Hello readers, this is a little belated Halloween story that I hope you will enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. This is a non-profit fan work, I only own the plot.
It was a crisp, clear afternoon in the Everfree forest. It was blooming with strange and exotic wild flowers like the bright orange blossom being picked by a cream-colored mare. "Thanks for helping me pick some flowers for the Spring Flowers Celebration, Bonbon." said an aqua green unicorn.
"No problem, Lyra, I just wish we didn't have to get them from the Everfree forest so close to night. Aren't there monsters in here that eat ponies?" Bonbon asked fearfully.
"Relax; we only need to find one more flower. It's called the Moonbeam flower. It's a pretty, white flower that resembles a rose with black thorns. It's rare since it only grows in the Everfree forest, and it only blooms once every 10 moons, so keep a lookout for it. It's going to be the crown jewel of the festival." Lyra finished.
Bonbon continued to search, though a little annoyed by her best friend and her need to find a silly flower in one of the most terrifying places in Ponyville. The entire forest was frightening. She heard that several monstrous creatures lived here. Creatures like manticores, cockatrices, sea serpents, hydras, and other things with large teeth and fangs.
The monsters were only part of the problem though, the plants, the air, the clouds moving on their own. It was all unnerving. Everything in the forest seemed to be capable of eating a pony whole, or at least hiding things that could eat them. Every single sound, every creak, crack, and moan made Bonbon more and more uneasy. It was as if the entire forest screamed that it will devour your very existence.
She managed to shake the thoughts from her head and continued her work. She looked everywhere until finally she saw the rare white blossom. She could she why it was called the Moonbeam flower, it was so white it seemed to shine with a strange luminescence. She then reached and picked several of the flowers until she heard an odd rustling and squeak.
Bonbon bolted around trying to find the source of the strange sound. She saw nothing a first, but then saw a small bat flying around her head. She screamed and tried swatting the bat away. The flying mammal dodged the hysterical pony's hooves and dived into the bush. She was about to run when she heard another sound that didn't sound like a bat. It was a moan, a pony's moan. Bonbon was compelled by curiosity to take one more look. She looked into the bush, and did her best to see what was inside. The setting sun made this difficult, but she could soon make out the figure of a pony. There was a brief second of relief until it turned and she saw a pair of glowing yellow slit eyes staring straight into her soul. This was too much for the confectioner pony to take and she let out a scream.
Lyra heard her friend's scream and ran to find her. She didn't have to wait long as Bonbon came rushing past her as if Nightmare Moon was after her. Lyra called out to her friend, "Bonbon what's wrong, wait!" she said as she ran after her. Lyra managed to catch up to the hysterical earth pony and got her to stop. "Bonbon calm down, what the hay is wrong?"
Bonbon frantically jerked her head around, with wild eyes when she faced her friend and said, "V-Vampire. I saw a Vampire Pony; we need to leave right now, get help, call the princesses, and buy stakes and garlic…" Lyra slapped her babbling friend before saying.
"Bonbon snap out of it, there's no such thing as vampires." When she concluded a rustle of leaves was heard and when they turned, they saw a flying shadowy figure hovering over them. Its eyes were glowing with an ominous yellow and it had bat-like wings. Fear and panic seized the two ponies and they screamed in unison and then ran straight out of the Everfree forest.
Ponyville was a hustle of activity as usual, though a bit more so thanks to the Spring Flower Celebration. Mayor Mare was giving instructions to the various volunteers. "All right the sign should go a little higher, and the tables should go over there. Oh and Derpy the punch doesn't go up there." The Spring Flower Celebration was a local festival to celebrate the first flowering blooming and thanks to Twilight Sparkle it was on time this year.
Her concentration was broken when a group of ponies led by Applejack surrounded her and belted, "Madame Mayor we have a serious problem."
"What is it Applejack?" the mayor asked.
"I found two cows and four sheep dead this morning, something drained the blood outta them."
"My goats were the same way!" shouted a farmer stallion.
"My pigs were killed!" shouted a mare.
