Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

Elsewhere, toward the back of the castle, Scholarly Scribble was practically dragging herself up a set of stairs toward the upper floor.

An intense pang of hunger cemented itself in her core, filling her every fiber with one desire. The blood she had received from Dusk was wearing off. She needed to feed.

It took every ounce of her will to not stalk toward one of the many sources of blood that were now in the castle. She could still smell traces of it in the air. No, she had to find the prince. He staved off her hunger before, he could do it again.

“Guh… hhh… h…” She paused, steadying herself against the cracked wall at the top of the stairs, and held her stomach. Her knees were weak and she felt like passing out. At the same time, she felt like she could pounce on any hapless victim that presented itself to her, taking them and their lifeblood with the swiftness of a predator. The thought alone made her equal parts sick and enthralled.

Moving slowly through the empty halls, the biting draft whistling through from outside only serving to blow her frail form off-center, she kept going, kept heading toward the strange buzz in her head that told her where her master was at all times.

As she stumbled forward, her rampant thoughts drifted to her brother and the friends she had made and lost on the fateful trip that led to this, her transformation into this sick bloodthirsty freak. She wondered what Page would think of her if he could see her now. It would probably break his heart. Her eyes lowered, though no tears came.

She missed his reassuring smile, ever confident in her and her abilities. She missed the loving embrace of him trying to cheer her up on a sad day. The warmth of his body… of his mouth-watering blood circulating through his veins.

“N-No!” Scribble shook her head and shut her eyes tight, a feral growl working its way out past her clenched fangs. She squinted an eye open and took a shaky step forward. She had to get more blood, she just didn’t want it to be from some innocent life.

Somehow, she managed to make it through the second floor and to the room that the alicorn was residing in. She prepared to open the door when she suddenly noticed that it was already open a crack.

“What?!” A sharp yell came from inside, seemingly coming from Dusk himself.

Scribble reeled back from the sound. She hadn’t seen the alicorn this angry many times before. It filled her with a wash of fear that reminded her of when she was fleeing from him before he regenerated from his weakened state.

“I’m sorry, my Prince… there was nothing we could do!” A feminine voice came from inside.

Pressing her head against the door, Scribble peered in through the crack and tried to make out who Dusk was talking to. She faintly saw the tall form of the alicorn, his back facing toward her as he stared at another pony, a pale pegasus mare.

“I told you to stop them! They will ruin everything if they get here!” Dusk snapped, eliciting the pegasus to cower back as an agitated growl quietly grated out of the alicorn’s throat.

“Please… my P-Prince… They nearly killed me! Everyone else got slaughtered… They had silver!” The pegasus said, her voice trembling nearly as much as she was.

Scribble backed up as the alicorn turned around and paced toward the door before stopping and sitting. He was staring at the floor, his face tightened into an angry scowl and his eyes glowing a bit harsher than they normally did.

“I give you new life… I make you better than any pony in this pitiful kingdom… and THIS is how you repay me?!” He glared behind him. The pegasus fell back to the floor, staring ahead wide-eyed like a deer frozen before a predator.

“I’m sorry…” She squeaked.

Dusk growled for a moment longer before forcing his mouth closed. He exhaled tensely through his nose, letting his shoulders relax a bit as he stood up.

“Very well… Perhaps I can work with this? Yes… yes… I think I will.” Dusk smiled, a glint of malice in his eyes as he thought of what to do next.

The pegasus mare loosened up ever so slightly. She cautiously made her way to her hooves, still pressing her body back against the wall.

“What can I do? I want to make it up to you… I want to show you how grateful I am for what you’ve done for me.” She offered obediently.

Dusk eyed to the side, turning around slowly to face the mare. He flattened his expression and looked down to one of his forelegs, paying particular attention to the slash on his wrist.

“If you were really grateful, you would have died fighting those interlopers instead of fleeing.” He said, lifting his foreleg and stretching his wrist. “You aren’t worth my blood flowing through your veins.”

“Wh… what?” The pegasus blinked.

Before she could even react, her form twitched as a flash of red zipped straight toward her.

Looking down, the pegasus was stunned to find a stream of blood piercing into her chest. She shakily lifted a hoof to it, not even feeling any pain, at least at first. Much to her horror, her fur glowed orange as her body shifted to ash and ember, stretching outwards from her now destroyed heart.

“Nh… No… please, I-”

The pegasus’ words cut off as she lifted her head to look at her master. The last thing she saw before her pained yelp died out was the sight of the alicorn staring back at her, not even an ounce of emotion in his face.

Scribble gasped quietly and stumbled back as she watched the form of the pegasus collapse into ash. The alicorn gathered his blood back into his body again and rubbed his wrist briefly, only to stop as the sound of the door moving came from behind him.

“Do you require something, Scholarly Scribble?” Dusk asked calmly, turning his head slightly to look toward the door.

Hearing this, the peach mare froze. She felt like a child being caught doing something she shouldn’t have been, and this feeling was only made worse as the alicorn stood up to tower above her. He let a stream of blood from his neck open the door, revealing a wide-eyed mess staring back at him.

“I… I…” Scribble stammered, unsure of anything she could say.

Dusk glanced behind him where the pegasus was standing mere moments ago before looking back to the terrified pony. “Do not be afraid… I was merely punishing her for her failure. You would never fail me… would you?”

Scribble shook her head desperately. “N-No, never!”

A cold chuckle made her stiffen up as the alicorn stepped forward. He put a hoof under her chin and lifted her to meet his eyes.

“Of course not. Now… tell me what has bothered you enough to seek me out.” He requested, the usual soft and silky tone returned to his voice.

Another pang from her stomach made Scribble look down briefly. She cringed before forcing her hunger back down and looking to the alicorn with a new sense of desperation. “Please… my prince… I’m so thirsty.”

