Dashie the Vampony Slayer

by PlusWon

First published 21st of December, 2011

Rainbow Dash moves to the small town of Ponydale to escape her destiny, but that's not always easy.

A Buffy/FiM crossover starring Rainbow Dash as everyone's favorite snarky vampony slayer.
Rainbow Dash moves from Cloudsdale to a small town called Ponydale, hoping to escape her calling as a Vampony Slayer. However, on her first day of school, she meets a unicorn who claims to be her new Watcher. Soon, Rainbow discovers that an astronomical event may unleash a super powerful vampony called The Lord of the Vamponies. It's up to Rainbow and her friends to stop the Lord of the Vamponies before he rises up and destroys all of ponykind.

Special Thanks to:
~MatthewHouston on deviantART for the cover art
And my editor Princess Luna on ZeldaUniverse

Chapter 1: After Hours

The moon is shining unusually dim in the night sky, barely lighting up the “Ponydale High” sign in front of a large, ugly stone building. Two ponies, a blue stallion and a pink mare, sneak quietly onto school grounds, careful not to enter the gaze of any wary eyes. The two ponies hide behind a row of bushes in front of a window on the side of the school. The stallion pops his head up to check for any unwanted suspicion, and then breaks the window with his hoof. No alarms sound, but that was to be expected; Ponydale had enough budget problems as is to install any kind of quality security system. The stallion lifts the latch on the window, and then opens the window itself. He sweeps the broken glass out of the way and ushers the pretty pink mare into the building. He follows her into what appears to be a classroom. There are about thirty wooden desks in the classroom, all with hideous orange plastic chairs sitting upside down on top of them.

“Are you sure this isn’t illegal, Wild Scotch?” the pink pony asks timidly.

Wild Scotch brushes past her flowery cutie mark and shakes his head.

“It’s fine Daisy, just so long as we don’t get caught.” He winks at her mischievously.

Wild Scotch leads Daisy out of the light green walled classroom and into the hallway. The hallway itself is even less pleasant to the eyes. Metal lockers lined the hall as if they were a disorganized Black Friday line. With so many students and so little a school, the higher ups of the Ponydale School District decided they needed more room for lockers, so practically ever square foot of wall space in the entire hallway system of Ponydale High was covered in lockers. Fortunately, however, the ugly lockers matched the façade of the rest of the school.

“So you’re new here?” Wild Scotch asks, trying to coax the pretty mare into a conversation as they pass by a graffitied school banned that once read “Go Bookworms,” but now reads “No One Likes Bookworms!”

The Bookworm was Ponydale High’s much-hated mascot. Anypony charged to wearing the mascot suit during an athletic event, especially if Ponydale won said event, would undoubtedly end up either in the dumpster out behind the school or shoved into one of the gym lockers. Once the mascot was even kidnapped by a rival school and left about 5 miles outside of town. Mascot bullying had become such a problem that the school superintendent finally caved and discontinued the tradition of having students dress as the school’s mascot. However, some ponies still ironically dress as the mascot during school pride week.

“Just moved here over the weekend,” Daisy replies sheepishly.

“Well you should definitely check out Sugarcube Corner sometime. All of us brash young things hang out there,” Wild Scotch suggests.

Suddenly, Daisy stops in her tracks and kisses him hard on the lips.

“Are we alone?” She asks.

Wild Scotch nods dumbly, shocked and excited by the sudden display of affection. Daisy smirks sinisterly.

“Good,” She begins. Suddenly, her face morphs hideously. Her eyes and nose slit and her entire snout shrinks. She opens her mouth to reveal a set of shiny fangs. “We’re going to need some privacy.”

She lunges at Wild Scotch’s neck. He scampers backwards across the hall’s scratchy grey carpet in shock and fear.

“What…what are you?” He whimpers as he backs away.

Daisy gallops after Wild Scotch and tackles him into one of the graffitied lockers. She holds his front hooves with one hoof and his head with the other, leaving a clear path open to his neck. She licks her fangs excitedly.

“Now hold still, love, this’ll only hurt if you fight it!”

Chapter 2: First Days Suck

“Rainbow Dash. Sophomore transfer from Cloudsdale.” A tan, brown maned stallion sighs, placing her school record back on his desk and reverting his gaze to the pegasus mare sitting across from him. “Your rap sheet tells me that you were recently kicked out of a flight school for…” the stallion narrows his eyes in shock as he reads the text. “Destroying the gym with a sonic rainboom.”

The cyan, rainbow maned pegasus mare in question chuckles nervously and rubs her cutie mark: a white cloud expelling a rainbow lightning bolt. The walls of the office she is in are a tan color with various “motivational posters” hanging up on the wall. However, due to the pony that currently owns the office, the posters seem more intimidating than motivational. Rainbow quickly glances from the bronze placard on his desk that reads “J. Davenport: Principle” to Principle Davenport himself. In the back of her mind, Rainbow notes that the pony’s placard is much nicer looking than the pony behind it and, for that matter, the junk cluttered desk it sat upon.

“Well, you see, Principle Davenport, there were vamp-” Rainbow begins, but then catches herself, “eh. It was an old gym anyway. It was practically dying for a renovation.”

“You know what we at Ponydale call ponies like you, Miss Dash?” Mr. Davenport asks, eying her with a disgusted, accusing glare.

Rainbow tries to respond, but Davenport cuts her off.

“Delinquents. Juvenile delinquents.” Davenport snarls unforgivably. “However, here at Ponydale High, we’re accepting of all ponies, regardless of their…past mishaps.”

He taps a paragraph explicitly detailing Rainbow’s destruction of the gym judgingly. Rainbow gulps nervously and smiles. She knows full well that “past mishaps” is a gross understatement of her last few months in Cloudsdale. Life altering revelations, chosen by fate, and assaulted by destiny would all be much more fitting descriptions of that time. However, Rainbow hoped with the purest sincerity that that time was over forever.

“Well…what a perfect way to start afresh,” Rainbow chuckles amicably, “I’m sure-“

Mr. Davenport interrupts her. He leans towards her and growls, knocking over a quill holder as he does so. All of the quills, as well as a few tacks, staples, and a pair of scissors, are knocked onto the desk.

“But I’m warning you, Miss Dash. Any funny business, any at all, and I’ll have you expelled faster then Wonderbolts could fly in to save your rainbow flank. Capiche?” Davenport warns, purposefully ignoring the mess he recently created on the surface of his desk so he can focus all of his attention on the potentially troublemaking pony.

“Yes, very capichey. There’s capiche coming out of my ears, sir,” Rainbow says quickly.

Davenport doesn’t look convinced, but waves her off with his black-tipped hoof regardless.

“Alright, you can go. Your first class starts in five minutes. I expect to see you there no earlier than three minutes before it starts!” He growls.

Rainbow Dash nods and quickly trots off to her locker, glad to be done with that humiliating and slightly intimidating experience. Davenport begins cleaning up the spilled quills, staples, and tacks that are now littering his desk. When Rainbow arrives at her locker she realizes that in the heat of being told off by Principle Davenport she had forgotten her new locker combination. She fumbles around in her brown leather saddlebags for a moment. Quill, ink, stake, notepad. Where was the piece of paper she used to write down her locker combo?

Suddenly, she feels a tap on her shoulder. Instinctively, she swings around, expecting trouble. However, the culprit of the tap on the shoulder is a stunningly white mare. The mare looks about as neat and sophisticated as a pony from Ponydale could possibly appear. Her mane is expertly crafted as if it was a sculpture molded by a goddess. Her tri-diamond cutie mark shines as though it is made from polished marble. Not a speck of dirt, dust, or dander could be found on her entire body. The white pony brushes her purple mane back delicately.

“Excuse me, darling, I believe you dropped this on the ground over there,” The white pony states matter-of-factly, holding out a slightly dirty piece of paper to her.

Rainbow accepts the paper from her.

“Oh, thanks,” She replies, relieved that there is at least one thoughtful pony in this dismal place.

The white pony waves the thought away, as though the act was simply second nature to her.

“Oh, don’t thank me, darling, it was quite alright. I’m Rarity, by the way,” Rairty introduces herself with all the self-importance of royalty. She extends one of her spotless hooves to Rainbow Dash.

“Hi, I’m Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow accepts her hoof and shakes it.

“Oh, you’re the new pony, aren’t you? You came from Cloudsdale, didn’t you? It may not be as sophisticated as Canterlot, but it’s better than here. I hear that our new librarian is from Canterlot. Stuffy old pony, you’d think she’d be more classy, being from Canterlot and all-oh my Celestia, where did you get your mane done, darling?” Rarity exclaims in excitement.

Rarity stares at her expectantly. Rainbow hesitates. She usually brushed her own mane, but she knew full well that a sophisticated pony like Rarity would frown upon any answer that didn’t include an elegant boutique and a professional stylist.

“I do it…eh…it’s a place in Cloudsdale. Very elegant place,” Rainbow lies. “The best stylists in Cloudsdale.”

Rarity is taken aback, almost as if in awe that such a place exists.

“You must tell me of this place, darling. They’ve done an absolutely gorgeous job on your mane,” Rarity squeals in delight, “You and I are going to be the best of friends, Rainbow Dash. I just know it.”

Suddenly, a yellow, pink maned pony bumps into Rarity’s flank. Rarity rears around instantly and a dark look falls across her white face.

“Excuse me,” Rarity gasps, offended in the way royalty is when bumped into by a commoner.

The yellow mare cowers away from her.

“I’m so sorry, Rarity,” She whispers, quivering in fear.

Rarity snorts with contempt at the cowering yellow pony.

“Watch where you’re going, Flutterloser!” Rarity spits, “And you should save your apologies for whatever wretched soul ‘beautified’ that hideous thing you call a mane.”

Fluttershy cowers for a moment longer, and then turns and flies off down the hall, tears in her eyes. Rarity turns back towards Rainbow Dash.

“So, as I was saying, darling-“

But Rainbow is gone. Rarity looks around, confused.

“Darling?”

Fluttershy lies curled up on a smooth, well-sanded wooden bench in front of the school’s “fountain garden,” a place that could barely be called a garden, as it only housed a few flowers. Most of the “flowers” happened to be dandelions. She cries quietly to herself, soaking a small patch of the bench with her tears. Suddenly, she feels a hoof rest on her buttefly cutie mark. She opens her puffy tear-stained eyes. She can barely make out a cyan and rainbow blur standing next to her through her tear filled eyes. She quickly shuts her eyes once more and covers her face with her front hooves.

“G-g-g-go away!” Fluttershy stutters between tears. “Leave me al-lone!”

“It’s okay,” the cyan and rainbow blob assures her. “I’m not here to make fun of you. I think what Rarity said back there was terrible.”

Fluttershy sniffs and wipes a few of her tears away. She looks up timidly at the rainbow maned pony that is smiling encouragingly down at her.

“But you’re…o-o-one of her friends,” Fluttershy says, building up confidence one brick at a time. “Are you sure this isn’t just a…p-plot to make fun of me some more?”

Rainbow shakes her head and stands on her hind hooves. Fluttershy flinches.

“See I’m clean. No making fun of ponies in my future. And Rarity is not my friend. She mostly forced herself on me,” Rainbow explains. “I’m Rainbow Dash.”

Fluttershy sniffs and sits up. She dabs away the rest of her tears with a yellow hoof.

“I’m F-f-f-fluttersh-sh-shy,” Fluttershy stutters with slightly more confidence.

Rainbow sits down on the bench next to her.

“Nice to meet you, Fluttershy.” Rainbow smiles encouragingly.

Fluttershy attempts a timid smile.

“Nice to meet you too, Rainbow.” She retreats quickly, “You don’t mind if I call you Rainbow, do you? I mean I won’t if you don’t want me too. I shouldn’t have-“

Rainbow shakes her head.

“Rainbow is fine,” Rainbow Dash replies. “You can call me anything you want, except Rainbow Crash.”

Suddenly, a purple and green baby dragon pounces into view. He snorts out a puff of smoke and growls at Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, you, Miss Rainbow McRainbowerson!” The baby dragon tries to sound ferocious, but fails miserably, “You leave my friend Fluttershy alone!”

He glares at Rainbow Dash with defensive eyes, shamelessly unaware that Rainbow could in fact beat him in a fight if it came to that.

“Spike…it’s okay. She’s not trying to…make fun of me,” Fluttershy says. “This is my new friend Rainbow Dash.”

Spike lightens his gaze and posture, slowly realizing Rainbow is no threat to Fluttershy. He finally gives in and hobbles towards them. He hops onto the bench next to Rainbow.

“Oh, well in that case…hi, I’m Spike.” Spike extends his small-clawed hand out towards Rainbow. “Resident lunch money bank for the local football ponies.”

Rainbow grabs his hand just a little too hard and shakes it. Spike grimaces a little, but is determined not to show any weakness in front of this new pony. He takes the pain for the moment being without any objection. Finally Rainbow lets go of his hand. Spike quickly sticks his hand behind his back and rubs it as subtly as possible.

“I’m new here, so I don’t really know anyone that well,” Rainbow explains.

Spike rubs the spines on his head guiltily.

“Sorry about the hostility. I saw you with Rarity earlier and figured you were one of her mean ponies,” Spike apologizes.

Rainbow shakes her head.

“Don’t worry, I’m not a mean pony.” Rainbow waves the thought off. “Rarity and I are not friends.”

Suddenly, the tardy bell rings out, screeching out like it’s being murdered.

“Oh, crap, I’m going to be late for my first class,” Rainbow exclaims.

“You wouldn’t happen to have Ponyology with Mrs. Cheerilee first period, would you?” Fluttershy asks, staring at her expectantly.

Rainbow nods in confirmation.

“Yeah.”

Fluttershy suddenly becomes excited.

“Spike and I have her class too,” Fluttershy giggles.

Rainbow looks towards the door leading to the hallway as various ponies galloping through it, hoping to get to class before their teachers realize they are late.

“Well, we better get going. We’re going to be late as it is,” Rainbow says.

The three friends stand up from the bench and head through the door into the locker-cluttered hallway towards their very first class together. As they enter Mrs. Cheerliee’s light-blue panted classroom, Rainbow see Principle Davenport out of the corner of her eye standing a few yards down the hall by a row of grey lockers, shaking his head at her almost as if to say “You’re not going to last a week here, Miss Dash.”

She really hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

Hundreds of feet below Rainbow’s hooves, a group of ponies are gathered in a damp, candle-lit cave. The cave is fairy large, with enough room for the ponies and then some. Dirty, moist stalactites hang down from the ceiling of the dark cave. The largest of the ponies, a deformed pitch-black stallion with a brown mane, is staring intently at a strange symbol on the closest wall of the cave. The symbol looks like a triangle with five arrows crossing through it and a star where those arrows intersect. Suddenly, the black stallion shivers as if a cold wind had just blown past him. He looks up. The rest of the ponies step closer to him, concerned at this development.

“My-“ a light purple mare with a blue mane begins.

The black stallion interrupts her as he turns towards the rest of his minions. The ground squishes under his hooves as he does so.

“Hush, my children, do you feel that?” The pony’s ugly face scrunches with a mixture of displeasure, excitement, and awe.

The other ponies look around in confusion, trying to make out what their master has just said. Among them is Daisy. She steps towards the black stallion intently.

“Feel what My Lordpony?” Daisy asks.

The LordPony pauses for a moment to feel the energy around him once more. He smirks as he interprets the flow of mystical energy.

“A Slayer has come to Ponydale,” The LordPony sneers. “A Slayer has come to the Hellfoal.”

Every other pony becomes frightened. They back away a few steps from the LordPony in fear.

“A-a-a…Slayer?” another pony quivers.

The LordPony bows his head for a moment, and then raises it up to the sky.

“Fear not, my children. The Slayer won’t be a problem to us,” The LordPony explains. “For on the night of the third day, I will rise to strike her down and she will be helpless before my power.”

The rest of the vamponies regain their confidence and express their enthusiasm with grins and cheers.

“On the night of the third day,” he continues slowly, “Ponydale will be mine!”

Chapter 3: Stake

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Spike stroll out of Mrs. Cheerilee’s classroom in a pack after class, chattering amongst themselves.

“Wow, Mrs. Cheerliee is nice, but dear Celestia she can go on…and on…and on!” Rainbow overemphasizes every “on” as she strolls past an awkward pony trying to ask a mare out. She rejects him with a quick slap of the hoof.

Spike acknowledges the comment about Mrs. Cheerilee with a quick chuckle. Unlike the ponies, he is wearing a backpack, specially made for him by a nice saddlebag crafter down the road from the school.

“She’s like that most of the time,” Spike agrees. “Which is why I spend most of that class slee…I mean, listening intently.”

Fluttershy glares at him. Spike looks away guiltily. Suddenly, Principle Davenport stops in front of the three friends. He seems to ignore Fluttershy and Spike, opting instead to once again harass Rainbow Dash.

“So Rainbow, how was our resident delinquent’s first class at Ponydale? Daventport asks accusingly.

Rainbow hesitates. She had barely learned anything in Ponyology last period, spending most of the period drawing pictures of the Wonderbolts, her personal heroes, on her “notes.” Rainbow had been one of the best fliers in Cloudsdale prior to “the incident,” as she referred to it. Now that Rainbow had escaped her Calling, she was hoping to pick up the shattered pieces of her dream to be in the Wonderbolts.

“It was very…” Rainbow pauses for a moment, searching for the proper word. “Educational. Yeah, educational, that’s what it was. I think I’m really starting to enjoy myself here.” Rainbow slaps a plastic grin on her face, hoping this answer would satisfy his inquisition.

Davenport frowns, secretly convinced that students like Rainbow Dash couldn’t learn anything in school, let alone be of any use in the real world.

“Don’t enjoy yourself too much missy. School is for learning, not pleasure.” He emphasizes the last word with distaste, as though it was rotten milk.

Davenport walks away towards his office, smug in his victory against the unruly student.

“Resident delinquent?” Spike muses.

Rainbow sighs, not quite ready to tell her friends that she had destroyed the gym of her last school and even less ready to tell them the reason she had destroyed it.

“It’s a long story.”

Suddenly, Rarity and her posse stroll past them. Rarity rears and blocks their path. She spies Rainbow with Fluttershy and Spike. She frowns and snorts haughtily at Rainbow.

“Oh, hi Rainbow. I see you’ve started hanging out with the losers. Having a social life too stressful for you?” Rarity sneers.

Rainbow snorts in contempt at the pony that had once been so nice to her. She now realizes Rarity was only being nice to her because she wanted to recruit her into her mean ponies.

“Doesn’t being a bitch ever get tiring, Rarity?” Rainbow retorts.

Rarity is caught off guard momentarily. However, she quickly recovers. She reaches into her saddlebag, a top-of-the-line ruby-encrusted, fine leather saddlebag she had ordered specially made from Canterlot’s finest saddle-maker.

“Speaking of you and losers, it seems you dropped something by your locker this morning.” Rarity pulls a stake from out of her saddlebag. “Look familiar?”

Rainbow quickly snatches the stake from Rarity’s mouth and deposits it in her own saddlebag. She really didn’t need this right now, not from Rarity and especially not in front of her new friends. It’s time for some damage control, Rainbow thinks.

