Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

As the moon shone down on the castle outside, there was still a battle waging within as Tom faced off against Celestia.

Perhaps ‘battle’ wasn't the best way to describe it. After all, only one of them had any intention of hurting the other, and it was easy to see.

The human had suffered a few more wounds and bruises. He had a cut along his forehead that was bleeding profusely, and his leg was skinned in one spot. Still, no matter what he tried, Celestia was relentless in her pursuit of him; shrugging off punches, kicks, and smacks against the floor or walls like they were minor inconveniences.

“Gah!” Tom yelped as a swipe from the princess’s foreleg raked across the hole in his shoulder. He jumped back several feet, only to find the alicorn charging and leaping at him too fast to avoid.

With a low snarl, Celestia plowed into the human, sending him to the floor with her hooves on his shoulders. He reached up and held her at arm’s length as she went in to bite him, but it was clear she had the upper hand.

Tom turned his head and averted his gaze from the alicorn’s feral eyes and gnashing teeth. As he looked up, he spotted the stray needle on the floor just above him. This was the closest he had managed to get to the syringe since this battle started. If his hands weren’t occupied, he could grab it, if only he could spare a second to reach out and take it.

However, things wouldn’t be that easy with the pale princess trying to take his blood. Of course, her drinking the blood would have a similar effect as him injecting her with it, but the simple act of her taking his blood would make the transformation irreversible. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to stop her for much longer.

Meanwhile, Celestia, or rather, the sliver of her consciousness that was aware of her surroundings, watched in silent horror from the back of her mind as her body attempted to kill the boy.

She was almost as helpless as Tom was, and that was saying something. No matter how hard she willed herself to take control again, her feral instincts kept pushing her to get a taste of the crimson nectar that she knew was flowing through his veins. It was like she was watching through her own eyes as a passive observer, and it was mortifying.

Tom… why didn’t you run? She lamented, her sadness at the situation her only comfort, as if it was her way of telling the world that this wasn't her. She wasn't the one about to rip into the human’s throat and drain him until he was but a husk. But deep down she knew that this was but a hollow comfort. It was her.

The boy looked so weak and distraught. It broke her heart just to watch, even though that was all she could do. She couldn’t close her eyes or look away.

Tom hadn’t used lethal force on her once in their brief fight. He hadn’t even attempted to. She was certain that he could fend her off if he simply used his claws or his ray of light, but he hadn’t. Why hadn’t he?

Perhaps he was too tired? He did look so tired and exhausted. His eyes were heavy despite how wide they were, like sleep hadn’t found him in a year. His movements were also sluggish and getting moreso. He kept making simple mistakes, like he was fighting on instinct and even fighting against that for the sake of not hurting her.

Why hasn’t he healed…? Celestia frowned, or at least displayed the emotion of frowning. Not once had she seen him recover the wounds he had sustained. He was covered in blood and scrapes and bruises, yet he hadn’t even attempted to heal.

Then, as Tom strained with all his might, shifting his grip on her to better push her away, she saw it. The sleeve on his arm fell back, revealing a hint of stained white.

It was a bandage, and an old one at that. At least a few days, maybe more, and it was clear that a sizable wound was concealed underneath.

All at once, it clicked in her head.

Tom paused as he felt the alicorn’s struggle against him cease. He looked up, only to see the hostility and hunger gone from her face. Instead, she was staring ahead, staring at him, her mouth agape in shock.

“Tom…” She muttered, her eyes scanning back and forth between his arm and his face. A certain look of concerned revelation was stuck in her gaze. He knew exactly what she knew, and for the first time since he received that wound on his arm, he was thankful.

In a blur, Tom pushed through the pain and exhaustion and reached up. He grabbed the syringe and grimaced as he yelled, stabbing the needle into the alicorn’s neck and pressing the plunger in an instant.

Almost immediately, Celestia’s concern and shock shifted to pained alarm as her eyes widened. She scrambled backward, stumbling off the boy and screaming as her body exploded into agony. It was like her veins were dissolving inside of her, and she could feel every bit of it.