Dusk gave the mare an odd look. “Really? You still resist your hunger? Why don’t you go find that dragon that Twilight Sparkle adores so much? I can attest that it will be the best thing you’ve ever tasted in your life.”

Scribble shook her head again, blocking her ears with her hooves to prevent herself from listening to such appealing words. “P-please… I… I don’t want to hurt anyone!” She jumped slightly and looked up as a hoof was placed on her shoulder.

“Tsk tsk tsk… You are such a troublesome child.” Dusk sighed to himself. “I must admit that I grow weary of your self-destructive behavior.” He said, bringing his hoof up to the side of her and stretching his wrist.

Scribble flinched her eyes shut and produced a timid squeak as she saw a flash of red.

However, instead of the stabbing pain that she was expecting, she felt something cold press against her lips. She opened her eyes and looked ahead to see a stream of blood floating in front of her. Feeling the hunger inside her intensifying, she slurped the stream with surprising ease.

The familiar copper taste slid down her throat. It was just as refreshing as last time, if not more so. She couldn’t get enough.

Eventually, however, the stream ended, leaving her to lick her lips dry. After she regained her senses, a brief feeling of disgust washed over her, before that was replaced with relief. She was herself again, however long it might have lasted.

“You are fortunate that you were instrumental to my awakening. If it were anyone else… well, let’s just say that my patience has limits.” He glanced back into the room.

Scribble trailed her eyes to the floor briefly, avoiding looking at the alicorn until he looked back at her. She still felt uneasy being around him after witnessing him killing one of his own underlings. It was like he said. If she didn’t save him, she would be no different from the pegasus.

“Could you do something for me?” Dusk asked after a pensive moment of silence.

Scribble merely nodded hesitantly.

“Good… Now, be a dear and go release Princess Celestia. Then go hide downstairs. We have guests coming, and I need to make sure they feel welcomed.” He smirked a bit.

Scribble nodded again, this time slowly walking backward. She was glad to get any excuse to walk away from the alicorn. After watching him staring at her for a moment, he got up and left in the other direction, freeing her up to turn around and trot away.

It took a few minutes to find where the alicorn was keeping Celestia. She tried to keep to herself and stay away from the others whenever possible, so she only caught a glimpse of some other ponies taking the unconscious princess to some holding room on the second floor.

As she neared the door, Scribble hesitated for a moment. She had never seen the princess before outside of pictures, and that was before Dusk did whatever he had to her. The alicorn seemed a little pale when she was being brought in, so Scribble assumed that Dusk must have turned her.

What was she like now? Was she some uncaring and unfeeling slave to Dusk’s will like the others? Or, perhaps, did she still have a shred of her own free will?

Either way, refusing an order from the alicorn seemed impossible for her, so Scribble unlocked the door and opened it up.

The chamber inside was faintly lit by moonlight. The beams filtering in through the slitted windows created lines on the floor, almost resemblant of prison bars.

There, huddled into a fetal ball up against the far wall, was the regal mistress of the sun, or at least what she had become. Her sullen eyes were bloodshot, and the vibrant pink color Scribble admired in so many photos and renditions had changed to a dim red. Her once beautiful mane was unkempt and washed out, as if the life had been taken out of the colors, out of her.

Much like Scribble did, Celestia looked like a corpse. A shell of her former self that was persisting by whatever foul life force was now running through their veins.

Hearing the door open, the alicorn lifted her head to see her new visitor. As she saw that it wasn't Dusk, and in fact, not some pony wearing a cruel or blank expression, she perked up slightly.

“Umm…. h-hello… Princess…?” Scribble said quietly, briefly trailing her eyes away and rubbing a foreleg.

“You aren’t like the others, are you?” Celestia asked, lifting slightly from her seated position.

Scribble looked down to her own pale hooves. “I don’t think so. I’m mostly still myself.”

Celestia smiled softly. She got up and walked over to the peach mare. “What’s your name, my little pony?”

“Scholarly Scribble.” She said, still a bit uncomfortable to be conversing so casually with her monarch.

“Well, Scholarly Scribble… I’m sorry that you’ve been wrapped up in this mess. I promise that I will do everything I can to help you.” Celestia assured, as much as she could in her state.

Hearing this, Scribble looked down and let her ears droop. “No… I’m the one who should be sorry. This whole mess is my fault.”

Celestia softened her eyes and twitched an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“My friends and I… we came here to write a report on the castle’s history. Ghost stories… legends, that sort of stuff. I thought it would help get me noticed by my publisher, and my brother thought…” Scribble trailed off, briefly lost in her thoughts as her shoulders sank. “Anyway, we found... him down in the basement.”

“You mean Dusk?” Celestia asked.

Scribble nodded, still absorbed in troubled thoughts. “We thought he was dead… he was dead! He was all shriveled up and, a-and-” She tripped over her words before taking a moment to sigh and compose herself. “I don’t know how, but he woke up. We found him… eating one of our friends. He hunted us down one by one. He cornered me and… slit my throat.” She held her neck protectively before looking down at her hooves. “After that… I woke up like this.”

Celestia frowned as she listened to the shaken mare describe what had happened. Scribble lowered her head and started breathing erratically. After a moment or two, she even began to cry.

“I can’t even go home and explain what happened to my parents. I’m a monster…” Scribble muttered.

Feeling a slight tap on her chin, Scribble looked up, only to sink back in surprise as her tears were lifted away by a soft glow. The princess had her horn lit up and a caring expression on her face.

“Do not despair, Scholarly Scribble. Not all is lost.” Celestia spoke softly. “I must admit that I am less knowledgeable than I would like in paranormal matters, but I do know that there is a cure for people like us. There is a way to undo what Dusk has inflicted us with.”

