Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

Out on the streets, Glimmer Shine panted heavily as he trotted through the cold night air with his strobe drawn. He and his unicorn partner passed through both confused crowds and terrified groups that had fled from areas that had been attacked by the pale creatures.

The stallion’s dog costume was ripped and torn in numerous places, even missing an ear. Thankfully he hadn’t received any major wounds in his brief scuffle with the apparent vampires.

His companion, however, wasn't as lucky.

Glitterball cringed as she brought a hoof away from the puncture wounds on her neck. The costumed black paw was stained with blood, and the two holes were still faintly bleeding.

“How are you holding up?” Glimmer asked as he stole a concerned glance back to the unicorn.

Glitter panted, her already exhausted lungs stinging under the cold air, and managed a smile. “All things considered… I’m doing alright.”

“Just be glad that shopkeeper is handy with a book. She really threw that thing for a loop.” Glimmer smirked as he recalled how hard the yellow mare had struck the pale pony back at the bookstore.

“I hope she’s ok.” Glitterball frowned with concern.

Glimmer gave his friend a reassuring look. “I wouldn’t worry about her. She got out of there just like we told her.” He looked ahead just as they rounded a corner, only to see the looming shape of the royal castle come into view. “Besides… we’ve got bigger things to worry about.”

Looking toward the palace with renewed urgency, Glitterball nodded before hurrying with her companion to reach their friends.

It took a few minutes to make it up to the palace grounds and in front of the main entrance. The area was devoid of ponies and guards, and the front doors were open.

“That can’t be good…” Glimmer muttered uneasily. Glitterball nodded and pulled her hoof away from her wound so she could wield her strobe.

The pair cautiously ascended the steps, keeping their heads on a collective swivel. As they reached the top and peered inside, they were met by a shocking sight.

Four bodies were littered around the area, three of which belonging to guards and one belonging to a very injured-looking Princess Luna. The guards were severely dehydrated looking, while the alicorn was bloodied and bruised and barely moving.

“Princess!” Glitterball widened her eyes and rushed into the room, barely even pausing to check the perimeter.

Glimmer Shine did a quick sweep of the area as he followed the unicorn at a slower pace. Eventually, he caught up as Glitterball knelt down and gently examined the blue mare.

Luna had always been their fearless leader, even if Glimmer Shine and previously Brimstoke had always been the head of the team, so to see the alicorn riddled with so many bloody wounds was a shock and a half.

Thankfully, she was still alive.

The alicorn weakly lifted her head up and looked at the pair of ponies. Although she was too exhausted to properly emote, a wave of relief washed over her as she saw friendly faces.

“Glimmer Shine… Glitterball…” Luna smiled before a twinge of pain from her wounds forced a cringe.

“What happened? Princess… who did this to you?” Glitterball asked in a concerned manner. None of the wounds on the alicorn matched up with anything she expected a vampire to be capable of.

Luna tried to answer, but she seemed to barely be clinging to consciousness, so much so that her head drooped back to the floor and her eyes fluttered shut.

Glitterball frowned as she looked over the many wounds the alicorn had sustained. “We need to get her some medical attention… I would suggest we go get our gear, but I don’t want to leave her alone.”

Glimmer Shine nodded before glancing back at one of the doorways to the side. “You stay here and do what you can for now. I’ll go get help.” He instructed, already making his way toward the hallway. He paused just before the doorway and turned back to the unicorn with an uneasy expression. “If you hear or see anything, call me right away.”

“Got it.” Glitter nodded, watching the stallion leave for a moment before glancing around the room and settling her attention on Princess Luna. She lit up her horn and sighed tensely as she focused on her medical training instead of the gravely injured alicorn before her.

Meanwhile, while his teammate tended to Luna, Glimmer Shine trotted down the hallway towards the ballroom. He hoped that everything was ok at the costume contest, but with such a blatant assault on the city and the front of the palace, he had his doubts.