Tom watched as a series of glowing lines spidered out across the alicorn’s body, starting from the injection site on her neck. A light sizzling sound could barely be heard in between her agonizing yells.

Celestia started to clutch at her neck when she suddenly clenched her teeth and tensed every muscle in her body. Her forelegs collapsed, and she whined and cried and hissed as she hugged herself. Tears were uncontrollably welling up and running down her face.

Finally, she rocked back her head and let loose one last blood-curdling scream that must have carried through the entire castle. She screamed and screamed until the air left her lungs, whereupon she gasped for a breath and hyperventilated briefly before falling silent.

Then, she limply rolled to the side and settled on the floor, unconscious.

Tom laid there on the floor for a while, catching his breath and staring at the alicorn, half convinced that she would get back up again. Thankfully, she was out like a light.

Letting the spent syringe fall to the floor, the boy rolled over and worked his way to his knees slowly.

Around that time, he heard approaching hoofsteps and familiar voices.

Looking up, Tom saw a group of ponies trotting by one of the archways before they stopped and walked into the spacious room. He immediately recognized Glimmer Shine and Glitterball, along with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack.

As they quickly surveyed the scene, the ponies’ eyes went wide with shock. Not only was there a very beat-up-looking human, but Princess Celestia was lying motionless and pale on the ground a few feet away.

“Oh my gosh…” Glitterball covered her mouth as she darted her eyes between the two before settling on the human.

“Tom!” Fluttershy squeaked with concern as she and the others ran over. While the yellow pegasus, Glitterball, and Applejack rushed up to their human friend, the others went to go examine Celestia.

“Are you okay?!” Fluttershy asked, her eyes shimmering as she looked over the human’s many wounds while helping him to his feet.

“What in blazes happened in here?” Applejack asked. She wasn't used to seeing the human so bloodied and exhausted. Seeing that Tom was too tired to talk, she turned to see Glimmer Shine and the others gathered around the alicorn.

The stallion was examining her for any signs of injury, but he recoiled back as he noted how cold she was.

Rarity felt her heart sink as she saw the kind-hearted princess of the sun in such dire shape. “Is she breathing? Oh my… it doesn’t look like she’s breathing!”

“I… can’t find a pulse.” Glimmer Shine reported, double-checking his findings with tense hooves.

“She’s fine…” Tom managed, pausing to take a breath. “Relatively speaking.”

Meanwhile, Glitterball noticed a slight vibration against her vest. She looked down to see her detector glowing, and as she held it up, she quickly found that it was glowing directly toward the unconscious alicorn. “Wait… don’t tell me she’s… she’s…” She looked to the human, desperate for him to tell her that she was wrong.

“No way.” Rainbow Dash spoke up. “There’s no way that the princess is one of those things… there’s no way!” She insisted, though she seemed doubtful of her words as she looked to Tom with a hint of desperation in her eyes.

“I’m afraid so,” Tom said somberly.

The group shared a collective verbal recoil, silencing the room as they each slowly looked to their ruler. Some were pale, some were staring ahead with mouths agape in shock, and some were distancing themselves by looking away, but everyone was mortified by the news.

“Did… she do all this to you?” Applejack asked quietly, looking over the human’s wounds with soft eyes.

Tom wrinkled his expression briefly before flashing a smile. “Don’t worry about it… I’m fine.” He looked down to Celestia. “And she will be too once we get her home and cure her.”

“You don’t look fine.” Fluttershy fretted, pulling a hoof up instinctively and resisting the urge to cover her mouth with it as she looked at the hole in the boy’s shoulder, along with all his other wounds.

“It’s nothing, really. I just… need a minute to catch my breath before I heal.” Tom said, darting his eyes away for an instant. He was surprised to find a gauze pad being lifted by a blue magical aura to wipe the blood from his forehead.

“Well, at least let me clean you up a bit in the meantime.” Glitter suggested, taking care to be gentle as she dabbed the human’s face. She went along, removing smudges of blood and dirt caked onto his skin by sweat. She hid a cringe as she got to the wound in his shoulder. The pierced flesh was still bleeding around the edges, and it looked incredibly painful.

