Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

After her meeting with Princess Celestia, Twilight eventually walked back toward the guest rooms with Fluttershy.

The rays of sunlight streaming into the halls of the castle served to brighten the atmosphere in the most literal sense possible. The night was over, and for better or worse, they could start to process and move past everything that had happened so they could prepare for what was going to happen next.

However, for right now, preparation for the two mares meant one thing.

Twilight yawned tiredly as she struggled to keep her eyes open. The nap she had taken on the trip back was starting to wear off. She needed a proper sleep cycle, and she wasn't the only one. “You going back to bed?” She asked, looking at Fluttershy curiously.

“Yeah…” The pegasus mumbled, already looking forward to the cool embrace of her pillow.

The pair rounded the corner and made their way over to the guest rooms. Fluttershy paused in front of her door and turned to see her unicorn friend off. “Thanks for… umm… making me feel better earlier, Twilight. I really needed that.” She admitted.

Twilight smiled softly. “Any time…” She paused and looked up to the room the yellow mare was sleeping in alongside their cyan friend, her expression falling slightly as she thought back to when Rainbow Dash carried her down to the carriages. “Hey… in case I don’t see you guys when you get up, could you tell Rainbow Dash I’m sorry?”

Fluttershy softened her eyes. “Sorry? What for?”

Twilight sighed and rubbed a hoof down her foreleg. “You know… for back at the castle. I was in a pretty bad place… but that didn’t give me the excuse to act like I did. We were all sad about Tom, not just me.”

“Twilight.” Fluttershy frowned, a bit surprised at how much the unicorn was beating herself up. “I’m sure Rainbow doesn’t blame you in the least for how you acted. You were always the closest with Tom… of course you would be upset.”

“Well,” Twilight wrinkled her lip uncomfortably. “I still feel bad. Just… let her know that I’m sorry, and if she needs anything, I’m here for her. Same goes for you.” She rested a hoof on the yellow mare’s shoulder lovingly.

Fluttershy smiled warmly. “Thank you… I’ll be sure to tell her when we wake up.”

As the pegasus receded into her room with a brief wave, Twilight turned and started to head down the hallway, when the sound of another door opening made her pause.

She turned to see a drowsy-looking orange mare plodding out into the hall, being careful to close the door quietly so as to not wake the others in the room behind her.

Looking up and noticing that she wasn't alone, Applejack perked up ever so slightly. “Oh… howdy, Twilight.” She droned, though it was hard to tell if the lack of energy in her voice was due to lingering sadness or exhaustion, or perhaps some combination of the two.

“Hey, Applejack.” Twilight greeted before letting her expression fall a bit. “How are you guys holding up in there?” She asked, nodding to the door behind the farmer.

Applejack glanced back to her room where Rarity and the Crusaders were hopefully still asleep. “Well… me and Rarity have been tryin’ to keep it together for the girls, but I can tell she's hurtin' a lot." She frowned sympathetically.

"And what about you?" Twilight asked.

Despite the bags under her eyes, the earth pony somehow deflated even further. She took a moment to force a stiffer expression to her face. "I'm… hangin’ in there." She assured, but it wasn't hard to see that she was just trying to dodge the subject for the unicorn’s sake.

"You know… it would be ok if you weren’t,” Twilight said.

Applejack hid her eyes under her hat, avoiding direct contact with the unicorn. And, although she tried to hide it by wrinkling her mouth, Twilight could tell that her lip was starting to tremble a bit.

“Apple Bloom said somethin’ earlier… and I can’t stop thinkin’ about it.” The orange mare glanced back to the room, her voice getting a bit distant. “She said… that all of this feels like… like a bad dream.”

Twilight softened her eyes as she watched the farm pony’s shoulders tense and relax. A few tears dropped to the floor as Applejack looked up, finally revealing an expression struggling to keep together.

“I couldn’t do it… y’know?” Applejack sniffled. “I couldn’t tell her that it wasn't. How did it end up like this?”

