Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

Twilight suddenly found herself awake once more. Her eyes slowly creaked open, the rays of the midday sun streaming through her window and making her already blurred senses struggle to acclimate.

Remembering that Spike was asleep next to her, she stopped moving and carefully turned her head beside her. Strangely, she only found an empty spot on her pillow, with no sign of the young dragon anywhere.

With a yawn interrupting the passing thought of concern she had, the unicorn sat up and stretched, allowing the blankets to slide off of her form. After a moment to reflect on her thoughts, a few sad memories causing her to trail her eyes down, she sighed and shook herself awake so she could start the day, or at least catch up to it.

“Spike?” She called as she descended from the nook that held her bed. “You in here?”

Unfortunately, looking around yielded no sign of the dragon. She could, however, see a note posted to her door, and judging from the neat handwriting which she immediately recognized, Spike must have written it.

Twilight took the note up in her magic and brought it closer, muttering under her breath as she read it. “Twilight, I didn’t want to wake you, so I stepped out to get some air. Don’t worry about me. I’ll see you later.” She frowned slightly as she finished the message. “Oh, Spike…”

She had hoped that the dragon would feel better after getting all of his pent-up regrets off his chest, but apparently, he still felt like he wanted to be alone.

Setting the note aside, she paid one last lingering thought on her young assistant before exiting the room. There was still much to be done before nightfall, and now that she had some sleep in her system, she was ready to do whatever she could to help her friends prepare for what came next.

Or at least, she was mostly ready, as a pang of hunger made her pause briefly. She hadn’t eaten anything since last night, and it was starting to catch up with her.

“Right… breakfast first.” She noted to herself before walking ahead with a new destination in mind.

Eventually, as she was making her way through the palace halls, she found herself crossing the guest rooms again just in time to see a door open up ahead. Rarity and Applejack stepped out of their room, looking mildly drowsy as Twilight had when initially waking up, but marginally better than they had before getting some much-needed rest.

“Hey, Rarity, Applejack.” Twilight greeted as she approached.

Rarity cringed a bit and put a hoof to her lips. “Sssh… Don’t be so loud, please. The girls are still asleep.”

“Oh… sorry.” Twilight smiled nervously, using a much softer tone, even though she hadn’t really been raising her voice to begin with.

“Poor things took forever to pass out. I think they need all the rest they can get after all they went through.” Rarity said, glancing toward the door with eyes full of worry. Almost everyone in their group went through some hardship last night, but she dreaded the thought of the three fillies’ suffering the most, and Spike, of course.

Applejack frowned a bit as she too thought about the trio. Then, she managed a more upbeat expression as she shifted her attention to the purple mare. “So, where’re you off to, Twilight?”

“I was on my way to grab a bite to eat.” Twilight explained before gesturing a hoof toward the pair. “Do you two want to join me?”

Rarity hummed at the prospect. “That sounds delightful.”

“Yeah. I don’t know ‘bout y’all, but I feel like I could eat a whole barrel of pancakes right now.” Applejack added.

Twilight chuckled a bit as they all started walking together. “Lucky for you, the head chef learned to keep extra batter on hoof after some of my early morning cramming sessions. You’d be surprised how many of my final grades were fueled by maple syrup.”

A few minutes went by as the trio made their way to the dining hall. It felt good to have some lighthearted conversation again, even if all three of them could tell that there was a weight hanging above their heads filled with thoughts of the past and what awaited them in the future. Still, they had each other, and for right now, that was all that mattered.

Up ahead, they could see their destination coming into view. The hallway opened up into the massive room, with the equally massive table and chairs waiting for them. Such a setting was perhaps overkill for a casual breakfast, but being friends with the princesses had benefits.

They vaguely expected to find their three other friends there, but apparently, Rainbow Dash and the others had opted to go off elsewhere, if they were even awake.

A short time later, Twilight and her friends settled in and were waited upon by some of the palace’s servants, who ferried their meal requests off to the kitchen before ferrying their requested meals back shortly after.

Applejack rubbed her hooves eagerly at the piping hot plate in front of her. “Boy howdy, this might not be as good as Granny Smith’s home-cookin', but it sure is close.”