“That’s none of your business,” Rainbow snaps, glaring at Rarity. “Come on, let’s go.”

Rainbow turns and trots away. Fluttershy and Spike follow her, both confused and slightly concerned that their new friend has a stake in her saddlebag.

“Aww, look at Rainbow Crash, sulking off to go stab her next victim,” Rarity laughs.

All of her friends laugh as well. Then, they prance off to find somepony else to verbally torture. Presently, they find their next victim: Scott Ponygrim, an awkward hipster pony who is currently in a band with his two best friends.

“Why do you have a stake anyway, Rainbow? If you don’t mind me asking,” Fluttershy asks quietly as they pass by various other ponies on their way to class.

Rainbow pauses for a moment, and then sighs once more.

“It’s a long story.”

“Everything’s a long story with you, isn’t it?” Spike comments.

Rainbow nods.

“I think I might hide in the library next period. Rarity has probably told everyone in school that I kill ponies by now,” Rainbow sighs.

As they walk by another group of ponies, the ponies all turn and glare at Rainbow suspiciously. Rainbow notices them glaring at her and turns to them. The group of ponies breaks eye contact and quickly continues on their way.

“Do you, you know, kill ponies?” Spike asks.

Rainbow glares at Spike.

“No, of course not, Spike. Don’t be thick,” Rainbow snaps.

Momentarily, they arrive at a set of shiny wooden double doors conveniently labeled “Library.” They stop in front of the library.

“Do you want us to come with you, Rainbow?” Fluttershy asks, and then adds, “Morale support.”

Rainbow dismisses the idea.

“You two go to class. Davenport might think my delinquency is rubbing off on you two if you start skipping classes as well.”

Fluttershy and Spike nod and head off towards their next classes. Rainbow opens one of the double doors leading to the library. The library is empty. Good. It is a perfect place to hide from her judging peers and Principle Davenport. Rainbow approaches the main desk of the library and leans on it. The library is pretty pathetic compared to the library she had at Cloudsdale High. Not that she ever visited it on her own. There is a large open space near the front of the library, with only a small round table between two circular staircases leading a few feet up to an elevated section of the library. The back section of the library has four columns of bookcases with an extra column of bookcases on each wall. Each wooden bookcase has five shelves on it. The bookcases stretch five rows back with the last row lined up against the wall. At the very back of the library, there are a few tables for students to study without disruption. They were very rarely used. In fact, the library itself was very rarely used, as the ponies of Ponydale High were usually too busy socializing and hanging out at Sugarcube Corner to bother studying. As a result, Ponydale High has the lowest average GPA of any school in Equestria.

Suddenly, a large book lands on her hoof.

“Ow!” Rainbow exclaims.

Rainbow pulls her hoof away quickly. She cradles it and looks towards the library’s front desk and source of the projectile. A purple pony wearing black-rimmed glasses is standing behind the desk. The pony’s mane is dark blue with two stripes down the middle: violet and pink, respectively. The purple pony snorts haughtily at Rainbow.

“I’m sorry, but this library is for reading, not the leisurely skipping of classes.” She eyes Rainbow, studying her as if she were merely one of the many books in the school’s library.

“Who are you?” Rainbow asks, rubbing her hoof one last time.

The purple pony puffs an air of authority. She stands up on her back hooves and places her front hooves gently on the desk.

“I am Twilight Sparkle, the librarian. However, you may call me Ms. Sparkle or Librarian Sparkle or the Almighty Keeper of the Books,” Twilight says. That last name was meant as a joke, however the joke doesn’t register with Rainbow who is still annoyed that Twilight dropped a heavy book on her hoof.

“I think I’m just going to stick with Twilight,” Rainbow says. She spies the large, dusty volume that landed on her hoof. It reads Vamponie. “And, really, an “ie”?”

Twilight gives Rainbow an agitated frown, annoyed at her ignorance of Pre-Classical spelling.

“It’s how they spelled it back in the Pre-Classical Era,” She explains. “You would do well to study this book carefully.”

“Why would I want to do that?” Rainbow asks, playing dumb.

Twilight levels with her, seeing right through her act.

“I think you know why.”

Rainbow bites her lip for a moment, but then puts on a brave face. She still has a horrible feeling that something bad is about to happen. She had this exact same feeling once before in Cloudsdale. That day.

“Elaborate,” She challenges.

Twilight Sparkle sighs.

“You’re a vampony slayer, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight says matter-of-factly.

Rainbow rears back in shock. Oh no, this is exactly like that day. The day that a mysterious stallion approached her and told her that she was a vampony Slayer. How could this be happening again? Rainbow thinks. How do these ponies keep finding me and ruining my life?

“How did you-?”

Twilight interrupts her.

“Because I’m your new Watcher.”

Chapter 4: The "D" Word

“No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no…no!” Rainbow backs away from Twilight. “I am not Slayerizing any more. I moved from Cloudsdale to get away from vamponies, not so I could slay more!”

Twilight taps the desk impatiently with her hoof.

“You’re the Slayer, the one with the powers to kill the vamponies.”

Rainbow rolls her eyes. This is all déjà vu to her, but not the good kind of déjà vu. The kind of déjà vu she had hoped would never happen again. Rainbow rears up on her hind hooves and folds her front hooves across her chest.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Supernatural strength, speed and a predisposition to attracting four-legged fangies. That’s not news to me. I’ve heard it all and done it all before in Cloudsdale. Not anymore.”

“You can’t run away from your destiny, Rainbow,” Twilight reminds her.

Rainbow’s last Watcher had told her the exact same thing when she decided to leave Cloudsdale. She knew full well that she could’ve transferred to a different school in Cloudsdale, but she wanted it to be over: the vampony slaying, the lying to her parents, and the constant life threatening situations. Rainbow shakes her head.

“Don’t say the “D” word. I do not like the “D” word. The “D” word tends to bring me nothing but trouble,” Rainbow adds. “The “D” word is not my friend.”

“Well, whether you like it or not, from now on the “D” word is your life.” Twilight walks around the desk towards Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow notices Twilight’s cutie mark: a darkish pink six-point star surrounded by a few other smaller white stars. She points at it.

“I’d expect your cutie mark to have something to do with books. You are a librarian after all,” Rainbow observes.

Twilight shakes her head.

“It’s the cutie mark of a Watcher,” Twilight explains.

“I don’t get it. What do stars have to do with being a Watcher?” Rainbow wonders.

Twilight hesitates, deciding whether or not to tell Rainbow the story behind the Watcher cutie mark.

“I’m not sure your ready for that story quite yet,” She decides. “Anyways, you’re a Slayer whether you like it or not. It’s your duty to keep the forces of evil at bay.”

Rainbow stamps her hoof on the ground in defiance.

“I don’t want to be a Slayer. I just want to be a normal pony, with a normal life and normal friends and normal un-vampony slayey nights!” Rainbow declares.

Twilight muses for a moment, almost as if thinking of a joke.

“It’s funny. For a pony so intent on not slaying, you chose an unfortunate place to run to.”

Rainbow is confused by this sentiment.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asks.

Twilight paces back and forth, smirking slightly.

“Do you know what a Hellfoal is?” She questions.

Rainbow shakes her head.

“No, but I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”

“A Hellfoal,” Twilight begins, “is a place of magic, dark magic to be precise. A Hellfoal is a place where masses of dark magic come together to form a breeding ground for evil. It's a beacon of evil that attracts monsters and demons of all sorts. Would you like to know where the nearest Hellfoal is, Rainbow?”

Rainbow has a terrible feeling about where this conversation is going, but she speaks anyway.

“Where?”

Twilight points her hoof at a ground-level bookcase underneath the platform where the two parts of the spiral steps meet. The bookcase is only a few feet away from the small round table.

“Right there.”

Twilight lets the thought sink in for a moment before she continues.

“However, at the moment it is a dormant Hellfoal, but I fear, if we do not act soon, it could become much less dormant.”

Rainbow is silent for a moment. An annoyed look suddenly flashes across her face.

“Well isn’t that just my luck.”

“Not luck, Rainbow,” Twilight corrects. “Destiny.”

The “D” word again. Great.

“Forever my prison,” The LordPony muses. He trots over to the edge of his prison and places his hoof on the invisible wall that is keeping him trapped in the candle-lit cave, “Not for much longer.”

He turns to a blue vampony.

“Tell me Wild Scotch, what does three days from now mean to you?” the LordPony continues.

Wild Scotch is put in the spotlight. He hesitates, not wanting to answer wrong and face the wrath of his new master.

“I-I-don’t know, my Lord Pony,” Wild Scotch admits.

The LordPony grins at the vampony’s ignorance. The LordPony turns towards the strange symbol on the wall.

“Three days from now is the Autumnal Equinox,” The LordPony begins. “Not a very significant meteorological event? Doesn’t give off too much mystical power, right?”

Wild Scotch nods in agreement, despite knowing nothing of such matters.

“What if you combined it with a total lunar eclipse and the arrival of a Slayer?” The LordPony goes on, “How much mystical energy do you think those three events combined would give off?”

Wild Scotch hesitates, fumbling around in his brain for a safe answer.

“A lot.” He answers timidly.

The LordPony laughs.

“An apt, if somewhat blunt description,” The LordPony says. “It will create enough mystical energy to destroy my prison, with the right spell, obviously. That’s where you all come in.”

He turns to the rest of the vamponies, who are staring at him expectantly.

“On that night, the night of the lunar eclipse, I will need you all to participate in gathering resources.”

Chapter 5: Hall Pass

“How did you find me, anyway?” Rainbow asks.

“Princess Celestia sent me here,” Twilight explains.

Rainbow snorts out a laugh, cynical that such a scenario is possible.

“Right, the ruler of all Equestria sent you to Ponydale to be my Watcher,” Rainbow says. “Isn’t there a Watcher’s Council? That’s what my last Watcher told me.”

Twilight affirms with a nod.

“Princess Celestia is the head of the Watcher’s Council,” Twilight tells her. Rainbow gives her a look of disbelief. “Vamponies are a very real thread to pony society. Princess Celestia would have to be an incompetent not to do something about them.”

Rainbow’s head is swirling with all this new information. She holds her hoof up to stop Twilight.

“I’d love to stay and chit-chat, but all this talk of vamponies and Watchers is starting to wear on me. I have to get some air,” Rainbow remarks.

She turns from Twilight and begins walking out of the library. Twilight calls after her.

“When do you think you’ll be back?”

Rainbow doesn’t look at her as she responds.

“I’m not coming back,” She replies curtly.

Rainbow noses open the double doors and trots out of the library. Halfway down the hall, she hears a sharp voice call after her. It was one of about half-a-dozen voices she really didn’t want to hear at the moment.

“And what do you think you’re doing out of class, Miss Dash?” the harsh voice of Principle Davenport rings out.

Sincerely hoping there was another Miss Dash around, Rainbow turns around to face the vicious principle that is storming towards her.

“Uh, I was just…” Rainbow stumbles, trying to come up with an excuse for being out of class.

Davenport trots towards her with a triumphant grin upon his face.

“What’s that, Miss Dash? No excuses for being out of class?” Davenport stops in front of her and leans in venomously, “Too busy vandalizing school property, perhaps?”

He points his hoof towards an unfortunately placed spray-painted phrase covering about half-a-dozen of the grey lockers, “Ponydale Sukz!” Rainbow gulps, unsure of how exactly she’s going to talk her way out of this situation.

Suddenly, a voice from behind them rings through the hall.

“Rainbow, you forgot your book!” Twilight’s voice calls out to her.

Davenport and Rainbow both turn towards Twilight Sparkle as she gracefully walks out of the library and towards them. She grabs a book with a picture of the Wonderbolts on the cover from off her back with her mouth and hands it to Rainbow. She accepts it.

“You were in the library?” Davenport asks suspiciously as though he had never heard of such a place before, or more accurately, ever heard of Rainbow being in such a place before.

Rainbow attempts a half-smile.

“Yeah I was…eh…” Rainbow begins, but pauses as she realizes coming up with excuses isn’t one of her Slayer abilities.

Twilight intervenes, seeing Rainbow is having trouble coming up with an excuse.

“She was just checking out a book for her class. It seems Miss Dash didn’t have the correct edition of History of the Wonderbolts for her second period class. Isn’t that right, Miss Dash?” Twilight explains.

Rainbow nods in agreement.

“Yep, that’s what happened. Not the right edition. It could happen to anypony, right?” Rainbow directs the question at Davenport.

The duped principle shuffles awkwardly.

“Of course,” He agrees begrudgingly. “It could happen to anypony.”

He hangs his head and shuffles off in defeat. Suddenly, he rears around towards Rainbow for one last inquiry.

“Where’s your hall pass?” Davenport grins, hoping to trip up the lying pony.

Rainbow Dash hesitates for a moment, but then she spies a small piece of yellow paper sticking out of her book. She pulls it out. It is a hall pass.

“Right here,” Rainbow states proudly, waving the hall pass in his face like a championship trophy.

Davenport frowns and backs off. He continues scouring the hallway in his never-ending search for students up to no good.

Rainbow wipes a bead of sweat from her forehead. She turns to Twilight.

“Wow, that was close,” She says. “I can’t believe you lied to Principle Davenport.”

Twilight shrugs nonchalantly.

“You’re my Slayer; I’ve got to look out for you.”

Rainbow sighs in defeat, realizing she owes one to her new Watcher.

“Alright, Twilight, here’s the deal. I’ll meet you after school today in the library. Explain to me what all this Hellfoal hullaballoo is about, and I’ll think about the whole Slayer thing,” Rainbow concedes.

Twilight simply nods, as if expecting such a response.

“Good,” She says.

The bell rings and hundreds of ponies rush out of their classrooms like escaped patients from a mental institution.

“Looks like it’s almost time for next period, Miss Dash,” Twilight states. “You best be on your way.”

She turns around and trots back to the library, her purple and pink tail swaying as she walks. Fluttershy and Spike run towards Rainbow in excitement as they see her.

“Hiya there, Rainbow!” Spike says cheerily.

“Oh my gosh, Rainbow, you’ll never guess what happened in-hey, who’s that?” Fluttershy points towards Twilight.

“She’s-“ Rainbow begins.

Spike cuts her off.

“Let me guess, a long story?” He comments smart-flankedly.

Rainbow chuckles and shakes her head.

“She’s the librarian,” Rainbow explains.

“Oh,” Spike says, realizing his mistake.

“Third period is in a couple of minutes,” Fluttershy states. “What class do you have?”

Rainbow pulls out her yellow schedule sheet and surveys it. At the top of the schedule sheet cold impersonal black letters read:

Student: Dash, Rainbow
Race: Pegasus
Grade: 10
School: Ponydale High
District: Greater Ponydale Schools
Period 1: Ponyology, Cheerilee
Period 2: Modern Flying, Papermoon
Period 3: History of Unicorn Magic, Yorsets

Rainbow stops reading at Period 3.

“History of Unicorn Magic. Bleh!” Rainbow sticks out her tongue, as if something particularly foul was in her mouth.

Fluttershy and Spike laugh. They both take out their yellow schedule sheets as well and peruse them. The schedule sheets are color coded by grade. Pink for freshmen, yellow for sophomores, green for juniors, and blood red for seniors. As a matter of fact, there had been many formal complains about the color of the seniors’ schedule sheets making the text too hard to read, but the school refused to do anything about the problem because they had ordered all of the paper at the same time with five years of use in mind.

“Hey look, I have History of Unicorn Magic third period too!” Fluttershy exclaims quietly.

Spike looks at his own sheet in despair.

“Hey look, I have math third period. Math with Mr. Macintosh. Oh great, I hate Mr. Macintosh,” He grimaces at his own misfortune.

A look of shock flashes across Fluttershy’s face.

“Mr. Macintosh is one of the nicest teachers in our school. How can you hate him?” Fluttershy asks.

Spike weighs the question and then relents.

“Okay, I don’t hate him; I just hate math, and I hate people who try teaching me math. Therefore by extension, I hate him,” Spike explains.

Fluttershy frowns, unconvinced with his explanation. However, she let the issue go for a moment as she looks towards a clock above one of the lockers.

“We better get to class before we’re late again,” Fluttershy suggests.

Rainbow nods in agreement.

“Let’s go to History of Unicorn Magic!” Rainbow says, “Huzzah!”

“Yay!” Fluttershy cheers quietly in agreement.

The girls trot off to History of Unicorn Magic, leaving Spike standing alone in the hall.

“Okay,” Spike says. “I’ll just go to math. Alone.”

Spike sulks off down the hall towards Mr. Macintosh’s classroom.

Chapter 6: Socialite

The three friends meet up after school on the front steps of Ponydale High. By now, most of the wingless students have already boarded the buses. The pegasi are aerially developed enough by high school that they can fly home after school. In fact, the flight team pegasi are forced to do drills around the circumference of Ponydale as their daily workout routine. Rainbow was seriously considering joining the flight team when she arrived in Ponydale, until she learned that they are the worst flight team of any school in Equestria, including filly schools. Practically the only sport Ponydale High is good at is volleyball, but that’s only because most of the good players are transfers from Manehatten High, the best volleyball high school in Equestria.

“So, what should we do after school today?” Fluttershy asks, excited about the prospects of hanging out with another friend besides Spike. “I hear there’s a big meet-up at Sugarcube Corner tonight at 8.”

Rainbow hesitates, trying to come up with an excuse to meet up with Twilight as opposed to her friends. She is really starting to dislike all this lying, especially to her friends. But she knows she can’t tell them she’s a Slayer without putting them in danger, so she bears the guilt for the moment.

“Uh actually, I have detention with Ms. Sparkle in a few minutes,” Rainbow lies.

Spike smirks, amused at this news.

“Detention on your first day?!” Spike exclaims. “You must be trying to break some sort of record. And not the good kind.”

“Yeah, Rainbow, you should try to keep a lower profile. Davenport would pounce on any excuse to kick you out of school,” Fluttershy warns.

Rainbow bites her lip. She backs up the steps leading to the front doors of the school.

“I’ll keep that in mind. I should actually get going. I wouldn’t want to be late for detention,” Rainbow says.

Fluttershy and Spike nod in understanding. Rainbow turns around and begins walking up the stone steps.

“Sugarcube Corner at 8, then? I mean, if you’re free,” Fluttershy suggests.

Rainbow turns around towards her friends and smiles.

“Definitely.”

“Definitely not,” Twilight decrees, looking up from a dusty old volume entitled Ancient Vampony Lore. “You need to patrol tonight.”

Rainbow tilts her head in confusion.

“Patrol?”

Twilight nods with conviction.

“Yes, the evil undead aren’t going to slay themselves,” Twilight says. “And anyway, you shouldn’t be out socializing. You’re the Slayer, not the Homecoming Queen.”

Rainbow huffs and sits down at the small round table across from Twilight.

“I was the Homecoming Queen back in Cloudsdale,” She pouts, making small circles on the table with her hoof.

“Well you’re not in Cloudsdale anymore. You have responsibilities now. Slayer responsibilities,” Twilight explains. “Unless your friends are attacked by vamponies, they’re not going to be on your radar tonight.”