It was a disquieting sight to see the orange mare letting her emotions out so openly, even if it was to a lesser degree than Twilight had earlier. She usually was the one to put on a brave face for everyone else, to act like nothing bothered her so her friends could have a steady rock to rely on other than Rainbow Dash. Perhaps it was from having to put on this facade for so long, or perhaps it was Twilight’s disarming and earnest nature, but for whatever reason, Applejack decided now was the time to drop the act.

“I wish I knew,” Twilight said softly. “But… we have to look at the bright side.”

“What bright side?” Applejack asked. “We lost, Twilight… all of us. The princess got turned into a monster, we all got our tails handed to us, and Tom-”

Suddenly, the orange mare paused as she saw a familiar look of hurt in the unicorn’s eyes. Applejack wanted to just curl up in bed and not get back up as she realized that she just ripped off a very delicately placed bandaid.

“Twilight, I’m sorry-”

“There is a bright side,” Twilight said abruptly. Her words were still soft, and her eyes were still sympathetic, but they were shimmering slightly, a sense of desperation to them and a single tear formed in one corner. “It could have been so much worse. Three, four of us… maybe more. Any of us could have died… not just Tom. So please… don’t lose hope. He did what he did so we could get away… so we would still have each other.”

Applejack looked at the unicorn, her mouth agape slightly and her eyes soft with regret. “You’re right… I’m sorry, Twilight. I didn’t mean to make light of what he did for us.”

“Don’t be sorry. You didn’t make light of it…” Twilight assured. “You’re just hurting… and that’s ok. We’re all hurting right now, but I know that as long as we have each other that everything will be ok in the end.” She managed a slight smile. “You might not be able to tell Apple Bloom that this isn’t some bad dream… but you can tell her that bad dreams are usually followed by good ones.”

Somehow, Applejack managed to brighten her spirit, pushing through the exhaustion she still felt. “Thanks, Twi… I think I will.” She said, smiling back at the unicorn until a yawn made her give pause. “Why don’t you get some sleep? I know from experience when someone looks like they’re about to fall over.”

“Yeah… I was on my way to go do just that.” Twilight said, looking down the hall toward her own room longingly. She turned and saw the orange mare walking down the hall, off to go satisfy whatever need had urged her from her slumber. Applejack turned and waved at the unicorn, which she reciprocated before they both headed their separate ways.

Now that she was alone again, Twilight’s thoughts drifted, as they often did. There was so much she had to think about, so many anxious new looming threats, so many painful memories, so much left unsaid and so many unmade choices that could have changed everything.

“Tom…” She muttered to herself, her eyes softening as she thought to her lost friend. “Why did all this have to happen?”

Then, her thoughts shifted to the box she had received. A gift from a boy that had expected his own death so much that he prepared for it. What was inside? Some final message to her? A last goodbye that he couldn’t bring himself to make in person? The thought alone buzzed around in her head and made her heart ache until she forcibly shook herself to be rid of it.

She wasn't ready. Not yet.

Soon after, her mindless walking led her back up to her childhood room. She curved her mouth ever so slightly, unable to bring a smile to her face so soon after such troubling thoughts. Still, she was relieved to finally get a good night’s sleep, even if it was in the morning.

As she opened the door and stepped inside, however, a slight sniffling sound made her give pause.

“Spike…?” She called, immediately spotting the purple shape of her young assistant curled up in the back corner, his head buried in his knees and his face damp.

Upon realizing that he wasn't alone anymore, Spike looked up in surprise before hiding his face and wiping it with an arm. “Oh, hey Twilight.” He said, his voice hollow-sounding and half-hearted.

Twilight wore a concerned expression as she stepped into the room. “I thought you were asleep?” She asked, though if she were being honest, she didn’t believe him for an instant earlier.

“Well…” Spike started, dodging his eyes away briefly. “See, I was going to bed… but then, I uh… couldn’t. So, I was doing some sit-ups to tire myself out.” He chuckled awkwardly as he stood up from the floor and faked a stretch.

“Really…?” Twilight twitched an eyebrow imperceptibly, her mouth wrinkling with worry.

“Yeah.” Spike nodded a bit more than was necessary. “You heading to bed?”