Scribble got the last few sniffles out of her system and wiped her eyes before looking up to the alicorn with a glint of hope. “Really…?”

Celestia nodded. “I do not remember the details of it, but a cure does exist for vampirism. As long as you don’t succumb to your urges and drink the blood of another.”

“But… I have drank some blood, from the Prince… I-I mean… from Dusk.” Scribble admitted.

“Don’t worry. I am confident that his blood does not matter. After all, we already have his blood in our bodies, and we still have our senses about us.” Celestia mused. “I think the act of taking another’s blood is what completes the transformation… I also think that’s why Dusk hasn’t ordered us to kill someone. I don’t think he can yet… We have to be the one to give in.”

Scribble’s expression fell as she thought back to the oddly delicious taste and aroma of blood. “But Princess… it’s so hard to resist. Once I start getting thirsty, I just can’t help myself. I can smell it in the air… I can’t get away from it.”

“Don’t remind me.” Celestia cringed a bit and held her stomach. After taking a moment to suppress the urge to go sniff out some poor victim, she looked back to the peach mare with an understanding frown. “Believe me, I know how compelling the thirst is… I nearly killed my beloved student without so much as batting an eye. But you must fight it. If you give in, then you will truly be lost like the others he has tainted. The worst part of it is… you won’t even care.”

If she could feel it, a cold chill would be shooting down Scribble’s back. She shook some troubling thoughts from her head, trying her best not to give up hope.

“I… think I have to go now. He ordered me to go downstairs after I released you.” Scribble explained regretfully.

Celestia leaned in toward her. “Wait… he ordered you to release me?” She asked, receiving a hesitant nod in response.

“Yes. He said that someone was coming and that he wanted to be prepared for them.” Scribble said.

Celestia’s already pale face seemed to grow even more so. “Oh no…” She muttered to herself, her eyes losing focus as she stared into the middle distance. She had a feeling that the others would come after her and Twilight, and she also had a feeling that Dusk would anticipate this, but now the group had totally lost the element of surprise. Her friends were about to walk into a trap.

“We have to warn them somehow,” Celestia said quietly, her eyes shifting around feverishly. “We have to-”

Suddenly, the alicorn froze and her eyes went wide. Her ears twitched, and a sort of trance fell over her as the reds in her eyes brightened ever so slightly.

“Princess…?” Scribble spoke, pulling back slightly as the alicorn remained completely still for a solid few seconds.

Celestia tensed her limbs and twitched the corners of her mouth as she tried to speak, but nothing but muted stammers and murmurs came out. Her eyes were focused, but not on Scribble or anything else around her.

Without warning, she got up and started walking toward the door.

“Princess?” Scribble persisted, turning to watch as the alicorn passed by her like she wasn't even there. “Princess Celestia?”

Celestia marched out of the room, stiff as a puppet. She paused outside and cringed, tensing her neck as she shakily looked over to the peach mare before turning back ahead and starting to walk again.

“Be strong… Scholarly Scribble… don’t… give in…” She strained as she kept walking toward some unknown destination.

Scribble went out into the corridor and watched as the princess eventually left her sight. Although she had only experienced it in full force once before, she recognized that look in the alicorn’s eyes. She had seen it before when Dusk gave orders to one of the other pale ponies.

Feeling a slight tickle at the back of her mind, Scribble glanced toward the floor and thought to her own orders. She was free to walk around for the most part, but something told her that if she tried to refuse a task given to her that she would end up meeting stiff resistance.

“I better get downstairs…” She muttered to herself, thinking back on the princess’s words. The thought of a cure ignited a small bit of hope in her heart, and the thought of rescuers coming to save the alicorn and her friends kindled that spark and made it grow. Still, if she had any chance of getting rescued, she first had to avoid getting slain on sight for looking like one of the pale creatures.

-Sometime later-

Down in the cold, dungeon-esque corridors of the castle’s lower level, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their newfound companion were following behind Blank Page as he led them to what they all hoped would be a safe, secluded place.

No matter how hard they tried to tread softly, their hoofsteps echoed around them. Every time they heard a stray noise, or got a bit too paranoid, they would freeze, watch, and listen for any signs that they weren’t alone. Luckily, they hadn’t been found yet, at least as far as they could tell.

Apple Bloom was darting her head around near constantly, never truly settling down. She resembled a frightened bird, scanning her surroundings for the slightest hint of danger so she could take off running.

Sweetie Belle had to actively prevent herself from trembling. Everyone had a slight shake to their limbs from the cold, but the young unicorn was jittery for an entirely different reason.

Scootaloo was trying her best to appear confident for the sake of her friends. They needed some form of rock to help ease their fears, and while the stallion leading them was the designated adult, he was a stranger, and he even seemed to be out of his depth.

Maple Leaf was bringing up the rear of the group. She had been mostly quiet, only speaking when spoken to and generally shying away from interacting with the others. She was looking at them an awful lot though, perhaps as some silent way of assuring herself that she wasn't alone.

Taking a paranoid glance behind her, Sweetie Belle couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being followed. After all, it was a wonder they hadn’t been found yet. It was almost like the halls around them were empty, no matter how much she felt like they weren’t.

“Mr. Page… are we getting close to that hiding spot you mentioned?” Sweetie asked in a careful whisper.

The young stallion looked back to his even younger charges. Although some were trying to hide how afraid they were, it was easy to see it in their eyes that they were terrified.

Desperate to instill some kind of confidence in them, Page took a look around at his surroundings and tried to mentally recap how many turns he had made. The featureless corridors all blended into a maze of stone and torchlight, with the only way to tell where they were going being the glimpses into unique rooms they occasionally received from broken doors.

“It’s not far.” He assured. If he was telling the truth, he was almost as anxious as they were that he had made a wrong turn somewhere. After all, up until recently, he had only been seeing as much as he could once his eyes adjusted to the dark. He didn’t know why the pale ponies had lit so many torches for them. It was almost like they expected them to escape.