Rainbow Dash expresses her disapproval with a frown.

“Okay, so about this Hellfoal. I know its energy attracts monsters and such, but what is its purpose?” Rainbow asks.

“It’s a gateway to a hell dimension, or was that not clear from the Hell part?” Twilight says smugly.

“You can be quite smug sometimes, Twi,” Rainbow observes.

“And you can be quite arrogant,” Twilight fires back at her.

Rainbow is silent for a moment. Then she attempts to steer the conversation back on topic.

“But what comes out of the hell dimension? Just your typical demons and Nightmare Moons, or do they throw curve balls at us like fillies with candy canes for heads?” Rainbow asks sarcastically.

Twilight is not amused.

“Your snarkiness isn’t helping anypony Rainbow Dash. Sarcasm aside, if the Hellfoal were ever opened, it would release horrors beyond imagination. Apocalyptic horrors. It’s nothing to joke about.”

Rainbow stands up and walks over to the bookcase where the Hellfoal is located. Technically it’s a few hundred yards above the actual Hellfoal though. She rests her hoof on the bookcase.

“Ok, no more joking about the Hellfoal,” Rainbow concedes momentarily. “Do you think kicking the Hellfoal would anger it?”

Fluttershy and Spike stroll through the darkness of the night towards Sugarcube Corner. As they walk past a small lamppost, Spike accidentally steps on Fluttershy’s hooves.

“Ow!” Fluttershy cries, and then adds, “Oh, I’m sorry Spike.”

“Oh, sorry Fluttershy,” Spike apologizes. “It’s dark out here.”

Fluttershy nods.

“Did you just nod?” Spike asks.

Fluttershy nods again. Spike squints and tries to peer through the intermitted darkness between the lights given off by the lamps.

“This is going to take forever,” Spike concludes. “Let’s take a shortcut through the cemetery.”

Spike points towards the cemetery, labeled “Ponydale Hills Cemetery” by a large stone tablet near the entrance despite the fact that there are no hills near the cemetery. Small candles on the gravestones light the cemetery, making the inky darkness more bearable. It is pony tradition to light candles on the gravestones of ponies at night so that pony ghosts can find their way back to their own graves in the dark. Fluttershy squeals in fright.

“Let’s not, please. Cemeteries are scary at night,” Fluttershy whimpers. “I mean, they’re scary during the day, but they’re especially scary at night.”

Spike laughs at her naivety.

“Oh, come on, Fluttershy,” Spike chuckles. “What are you afraid of? Some hoof coming out of the ground and grabbing your leg?”

A few hundred yards away a hoof breaches the ground of a grave; however Fluttershy and Spike don’t notice this, as they are too busy bantering.

Fluttershy cowers in fear at the thought of such a scenario. Spike sighs, trying to be patient with her.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of. You need to be braver Fluttershy,” Spike suggests. “Not everything is out to eat you.”

Suddenly, there is a rustling behind them and a deep, gravelly voice speaks to them.

“But I am!” the voice growls.

Fluttershy and Spike swing around. Behind them stands a dirty, muddy looking pony, his rust red coat barely noticeable under all the mud. The pony’s face is contorted and disfigured as if he had fallen from a high cliff onto his face. The pony opens his mouth to reveal a set of shiny fangs. They gleam in the moonlight like stars in the sky.

Fluttershy and Spike scream and make a run for it simultaneously. The vampony grimaces for a moment and then chases after them through the maze of candle-lit graves. Spike looks up at Fluttershy, who is flying a few feet above him.

“Fluttershy, pick me up!” Spike pleads.

“What? I can’t pick you up,” Fluttershy squeaks, taken aback.

Spike glances back at the pursing vampony.

“Try,” He demands. “Like now!”

He holds his hands up. Fluttershy glides down and grabs his hands with her hooves. She tries to pick him up off the ground, but can’t seem to pick him up. Finally, however, she manages to lift him a few inches off the ground, but then she flies into a tree branch, sending them both crashing to the ground. The vampony steps up to his fallen victims and places a hoof on each of their chests. He looks from Fluttershy to Spike, whom are both quivering in fear.

“Well, well, well, which one of you should I eat first?” the vampony muses, showing off his bright fangs.

“Try me!” pipes up a voice from behind him.

The vampony swings around to find a cyan, rainbow maned pegasus hovering a few feet above a candle-clad gravestone with a stake in her hoof.

“Who are you?” the vampony asks.

“The name’s Rainbow Dash. I’m the Slayer.” Rainbow throws the stake into the air and catches it in her mouth, and then flies towards the vampony.

The vampony stands his guard. However at the last second, Rainbow swerves to the side and thrusts the stake into the vampony’s cutie mark. The vampony has one last moment of shock. Then the surprised vampony dissolves into a pile of dust on the ground.

“Well,” Rainbow comments, tossing her stake into her saddlebag. “That wasn’t too hard was it?”

Spike struggle to his feet as Rainbow Dash helps Fluttershy up. Fluttershy gives Rainbow a scared and confused look.

“W-w-what was that?” Fluttershy stutters.

“And more importantly, how did you get rid of it?” Spike adds pointing towards the pile of dust.

Suddenly, Twilight steps into the light given off from the candles.

“That wasn’t bad, but you could definitely work on your technique. Brashness is unbecoming of a Slayer,” Twilight critiques.

“Slayer?” Spike asks.

Rainbow chuckles guiltily, realizing it is time she finally tell them her true identity.

“I’ve been the slightest bit dishonest with you both. There are some things I should tell you about myself.”

Chapter 7: The Doctor

Rainbow, Fluttershy, Spike, and Twilight are sitting at the round table in the library. Fluttershy and Spike sit gaping, flabbergasted at what they are hearing from their new friend.

“So you kill vamponies?” Spike repeats dumbly.

Rainbow sighs and nods once more.

“Yes Spike, for the eighth time. I do slay vamponies,” She affirms.

“Sorry Rainbow, this is just a lot to take in after a life and death experience,” Fluttershy says. “Up until tonight, neither of us even knew supernatural things existed.”

“Not the funnest way to find out that your new BFF is a vampony slayer,” Spike adds.

Twilight takes Rainbow Dash by the arm and pulls her aside, out of range of Fluttershy and Spike’s hearing.

“Are you sure you can trust them with your secret?” Twilight begins her interrogation.

Rainbow nods with conviction.

“They’re my friends. I trust them.”

“How do you know you can trust them?” Twilight continues. “You’ve only just met them.”

Rainbow shrugs nonchalantly. She leans on the edge of the front desk.

“I’ve only just met you, and I trust you,” Rainbow says.

Twilight shakes her head.

“I’m your Watcher, it’s different. You can’t just trust any Mary Sue or Jolly Joe you meet. What proof do you have that they won’t expose you or turn against you?” Twilight insists.

Rainbow glances at Fluttershy and Spike. They are still discussing Rainbow and her vampony slaying.

“I just have a feeling,” Rainbow says.

Twilight Sparkle frowns.

“A feeling?” Twilight repeats, shocked. “You’re trusting the fate of your secret identity as a Slayer to a feeling?”

Rainbow throws her head back, fully confident in her new friends.

“Yep.”

She trots back to the table and sits down next to her friends. Twilight sighs and rubs her forehead with her hoof.

“The Earth is doomed,” Twilight concludes.

“Do you think we could go patrolling with you sometime?” Spike asks excitedly.

“I don’t know, it sounds dangerous,” Fluttershy says.

“I’m going to have to agree with Fluttershy on this one. It’s much too dangerous for you,” Rainbow agrees. “I wouldn’t want either of you getting hurt, or worse, killed.”

Spikes waves off the thought as though facing murderous, bloodthirsty vamponies is merely a routine activity for him.

“We’re tough cookies, right Fluttershy?” He glances expectantly at Fluttershy.

“No,” Fluttershy whimpers, shaking her head.

Spike frowns, disappointed at his counterpart’s lack of courage.

“I don’t want you getting hurt,” Rainbow insists. “ I have Slayer strength and agility. You don’t.”

“Look at me Dashie, I’m a dragon,” Spike begins. “Nothing can touch this.”

Rainbow levels with him.

“You’re a baby dragon Spike,” Rainbow states matter-of-factly. “A baby dragon.”

Spike is silent for a moment. He shuffles awkwardly in his seat.

“Well thanks for throwing that one in my face,” Spike pouts, insulted.

“I’m sorry Spike,” Rainbow begins. “I just don’t want you to think my being a Slayer automatically makes you both my sidekicks. It doesn’t. From what I’ve been told, this is a burden I have to bear on my own.”

Fluttershy lifts her head up and makes eye contact with Rainbow.

“No you don’t.”

“What?” Rainbow asks.

Fluttershy takes a deep breath, building up her courage.

“You don’t have to bear it alone,” Fluttershy says. “We’re here to support you. Even if we can’t slay with you, we want to be here for you. Right, Spike?”

“We’re with you all the way!” Spike confirms.

Rainbow Dash smiles and gives Twilight an I-told-you-so look. Twilight bows her head, still not fully convinced, but unwilling to take the argument any further. Maybe a Slayer isn’t meant to bear her burden alone. Twilight didn’t believe it for a moment.

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Spike trot down the front steps of the almost empty Ponydale High. They stop next to the large stone “Welcome to Ponydale High” sign, a replacement for a similar wooden sign that had been there up until two years ago when a mischievous pony set it on fire.

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but all these earth shattering revelations have left me with an appetite,” Spike concludes, rubbing his belly. “I’m up for a deep fried hay sandwich from Sugarcube Corner.”

Fluttershy’s stomach growls in agreement. She rubs it gingerly.

“That sounds delicious!” Fluttershy says.

“Deep fried hay sandwich?” Rainbow asks skeptically.

Spike smirks at her naivety.

“Sugarcube Corner only makes the best deep fried hay sandwiches you will ever eat in your life,” Spike explains.

“They’re world famous,” Fluttershy adds.

“Yeah you have to try one,” Spike says. “It’s like a rite of passage to becoming a Ponydalian.”

Rainbow leans in towards Spike. She is also very hungry and at this point the aforementioned sandwich sounds irresistible.

“I guess I have to try one if it’s a rite of passage,” Rainbow relents playfully.

Spike exaggeratedly points in the general direction of Sugarcube Corner.

“Onward to sandwiches!” He proclaims.

Rainbow, Fluttershy and Spike arrive at an old brick building a few minutes later. An easily missable grey sign that reads “Sugarcube Corner” hangs above a rusted iron door that is littered with various kinks and dents. Rainbow surveys the decaying building skeptically.

“This is Sugarcube Corner?” Rainbow asks.

“It’s bigger on the inside,” Spike comments.

Spike opens the rusted door and ushers the girls inside. The door creaks as if in pain as he opens it.

“Welcome to Ponydale’s hottest teenage friendly club!” Spike proclaims. “And, yes, that sounded a lot better in my head.”

As Spike opens the door to Sugarcube Corner, a deep, pounding bass beat rushes out like feral cat from an opened cage; the beat of pony techno. There are teenage ponies dancing all over the place as if there was a dancing demon controlling them. Dizzying strobe lights light the club, scattering to and fro in various colors of red, blue, purple, and green. There was at least one pony that suffered from an epileptic seizure every Techno Tuesday, but so far no one had cared enough to file a formal complaint. Rainbow pushes her way through the dancing crowd.

“Wow, it’s really…eh…lively here!” Rainbow shouts back at her friends, hoping they have not already been swallowed alive by the mass of dancing ponies.

Rainbow doesn’t hear a response. Finally, she breaches the battalion of dancing ponies and looks back for her friends. A few moments later, Spike emerges from the crowd. However, Fluttershy does not emerge from the crowd.

“Spike, have you seen Fluttershy?” Rainbow asks.

Spike holds his hand to his ear, signaling that he couldn’t hear her.

“What?” Spike shouts.

Rainbow raises her voice above the blaring music.

“Have you seen Fluttershy?” Rainbow shouts.

Suddenly, Fluttershy emerges from the crowd of dancers as well, visually shaken by the sheer amount of ponies in the building.

“Let’s find someplace quieter,” Fluttershy suggests, barely above a whisper.

“What?” Rainbow Dash asks. “I can’t hear you, let’s find someplace quieter!”

Spike and Fluttershy nod in agreement, as talking would be pointless at the moment. After a minute or so of searching, they finally find a small table away from a good majority of the noise. They sit down and pause to regain their hearing.

“Whew!” Spike says. “I can finally hear myself talk.”

“Is it usually this loud?” Rainbow asks.

Spike shakes his head.

“It’s usually only half as many decibels, but it’s Techno Tuesday, so they vamp up the sound,” Spike explains. “I’m going to go order us those deep fried hay sandwiches. Do you want anything Fluttershy?”

He takes out a quill and paper and begins taking down the order. Fluttershy waves the thought off.

“No thank you Spike,” Fluttershy replies.

“Hey Spike,” Rainbow says. “Why the list?”

“It’s too loud for the bartender to hear me, so I’m writing it down!” Spike explains.

Spike heads off towards the bar. As Spike walks away, Rainbow turns to Fluttershy.

“So how long have you two been together?” Rainbow asks.

“Oh no no no, we’re not together,” Fluttershy retreats, but then she realizes what Rainbow actually meant. “Oh you mean how long have we been friends?”

Rainbow confirms the mistake with a quick nod.

“Oh,” Fluttershy blushes, embarrassed. “We’ve know each other since little filly’s school.

“I’m not surprised. You seem like you’ve known each other forever.”

“We practically have,” She replies in agreement.

Spike returns with the deep fried hay sandwiches. He sets one down in front of Rainbow and the other at his seat. Sugarcube Corner’s world famous deep fried hay sandwiches are surprisingly simple to prepare. First, the chef makes the batter: flour and milk with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Then, he dips the hay in the freshly made batter and fries the batter-soaked hay in scalding oil for about a minute-and-a-half. Once the hay is fried, the chef sprinkles salt on the hay and sets it between two pieces of whole wheat bread, along with a “special sauce.” The recipe for the special sauce is unknown, but rumor has it that it has saffron.

“Thanks Spike,” Rainbow says. She takes a bite of her sandwich and is pleasantly surprised that it is one of the best sandwiches she has ever tasted.

Spike waves off the sentiment and dives into his sandwich.

“It’s still so cool that you’re a-“ Spike begins between mouthfuls of bread and deep fried hay, but Rainbow covers his mouth with her hoof.

“Not here,” She mouths.

Spike notices Fluttershy gazing at a brown stallion that is across the room by the front door.

“Who are you checking out Fluttershy?” Spike pokes playfully.

Fluttershy blushes.

“Oh, I’m not checking anypony out, but somepony is staring at us,” Fluttershy points at the stallion.

Rainbow and Spike both look towards the brown stallion. The stallion has an hourglass as his cutie mark and a pair of wings tucked discreetly at his side. He notices that the three of them are staring at him and quickly makes his way out the door. Rainbow stands up from her seat and jumps into the air.

“Where are you going?” Spike asks, as a piece of bread falls sloppily from his mouth.

“I’m going after that pony,” Rainbow explains. “I have a bad feeling about him.”

She flaps her wings and zooms above the dancing ponies after the strange pegasus. As she exits Sugarcube Corner, Rainbow flies on top of the old brick building. She perches motionless on top of Sugarcube Corner like a gargoyle, following the strange pony with her eyes. She then begins following him on top of the building as he makes his way down an alley. Suddenly, he stops in place. Rainbow lowers her body and pokes her nose over the building slightly to get a better view of him. The brown Pegasus stallion turns around.

“I know you’re there,” He says. “I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to talk.”

Rainbow hesitates. She jumps off the glides down to his level. She lands softly on the ground. Her hooves crunch the dirt quietly. The stallion’s mouth twitches into a smile.

“Hello Rainbow Dash,” The pony says.

Rainbow frowns, both perplexed and intrigued by the pegasus.

“Now how is it that every strange pony I meet knows my name?” She asks, but it is more of a statement than a question.

The stallion is standing unnaturally still, like he is a talking statue.

“You happen to be quite famous, Miss Dash,” The pony replies.

“Famous,” Rainbow muses. “Or infamous?”

Another amused smile twitches on the mysterious pony’s face.

“Perhaps both.”

Rainbow seems satisfied with this answer. She puffs up a little in pride.

“What do you want from me?”

“I’m here to tell you that you’re in terrible danger,” The pony says.

Rainbow frowns, contemplating the pony’s meaning.

“You’ll be in terrible danger if you keep threatening ponies like that,” She warns.

The stallion shakes his head, flapping his neatly groomed dark brown mane.

“I’m not here to threaten you. I’m here to warn you,” He explains. “It’s not safe in Ponydale. Not for you. Not for your friends. Not for anypony.”

Rainbow chews on the information in her mind.

“You really need to work on your warning mannerisms,” Rainbow observes. “They sound a lot like threatening mannerisms.”

The pony ignores her quip.

“There are some things even a Slayer can’t defeat,” The pony begins. “Not without help.”

“So which are you, Mare Mysterious?” Rainbow asks suspiciously.

“I’m the help,” The pony folds out his wings, and then hops up and flies off into the darkness.

“Wait,” Rainbow shouts after him. “Who are you?”

The mysterious Pegasus shouts back at her.

“You can call me The Doctor.”

Suddenly, a shower of rain begins coming down on her, soaking her where she stands. Rainbow growls. She flies up into the sky and kicks the unfortunate cloud out of existence. Taking this small triumph, Rainbow sulks back to Sugarcube Corner.

Chapter 8: "Will Mr. Macintosh and His Class Come to the Library, Please?"

As the gang walks down the ugly hallway of Ponydale High to their first period class the next day, they discuss the mysterious pony from last night.

“What does that mean?” Fluttershy wonders. “The Doctor?”

“Was it Doctor Foaltree?” Spike suggests. “I’ve always known he led a double life, especially after the incident with my spines.”

Fluttershy rolls her eyes, remembering the story Spike had told numerous times before. Dr. Foaltree is the only doctor in Ponydale who has any experience with dragons at all. One day, Spike went in for his regular check-up, and Dr. Foaltree accidentally trimmed some of Spike’s spines during the examination. Spike hadn’t been back to the doctor since. Rainbow laughs.

“No, it wasn’t Doctor Foaltree,” Rainbow explains. “I don’t even think he was a real doctor, at least he didn’t look like one.”

“Oooh,” Fluttershy exclaims. “You have a tall, dark, and handsome stalker pony. How exciting!”

Rainbow glares at her. Fluttershy shrugs.

“What? It’s romantic if he’s pretty,” Fluttershy says. “I mean, I think it is.”

“Exciting and romantic aren’t exactly the words I would use,” Rainbow says, shaking her head.

Suddenly, they spy Twilight galloping towards them, a look of concern and determination plastered on her face. She stops in front of them, blocking their path to class.

“Oh, good, I’ve found you. I have something every important to tell you,” Twilight says, slightly out of breath.

“Can it wait until after first period?” Rainbow asks, glancing at the clock on the wall above a row of lockers. “We’re kind of in a hurry here.”

Twilight shakes her head, ignoring her appeal.

“No, this is urgent this is…” Twilight loses her train of thought.