“You know, those horns of yours are sharper than they look.” Tom jested, hoping to ease the discomfort the unicorn was clearly feeling. His lighthearted smirk abruptly shifted to a pained grimace as she started cleaning the hole in his shoulder.

“Sorry…” Glitterball frowned. As she looked down, following the trail of blood down his shirt, she noticed that he had a few drops on his palm. “Here, let me get that for you.”

Tom drew back as the white mare reached for his hand. “It’s fine, Glitter. Thanks.”

“At least let me feel helpful for five seconds, would you?” Glitter sighed, taking hold of his arm and holding it still as she brought the gauze over.

However, much to her surprise, the boy drew air between his teeth and flinched at her touch, even though she was being gentle.

“Oh… sorry, I didn’t see that you were hurt there.” She fretted before her concern shifted to confusion as she caught a fleeting glimpse of white under his sleeve.

“Don’t worry about it.” Tom insisted, pulling away from her abruptly.

“Tom… can I see your arm, please?” Glitterball asked.

Tom looked at the white mare, a corner of his mouth tugging down as he saw a concerned look in her eye. “No…” He replied flatly.

“No?” Glitterball twitched an eyebrow.

“I’d rather you didn’t,” Tom added.

“But… aren’t you hurt there? Why don’t you let Glitter take a look? Maybe she can help you?” Fluttershy reasoned.

“I… just don’t want to waste any of your supplies. It’s probably just a bruise. It’ll go away soon anyway.” Tom said.

“Tom… is everything ok?” Applejack chimed in, her features softened with worry as she looked at the boy. She didn’t need to have known the human for long to know that he was acting weird.

Tom looked around to see that everyone was looking at him now. Their big round eyes burned into him, making him feel worse than he already did. They were his friends, and they were worried about him, and he was lying through his teeth. They didn’t deserve that, but could he really just tell them?

Then again, it seemed like they were already on a fast track to finding out anyway.

Finally, Tom sighed and lowered his head. “I’m sorry, guys… I haven’t been entirely honest with you.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash furrowed her expression curiously.

“What do you mean?” Rarity asked.

Tom grasped his shoulder, briefly squeezing the material of his shirt and struggling to continue. “Well… you see, I-”

Before he could say anything further, his eyes widened as all of the breath in his lungs was forced out, along with a harsh hiss and a cloud of blue mist. The sheer intensity of the feeling coursing through him made him hunch forward.

All at once, Glitterball and Glimmer Shine felt a heavy vibration against their vests as a magical buzz sounded out. Their detectors were now pulsing yellow in slow, infrequent intervals.

“What’s going on?” Fluttershy squeaked, shrinking back and huddling close to her friends.

“Something really powerful is getting closer from the look of it.” Glimmer Shine stated tensely, taking out his crossbow in one hoof and holding the vibrating vial in the other.

All of the color drained from Glitterball’s face as she looked to the stallion. “Wait… you don’t think-”

A single hoofstep echoed into the room from up ahead.

Then another.

Everyone rigidly turned to look at the end of the room, where a single door stood.

The soft, evenly paced sound was above them somehow, as if someone was slowly descending a set of stone steps, coming toward them.

A slow feeling of dread solidified in the ponies’ guts, cementing them in place. Somehow, the cold air around them seemed pleasant in comparison to the icy chill working through their systems as they listened to the steps getting closer.

Immediately, Tom darted his eyes to the floor, where his sword was still lying after his fight with Celestia. He scrambled to grab it and return to be in front of his friends as they all stared at the door.

Glimmer Shine and Glitterball readied their bows, while the others grasped their own weapons tightly. Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood ahead of Rarity and Fluttershy with their daggers, keeping the two mares safe. Fluttershy kept her strobe loosely pointed ahead, though her hoof was trembling so much that she couldn’t aim straight. Even Rarity’s dagger was jostling slightly as her magical aura twitched and shimmered under her nerves.

The steps continued getting closer until finally, they stopped. A moment of silence went by before the door creaked open without warning. A dark shape was waiting inside.