Making his way through the corridor, he could already hear faint music from up ahead, but he couldn't hear much else. Where there should have been the muffled sounds of ponies partying and having a good time, there was nothing.

Finally, he came upon the entrance to the ballroom and peeked inside.

The area was mostly empty, with just a few ponies dotted around wearing concerned expressions as they chatted with each other softly. There were broken windows everywhere, and there was even a body with a bloodstained curtain draped over it in the corner. What was most concerning, however, was the sight of a pair of guards huddled around a dazed-looking pink alicorn.

"Princess Cadence…?!" Glimmer paused before adopting a concerned expression and rushing over.

As the two guards parted to make room for the yellow stallion, Cadence looked up sluggishly and pushed herself to a seated position.

"Ugh… Glimmer… thank goodness you're here." She said, a hint of relief under the fatigue in her face. Her costume was disheveled and there was a red spot around her throat in the shape of a hoof.

"What happened here?" Glimmer asked as he glanced around the room.

Cadence cringed softly and brought a hoof to her neck as she looked at the aftermath of the ordeal she just went through. "These… strange ponies came in through a window. They were after Twilight… they… they took her and Spike."

"Gosh…" Glimmer Shine stared at the pink alicorn, his thoughts lost elsewhere. "Where’s Shining Armor?" He asked.

Suddenly, Cadence widened her eyes in shock and gasped. "Oh my gosh… Shining!" She shot to her hooves despite the concerned guards trying to keep her still.

Glimmer watched as the alicorn spread her wings and hovered up to one of the broken windows urgently. She looked outside for a moment before reeling back in shock.

Suddenly, the alicorn turned and lit up her horn. She wrapped her magic around the yellow stallion and floated him up.

"Woah!" Glimmer Shine yelped in surprise as he lost his connection with the ground. He got lifted up and through the window as Cadence flew through it as well.

The alicorn whisked him back to the ground outside as she ran ahead. As he looked up, he immediately saw what had caused her alarm.

A fair distance away, collapsed in a crumpled heap in the grass, was a very defeated-looking Shining Armor. The stallion was even more battered and bruised than his wife, and judging from his position outside and the broken window, he probably had a much more expeditious exit than Glimmer Shine did.

Cadence ran as fast as her sore body allowed over to the stallion and knelt down. "Shining… can you hear me? Please wake up." She gently shook him, hoping to get him to stir.

With a confused and pained murmur, Shining Armor fidgeted back and forth for a moment before lifting his head.

"Wh… wha…?"

"Shining?" Cadence smiled softly as the stallion looked up at her. He blinked a few times, still in a dazed stupor, before his eyes clarified and flashed with alarm.

"Huh?! Wh… where's Twilight?!" Shining asked, starting to get up before looking to the alicorn and yellow stallion desperately for an answer.

Cadence’s expression fell. "She’s gone, Shining… they took her and Spike and left." She explained regretfully.

"What?!" Shining Armor paled and his mouth fell agape. "No… No, no, no." He shook his head in denial. Finally, he cringed as he briefly struggled to get to his hooves.

"Hey, take it easy. You’re pretty banged up." Glimmer Shine cautioned as the stallion ignored his injuries.

"I'm fine," Shining said, though his expression hid a fair deal of pain every time he moved.

Cadence started to say something when the sound of fluttering wings drew her attention to the side. She and her two companions looked up to see a familiar trio of mares flying down and landing in front of them.

"Sunspot?" Glimmer Shine blinked in surprise as the orange mare trotted up to him.

"Oh, thank Celestia you guys are ok." Sunspot breathed a sigh of relief. "We saw the broken glass and Shining Armor and thought the worst."

"I think 'ok' is subjective at this point." Glimmer said before looking the three mares over and adopting a confused expression. "Where’s Blue Bolt?"

Hearing this, the three pegasi immediately had the spirit drain from their faces. Rainbow Dash looked to the ground and crossed a foreleg. Fluttershy’s eyes shimmered and she blinked excessively as she tried her best to keep from flat out crying.