Twilight is staring off into the distance, almost completely oblivious of the three ponies she was addressing only moments ago.

“Twilight? Twilight?” Rainbow claps her hooves in front of Twilight’s face to get attention.

Twilight snaps back to reality after a moment.

“Oh, yes? Where was I-“ She stops to pick up her train of thought for a moment, but suddenly changes subject, “Who is that pony?”

She points her hoof towards a large red stallion with half of a green apple as his cutie mark who is standing outside of his classroom ushering ponies inside. He greets them cheerily as they enter the room. They look towards the pony in question.

“That’s Mr. Macintosh, the math teacher,” Fluttershy explains.

“Mr. Macintosh,” Spike sneers.

Fluttershy casts him a dark glare.

“Why do you ask, if you don’t mind me asking?” Fluttershy asks.

Twilight waves the thought away.

“No reason. Head off to class my little ponies,” Twilight commands.

She shoos them off towards class before turning around to head back to the library. The three friends snicker as she trots quickly away.

“We better hurry if we want to get to class,” Fluttershy says, seeing they only have a minute to get to class before they’re late.

Spike and Rainbow nod in agreement.

--DtVS--

They make it to Mrs. Cheerilee’s classroom merely moments before the bell rings. They make their way to the three empty seats near the middle of the class and sit down. Mrs. Cheerilee, a dark purple pony with green eyes and a pink and white mane, paces to and fro in front of a blackboard that reads “Ponyology Quiz Thursday on Pony Niches and Habitats.” A few of the students who are astute enough to read the board jot down the note on their pads. Mrs. Cheerilee stops pacing and turns to the students.

“I would like to remind everypony that there will be a quiz on pony niches and habitats on Thursday,” She says with her soft, graceful voice.

A ripple of groans surges through the rest of the ponies in the class. Mrs. Cheerilee nods.

“I know, I know, groan if you must, but be sure you study chapters two and three for the quiz. We don’t want somepony to fail a second quiz in a row,” She glares accusingly at Dumb-bell, a dark brown pegasus pony with a long tan mane that almost covers his eyes. Dumb-bell, however, doesn’t seem to notice that this comment is aimed at him, and continues drawing checkered flags on his “notes.”

Rainbow snickers quietly at the oblivious pegasus.

Suddenly, the loudspeakers blare to life with an unnecessary amount of feedback. This is an improvement for the speakers because half the time they don't even work. Another victim of Ponydale High’s budget problems.

“Will Mr. Macintosh and his class come to library, please?” Twilight’s voice blasts over the speakers. “I would like to see-ehrm-I believe I’ve given you the wrong text books.”

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Spike share amused looks and giggle quietly amongst themselves. Mrs. Cheerilee frowns in disapproval at the terrible speakers.

“We really need to get a new PA system,” Mrs. Cheerilee says, rubbing her ears.

A pink pony with an even pinker mane almost jumps out of her seat in excitement.

“Can we have a party if we get a new PA system?” the pink pony exclaims excitedly.

Mrs. Cheerilee sighs and rolls her eyes.

“No, Pinkie Pie, we’re not going to have a party for a PA system.”

Pinkie Pie bows her head in disappointment.

“Now let’s turn to Chapter 5 everypony,” Mrs. Cheerilee says. “We have a lot of catching up to do if you ponies want to be ready for the test on Monday!”

Another wave of groans ripple through the class, followed by the furious scribbling of note-taking students.

Chapter 9: Apple Buck Season

Fluttershy, Spike, and Rainbow Dash trot into the library with their lunch trays on their backs. Spike obviously is carrying his tray in his hands. The special of the day: Pony Radish sandwiches with mustard.

“Can you believe the food they serve here?” Spike complains. “Are they trying to poison us?”

Rainbow chuckles appreciatively.

“I wouldn’t be surprised.”

The three friends laugh heartily. Twilight pokes her head out of her office and panics as she sees them walking into the library, armed with potentially book ruining substances.

“Whoa little ponies, what do you think you’re doing?” Twilight gasps, jumping out of her office.

They look around in confusion unsure of why Twilight is freaking out.

“We came to see you during our lunch break,” Rainbow explains. “You said you had something important to tell us before first period, but you never told us.”

Twilight laughs nervously.

“Hehe…yes, I was distracted,” Twilight says. “Come sit down, but be careful not to spill anything!”

“Geez OCD much,” Spike quips.

Twilight frowns, unamused, and makes her way over to the round table. They all sit down at the table near the Hellfoal bookcase and set their trays down. A large dusty velvet-bound volume called Pre-Classical Vampony Prophecies lands on the table. Rainbow smirks.

“How many of those do you have anyway?” She says.

Twilight casts her a wary glare.

“Enough to help you battle the forces of evil.”

She opens the book and peruses it for a few moments.

“Aha here it is!” Twilight exclaims. “Do you ponies know about Apple Bucking Season?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy and Spike respond in unison.

Rainbow shakes her head.

“I’m from Cloudsdale. We make weather, not apples,” Rainbow explains.

“Apple Bucking Season is the time of the year when the apple-growing ponies collect all the apples from their trees,” Twilight explains. “Actually, Mr. Macintosh was raised on an apple farm. He told me all about it during second period-”

She stops as she sees the younger ponies smirking at her, finding her obvious crush on Mr. Macintosh amusing.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight demands.

Fluttershy giggles quietly.

“Nothing, go on Twi,” Rainbow says, trying to suppress a grin.

Twilight sighs and rolls her eyes.

“Anyways, Apple Bucking Season starts two nights from now,” Twilight tells them.

Rainbow shrugs, unsure how this pertains to the situation at hand.

“So what? It happens every year.”

Twilight nods in acknowledgement.

“True, but this year is special,” Twilight continues. “Because there’s going to be a total lunar eclipse on that night.”

“And I can only assume that’s bad?” Rainbow speculates, looking at Twilight expectantly.

Twilight looks down at her copy of Pre-Classical Vampony Prophecies and begins paraphrasing a passage for them.

“Prophecies say that on the night of the thousandth autumnal solstice, a lunar eclipse and the arrival of a Slayer will trigger the release the Lord of the Vamponies from the Hellfoal,” Twilight looks up from the book.

“L-l-lord of the v-v-vamponies?” Fluttershy stutters.

Twilight nods gravely.

“The very first vampony.”

Silence.

“I thought Dracumane was the first vampony,” Spike suddenly breaks the silence.

Twilight glares at him.

“Don’t be thick, Spike.” She snaps.

Spike throws his hands into the air.

“Hostility alert. I was just saying,” Spike grunts.

“So exactly how Lord of the Vamponies-ey is this vampony?” Rainbow Dash asks Twilight.

“The Lord of the Vamponies is stronger, faster, and more intelligent than any vampony you’ve ever encountered before. You’re going to need to bring your A-game if you want to even stand a chance against him,” Twilight stands up and begins pacing. “The rest is up to luck.”

“You mean destiny,” Rainbow quips, smirking.

Twilight rears on her, completely serious.

“I don’t think you quite understand how dire the circumstances are, Rainbow Dash. If you fail to stop him, this could be the end of ponykind as we know it,” Twilight snaps.

She pauses for effect to let the words sink in.

“So how do we stop him?” Rainbow asks.

Twilight returns to Pre-Classical Vampony Prophecies. She looks through it for a moment, turning the dusty pages with her nose. Finally, she finds the page she is looking for.

“The Ritual of the Sacrificial Lamb,” Twilight reads. “Must happen on the night of the thousandth autumnal equinox to release the Lord of the Vamponies. An offering of fresh pony blood must be made to break the seal that frees He Who Rules Over the Vamponies from his prison.”

There is a grave silence for a moment.

“So wait, if the Lord of the Vamponies is trapped in a prison we have nothing to worry about, right?” Spike says, “Problem solved.”

“Minions,” Fluttershy reminds him softly.

Spike realizes his mistake.

“Oh, yeah.”

Rainbow takes the last bite of her pony radish sandwich. She stands up.

“Okay, doesn’t sound too hard. I just have to kick some vampony flank and make sure they don’t go sacrificing any innocent ponies to Mr. Scary himself.” Rainbow flies around the room, doing battle with imaginary vamponies. “Just another night’s work. No blood, no rise of the evil vampony. Problem solved.”

Rainbow lands and snorts in triumph. Twilight grimaces doubtfully.

“I hope you’re right Rainbow,” Twilight remarks. “I hope it’s as easy as you make it out to be.”

Rainbow smirks with confidence.

“It’ll be a breeze.”

The bell for fourth period rings. Rainbow looks towards the bell.

“Well, looks like we gotta go! See ya later, Twi!”

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Spike scoop up their trays and trot quickly out of the library. As soon as they are gone, Twilight retrieves a pile of old books from various shelves and dives into them, determined to find out all she can about the Sacrificial Lamb and the Lord of the Vamponies.

Chapter 10: Advanced Techniques in Vampony Slaying 216

After school, Rainbow and her friends find themselves heading to the library once more. Twilight points at Fluttershy and Spike as they walk into the library.

“Why are they here?” Twilight demands. “This is your training. You need to be focused. I don’t want your friends to distract you!”

Fluttershy bows her head slightly.

“I’ll be quieter.”

Rainbow shakes her head, insistent on having her friends with her.

“They’re here to help research the Lamb and the equinox. Isn’t that right?”

Fluttershy and Spike nod in agreement. Twilight sighs.

“Okay,” She relents. “The books are over there. Get to work.”

Fluttershy and Spike head over to a table in the back of the library covered in dusty volumes. Twilight turns to Rainbow.

“Are you ready, Rainbow?” Twilight asks to initiate the training session.

Rainbow nods. Twilight trots to the back section of the library. Rainbow follows her. Twilight opens a hidden door and grabs two long, thick sticks from the wall of the hidden room. Twilight throws Rainbow a stick towards her and she catches it in her mouth. Twilight leads her back to the open space near the entrance to the library. Suddenly, Twilight uses her magic to tie a length of rope around Rainbow Dash’s torso, securing her wings to the side of her body. Rainbow gasps in shock and drops her stick.

“Ow! Hey, what’s that for?” Rainbow whines, trying to bite the rope off her body.

Twilight hits her with a stick.

“No, leave it. You need to learn to fight without your wings. You’ve used them as a crutch up until this point; not anymore,” Twilight remarks. “You’re going to learn how to fight like a wingless Slayer from now on. Now pick up your stick and face me!” Twilight picks up her stick with her mouth.

Rainbow seems less than enthusiastic about training without her precious wings. She picks up the stick with her mouth and tosses it into her hooves as she rears on her back hooves. Rainbow lunges at Twilight and swings the stick at her. Twilight dodges the attack quickly and sweeps her stick under Rainbow’s legs. As she feels herself losing gravity, Rainbow tries to stabilize herself with her wings. However, her wings are tied to her sides, useless to her at the moment, and Rainbow Dash falls flat on her back. She groans in pain as she rolls onto her stomach and pushes herself onto her hooves. A smug look flashes across Twilight’s face.

“Not so easy without wings, is it Rainbow?” Twilight comments.

Rainbow growls and retrieves her stick. She charges Twilight once more. Twilight readies herself to sidestep once more. However, Rainbow swerves around her at the last second. Twilight looks confused at the action. Rainbow jumps over Twilight’s side and uses her back leg strength to buck Twilight across to the opposite wall near a shelf of books.

Twilight crashes a wall on the other side of the library, knocking a few books off their shelf. She falls to the floor. Twilight tries to get her bearings for a moment before attempting to stand up. Twilight rubs her side as she struggles to her feet.

“Good, you’re willing to change up your routine,” Twilight says. “It’s a good first step, but now let’s test your resourcefulness. No weapons this time, not for you at least. Use the area around you as a weapon. And try not to break anything.”

Rainbow throws away her stick, leaving only Twilight with a weapon between the two of them. Rainbow looks around to find that the library is littered with weaponable objects: lamps, chairs, and a plethora of books. Suddenly, Twilight charges at Rainbow, stick brandished like a club. Rainbow jumps over Twilight as she charges her. She lunges and grabs a book off the front desk with her mouth as Twilight rears towards her once more. Rainbow throws the book at Twilight. Twilight, however, stops the book in mid-air with her magic and sends it speeding back towards Rainbow. Rainbow Dash rolls out of the way, narrowly avoiding the flying book, which flies over the front desk and hits the window of her office. Rainbow gasps, appalled.

“Hey, that’s cheating! No magic!” She exclaims.

Twilight shakes her head.

“Some of your enemies may have magical powers. You need to be able to take on an enemy with unfair advantages against you,” Twilight says.

Rainbow frowns, displeased with this turn of events.

“Then I should be able to use my wings!” She pouts.

Twilight shakes her head.

“Crutch!” She replies curtly. “Use your environment!”

Twilight magicks a few books into the air and sends them flying towards Rainbow, who leaps behind the front desk, letting the animate books hit the side of Twilight’s office behind her. She rolls across the room towards the small round table and kicks a chair towards Twilight. However, Twilight teleports into the air above the chair, letting it sail under her and hit the door. Twilight floats down and lands softly on her hooves. Rainbow growls and breaks the leg of another chair next to her. She grips the makeshift stake in her teeth and charges Twilight. Instead of preparing to sidestep her, Twilight stays her ground. Rainbow jumps into the air over Twilight at the last second. However, as she sails over the unicorn pony, Rainbow suddenly stops in mid-air. Twilight pokes Rainbow’s underside with the stick.

“Never jump over your enemy Rainbow Dash,” Twilight says. “It leaves your underside exposed.”

Twilight walks out from under Rainbow and lets her drop to the ground. Rainbow falls flat on her belly, stunning her momentarily.

“Try again,” Twilight demands.

Rainbow stands up, sore and tired, and stops to catch her breath. Suddenly, a heavy book hits her flank, knocking her onto her face.

“You’re the Slayer, there’s no time to catch your breath!” Twilight barks, “There are vamponies everywhere!”

Rainbow jumps to her hooves and grips the makeshift stake in her teeth. Suddenly, three glowing vamponies appear around her. One of the vamponies lunges at her, but Rainbow rolls to the side and stabs it in the flank. The vampony disappears into thin air. The other two vamponies descend upon her. Rainbow pivots on her front hooves and kicks the two vamponies with her back legs. They fly into a bookshelf behind the round table and fall to the ground. Rainbow gallops to them before they can even stir and stabs them in the flank. The magically projected vamponies evaporate into nothingness. Twilight slaps Rainbow’s side with her stick. Rainbow rears around, grabs Twilight, and throws her into the bookshelf.

Suddenly, the bookshelf teeters back and tips over from the impact of Twilight crashing it. The bookcase takes two of its fellow bookshelves with it as it falls. Hearing the loud crash, Fluttershy and Spike immediately look towards the front of the library and the fallen shelves.

Twilight rubs her head and hops off the fallen bookshelf. She nods, impressed by her Slayers abilities.

“Great job Rainbow Dash,” Twilight begins. “But we have one more exercise to complete before this session is up. It’s called clean up the library.”

She motions towards the fallen bookcases, the scratched walls, the scattered books, and the broken chair. Rainbow giggles nervously and steps toward the doors of the library.

“Actually, uh, I have patrolling duties tonight.”

Twilight sees through Rainbow’s excuse and shakes her head.

“The forces of evil aren’t going to be busy for the next two nights in preparation for the Ritual of the Lamb. You have all night to clean this up.”

Fluttershy and Spike attempt to sneak out quietly by walking around the unfallen bookcases towards the door, but Twilight is much too acute to be fooled by the escaping ponies and points at them.

“Where do you two think you’re going?” Twilight demands.

“Uhm…we were just going to…” Fluttershy stumbles, trying to come up with an excuse.

“We’re going to go study somewhere else,” Spike adds. “Lots of studying to do, no time for anything else!”

Twilight shakes her hoof and motions towards the fallen bookcases.

“You two are going to help your new BFF clean up this mess.”

Fluttershy and Spike gaze upon the intimidating amount of debris.

“You’re not going to help us?” Rainbow asks. “I mean, you did cause most of it.”

Twilight thinks for a moment, and then relents.

“I’ll help you with one thing,” Twilight uses her magic to stand the fallen bookshelves up. All of the books in the bookshelves fall out on the way up. “Have a good night, everypony!”

Twilight trots out of the library. Fluttershy and Spike walk up to Rainbow Dash, who is staring at the massive pile of books on the ground.

“Fluttershy,” Rainbow begins. “I really hope you know the Ditzy Decimal System…”

Chapter 11: Visionary

By a quarter to eleven that night, they are nearly finished cleaning up the library. Spike places a gold-rimmed book called Japonies Cooking back on one of the shelves and shakes his hand as if a crab is attached to it.

“I never want to see another book in my entire life,” Spike concludes.

Rainbow agrees with a tired nod as she places another book on the shelf.

“You’re telling me.”

Fluttershy shrugs undecidedly.

“I think it’s kind of nice. Knowing exactly where all these books are, I mean,” Fluttershy explains. “But I know what you mean.”

Rainbow Dash puts the last book in its place and looks around to see if there are any more books to put away, but there are none. The job is officially done.

“There, we’re done,” Rainbow says. “Now if you’ll all excuse me, I’m going to go home and dip my front hooves in ice water.”

Spike nods in agreement.

“My hands are killing me. I haven’t put away so many books since, well, never,” Spike adds.

“Anypony want to stop by Sugarcube Corner before we go home?” Fluttershy asks.

Spike and Rainbow shake their heads, aggressively against the idea.

“How about we call it a night and go our separate ways until tomorrow?” Rainbow suggests.

Spike and Fluttershy see no cause to argue with this suggestion and nod in agreement.

Rainbow Dash softly opens the back door to her house, careful not to attract any unwanted attention. As she steps into the yellow, flower wallpaper covered kitchen, she hears a voice call out to her from the living room.

“Rainbow is that you?” a female voice demands.

This is what she was trying to avoid.

“Hi, Mom, I’m home,” Rainbow responds.

Suddenly, an older turquoise mare with a pink mane and two yellow lightning bolts as a cutie mark steps into the kitchen. She places a hoof on the dinner table and levels with Rainbow.

“Where have you been, young pony?” She demands.

Rainbow stumbles for an excuse.

“I…eh…had detention and then went to Sugarcube Corner.” Somehow it seemed a more pleasant alternative to telling her she was practically threw her school library into ruins six hours earlier and spent the night cleaning it up.

Her mother, Firefly, gasps.

“Rainbow Dash!” Firefly exclaims. “Detention on your second day of school? Are you trying to get kicked out of this school as well?”

Rainbow fiddles with her hooves and bows her head guiltily.

“I’m not trying to get kicked out,” Rainbow says. “It’s just that the principle has it out for me for some reason.”

“Maybe it’s because you blew up the gym of your last school,” Firefly snaps at her. Rainbow Dash bows her head. Firefly softens her face and gives her daughter an empathetic look. “I’m sorry I threw that in your face Rainbow, but you really worry me sometimes. I didn’t know what to think when you were kicked out of flight school. I just don’t want that happening again.”

“It won’t mom, I promise,” Rainbow assures her. “I’m just trying to adjust to a new school, that’s all.”

