Blood Moon: Night Terrors

Inside the Protective Walls of Canterlot

Two people sat awake in one of the many homes that rested inside of Canterlot, the two people being a younger brother, and an older sister, the younger brother lay in bed, readying himself to go to sleep, whilst his sister reads him to sleep.

They say that in the early days of man, great beings existed among human beings, creatures whom have existed hundreds of thousands of years before the first man ever appeared. The mighty beings possessed powers which made mortal men worship them as though they were gods, but despite this worship, these ancient eldritch beings despised the very existence of mankind, only seeing them as a plague on the world they once ruled, and so, to combat the plague that was mankind, these eldritch entities birthed an even more malicious plague, one that would wipe out humanity, by either killing man, or turning them into hellacious beast, hell bent on killing anything with a pulse. the primordial beings watched as man struggled to cling to what little life it had left, but as they took pleasure in watching the devastation they created, they did not take notice of the humans who had devised a way to end this plague. The few surviving humans banded together, using whatever they could to push the once worshiped beings deep into ruins beneath the world itself, ruins inhabited by nightmares that the eldritch entities would feel right at home with, and with sealing them they sealed the affliction that had cursed them, however, it is said that one day the plague would escape captivity, and once this happens, it is only a matter of time before the beings who created the affliction escaped behind it.

Twilight sparkle let out a sigh of relief as she closed the book in her hands, the very book she been reading to her younger adopted brother, Spike, " So Spike, what did you think of that story, " she grinned slightly while looking at him.

A small boy with green hair, green eyes, and purple night clothes hid himself under his bed sheets, visible shaking, " Tw..twilight!, that's not what I meant when I asked for a bed time story!....great...now I'm gonna end up having nightmares.." Spike pouted under his sheets.

Sweat slightly dropped down Twilight's forehead as she sheepishly smiled, trying to lighten the mood, " Eheheh, sorry Spike, I guess I get so caught up in my studies, that I don't notice I'm talking about them any other time, " but Spike remained under the sheets, not responding as he tried his best to fall asleep. Twilight lowered her head, she felt bad that she scared Spike, I guess i'll be going to bed now...goodnight Spike, " she got up, blew out the candle in his room, and left to go to her own room. Once in her room she proceeded to change out of her regular clothes, and into her lavender night gown, " Here comes another restless night with no sleep, " she mumbled as she laid herself in bed, her eyes focused on the crimson moon that gazed down on all of Equestria, the moon had turned blood red all those years ago, back when the affliction had just been a few minor cases rather than an epidemic, " Red....just like it always is..." she closed her eyes in an attempt to get some sleep, but whenever she tried, memories came rushing back to her, memories of the days just before the plague had swept through.  "...I miss you dad..." a single tear slipped through her closed eyes and ran down her cheek, she had lost her father to the affliction, he had come down with it days after the walls were constructed, but as soon as he was diagnosed, he was taken away and never seen again, that was until she had been brought to his headstone by her mother.

Canterlot, Fifteen Years Ago

A young Twilight Sparkle stood atop her toy chest, staring out her bedroom window, watching as men and women dressed in white garbs and cloth face mask carried what looked like large brown bags out from houses by the dozens into the street, " mommy, what are all those people doing? " she curiously asked her mother.

Twilight's mother was hesitant to speak, she was unsure what to tell her daughter, for the past few days she had constantly made up excuses as to why Twilight couldn't go outside,  " They're um...they are....well.... " she couldn't find a single excuse to give her daughter, her hands shook slightly as she panicked internally.

" They're what mommy? what are those things they're carrying, and I thought those houses are where our neighbors lived? " Twilight turned her head slightly, visibly confused by her mothers behavior. It wasn't until a knock at the door turned Twilight's attention away from her mother, " I'll get it! she chimed cheerfully, only to be stopped by her mother, "m..mommy? what was that for? I wanna answer the door ".

Twilight's mother shook her head, " Go upstairs with shining..right now.." she looked physically distressed as she approached the door.

Twilight slowly turned away to go upstairs, but turned around to speak about, " But what if- "

" Twilight now, no buts, " after making sure Twilight was out of hearing range, she opened the door, which had a doctor dressed in the white medical garb and mask, standing behind it, "..C..can I help you? " she asked hesitantly.

The doctors eyes were filled with remorse as she did her best to look Twilight's mother in the eyes, " Are you...Mrs. Sparkle... " she waited for a response, only getting a nod as a reply. The female doctor took a deep breath before handing Twilight's mother a book, and atop to book rested a pendant, and a wedding band, one that she recognized immediately.

" No..no no no no.. " she took the items from the doctors hands and sunk down onto her knees, tears welling up in her eyes.

" We...regretfully inform you that...your husband passed away this morning from the affliction, he was getting worse and worse, we had no choice but to...... " she couldn't finish, she could only turn away, and shut the door.

Twilight crept downstairs, going towards the sound of her mothers weeping, " M..mommy...wh..what's wrong...what happened," she didn't get a response, only, an embrace.

West Canterlot, Modern Day

As of recently, the number of refugees who sought shelter from the plague outside the walls, and the more refugees who were let in, the more afflicted were let in with them, as a result,  large medical camps were set up just near the Hunters Church. Several refugees who were suffering from the affliction were brought to these camps in hope of containing any threats of an outbreak within the city, multiple doctors wearing black robes and dawning plague masked rushed up and down the aisles that were made up of the suffering and dying bodies. The only thing keeping these bodies from dying, or worse, were the numerous blood transfusions they received on a daily basis, but the city of Canterlot can only spare so much. Any who passed away from the affliction were removed from the medical camp, and placed in an ever growing pile of bodies, which were readied to be set ablaze.