"Quiet," the mayor shouted before saying, "calm down everypony, I don't know what's going on, but panicking won't solve anything. Now Applejack tell what's going on."
"Well this morning I noticed some of our cows were missing so I asked them if they knew the others were. The cows said that some the girls didn't come back to the barn last night so me and Big Macintosh went looking for them. I found the cows and four of our sheep dead near the woods. I asked the sheep if they saw anything, but they were too jumpy to help. I called the vet and he said that they attacked and drained of blood by some creature." Applejack explained.
"Our animals were the same way," said the other two farmers.
"What's going on?" Princess Twilight Sparkle asked as she descended with a bit of difficultly. She was still getting used to having wings. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were right behind her.
"Princess Twilight, there's a blood sucking creature on the loose and it's attacked several ponies livestock." responded the mayor.
"Oh my, do you have any idea what this thing could be?" Twilight asked.
Applejack stepped forward and responded, "We don't know what it is Twilight, but it can kill a whole and have room for sheep. I went around to the other cows and sheep, and asked if they saw anything, but they said no."
The Princess of Magic thought for a moment and then asked, "Fluttershy are you familiar with any creature that can drain blood like that?"
"Oh no Twilight, I'm afraid there's nothing around here that could kill a whole cow, much all those other animals. The only thing I can think of is a giant leech, but they can only live tropical warm waters so it's very unlikely to be our culprit. The only other thing I can think of is a chupacabra, but I think it's only a myth."
Twilight thought about this and thought, "If Fluttershy doesn't know the animal the animal responsible then what in Equestria could it be?"
The Alicorn Princess's thoughts were shattered when she and the rest of Ponyville heard the screams of two mares which were getting closer and closer. They mares were revealed to be Lyra and Bonbon and were rocketing towards and were screaming bloody murder. The mares stopped in front of the collected ponies and shouted, "Help! Vampire! Need Garlic!"
The mayor stepped forward and said, "Calm down girls, now explain slowly."
The mares breathed heavily and finally said, "We were in the Everfree forest looking for flowers for the celebration when Bonbon saw a vampire."
"Yeah," Bonbon added, "at first it was a bat flying around my head, and then it flew into a bush. Then when I looked, it was a pony. I screamed, ran into Lyra, then we both saw it and we ran here."
"Wait," Applejack interjected, "Y'all think y'all saw a vampire?"
"Yes!" they shouted in unison.
Twilight Sparkle stepped forward and said, "All right everypony calm down. I highly doubt you girls saw a vampire, but this attack on the animals has got me worried." She thought for a moment then turned to the mayor. "Mayor, I going to do some research to see if I can find anything that could explain these attacks, and if I can't find anything, I'll write Princess Celestia to see if she can help."
"Alright Princess," the mayor responded, "Everypony, I think it would be best if everypony went home early and locked your doors at sunset until we can figure out this problem. So until further notice, the Spring Flower Celebration is postponed."
Everypony was a little disappointed, but they all went home. Twilight and her friends headed to the library. Lyra and Bonbon followed suit. When they reached their house, they put the flowers they collected in a vase and tried to relax after their ordeal. Everything was quiet until Bonbon noticed something was missing. "My grandmother's locket!"
"What was that?" Lyra asked.
"I lost my grandmother's locket! She gave it to me on my first Spring Flower Celebration. I always wear it to the celebration. I must have lost it while we were in the forest. Oh, why did I let you talk me into helping you?" Bonbon sobbed.
Lyra trotted over to her friend and put a hoof on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Bonbon, but don't worry we'll find it as soon as this vampire is caught. I'll search the entire forest if I have."
Bonbon wiped away her tears and said, "Thanks Lyra, I didn't mean to yell, it's just that so much has happened today that I feel a little overwhelmed."
The friends hugged for a while until Lyra finally said, "Come on let's make supper, and lock up the house. Thankfully I have lots of garlic left over from my creative cooking phase." she giggled. Bonbon also giggled and then proceeded to lock up and set up the garlic.