Stepping on an uneven stone in the dim lighting, one of Page’s legs slipped, putting more weight on his bad leg than he intended. He stifled a yelp of pain as he went to the floor, just barely able to keep from smacking his chin into the stonework.

“Are you ok?” Scootaloo asked with a concerned frown.

“Yeah… that leg looks real bad.” Apple Bloom added. She had received a few sprains and breaks in her times roughhousing around the farm, so she knew what signs to look for before she started being concerned. Although there wasn't any obvious distortion of the bone in the stallion’s leg, it was starting to turn a blackish shade of blue.

Blank Page took a moment to grit his teeth as he tried to stand back up, taking care to keep weight off the injured limb. He forced a reassuring smile to his face through the exhaustion before facing the fillies. “I’m good… I’m good. I’m just… more tired than I thought.” He suppressed a pang of weakness as his body cried out for sustenance that he couldn’t provide. “Let’s not worry about me right now. I’ll be fine.” He said, though his difficulty with raising up seemed to claim otherwise.

“Take it easy.” Scootaloo fretted.

Sweetie Belle walked up and leaned her body into the stallion’s side, hoping to help him get back to his own three hooves again. “Let me help.”

Seeing her friend going to assist the stallion, Apple Bloom rushed up to the other side to help. “Come on. We’re not gonna leave you behind.”

Scootaloo quickly joined her fellow Crusaders. Maple Leaf watched, a bit surprised as the three fillies counted down before they heaved and pushed, managing to push the stallion back up.

“Heh… you’re pretty brave for a bunch of kids.” Page smiled a bit more genuinely.

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders always help a pony in need,” Scootaloo said with a toothy grin. “Come on, let’s get to that hiding spot so you can rest.”

Blank Page nodded to the trio of fillies before pressing onward again. His limp was a bit more pronounced now, but he was determined to keep going. He had to get them to safety if it was the last thing he did.

After a few more minutes of slowly walking, rounding corners, and weaving through rooms that made dungeons look pleasant by comparison, Page stopped abruptly. He looked ahead at what seemed to be just another corner, with two torches about five feet apart from each other on the left wall.

“I think we’re here.” Page said, hobbling forward until he was standing in the intersection of the hallway behind them and another stretching to the right.

While the stallion was paying attention to the wall with the two torches, the fillies looked down into the other hallway. There was an entire portion in the middle of the hall illuminated by streams of moonlight coming down from small holes that had opened up in the floor above.

“You said there was a secret room here, right?” Apple Bloom asked warily. “Where is it?”

Page glanced back to the fillies before looking at the two torches on the wall. “Well…” He paused, reaching up and grabbing the torch on the left. With a brief twist and a metallic click, the torch and its holder rotated slightly. All at once, the stone wall popped open with a slight scattering of dust and grated forward to reveal a dark room.

“That’s the thing about secret rooms. They’re secret.” Page explained. He took the other torch from its sconce and used it to light the way as he stepped inside.

Scootaloo stared at the hidden doorway for a moment, wide-eyed and her jaw agape in amazement. "That is so cool!"

Meanwhile, as everyone else filed into the hole in the wall, Maple Leaf stopped abruptly as a sound pricked her overly sensitive ears.

She looked back toward where they came from, only to spot a flash of color disappearing around the far corner. Narrowing her eyes, she stared at the spot for a while, daring whatever had moved to move again.

"Hurry up, Maple! Someone might see you." Sweetie Belle called from inside the room, a concerned tone to her voice.

Maple looked back at the doorway to see the others watching her expectantly. She then looked back to the side and hid a glare.

"They better not…" She muttered to herself as she joined the group inside.

Once everyone was in, Page pulled the door closed. There was another set of torch sconces on this side of the door, with one holding an unlit torch, and the other twisted at an angle. Once the door clicked shut, the empty sconce twisted back to normal, seemingly indicating it to be another hidden switch to open the door from this side.

The stallion used his torch to light the other one before turning and taking a look around the room alongside the fillies. When he stumbled upon this secret door, he didn’t get a good look inside before nerves got the better of him and he moved on.

As the light from the torches fell on the contents of the room, however, his expression plummeted.

There were several rusted neck shackles bolted to the back wall. They weren’t chains either, instead consisting of what equated to a stiff and unmoving iron rod sticking out of the wall with a spiked collar attached at the end. The metal was so old that many of them were falling apart, with one particularly long broken piece missing its collar looking like it could impale anyone unfortunate enough to slip on it.

There were also faded brown scrawls along the floor and walls that seemed like they originally held shapes and patterns, like some kind of writing or symbols, but they were so faint that it was impossible to tell their original purpose.

Against the left wall was an altar of sorts. Scraps of musty cloth clung loosely to the once decorative slab of graying material, too old and faded to determine its origin. A few pieces of brown parchment, a decorative dagger, and some copper bowls were littered on its surface, with the largest bowl full of something.

To call it something was about as accurate an observation as the ponies wanted to make. Truth be told, the brownish-red substance caked onto the sides of the bowl could have been any number of things, and none of them could have been good if the dagger and stale smell were any indicator.

“Sweet hayfritters… that smells worse than the chicken coop back home on a hot day.” Apple Bloom commented, holding a foreleg over her nose and trying to inch away from the repulsive odor, but it had been stagnating in this room so long that it permeated every corner.

“Who would use all this stuff? It’s horrible…” Sweetie Belle frowned as she imagined what the purpose of such a room would be.

“Yeah… sorry, but this is the only safe place I know of here.” Blank Page said with a sympathetic expression, trying to ignore the urge to crinkle his nose shut. “Nopony has been in this room in a really long time… and that’s the best thing we could ask for right now.”