“Careful, Applejack. If Granny Smith heard you say that, she’d never let you hear the end of it.” Rarity cautioned.

“Well, then I guess it’s a good thing she’ll never find out… right?” Applejack said, giving both the unicorns a flat look before sharing a chuckle with them.

The trio chatted and enjoyed each other’s company and their meals for a while. However, a few minutes in, they were interrupted as they heard some hoofsteps echoing down the hall to their side.

They all turned to see a young white and black earth stallion limping into the dining hall, a thick cast around his hind leg. Twilight had seen him briefly as they stepped out of the carriages last night, and Applejack and Rarity knew him to be Blank Page, Scholarly Scribble’s brother.

The stallion seemed a bit sheepish as he noticed the three mares looking his way. “Umm… should I not be here? I was told I could come here for some food, but if you three are busy-”

“Nonsense, partner. Come on up and join us.” Applejack said in a friendly manner.

“You sure you don’t mind?” Page asked.

Rarity lit her horn and pulled back a chair. “Of course not, darling. Please, come take a seat and we can get something sent out for you.”

With all three mares offering him welcoming smiles, Blank Page relaxed and smiled himself. He slowly made his way over and joined them at the table, taking a moment to adjust himself so he could be somewhat comfortable with his injured leg.

“Sorry… I was so occupied last night, I don’t think we were properly introduced.” Twilight said. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?”

“Blank Page.” The stallion replied before turning to the other two. “And you must be Applejack and Rarity, right?”

Applejack chuckled as she looked down to her cutie mark. “What gave it away?”

“You know… my sister and I are… w-well, I don’t know if I want to say fans, but…” Page swallowed uncomfortably and gave a nervous titter. “Let’s just say, it’s a little weird to be having breakfast with some national heroines.”

“Oh, pish posh, we aren’t quite that famous…” Rarity waved an airy hoof and chortled giddily before going quiet, “Are we?”

“Yeah… Well, to some ponies you are.” Page said. He gestured a hoof to Twilight. “I mean, my sister looked up to you a lot when she was coming out of college."

"Really?" Twilight asked, growing red around the face and adopting a slight sheepish smile. "Gosh… I never thought about being somepony's role model."

Page nodded. "Well, you became the Princess’s student as a filly and then saved the world. I can think of worse role models." He chuckled softly. Then, he grew quiet abruptly and trailed his eyes down, causing the energy at the table to drop. "Scribble always had confidence issues. She felt like she couldn’t write anything without me looking it over first… I was happy to help, but… I just wanted her to grow into the potential I saw in her."

Twilight and her friends watched with sympathetic frowns as the stallion stared down at the table, his eyes struggling to keep from trembling. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t stop a tickle from building in his throat.

"It's ok, sugarcube." Applejack said reassuringly. "She'll be back to normal before ya know it."

"Yes. Glitterball and the others are the foremost experts in their field. They'll take good care of Scribble." Rarity added.

Blank Page's gloomy expression lessened briefly as he saw the three mares offering him their sympathies. However, he soon sighed and propped his head on his hooves, staring down at the table somberly. "We should never have gone to that stupid castle… None of this would have happened if it wasn't for us."

Twilight furrowed her brow slightly amid her soft gaze. "What do you mean by that, Page?"

The stallion seemed hesitant to meet any of their concerned stares, but eventually, he relented. "We went up there for Scribble to write a piece about the castle and its history. We thought it would be empty, but… then we found that alicorn. I don’t know how, but we must have woken him up." Page's eyes grew distant as he struggled to find his words for a moment. "He killed our friends… I thought for sure he killed Scribble too, but I guess he just made her like him."

The revelation of how Dusk came to be revived was shocking to say the least. However, none of the three mares could find it in them to put any blame on the stallion or his sister. After all, they couldn’t have known that their actions would lead to so much suffering for so many. Not only that, but they themselves had suffered because of it as well.

"Oh my gosh…" Twilight frowned softly. Page expected her to be expressing outrage at him, but instead, she seemed sympathetic. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Page."

Page looked up in surprise. "Don’t… I… We caused so much trouble for you guys."

