Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

A few minutes had gone by since the battle ended in the throne room. The pale ponies had been reduced to mere dust on the floor, and now Shining Armor and the others were free to lick their wounds and enjoy their victory.

Shining Armor shared a warm embrace with his little sister and adoptive brother. He had done it. He had saved the purple mare and dragon after so long spent wondering if he would ever see them again. At least now he could keep his promise to his wife.

Feeling a fourth body glomfing onto their group hug, the trio looked up to see Pinkie joining in. The pink pony was perhaps more enthusiastic than they were, but they didn’t mind.

“I missed you guys so much!” Pinkie stated, squeezing the unicorn and dragon close.

Twilight smiled warmly at her friend. “We missed you too, Pinkie.” She said as she stepped back to get some air. There were plenty of things involved in a good Pinkie Pie hug, but breathing usually wasn't one of them.

“I knew you would come save us.” Spike beamed at the stallion and pink mare.

Shining Armor patted the dragon on the head and ruffled his spines. However, as a soft whimper drifted over to them from off to the side, he looked up to see Sunspot and Sparkplug sitting by themselves. “We weren’t the only ones that made this possible.” He muttered somberly.

Twilight and the others looked up to see what the stallion was looking at, only to lower their expressions at what they found.

Sunspot was busy tending to Sparkplug’s wound. The gruesome bite on the gray mare’s foreleg was painful looking, to say the least, and it was still bleeding, so it needed to be taken care of.

Sunspot frowned as she watched her teammate trying her best to stay still and keep quiet as she wrapped some bandages around the missing chunk of flesh. However, Sparkplug couldn’t help the tears dotting the corners of her eyes, or the pained whimpers and sobs.

“I’m almost done.” Sunspot said softly, her heart aching as another agonized squeak came from her patient. She knew enough first aid to get by, but she wasn't a doctor. She knew that this was only a temporary solution meant to stifle the bleeding and keep the wound clean until they could get the gray mare some real help.

“Mmph!” Sparkplug rocked her head back, reaching her other hoof up to grasp at the wound before forcing herself to stop. The tears in her eyes finally fell down her face. “This hurts… really bad.” She muttered, probably intending to make small talk at first, but what came out was a trembling declaration, a last attempt at having some control over her agonizing situation.

“I know.” Sunspot frowned. It didn’t make her feel any better as she had to pull on the last ribbon of bandage to make it tight, causing a yelp that devolved into outright crying. She quickly finished tying off the bandage before wrapping her forelegs around the gray mare and giving her a much-needed hug.

“You did so good back there.” Sunspot said, patting her newest friend on the back as she wept into her shoulder. It was a wonder that she wasn't hysterical. The pegasus and her team were somewhat used to grievous injuries from their previous jobs and experiences, but Sparkplug was a civilian. This was probably the first time in her life she had felt so much pain.

Sparkplug got the last few muffled sobs out of her system before poking her head up and sniffling. “Y-you… you think so?”

“Of course,” Sunspot assured, pulling back and smiling as she wiped a few tears off of the gray pony’s face. “You saved Twilight from that thing, and on top of that you saved me.” She said.

Truth be told, Sunspot was glad that the pale mare leaned her head back when Sparkplug fired. The poppers were relatively easy to aim in a general area, much like the strobes, but unlike the strobes, one misfire would have severely changed the events that took place.

“Hey…” Sparkplug muttered, managing a slight smile. “I killed a vampire.”

Sunspot smiled back at the gray mare. She could tell that Sparkplug felt a little remorse from killing a former pony, but right now, she was holding onto the triumph of slaying her first monster. “Yeah… you did.”

Hearing the others walking up, the pair looked over to see sympathetic frowns all around. The four were all looking at Sparkplug and her wound. Even if it was looking better than before, it still elicited terrible feelings of concern, and for Twilight, even a bit of guilt.

“I’m so sorry, Sparkplug,” Twilight said, her ears falling as she looked over the already bloody bandage with soft eyes.

Sparkplug hid the twinges of pain she still felt and managed a smile. “Don’t be. I would rather have to deal with this than whatever that thing would have done to you.” She explained, her voice still a little hoarse. Still, despite her words, she cringed as she brought her foreleg up and cradled it to her chest. “But sweet Celestia if this isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever felt…”

Hearing mention of the alicorn, Twilight’s eyes widened briefly. “Oh my gosh… I almost forgot! We have to go save the princess!” She rushed toward the door, only pausing to turn and see if the others were following. “Come on! We need to go right now!”