Sunspot looked back to the two mares before averting her eyes. She tried to hide whatever emotion she was feeling, but Glimmer Shine had known her for long enough to detect sorrow and regret.

"Oh no…" Glimmer Shine muttered as the three mares remained silent. He hoped that it wasn't as bad as he was thinking, but one look at Sunspot told him all he needed to know.

Cadence let her ears fall and frowned heavily as she felt the sheer sadness radiating off of the trio. She had just met the pegasus stallion mere days ago, but even so, she had a pit left in her heart as she thought about what must have happened.

While Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy did their best to not fall back into a fit of emotion, Shining Armor walked up to them and rested a hoof on both of their shoulders, causing them to look up. "I'm sorry about… everything you've been through tonight, but right now isn't the time to grieve." He said softly.

“Yeah,” Glimmer Shine added. “Those things took Twilight, Spike, and the crusaders. We need to get everyone together and figure out what we’re going to do.”

“What?!” Rainbow Dash reeled back, immediately replacing gloom and sorrow with shock and concern.

“No…” Fluttershy covered her mouth with a hoof and stared into the middle distance. Thoughts of her friends ending up just like Blue Bolt made her breathing quicken and her body tremble.

Sunspot took a moment to internalize her emotions, but she couldn’t hide a look of unease and burning determination as she looked to the two mares beside her. “Don’t worry, we’ll get them back.”

“You’re right about that.” Shining Armor stated before turning to Glimmer Shine. “Let’s go grab your gear and get ready to go after those things.” He suggested eagerly, receiving unanimous nods in response.

With that, the group made their way around to the closest entrance, which just so happened to be the front entrance.

As they headed up the steps and looked into the foyer, Glimmer Shine immediately noticed more ponies in there than when he left. For starters, there were a couple of guards gathered by Glitterball, assisting her with bandaging up Princess Luna. What most surprised the stallion, however, was the sight of Sparkplug and the three mares she was with.

“Girls?” Glimmer Shine tilted his head curiously. Everyone looked up to see the group entering and relaxed a bit with relief.

Sparkplug immediately walked up to the stallion with a somewhat urgent look on her face. “We came as fast as we could. We didn’t see any more of those things, but the whole city is in chaos.”

“Easy, Sparkplug. Is everyone alright?” Glimmer asked with a bit of concern as he surveyed the group. All of the four mares looked bruised or disheveled to some degree, but some were more injured than others.

Sparkplug herself had been avoiding putting weight on one of her hind legs, which had a set of puncture wounds on it. Rarity had a scorch mark on one of her forelegs resemblant of a magical blast. Applejack was holding a foreleg to her ribs, which were heavily bruised along with her stomach. She also had the beginnings of a black eye. Pinkie looked the least beat up out of the group, but even she was disheveled and sore.

“No, we’re not alright.” Applejack chimed in before cringing slightly. “Those creeps took the girls Princess knows where.”

Hearing this, Rarity trailed her eyes to the floor and frowned. Applejack placed a foreleg around the gloomy unicorn’s shoulder. If anyone understood what the white mare was going through, she did.

“Girls, I’m really sorry about the crusaders. I wish we could have been there.” Glimmer Shine said sympathetically. “But right now we need to focus on where those things came from and who their leader is. This seemed like an organized attack.”

“Dusk…” A weak voice chimed in from the side.

Everyone looked over to see Princess Luna with her eyes open partially, a pained expression on her face.

Glitterball stopped wrapping a bandage around the alicorn and looked down at her with a sympathetic frown. “What’s that, Princess?”

Luna took a moment to cringe as she looked up at the group. She had to take a few heavy breaths just to get enough energy to speak. “An alicorn… he… called h-himself… Dusk. He… did s-something… to Celestia and... took her… w… with him.”

The others frowned as the alicorn fell back to the floor with an exhausted groan. She fought to remain conscious for a few more moments before her eyes lost focus and drifted shut once more.