“I was, yeah. You want to come sleep in my bed with me? We could cuddle up like we used to when you were a baby.” Twilight offered with a hopeful smile.

Spike lowered his eyes to the floor. Much to her dismay, he started walking past her, toward the door. “Sorry. I would, but I just remembered… I need to go do something for Pinkie. It sounded really important, so I better do it now before I forget again.” He gave another awkward chuckle, this one sounding even more forced than the last one. He made it to the door and grabbed the handle before he was suddenly lifted up and spun around by a magical aura.

“Hey, what gives?” He asked, a bit annoyed, before falling silent as he saw the unicorn looking at him with a worried frown.

“Spike… what’s wrong?” Twilight asked plainly.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Spike said, skewing his face in confusion. “Why would you think something’s wrong?”

“Because you’ve been really quiet since we got back. You’ve barely looked at me this whole time, and now you’re avoiding me.” Twilight said.

Spike softened his eyes. “I’m not avoiding you.” He said earnestly.

“Then what is it, Spike? I know you… I can tell when something is bothering you. You know you can tell me anything… don’t you?” Twilight frowned, a bit hurt.

“Of course I know that,” Spike said.

“Then please, tell me what’s wrong,” Twilight replied softly, pleading with her eyes.

Spike looked at her for a moment, his heart breaking on the inside as he saw genuine loving concern in her big soft eyes. He furrowed his expression, seemingly conflicted about something, before clenching his eyes and shaking his head. “I can’t.”

Twilight’s expression dropped, and he dropped as well as she slowly set him down. “Why can’t you?”

Suddenly, Spike turned around and rushed for the door. Twilight had to hold it closed with her magic, but he kept struggling against it anyway.

“Spike, please, just tell me what’s wrong!” She pleaded.

“No! I can’t!” Spike said, still hanging off the doorknob and trying to get it to turn.

“If this has something to do with Tom, it’s ok!” Twilight said. “You can tell me. I can’t help you if I don’t know what you’re going through.”

Spike’s eyes started watering, and a tickle worked its way up his throat. “No… You’ll hate me if I tell you!”

Suddenly, Spike fell off the doorknob as the resistance on it faded abruptly, allowing him to turn it with all his strength. He looked up to see Twilight looking at him with her mouth agape in shock and her eyes softened.

“Hate you…?” Twilight shook her head. “Spike, I could never hate you. Please, just tell me what’s wrong. I want to help you… because that’s what friends do.”

Much to her surprise, Spike’s silent trembling and watery eyes intensified. She could actually hear his strained breaths as he tried to keep his emotions down, but it was clear that whatever he was hiding, it was now coming to the surface.

“It’s my fault!” He sobbed finally.

Twilight reeled back a bit, having not expected such a visceral reaction. “What…?”

“Tom dying is my fault!” Spike hiccuped. He took a few shallow breaths, his eyes pouring tears as he continued. “I knew about him losing his powers… since… s-since the day he got back! I saw the bandage on his arm. I… I wanted to tell you… to tell someone… b-but he-” He paused to sniffle and breathe some more. “He told me not to tell anyone. And now… he’s dead, and it’s my fault!”

Twilight was silent for a few moments after that. She was processing what he was telling her. Processing how she felt, how he must have felt all this time. Right after the human died, and she was lost to her own emotions, some small, grief-stricken part of her brain might have agreed with the dragon. Now, however, she only felt a tug at her heart for the suffering he must have put himself under.

Meanwhile, Spike continued crying and sobbing where he sat. He hung his head low, staring at the floor and letting the torrent of tears fall freely as he kept breathing in and out shakily. “You said… t-that’s what friends do… they help each other. I didn’t help him… I’m supposed to be his friend… a-and… I didn’t help him.”

The dragon suddenly felt a pair of hooves reaching down and wrapping around him. Then, he felt himself being pressed into a fuzzy chest and hugged.

“Oh, Spike…” Twilight muttered sadly as she let him cry into her fur. She rested her chin on his head, comforting him and preventing him from seeing the stray tears in her eyes. It killed her to see him hurting like this. “You are his friend… nothing you did or didn’t do could change that.”