Meanwhile, Scootaloo paused suddenly as she caught a glimpse of something odd catching the light in the corner. It didn’t look like a piece of one of the shackles. It was much too light-colored for that.

“What’s that?” The pegasus asked, walking over to it.

“What’s what?” Apple Bloom turned to see what had caught her friend’s curiosity.

Scootaloo wrinkled her expression as she neared the object on the floor. It was weirdly smooth and rounded in comparison to the stone around it. “I don’t know… it looks like a-” She nudged it with her hoof, expecting it to be a rock.

There was a hollow rattle. Rocks didn’t rattle, did they?

All at once, Scootaloo’s eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of a distinctly face-shaped object. It was a skull, and not a pony skull, but a gryphon.

“Waah!” Scootaloo yelped as she jumped back. She crawled backward as fast as she could until she bumped into Blank Page’s foreleg.

The others all saw what had spooked the pegasus in the stallion’s torchlight. The small gray lump was stuck on its side, its beak open slightly to reveal numerous missing teeth. There were also some other bits and pieces that seemed like they could be bones, but they were so far mixed into the debris on the floor that it was hard to tell.

“Th… t-that… who did that?!” Scootaloo asked, her voice cracking slightly as she pointed a shaky hoof at the corner.

“Oh my gosh…” Sweetie Belle covered her mouth with both hooves as she stared at the skull. She had seen skeletons before, but none of them were real, and none of them were gryphons either.

Blank Page felt a tug at the contents of his stomach. He might have been unfamiliar with gryphon anatomy, but even he could tell that the skull was too small to belong to an adult.

“Skala Herz must have been just as much of a monster as that alicorn…” He muttered to himself.

Suddenly, a despairing cry filled the air of the room. Everyone looked over to see Maple Leaf weeping freely into her hooves, hiding her face from them.

“We’re all gonna die down here… just like that gryphon!” Maple exclaimed.

Apple Bloom softened her expression as she heard how heartbroken the filly seemed. “Now that ain’t true… we’ll be fine.” She said, trying her best to suppress her own doubts for the sake of comforting the crying pony.

“You don’t know that!” Maple said, lifting her head to reveal puffy eyes full of tears. “Those monsters are gonna find us sooner or later… and then it’s all over! I’ve seen what they can do… they… t-they…” She paused to let out a slight hiccup. “They ate my mom and dad!”

Scootaloo and the others reeled back in shock as the filly continued crying. They couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to witness such a thing. Even the thought of something like that happening to them gave them a pang in their hearts.

Blank Page struggled to try and think of something to say to comfort the distraught filly. However, he wasn't sure if he could. He had lost his sister and his friends to the pale monsters, and he still wasn't sure if he would ever be ok. The only thing preventing him from spiraling off into grief was the urge to escape and live on.

Before the stallion could even open his mouth, however, Sweetie Belle walked over and placed a hoof on Maple’s shoulder.

“Maple… I’m so sorry about what happened to your parents.” Sweetie said with a sympathetic expression and a soft voice. “I know it seems really scary… I mean, I’m scared too, but I know everything will be ok. It doesn’t matter how many of those monsters are out there, because I know that my sister and my friends will find us, even if they have to fight their way through a hundred of them.”

Maple Leaf slowly uncovered her eyes, though she still kept her hooves covering her face, and looked at the young unicorn through all her tears. Sweetie Belle smiled slightly, and Scootaloo and Apple Bloom smiled behind her.

Finally, Maple opened her forelegs hesitantly and slowly moved in for a hug, which Sweetie gladly reciprocated. “You really think your friends can save us?” She asked quietly, burying her face into the unicorn’s fur.

Sweetie Belle gave a reassuring squeeze and patted the brownish filly on the back. “I really do… I’ve seen them fight way scarier monsters before and win, so I know they will find us.”

Maple smiled, enjoying the warmth of the white filly’s body for a moment. “Well… then I guess I’ll just have to hurry things along.”

Sweetie blinked in confusion.

“What?”

Just as she got the words out of her mouth, a burning pain seared into Sweetie’s neck as an animalistic snarl came from beside her.

“AHHHHGH!”

The unicorn’s scream deafened the room. Everyone widened their eyes and felt their hearts skip as they looked ahead to see Maple Leaf latching onto Sweetie Belle’s neck by the teeth. Sweetie tried to push the filly away, but Maple was clutching onto her like an iron vice.

“Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shrieked in unison as they both darted forward. One grabbed their friend, while the other focused on trying to push the monstrous filly off. With some exertion, they finally managed to separate the two.

Sweetie Belle fell back into her friends’ forelegs, crying and clutching her neck. Blood was already trickling down her back and shoulder, staining her pristine white fur.

Everyone looked up, only to find Maple Leaf staring back at them.

The filly’s entire appearance had changed. Her fur had lost most of its color, and her eyes were an intense shade of red that was glowing almost as bright as the torch behind her. The soft features on her face were replaced with a hateful scowl. Two fangs were poking out of her mouth, which was dribbling with blood.

As Maple Leaf produced a vicious hiss and reared back, the three fillies screamed and fell back to the floor clutching each other tightly.

“Girls!” Blank Page shouted from the side, causing everyone, even a mid-flight Maple Leaf, to look over.

With a swift thwack and a crackle of flame, Page smacked the pale filly out of the air with the business end of his torch. Maple Leaf yelped and tumbled as she hit the floor before smacking into the altar, knocking the objects on top of it slightly.

A sizable burn was left on her cheek, and some of her hair was even smoldering. However, as she stood back up, any damage done to her seemed to fade and vanish. What didn’t vanish, however, was the angry glare on her face.

“That… hurt.” Maple growled.