“Twilight…” Shining Armor spoke, hoping to get his sister to calm down.

“No, you don’t understand! That alicorn did something to her. He made her like-”

“Like him.” Shining interrupted, walking over to the panicked mare. “We know, Twilight… we’ve seen her.”

“You have?” Twilight paused. The uneasy expressions on everyone’s faces didn’t make her feel any better. “What happened?” She asked hesitantly.

“It looked like she was waiting for us.” Shining explained. “Tom stayed behind so he could… knock her out.”

“No…” Twilight’s ears fell along with her expression as she trailed her eyes down. “I can’t believe it’s gotten so bad this quickly.” She muttered, dwelling in her own troubled thoughts for a moment before looking up. “What about the Crusaders?”

“Don’t worry.” Sunspot chimed in. “They’re safe.”

“You were the last one for us to save… after the princess, of course,” Shining said.

Twilight drew the corners of her mouth up partially, before returning to an uneasy expression. Even if everyone was accounted for, they still had to escape, and that could prove difficult. “Can we go help Tom? I-I’m sure he has everything handled by now… but, just in case.”

Shining Armor glanced at the others, who all seemed eager to go back and assist the human, before frowning as he saw Sparkplug still cradling her injury. “Are you ready to move?”

“Yeah… I think so.” Sparkplug gave a tiny nod, keeping her wounded foreleg close to her chest.

“Good.” Shining managed a slight smile as he turned to Twilight before looking toward the doors. “Let’s go.”
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It took a little longer than everyone expected for them to get back to where they left the human. They had to move slower than before due to the gray mare’s injury and their own exhaustion. Still, it paid to be cautious, especially now that things were going so well for them.

Sunspot stayed near the front of the group, keeping an eye on their surroundings with her detector as they walked. She had since traded crossbow ammo with Sparkplug and reacquired her dagger, so she was ready to fight if the need arose.

Spike and Pinkie were at the back with Sparkplug. The pink mare was helping her injured friend walk and generally trying to lift her spirits, while the dragon was just hovering near what he perceived to be the safest place in the group.

Meanwhile, Shining Armor was busy tending to Twilight. He was examining the symbols carved into her forehead with a hesitant frown, taking care to be as gentle as possible.

“Are you sure you want me to do this?” Shining asked.

Twilight softened her eyes with concern for a moment before steeling herself. “Yes. I think we can both agree that it would be better in the long run if I had my magic back.” She reasoned.

The stallion sighed and wrinkled his expression for a moment before lighting up his horn and bringing his dagger up to her forehead. “Hold still for a second… I promise I’ll be quick.”

The group paused and watched as Shining pressed the dagger closer to Twilight’s skin. After a moment of hesitation from both of them, she felt a bit of a sting as the blade pierced her.

“Ngh!” Twilight cringed before forcing herself to be silent. She gave her brother a confident look to get him to keep going. They both knew that this wouldn’t be painless.

Shining softened his expression as he watched his little sister trying not to move or emote while he cut her. It took every fiber of his willpower just to keep going. He couldn’t hesitate and be too soft, or it would defeat the entire purpose of doing this.

Soon, a new line was carved through the majority of the symbols on her forehead. Shining pulled the knife away and gingerly wiped a trickle of blood from the area. “What about now?” He asked, hoping that he didn’t just do that for nothing.

Twilight hesitated for a moment before trailing her eyes up and concentrating. Much to her relief, she felt the familiar channeling of energies as her horn lit up once more. “Phew… Thank goodness for that.” She said, though her forehead still stung a bit.

“Why couldn’t you just get Tom to heal you, Twilight?” Pinkie suggested with a sympathetic frown. She couldn’t even bring herself to watch the process for a multitude of reasons.

Twilight wrinkled her expression a bit as she saw her friends wearing such worrisome looks. “Because I don’t want him wasting energy on something this small. He should only use his powers on life-threatening stuff and large wounds right now.” She let her features soften a bit as she turned to look at Sparkplug.

“Well, I think we can classify this under large wounds.” Sunspot reasoned, giving her gray teammate a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

Sparkplug merely shook her head as she cringed slightly. “I can wait until we get out of here. Twilight’s right… he needs all the strength he can get for if we run into that alicorn.”