The shape stepped out into the room, revealing a lithe equine figure, brown fur and silver hair catching in the moonlight, along with a horn, wings, and red eyes.

“So…” The figure spoke, casting his gaze between the group squaring off against him. “Am I to believe that you are the rescue party? Hmm… let’s see here,” He paused, lifting a hoof and tracing it between each member. “Forgive me, I am a touch out of the loop of current events. You lot there must be the element bearers,” He pointed to the four mares before pausing at the vested ponies. “You… must be Luna’s little brigade of monster hunters.” He smirked in amusement before his eyes settled on Tom and he paused.

“And you…”

Tom tightened his grip on his sword as the alicorn took a few steps closer, a curious look on his face.

“Well, you’re rather easy to pick out. You must be this slayer I’ve heard about.” The stallion smiled, holding a hoof to his chest and giving a brief bow. “Welcome to Castle Bloodwing, Tom. I am Prince Dusk.”

“The name’s Thomas, dirtbag. Only my friends get to call me Tom.” The human stated, giving the alicorn an icy glare.

Dusk’s smile flattened in an instant before a slight chuckle escaped him. “Very well… Thomas.”

Meanwhile, a certain cyan mare was staring at the arrogant prince, her expression intensifying.

“You’re the one that’s been making ponies into monsters?” Rainbow stepped forward a bit.

“Dashie…” Fluttershy said quietly, hoping to keep her friend’s anger in check.

Dusk watched the pegasus staring daggers into him, a corner of his mouth pulling up. “Correction, I am the one who has been graciously taking time out of my busy schedule to take you lowly ponies and give you higher purpose.”

“Higher purpose?!” Rainbow snapped, clutching her dagger tightly and pointing it at the alicorn. “Your slaves have been killing innocent ponies! You’re the reason Blue is dead!”

“Hmph… I don’t know who this ‘Blue’ is… but if they were a friend of yours, I’m quite sure that I did the world a favor by killing them.” Dusk said plainly.

Everyone widened their eyes as they realized too late what was about to happen. They looked to Rainbow Dash, who was staring ahead in stunned shock. They could almost watch the switch flip in her head, as all the rage and anger she had been hiding away suddenly boiled to the surface.

“You… take that back… right now…” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth as everything else in the room faded from her vision. A vein was popping in her forehead, and she was soon vibrating from sheer anger as she unfurled her wings. “YOU MOTHER BUCKER!”

In a blur of color, Tom and the two vested ponies were nearly blown off their feet as a cyan torpedo shot between them. Fluttershy and the others had their hair blown back.

All at once, Dusk flinched slightly as a wall of wind and debris hit him, along with something else. Rainbow Dash appeared in front of him, rage burning in her eyes as she held out her dagger in the aftermath of a violent stab, leaving the tiny weapon sticking out of his chest.

“If anyone is doing the world a favor...” Rainbow barked, pushing the dagger further in and twisting it. “IT’S ME!”

The others all collectively dropped their jaws as the alicorn stumbled backward with a pained yelp, clutching the wound on his chest, which was beginning to sizzle.

Rainbow Dash watched, taking more pleasure than she probably should have, as a ring of embers formed around the dagger still plunged in Dusk’s chest. He grabbed the knife and ripped it out, but not before a sizable portion of his chest started turning to ash.

“Gah!” Dusk growled before rearing his head back and yelling as the wave of glowing embers prepared to overtake him.

And then, the embers stopped.

The stunned surprise and joy on everyone’s faces started to shift to horror and hopelessness as a red film of what appeared to be blood leaked out and covered the destroyed portions of the alicorn’s body.

Rainbow Dash’s expression fell, and she hung limply in the air where she was still fluttering, as she stared ahead wide-eyed at the alicorn. The bloody covering started shifting and filling out until it started to fade, leaving behind pristine brown fur and no sign of damage. There wasn't even a puncture wound anymore.

“No…” She muttered. “There’s no way…”

It made no sense. Silver killed vampires, and she just stabbed him in the heart with silver. Sure, her aim might have been a little off. She wasn't an anatomical expert, and she was a little blinded by rage at the moment, but she was certain that she hit the general area.