Blank Page rushed in front of the three fillies as they scrambled to get away with their injured friend. He held his torch at the ready as Maple charged forward with dizzying speed. With another swipe, Page tried to swat her away again, only to have the torch swatted out of his hooves with surprising strength.

“AH!” Page yelped as the filly leaped up and into him, sending him backward as he grabbed onto her and tried to keep her away from his neck. The stallion landed roughly on the stone floor with a snarling ball of teeth and energy held mere inches away.

“Oh man!” Scootaloo clasped her hooves to the sides of her head as she practically watched the struggle in front of her shift out of the stallion’s favor. She glanced back to her two friends before rushing forward. “Take Sweetie and get the door open!” She instructed frantically.

Apple Bloom didn’t like the idea of the pegasus going near the monstrous pony, but she knew as well as Scootaloo did that things could only get worse when they were trapped in a room. “Are you ok?” She asked, looking to Sweetie Belle and helping her to her hooves.

Sweetie Belle cringed as her wound stung. There was a concerning amount of blood covering her neck, but it didn’t seem like the wounds were that deep. “I... ngh… I think so.”

“Good… come here and climb on my back. We need to get out of here!” Apple Bloom said, gesturing the unicorn to hurry up as she stood below the hidden mechanism on the wall.

Meanwhile, Blank Page was still struggling for his life.

The pale filly was far stronger than anything her size should have been. She might not have been as strong as an adult vampire, but with Page’s exhaustion, she might as well have been. His forelegs burned and shook as he desperately tried to keep her still and as far away as possible.

“You should have left us in that cell!” Maple foamed, gnashing her teeth and trying to bite at any part of the stallion’s body she could reach. “I was going to enjoy playing with them for a while before I killed them, but then you just had to show up and play hero!”

“Gah!” Page squeaked fearfully. “Is this really what kids these days are like?!”

Just then, a warcry came from the side as a blur of orange leaped up and grabbed onto the filly from behind. Scootaloo wrapped her forelegs around Maple’s waist and tugged as hard as she could, even fluttering her tiny wings to give herself a boost.

Not having been prepared for two forces acting on her, Maple Leaf came free from the stallion and fell backward with the orange filly carrying her.

The pair tumbled for a moment before coming to a stop against the back wall, with the pegasus on the bottom, and a very agitated-looking pale pony on top.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom cried. However, with Sweetie Belle balancing on her back, trying to reach the sconce on the wall, all she could do was reach toward the pegasus and watch. “Hurry, Sweetie!”

“I’m trying!” Sweetie replied, standing on her hind leg and stretching as far as she could. “I can almost reach it!” She said, brushing the tip of her hoof against the bottom of the sconce.

While Scootaloo was busy staring death in the eyes, stiff as a statue, Blank Page was struggling to get to his hooves again so he could help her.

“Leave her alone!” Page demanded, barely managing to push himself up and balance on his good hind leg.

Maple Leaf smirked at the stallion before looking down to the young pegasus and licking her lips. “I hope you taste better than little Ms. Marshmallow over there.”

Scootaloo produced a high-pitched noise of distress as the pale filly opened her mouth and prepared to lunge down. She reached one hoof out to try and stop the monstrous pony, and fumbled the other behind her, desperately searching for something, anything to help her. Just before her life flashed before her eyes, something solid brushed against her hoof.

With a loud snarl, Maple bit down into what she assumed would be tender pony flesh. Instead, something cold and metallic was suddenly shoved into her mouth. It took a moment for her to realize, but once she did, she glared down at the pegasus.

Scootaloo couldn’t help but smirk nervously as she saw the rusted remains of a shackle sticking out of the filly’s mouth. Her triumph was short-lived, however, as Maple crunched the piece of iron in her teeth, reducing it to shattered flecks in an instant.

A loud click came from the side, drawing everyone’s attention away.

“I got it!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed joyously as she hung off the sconce on the now moving section of wall. She looked over, only to see a pair of red eyes staring at her angrily. “Uh oh…”

Suddenly, Maple Leaf was sent backward as an orange hoof socked her in the mouth. Scootaloo wasted no time in scrambling backward and getting to her hooves.

“I know Ms. Cheerilee says that violence is never the answer, but I feel like this is one of those special cases!” She stated as she darted over to Blank Page and pushed to help him up. “Girls!”

“On it!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle said in unison, rushing over in an instant and pushing the stallion to his hooves again before turning tail.

“Let’s get out of here!” Page suggested frantically, making every effort to at least run alongside the three fillies.

Meanwhile, Maple Leaf picked herself off the floor. She was a bit stunned, and not from the blow to her face either. With her newfound terrifying abilities, she never expected to be stood up to in such a manner.

Swishing around in her mouth for a moment, she spat out a bit of blood and a tooth, which she was confident would grow back soon. She then looked up to see the escaping band of ponies and snarled.

As soon as the three fillies got out into the hallway, they all spun around to see Blank Page starting to close the door. He knew as well as they did that they stood no chance of outrunning the super-powered filly.

Just before he managed to get the door closed, Page was knocked back as the wall shot open. He smacked into the wall behind him, much to the horror of the three fillies nearby.

“Mr. Page!” Scootaloo yelped before a growl silenced her and made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

Sure enough, Maple Leaf stalked out of the hole in the wall, staring the Crusaders down with a fiery intensity. She looked altogether displeased with their attempts at escaping.

“I’m gonna enjoy this…” Maple said, touching her tongue to the tips of her fangs and smiling sadistically.

Scootaloo looked beside her to see both of her friends trembling and holding each other. She looked to the right to see the stallion getting up and staring at the monstrous filly. She then settled her eyes on Maple Leaf, a cold chill of fear working its way through her system before she steeled her expression and exhaled tensely.