“An alicorn…?” Shining Armor muttered, looking to his wife curiously. “I always thought that you, Celestia, and Luna were the only alicorns left in Equestria.”

“I was under the same impression, but apparently not,” Cadence added.

Glimmer Shine seemed troubled by the prospect of an evil alicorn powerful enough to best both of the royal sisters, but right now he had more important things to worry about. “Sunspot, stay here with Glitter and the others. Sparkplug, come with me.” He instructed to the two mares as he broke off from the group and started heading upstairs.

Sunspot nodded and kept her strobe pointed out of the front doors while Sparkplug hesitated for a moment before trotting to join the stallion.

“Hey, where are you guys going?” Pinkie asked curiously.

Glimmer paused and looked back at the pink pony and her friends. They all seemed equally confused and antsy. “We’re going to grab our gear. Once we find Tom, he can lead us to wherever those things went.” He explained.

“We’re going after them?” Rarity asked.

“Of course we are.” Rainbow Dash chimed in, her eyes holding a bit of intensity. “You can stay if you want, but I’m going.”

“Oh, I didn’t say I was averse to the idea, darling.” Rarity said, adopting a determined smirk. “Those things took my friends, my Sweetie Belle, and my Spikey Wikey… I’m going to be there when we bring them back.”

Shining Armor gave an appreciative nod. “That’s what I like to hear.” He said before turning up to the pair on the steps. “Go ahead, we’ll keep an eye on things here.”

Glimmer Shine nodded before turning to Sparkplug and gesturing his head behind him. The gray mare quickly followed behind as the stallion led her to their dorms.

Over the next few minutes, the pair went to and from their rooms getting their equipment ready. They each donned their respective tactical vests and gathered the many vials and charms that they used.

Glimmer Shine slid his silver dagger back into its sheath on his vest. He glanced at the new folded crossbow Tom made and smirked slightly as he grabbed it and added it to his arsenal. Luckily, silver was a common monster deterrent, so they had special bolts made on the off chance they needed to use a regular crossbow.

Meanwhile, Sparkplug hesitated as she held up the thicker casing of their newest weapon. The thin slits revealing green liquid inside were somehow intimidating to her. She swallowed nervously and placed the aptly named popper into a pocket near her chest.

After they were done prepping their own gear, the pair went and got their two teammates’ respective outfits ready, with Glitterball’s tactical vest being a bit easier to outfit than Sunspot’s modified flight suit.

With everything they needed to launch an assault on any common supernatural threat, the pair made their way back to their friends.

As they descended the grand staircase, they found everyone largely where they left them. Glitterball was still tending to Princess Luna.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were sitting off to the right side of the room, with the yellow mare resting a foreleg on her friend’s shoulder comfortingly, and the cyan mare staring vacantly ahead with her forelegs crossed.

Applejack and Rarity were to the left with Pinkie Pie. The pink mare seemed to be trying to offer the pair some cheerful conversation to get their minds off of other worrying topics, but it didn’t seem to be working as much as she wanted.

Cadence stood by as Shining Armor talked with some guards. Sunspot was sitting nearby by the front door, her strobe back on her leg holster. As they noticed the pair returning, the orange pegasus got to her hooves while the white stallion stopped his conversation.

“Ready for a change of costume?” Glimmer Shine asked as he tossed Glitterball her vest. Sparkplug quickly ran Sunspot’s suit over to her as well.

The unicorn smiled a bit, though her expression faded as she looked back down to Luna. The alicorn was still unconscious, and her breathing was rapid and shallow. She had lost a lot of color as well from blood loss.

“How’s she doing?” Glimmer frowned with concern as he looked to the unicorn, trying to keep a hopeful attitude. However, judging from her expression, it was hard to stay optimistic.

“She’s lost a lot of blood… Shining called for some guards to help me move her so we can get her some help, but… I’m not sure if she’s going to pull through.” Glitter explained softly, a hint of a crack to her voice.

“She’ll make it… She’s tough.” Glimmer assured before turning to Shining Armor. “Any news on Tom?”

