The moon shines brightly over Ponyville. The trees sway slightly in the breeze. A wind chime sings it's lonely tune into an empty night amidst the whispering of rustling bushes, for nopony still walks among the waking to hear it. Well, almost nopony…

"Could you please hurry up?" comes a voice from thin air.

"Hey," replies a second, higher pitched voice, "climbing is hard."

"No! It's not hard! You literally just have to stick your hooves to the side of the house and start walking," fumes the first speaker. A couple tense minutes pass, barely audible taps nearing the roof as the owner of the second voice continues climbing.

"By the light of the Moon, finally. Could you possibly have been any slower?"

After a pause, a slight scraping sound comes from the side of the house as the invisible climber slowly begins to descend.

"Nononono… " a faint, hazy shadow forms in the air as the owner of the first voice quickly leans over the edge, at long last dragging their intransigent companion onto the roof.

"There we go," the shadow sighs, its shroud of darkness falling away to reveal a batpony mare with a midnight blue coat, a dark grey mane striped with various shades of lighter grey, and a cutie mark showing tendrils of light blue mist. Blood red irises surround her slitted pupils rather than a thestral's telltale yellow however, her slightly larger ears moving independently of each other to track the nighttime sounds around her as she opens her mouth to speak once more, the brightness of the moon enough to make the pointed teeth lining her upper and lower jaw easily visible. "Come on Dawn, let's get this over with."

The shadows dissipate from the second figure, revealing a smaller not-quite-batpony filly with an off-white mane highlighted by pink and a coat the color of evenly roasted marshmallows, "You know Midnight, you don't have to babysit me. I'm old enough to hunt on my own!"

"You'd be a lot more convincing if I hadn't just waited half an hour for you to get up here. Besides, you're not even venomous yet. What are you gonna do, take a bite and hope they don't feel anything?"

Dawn pouts, "Fine… I was just trying to help, since I know you'd rather be nibbling on your coltfriend… "

"C-coltfriend?!" Midnight sputters, an invisible blush spreading across her face. "He's not-"

"Aww, really? But you just spend so much time together~" Dawn teases.

"He doesn't even know I exist! He doesn't even know our species exists! How could he possibly be-" Midnight closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Look, are you hungry or not? Because if you're not, then I have other things I'd much rather be doing."

"Like nibbling on your-"

"No! Like… uh… reading. Or throwing rocks at a hydra. Or… uh… " Midnight's mind races, frantically trying to come up with some other activity to add to her list, "you know… other things."

I really need to find another hobby

"But you can't! Mom and Dad said so after you almost got those mares killed last time-"

Midnight puts a hoof on her sister's mouth, cutting her off, "I'm going inside now. If you want to drink, you can stop talking and follow me."

Without waiting for a reply, Midnight turns on her heel and walks several steps across the roof to a closed window. Looking through it she sees a darkened room, though her eyes can still discern every detail clearly. It is full of nothing but boxes.

Perfect. Now, let's see…

She grabs one of the window's horizontal crossbars in her mouth, pulling outward lightly, then harder as it starts to give. With a small amount of effort, the window swings wide open.

Midnight smiles in satisfaction, I love it when ponies don't lock up at night. It makes this so much easier.

Donning the shadows once more, Midnight steps inside, Dawn following closely behind. Her ears twitch as she moves forward cautiously, examining the room more closely to make sure that there is truly nopony within. Satisfied, she looks towards the door leading further into the house just as a sudden gust of wind slams shut the window they had entered through. Dawn lets out a startled yelp and stumbles forward into the back of her sister's legs.

"Yeah, you are so ready to hunt on your own, getting scared by windows," Midnight snickers, then pauses as her ears once again swivel towards the door. Dawn opens her mouth to respond, but before she can do so, her sister shushes her.

"Sh! Somepony's coming!"

Dawn hides behind one of the larger boxes while Midnight quickly scales the wall, crouching upside-down on the ceiling with her eyes locked on the door. A grey pegasus with crossed golden eyes enters the room yawning. Her eyes more or less fall on the now slightly ajar window, having bounced open again from the force of the impact. Starting forward, the half-asleep pegasus navigates between the boxes like a pinball, only changing directions after bumping into an obstacle.

Upon reaching the window, she grabs the handle with her mouth, closing and locking it before letting her forehead rest against the cool glass with a sigh, a soft snore emanating from the mare mere moments later. Midnight snorts and silently sneaks across the ceiling until she is right above the snoring pony. Detaching her forehooves from the ceiling, she carefully stretches down and bops the mare on the head.