The broken sobs and sniffles lessened, but Spike kept his face pressed into her chest floof. “You hate me now… don’t you?” He mumbled, his still quaking voice muffled.

“What?” Twilight lifted him up and looked at him with disbelief in her eyes. He looked like he didn’t want to look at her, but he was so defeated and exhausted that he just stared at her with watery eyes.

“It’s like Princess Luna said… If she had told Princess Celestia earlier… then… t-then Tom might still be alive.” Spike reasoned. “I’m sorry, Twilight… I’m so sorry.”

Twilight had to force the tears from welling up as she saw him about to go off into another bout of crying. She managed a smile, because that was what he needed right now. He needed to see her smile at him.

“Spike… you have nothing to apologize for.” She assured softly. “And I don’t hate you… Like I said before, nothing you could do could ever make me hate you. I love you… and I know Tom did too.”

“But… but-”

“Ssshh…” She pulled him close again and rocked him back and forth slowly. “I know it hurts… and I know you think you could have done something, but there’s no use in dwelling on what might have been.”

A few more muffled sobs came, but eventually, the dragon quieted down, though his breathing could still be heard.

“Think of it this way…” Twilight said as she pulled him away again. “Tom wouldn’t want you to be sad like this. He’d want you to just… remember all the good times when you think about him, not all the bad.”

“I know…” Spike muttered, trailing his eyes down. “I just… I miss him.”

“Me too, Spike.” Twilight curled her mouth a bit before flattening her expression again. She turned and looked over to her bed, the warm sheets looking as inviting as ever. “You want to go to bed?”

Spike merely nodded, clinging to her in a pseudo hug as she carried him over and set him down on her pillow. She then climbed in after him and cozied up under the blanket. She kissed him on the forehead and tucked him in as he reluctantly settled down.
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Soon enough, Spike had drifted off to sleep. His once grief-filled face now peaceful, if a little somber.

Somehow, however, Twilight couldn’t join him. She lay awake, staring at the ceiling to her room as her young assistant slumbered away. Her thoughts were too rampant to let her drift off.

Glancing up to her door, she wrinkled her mouth in contemplation for a moment before turning to Spike. She bit her lip, briefly considering forcing herself to try and sleep, before silently sighing and sitting up slightly. She then lit up her horn and teleported over to the door so as to not disturb the dragon.

She looked back, only to find Spike snuggling the blanket closer to himself in his sleep. His eyes were still puffy from crying, but a slight smile finally graced his features.

Twilight flashed a smile of her own as she gently set a hoof on the doorknob and cracked open the door. “I’ll be right back, Spike.” She whispered to herself as she exited the room.

Traveling across the castle again, she eventually found her new destination. Another set of doors stood before her, with a shield and a heart insignia on them. She lifted a hoof to the doors, hesitated for a moment, contemplated turning back, and then swallowed her unease as she knocked thrice.

After a short wait, some muffled hooves approached and one of the doors opened a crack, revealing a familiar white stallion with blue hair peering out.

“Twilight?” Shining Armor blinked drowsily.

“Sorry… I didn’t mean to wake you.” Twilight frowned.

Shining made an effort to brighten his expression, though it only partially worked. “No, no, no, you’re fine. Cadence and I only just bedded down anyway.” He said, glancing inside before shifting his attention back to his sister, eager to help. “What did you need?”

Twilight crossed a foreleg and averted her gaze briefly before looking to her brother with soft eyes. “I was just wondering… could I see that box now? I think I’m ready to open it.”

The stallion smiled a bit and glanced back into the room. “Wait here a sec.” He said before disappearing inside.

A few moments later, Shining returned with a familiar box tied in blue cord, which he promptly stuck out to her.

Twilight reached a hoof toward the box, taking it and staring at it for the longest time. She almost seemed hesitant to open it.

“You want a minute?” Shining offered sympathetically, starting to recede back into the room until the purple mare stopped him.

“No, no… it’s fine. I just…” Twilight’s expression fell as she looked at the box. “It feels like this is me saying goodbye to him. After I open this… there’s nothing. He’s gone.”