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack yelled, hoping to snap the pegasus out of her daze.

Rainbow glanced back at her friends before looking ahead, only to have her pupils shrink as she heard a vicious-sounding snarl. Two glowing red eyes were staring into her with a level of hatred and rage that rivaled what she was feeling moments ago.

Now... she felt afraid.

Dusk clutched a hoof at his newly reformed chest, a few stinging sensations still present where his insides were recovering. He then lifted that same hoof and pointed it at the pegasus.

A wet sloshing sound came as a blur of red shot out of his wrist and whipped up at the cyan mare. Rainbow gave a hard flap of her wings to get away, but she could barely react in time, and her efforts weren’t enough to stop a crimson tendril from wrapping around her neck and squeezing hard.

“Gack!” Rainbow let out a strangled yelp as she clutched at her neck. The tendril pulled her a bit closer, and no matter how hard she tried, all she could do was fly in place and try not to make the squeezing any worse by pulling taut against the springy rope.

“I think it’s safe to say that kindness isn’t your element,” Dusk noted, shifting his agitated scowl back to a more casual expression as he gently shifted the pegasus around by her new leash, taking silent pleasure in her strangled noises of pain. “The way you charged after me suggests a bold personality… so you’re not laughter either. Are you honesty? Generosity…? No… I’d say you’re loyalty. After all, I’d expect something like this from someone stupid enough to get so upset on behalf of a ‘friend’.”

“Leave her alone!” Fluttershy pleaded.

“Don’t hurt her!” Rarity reached out a hoof.

Glitterball leveled her crossbow at the stallion, only to grit her teeth and lower it after some thought. Even if she managed to hit him, all it would probably do was make him mad, and she couldn’t risk that with the cyan mare in his grasp.

Tom felt his heart start to race as he darted his eyes between Rainbow Dash and the alicorn. There was nothing he could do. The pegasus was completely at Dusk’s mercy.

Dusk seemed to enjoy the distraught looks on all of the ponies’ faces. “You all really care about her? About each other? My… I didn’t expect the unity of the three tribes to last this long.” He snorted softly and looked to Rainbow Dash. “How about you, loyalty? What if I told you that I’d let you live in exchange for one of them?”

“Drop… dead…” Rainbow Dash croaked, still clutching at the tendril around her neck. She looked at the alicorn, offering as much of a glare as she could form through her pain, and spit at him. If anything else, she hoped that if he was going to kill her, that her friends could flee without anything keeping them in place.

“How cute… It seems that loyalty is loyal.” Dusk smirked before turning to the group and raising the hoof controlling the tendril around Rainbow’s neck.

Fluttershy gasped and cupped her hooves over her mouth. Rarity averted her eyes, and many of the others tensed up in refusal to what they expected to be their friend’s execution.

Instead, however, Dusk flicked his hoof and the tendril tossed Rainbow Dash toward them, simultaneously unwrapping itself from her neck. The pegasus bounced along the floor with a series of painful grunts before she settled in place at the hooves of her friends.

“Dashie!” Fluttershy exclaimed in a mixture of eagerness and relief as she raced to the cyan mare’s side.

“Thank Celestia you’re ok,” Rarity added.

Rainbow Dash groaned and rubbed her neck as she looked up in confusion alongside many of her friends. The last thing any of them expected the alicorn to do was to let her go.

Dusk pulled the corners of his mouth into a smug grin as he allowed the stream of blood to retract into his wrist. “Alright… I’m sure you must be wondering why I let the cloud brain go. Truth be told… I’m not very interested in any of you. I can do whatever I want with you, whenever I want.” He explained, shifting his eyes between each of the ponies and watching to see how they reacted. “The one I am interested in… is you.” He pointed to Tom.

“What?” Applejack asked on behalf of the group.

“Sorry, Prince Dipstick, but you’re not my type,” Tom stated wryly.

Dusk stared at the boy, unblinking for a moment, before narrowing his eyes. Then, in a blur, a shot of red came from the wound on his neck and zipped straight into Glimmer Shine’s shoulder.

