I got the feeling that I was flying.

I woke with a pounding headache in tight grip and the unmistakable sound of Luna screaming in her royal Canterlot voice right in my ears. "Uhhhh... Not this again. Luna stop, my head hurts enough already!" I complain as I try to wiggle out of her grip but again she refused to let go and I was so sore.

"Aunty! Thou are alright!" She shouted excitedly as she hugged me tighter.

"Ouch! Luna inside voice with my head so close!" I shout before casting the healing spell on myself to ease the pain

"Sorry aunty" She said in a normal voice as she held me tight against her breastplate and started nuzzling me. I just sigh as I look around to see the damage. The house fire was already put out and still being rained on by some storm clouds. The royal guards were keeping an eye on the captured enemy troops which I already decided I was going to use those memory orbs that Doom taught me how to make on to finally learn what this was all about and where the others are. I saw that Cutup was sitting with Pinkie Pie who instead of being upset at his appearance like I thought she would was actually trying to give him advice and jokes to make him a funnier clown. The other girls were with Celestia and I can see that Rainbow was awake and having something she clearly had trouble understanding explained to her. Probably that I'm really me and not evil. And Twilight had a... Wait.... No! Twilight had a psychiatrist with her that I was told would be helping her with her issues. But it was Dr. Wolf! Or a Dr. Wolf displaced. Well I guess it could be some kind of diamond dog but I doubt it with all of the similarities and even the same cloths. My black knights were celebrating their victory except for my body guards which I healed as they laid on the ground being watched over by a medic pony and my undead were thankfully being bound in magic so that they won't wander off. I'm saddened however when I see Vinyl crying over the body of her lover as she hugged it tightly and a pony with a body bag waited on the side. The sad mood was interrupted however when a certain pony spoke up.

"Ug Vinyl stop that! Get off me!" Octavia shouted which surprised everyone as she pushed Vinyl off her and looked around in confusion. I was confused myself until I noticed that she was still dead. Her soul had returned which could only mean one thing.

"Vinyl is any of that blood on her yours? Around the muzzle Specifically?" I asked as Vinyl got a look of understanding and sniffed Octavia's muzzle before nodding happily as she decided to mimic Luna by using Octavia as a teddy instead of me. She ingested vampire's blood then bled to death. She's been turned.

"Vinyl stop there are ponies watching everywhere. Royalty is watching!" Octavia shouted in a panic when she saw the girls. She looked around in embarrassment until her eyes fell onto the remains of her home. "...My cello!" She shouted as she took off at the house with Vinyl flapping in the wind as she clung to Octavia like she was a cape as Octavia started digging through the ruins at a speed that would put most diamond dogs to shame.

(past the night and after sunrise.)

Unfortunately Octavia lost her cello so I promised to buy her a new one of her choice to cheer her up and gave her a place to stay in my dungeon as my second vampire. The prisoners were safely transported to the palace dungeon where I immediately used the memory orbs on them before they could escape and a lot of extra security was placed on them. Finally I knew something about my attackers. Their name, capabilities, fighting styles and strategies. Unfortunately they didn't know where all of the bases were as they had some kind of system set up so none knew enough to seriously compromise the whole thing. So to stop them meant needing to take their organization down one brick at a time. As I was laying back in the bed I sigh.

"Can you let me go now?" I asked Luna as she hugged me while she rested comfortably in her bed and used me as a teddy bear.

"We say thee, nay!" Luna answered as she hugged me tighter causing me to give an uncomfortable wheeze as she fell asleep with a happy smile. This is going to be a long day.