Shining Armor and the others couldn’t help but be impressed by the gray mare’s resolve. The stallion had seen veteran guards that would be reduced to blubbering messes if they were to receive such a grievous wound.

“Let’s not keep him waiting, then,” Shining said, gesturing to the rest of the hallway. Everyone adopted more stoic expressions as they followed their leader. They all agreed on one thing above all others. The sooner they left the castle, the better for everyone involved.

A short walk later, the group rounded the corner leading to the hall where the human was supposedly fighting Celestia. Everyone, especially those that left their friend behind, grew uneasy as they looked ahead to the arched openings into the next room.

They hadn’t heard anything from the human since they left to find Twilight, and although there weren’t any noises coming from up ahead, a knot was forming in the group’s guts nevertheless.

However, as they drew closer, the group did start to hear a noise.

Familiar voices were talking back and forth. It was hard to make out what they were saying, but the conversation seemed tense. They could already make out Rainbow Dash and Glimmer Shine, and they didn’t sound happy.

“Why didn’t you tell us about this sooner?” Rainbow Dash said. She seemed upset, but not in an angry way.

There was some unheard muttering that sounded like it came from Tom.

“Absolutely not. We’re not letting you do that.” Glimmer Shine stated adamantly.

“Darling, you can’t be serious. It’s entirely too dangerous!” Rarity chimed in.

Seeing that there was no apparent threat, Twilight and the others shared an uncertain glance with each other before entering the room.

As expected, they saw Tom standing near the back of the lengthy room with Rainbow Dash and the others. The ponies were all gathered around the human, looking at him with concerned frowns. He was bloodied and bruised in several places, most notable of which being a hole in his shoulder and a shallow cut to his forehead, and he looked like he was barely functioning.

A few feet behind the group, Princess Celestia was lying unconscious on the floor. She was as pale as when Twilight saw her last, but at least she seemed to be alive. She would be a pile of ash if she wasn't.

As they gradually noticed the hoofsteps approaching, the group turned to see their friends entering the room and walking over. They were immediately relieved to see a purple unicorn and young dragon amongst their ranks. And while Sparkplug and Glimmer Shine’s injuries drew concerned glances from both sides, everyone seemed relatively safe.

“Twilight, Spike! You guys are ok.” Fluttershy piped up, managing a slight smile despite whatever discussion was previously going on.

Twilight flashed a smile to the pegasus and the others before flattening her expression as she noted how tense everyone seemed. “Wh… what’s going on? Is something wrong?”

Everyone fell silent and looked to the human, seeing how he would respond. Some were goading him on with their eyes, hoping to get him to explain whatever issue they were discussing to the unicorn, while others merely watched with glum faces.

Tom eyed around at the others before settling his gaze on Twilight. He swallowed uncomfortably and trailed his eyes to the floor, starting to say something only to fail to make even the smallest sound.

While the others had no idea what was going on, Spike looked at the human sympathetically. The boy seemed to notice this, which only served to make him feel worse.

“We, uh… we met Dusk,” Tom explained finally.

“You did?” Shining Armor grew a bit pale as he looked at the others. At least now he understood why Glimmer Shine was injured.

“Yeah. He didn’t seem interested in fighting all of us, but…” Tom tugged at his shoulder as he turned to look at the door behind them. “He said he wouldn’t let anyone leave unless he fights me.”

“Oh my gosh…” Twilight frowned as she looked to the human with newfound concern. He must have been exhausted if he allowed himself to be in such a state. He hadn’t even healed any wounds, or if he had, the ones he left behind were disconcerting, to say the least.

“Why don’t we just all gang up on him?” Pinkie suggested.

“Yeah,” Sparkplug added. “All it would take is for one of us to hit him with silver, right?” She asked, though the human and the others didn’t seem as confident in her reasoning as she was.

“Actually… that wouldn’t work.” Rainbow Dash said, rubbing her neck uncomfortably. “I tried stabbing him, but he just healed like it did nothing.”

“What about magic?” Shining chimed in. “Couldn’t I hold him down for you while you wail on him?”

Tom flattened his expression. “No. I don’t want any of you fighting him. He’s way too dangerous. I don’t know what kind of magic he messed with to make himself into what he is, but he could kill any of you without a second thought.”