“AGH!” The stallion yelped as a crimson bullet pierced right through him, entering and exiting in an instant and making him reel backward into the waiting forelegs of Rarity and Applejack.

“Glimmer!” Glitterball widened her eyes as she watched her friend writhing in pain, clutching the new wound on his shoulder.

Tom looked back at the injured stallion with mouth agape in shock before turning to the alicorn and shifting his expression to an icy glare. He tightened his grip on his sword and prepared to bolt forward until he was stopped by Dusk speaking again.

“Enough!” He boomed, producing a set of streams from his wrists and pointing them at Fluttershy before solidifying their tips into spear-like ends. “Unless you want me to put a new hole in that bright-eyed friend of yours’ head, you will be silent and listen!”

Fluttershy’s pupils shrank and her body froze as she saw the two tendrils aiming at her. She barely produced a timid squeak of fear, afraid that if she moved or otherwise made a louder sound that she would be killed instantly. After all, the alicorn just demonstrated that he could send a stream of his blood through a body with little resistance.

Everyone else remained silent, staring between their friend, the alicorn, and the human with wide eyes and pale faces. They desperately wanted to do something to help, but they were afraid to intervene.

Tom looked back to see Fluttershy staring at him with a silent expression of ‘please help me’ stuck on her face. He growled under his breath before lowering his sword and facing the alicorn, remaining silent and at attention as requested.

“Good… very good. Now,” Dusk cleared his throat before dusting himself off. “I’ve heard some… very intriguing stories about you, Thomas. Every pony I’ve talked to hails you as some kind of hero. Some even touted you as being more popular than the element bearers or the princesses. Of course, I’m certain they would not have been so candid with me if they had… err… what was it called again? Oh, yes… free will.”

“If I might interject…” Tom said, taking every effort to not sound as livid as he felt. “What do you want from me?”

“Not one for formalities, are we?” Dusk asked. “My, my, humans must be impatient. But of course… you aren’t a normal human from what I hear.” He smirked. “Humans are boring. They’re arrogant, greedy, etcetera… but not you. You’re some kind of super-powerful monster slayer, so talented and skilled that not only have you bested foes that challenged the crown and won, but that you’ve cheated death on multiple occasions.” The alicorn giggled eagerly. “Now, that is interesting… I want to fight you myself.”

“Fight me?” Tom parroted, a bit of unease creeping up inside him as the alicorn continued.

“But of course. How else am I going to find out if the stories are true?” Dusk chuckled to himself. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the thought of doing battle with Equestria’s finest defender. “Look… we both know that I could kill your friends right now.” He said, the two streams pointed at Fluttershy twitching for show. “So, why don’t I give you what you really want?”

“And what is that, exactly?” The human asked, eyeing the pale stallion suspiciously.

Dusk didn’t answer for a second. He merely stared at the human with a slight crook to his mouth.

Suddenly, the two crimson spears aimed at Fluttershy started to recede. The timid pegasus blinked and watched as the streams flowed back into the alicorn’s wrists before deflating with a relieved shudder onto Rainbow Dash, who hadn’t moved from the floor for fear of agitating the stallion.

“A way out, Thomas… A way for your friends to live.” Dusk said, his gentle and refined voice holding a hint of sinister amusement.

“Don’t listen to him, Tom!” Fluttershy insisted, drawing the human’s attention away from the vice-like hold of the alicorn’s scrutinizing stare. Much to his surprise, he saw the pegasus with a determined look on her face despite her fear.

Rainbow Dash grunted softly as she worked her way to her own four hooves again. “Do you really think you can trust a word he says?”

“Yeah…” Glimmer Shine chimed in, cringing briefly at his wound as he looked to the boy with a serious glint in his eyes. “He’s just trying to rile you up.” He stated.

“You don’t need to do this alone,” Applejack added.

Rarity lit up her horn and joined her friends in squaring off against the alicorn. “We’re right behind you, no matter what.”

Tom seemed at a loss for what to do as he looked around at his friends. An impatient snort drew his attention back to the alicorn, who was getting progressively more annoyed with the group for distracting his audience.