"You didn’t know any of this would happen, darling." Rarity said.

"B'sides that, it's a wonder you even survived," Applejack added.

The young stallion was speechless at the compassion he was receiving. "I… I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much for saving me and Scribble."

Twilight flashed a warm smile. “It was no problem. I’m just glad that we made it out of there. Oh, and don’t worry, I’m sure Scribble will be-”

Just then, Twilight paused abruptly as a familiar gray mare came trotting into the room. Sparkplug’s eyes lit up as she happened upon the group, paying particular attention to the stallion.

“There you are!” She panted briefly, resting a hoof on her chest as she struggled to catch her breath. “I’ve been looking for you all over.”

“What is it, Sparkplug?” Twilight asked.

“Is something wrong?” Rarity added.

Sparkplug seemed unsure about that, which only made the group more tense. Still, what she had to say was important, that much they were sure of. “It’s Scribble… She’s awake!”

Immediately, Blank Page shot up from his seat so fast that he cringed a bit from hurting his leg. “She is?! Wh… is s-she ok? Is she cured?!” He begged the question.

“I don’t know.” Sparkplug’s expression fell with sympathy. “A guard just came and told us. Nopony’s gone in and checked on her yet. Princess Luna and the others are heading over already, but they sent me to come find you… They figured you deserve to be there.”

The gray mare’s words weren’t exactly reassuring. In fact, they left a pit of dread in Page’s and even Twilight and the other’s guts.

“Well, what are we waitin’ for?!” Applejack asked, standing up and egging the others into action.

With that, the group all got up from the table and started to follow the gray mare. Twilight helped Blank Page with walking faster, but even then, she could tell that they weren’t going as fast as any of them would like.
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It took a few minutes to cross the palace at their pace. Everyone was anxious to some degree, but they were also worried, not only for the fate of Scribble, but for Page as well. So much had been taken from them already. They just hoped and prayed that this one bit of good wouldn’t be ripped away from them, away from the stallion that had helped save the Crusaders.

Eventually, they could see Glimmer Shine and Sunspot up ahead, standing outside of a room alongside a guard. They were all staring at the door, which was cracked open slightly, with varying degrees of concern on their faces.

Noticing the arrival of the four mares and the young stallion, the pair of monster hunters turned to see them approaching.

“Girls… I didn’t think you were awake.” Glimmer noted.

“We just got up a while ago,” Twilight said before she and everyone else shifted their attention to the room as the door opened, revealing Princess Luna stepping out.

“Princess Luna…” Blank Page stared at the alicorn briefly, a bit stunned and unsure of how to react to seeing one of Equestria’s diarchs. However, he quickly shifted his focus back to his sister, a worried frown forming as he did. “How is she? Is she ok?”

In response to the stallion’s question, Luna smiled softly and merely stepped aside, allowing the group to view into the room. And sitting there just behind the alicorn, was a young peach earth mare.

Her fur was no longer the deathly pale shade that Twilight and the others knew her by up until now. It was healthy, vibrant, and more resemblant of an average pony. And although there was a bit of a drowsy daze in her eyes, they weren’t an ominous shade of red, instead looking sky blue like her brother’s.

Blank Page inched forward and out from under Twilight’s foreleg, standing on his own as he stared ahead with mouth agape in silent shock. He eyed the peach mare up and down as she stared back, equally surprised to see him.

“Scribble…?” He spoke timidly, pausing his approach to see how she reacted.

Scholarly Scribble started to smile as she saw her brother, only to stop herself partway through and hold a hoof up to cover her mouth. However, after a moment, she trailed her eyes down in surprise and lowered her hoof, revealing a set of pearly white teeth with no fangs in sight. Finally, her expression brightened into a wide, joyous grin as she looked up to her brother and reached forward, wrapping her forelegs around him.

“Page…” Scribble clenched her eyes shut, a few tears welling up as she squeezed him tight. “You feel so warm…”

“So do you.” Page chuckled softly. He pulled back slightly, revealing his own teary eyes as he looked down at her. He placed a hoof against her chest, only to have his smile deepen as he felt her heart beating once more.

The others couldn’t help but share in the siblings’ serene happiness. