Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

With a rough jostle, Twilight found herself semi-conscious again. Her body was distant and numb, and what little she could feel wasn't pleasant.

The world around her was mostly a series of muffled sounds and a sensation of moving. She couldn’t tell what direction she was headed, but she could tell that she was moving fast.

A rhythmic galloping of hooves came from around and underneath her, which might have told her she was being carried, if she could form a coherent thought.

Minutes…

Hours…

All passage of time slipped away as she drifted in and out of consciousness. She wasn’t sure if she was dreaming or not.

Finally, her senses started clarifying ever so slightly.

"Ngh…! Let us go!" A familiar shrill voice came from somewhere behind her, followed by an unfamiliar growl of annoyance from in front.

"Would someone shut that brat up already?!" A feminine voice asked in a frustrated manner.

"Ugh…" Twilight groaned softly as she managed to open her heavy eyelids. She was looking down at a moonlit mixture of grass and dirt that was going by at a rapid pace. Her costume spectacles were missing, and she could see strands of her own mane poking down, indicating that her wig had fallen off.

"Stop up here." A few voices called out, carrying the message down whatever group there was.

Twilight felt herself slowing down to a canter before whoever was carrying her stopped entirely.

"I'm starving… Are we going to eat soon?" A stallion droned from off to the side.

"That’s for the Prince to decide." Another feminine voice responded, seemingly coming from right next to Twilight.

The unicorn slowly lifted her head and looked to the side, only to see a pale yellow mare with auburn hair, or more accurately, the back of said mare’s head. She was apparently being carried like a sack of potatoes over the mare’s back.

Attempting to bring her hooves up to her face resulted in stiff resistance. Twilight was starting to get her wits about her, so she could immediately tell that she was tied up.

Deciding that it would be best to keep quiet for now, the unicorn slowly trailed her eyes around to survey her current surroundings.

She was at the edge of a field, with a few trees dotted around. There was a darkened town up ahead, though all she could see from her position was a couple of modest houses.

Twilight suppressed a flinch and quickly shut her eyes again as she saw two glowing red dots shifting her way. There were at least four or five pale ponies similar to the ones that crashed into the ballroom scattered around, and that was only what she could see.

"Gah… you guys are really going to be sorry when our friends come to save us!"

Scootaloo…? Twilight thought to herself. She peered one eye open and trailed it to the side, only to pale at what she saw.

There was a gray unicorn stallion with a black mane a few feet back in the loose herd formation these vampires had going. Much like the yellow mare was with Twilight, the stallion was ferrying a trio of fillies on his back. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle were all huddled together with their forehooves bound in front of them with some kind of red rope.

Oh no… not you guys too… Twilight’s face softened with worry as she saw the young trio. As troubling and fearful the notion of being alone with the group of vicious monsters was, she would rather have been the only ponynapping victim taken by the vampiric pack of ponies.

Before the purple mare could think further on what to do, the gray stallion carrying the fillies growled under his breath, gritting his teeth and revealing his sharpened fangs. He lit up his horn, and with little warning, an audible smack sounded out and Scootaloo’s head was knocked to the side violently as a similar aura briefly appeared on her.

“OW!” The young pegasus yelped, nearly falling into Apple Bloom from the force of the strike. She had a red mark on her cheek, and her eyes were watering from the sheer unexpected shock.

“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle inched toward her friend, seemingly trying to reach out to her before she remembered that she was restrained.

Apple Bloom watched as her friend cringed and clenched an eye shut as she dealt with the stinging injury. She glared ahead at the stallion looking back at them with a smug expression.

“Leave her alone you… you jerk!” The young earth pony yelled, maneuvering herself to be in front of the pegasus protectively.

“Oh, what? You didn’t like that?” The stallion smirked.

*THWACK*

Scootaloo produced a sucking noise of pain and fell over forward as an invisible force slammed into her stomach. She would have stayed where she was, sputtering and groaning softly while face down into the stallion’s back, if Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle didn’t pull her up by their teeth.

“Stop it!” Apple Bloom protested, more than a hint of anger and desperation in her eyes.

The stallion chuckled to himself before turning ahead. “Keep talking and you’ll be next.”

Hearing this, the young farmer growled under her breath. She fell back onto her haunches and leaned back even further until her legs were free. She then kicked out at the stallion’s head with all the strength her tiny legs could deliver, creating a satisfying smack.

Grunting slightly in pain, the stallion immediately spun around to face the fillies. His crimson eyes glowed fiercely and he bared his teeth as a more animalistic growl came forth, putting the fear of life and death into the young crusaders.

“Leave them alone!”

With little warning, a magical bolt zipped right into the stallion’s chest and exploded, leaving a sizable scorch mark and producing a painful yell.

The three fillies looked ahead with surprise as the purple mare in front of them disappeared in a flash of light. In another instant, a magical buzz came from behind them and they were suddenly wrapped in a magenta aura and whisked into the air.

“Woah!” Sweetie Belle felt her stomach bottom out briefly as a sensation of weightlessness overcame her, only to subside as she was set back onto the ground next to a familiar unicorn.

Before anything else could happen, Twilight let her horn glow more intensely and placed a forcefield around herself and the three fillies, separating them from the confused and alarmed pack outside.

“Twilight…?!” Scootaloo blinked with surprise as she watched the unicorn breaking the rope restraining herself.

Twilight briefly rubbed her wrists before looking down to the fillies and smiling, only to frown softly as she saw the red mark on Scootaloo’s cheek and the bindings still holding them in place.

“Are you ok?” She asked, centering her question on the pegasus, as she shifted her attention toward the bindings. The strange rope didn’t actually look like rope. It was red and had a certain sheen to it that made it look almost like a liquid. Luckily, it was easily broken with a magical tug, freeing the trio once more.

“We are now.” Apple Bloom said, resting a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder and sharing a quick smile with her friends.

A muted banging noise drew the four ponies’ attention forward. The fillies shrank back and huddled behind Twilight as they saw the unicorn stallion, the yellow mare, and a couple more pale ponies leering at them. They backpedaled, nearly tripping over themselves as they realized that they were surrounded.

The yellow mare thumped on the magenta barrier with her hoof, while the stallion beside her fired a magical blast at it, only to have it ricochet off and nearly hit one of his companions. Luckily, nothing they tried seemed to be able to put a dent in the forcefield.

“I knew you should have killed her.” The mare sneered at a pair of pegasi off to the side.

“Stow it. You’re the one that was carrying her.” A pegasus mare retorted with equal agitation.

Meanwhile, the unicorn stallion locked eyes with Twilight, who was managing to keep a brave face as she eyed around at the many creatures surrounding her before settling her gaze on him.

“You better drop this shield if you know what’s good for you.” He threatened.

Twilight stepped in front of the trio of fillies, but she made sure to stay close to them as she faced off with the stallion, a mere few inches of magical energy the only thing separating them. “I can keep this up until morning… Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think vampires like the sun. You are vampires… aren’t you?” She asked with a wry smirk.

Hearing this, the stallion chuckled to himself. “I wouldn’t count on the sun saving you.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes briefly. “What…?”

Before the stallion could even think to answer, he and everyone behind him paused. Soon enough, the pale creatures started looking behind them with silent expressions of nervousness, like a band of soldiers stiffening up before their tyrannical leader.

Twilight and the crusaders watched as the pale ponies started backing to the sides one by one. Behind the parting pack, a lone figure walked forward until it was standing right in front of the magical bubble. The four stared ahead in shock from what they were seeing.

A brown alicorn stallion stood before the purple mare, staring at her and silently sizing her up with his deep crimson eyes. He seemed mildly intrigued by her, but at the same time mildly disgusted.

“So this is who the Princess chose as her student?” The alicorn asked nobody in particular. He tapped a hoof to her barrier, causing her to lower herself into a fighting stance, and scoffed slightly.

“Who are you?” Twilight asked, trying not to outwardly display just how stunned and nervous she was. Naturally, the sight of an unknown alicorn was a bit intimidating, let alone an unknown alicorn with vampiric powers and three wounds across his neck and wrists.