“As if we’re letting you fight him the way you are.” Rainbow Dash chimed in before softening her expression briefly as she turned to Twilight and the others.

“Huh?” Twilight tilted her head at the way the pegasus said that. Thinking back to the conversation they interrupted when they arrived, she shifted her eyes to the human. “What does she mean?”

“Nothing.” Tom insisted, but Rainbow and the others’ expressions told otherwise. “I’m just a little tired is all. After I rest for a minute, I’ll go up there and take care of him.”

“Tom…” Applejack spoke up softly, offering the human a sympathetic frown. “I know this must be hard for you… but you need to tell them.”

Tom looked to the orange mare for a moment before wrinkling his eyes slightly and looking to the floor.

Meanwhile, Twilight and the others were getting progressively more uneasy and worried. The purple mare watched the human, while many of the others looked around to see if anyone else wanted to speak up and tell them. After all, the boy seemed hesitant to speak.

“Tell us what?” Twilight spoke after a moment, softening her expression. “Tom… is something wrong?”

Tom couldn’t even bring himself to look at her, at anyone. He eyed up at them in quick glances for a moment, squeezing his hand into the fabric of his shirt. As he looked over to Applejack and the others, they were silently goading him on, though they seemed to understand why he was having such difficulty with telling the unicorn versus telling them.

Finally, he sighed in defeat.

“I… I’m…” He muttered. “I’m losing my powers.”

The words reached the ponies, but they were half-convinced they didn’t hear right. It took a solid few seconds for it to sink in for them.

“Wh… what?” Twilight blinked.

Seeing the uneasy confusion in the unicorn’s face, Tom bit the inside of his lip for a moment before reaching down and rolling up his sleeve. He presented his arm for them to see, and what they found made their jaws fall open.

A mess of blood-stained bandages was wrapped around the human’s forearm, concealing an unknowably gruesome wound. It was at least a few days old judging from the discoloration of the stains, and merely revealing it made the boy wrinkle a corner of his mouth in discomfort.

The sight of the bandage made the group fully understand the weight of what the human just told them. Pinkie covered her mouth with a hoof. Sparkplug furrowed her eyes in disbelief. Sunspot and Shining Armor merely stared, eyes wide and mouths agape. Spike seemed the least shocked out of everyone, though even he was wearing an uneasy expression as he looked to the floor.

And Twilight.

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She darted her eyes along the length of the concealed wound as if she was slowly absorbing every detail of it. Her jaw quivered a bit, and it took her a second to even remember to breathe.

“Tom…” She muttered, slowly walking up to the boy and gently taking his arm and examining it closer, as if that would change something.

Tom slowly knelt down, but he kept his gaze up and into the middle distance, not chancing looking down at her. “I got it a couple nights ago… during that mission back in Ponyville. I… tried to just will myself into healing it, but it hasn’t worked. Everything has just been getting worse since then.”

Twilight looked up to him, her eyes starting to shimmer lightly. Now he was making extra sure not to look at her. “Why?” She asked, and he immediately felt a knot in his stomach as he realized what she was asking. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I intended to… eventually,” Tom said hesitantly, and although she didn’t say anything, he knew she didn’t like that answer. “Look, I just didn’t want you to spend Nightmare Night worrying about something you can’t fix. It would have been fine if all this didn’t happen… I would have gotten it under control in a few days.”

“Tom,”

“I know, I know… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“Look at me.”

“Look, it’s fine. I’m fine. I just need to get a handle on it and my powers will come back no problem.”

“Stop it!” Twilight raised her voice a bit, causing the human to finally face her.

Much to his surprise, she had a bit of harshness to her expression. Her eyes were furrowed, but they were still shimmering with worry.

“Stop telling me you’re ok. You’re not ok!” Twilight insisted. Two tiny dots of water formed at the corners of her eyes as she panted briefly after her outburst. She took a moment to calm down and soften her expression once more. “What’s wrong?” She asked, and judging from his expression, he knew what she was talking about.

“I don’t know,” Tom muttered quietly.

“Please don’t lie to me…” Twilight reeled back slightly. “Your powers would only stop working like this if something was seriously bothering you. Please… tell me what’s wrong.”