Assisting the plague doctors, were nurses, hand picked by the church to assist the doctors in aiding the sick, one of these nurses, was a beautiful young woman, adorning pink hair atop her head, and a patch in her nurses apron shaped like a butterfly. She was tending to the sick and suffering children at the moment, using her quiet, but soothing voice, to calm the children who were in constant pain, "...Don't worry little one...everything will be alright...I promise.." she spoke in her hushed tone,  she gently wiped the ailing child's head with a wet wash cloth.

However she was pulled away from the child she was tending to by one of the many plague doctors, " Fluttershy we need you in ward three, we have an afflicted entering stage two of the plague, we need your assistance calming him down while we attempt another transfusion on him, ".

She gave a hesitant nod, "...A..alright...I'll see what I can do..., " on her way through however, her eyes laid upon two figures standing in the entrance of the tents adjacent to the one she was in, the two figures, hunters.

Hunters, originally orphans who lost their families during the early days of the plague, taken in by an unnamed church shortly after the epidemic was temporarily quelled, raised alone by a single priestess. From her they learned the way of the hunt, it became their belief to wipe out all those afflicted by the plague making no exceptions, however some chose a different path, rather than destroying the plague with mindless bloodshed, some became the very plague doctors who assist the sick and the dying. hunters, trained in the art of agile combat, so that they may match the newfound agility of those turned by the affliction, which proves most effective, however, hunters are far from unkillable, for when large groups leaving the sanctum of Canterlot, fewer and fewer hunters return each time, however, in these dark days, there are always enough orphans to replace the hunters lost to the abominations that lie outside the walls.

The two hunters in the adjacent tent were in deep conversation with one of the plague doctors, they dawned the standard hunter uniform, padded cloth and leather cloths for protection and mobility, a hood and face mask, and either a long trench coat or cloak for protection from the elements. Only one of the two hunters wore their hoods, the one who did not, was a woman with mid length rainbow hair, the conversation however soon turned into a rather loud argument.

In her arms rested a little girl in a blood soaked nightgown, what parts of it that weren't bloodied, were visibly orange, her purple hair covered her pain filled eyes." What do you mean there's nothing you can do!!! shes a little girl for crying out loud, are you telling me that you can't make room in this tent for a sick child!!! " the rainbow haired woman shouted at the doctor.

" Miss Dash calm down, I'm trying to tell you that we just don't have the room, more refugees keep piling in day by day, we just don't have the resources for this little girl, now please, if you would calm down we could work this out reasonably, perhaps we could- " his attempts at pleading for her to calm down were cut short by her sudden outburst.

" Calm down!?!? she could die without your help!!! we don't even know if shes afflicted by the plague, at least give her a chance!!! " she shouted once again at the doctor, who physically flinched at her outburst.

She balled  her hand into a fist and readied to swing it at the doctor, she would have too, had her hooded comrade not stopped her, " Rainbow, that's enough, if Whooves says he can't squeeze her in then he can't squeeze her in, " he spoke in a brash and cold, but reasonable tone. Rainbow looked him in the eyes shocked at what he had said, but before she could get any words out, he turned towards the plague doctor, " But, Whooves can supply us with medical supplies, we'll keep the girl in the church ".

" G..give you medical supplies, I most certainly cannot, we barely have enough to go around as it is...if I gave you any, we might not have enough to spare for the other little ones, " his refusal didn't sit well with Rainbow Dash however.

" Listen here you!! " she shouted at him, " Just give us a few supplies already, shes going to die without them!!, look her in the eye and tell her you won;t give us those supplies!! " she was fuming mad at this point.

The masked doctor looked at the weak little girl, her eyes barely visible through her hair, but he saw enough  to see the pain and despair, the pleading in her eyes, "..Al...alright...I'll get you your supplies..just...make sure no one knows..and make sure that girl makes it.." he hastily went into the medical tent, quickly coming out with a sack filled with medical supplies.

Rainbow dash barely smiled, " Thanks doc, " she looked at her male comrade, who in turned nodded at her, turning towards the church with her, and heading off.

Somewhere in Canterlot's Royal Castle

" Such a woeful night.....dearest sister, where have you gone...where have you been.....you always enjoyed watching the moon at night, " a lone voice conversed with itself in the darkness of one of the castle's many towers, staring at the blood red moon above. " You disappeared that day when the moon turned redder than the blood that runs through our veins, the night this plague first spread, you vanished, leaving nary a trace to follow, " sorrow filled the person's voice. The moon finally rose to the highest point of the night, shining light in through the towers window, revealing a regal woman with pale skin and long hair made up of multiple light colors, " Those hunters will be setting off in the morrow.....only to return at the dawn of dusk...with half of their numbers...oh how I pray for their souls when they make these foolish journeys...I know they mean well in trying to assist the towns who are not protected form this curse....but in the end...it is all suicide ". A knock at the door behind her pulled her from her self conversation, she turned to face the door, a somber expression on her face, "..You may enter... " she watched carefully as the door creaked open, revealing the person behind it.