“What’s it going to be, Thomas? The way I see it, you’ve got three options.” Dusk said. “You can all fight me, and I’ll make you watch as I kill all your friends… You can try to run, and I’ll make you watch as I kill all your friends even slower… or,” He gestured his head behind him, starting to turn and walk back toward the door he came from.

“You can come fight me, one on one, and I’ll let your friends leave this place.”

The ponies looked over to see Tom staring ahead with a certain look of despair in his eyes that caught them off guard. He looked like he was having trouble finding any other option to take.

Perhaps noticing the boy’s silence, Dusk snorted softly and opened the door before pausing and turning to look at the group. “I’ll let you decide what to do, sir hero… but just know, if your friends try to leave before you come after me, I will know. And rest assured, I can fly faster than those guards you have waiting outside.” He said, a more icy quality to his voice that made it sound like a threat, which for all intents and purposes it was. He then disappeared into the doorway and seemingly started ascending a set of stairs.

As the alicorn left, and the hum of Glimmer and Glitter’s detectors faded, the group felt equal parts relieved and uneasy. Now, they were faced with a dilemma. Do they let their friend go off and fight alone, or would they risk themselves and their loved ones to fight with him?

Rainbow Dash softened her expression as she saw Tom still staring ahead, his eyes darting loosely as he contemplated to himself. He almost looked afraid. “You’re not taking him seriously, are you?”

“I… uh…” Tom muttered, bringing a hand up and touching his neck. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t let him freak you out.” Glimmer Shine said before gritting his teeth to hide a painful grunt.

Glitterball frowned as she examined the stallion’s wound. There was a hole punched clean through his vest on both sides of his shoulder. Even though it didn’t seem to be a vital area, it drew sympathetic stares from the others as they gathered around.

“Oh, my word…” Rarity held in a gasp as she saw the extent of his injury. If she were to kneel down, she could see straight through the hole in his shoulder to the other side.

“That’s going to get infected if I don’t clean it.” Glitter fretted.

Tom walked up and watched as the unicorn prepared to dress up her friend’s wound. “Sorry…”

“About what?” Glimmer asked, a bit surprised to see the boy so glum.

“About that,” Tom said, pointing to the hole in the stallion’s shoulder. “He wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t set him off.”

“To be fair, I think I was the one who did most of the setting off.” Rainbow Dash said, rubbing her hoof along her neck tenderly. A dull mark was left all around her throat from being squeezed so hard.

Glimmer Shine chuckled before cringing as his movement agitated his injury. “I guess he can’t take a joke like he can take a dagger.”

Tom looked down to his hand and clenched his fist a few times before looking up with a solemn expression. “I should really heal that.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Glimmer said, waving the human off with his other hoof as he watched him getting close and kneeling down beside Glitterball. “You need your strength to beat his pointy teeth in.”

“Just hold still.” Tom insisted, bringing his hand up. He hesitated for a moment, silently directing all of his willpower and concentration toward what used to be a trivial task.

After a few seconds, a familiar blue glow enveloped the stallion’s shoulder. The warm feeling it brought was a welcome reprieve from the icy cold around them, even if it was only in a small area.

Perhaps it was the light from the moon playing tricks, but the human’s light seemed dimmer than the ponies remembered. It was also putting a lot more strain on him a lot quicker, with his arm trembling slightly within mere moments.

Just before the wound could finish closing up, the light flickered. Tom cringed and strained, even steadying his arm with his other hand, but it was no use. The light soon vanished, leaving a partially closed hole that at the very least looked less painful and gruesome.

“What’s wrong?” Glitterball asked, noting how out of breath the human was. Usually, it took a lot more time healing a much more severe wound before he started getting tired, even if it was after a fight.

“Are you that exhausted already?” Glimmer Shine softened his expression, not even caring about the hole still in his shoulder.

Tom turned to see concerned frowns on everyone’s faces. Now it was impossible to hide how weak he was. He looked down to his trembling hand, his eyes crinkling as his mouth twitched. He bit his lip before finally relaxing.

“There’s… something I need to show you."