“I don’t… know.” Tom insisted, shifting his eyes to meet hers. “What do you want me to say, Twilight?” He asked, though now she was the one to remain silent. “I’m sorry… I wish it didn’t turn out like this, but it did. Now, I have to do my part to keep you all safe… and that means I need to go fight that guy.” He said, starting to get up, only to be pulled by the front of his shirt by a magical aura.

“No!” Twilight quaked. By now, her movements were starting to get jittery as her hooves began to tremble. “There’s no way I’m going to let you fight him!” She insisted. Now she knew why the others were having such a tense discussion when she entered.

“Twilight… I have to. He’s too strong for any of you to fight, and I get how that must sound coming from me right now, but I have a plan to beat him.” He started to pull away again, only to have her pull back. This time, she wrapped her forelegs around him and rested her head on his good shoulder.

“You always do this!” Twilight hiccuped, the tears in her eyes starting to cloud her vision. “You… y-you always act like you have to do everything by yourself… l-like you’re expendable… like we… we don’t care about you!” She squeezed her forelegs tighter around him as she cried over his shoulder. “But we do care about you! You’re our f-friend. Y-you’re my friend! Why can’t you just… just l-let me help you?!”

The others watched with heavy hearts as the unicorn sobbed openly, hugging the human close so that nothing could take him away. Many of them were starting to get watery eyes as well. Even Tom seemed unsure of what to do as he stared at the wall, trying to keep his composure. He slowly brought his arms around and rested one on her back, and the other on the back of her head.

Fluttershy sniffled slightly as she thought about her friend shouldering such a burden for so long by himself. Twilight’s words rang in her head non-stop. She always thought that she was good at reading other people’s emotions and making them feel better, but she had failed to see anything wrong with the boy.

Slowly, the shy mare got up and walked over to the pair. She sidled down by Twilight and wrapped her forelegs around the both of them, joining into their embrace.

Then, Pinkie walked over and joined Fluttershy. Soon after, Rarity got up and moved closer as well.

Eventually, Applejack and Rainbow Dash joined the others. Now there was a big ball of fuzzy ponies hugging each other and the human. Everyone was crying to some degree, even Tom.

Shining Armor and the others opted to let the six mares have their moment with the human. After all, they were the closest with him, though Spike managed to squeeze in and hug Twilight’s leg. The others got closer to the group hug, showing their support from a slight distance.

A solid minute went by as Twilight in particular got her emotions out. Gradually, the ball of warmth disbanded as the others got up. She stayed the longest, but eventually, she unburied her head from the human’s shoulder and sniffled as she looked up at him.

Tom looked around at his friends, uncaring of the two streams of tears running down his face, before settling his eyes on Twilight. “I do know you care about me.” He said, gently reaching up and brushing some strands of her now disheveled mane out of her eyes. “But I care about you too… all of you. You showed me friendship at a point in my life where I thought I could never have friends again… I owe you all my life.”

“You don’t owe us nothin’, sugarcube.” Applejack stated earnestly.

“Yeah. Friendship isn’t just a debt to be paid.” Rainbow Dash added.

“So… w-what do we do now?” Fluttershy asked after a moment, bringing the group’s attention back to their predicament. Obviously, she didn’t want the human fighting the alicorn, but that still left them with having to deal with him somehow.

Tom shifted to a more confident expression as he looked around at the others. “Like I said before, I have a plan.”

“Tom, I would hate to ruin the moment we just had by being snippy, but we can’t just let you go up there, plan or no plan.” Rarity said.

“Besides, there’s no way that plan would work,” Glitterball added with a concerned frown. “He would tear you to pieces before you could even do anything.”

“Wait, wait…” Twilight said, taking a moment to recompose herself. “If we’re going to argue over this, I at least want to hear what he has in mind.”

“You do?” Tom asked, just as surprised as the others.

Twilight nodded. “Like it or not… even without your powers, you know the most about monsters out of any of us. Let’s at least give your ship a chance to float before I want to sink it.” She reasoned.

“Wow… you sure?” Tom asked, to which she seemed to agree. He then shrugged and got up, starting to walk over to his bag. “Alright, but… you’re probably not gonna like it.”
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“Are you crazy?!”

Tom reeled back a bit as the unicorn glared at him. “Why is that always the first thing you ask me?”

Twilight huffed for a moment before calming down, but she still had a wrinkle to her expression as she looked into the backpack the human brought and went over his plan in her head. “Because I legitimately wonder about the answer some days.”