Shining Armor shook his head solemnly. “I’m afraid not… I’ve got guards searching the city for him among other things, and Sunspot’s tried calling him, but he’s gone dark.”

Glimmer Shine sighed and trailed his eyes down to the floor briefly before putting on a brave face. "We'll look for him after we get Princess Luna ready to move." He suggested, receiving a solemn nod in response.

Meanwhile, Applejack watched as Sunspot took off her costume and put on her tactical suit. She glanced over to her two pegasus friends in the corner, who were still quietly dealing with their own emotions, before getting up and trotting up to the orange mare.

"Hey, Sunspot…" AJ started, causing the pegasus to pause what she was doing and look up.

"Yeah…?"

Applejack hesitated for a moment and let her expression fall into an uneasy frown as she looked over to see if Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were listening. "What happened to Blue Bolt?" She asked softly.

Any positive emotion in Sunspot’s face immediately drained as she briefly lowered her suit and looked up at the farm pony. By now, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were both watching and listening intently as well.

"He uh…" Sunspot trailed her eyes down briefly before looking over her shoulder at the two grieving mares. "He… didn’t make it." She said flatly.

Hearing this, Applejack widened her eyes and reeled back slightly. She took a moment to process what she was just told, her mouth agape as if she wanted to say something, before she looked up to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy with newfound sympathetic understanding.

"Oh my gosh…" She muttered. "I'm… I'm so sorry."

"Rainbow Dash was alone with him when it happened… They must have run into another one of those things. It's a wonder she survived." Sunspot explained quietly, more than a hint of shame in her eyes.

Applejack looked back to Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who were staring ahead with a hoof over the mouth and teary wide eyes. The pink mare in particular looked like she wanted to just run over and hug both the pegasi, but she knew such a thing would do more harm than good for at least Rainbow Dash.

"We've…" Applejack said, turning back to Sunspot with an uneasy resolve. "We've gotta find them."

"We will," Sunspot assured. "If it's the last thing I do, I promise you I will find Apple Bloom and the others."

Applejack merely rested a hoof on the grim pegasus’ shoulder. "Too many ponies have died tonight."

Sunspot was surprised to see such determination in the orange mare’s eyes. Looking behind her, and looking past the sadness, she could see something similar in Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s eyes.

"Yeah… too many…" She nodded slowly.

Before either of them could say anything further, they both heard a noise coming from outside.

Sunspot immediately drew her spare strobe and pointed it out of the door. She paused and lowered it as she saw a familiar blue-suited human.

"Tom…?!" Sunspot blinked with surprise.

The boy was standing on the last few steps leading up to the doors. His outfit was scuffed and dirtied in a few places, and his plastic angel costume was missing entirely. He looked very much out of breath as he looked ahead at the two ponies.

"H… hey guys… sorry I'm late." He panted with a slight wave.

"Tom?" Shining Armor chimed in. The two mares and the human looked over to see the white stallion walking up with Glimmer Shine.

"Oh, thank Celestia you're here." Glimmer said with a slight smile before he saw how exhausted the boy looked. "Where have you been?"

"I had a run-in with some vampires… Judging from what I heard over the spell, I'd say you already know what I'm talking about." Tom explained. He started to walk up the last steps until he paused as he caught a glimpse of the alicorn on the floor behind the ponies. "Holy crap, what happened?!" He exclaimed before rushing past the group and over beside Glitterball. As he examined the princess and saw the full extent of her wounds, his face paled with worry.

Glitterball frowned as she watched the human examining the alicorn. "Best we can figure, some alicorn stallion came here and fought her and Princess Celestia. He beat both of them… then he and these other vampires took Celestia, Twilight, and Spike and left." She explained uneasily.

"Wait, what?!" Tom looked up at the unicorn in shock.

"We've been getting ready to go after them. All we were waiting on is you." Shining Armor said as he walked up to the pair kneeling beside Luna.

After taking a few moments to process his shock, Tom ran a hand through his hair and let it linger as he thought about a strategy to get his friends back.