With a fierce cry, the others widened their eyes as they watched their pegasus friend bolt forward and tackle the pale filly.

“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle cried.

“What the hay are you doing?!” Apple Bloom added.

“Get out of here!” Scootaloo yelled behind her as she used all of her strength and weight to keep the pale pony on the floor. “The others are risking their lives to come save us! We can’t just let them do all that for nothing! Go!”

Before anyone else could do anything, a pale hoof shot up and grabbed Scootaloo by the neck, cutting off her windpipe with a strangled noise of pain.

Maple Leaf, with all the effort of carrying a piece of cardboard, stood up and held the pegasus aloft by one hoof.

“I’m done playing games. You’ve made me mad now… and I get hungry when I’m mad!”

Scootaloo croaked and pulled and swatted at the foreleg holding her with her hooves. She kicked and flailed and beat her wings, trying anything to wrench herself free, if not to escape, then to be able to breathe again. Still, nothing she did could stop the filly from bringing her close and opening wide.

“Scootaloo!” Everyone shouted, racing forward and reaching for their friend, but they knew they wouldn’t make it in time.

Just then, the rapid sounds of hooves clopping could be heard as a blur of peach color swooped in from the side. Maple Leaf felt a powerful shove sending her to the floor, and Scootaloo felt a more gentle force pulling her away.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were stunned into silence by the arrival of what appeared to be another pale pony. However, it was Blank Page that was the most shocked.

Standing there, acting as an obstacle between the pale filly and them, was a faintly peach-colored young mare with brown hair and a feather quill encircled with ink as a cutie mark.

“Scribble…?” Page muttered, unable to tear his eyes off of her.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle narrowed their eyes in confusion.

“Scribble?” Apple Bloom parroted.

Sweetie Belle looked to the stallion. “But… isn’t that your sister’s name?”

Meanwhile, Maple Leaf put a hoof to the back of her head where she was just violently slammed into a stone floor. She looked up, only to see that she was back in the hidden room instead of tearing into an orange pegasus. In fact, the orange pegasus was on the floor just ahead, panting and recovering while staring up at another pony. A pony that Maple recognized. A pony that shouldn’t have been here.

“You…” Maple hissed, her eyes flaring as she stamped a hoof. “You’re betraying us…? Betraying the prince?!”

“I’m not going to just sit by and let you hurt them!” Scribble protested.

“I can’t believe he wasted his gifts on someone like you!”

Scribble furrowed her brow slightly. “I never asked for any of this! He can have his gifts back for all I care!”

A feral growl made the peach mare reel back a bit. Maple Leaf stalked forward before lowering and getting ready to pounce. “I’ll gladly take them back for you!”

“Please… I don’t want to-” Scribble started backing up until the filly lunged forward, hooves outstretched and teeth bared. She yelped briefly before shooting her own hooves up.

Page and the Crusaders watched as the peach mare caught Maple Leaf mid-flight, but not before getting grazed by a fang right down her muzzle. The pale filly swiped and grasped with her hooves, but Scribble barely managed to keep her away.

“Let me go!” Maple barked, doing everything she could to get at the older pony. “I’m gonna make you watch while I rip them to shreds!”

Scribble cringed as she held onto the hectic ball of energy in her hooves. The filly was much more accustomed to using her enhanced strength than she was, making it difficult for either of them to make much progress.

“Just… leave them alone!” Scribble yelled, tossing the filly away. However, she put more strength behind her throw than she intended or even knew she was capable of.

Maple Leaf went flying into the hidden room, all the way to the back. She flew at such a high speed and velocity, in fact, that she barely even slowed down as one of the broken iron poles impaled her and she smacked into the wall.

Scribble and the others stared at the pale filly in stunned silence. She had wide eyes and an unsettled look on her face. Ever since her rebirth as one of Dusk’s children, she hadn’t felt pain to a meaningful degree. Now, however, there was a searing burning coming from her chest.

“Wh… hh…” Maple brought a shaky hoof beside the metallic pole now protruding from her body. Although she couldn’t see it, a ring of glowing embers started spreading out around where the rod had pierced her.

As the ashes overtook the filly, forcing an end to her abrupt scream, the others had a wave of varying emotions hit them.

Sweetie Belle was staring at the fading embers and debris falling to the floor, her jaw agape and trembling ever so slightly. Apple Bloom was inched backward, physically revolted by such a violent end happening right before her eyes. Scootaloo felt a bit of relief that the danger had passed, but she couldn’t shake the pang of sadness in her heart.

Blank Page looked ahead to see his sister, their apparent savior, staring ahead like a statue. The peach mare looked at the iron pole, and then down at her hooves, which were shaking slightly.

“I… I didn’t mean to…” Scribble muttered remorsefully.

“Scribble?”

Hearing her brother’s voice behind her, Scribble paused suddenly. She slowly turned and looked to see the stallion with three fillies gathered behind him, a stunned expression on his face.

“Page… I can’t believe it’s you.” She smiled softly before wrinkling her features in confusion. “How are you alive? I saw the Prince… I mean… I saw that alicorn coming for you in that pit.”

Page glanced down to his bad leg and cringed softly at the memory of wrenching it free from the pile of debris. “That’s the thing… I don’t really know. That alicorn just kind of passed by without even paying attention to me. I guess he was focusing on you and Gale...” He let his ears droop as he saw the pale fur and cold red eyes his sister now had. “I hoped you made it out… Oh, Scribble… I really hoped you made it out.”

“I’m sorry…” Scribble trailed her eyes down. “I couldn’t do anything to stop him.” She said, her voice wavering a bit as tears welled up in her eyes. She clenched them shut and turned away from the stallion.

Page started to move toward her until he felt a small nudge. He looked down, only to see Scootaloo and the others looking to him with wary expressions.

“Mr. Page… are you sure we can trust her?” Scootaloo whispered.