Shining Armor shrugged as the human looked his way. “Hey, don’t look at me. She kind of has a point.”

Tom furrowed his brows briefly as he looked back to the purple mare, his jaw stammering as he failed to try and find something to say to not trigger her any further. “What happened to giving my ship a chance to float?”

“That was before I knew it was held together by rubber bands and paperclips!” Twilight snapped, briefly glaring at the human again before resting a hoof to her temple and rubbing it softly. She sighed and closed her eyes, taking a moment of thought to try and understand the blatantly suicidal mess she just heard.

“So… assuming he doesn’t outright kill you,” She started.

“Uh-huh…” Tom blinked.

“And assuming he doesn’t notice…”

“Uh-huh…”

Twilight grumbled to herself, removing her hoof from her face and looking up to the human. “Do you think… and don’t lie to me. Do you really think… it would work?”

“Are you seriously considering letting him do this?” Sunspot asked, a bit taken aback by the normally intelligent unicorn’s stance.

“I’m not considering it,” Twilight clarified, “I just want to know the logistics of it before we move on.”

“There’s no moving on, Twilight. This is it… this is our play. This will give you the highest chance of survivability.” Tom said.

“I really wish you would stop talking like you’re our scapegoat,” Twilight said.

Applejack groaned uncomfortably from the side. “Can’t we just go up with you and help you do this?”

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash added eagerly. “We could get it done a lot faster if we all help.” She reasoned, looking around at the others. Everyone seemed to agree, but the cyan mare, in particular, looked like she was bent on not leaving a friend behind.

Tom set his mouth in a grim line and exhaled softly through his nose. “If anyone else comes with me, he’ll kill everyone… even Spike and the Crusaders.”

There was a pregnant pause after that.

“Look… I’m just saying, this is our only option. If I fight him with the intent to kill, he’ll wipe the floor with me. He might wipe the floor with me anyway, but at least this will give me a chance to live.” Tom said.

“And what do we do after that?” Glimmer Shine said. “Assuming everything goes smoothly,”

“Which it won’t.” Sunspot chimed in.

Glimmer side-eyed the pegasus briefly before tilting his head in agreement. “Fair assessment… but let’s assume for a second that it does. Your plan works, we all get away safely, and we head back home to Canterlot. What then? This guy will still be alive, and I would wager he would be seriously ticked off at us when he does come after us again.”

“Well…” Tom trailed his eyes off to the side, where a certain alicorn was still unconscious on the floor. “Ideally, we can cure Celestia and have her raise the sun. That should buy us enough time to figure out a way to dust this guy for good.”

“Tom,” Twilight spoke up, “you still haven’t answered me. Do you think it will work?” She asked, searching his eyes for a reaction.

The boy looked to the unicorn for a moment. He walked up and rested a hand on her shoulder as he crouched down to be at eye level. “It will work.”

Twilight watched him for a moment, silently scrutinizing for any faltering facade of confidence. However, she could see nothing but determination.

“Alright…”

“Alright…?” Rarity chimed in from off to the side. “Surely you’re joking.”

“No, I’m not,” Twilight said before looking at the human again. “I want to make it clear that I don’t like this… but given the risk to everyone else, I have no choice.”

“But… but… we can’t just let him do this alone!” Rainbow Dash insisted.

“Rainbow Dash… all of you came all this way to save us. I know you would be willing to take the risk and stay behind with Tom… I would too,” Twilight said gently, an air of seriousness and regret about her. “But we can’t take the chance of something going wrong and the kids getting hurt. They’ve been through enough tonight as is.” She looked to Spike and softened her expression. “He wants to fight Tom… and as much as I would rather die fighting him myself… we have to trust that Tom’s plan will work.”

The others were silent for a while after that. They all shifted their eyes between Twilight and the human, more than a hint of concern between them. Still, they knew that the unicorn was right, no matter how badly they wished otherwise.

“Well…” Tom said flatly, walking over and grabbing his backpack. “You guys better get moving. I’d rather not keep this guy waiting… he didn’t seem like the most patient type.” He started moving toward the door when he was blocked by a certain pink mare.

“You better come back to us, ok?” Pinkie said, a surprising intensity to her eyes, though her pout alleviated some of the severity.

Tom smirked at the pink pony and the others gathering around her, paying special notice to Twilight and Spike. “I promise.”