"Get some carriages ready with enough pegasi to carry all of us. There's no way we could catch them on foot in time. I assume you've got some silver weapons ready?" Tom asked to whoever would answer.

Glimmer Shine nodded and pulled out his silver dagger briefly. "Yeah, we do... but where are we going to find these things? Where are they going?"

Tom saw everyone turn to him expectantly, undoubtedly waiting for him to use his senses to find the strange creatures. Thoughts of the mission out in the Everfree flashed through his mind, causing a knot to form in his gut.

"I… I’m not sure if they would be in range of my senses by now. But… I think I know a way we can narrow our search to where I could pick up a trail."

"How?" Applejack chimed in eagerly.

"Those vampires were ponies at one point, probably not that long ago at that. It sounds like this alicorn stallion is the one who turned them, and he probably only showed up recently. Have someone check for missing person reports for the last few days and see what turns up." Tom instructed.

Shining Armor nodded in revelation before turning to a nearby guard. "You heard him. I want those reports in front of me yesterday."

"Yes sir!" The guard saluted briefly before trotting off to complete his assigned task.

As they watched the stallion leaving, most of the group were feeling eager determination to get their friends and family back. Some of them, namely a cyan mare, were more motivated than others to get back at the pale creatures. However, alongside the building resolve, there was a feeling of nervous doubt gnawing at the back of their heads.

"Ugh…" A soft groan drew everyone’s attention to the blue alicorn still lying on the ground.

Tom turned back to the alicorn and softened his expression as she slowly opened her eyes. She looked like she was in a great deal of pain. "Hang in there, Princess." The human said, resting a hand on one of the only spots on her body that wasn't covered in wounds.

Luna blinked hard and struggled to focus her blurred senses long enough to look up to the blue shape hovering over her. "T… T-Tom…?"

Tom flashed a hollow smile at the alicorn before turning to Glitterball. "Is she as bad as she looks?"

"I'm… not sure how long she has. If she were a normal pony, she'd probably be dead by now." Glitter explained sadly.

Tom flattened his mouth into a grim line as he turned back to the alicorn. He looked down to his hands and clenched them briefly, doing his best to ignore the slight tremble in his digits, before exhaling and leveling an open palm at the wounded princess.

A soft blue glow emanated from the human’s hand and enveloped Luna’s side. Immediately, some of her more shallow wounds dried up and started closing. She exhaled softly and relaxed a bit as her pain was overshadowed by tingling warmth.

After a moment, Tom’s hand started shaking intensely. He tensed his jaw and focused as hard as he could, but he couldn’t do anything to prolong the process as his light flickered and then faded.

“Gah…” Tom frowned as he saw how little changed. “Sorry… I must still be tired from those vampires.”

“Every little bit counts,” Cadence said reassuringly as she examined the alicorn. Luna seemed to be breathing a bit easier if anything else.

Glitterball glanced down to Princess Luna before looking up to her friends. "Guys… I'm all for charging in there head-first, but we're not just going to be fighting those vampire things. Whoever that alicorn was, he beat both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia… are we sure we can beat him?"

As the subject was brought up, the room fell into an uneasy silence. Many of the ponies looked around at each other or the members of Spirit, but eventually, most of them settled their eyes on Tom. After all, the human was their trump card for fighting monsters.

Tom felt a nervous sweat building up as the group looked to him, but he didn't dare react. Instead, he shifted his thoughts to Twilight, Spike, and everyone else that was taken and steeled his resolve.

"Don’t worry about him… I’ll handle it.” He stated flatly, starting to get up until he felt a tug at his pant leg.

“Ngh… n-no… Tom… y… you can’t.” Luna muttered, barely audible. Although she could still barely move, she had a certain look of alarm behind the daze in her eyes.

“Take it easy, Princess,” Glitterball said softly, resting a hoof on her shoulder before turning to the others. “We really need to move her. Tom might have just bought us the time we need to save her.”