“Does nopony know who I am anymore?” The alicorn looked around to his followers, only to receive unsure shrugs or hesitant looks. “I used to be the talk of every hamlet, town, and village in Equestria…” He sighed, his eyes distant in thought before he settled them on Twilight again. “Very well… Twilight Sparkle,” He cringed slightly as if the words leaving his mouth sickened him, “my name is Dusk… but you may refer to me as Prince Dusk.”

Twilight felt an eyebrow twitch in revulsion from how full of himself the alicorn sounded. He was looking at her like he expected her to kiss the ground where he walked. “Ok… Dusk,” She emphasized, not breaking eye contact as she did, “why did you bring us here? What were you planning on doing to us?”

“I think you’re in no position to ask questions, Twilight.” Dusk replied flatly, gesturing around at the other ponies watching around the bubble.

“Unless you can get through this barrier, I think that’s the least I can do… And if you could get in here, I think you would have done it already.” Twilight reasoned.

Dusk eyed up the magical bubble, briefly raising an eyebrow. “Perhaps… perhaps not. My magic isn’t what it used to be, and if you’re worthy enough for Celestia to call you her student, you should be able to produce a rather strong barrier. However… I am not one to waste time when I have things to do, so I would rather you drop that shield sooner than later.”

Twilight scoffed and shook her head in disbelief. “And why exactly would I do that?”

As if to answer her question, Dusk exhaled softly through his nose before turning around. He lit up his horn and focused up ahead.

After a moment, Twilight’s eyes widened as a familiar young dragon was floated across the field and over to the alicorn.

“Spike?!” She squeaked in alarm.

The dragon was staring ahead, pale as a sheet and eyes wide with terror. His mouth was gagged and his hands were bound with the same crimson binds that had been placed on her and the crusaders, but this didn’t stop him from mumbling and squirming fearfully as he looked to her with a level of desperation that she hadn’t seen from him before.

“Oh no…” Sweetie Belle cupped her hooves to her mouth and shrank back as she watched her friend getting dangled like a piece of bait before a lion.

Twilight rushed forward and leaped up, resting her forehooves on the bubble as she stared at the alicorn with fear in her eyes. “Don’t hurt him!” She pleaded. If it were just her life on the line, she would have already dropped the shield, but she also had the three fillies behind her to worry about.

Dusk smiled, revealing a fang as he saw the unicorn’s reaction. He turned to the dragon still floating gently beside him before holding up a hoof and letting go with his magic, grabbing the young drake by the back of his costume.

“You know, this whole blood drinking thing is new to me… I quite like it, though. Every creature I taste is different. It’s quite exciting, really.” He said, looking back to the unicorn and flattening his expression. Without even breaking eye contact with her, a stream of blood traveled out of his neck and floated into the air before forming a sharp point, which was aimed right at Spike’s neck.

“No… No, no, no! I’ll do whatever you want, just please don’t hurt him!” Twilight shook her head, tears starting to well up in her eyes.

Just then, the crimson stream over Spike’s mouth lowered, allowing him to take a few shallow breaths as he stared at the floating spear made of blood pointing at him. He then looked over to the purple mare, his thin slitted pupils even smaller.

“T...Twilight…” Spike muttered softly, a twinge of uncertain fear and perhaps even a bit of acceptance in his shaky voice.

Then, the stream of blood reeled back in the air before shooting forward.

“NO!” Twilight and the three fillies behind her cried out in unison, unable to tear their eyes away as they watched the bloody missile pierce into Spike’s neck.

-Earlier-

Flying through the night skies of Equestria, four carriages drawn by teams of pegasus guards hurried toward the far-off town of Coltridge.

Applejack and her remaining friends sat in one of the carriages, accompanied by Sparkplug. Shining Armor, Tom, and the original members of Spirit were in another. The last two carriages were empty, reserved for those that the group would be bringing back with them.