Jerking awake with a yell of "Muffins!" the pegasus rubs her head, looking at the ceiling angrily. Midnight stares back, a thrill of power rushing through her as the pony stares straight into her eyes, yet sees nothing. Said pony, seeing only moon-cast shadows, turns and eventually finds her way out of the room – though not before fishing a muffin from one of the many boxes. Midnight listens intently, several tense minutes passing until a door is heard closing elsewhere in the house.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Midnight climbs down from the ceiling while Dawn comes out from behind her box. Both standing in front of the now open door, they move forward, following in the hoofsteps of their oblivious prey.

The two sisters silently move through the darkened home, pausing frequently to listen to the quiet creaks from the house shifting in the wind to be sure that it isn't somepony moving around instead. Midnight's heart beats faster as they continue making their way deeper into the home, the sensation from the muffin storage room returning ten-fold as she moves through the lightless hallways, the thrill of the hunt sharpening her senses and keeping her body pleasantly on edge. She smiles darkly, licking her lips in anticipation of what is soon to come – then pauses, taking a moment to focus as they approach their first target.

Maintain control. Let your instincts guide you but not control you. Losing control leads to… bad things.

Now somewhat calmer, Midnight lets her breath out slowly and moves to a door that's not quite closed all the way. Putting her ear to the crack between it and the floor, she hears faint snoring from somepony inside. She smiles.

Jackpot

Turning the knob all the way to the left and holding it there, she quietly pushes the door further open. Once clear of the frame, she slowly lets the knob return to its resting position and continues to open the door. Midnight's smile widens as it makes no sound at all.

Unlocked windows, well greased doors… this is just too easy. Maybe I should feed here more often.

After they enter the room, Midnight closes the door, turning the knob before the latch hits the doorframe and then slowly releasing it when the door is flush with the wall.

Not exactly hi-tech, but least we'll hear the door opening first.

Turning, Midnight and Dawn observe the pegasus laying spread-eagled on the bed before them. Moonlight shines through the window of her room brightly enough that even a normal pony wouldn't have much trouble seeing, giving the space an ethereal quality – though the effect is somewhat lost due to the many images of muffins covering not only her blanket and pillowcase, but also nearly everything else in the room

Midnight glances at a lamp with a muffin as a base and an upside-down muffin wrapper as the lampshade sitting on the nightstand next to the bed, chuckling inwardly as she and Dawn stand silently watching the pegasus for several minutes, making sure she is really asleep rather than just dozing. Once it is clear the pony is completely asleep, the sisters let their shadows fall away. Midnight approaches the bed with Dawn following close on her heels and begins to search for a good place to bite.

"Let's see here… " Midnight murmurs to herself as she carefully inspects the closer of the mare's hind legs, her eyes glowing a soft red to reveal the bloody, pulsing lanes within – crisscrossing, merging, and splitting randomly like a Discordian super-highway.

Picking the right location is very important after all. Pick too small a vessel and my venom wouldn't spread fast enough. Pick too large of one and the pony might die, not to mention the mess blood spurting everywhere would cause.

And unlike those silly novels, killing this kind of prey unnecessarily is really stupid. It'd be like… like… harvesting apples by chopping down the tree. It just doesn't make any sense to waste a perfectly good tree like that.

Midnight rolls her eyes and cuts off the internal chatter, having found the perfect place. Tapping Dawn on the shoulder to get her attention; she bares her fangs and sinks them into the sleeping pony, sweet warmth flowing into her mouth as another warmth exits her two fangs into the appendage held by her jaws.

The mare gasps slightly at the pain before it gets numbed by the venom and stirs, adrenaline from the brief unpleasant sensation warring with the rapidly spreading numbness. However, after several moments of semi-conscious movement, she fades back to sleep mumbling, "Chocolate muffins… aren't supposed to bite… "

Feeling Dawn pressing up to her side, Midnight carefully removes her fangs from the wound while making sure to keep her lips sealed around it to prevent any blood from leaking onto the sheets. She pauses, and then quickly releases her hold and moves out of the way. Dawn instantly latches onto the wound, letting no blood go to waste. Her task complete for the moment, Midnight sits back and savors the taste, though she is far from sated.

Well, at least two ponies live here, she thinks as an anticipatory grin spreads across her face. I'll have my fill off this one's mate soon enough

Dawn taps Midnight on the chest once she finishes feeding, Midnight leaning back over to the wound as Dawn detaches herself from the mare. Her red eyes glowing slightly, Midnight lets out a deep breath on the wound, the blood the coagulating and hardening almost immediately. As she finishes her breath, the newly formed scab begins to flake off, revealing nothing but two small points of fresh skin.

"Good," Midnight says as she looks over at Dawn, "now go back home, I still need to-"

She stops mid sentence, her ears swiveling towards the door and twitching slightly. Dawn opens her mouth to ask, but a glare from Midnight quiets her. Silence.

Then comes an almost inaudible *clop* from the top of the stairs at the end of the hallway.