Shining Armor nodded and then turned to his wife. “Cadence… can you stay here and take care of her?”

Cadence glanced at the alicorn before looking to her husband with a hint of concern. “I thought we were going together?”

“Cadence…” Shining Armor took the pink alicorn by the hoof and smiled softly. “Someone needs to stay behind to keep an eye on things. Besides… I already failed Twilight and Spike. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I let something happen to you.”

Cadence’s expression fell as she looked around at all of her friends. She wanted to be with them to help protect them, but she also knew that someone had to take care of Luna. “Alright… I’ll stay, but you better come back to me.”

“I will… and I’ll bring everyone back with me,” Shining assured as he briefly embraced his wife.

Meanwhile, Tom looked down at Luna and met eyes with her. He could tell what she was trying to communicate, even if she could barely speak.

He knelt down and looked to the alicorn with a confident expression that belied hesitance and unease. “It’s ok, Princess. I’ll bring them back, no matter what.” He flashed a slight smile, gently taking her hoof and pulling it off as she tried to grab him. She struggled to reach for him as he stood up and walked away, only to fall short.

“T...Tom…” Luna cringed and tried to lift herself up, but her foreleg gave out before she could even make progress. She looked to the human desperately, but before she could gather the strength to do anything else, a pair of magical auras wrapped around her and gently lifted her up.

“Come on, Princess. We’re going to take you somewhere you can rest.” Glitterball said, looking to see Cadence helping her with lifting the alicorn. The two mares nodded to their companions before starting to hurry the wounded princess away.

As the pair were leaving, a familiar guard came trotting back into the room. He was carrying a clipboard, which he promptly gave to Shining Armor as he made his way over.

“Sir, these are all the missing persons reported in the past week.” The stallion said, offering a brief salute.

“Thank you…” Shining Armor said absentmindedly, already reading the list.

By now, most everyone was watching as the stallion examined the clipboard. Some of the more curious members of the group were trying to peer over his shoulder while others waited impatiently to get going wherever they were going.

“Anything useful?” Glimmer Shine asked.

Shining Armor rested a hoof to his chin and narrowed his eyes briefly before smiling. “Looks like there was a string of reports in the past few days that, get this, form a line heading toward Canterlot from… a place called Coltridge.”

“Can’t say I’ve heard of it, but it seems like our best bet.” Glimmer Shine reasoned.

Rarity shared an uncertain glance with some of the others. “Are we sure? We can’t afford to waste any time.”

Looking around and seeing unease written on most everyone’s faces, Tom felt a pang of sympathy. He sighed tensely before closing his eyes and silently praying for his powers to work properly for five seconds as he took a breath and exhaled a puff of mist.

The ponies watched curiously as the human lifted an arm and pointed past them.

“Someone with more geographical knowledge than me want to say if Coltridge is in that direction?” Tom asked without breaking focus.

Shining Armor thought for a moment, squinting and doing his best to remember his days in school studying maps. “I think so… more or less.”

“Well, from what little I can gather, however many of them there were came from that direction before splitting off and scattering around town. And since I can’t feel any other trails, I’d say they headed back that way when they left.” Tom said hesitantly.

“Sounds good enough to me.” Rainbow Dash stated. “When do we leave?”

Hearing this and seeing the anxiousness in the room, Shining Armor turned to the lone guard once more. “Get four air carriage teams ready asap.” He instructed, receiving a salute in response.

“Yes sir.” The guard nodded before taking off once more.

Shining then turned to face the group, a solemn expression on his face. “Everyone that wants to go, get whatever you need ready. We’re going after those things and bringing everyone back home.”

With that, everyone cheered and put on their best war face. After all, they had been assaulted in a time of celebration. Friends of theirs had been hurt and taken from them in more ways than one, and who knew how many innocent ponies along with them. They weren’t about to sit back and let something like that happen, even if they were up against monsters. They had each fought monsters before, and they weren’t about to let something like that keep them from saving the ones they loved.