Tom looked around at his companions quietly as the carriage shook from turbulence. Everyone had a mixture of emotions written on their faces ranging from unease to solemn determination. Shining Armor looked the most troubled other than the human, not surprising given that his sister and adopted brother were taken by vicious monsters.

However, while the ones taken by the vampires were deeply troubling to Tom, he also had a few other things swirling around in his mind. He looked up and over to Sunspot, running one thumb over the other uncomfortably before getting up the courage to speak.

“So… I’ve been meaning to ask,” The human started hesitantly, “what happened to Blue Bolt?”

Hearing the silence of the carriage being broken by such a grim question, Sunspot and the others lowered their expressions from passive unease to somber frowns.

The pegasus exhaled tensely and trailed her eyes to the floor before looking up to the human. “He’s… dead. One of those things got to him.” She explained, having difficulty even getting the words out.

Tom softened his features and looked to the floor. Part of him already suspected such an answer. After all, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy wouldn’t have left him behind without good reason. “I’m sorry…” He stated somberly.

“You can’t save everyone, Tom.” Glimmer Shine said in what he hoped would be a reassuring manner. Looking beside him, he saw Sunspot with a similarly gloomy expression of self-blame. “There was nothing anyone could have done.” He added, patting the pegasus on the shoulder.

“I just… wish I could have been there.” Sunspot said. “Me and Fluttershy got lucky with finding some silver. I don’t know how Rainbow Dash dealt with the other one, but it must have been a tough fight.”

“Yeah… you said it had a mouth full of fangs and sunken eyes?” Glitterball asked, receiving a slow nod in response. She rubbed her muzzle curiously as she thought about the matter further. “I wonder why those two were so different from the ones we ran into? All the vampires we saw were at least intelligent. Those two sounded like they were so much more… feral.”

“It sounds like what you encountered was a strigoi,” Tom stated.

“A what?” Sunspot narrowed her eyes at the strange-sounding name.

Tom leaned back into his seat and exhaled. “A strigoi… it’s a kind of feral vampire created when a powerful vampire sires someone without any blood in their body. See… vampires aren’t a natural monster, per se. They were made by people tampering with blood magic and making pacts with demons way back when. The only way to become a vampire is to do that, or to have one infect you.”

Glitterball put a hoof to the bite marks still visible on her neck. “I’m not going to turn into one of those things, am I?” She asked nervously.

“No, you’re fine. They don’t infect through bites, and not every vampire can do it. It can only happen if a powerful vamp infuses their blood into your bloodstream. If you still have blood when that happens, you stay yourself… for the most part. You keep your memories, your intelligence, your personality… with alterations, of course. If you don’t have any blood when you get infected, you become a strigoi.” Tom explained.

“As interesting as monster biology is, where does that leave us with those freaks?” Glimmer Shine asked.

“Yeah, I’d rather not let anyone else die tonight.” Shining Armor added.

“Well…” Tom started, “they pretty much have the same weaknesses as regular vampires. Silver, for one.” He gestured to Sunspot. “There’s also sunlight. A less sure-fire way is to destroy the heart completely, which can be hard if they recently fed on some blood.”

“Let me guess, they regenerate?” Glitterball asked, thinking back to her previous encounter with one of the pale ponies. It seemed to recover fairly quickly from their strobe fire.

“Yep… unfortunately, which is why I don’t recommend trying to go for the heart unless you absolutely have to. You could cut off their head in a pinch, but silver is probably your best choice. Be sure to aim for center mass, and be sure to hit hard. Even silver won’t kill them if you hit them in a limb or somewhere non-vital.” Tom explained.

“And what exactly is vital for these guys?” Sunspot prodded.

“If you stab hard enough, anything in the gut or above should do. Once they get going, they tend to burn up real crispy real fast.” The human said.

“And… what about this alicorn guy?” Sunspot added.

The others grew uneasy as Tom remained silent for a few moments. He glanced down to a black bag he had beside him before biting his lip in thought and nodding. “I’ve got some ideas about how I’m going to deal with him if he becomes a problem.”

“You mean how we’re going to deal with him?” Glitterball chimed in.