Quickly turning back to Dawn, she motions for her to hide underneath the bed, then once again fades into the darkness as she scales the wall and takes up a position crouching on the ceiling. The hoofsteps grow closer until whoever's outside is standing right in front of the door. Midnight tenses as the doorknob turns, and the door opens.

A stallion walks in and a shiver goes down her spine as she automatically starts to take a step away before catching herself, scowling.

What was that? I'm the predator here!

Nevertheless, her instincts insistently whisper that there is something very wrong with this newcomer. She eyes him from her place on the ceiling, examining him closely as he takes another step into the room while doing her best to silence the irritating uneasiness that his presence brings.

Earth pony, dull red coat and mane, cutie mark is a…

She squints at his flank, trying to make it out, but it's faded like chalk that's been through a storm – unrecognizable. He takes another step, licking his lips as he sees the mare out cold on the bed. The motion draws Midnight's focus to his mouth, and her eyes widen in shock.

Why does he have fangs? Is he a vampony too?

Her eyes skim his sides, but find nothing.

He can't be, he has no wings. And the rest of his teeth are flat. Is he some kind of mutant? His ears are wrong too, they're normal pony ears. What's going on here?

The not-pony takes the remaining steps necessary to bring him next to the bed while Midnight attempts to unravel the mystery, his eyes focused on a single point as a trail of saliva trickles over his chin, a droplet falling onto the blankets. Midnight stares at him, dumbfounded.

Please tell me he's not planning on…

The stallion bares his fangs with a growl and descends towards the sleeping pony's neck.

Shit!

Midnight releases her grip on the ceiling while unfurling her wings. Then with one powerful flap she rams into the creepy pony. His mouth snaps shut from the impact, barely missing the fortunate mare and instead piercing her muffin-y blanket. Falling on the other side of the bed, Midnight quickly jumps to her hooves and skitters away from the stallion. He spits out the blanket from his mouth and hisses at her before getting to his feet as well.

Midnight glares at him, wings still flared, "What do you think you're doing?! You were going to kill her you-"

The rest of her exclamation dies in her throat however, the pony across from her staring back with eyes brightly pulsating a dark, sickly shade of red.

A male voice calls out sleepily from somewhere else in the house, "Derpy? Are you alright?"

Midnight looks away, distracted by the voice, and with another hiss the stallion lunges at her.

"Midnight!" Dawn screams as she watches from under the bed.

With no time to dodge, Midnight braces herself and raises her forelegs in an attempt to block the other pony's attack. The attempted defense proves useless however, and a solid crack resounds through the room as his hoof connects with her left foreleg, breaking it easily. Midnight chokes back a scream as she staggers, accidentally putting weight on her now broken limb.

Panicked hoofsteps of the house's only other occupant sound from near the now open the door to the room, "Derpy! What's going on?!"

Panting from the pain, Midnight looks back at her attacker just in time to see him preparing to buck her in the side.

"Oh" is all she manages to get out before his hooves impact her, sending her flying across the room into a dresser, wings falling limply beside her. A half eaten muffin falls on her, the pain caused even by that reinforcing the fact that at least several of her ribs are broken now too. Looking over towards the bed, she sees Dawn cowering underneath, seemingly unable to process what's going on.

"Dawn!" Midnight yells as loud as she can, though the pain from her broken ribs makes it difficult and she fades out half way through. "What are you doing?! Run!"

Dawn's eyes refocus on her sister and she hesitantly starts moving towards the door.

"NOW!"

Dawn jumps a bit, startled, but then draws the shadows around her and dashes out the door into the hallway. Midnight coughs from the exertion, a few specks of blood hitting the floor.

That can't be good. I need to get out of here or else I'm gonna… I'm really gonna…

She swallows hard, cutting off that train of thought and struggles to her hooves, doing her best to ignore the pain from her broken bones and bruised wings.

The window's my best bet. I don't care what that other thing is, it doesn't have wings. It can't fly.

A split-second after Dawn escapes, another stallion enters to room, a worried expression on his face.

"Derpy, you didn't break the floor again… did you… " he trails off as he takes in the scene before him – an unknown pony limping, another unknown pony baring giant fangs at him, and his wife out cold between him and said fanged pony. He pauses, his mouth hanging open slightly as the cogs in his brain creak back to life, discarding all extraneous information being presented by his eyes in light of one simple fact. Letting out a roar that would've done a dragon proud, he charges the strange pony opposite him, doing a half spin as he passes over his wife, plants his front hooves as he lands, and bucks the fanged pony in the chest with all the strength he can muster.

Limping as quickly as she can while the two stallions stare at each other, Midnight approaches the window.

Alright, step one: get to window: check. Step two: break window…

WHAM

A body collides with hers, breaking through the window and sending them both tumbling down into the street below. Her ears ring loudly and her vision goes completely white from the pain upon impacting the ground, before blissfully fading away into unconsciousness.