Firefly nods in understanding. She nudges Rainbow’s neck lovingly with her head.

“I love you, Rainbow,” She says.

Rainbow pulls away quickly, her Slayer instincts tuned to avoid any contact with the neck at all. She sidesteps her mother.

“Love you too mom,” Rainbow replies quickly. “I’m going to go to bed. Long day.”

Rainbow runs through the kitchen, into the living room, and then proceeds to fly up the stairs to her room. A confused look forms on Firefly’s face as Rainbow slams her bedroom door. However, Firefly quickly dismisses her odd behavior.

“Teenage ponies and their hormones,” Firefly concludes. She looks down at the table where Rainbow’s cold dinner has sat for the past few hours. She sighs, picks up the plate, and sets it into the fridge.

Rainbow Dash trots exhaustedly into her room, brushing past a poster of the Wonderbolts on her wall. On any other day, this would be a painful reminder that she was once an ordinary pony with dreams of becoming a Wonderbolt, but today it was simply an unwanted distraction from sleep. She falls exhaustedly onto the ugly kaleidoscopic blanket covering her bed. She rolls onto her side and reads the time off of the ticking clock hanging from her wall. She blinks. 11:36…11:36:01…11:36:02…Rainbow stares at the clock absently. 11:36:03…11:36:03…11:36:02…the hand on the clock suddenly begins ticking backwards. Tick…tick…tick…the clock chimes monotonously. Suddenly, the hands of the clock pop off and fall onto the ground. Tick…tick…tick…the clock continues to tick, despite its lack of hands. Then the clock begins to sizzle and the black numbers on the clock start melting from the white background. Soon, the small clock’s background is snow white, not a trace of the numbers or the dashes on the clock remain.

Tick…tick…tick…

Rainbow gets out of her bed and walks cautiously towards the clock. She stares at the blank clock in confusion. Rainbow rubs her belly absentmindedly with her hoof. She brings her hoof up to her face: it is covered in blood. She stares at her bloody hoof for a moment, and then begins painting the numbers onto the clock with her blood. When she is halfway done painting the numbers, the clock falls off of her wall, revealing a large hole where her clock used to be, almost as if somepony had punched a hole in her wall. Rainbow lowers her head to look through the hole. Suddenly, a black hoof reaches through the hole in the wall and grabs Rainbow’s neck.

“Your time is almost up Slayer!” a deep, grainy voice hisses from behind the wall.

Rainbow Dash awakens with a start. She sits up to find that both she and her bed are covered in sweat. Rainbow sighs and runs a hoof through her sweat-soaked mane. She slides groggily out of bed and stumbles to the bathroom across the hall. Rainbow turns on the shower and hops in, undisturbed that the water isn’t as warm as she usually insists it be. She stands motionless in the shower letting the ice cold stream of water hit her face as she contemplates the disturbing dream. Rainbow begins shaking. Not from the cold water, but from an even more chilling thought; what if she couldn’t beat the Lord of the Vamponies? It was only a dream, she shouldn’t be so effected up by it, but for some odd reason the dream had shaken her at some deep primal level not even she could explain. Suddenly, Rainbow’s wet mane flaps into her eyes. She blinks and brushes it behind her ears for the moment. Rainbow sighs and turns the knob on the shower to adjust the water to a warmer, more favorable temperature. She stands on her hind hooves runs her front hooves through her mane. She takes a deep breath and tries to relax.

“Your time is almost up Slayer!”

Chapter 12: The Day Before Homecoming

Firefly knocks loudly on the door of Rainbow’s bathroom.

“Rainbow Dash you’re going to be late for school if you stay in there any longer!” She shouts.

Rainbow opens her eyes to find herself curled up in the shower. Fortunately, she had turned off the water before she had fallen asleep last night, but Rainbow isn’t concerned with that at the moment. She gets to her hooves and grabs the towel outside of the shower. She begins drying herself off, sincerely hoping that lying in a puddle of water all night wouldn’t make her sick. She didn’t need that, especially not one day before she has to save the world from the Lord of the Vamponies.

Rainbow walks out of the shower and examines herself in front of the mirror. She is a complete mess and her mane is alternating textures of poofy and straight. Rainbow grabs a comb with her hoof and begins grooming her messy mane.

Rainbow flies through the double front doors of Ponydale High and through the hall to Mrs. Cheerilee’s classroom, passing a pink banner on the lockers that reads “Homecoming: Friday Night at Sugarcube Corner 8:00 p.m.” She lands in front of the door of the classroom and opens the door, attempting to enter as quietly as possible. However, Mrs. Cheerilee is on to her the moment she steps through the door.

“You’re late, Rainbow Dash,” Mrs. Cheerilee frowns in disapproval.

Rainbow gives her an awkward smile and makes her way to an empty seat in between Fluttershy and Spike. Fluttershy looks around to see if anypony is watching and leans in towards her.

“Where have you been, if you don’t mind me asking?” Fluttershy whispers.

Rainbow motions towards Mrs. Cheerilee and mouths the words “After class.” Fluttershy returns to her desk and continues taking notes. A few seconds later, Spike leans towards Rainbow and whispers.

“Where have you been?”

--DtVS--

After first period, the three friends find themselves gathered around Fluttershy’s locker. On their way there, Rainbow had done her best to explain the disturbing dream she had last night to them. Fluttershy frowns as she retrieves a book called Diamond Dogs: A Study of Modern Gem Hunting from inside her locker.

“Well that doesn’t sound very pleasant,” Fluttershy says, stuffing the book into her saddlebag.

Rainbow frowns and shakes her head vigorously.

“I woke up in the shower this morning,” She adds.

Spike shrugs undecidedly.

“That sounds kinda nice actually,” Spike comments. “I like to take a shower in the mornings too.”

“No Spike, I woke up on the shower floor, soaking wet,” Rainbow explains.

“Oh, that sounds less nice,” Spike replies, realizing his mistake.

Suddenly, Rarity and her friends walk by them. Rarity stops next to Fluttershy’s locker and examines Rainbow’s disheveled mane critically.

“Nice doo Rainbow Trash,” Rarity sneers. “Next time I’m having an existential crisis I might try it.”

Rarity and her friends laugh. Dashie frowns in annoyance.

“Is that all you have to say? Cause if it is, there’s no point in standing there staring at us, is there?” Rainbow spits.

Rarity huffs and leads her sheep away. Spike growls in the general direction of Rarity.

“You should go kick her flank, Rainbow!” Spike demands.

Rainbow toys with the thought for a moment, but then decides against it. She shakes her head.

“I’d love to, but that would be a waste of Slayer power,” She admits.

Spike grunts, convinced to the contrary, but hesitant to take the matter any further at the moment, knowing that Rainbow has enough on her mind.

“I swear to Celestia, I will destroy the universe if I have to read another version of Cupcakes!” Ms. Honeysuckle scolds her fourth period English class. Rainbow is among them. “Seriously, everypony it’s really getting old. The shock factor has worn off and now it’s entered the realm of pathetic.”

A grey pony with a blonde mane near the middle of the class named Derpy raises her hoof to get Ms. Honeysuckle’s attention.

“Ms. Honeysuckle, what does this have to do with our assignment again?” Derpy asks.

Ms. Honeysuckle clears her throat in annoyance. On the blackboard behind her, blue chalk-scribbled words read “Original Short Stories Due Monday.” Ms. Honeysuckle has an odd habit of using blue chalk to write on her blackboard because one year the school supplied all the teachers with only blue chalk. The blue chalk annoyed most of the teachers, but not Honeysuckle. It became her new favorite teaching tool and she abused the blue chalk as much as possible.

“Because, Derpy, last time I had you all write stories I ended up having to read five different versions of Cupcakes.” Five of the boys in class giggle quietly. “I don’t want that happening again. Your stories will be due on Monday, so remember to finish them in the heat of this entire Homecoming hullabaloo. I wouldn’t want anypony to fail a critical assignment because he or she was too busy preparing for Homecoming and forgot to do it. Clear?”

The class affirms by writing down the due date of the assignment. A few moments later, the bell rings. Everypony jumps up from their seats and heads for the door. Ms. Honeysuckle shouts after them.

“Remember, Monday!” She reminds them once more.

Rainbow is one of the last ponies to leave class. As she walks out of the classroom, Ms. Honeysuckle stops her in front of the door with her hoof.

“Rainbow Dash, right?” She inquires.

Rainbow smiles politely.

“I see my reputation proceeds me,” Rainbow says.

Honeysuckle ignores the quip and gets straight to the point.

“Mr. Davenport has told me all about you,” Ms. Honeysuckle begins. “And I want you to know that I’m here for you. You see I was once a troubled pony like yourself. A rebellious teenage soul who only wanted to cause mischief, but it got me into a lot of trouble. I was exactly like you and I want to help you so you don’t go down that same dark road. ”

Rainbow continues to smile politely, trying to hide her annoyance.

“I appreciate the gesture, I really do, but I very much doubt there’s anything you can do to help me,” Rainbow responds.

“I know how you feel. I know you think I don’t understand you-” Ms. Honeysuckle begins.

“You don’t understand me, Ms. Honeysuckle,” Rainbow interrupts her. “You really, really don’t.”

Rainbow storms past her and out of the classroom, furious that Davenport is trying to turn her teachers into personal psychotherapists for her.

“I’m under enough stress as it is!” Rainbow grumbles to herself.

Rainbow has steadily begun losing it. Between school and saving the world, it’s almost more than she can take. Rainbow trots quickly to her locker, avoiding eye contact with every pony in the hall. As she arrives at her locker, she sighs in relief, hoping the worst of her day is behind her. She turns the lock on her locker, 23-42-6, and opens it.

Suddenly, a severed, bloody pony head falls out of her locker and onto the grey carpet. As the head hits the carpet, a squirt of blood shoots up into Rainbow’s face and chest. A note is attached to the ear of the head, scribbled in red ink; however, Rainbow has a feeling it’s not ink. The note reads, “Your time is almost up Slayer.” Everypony in the hall screams as they see the severed crème colored head, it’s dark blue and pink mane barely recognizable under the dark red liquid covering it. Somepony points at the head and gasps.

“Dear Celestia, it’s Bon Bon!” the pony screams and then faints.

Everypony else gasps as they realize who it is. Bon Bon was one of the ponies on the track team and extremely well liked. A few ponies break down in tears and gallop away from the scene.

“Rainbow Dash killed Bon Bon!” Another pony exclaims, pointing an accusing hoof at Dashie.

Rainbow looks down at the pool of Bon Bon’s blood that she is standing in. She stands in the blood for a moment longer, shocked, and then takes off down the hall, leaving her blood soaked locker wide open. As she flees the scene of the crime, Rainbow flies past Fluttershy and Spike without even acknowledging their existence.

“Rainbow?” Fluttershy asks, confused that she totally ignored them.

But Rainbow has already flown out of sight.

Rainbow stands in front of the mirror in the mare’s restroom, staring into it blankly. A few drops of blood from her hooves drop into the white ceramic sink below the mirror. Suddenly the stall door behind her opens up and Rarity trots out. She snorts at Rainbow as she sees her.

“Excuse me, but you’re hogging the-” She stops and gasps as she sees the blood covering Rainbow’s body. “Wha-?”

Rainbow doesn’t acknowledge her existence with her body language at all, but instead continues staring blankly into the mirror.

“I don’t your crap right now, Rarity. I just found a severed head in my locker. I think that’s enough torture for one day, don’t you?”

Rarity gazes upon the blood covered pegasus and, for the first time, she feels a pang of empathy for the pony she had so ruthlessly mocked for the past few days.

“Rainbow, dear-“ Rarity begins.

Rainbow Dash rears on her angrily.

“I said leave Rarity!” She snaps.

Rarity screams in fright at the sight of Rainbow’s blood-covered face and races out of the restroom. Rainbow turns back towards the mirror and resumes staring at her blood covered coat. A few moments later, the restroom door opens once more and Fluttershy timidly steps inside.

“Rainbow?” Fluttershy whispers, concerned.

Rainbow bows her head into the sink to hide her face from Fluttershy.

“Go away, Fluttershy,” Rainbow says as a red tear falls from her face and into the sink. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”

Fluttershy takes a few steps towards her. She looks upon her new friend with compassion, as it pains her to see Rainbow so unsettled.

“I heard what happened. What kind of pony would do such a thing?” Fluttershy asks.

“It was Him. One of His minions sending me a message,” Rainbow explains. “’You’re going to die.’ I’m not sure if I can beat him, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy places her hoof on Rainbow’s back.

“Don’t think like that, Rainbow. I have nothing but confidence in you,” Fluttershy says. “I trust you with my life.”

Rainbow turns to Fluttershy and hugs her tightly. Fluttershy becomes the latest pony to discover Rainbow Dash’s superpony strength as she nearly crushes Fluttershy in her embrace.

“I know you do, Fluttershy,” Rainbow remarks. “I just hope you’ve put your trust in the right pony.”

Rainbow releases Fluttershy from her powerful embrace.

“I have and so has every other pony in Ponydale,” Fluttershy reassures her. “We have your back. You don’t have to face him alone.”

Rainbow smiles.

“Thank you, Fluttershy,” Rainbow says gratefully, and then adds. “You know, you’re being really bold right now.”

Fluttershy grins excitedly and squeals in delight and pride in herself.

“I know, it’s amazing!” Fluttershy exclaims.

Rainbow looks around the tile-covered restroom to see if anypony else is in the vicinity.

“Where’s Spike?” She asks.

“Oh, he didn’t want to come into the girl’s restroom,” Fluttershy explains.

Rainbow chuckles and rolls her eyes. There is a moment of silence between them.

“Are you alright now?” Fluttershy asks, looking up at Dashie with concerned eyes.

Rainbow nods and smiles at her.

“Much better,” Rainbow responds. “I’m just going to clean myself up. Meet me in the library after school.”

Fluttershy smiles and walks out of the restroom. Rainbow turns on the faucet and begins washing the blood from of her face. Suddenly, Princple Davenport’s voice booms over the PA system.

“Rainbow Dash, report to my office immediately!”

Rainbow grimaces at the voice of the last pony she wanted to talk to at the moment and continues to clean herself up, wanting to appear as innocent as possible for her meeting with Davenport. The last thing she wanted was to give him an excuse to suspect she was responsible for Bon Bon’s death.

“I’d like to remind you that, officially, we don’t suspect you of anything, Miss Dash,” Davenport says to the cyan, rainbow maned pony sitting across from his desk. “But unofficially, we both know that you’re a troubled pony, Miss Dash.”

Rainbow looks shocked at the accusation, her pink face twists in disgust. She had managed to wash most of the blood from her face and hooves, but her face was still stained with pink patches of blood residue.

“Are you insinuating that I killed Bon Bon?” Rainbow asks in shock.

“Well did you?” Davenport leans towards her menacingly. “Did you, Miss Dash?”

“No!” Rainbow exclaims angrily, pounding on the table with her hoof and denting it.

Davenport leans back in his seat.

“I believe you,” He begins, but it is obviously a boldfaced lie. “But whoever did kill Bon Bon is a very dangerous individual and we wouldn’t want such a pony roaming free.”

Rainbow nods in tense agreement.

“Exactly.”

“I see it like this. If we let one killer go, how many more ponies will she or he kill? A few more ponies or all of Ponydale?” Davenport says. “You never know, but you can only hope.”

“Maybe not,” Rainbow says. “Maybe you don’t have to stand idly by while a killer destroys everything you know and love. Maybe it’s your responsibility to stop him.”

“Him?” Davenport asks suspiciously.

“Sorry, personal revelation,” Rainbow comments.

Rainbow marches into the library after school with a renewed sense of determination to defeat the Lord of the Vamponies. Fluttershy, Spike, and Twilight are sitting around the round table. They all look up as Rainbow enters the library. Twilight stands up and walks towards Rainbow.

“Fluttershy and Spike have been telling me about your dreams as of late,” Twilight says.

“What about them?” Rainbow asks.

“They’re one of the signs of the His return,” Twilight explains. “The Lord of the Vamponies.”

Rainbow waves the thought off.

“We already know he’s coming, how much more confirmation do we need?” Rainbow comments. “Come on, let’s get training!”

Twilight is confused by her straight forwardness.

“Why so eager to train?” Twilight wonders aloud.

“I can’t defeat the Lord of the Vamponies by sitting on my flank, now can I?” Rainbow says. “If I don’t do something, everypony in Ponydale, maybe even Equestria, will be in danger. I can’t let that happen.”

Twilight nods.

“Fair enough. Let’s start our session with a little strategy.” Twilight grabs a wooden stick from the back of the library and carries it to the front where Rainbow is waiting for her. “You need to learn how to evade an enemy attack and counter. I’m going to rush you and I want you to evade me.”

Twilight digs at the floor with her hoof and charges Rainbow, stick raised above her head. Rainbow lowers her head to the floor. As Twilight prepares to hit Rainbow with her pole, Rainbow scoots under her and vaults Twilight into the air with her head. A surprised Twilight crashes into the overhang above the library double doors and then crumbles to the floor. After a moment or two, Twilight rubs her head and gets to her hooves.

“Good. Very good,” Twilight grunts, sore from her recent visit to the side of the wall in combination with yesterday’s training. “Maybe we should focus on stamina for a while.”

Twilight hobbles to her office and returns towing a stuffed pony mannequin that is attached to a round base by a spring, allowing free range of motion for the inanimate pony substitute. She places the mannequin in front of Rainbow.

“What’s this?” Rainbow asks, eyeing the fake pony.

“Your new training partner,” Twilight replies curtly.

Rainbow pushes her new training partner with her hoof. It bends backward and then rebounds forward. Rainbow is less-than-convinced at its usefulness.

“It doesn’t seem very animate,” Rainbow observes. “Nor very partnerey.”

“Looks can be deceiving, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight comments. “Anyways, you need to work on stamina, and I’m not fit for that job, so enter Jimmy.”

Rainbow gives Twilight a wary gaze.

“Jimmy? That’s the best you could come up with?” Rainbow snorts, fully convinced that she could come up with a better name.

Twilight shrugs.

“Okay, I’m not the best at coming up with names,” Twilight admits.

“Ya think?” Rainbow replies smart-flankedly.

Twilight ignores her.

“Stamina. Go,” Twilight commands.

Three hours later an exhausted Rainbow Dash collapses on a chair next to Spike and Fluttershy. She pauses to catch her breath, and then addresses her friends.

“Did you find out anything about the Lord of the Vamponies?” Rainbow asks.

Spike shakes his head.

“I got nothing,” He says.

Fluttershy holds up her hoof and searches for a book for a moment before finally finding it. She flips through the black bound book until she finds the right page.

“Here,” She reports. “It says that the vamponies can only be killed by thrusting a stake through their cutie mark, however…” Fluttershy trails off.

Rainbow waits for her to finish expectantly.

“However?” Rainbow urges her to finish.

Fluttershy hesitates for a moment.

“However,” Fluttershy begins. “The Lord of the Vamponies is a blank flank.”

Rainbow stares at Fluttershy, shocked and confused at what she has just said.

“A blank flank? Like no cutie mark? Like a filly?” She repeats dumbly.

Fluttershy frowns.