Shining frowned a bit, unsure of what to say to that. “He… won’t be gone. Not as long as you remember him.”

Hearing this, Twilight’s expression didn’t change, but she looked to the box with a bit more commitment. Finally, she sighed and took it up in her magic so she could open it.

As the cord was unwrapped and she slid the lid off, she found a scroll rolled up inside. The bit of parchment couldn’t have been bigger than the scrolls she normally wrote to the princess, but somehow it felt heavier in her aura than anything had before.

With her stomach unsettling and her heart feeling hollow, Twilight unrolled the scroll and began silently reading.

Dear Twilight Sparkle. If you are reading this, well… I guess you already know what happened. It feels weird writing to you like this when I’m about to go find wherever that freak took you. Assuming my plan didn’t spectacularly fail, I hope you and the others made it home in one piece.

As for what happened to me… I know you’re probably blaming yourself right about now. Please don’t. I’ve known for some time how weak I was getting. I’ve had my suspicions about what caused it… the nightmares, the self-doubt, the anxiety. I just never wanted to admit it to you… or myself. The closer we all got, the more time we spent together and the more missions I went on, the more afraid I got that something was going to happen to you or one of the others and that I wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it.

I always wanted to tell you, don’t get me wrong. I know you would have helped me, or at least tried to. But, I guess I’ve just always wanted to handle things myself. That’s probably what got me into this mess to begin with.

Now, assuming this alicorn guy didn’t miraculously die somehow, I’m afraid that it's up to you guys to take care of him. I’ll tell you now everything I know about what he could be… which, truth be told, isn’t much. It all depends on the ritual he used to turn himself into a vampire. Read up on vampire lore and maybe match what you know about his abilities to see if you can find anything useful. I’m sorry that I had to go and leave you with such a mess to deal with.

Lastly, and I’m sorry that this is all I could write you, (sort of on a time crunch here. Need to go rescue present you so future you can even have a chance to get this note.) but I just wanted to say that these past few months have been some of the best of my life, pre or post slayer. The way you guys welcomed me into your circle of friends meant more to me than I can express in words. Rainbow Dash sharing stories with me of her ‘awesome’ stunts. Rarity teaching me how to sew. Helping out around the farm with Applejack and her family. Having tea with Fluttershy before heading into the Everfree for a mission. Sharing my best jokes with Pinkie. And how could I forget all those nights spent with you and Spike, reading and talking and telling you about the human world until you could barely stay awake.

I hope each of you know how special you are to me. I hate to get, for lack of a better word, all sappy on you, but I love you guys… especially you, for making me feel alive again. For the longest time being a slayer, I felt like I had nothing left in the world for me, but you changed that.

I know you’ll be ok. You were ok before you met me, so you’ll be ok again. Farewell, Twilight, and thank you for everything.

Your friend, Thomas Greene.

The paper trembled slightly in the air as Twilight held it aloft. Droplets began falling down, staining the parchment in a few places.

Twilight took in a shaky breath and held the letter close to her chest, clenching her eyes and letting out a quiet sob as she mourned her human friend. Shining Armor could only watch and offer her a reassuring hoof on the shoulder as she vented her emotions. He even felt a little misty-eyed as she stepped forward and hugged him.

A few moments passed as Twilight cried her eyes out. Soon, however, she managed to quiet down and wipe her eyes as she stepped back from her brother.

“I’m sorry, Twilight…” Shining Armor said, wearing a regretful frown. She could tell that he felt just as helpless as she did as he thought back to all of the things he could have done differently, but he didn’t want to make her feel worse by venting.

“It’s ok… I’m ok.” Twilight got one last sniffle out before taking a steady breath and straightening her posture. She looked at the letter still floating in her aura with soft eyes before looking back to her brother. “Thank you for holding onto it for me.”

“Of course,” Shining said, resting a hoof on her shoulder. “Anything for my LSBFF.”

Twilight felt the corners of her mouth tugging up into a smile. However, her cheery expression was quickly replaced by a yawn before drooping slightly.