“Glitter… this guy wiped the floor with both Princess Celestia and Luna. I don’t want any of you anywhere near him.” Tom said, looking the unicorn and the others in the eye seriously. “I... will... handle it.”

“No offense, Tom, but the last time you went solo, you ended up dying.” Glimmer Shine said in a concerned manner. He might not have been there to see the human’s fight with Raven Feather, but from what he had heard, Twilight and the others had every right to think he was dead when they found him.

“In my defense, it was bringing Twilight back to life that killed me. Raven Feather just helped the process along.” Tom jested, though the others could see that he was just trying to dodge the subject.

“Tom…” Glimmer Shine said, looking the human in the eye solemnly. “We work as a team, no matter what. If that alicorn is going to beat one of us, he’s going to have to beat all of us.”

Tom tensed his jaw a bit and sighed quietly. He could tell that the stallion meant well, but he also knew that he wasn't about to let any more of his friends get hurt. “We’ll talk about this later…” He said before looking out of the nearby window and ignoring any further attempts to converse.

Glimmer Shine shook his head before looking to his three companions, only to see them offering shrugs in response. They all knew the human could be stubborn, but they also knew that he had a bad habit of getting in way over his head for the sake of protecting his friends.
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Meanwhile, in the other carriage, the atmosphere was similarly tense and uneasy, though there was a heavier amount of gloom hovering in the air between the six mares.

Pinkie Pie looked up to Rainbow Dash and frowned softly. The cyan pony had hardly spoken since rejoining the group, and whenever she did, it was fierce and full of determination for getting back at the ones that took Twilight and the others. Pinkie knew that this was probably her way of dealing with what happened to Blue Bolt.

Fluttershy had been mostly quiet as well, though she was wearing a sad expression rather than a determined one. She seemed to be trying not to think about her blue friend, but every so often she would look down vacantly, her eyes shimmering and her jaw trembling before Rainbow Dash put a foreleg around her without even looking up.

“I…” Pinkie Pie started softly, unsure of what to say, “I just wanted to say… I’m really sorry about what happened. If either of you want to talk, or if you need anything… just let us know.” She glanced to Rarity and Applejack, only to see similarly sympathetic expressions on their faces.

“Thank you, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said, flashing a sweet smile as she wiped her eyes.

Rainbow Dash tugged a corner of her mouth up, but quickly returned to her position staring at the floor.

Applejack softened her eyes as she saw the cyan mare remaining silent. “You gonna be ok, Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash looked up, only to see her friends staring at her with worried frowns. Even Fluttershy seemed to be concerned about her behind her own sadness.

“Guys… I appreciate what you’re trying to do… really,” She said sincerely before trailing her eyes away. “But… I don’t want to talk about it right now… I can’t. The only thing keeping me going right now is getting the others back home and getting back at whoever started this. After we do that… I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

The others weren’t sure what to say to offer the cyan pegasus some comfort. She seemed to be trying to ignore any of the sadness she might be feeling, but everyone could tell when she lingered on a certain thought or image in her head, mostly because she would pause her uncomfortable fidgets and stare into space sadly.

"Well…" Applejack started, "if you don’t know what you're gonna do, we can at least help you figure it out if you let us."

“We’re here for you whenever you need, darling,” Rarity added.

Rainbow Dash looked up to see the others smiling softly at her. A hoof being placed on one of hers brought her attention to the side, where Fluttershy was flashing a reassuring expression. She couldn’t help but smile as well, however briefly it might have been.

"I think… that’d be cool." She nodded, taking a steady breath to center herself.

Hearing this, the reserved smiles on everyone's faces grew a bit. They might not have fully understood why tragedy had struck them tonight, but they were sure of one thing. They were going to stay together with their loved ones no matter what hardships they faced.

-Elsewhere-

Twilight stared ahead through her protective bubble, her mouth agape slightly and tears staining her face. The trio of fillies behind her was just as speechless as she was, and perhaps twice as pale.