“Mmhmm.”

Rainbow turns to Twilight to seek her advice.

“How do I kill a vampony without a cutie mark?” She asks.

Twilight looks just as stumped as Dashie.

“I…uh…I-I-I don’t know,” Twilight admits.

There is silence. Spike breaks the silence momentarily.

“Garlic?”

The moon is completely obscured by dark clouds as Rainbow and her friends walk out of Ponydale High. Rainbow turns to her friends as they trot down the steps in front of the school.

“Anypony want to stop by Sugarcube Corner tonight?” She asks.

“Yeah,” They say in unison.

“Absolutely,” Spike adds.

Rainbow nods and they start on the path towards Sugarcube Corner. As they walk along the path through Ponydale Park, Rainbow spies a brown set of wings behind a large tree. She stops. Fluttershy and Spike also stop, but Rainbow waves them onward.

“You two go ahead, I’ll catch up to you.” She insists.

Fluttershy and Spike take her advice and continue on the path to Sugarcube Corner. Once they are out of sight, Rainbow calls out to the pony belonging to the wings.

“Come out from behind those trees, I know you’re here,” She demands.

The brown, hourglass clad pegasus steps out from behind the trees.

“Very astute, Slayer,” He says.

“Your tall, dark handsomeness doesn’t faze me, Doctor Whooves,” Rainbow states, sarcastically emphasizing the word “Whooves.”

“Would you rather I be short, light and ugly?” Doctor Whooves quips.

“No, I just wanted to tell you that this whole mysterious stranger act isn’t working on me,” She tells him. “Even if you do have perfectly shaped wings!”

Doctor Whooves doesn’t respond, but stands completely still.

“Why are you here?” Rainbow demands.

“Tomorrow’s the night the Lord of the Vamponies rises from his prison,” The Doctor reports.

Rainbow sighs in annoyance.

“Thank you Doctor Obvious, but we got that already. Do you have anything relevant to warn me about or are you just going to stand there looking like a pretty mute?” Rainbow says.

“You don’t understand, Rainbow Dash-“ Doctor Whooves begins.

Suddenly, a screech pierces the darkness, cutting Doctor Whooves off. Rainbow swings towards the screech. She jumps into the air and zooms towards the sound. A few moments later, she arrives on the scene to find Spike lying unconscious under a tree. Fluttershy is nowhere to be seen. Rainbow shakes Spike into consciousness.

“Spike! Spike wake up!” Rainbow shouts as she shakes him.

Spike opens his eyes slowly and rubs his sore head. Suddenly, he panics as he realizes Fluttershy is gone.

“Fluttershy!” He exclaims, jumping to his feet.

“What? What happened Spike?” Rainbow asks.

“Vamponies. They ambushed us. I tried to stop them, but they took her. They took Fluttershy!” Spike explains, still groggy from being knocked out.

Doctor Whooves arrives on the scene momentarily. He picks up an old saddlebag from the ground. Fluttershy’s saddlebag. Rainbow marches over to Doctor Whooves and snatches the saddlebag from his hooves.

“We still need to talk,” The Doctor insists.

Rainbow rears on him.

“Well forgive me if I’m not in the talkative mood Doctor Oblivious, but my friend has just been kidnapped by bloodthirsty vamponies. Now are you going to help us find her or not?” Rainbow snaps.

The Lord of the Vamponies paces in front of his unconscious prisoner: a yellow, pink maned mare who is chained to the wall of the cave above the Seal. He snaps at one of his minions, a silver coated stallion.

“Wake the prisoner!” He commands, motioning towards the unconscious pony.

The silver coated stallion slaps Fluttershy. She is startled into consciousness and her shackles clang against the wall as she awakens. As she attempts to get her bearings, Fluttershy looks around the damp, cold cave in terror.

“W-w-w-where am I?” She whimpers.

The LordPony examines Fluttershy. Fluttershy notices his blank flank.

“Y-y-y-y-you’re the Lord of the Vamponies, a-a-aren’t you?” Fluttershy stutters.

The LordPony smirks in amusement. He begins pacing in front of her.

“You’ve heard of me?” He says, amused. “Then you know why you’re here. You’re going to help me with something. You’re going to help me unlock my jail cell.”

“I-I don’t have any keys. I’m sorry,” Fluttershy says.

The LordPony laughs.

“Oh, dear pony, I don’t need any keys, just blood,” He explains. “Your blood.”

Fluttershy quivers and begins sobbing quietly. The LordPony smiles, enjoying her pain and fear.

“Yes, cry my little pony, but no one can hear you,” The LordPony growls. “No one is coming to save you. No one.”

Chapter 13: The Sacrificial Lamb

After hours of searching for Fluttershy, the ponies have found nothing. Rainbow collapses upon the ground on the football field of Ponydale High, exhausted. Doctor Whooves rests a hoof on her shoulder. Spike is standing behind them, engulfed in his on thoughts.

“You and Spike should go home and get some sleep,” He suggests.

Rainbow shakes her head, vehemently against the idea. She stomps her hoof on the ground.

“I’m not giving up until we find Fluttershy,” She insists. “She’s in danger.”

Spike pipes up in agreement.

“Yeah we’re not going to give up on Fluttershy!” He exclaims.

The Doctor shakes his head.

“If they haven’t killed her by now, she’ll be safe until the ritual tomorrow night,” He explains. “They didn’t kill her upfront, so that’s a good sign. It’s probable that they’re going to use her blood to break the seal on the Lord of the Vamponies’ prison.”

Rainbow levels with him.

“And what if you’re wrong?”

“Then she’s already dead, and there’s nothing you can do,” Doctor Whooves replies without emotion.

Rainbow stands up and punches Doctor Whooves in the face.

“How dare you stand there and tell me that my best friend is probably already dead,” Rainbow fumes. “What kind of heartless pony does that?”

Doctor Whooves rubs his bruised face with his hoof.

“I’m being practical,” He says.

“Well I’m trying to save Fluttershy, so if you aren’t going to be anything but a Debbie Downer, you may as well leave,” Dashie spits in anger.

Doctor Whooves wordlessly folds out his wings and takes off into the black night sky. After a moment, he has disappeared.

“Quite the charmer that one,” Spike comments sarcastically. “But I hope he’s right; I hope Fluttershy is safe.”

Rainbow nods in agreement. Then, there is silence for a moment.

“Spike,” Rainbow begins. “Where do you think vamponies spend their days?”

Spike shrugs.

“I’ve always just assumed that they have coffins filled with dirt or something like that,” Spike says.

Rainbow shakes her head.

“But what if that’s not the case,” She suggests. “Remember in Ponyology class how Mrs. Cheerilee said that there used to be a system of caves underneath Ponydale when we got her off topic about the history of Ponydale?”

Spike nods. Mrs. Cheerilee, besides being the Ponyology teacher, had always had an affinity for history and frequently referenced the fact during classes. In fact, some of the stallions made it a game to see just how off topic they could get Mrs. Cheerilee. Their greatest weapon is the history of Ponydale.

“But those caved in decades ago,” He reminds her. “No pun intended.”

“Maybe that’s not the case,” Rainbow says. “I think it’s time to visit the library.”

“But Twilight left hours ago when we left,” Spike says. “How are we supposed to get into the school?”

She sighs and looks towards the school.

“I’m the Slayer, remember?”

Rainbow and Spike stop in front of the double doors of Ponydale High. Rainbow turns around, preparing to kick down the doors, but Spike stops her.

“Let me try something first,” He suggests.

Rainbow sighs.

“Spike that’s not going to work,” She insists.

Spike pushes lightly on the door and it swings wide open. Rainbow turns around and stares at the open door in shock.

“That never would’ve worked in Cloudsdale!” She comments. “Talk about security problems.”

Spike chuckles lightly. They both walk inside and head down the empty, ugly hallway towards the school library. As they reach the library, Spike turns to Rainbow.

“So, what exactly are we looking for?” He asks.

“I’m not exactly sure, but grab anything about Ponydale history,” Rainbow says. “Something that could give us a clue as to where an entrance to the underground cave system could be.”

Spike nods and they both descend upon the books like paper-starved lunatics.

Rainbow is startled into the waking world the next morning as a book lands on the small table that she and Spike had been sleeping on for the past few hours.

“I’m glad you two are taking your studies seriously,” Twilight comments.

Rainbow shakes her head to fully awaken herself.

“Oh no, we must have fallen asleep!” Rainbow panics. “We need to keep trying to find the cave system! Spike, wake up!”

Rainbow pounds on the table and Spike awakens with a start.

“Wha-?” Spike blurts out groggily.

“Whoa, Rainbow Dash, not so fast,” Twilight begins, but Dashie cuts her off.

“No there’s no time to waste, Fluttershy has been-“

Twilight interrupts her back.

“Kidnapped by the Lord of the Vamponies, I know. Your strange pegasus friend told me last night,” Twilight informs her.

“Then you know how important it is that we find Fluttershy,” Rainbow points out.

Twilight picks up the book Dashie was sleeping on and examines it briefly. She nods in satisfaction.

“Caves. A clever lead,” Twilight begins. “But you both have class in a few minutes.”

Rainbow jumps up from her seat.

“But Twilight, we have to find Fluttershy!” She protests.

Twilight holds her hoof up.

“I’ll look through these books to find the cave system,” Twilight says. “I’ll find something a lot faster than you two would. You just continue your day as normal, no need to panic the rest of the ponies. If anypony asks, just say Fluttershy is sick today, understand?”

Rainbow stomps her hoof on the floor defiantly. The force of her hoof cracks the floor a little and shakes the table.

“How am I supposed to act normal when my best friend is in danger!” Rainbow exclaims. Spike clears his throat loudly and Dashie sighs. “One of my two best friends.”

“I’m not arguing with you Rainbow Dash,” Twilight snaps. “I’ll look for anything about the caves, and I’ll tell you as soon as I find something. End of story.”

Suddenly, the class bell rings. Rainbow growls at Twilight and angrily sulks out of the library with Spike in tow. As Rainbow leaves the library, a guilty frown forms on Twilight’s face.

As the first pony hands in her Ponyology pop quiz, Spike is still only halfway through his own. Mrs. Cheerilee had given them another quiz today in addition to yesterday’s planned quiz, presumably to torture the students who didn’t study Chapter 4. For most of the students, Ponyology was a fairly easy subject, but Spike always found Ponyology one of his harder classes. Despite the fact that ponies raised him, he still found the study of them particularly confusing. Spike looks up from his paper and glances around the class to assure no pony is looking. He leans over and looks at Rainbow’s quiz, only to discover that she hasn’t answered a single one of the ten questions.

He checks to see that nopony is looking once more and nudges her side. Rainbow makes eye contact and gives him a confused look. Spike motions towards her quiz with his head. Rainbow frowns and mouths the word “Fluttershy.” Spike nods in understanding.

“But we can’t do anything about her right now,” He mouths and then motions towards her quiz once more.

Rainbow punches Spike in the shoulder. He cries in pain.

“Owch!”

Everypony turns towards them. Spike covers his mouth with his hands. Mrs. Cheerilee looks up from her paper grading duties and frowns at them.

“Spike, Rainbow Dash, please hand in your quizzes,” She demands quietly.

Spike and Rainbow stand up and make their way up to Mrs. Cheerilee’s desk at the front of the classroom. They hand in their quizzes to her, embarrassed. She takes a look at their quizzes and, without another word, writes a single large letter on both sheets of paper in dark red ink. “F.”

As Rainbow and Spike are walking down the hallway towards the library at lunch, Rainbow purposely avoids her locker like it’s an awkward stalker, not that she would have a choice even if she didn’t want to avoid it. Her locker had been condemned the previous day after the unfortunate head incident. As they approach the library, Rainbow throws the double doors wide open and marches inside.

“Anything on the caves, Twi?” She demands.

Twilight shakes her head.

“No, nothing. Sorry Rainbow Dash,” She reports.

Rainbow frowns and storms out of the library. Spike gives Twilight an apologetic smile.

“Sorry about her, she’s just a few frays short of a total disaster today,” He explains.

Twilight nods in understanding.

“We’re all stressed out today, Spike,” She says.

“Need any help?” Spike offers.

Twilight shakes her head.

“No thank you Spike, I think I can handle it,” She says.

Spike nods in understanding and exits the library. Twilight sighs in guilt.

“What am I doing?”

12 Hours Earlier…

Twilight hears a knock on the door of her house at midnight. She looks up from a fresh new book entitled Advanced Pony Medicinal Spells and heads towards the door. She looks through the peephole in her door and sees a brown Pegasus standing outside the door.

“Who are you?” Twilight demands.

“A friend of Rainbow Dash,” the Pegasus responds. “One of her friends is in danger.”

Twilight unlocks the deadbolt and opens the door.

“The Doctor, I presume,” She says.

The Doctor bows his head slightly in acknowledgement.

“Rainbow Dash has told me all about you and your mysterious allure,” Twilight continues. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

The Doctor stands awkwardly outside, not moving an inch. Twilight looks at him in confusion.

“What’s the matter?” She asks suspiciously.

“You have to invite me in,” The Doctor responds.

A look of revelation etches itself upon Twilight’s face.

“You don’t think I’m stupid enough to invite a vampony into my house, do you?” She growls.

“You don’t have to invite me inside if you don’t want to, but Rainbow’s friend Fluttershy is in danger,” The Doctor says. “She’s been kidnapped by the Lord of the Vamponies, and I have reason to believe that he’s going to use her for the Ritual.”

“So let’s assume what you’re telling me is true, why should I trust you?” Twilight asks. “Why would a vampony help the Slayer?”

“Because I’m not like the rest of them,” He responds. “See for yourself.”

He stands on his hind hooves and opens his arms. Twilight concentrates and her horn begins to glow. She steps back in shock.

“You…you have a soul,” She says. “A vampony with a soul, that’s quite peculiar.”

“Do you believe me now, Twilight Sparkle?” He asks.

“Yes, but I’m still letting you into my house, just in case,” Twilight replies cautiously.

“I understand, but I need your help,” The Doctor begins.

“I’m listening,”

“I believe that the Lord of the Vamponies is going to use Fluttershy’s blood to break the Seal on his prison,” The Doctor explains.

“So you want me to help you save her?” Twilight asks.

Doctor Whooves shakes his head.

“I need you to distract Rainbow from saving Fluttershy until the proper moment,” He explains.

Twilight gives him a bewildered look.

“What do you mean?”

“If we save Fluttershy too earlier, the Lord of the Vamponies will just find another victim and open the Seal anyways. We need to wait until just before the eclipse to save her so the Lord of the Vamponies won’t have time to gather another victim to complete the Ritual.”

Twilight rears back, shocked that Doctor Whooves could even suggest such a thing.

“I’m not using poor Fluttershy as bait!” Twilight exclaims.

“Then I hope you have a solid plan for stopping the Lord of the Vamponies when he rises from his prison,” Doctor Whooves says gravely.

Twilight ponders the Doctor’s words for a long while.

18 Hours Later…

After school, Twilight, Spike, and Dashie are gathered in the library and have been for the last two hours. It is almost six o’clock, a mere two hours before the eclipse is set to happen.

“Come on Twilight this is getting old,” Rainbow complains. “You’ve had all day, how have you not found the caves yet?”

Spike leans towards Rainbow and whispers to her.

“She’s probably been flirting with Mr. Macintosh all day,” He snorts.

“What was that Spike?” Twilight asks.

“Nothing,” Spike replies quickly.

Twilight gives him a wary glare and returns to studying. Suddenly, she finds something in her book, a volume called A Glimpse into the Past: Ponydale 100 Years Ago.

“Aha! I found something,” Twilight exclaims. “It looks like there could be an entrance to the cave system on the edge of town.”

Rainbow claps her hooves together.

“Great, let’s go!”

Twilight holds a hoof up to stop her.

“Not so fast, my little pony,” Twilight says. “We have to wait until dark. The eclipse is set to happen at 8:02 p.m.”

Rainbow gapes at Twilight in astonishment.

“What do you mean we have to wait?” Rainbow asks. “We have to save Fluttershy as quickly as possible.”

“But,” Twilight begins, but then stops herself.

“But what, Twi?” Rainbow demands.

Twilight grimaces, hating the fact that she has been lying to her Slayer.

“We can’t save Fluttershy until right before the eclipse,” She admits.

“Have-have you been lying to us this entire time!” Her shock turns into anger.

Twilight shuffles guiltily.

“Twilight?” Spike asks. “Is that true?”

“You don’t understand, if we save Fluttershy too soon, we could be putting the entirety of ponykind at risk,” Twilight explains.

“Who told you that, Doctor McFangy?” Rainbow replies scathingly.

Twilight is caught off guard, surprised at Rainbow’s knowledge of The Doctor’s vamponiness.

“How did you know that?” Twilight asks. “How did you know Doctor Whooves is a vampony?”

Spike looks shocked. This is apparently news to him.

“Oh, come on, it’s not hard to pick up on. The nighttime prowling, the aversion to talking in public, and mostly the general air of vamponyness that he gives off.” Rainbow explains.

“Doctor Whooves is a vampony?!” Spike pipes up.

“I just can’t believe you would lie to us about Fluttershy. Why can’t you just trust me, Twilight?” Rainbow storms.

“Because you’re brash and driven by your feelings,” Twilight snaps. “That’s not how a Slayer is supposed to act.”

“Maybe you should stop thinking of me as a Mary Sue Slayer and finally see me as a real pony!” Rainbow is shouting now. “I’m not just some name in a history book, Twi, when are you going to realize that?”

Rainbow snatches the book with the information about the caves from Twilight’s hooves and flies out of the library. There is silence for a few seconds, and then Spike turns to Twilight.

“You need to make this right before she does something incredibly stupid,” He says.

“Like trying to take on an entire hoard of vamponies on her own to save Fluttershy?” Twilight suggests.

Spike nods in acknowledgement.

“Yeah, something like that!”

There is more awkward silence.

“We should go after her, shouldn’t we?” Spike suggests.

“That’s a good idea, but I think we should bring help,” Twilight agrees.

“The Doctor?” Spike asks.

Twilight nods.

“Dashie’s not going to be too happy about that,” Spike reminds her.

“Well tough hay, we need him by our side,” Twilight explains.

Rainbow arrives at an old, beaten down shack at the edge of town. She checks the book she stole from Twilight. The passage in question reads, “Most of the entrances to the cave system under Ponydale collapsed decades ago, but unsubstantiated rumors tell of an entrance to the caves in the basement of Old Hayseed’s cottage at the edge of town. However, nopony has ever found such an entrance, and thus the rumors were dismissed.” Rainbow looks up from the book.

“Being a Slayer Lesson 1: always trust unsubstantiated rumors,” She muses as she kicks down the door of the run-down shack.

A large cloud of dust assaults her as she steps into the cabin. Rainbow coughs violently for a moment until the dust settles and waves her hoof in the air, trying to clear the dust. However, to some degree, she makes it worse. As the dust clears, however, Rainbow is able to see the inside of the cabin. It is small, almost too small for anypony to comfortably live in. There is a small table next to a very small bed on the far side of the cabin. Nearest to the door, there is an old stove that looks like it hasn’t been used in decades, along with everything else in the cabin. On the floor, she spies a trap door that looked like it was probably once covered by a rug, but the rug had long since been absent. Rainbow opens up the trap door and begins to descend down a long flight of creaky stairs, but the stairs give way and Rainbow falls down onto the cold, hard surface of the basement.