Shining merely smirked as he saw the dull lack of focus in the mare’s eyes. “You going back to bed?” He half asked, half suggested.

“Yeah… I think I will.” Twilight said, a contented look about her for the first time since she came knocking on his door. Shining was glad to see some of the weight gone from her mind.

“Well… if you need anything else, our door is always open.” The stallion said, looking back to his room before feeling a yawn coming on. “Although, I think Cadence and I would appreciate it if you could maybe wait a couple hours?”

Twilight snorted a bit and smirked. “Good… morning, Shiny.” She said after looking around and noting the daylight streaming into the castle.

“Good morning, Twily,” Shining replied as the purple mare started back down the hall. He watched her leaving for a moment before receding back into his room and closing the door.

Elsewhere, a different stallion was still enjoying a shallow slumber.

Tucked away in his room, Glimmer Shine was passed out in his bed, still clad in bandages around his shoulder from his injury. The medication he received didn’t completely rid him of pain, but it did help him sleep. Not that he needed much help. Years of grueling training as a guard and his recent job shift to monster hunter allowed him the innate ability to slip into a restful coma on command. Almost nothing could wake him up once he drifted off.

“Glimmer!”

Almost nothing.

“Wh..aah! I’m up!” The yellow stallion shot awake with a snort and a stammer as a familiar voice rang out in his head. He darted his eyes around his room, still not entirely piecing together reality and half convinced that he was just having a dream. “Who the… wha?”

“Glimmer, are you awake?!” Sunspot’s voice prodded feverishly, a sense of alarm and worry to her that was unusual and more than a little concerning.

Glimmer shook the remaining haze from his head and cringed as he put a hoof up to his ear, causing a bit of a sting from his shoulder. “I’m here, Sunspot. What’s wrong?”

“It’s Glitter… she’s… she’s hurt pretty bad. Scribble just snapped all of a sudden and attacked her.” Sunspot explained.

“What?!” Glimmer Shine nearly bumped his head into the wall behind him as he reeled back in shock. “Wh… is- is she ok?!” He stammered.

There was an audible groan over the communication spell laced with exasperation. “Just get to the med wing!”

“I’ll be right there, just sit tight!” Glimmer said, already off his bed and halfway to the door. He exited his room and headed off as fast as he could toward the medical wing.

Soon enough, or perhaps not soon enough, he came panting to a stop at his destination. The majority of the beds were empty by now, with only a few gravely injured guards still receiving care. However, tucked away in one corner of the room was a bed surrounded by multiple nurses and a familiar orange pegasus and blue alicorn.

Sunspot looked up as she saw Glimmer approaching, a sense of relief gracing her features. “Oh, thank Celestia you’re here.”

Glimmer spared a glance to the pegasus before his eyes widened as he saw his unicorn friend lying in the bed.

Glitterball was semi-conscious, her eyes unfocused and even a little delirious looking as she limply fidgeted and twitched. She seemed to be drifting in and out, and she didn’t seem like she was even aware of what was going on around her.

There was a nasty-looking wound on her stomach that was already stitched closed. One of the nurses was in the process of bandaging her, while another was messing with a blood bag connected to her foreleg via I.V.

“Oh my gosh… what happened?” Glimmer asked, looking to either the princess or Sunspot desperately for an answer. He furrowed his expression a bit as he noticed a gauze pad on the pegasus’ neck.

Sunspot frowned as she looked to her wounded friend. “I… I just left her for a few minutes to go do something for Princess Luna. Scribble hadn’t acted weird at all, and we were almost done with the cure, so I thought she would be okay by herself.” She said, her eyes shimmering a bit as she saw the slack expression on the unicorn’s face. “Then, Scribble must have just… snapped or something. Glitter called me, and by the time I got back, they were already fighting. Scribble had a knife, and she just… stabbed her.”

Glimmer Shine let his mouth gape a bit as an array of emotions flooded through his mind. He couldn’t believe that he was just sleeping while one of his friends nearly died. “And what about Scribble? What happened to her?”

“Well, she… she kind of… bit me,” Sunspot admitted, bringing a hoof up to the pad on her neck.