“Yeah… I know she saved us and all, but… she’s one of them.” Apple Bloom added.

The stallion looked at the fillies for a moment before glancing at the peach mare. “I have to trust her. If I don’t, I’ve failed as a big brother.” He said softly.

The fillies weren’t sure how to respond to that, or if they justifiably could. They understood perfectly what he was going through. If one of them were put into her position, then they were certain that their friends and family would still try everything to assure them that they would be ok.

Amidst her silent tears and gloomy thoughts, Scribble looked up as she felt a pair of hooves wrapping around her, only to find her brother collapsing into her and holding her close.

“Page…?”

“I don’t care what that alicorn did. You’re still my sister.” Page said, giving her a tender squeeze.

Scribble hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to feel, before a soft smile crept across her face. She rested her chin on his shoulder, closed her eyes, and wrapped her forelegs around him. She never thought she would get this opportunity again.

However, around that time, a familiar copper scent tickled her nose. It was like the best thing she ever smelled, and it was close. Very close.

Opening her eyes, she looked around feverishly before finding the three fillies. Scootaloo was still watching her warily, while Apple Bloom was inspecting Sweetie Belle’s wound. The unicorn was cringing as her friend examined the portion of her fur stained in crimson.

As she sniffed at the drying blood on the unicorn’s neck, Scribble suddenly became painfully aware of the warm pulsing neck she was nestled into. A feral instinct within her shoved a thought into her mind. Why not just take a bite? It would be easy.

Page looked up as the peach mare abruptly pushed away. She was breathing slightly heavier, and she had a bit of panic in her eyes before she forced herself to calm down.

“I-I think I shouldn’t stay with you,” Scribble said.

“What…?” Page frowned.

Scribble opened her mouth to say something, only to close it tightly as she remembered how apparent her fangs were. “I don’t want to hurt you! I’m a monster, Page… I can control myself right now, but it’s only a matter of time before I get thirsty again.”

“You don’t seem like a monster to me.” Sweetie Belle piped up.

Scootaloo tilted her head a bit. “To be fair, neither did Maple until she took a bite out of you.” She whispered, only to receive a forceful nudge.

Seeing a sense of unease still present in his sister, Page took her by the hoof and scooted closer to her. “Hey… look at me.” He said, gently brushing some of her disheveled mane out of her face as she looked up. “You won’t hurt anyone… I know you. Besides, we’re apparently going to be rescued soon.”

“Huh?” Scribble narrowed her eyes in confusion.

Page glanced behind him to the group of fillies. “They say that they’re friends with the royal monster hunters… and I believe them. If those guys really are coming for us, then I’m sure they can help get you back to normal.” He explained.

Although she wanted to accept her brother’s reassurances, there was still a hint of fear in the back of Scribble’s mind. She glanced at the fillies behind the stallion, only to see them offering her smiles with varying levels of sincerity between them. Still, she could also see a hint of unease in their eyes, even behind their gratitude and sympathy. She didn’t blame them one bit.

Looking back to Blank Page, her expression fell as she saw such love and trust in his eyes. The thought of hurting him or one of the fillies destroyed her. If she got thirsty again and ended up killing someone, she would rather die herself.

However, as she thought back to Celestia’s words, she felt that shred of hope in her heart again. Maybe her brother was right after all? If they were rescued before she fell to her urges, then she could be cured.

“Alright…” Scribble said with a tiny nod, still wearing a bit of a hesitant frown. “I’ll stay with you.”

Page let the corners of his mouth raise and his eyes lit up. “Thank you.”

“But-” Scribble started, causing the stallion’s expression to fall as he saw a somber look in her eyes.

“But?”

Scribble looked to the trio of fillies for a moment before softening her features. “If I start to get hungry before those monster hunters show up… I want you to kill me.”

“W-what?!” Page recoiled slightly.

Sweetie Belle gasped, and the others looked ahead with stunned expressions.

“You don’t need to do that.” Scootaloo insisted. “You’ll be fine. Just… just think happy thoughts or something until you’re not hungry anymore.”

Scribble offered the young pegasus a tiny smile before turning to her brother with a more serious look. “Page… I mean it. Snap my neck… put one of those metal scraps through my heart, do whatever it takes. Once I get thirsty, I can’t control myself. Either you’re going to have to kill me, or I’ll…” She paused, averting her eyes briefly, “o-or I’ll kill one of you… and if you’re going to let it come to that, then I will walk away right now.”

Page hesitated for a moment before answering. He darted his trembling eyes over his sister in troubled thought, furrowing his expression uneasily before finally setting his mouth in a grim line. “I won’t let it come to that.”

“So you promise to kill me?” Scribble asked to clarify, only to pause as the stallion put a hoof on her shoulder.

“I won’t let it come to that.” He said plainly.

Scribble frowned, but she didn’t say anything. She wasn't sure what to say. The longest time went by as she struggled to come up with something to respond with until finally, Page beat her to the punch.

“Come on. Let’s get back inside and wait it out until your friends get here.” The stallion said, glancing at the fillies as he got up and walked up to the hidden room.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom silently filed into the hole in the wall, pausing and stealing concerned glances to the peach mare and the stallion before they entered. Sweetie Belle lingered outside for a moment, looking at the pair sympathetically. She seemed to want to say something, but eventually, she gave up and quietly did as she was told.

Page watched the young unicorn joining her friends before turning to his sister, who was still sitting where she had been before. “Are you coming?”

“Page…” Scribble muttered sadly.

“Come on, Scrib… don’t make me drag you in there when my leg is hurt.” Page said, soft but lighthearted.

Scribble was still hesitant, but eventually, she relented. After all, with his injury and weakness, she was the only thing really keeping them safe if they were found again. She only hoped that they would be safe from her.