A low chuckle came from the pale alicorn as he relished the looks of world-shattering shock on the ponies' faces. He turned to the dragon hanging in his grasp and retracted the stream of blood back into his body.

A shallow cut was left in Spike's neck, barely large enough to let a trickle of blood run down. He was clenching his eyes shut, too petrified to move. Feeling no pain other than a slight prick, he slowly opened his eyes, only to see that he was still alive.

Without even looking, a small trickle of blood came floating out of Spike’s wound, creating a strange and unsettling sensation for him as it drifted over to the alicorn.

Dusk opened his mouth and allowed the trickle to settle onto his tongue. He flicked his tongue around in his mouth, seemingly taking in the flavor of the crimson fluid for a moment before producing a slight hum.

"So that’s what dragon tastes like… Interesting." He turned to look at Twilight again, adopting a sinister gleam in his eye. "How about it, Twilight? Are you going to come out, or should I spend some more time with your little… friend?"

"Don’t do it, Twilight!" Spike exclaimed before the crimson band tightened around his mouth once more, stifling any further outbursts. He squirmed and mumbled and kicked, but he was powerless to get away from the stallion.

Twilight felt the knot in her stomach tighten as she stared at her number one assistant, her mind racing nearly as fast as her heart.

"What are we going to do?" Sweetie Belle asked timidly, looking around at the many vampires eyeing her and her friends up.

"Everything’s gonna be ok, Sweetie," Scootaloo assured, though she didn’t sound confident in her words.

"Twilight… please tell me you have a plan." Apple Bloom looked to the unicorn with more than a hint of fear in her eyes.

Looking back to the three fillies, Twilight could see that all of them were cowering close to each other and close to her. She was the only thing keeping them from the pale creatures having their way, and they were looking to her for protection and assurance in this terrifying situation.

Turning back ahead, the purple mare locked eyes with Spike again. He shook his head, pleading with his eyes for her to save herself and the crusaders despite his own fear.

Dusk watched her patiently, though he had a certain bloodthirsty look about him that made it seem like he could bite the dragon’s head off without batting an eye.

Moments before, Twilight genuinely thought she was going to watch Spike die. She had been helpless to stop it. It was the single worst feeling she had ever experienced in her life, and she wasn't sure if she could survive having it happen for real.

With the seconds passing by, the crowd of vampiric ponies started laughing and taunting the purple mare. She felt like she was going to pass out. It took everything she had not to descend into a panic long enough to intelligently weigh her options, but even then she found no other choice where the young dragon lived.

Finally, Twilight slid off the shield and lowered her head sullenly as she let her horn dim. The crusaders’ faces paled as the magical bubble vanished.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry." Twilight repeated softly, not even able to bring herself to look at the three fillies. Still, she would have done the same thing if it were one of them instead.

"There, now… was that so hard?" Dusk asked with a mockingly sweet tone as he dropped Spike and slowly approached the unicorn.

"Leave her alone!" Scootaloo demanded, starting to take a step forward until a flash of red zipped around her and her friends' front hooves, tying them together again and nearly tripping them.

"Take them." Dusk instructed to the unicorn stallion watching nearby.

The pale stallion immediately walked over to the fillies and picked them up without question, though he was a little rough with them, causing a few painful squeaks.

Twilight watched the unicorn tensely as he shot the girls a devious smirk that practically begged them to give him a reason to kill one of them. She looked up as she heard movement, only to flinch back as she saw a brown foreleg lifted in front of her.

"Wh… what do you want with us?" Twilight asked, her voice quiet with fear.

"Again with the questions… I had heard that you were an inquisitive sort, but clearly hearsay doesn't do justice." Dusk smirked before raising his foreleg even further and exposing the wound on his wrist.

Twilight shrank back as blood floated out of the wound and snaked toward her in an unnatural and unsettling display. She would be trying to cast a spell to protect herself or flee, but she had already played her hand and lost. Now, she had to be as complacent as possible for the safety of the four children, no matter what was about to happen to her.

The floating stream remained still for a moment before it suddenly thinned to a point and shot toward her. Twilight flinched, preparing for death and whatever pain would come before. However, the pain she received was far more long-lasting than she initially expected.