The basement is surprisingly large compared to the house above it. The entire basement seems to have been carved out of the cave system, or else it had been there the entire time. Rainbow looks up and finds that one of the walls of the basement is nonexistent and leads to a tunnel.

“Well would you look at that,” Rainbow exclaims. “A tunnel under the house. Who woulda thunk it?”

Rainbow chuckles quietly to herself and heads down the tunnel.

A few minutes later, Spike, Twilight, and Doctor Whooves arrive at the cabin. As they enter, they look for any sign of Rainbow Dash’s presence.

“Do you think she was here?” Spike asks Twilight.

Twilight points to the open hatch on the floor and the broken front door.

“It looks that way,” Twilight remarks.

Spike looks around in confusion.

“This place looks like it hasn’t been touched in decades. If it’s the only way to the tunnels, why is it so undisturbed?” Spike wonders.

Doctor Whooves shakes his head.

“It’s not the only access point from the caves to the surface. In fact, it’s the least used access point,” Doctor Whooves explains.

“Then why did you have us use this route?” Twilight asks.

“Because it’s the safest one,” The Doctor replies. “Hurry, we can’t let Rainbow Dash get too far ahead of us!”

The Lord of the Vamponies surveys the mystical energy in the air around him and a dark smile forms on his lips. He turns to Fluttershy, who is still hanging on the wall above the Seal.

“It’s time, little lamb,” The LordPony concludes. He turns to address one of his minions, a green mare with a rust colored mane. “Bring me the knife!” He demands.

The green vampony bows and quickly fetches a knife with strange symbols engraved upon its blade. The vampony presents the knife to the LordPony.

“Ah,” the LordPony exclaims. “The Karok da Haydes, the Knife of Sacrifice. A fitting tool to slaughter the lamb!”

Suddenly, the inside of the cave begins glowing blood red. The LordPony licks his lips and turns back to the petrified pegasus pony shackled to the cave wall. He raises the engraved knife above his head.

“It’s time, my dear!” The LordPony growls, eyeing the place on Fluttershy’s underside that he is intending to cut first.

“Rainbow,” Fluttershy whimpers softly, her eyes flooded in tears and her body quivering in terror.

The LordPony quickly slices a long, shallow gash into Fluttershy’s belly with the knife. A stream of blood rolls out of the gash and down Fluttershy’s torso and she cries out in pain. A malevolent grin plasters itself upon the LordPony’s face; he thoroughly enjoys making Fluttershy suffer.

“Yes, cry little lamb, cry!” He laughs as she squeals in pain. “Where is your precious Slayer now?”

He raises the knife and brings it down once more, creating a deeper cut in her underside. Fluttershy screams in agony and a fresh stream of tears flood down her face. The on looking vamponies laugh in amusement, all riveted by Fluttershy’s cries. Suddenly, a voice pipes up from behind them.

“Sorry I’m late, everypony. You wouldn’t believe the traffic!” the voice says.

Everypony swings around to find none other than the Slayer herself hovering a few feet above the cave floor with a stake in her hoof. Fluttershy looks up and spies her.

“Rainbow…” Fluttershy whispers weakly.

The LordPony grimaces, realizing he can’t delay any longer, and raises the knife, preparing to stab Fluttershy through the heart. However, Rainbow Dash zooms across the chamber and kicks the knife out of the LordPony’s hoof.

“Ah, ah, ah,” She waggles her hoof at him. “You never stab a girl on the first date!” Rainbow quips, and then punches the LordPony in the face, knocking him backwards into the invisible wall of his prison. The LordPony falls to the ground.

Suddenly, a small stream of blood rolls down Fluttershy’s body, down the wall, and onto the Seal. The Seal then begins glowing and, after a moment, emits a blinding white light in every direction. Soon, the light fades as quickly as it appeared. Everypony is still for a second. Then the LordPony extends his hoof through where the invisible wall was only moments ago. He grins triumphantly and turns to Rainbow Dash.

“Looks like you’re a little too late, Slayer!” The LordPony sneers gleefully.

POP!

The LordPony and his multitude of minions suddenly disappear into thin air. Moments later, Twilight, Spike, and Doctor Whooves rush into the cave chamber.

“Fluttershy!” Spike exclaims and runs towards her. He jumps on top of Rainbow’s back and begins undoing the shackles that bind her to the cave wall. Fluttershy collapses onto the floor of the cave, sobbing in a mixture of pain and relief.

Twilight gallops towards Rainbow.

“What happened?” Twilight asks.

“I failed,” Rainbow Dash replies curtly. “I let the Lord of the Vamponies escape. Now he’s topside, and it’s my fault.”

“I can teleport us up to the surface,” Twilight says, shaking her head. “We can fight him up there.”

Dashie points to Fluttershy, who is lying on the ground bleeding.

“Heal Fluttershy first!” She demands.

Twilight nods in agreement and begins concentrating until her horn starts glowing. Suddenly, the cuts on Fluttershy’s underside disappear.

“Is that better, Fluttershy?” Twilight asks.

Fluttershy gets to her hooves and wipes a tear from her eye.

“Uhu,” She responds weakly.

Spike steps towards Fluttershy, and hugs her tightly.

“I’m so glad that you’re alright,” He sighs.

Fluttershy smiles feebly and hugs him back. Doctor Whooves taps his hooves on the ground impatiently.

“I don’t want to be that pony, but we don’t have time for hugs and friendship right now. The Lord of the Vamponies is starting his takeover of Ponydale as we speak,” He explains.

Rainbow Dash nods in agreement.

“I hate to say it, but Doctor Insensitive is right. We need to act now before it’s too late,” Rainbow turns to Twilight. “Twi, will you do the honors?”

Twilight closes her eyes, and her horn begins glowing a light purple color once more. Suddenly, the gang find themselves above ground on the main road of Ponydale, in between Mr. Potter’s Shoemaking Shop and Ponydale Park. Around the shop were quite a few residential homes. As the cold night wind blows through her mane, Rainbow turns to her companions.

“Looks like it’s time to put on a show!”

Chapter 14: Apocalypse Corner: Redux

Suddenly, a group of five vamponies across the street spot the gang. One of the vamponies seems shocked at their sudden appearance, but tries not to show it.

“It’s the Slayer and her friends. Kill them!” The vampony shouts and points towards them.

As the group of vamponies begins to cross the dirt-paved road towards them, Rainbow turns her head to Fluttershy and Spike.

“Will you two be okay back here?” She inquires, concerned for their safety.

They both nod in unison.

“We’ll be fine, Dashie,” Fluttershy assures her.

“Yeah, we’ll probably just throw rocks from the safety of the back line,” Spike adds. “The flank, if you will!”

In any other situation Spike’s humor would be appreciated, but now, Rainbow just nods gravely and turns back towards the approaching vamponies. Doctor Whooves, Rainbow, and Twilight then charge at the attacking vamponies. Twilight rams one of the vamponies with her horn, catching it off balance and allowing Rainbow to stab it through the flank with a stake. The vampony turns to dust instantly, without even a cry of shock to signal his departure from existence. Spike hands Fluttershy a small, pointy rock.

“What’s this?” Fluttershy asks, giving the rock an uncertain look.

“It’s called a Vampony Annoyance Projectile 3000,” Spike replies smart-flankedly.

Fluttershy reaffirms her grip on the rock and throws it in the general direction of the action. She pegs a vampony in the eye, causing it to cry in pain and grab it’s bruised eye. Rainbow quickly dispatches the temporarily blinded vampony with a quick thrust of the stake. Another vampony lunges at Twilight, but she uses her magic to throw him across the street and impale him on a fencepost, turning the unfortunate pony to dust. Doctor Whooves is full vampony at the moment and dealing with a fangy problem of his own. The vampony tries to bite Doctor Whooves from behind, but he lifts his legs and bucks the unfortunate vampony into a tree across the street. The Doctor then picks up one of the last two vamponies and carries it into the sky. Rainbow dispatches what she believes to be the last vampony and sighs, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

“Well, that’s the batch!” Rainbow Dash concludes.

Suddenly, a vampony falls out of the sky and smashes into the ground next to her. A loud crack signalizes that the vampony’s legs have broken. Dashie looks up at Doctor Whooves in annoyance.

“Maybe you can warn me next time you’re about to drop a bombshell like that!” She growls. The fallen vampony tries to get to it’s hooves, but Dashie stabs it in the cutie mark with her trusty wooden stake. The vampony disintegrates. “You could really hurt a pony!”

The vampony that Doctor Whooves bucked into the tree stands up and takes off down the road. Spike tries to throw a rock at him, but the rock hits Rainbow in the head instead of hitting the fleeing vampony.

“Ow, Spike, watch it!” She exclaims and casts a glare at the baby dragon.

Spike grins guiltily.

“You know, I think I’ll stop throwing rocks now,” He chuckles.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Rainbow replies, nodding.

“So what now?” Fluttershy asks.

“We go the place that the vamponies are most likely to strike,” Twilight answers.

“Sugarcube Corner,” Doctor Whooves states matter-of-factly.

As they approach the old brick building that is Sugarcube Corner, the five ponies hear a piercing screech coming from the alley next to Sugarcube Corner, followed by a female voice that screams.

“Get away from me, you brute!” Rarity’s voice shrieks.

Rainbow starts towards the sound of Rarity’s voice, but Spike stops her.

“Do you really want to save Rarity?” Spike questions her.

Rainbow shakes her head.

“No, I don’t,” She admits, but flies off towards the alley to save Rarity in spite of this.

The light green vampony starts towards Rarity’s spotless white neck as he holds her pinned to the wall of the alley, ready to feast on her blood. Rarity leans away from the vampony in fear. The wall that she is being pushed up against has the words “Rarity Sucks!” spray-painted onto it.

“No one is here to save you, pretty pony!” The vampony sneers, licking his fangs voraciously.

Suddenly, Dashie’s voice rings out from the entrance of the alleyway.

“Well, that’s not exactly true,” She begins. “You see, I’m definitely going to kill you, but I’m still not sure whether or not I’m going to save Rarity yet.”

As the vampony turns towards her voice, Rainbow Dash flies down the alley and kicks him off of Rarity. The vampony flies backwards and lands on it’s back in a pile of black trash bags, stunned. Rainbow leaps across the alley and lands on top of the vampony.

“Sorry, pal, dinner’s over!” Rainbow quips as she turns him to dust.

Rainbow takes a deep breath and begins walking back towards Rarity, who has a look of pure astonishment on her face. She is still shaking from her recent brush with death.

“Wow…” Rarity begins, but trails off.

“If you’re going to tell me that I’m a freak, do it quick. I have a town to save!” Rainbow growls.

“No, Rainbow,” Rarity says, shaking her head. “I want to thank you for saving my life.”

Rainbow is momentarily taken aback by Rarity’s sudden gratitude. She stops in her tracks next to Rarity.

“Well, uh, you’re welcome Rarity,” Rainbow replies hesitantly, unsure of whether or not this is a setup for ridicule.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Rarity asks expectantly.

“Yes there is,” Rainbow says, nodding. “You can go home, lock your door, and not open it up for anypony. Understand?”

Rarity nods and runs off out of the alley, towards her house. As Rainbow emerges from the alley, Spike gives her an amused grin.

“Did you kick her flank?” He asks excitedly, motioning kicking an imaginary Rarity in the flank.

Dashie shakes her head, leaving Spike disappointed.

“No, but she thanked me for saving her,” Rainbow explains.

“Rarity? Thanking you? It really must be the end of the world,” Spike comments smart-flankedly.

Twilight taps a hoof on the ground impatiently.

“We don’t have time for witty banter, you two!” The stuffy unicorn tuts. “Vamponies could be feasting on your classmates as we speak.”

Rainbow smirks.

“Then let’s go crash Homecoming!” She says and throws open the rusty iron front door of Sugarcube Corner, almost catapulting it off it’s hinges.

Sugarcube Corner is practically empty, even the bartender is nowhere to be found. All of the tables have been cleared out from the main area, leaving a wide-open space for the dancing ponies. Everything seems eerily quiet, as the club is inhabited only by a lone vampony whom is sitting on a gold-painted wooden throne on the stage that takes up a good majority of the west side of the building. The Lord of the Vamponies. As Rainbow Dash and her friends enter the club, the LordPony begins slow clapping.

“Bravo Slayer,” The LordPony begins. “You’ve found me and have come to save the night just in time.”

Rainbow stops in front of the stage and turns to the Lord of the Vamponies.

“Where is everypony?” She demands.

“Who,” The LordPony asks innocently, looking up. “Them?”

Rainbow looks up to find her classmates suspended right below the ceiling by a magical blue bubble. Her suspended classmates try to speak, but their voices can’t pierce the bubble, so they all look like they are aimlessly moving their lips. Fluttershy squeaks as she sees them.

“Please, Mr. Vampony, let our classmates go,” Fluttershy pleads.

The LordPony turns his attention to Fluttershy and snickers.

“I see you’re still as polite and sweet as always, Fluttershy,” The LordPony says, as though speaking with an old friend.

Rainbow growls at the LordPony protectively.

“Don’t you dare talk to Fluttershy you brute!” She snarls.

The Lord of the Vamponies emits an amused chuckle and folds his arms on one of the arms of the throne.

“Oh, I don’t think it’s your friend you need to be worried about right now, Slayer,”

“So what, fairy dust and happy thoughts, that’s your plan for taking over Ponydale?” Dashie snorts.

The LordPony shrugs innocently.

“I just wanted to give everypony a memorable last Homecoming; is that too much to ask?” The LordPony stands up from his fake throne, which happened to be a prop from a play that was put on earlier that day. “And what Homecoming would be complete without a dance?”

He claps his hooves together. Suddenly, tacky love rock begins flowing from the various speakers around the room.

“Sorry, fugly, but I’m not much of a dancer,” She retorts.

The LordPony grins malevolently.

“Then it’s a good thing dancing isn’t what I have in mind.”

Suddenly, at least two-dozen vamponies jump out from behind the stage curtain and attack the group. Doctor Whooves turns to Rainbow Dash.

“We’ll take care of these vamponies, Rainbow, you go fight the Lord of the Vamponies!” Doctor Whooves says.

Rainbow nods and jumps over the charging vamponies towards the Lord of the Vamponies. As she lands on the stage in front of the LordPony, Rainbow tries to punch him, but he grabs her hoof with his own.

“It seems you want to dance after all,” The LordPony muses.

“I’m light on my feet,” Rainbow warns. “I hope you can keep up.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about, Slayer!” The LordPony sneers.

Then, he pivots on his hooves and throws Rainbow Dash through the stage curtain and into the wall backstage. Rainbow crumples to the floor, but jumps up almost immediately to find the LordPony already backstage. Rainbow looks around to find various props backstage: costumes, fake and real swords, pipes, crowns, and even awkward shaped saddles. Earlier that day, the stageponies had put on a performance of The Winged Crusader, the popular tale of a Pegasus knight who slew a manticore. The LordPony rushes at Rainbow, but she jumps to the side and dodges him. She turns to face the LordPony. A vampony tries to sneak up from behind Rainbow, but she bucks him through the stage curtain and into the main area of Sugarcube Corner. At the exact same time, the LordPony grabs a pipe from the prop box and hits Rainbow with it, knocking her sideways onto her back. He trots over to her and places both front hooves on her chest.

“You know what I like most about hollow bones?” The LordPony muses, and then steps hard on Rainbow’s right wing, snapping it in three places. “They break easily!”

Rainbow screams in pain. The LordPony smiles like a little filly getting his cutie mark and rears up to smash Rainbow’s remaining unbroken wing. However, she punches him in the stomach and slides out from under him. Rainbow jumps to her feet, but then begins stumbling from side to side, her broken wing affecting her sense of balance. The snapped wing is bended awkwardly at her side. The LordPony snorts in amusement and grabs a long, sharp sword from one of the prop racks, careful not to grab one of the fake plastic swords. He then charges the disoriented pegasus, sword brandished in the air.

Suddenly, Twilight charges through the curtain and rams into the Lord of the Vamponies, impaling him through the side with her horn and throwing him into the wall. The impact stuns the LordPony and he drops his sword. Twilight pulls her now bloody horn out of the LordPony’s side.

“Rainbow-“ She begins, but is cut off as the LordPony head butts her. Twilight stumbles back a few steps.

Then, the LordPony rears on her and throws her against the wall. All of a sudden, a stake flies into his flank, where his cutie mark would be if he had one. The LordPony drops Twilight and pulls the stake out of his flank. He turns to Rainbow Dash and flashes her an annoyed glare.

“You didn’t really think that would work, did you?” The LordPony growls as he snaps the stake between his hooves. He drops the broken pieces of wood onto the floor.

“No, but I got your attention, didn’t I?” Rainbow says, shaking her head. Twilight sneaks away while the Lord of the Vamponies is preoccupied with Rainbow.

Dashie picks up a sword from the props rack that is encrusted with fake rubies. The LordPony picks up his own fallen sword and rushes Rainbow. Dashie takes defensive stance and raises her sword as the LordPony slashes at her. Their swords lock for a moment, sending small sparks falling to the ground. The LordPony breaks contact and attacks again, but Rainbow parries the blow and counters with a wide, sloppy swing. The LordPony dodges the blow easily. He spits the sword out of his mouth and catches it with his front hoof.

“Sloppy swordsmanship, Slayer,” The LordPony taunts. “One would think you’ve never handled a blade before.”

Rainbow spits out her sword as well, but lets it fall to the ground with a clang instead of catching it.

“I don’t need it either way!” She retorts. “No weapons; no wings; no problem.”

The LordPony grabs his sword in his mouth and charges Rainbow once more. She rolls to the side and bucks him into one of the prop boxes. It takes the LordPony a moment to recover and make his way out of the maze of costumes and various props, but when he finally emerges, Rainbow is nowhere to be found. He surveys the backstage area thoroughly in search of the AWOL pegasus.

“Where are you, little Slayer?” The LordPony crows slowly.

Rainbow hangs silently from the wooden rafters, waiting for the right moment to pounce. Finally, after a few moments, the LordPony walks right underneath her.

“Up here!” Rainbow exclaims as she drops from the rafters onto the LordPony’s head.

The LordPony’s neck snaps from the force of Rainbow’s hind hooves smashing it into the floor. They crash into the floor with such force that the wood splinters under their momentum. The LordPony’s body goes limp and Rainbow jumps off of his body triumphantly.

“They never look up, do they?” Rainbow muses to herself.

However, the LordPony struggles to his hooves and snaps his broken neck back into place. He rolls his head around, making sure all of his neck muscles still work.

“I have to admit, Slayer, that was pretty clever,” the LordPony says. “I’m going to miss you after I kill you and drink every last drop of your blood.”