“W-what?!” Glimmer reeled back, now thoroughly alarmed and concerned. “Did she hurt you? Did she… drink any of your blood?”

“I don’t know.” Sunspot trailed her eyes down. “Glitter knocked her out with some of Tom’s blood before she could really do any damage. I was bleeding a bit… but I don’t know if she got any in her mouth. I gave her the cure just in case, but… it was hard to tell if it was working. I had to leave a guard to watch her while I got Glitter some help.”

Glimmer Shine rubbed a hoof down his face tensely as he fell to a seated position. “This just keeps getting worse and worse…” He sighed before looking between the two with a more serious expression. “So… dare I ask, where are we in regards to Dusk? Do we even have a plan at this point?”

“Well… uh…” Sunspot trailed her eyes down, at a total loss for what to say.

“Actually, that is part of why I called for you in the first place, Sunspot,” Luna said. “Now that both of you are here… I suppose we should address the elephant in the room.”

“Shouldn’t Shining Armor be here for this?” Glimmer asked. Truth be told, he was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. They hadn’t been faced with a threat this big before that they actually had time to discuss a strategy for.

“Shining Armor is resting… and I think we can all agree that he should get some while he can. I had intended on filling both you and him in once you woke up, but since you are here anyway, let us get down to business.” Luna adopted a more somber expression as she glanced between the two ponies.

“Ok…” Glimmer sighed, letting his shoulders sink a bit. “Assuming Dusk broke free of those candles Tom set up by the time the sun sets-”

“Which is a fair assumption.” Sunspot chimed in.

“Right. Assuming he did, though, about how long do you think we would have before he got here?” Glimmer looked to the princess with an uneasy glint in his eyes.

Luna crinkled her mouth as she mulled over the stallion’s question. “It is hard to say. Theoretically, with his speed and stamina as an alicorn, let alone a vampiric alicorn, he could probably cross the countryside within a few hours. It rather depends on if he would come directly to Canterlot as soon as night falls.”

“And why wouldn’t he?” Sunspot gestured. “He knows good and well that he can kill us.”

Luna sighed. “Be that as it may, we must remember that he was Celestia’s pupil. However twisted he was, and however short his time with her might have been, he showed enough potential for her to take him under her wing. Even without knowing that, from what I saw of him in my encounter,” She paused, taking a moment to look down at her twinging injuries underneath the many bandages on her body, “he is clever and conniving as he is sadistic, and he did not underestimate me or Celestia by any measure.”

“So, what would you do if you were a psychopathic vampire with an axe to grind and the power to grind it?” Glimmer raised an eyebrow at the alicorn.

Luna gave an uncomfortable pause before answering. “Well… were I lacking in the scruples, I would want to make Celestia hurt for hurting me. I would target what she most deeply cares for… her friends, and the denizens of her kingdom… and I would want her to watch. ”

“Yikes…” Sunspot muttered, thoroughly disturbed by such a notion. “Umm… Princess, if you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you do that when you were Nightmare Moon?”

“Sunspot.” Glimmer gave his teammate a surprised look.

“Because…” Luna answered plainly. “Even Nightmare Moon had morals… however twisted they were. Her… ahem… my, quarrel with Celestia was simply that. My quarrel. I must have seen no reason to include others in our fight.” She reasoned, becoming gravely silent as she thought for a moment. “Dusk... is not tethered down by common decency. I saw it in his eyes. One… two… or a million. He would feel nothing but enjoyment, no matter how many innocent lives he snuffed out.”

Sunspot and Glimmer Shine were surprised to see the normally unflappable alicorn looking to them with worry in her eyes, and it seemed to be pointed at them specifically.

“I am sorry that you have been roped into such a terrible battle, my little ponies. I’m afraid that this is merely the calm before the storm.” Luna said, shifting her gaze to the unconscious unicorn on the bed and softening her expression.

“Princess…” Glimmer spoke evenly, looking to his leader with the calm willingness that could only come from a soldier. However, even he couldn’t hide a hint of unease. “What do you want us to do?”

Luna simply stared at the pair for a moment.

“Pray for the best… prepare for the worst.”