"Ngh… nng… AH!" Twilight yelped as the bloody needle carved into her forehead. The cuts being made were shallow, but they stung like crazy nevertheless.

"Hold still," Dusk muttered, a corner of his mouth falling into an annoyed scowl. "Come now… you’re supposed to be the Princess’s student. A little pain shouldn't bother you." He said, reaching his other hoof up and grabbing her by the mane. She reached her bound hooves up to try and grab him, but she quickly realized that she was helpless.

"Twilight!" Apple Bloom cried. She and Scootaloo were leaning forward and watching uneasily, while Sweetie Belle was averting her eyes and crying. Spike was watching as well, but with his mouth gagged and his hands bound, there wasn't anything he could do except silently struggle, cry, and hope that the process would be over soon.

After a few more painful moments, the stream of blood finally stopped and pulled away. Dusk let go of her head and backed up with a pleased expression.

"There… that’s better." He stated.

Twilight trailed her shimmering eyes up to her forehead, but she couldn’t tell what had been done to her other than a warm trickle of blood disappearing into her fur.

Spotting a small pool of water nearby, she lit up her horn to float some of the reflective substance over so she could get a look at herself.

Or at least she tried to.

Her horn remained dim, no matter how much magical energy she tried channeling. Not having expected such a lack of activity, she tried again, and again. Even after clenching her eyes shut and straining so hard that she threatened a headache, nothing happened.

"What did you do to me?!" Twilight demanded before suddenly widening her eyes. She had experienced something like this only once before, and that was when she was wearing hoof cuffs with magic suppressing runes carved into them.

"Relax. All I did was make sure you stay nice and agreeable." Dusk explained, letting the stream of blood return to his wrist. "After all… we wouldn't want you getting any ideas about escaping again, now would we?" He smirked.

Twilight’s eyes flashed with fear as she realized just how bad her situation was. There wasn’t anything she could do now, even if she wanted to risk fighting back.

Still, she managed to force a bolder expression to her face as she stared at the pale alicorn. "You'll be running scared when Princess Celestia finds us."

Hearing this, Dusk's smugly amused smile grew for an instant before he forced himself to contain his emotions. "And why exactly would I do that?"

"Because unlike you, she earned her title of Princess," Twilight said, hiding a smirk as she saw the stallion’s expression flatten.

Dusk growled silently and shot the unicorn a slight glare. All at once, two streams of blood shot out of his wrists and whipped up to her.

Twilight flinched as one of the streams wrapped around her eyes like a cold and wet bandanna. She started to cry out when the sound was stifled as the second crimson rope wrapped around her mouth.

"Don’t you dare speak to me like that. You might be Celestia’s student, but you are not our equal." Dusk stated with a low and spiteful tone. He then turned to his underlings, who all flinched back as they saw him agitated for perhaps the first time. "Grab her and get moving. I want to be home as soon as possible so we can get started."

"But… my Prince, if I may," One of the pale ponies, a pegasus mare, spoke timidly, "many of us are starting to get weak. I do not question your will, but you did order us not to kill many ponies back in Canterlot. I for one haven't eaten all day." She explained, tensing up in preparation for whatever punishment she was about to receive for speaking out of turn.

Dusk eyed around at his motley crew of servants pensively. He contemplated something for a moment before sighing. "Did you really think so little of me that I wouldn’t provide for you?"

Hearing this, the pegasus mare widened her eyes. "No, n-no, of course not, my Prince! I-I didn't mean to-"

"Do not be afraid, my child. You are greater than what you once were… As long as you are loyal to me, you need not fear anything ever again." Dusk said, the refined and gentle tone of his voice easing the tension the pegasus felt. "Now… as for getting some sustenance, I have already brought us to a suitable feeding ground." He gestured toward the town up ahead.

The pegasus mare and the other pale ponies looked at the sleepy town and smiled eagerly. Meanwhile, Twilight and the others could only listen or watch in silent horror as their captors prepared to harm more innocent ponies.