The Lord of the Vamponies tackles Rainbow through the stage curtain, however, this time, the rings holding the curtain up give way and it comes down on top of the battling ponies. Almost immediately, everypony in Sugarcube Corner turns towards the curtained struggle. Rainbow and the LordPony thrash around underneath the stage curtain, but then the LordPony emerges from within the curtain. He fumbles around until he finds Dashie’s head and hold the curtain over it, trying to suffocate her.

“Rainbow!” Twilight exclaims as she tries to fight her way through the mass of vamponies towards Rainbow Dash and the LordPony, but the vamponies keep Twilight and the rest of the gang from reaching them in time.

Rainbow flails furiously under the LordPony’s iron grip, but to no avail. Finally, after a few excruciatingly suspenseful moments, she stops struggling. The LordPony drops the curtain and Rainbow, letting them both fall to the floor. He grins victoriously and turns to the Slayer’s counterparts.

“Hear, hear, everypony. The Slayer is dead!” The LordPony begins. “Your Slayer is dead, but I admire your bravery and spirit. I’m a gracious lord, so even though you’ve killed quite a few of my minions, I’ll make sure my minions kill you all quickly. Starting with the yellow one!”

“Sorry to rain on your reign of terror, Lord Blank Flank,” Rainbow says from behind him. “But nopony bucks with Fluttershy!”

The LordPony rears around in disbelief to find Rainbow Dash standing in front of him with a large sword in her hooves, very much alive. Rainbow slashes the sword across his neckline. The Lord of the Vamponies’ head flies off his body and fall to the floor with a sickly thud. His head and body dissolve into dust and a skeleton.

“Actually, I’m not sorry,” Rainbow quips.

The triumphant Slayer turns towards the LordPony’s minions and stands on her hind hooves, trying to become as large and intimidating as possible. She growls at the vamponies in the audience.

“You see him,” Rainbow points to the skeleton and dust pile that was once the Lord of the Vamponies. “I killed him. Any vampony still in Ponydale at the end of this hour will be tracked down and killed by me and my friends. Understood? Clock is ticking!”

The vamponies scramble out of Sugarcube Corner like wildebeests fleeing from a fire. After about a minute, Rainbow looks around to see if any vamponies are still around, but the only vampony in sight is Doctor Whooves.

“Anypony still here?”

Suddenly, she feels a sharp pain in her chest. Dashie looks down to find a bloody, broken stake sticking out of her underside. A pink coated, green maned vampony rests her head on Rainbow’s shoulder.

“I am!” Daisy replies, twisting the stake she had thrust into Rainbow’s back and pulling it out quickly.

Rainbow Dash gasps and falls to the ground. Doctor Whooves roars in rage and zooms towards Daisy, tackling her into a table backstage. He breaks the leg of the table and jams it into her cutie mark. Daisy barely has time to gasp in shock before she turns to golden colored dust.

Meanwhile, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike rush to Rainbow’s side. A pool of blood is growing around her underside, staining the polished wood floor of the stage. The ponies in the magical bubble above their heads look down in shock and confusion at the scene. Twilight kneels down next to her Slayer and cradles her head in her hooves. Rainbow looks up at her Watcher.

“Twi-?” She asks weakly.

Twilight shushes her, placing a hoof on her mouth.

“Conserve your strength,” She insists.

Rainbow Dash shakes her head in weak defiance.

“Not going to happen, Twi,” She coughs.

Twilight almost smiles, but resists the urge. Fluttershy and Spike are too shocked to speak. They stand over her mutely, scared for their best friend’s life.

“I’m sorry I lied to you. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you,” Twilight apologizes.

“It’s okay. Anyway, I don’t think it matters anymore,” Rainbow manages a shaky smile.

Twilight shakes her head.

“Don’t you dare talk like that! I’m your Watcher; I won’t let you die in my arms!”

Rainbow Dash attempts another smile, but fails.

“You-“

Then, her heart stops beating.

Chapter 15: Dead By Dawn

Tick…tock…tick…tock…

The clock in the waiting room of Mercy Unicorn Hospital of Ponydale seems to mock Fluttershy, Spike, and Twilight as they await word on Rainbow’s condition. Every second passes like a minute, and every minute passes like an eternity of suspense and uncertainty. They are the only three ponies in the waiting room, as Doctor Whooves had gone out to round up any stray vamponies who were still trying to carry out the Lord of the Vamponies’ work post-mortem.

Suddenly, the front double doors of the hospital swing open and Firefly rushes into the hospital. She gallops up to the front desk and addresses the mustard yellow earth pony behind the desk.

“Where’s my daughter?” Firefly demands, obviously in a state of stress and disarray.

The clerk pony looks up from a stack of papers to the upset mother. Most of the papers are either patient updates or information on the schedules of the doctors themselves. There are many unicorns employed at Mercy Unicorn Hospital of Ponydale, unfortunately none of those unicorns specialize in organization, so the clerk, when not dealing with concerned visitors, usually spent her time filing paperwork that the doctors casually threw on her desk. Because of this, the clerk pony practically knows where every file in the hospital is located.

“What’s her name?” the clerk asks nonchalantly.

“Dash, Rainbow Dash,” Firefly responds, too anxious about her daughter’s safety to have the patience for such formalities.

The mustard colored desk clerk searches through a stack of paperwork for a moment, before finding a file that reads “Dash, Rainbow.” She opens the file and peruses the singular page inside of it as though the file contains a hundred pages.

“Miss Dash is in surgery at the moment,” The clerk explains, barely looking up from her file. “You’ll have to wait over there in the designated waiting area with the others until she is out of surgery. We’ll call you if anything happens.”

Firefly gasps in horror.

“What do you mean ‘if anything happens’?” She demands.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Dash, but I’m going to have to ask you to take a seat until we have word on your daughter’s condition. Don’t worry, we have our best unicorn medics on the job,” The clerk says, finally looking up from her paperwork.

Firefly growls in disdain and storms to the designated waiting area. She takes the empty seat next to Fluttershy. A nursepony enters the hospital, trots through the waiting room and takes a left through the door into the hallway leading to patient’s rooms and the surgery ward. There is an uncomfortable silence in the waiting room for a moment, and then Fluttershy turns to Firefly.

“You’re Rainbow’s mom, aren’t you?” Fluttershy assumes. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

“Yes, I am,” Firefly nods. “And who are you?”

Fluttershy bows her head slightly, almost as if embarrassed about being addressed by another pony.

“I’m Fluttershy,” She introduces herself softly. “I’m one of Rainbow’s friends.”

Spike, who is one seat over from Fluttershy, pokes his head out to introduce himself to Rainbow Dash’s mother. He waves to her.

“And I’m Spike,” He says. “Another one of Dashie’s friends.”

Firefly is slightly taken aback by the baby dragon, as she has never seen a dragon of any incarnation before. Despite being able to fly, dragons very rarely visited Cloudsdale, or any place in Equestria for that matter.

“You’re a…dragon?” Firefly asks, both amazed and somewhat suspicious.

Spike flexes his muscles.

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” He puffs in pride.

Fluttershy gently punches Spike in the arm.

“Ow!” Spike exclaims, more surprised than hurt.

Twilight looks up from her book to rebuke Spike.

“This is no time for jokes, Spike!” She says sternly.

Firefly turns her attention to the purple unicorn three seats over.

“And who are you?” She inquires, confused as to why an older pony is here to support her daughter.

Twilight hesitates for a moment.

“I’m the librarian at her school,” Twilight explains. “I was chaperoning the dance.”

Firefly accepts this excuse with a nod.

“Well I’m glad she’s making friends,” She concludes, and then adds after a pause. “So, Homecoming was attacked by whom exactly?”

“Disgruntled former teacher. Quite a sob story,” Spike lies. Secretly he is impressed by his own improvisational skills at the moment.

“A disgruntled teacher?” Firefly repeats.

“He was quite a disturbed pony,” Fluttershy adds.

“It’s scary that the school would hire such a disturbed pony,” Firefly comments.

Twilight shakes her head.

“There was no way we could have ever guessed that he was as troubled as he was,” She explains.

Suddenly, the doors leading to the rest of the hospital open and a nursepony, who is identified as “Nurse Loveheart” by a plastic nametag, trots out into the waiting room.

“Firefly Dash,” Nurse Loveheart calls out, looking around for the pony in question.

Firefly jumps up from her seat instantly.

“Yes?” She asks expectantly.

Loveheart motions her towards the doors she just came through. Firefly follows her through the doors into a long, flowery-stenciled hallway. The doctors insisted on stenciling the hallway with flowers to raise the patients’ spirits. Nurse Loveheart stops her a few yards into the hall, next to a patch of stenciled daffodils.

“What’s the matter?” Firefly demands. “How is Rainbow doing?”

Nurse Loveheart hesitates for a moment.

“There’s no easy way to say this, Mrs. Dash,” She begins.

Firefly’s heart sinks into her stomach.

“Wha-what are you saying?” She asks, even though she already knows the answer deep down.

“She’s gone. There wasn’t much we could do. Whatever stabbed her nicked the side of her heart. The internal bleeding-” Nurse Loveheart begins.

Firefly interrupts her with a disgusted wave of the hoof.

“I don’t want to hear all of that,” Firefly exclaims, tearing up. “But-but the surgery?”

Nurse Loveheart nods gravely.

“We had our best medical unicorns try to revive her, but she was too far gone,” Nurse Loveheart places a sympathetic hoof on Firefly’s shoulder, but she slaps it away and takes off through the waiting room and out of the hospital. She collapses onto a bench in front of the hospital and begins sobbing uncontrollably.

Seeing Firefly’s reaction to the news, the three ponies in the waiting room assume the worst. Fluttershy leans on Spike’s shoulder and breaks down in tears. Spike puts on a brave face, trying to suppress his grief, but a few salty tears manage to escape his eyes and roll down his face. Twilight bows her head, humbled at the loss of her Slayer.

Dr. Foaltree wheels the bed carrying Rainbow Dash’s lifeless body into the hospital morgue, which is located in the basement of the hospital. Mercy Unicorn Hospital was perhaps the largest building in Ponydale, with two stories above ground and a basement level. Not a single story was wasted, as ponies were always either getting hurt or dying mysteriously in Ponydale. It was one of those situations that ponies referred to in the saying “A blessing and a curse.” Dr. Foaltree knocks on the open door of the morgue in order to get the mortician’s attention. The rust colored earth pony turns towards the doctor. He frowns deeply as he spies the dead pegasus on the hospital bed.

“Another one?” The mortician asks, depressed.

Dr. Foaltree replies with a quick frown and wheels the body into the small, concrete room. He stops next to a metal table that is slightly taller than the hospital bed.

“Yep,” He says. “Sorry, Mort, you may have to stay a little late tonight.”

Mort examines Rainbow’s body. Most of her coat is stained in blood, but the spots of her coat that aren’t stained are paler than it has ever been, almost white with hints of blue. He sighs.

“She looks so young,” Mort observes.

“A tragedy, I know,” Dr. Foaltree nods in agreement.

“I have to go get some things from the supply closet upstairs. Want to come with me?” Mort offers.

“Anything to get away from these bodies,” He says, and then adds. “No offense.”

Mort waves the thought away.

“None taken,” He replies. “Death isn’t pleasant to work around even for me.”

The two ponies trot out of the morgue and head towards the supply closet. Moments after they are out of sight, a unicorn wearing a dark blue cloak sneaks into the morgue from the opposite direction that they left. The unicorn makes its way over to Rainbow’s body and examines her for a moment. The cloaked pony leans over her body and whispers into her dead ear.

“Your story isn’t over yet, Slayer.”

The unicorn’s horn begins glowing light grey and the pony lowers the glowing horn until it touches Rainbow’s wound. Suddenly, Rainbow sits up and gasps deeply, almost as if swallowing her life force back into her body. As she sits up, she barely catches a glimpse of her savior before the cloaked grey unicorn disappears with a pop!

Rainbow suddenly feels a wave of grogginess crash over like a tsunami. Her entire body immediately becomes sore as her nerves wake up from their eternal slumber. She looks down at her underside for her wound, but it has mysteriously disappeared. She surveys her surroundings. Body bags. A body cooler. Metal tables covered in black tarp. It takes her recently revived mind almost a minute to realize where she is. A morgue. Almost immediately after this thought, Mort and Dr. Foaltree return from the supply closet with various instruments in their coat pockets. They stop dead in their tracks as they see Rainbow sitting up in her deathbed. She looks at them in confusion.

“Was I dead?” Rainbow asks wearily.

Mort faints.

Firefly gallops over to the side of Rainbow’s bed and hugs her daughter tighter than she’s ever hugged anything in her life.

“Thank Celestia, it’s a miracle!” Firefly exclaims.

Dr. Foaltree nods in agreement.

“Miracle is right,” He says. “Nopony has ever come back after being dead for a whole hour.”

Suddenly, there is a loud tap at the window. Fluttershy, Spike, and Twilight are standing outside of her room, looking in on her excitedly. Rainbow smiles and waves back at them slowly. Dr. Foaltree marches towards the door of Rainbow’s room and pokes his head out into the hallway.

“Sorry, but only family is allowed in Miss Dash’s room at the moment,” He informs sternly.

However, Rainbow Dash shakes her head defiantly.

“Let them in,” She demands of the doctor.

Dr. Foaltree sighs and lets them inside. Fluttershy flies to Rainbow’s side almost as soon as the doctor allows them passage into the room.

“Oh, Rainbow, I’m so glad you’re okay!” Fluttershy exclaims, almost singing with joy.

Spike bounds to her side as well, equally excited.

“I knew you’d pull through, Dashie!” He says, grinning from ear to ear.

Twilight takes her place next to Spike and Fluttershy and puts her hooves up on the hospital bed.

“How are you feeling, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asks softly.

Rainbow shrugs.

“Pretty good for waking up from an eternal nap,” She says nonchalantly.

Everypony in the room laughs. Even Twilight manages a chuckle. Fluttershy turns to Dr. Foaltree.

“Uhm, excuse me sir, but when will Rainbow be able to go home?” She asks.

“Well, we’re definitely going to keep her overnight to monitor her condition,” He explains. “But if everything goes smoothly, she could be out of here by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Mom, Dr. Foaltree, could you give me a few minutes alone with my friends?” Rainbow asks.

Firefly and Dr. Foaltree nod and exit the room. As soon as they are out of earshot, Rainbow turns to her friends.

“What happened at Sugarcube Corner after I died?” She asks expectantly, excited to be caught up on the current events of late.

“Fluttershy and I took you to the hospital, but Twilight stayed behind and put a memory spell on everypony to make them think that a disgruntled teacher attacked Homecoming,” Spike explains.

“What about Doctor Whooves?” Rainbow asks.

“He went out to round up any stray vamponies that didn’t leave town after your warning,” Twilight tells her. “What about you?”

“Yeah, how are you, you know-“ Fluttershy adds.

“I was brought back to life by a mysterious pony,” Rainbow replies. “Some sort of cloaked grey unicorn.”

Twilight shakes her head.

“That’s impossible,” She says. “Nopony could be powerful enough to bring a pony back from the dead after that long, let alone a Slayer!”

“I swear it’s true,” Rainbow insists. “Somepony brought me back to life. And I think the pony knew I’m a Slayer, too.”

They are all stumped.

“Well, we’re just glad that you’re alive and well,” Fluttershy concludes.

Spike and Twilight nod in agreement.

“Very,” Spike adds.

Dashie smiles. Suddenly, there is a knock on the door of her room. Everypony turns towards the door to find a white, purple maned unicorn with a saddlebag on her back slowly trotting into the room, almost in embarrassment.

“Rarity?” Rainbow asks in confusion.

Rarity smiles timidly.

“Hi, Rainbow,” She says.

“What are you doing here, Rarity?” Spike sneers.

Rarity trots gracefully over to the side of Rainbow’s hospital bed.

“I wanted to show you my gratitude for you saving my life, so I made something for you,” Rarity explains.

“I hope you made a heart for yourself while you were at it,” Spike snorts.

Rarity ignores Spike’s quip and pulls a perfectly folded black leather jacket out of her saddlebag. Rainbow is shocked.

“You made this for me?” She repeats, awestruck.

Rarity nods.

“I had to guess on most of the measurements, but it should fit,” She admits.

“Well…thank you!” Rainbow says.

“Don’t thank me, darling,” Rarity replies. “Try it on!”

Rainbow begins to stand up, but Twilight panics.

“What are you doing?” Twilight exclaims. “You’ve only just come back from the dead. You should let your body recover.”

Rainbow shakes her head.

“I’ll be fine, Twi,” She insists.

As she lands on her hooves, her legs begin to give way, but Rarity catches her.

“There you go, dear,” Rarity says as she helps ease Rainbow to her hooves. “Slow and steady now.”

After a few moments, Rainbow is standing on her own hooves without anypony’s help. Rarity hands her the leather jacket. Rainbow throws the jacket on her back and puts her front hooves through the arms of the jacket. She wiggles around in the jacket to ensure it fits her properly.

“Wow, it fits perfectly,” Rainbow observes. “Thanks Rarity!”

Rarity blushes.

“Oh, it was nothing,” Rarity insists. “Really.”

She turns to Spike and Fluttershy.

“I feel terrible about being so mean to you all,” Rarity admits guiltily.

Fluttershy smiles.

“Oh, it’s okay, Rarity,” She says. “We forgive you.”

Spike gives Rarity a suspicious glare.

“Consider yourself on probation,” He relents reluctantly.

Dashie laughs and climbs back into her hospital bed, wearing her new jacket.

“Look at that,” Rainbow comments. “Happy endings all around!”

The full moon shines brightly in the night sky. All is peaceful on the edge of Ponydale’s city limits. Suddenly, four stars in the sky seem to crash into the moon, causing it to shine even brighter for a moment, but the brightness fades almost as suddenly as it began.

Suddenly, a large black-coated mare materializes out of thin air onto the ground. The mare has stunningly majestic wings, which flap lazily at her side, and a long, spiraled horn with a point as sharp as a rapier. Her name is just as majestic, looking as though it had been stolen straight from the cloudless night sky and it has a magic aura around it, which could justify such an argument. She stumbles around for a moment, but finally manages to regain her balance. She adjusts her dark blue helmet and looks around to find a sign next to her that reads “Welcome to Ponydale!” She glances at her white crescent moon cutie mark, which sits upon her puple flank, and thinks for a moment. Then, a vicious grin forms on her lips.

“Ponydale, eh?” She muses to herself. “Seems like a decent enough place to start!”

The mysterious mare rears on her hind hooves and lets out a ghoulish cackle and the sky becomes dark with clouds. The clouds soon cover the moon from sight.

“Hear me, Ponydale, your Queen of the Night has returned to claim her rightful kingdom! Soon, all of Equestria will bow down to the power and majesty of Nightmare Moon!”

The End of Dashie the Vampony Slayer. Be sure to stay tuned for Dashie the Vampony Slayer: Millennium of Darkness, coming soon to FIMFiction.net!

Special thanks to Princess Luna on ZeldaUniverse for editing this story and whipping my grammar into shape. And an extra special thanks goes out to ~MatthewHouston on DeviantArt, who worked his flank off drawing up the cover art.

Finally, I do not own any of the characters in either My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this is written purely for fandom entertainment purposes and will never be used for profit uses. Just wanted to get that out of the way!