“Do you Pinkie promise?” Pinkie asked, leaning in closer and eyeing him suspiciously.

“What’s that?” Tom raised an eyebrow. None of them had any digits, so she couldn’t have been talking about the kind of pinky promise he was thinking of.

“You’ve never heard of a Pinkie promise?” Rarity asked, a bit surprised.

Tom shrugged a shoulder. “I guess not.”

“I don’t think it’s ever come up around him.” Twilight reasoned.

Seeing the confusion in the human’s face, Pinkie decided to take it upon herself to explain. “A Pinkie promise is the most serious promise you can ever make. It’s you swearing on your friendship with me, that no matter what, you will keep your promise.”

“Trust me, it’s a big deal.” Applejack said.

“Yeah, so don’t do it unless you mean it.” Rainbow Dash added.

Tom snorted and managed a smirk. “Alright… I Pinkie promise.”

“Cross your heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye?” Pinkie asked, gesturing with her hoof in time with her words.

“Yes… all of that,” Tom said, repeating all of the motions the pink mare just did.

Pinkie wrinkled her expression at the human briefly, before suddenly brightening up and giving him a quick hug. “Okie dokie lokie. Come back soon!”

“Please be safe,” Fluttershy said, walking up and hugging him as well.

Tom smiled and patted the pegasus on the back. And as she stepped away and he stood up, he felt another set of forelegs wrapping around his shoulders from behind and a fuzzy chin on top of his head.

“Kick that creep’s tail for me, ok?” Rainbow Dash said, briefly lifting the human up with her wings to make her hug all the better. She then hovered back to her position in the group, brushing him with her tail on the way past.

Before Tom could even react, Applejack walked up and stood on her hind legs so she could hug him at the proper height. Rarity joined in shortly after.

“Just remember. We ain’t leavin’ without you, sugarcube.” The orange mare stated.

“Show that ruffian why you’re the best monster slayer in Equestria,” Rarity added, giving him a small peck on the cheek.

Feeling a tug on his pant leg, Tom looked back to see Glitterball walking up to him.

“If you need any help, we’re one word away.” Glitter said, tapping her ear with a hoof. She didn’t seem to want to impose, but he reached down and pulled her in for a hug anyway.

“Stay safe for us, buddy.” Glimmer Shine said. The human looked up to see the stallion being helped by Sunspot.

“We’re with you in spirit… literally.” The pegasus smirked.

“Try not to get your face eaten off.” Sparkplug said with a slight wave of her injured foreleg.

Tom returned a warm smile to the ponies, before feeling a small shape wrap around his leg. He looked down to see Spike hugging him, with Twilight walking up behind.

“Please be safe…” Spike said, a bit of desperation in his voice as he buried his face into the boy’s leg. The dragon looked up abruptly as Tom rested a hand on top of his head, a reassuring smile that he had come to know the human by stuck on his face.

“Don’t worry, buddy. It’ll be ok.” Tom assured.

Twilight smiled up at the boy, though she still had a bit of worry in her eyes. She stepped in close and wrapped a foreleg around him, nuzzling his waist. She then backed up and flattened her expression.

“Tom… I don’t know what you must have convinced yourself of to lose your powers… but whatever it is, knock it off, ok? You have nothing to be afraid of. We’re fine… as long as we’re together.” Twilight looked to her friends, who all gathered around and joined her in smiling at the human. “Just remember… we believe in you.”

The boy reached out and rested a hand on her head briefly, ruffling her mane gently. “Thank you.” He said before turning and starting to walk. He made it a few steps away from the group before pausing as he looked ahead to see Shining Armor picking Celestia up from the floor and positioning her over his back.

“Tom… I just want you to know, you are the second-best hairless brother I never knew I needed.” Shining said, briefly glancing at Spike before holding out a foreleg to give the human a side hug.

“Likewise, Fuzzbucket.” Tom chuckled, walking up and accepting the gesture. He glanced at the unconscious alicorn across Shining’s back before carrying on toward the door.

Shining Armor started to walk back over to the group before he paused as he heard the human whisper something to him in passing. He turned to see the boy already walking away as if it had only been his imagination, but he knew what he heard.

“Take care of them for me.”

Shining opened his mouth to say something, only to remain silent as he watched the human silently walking toward the door. Before he or anyone else could think of something further to say, Tom opened the door, looked at them once more, and disappeared inside.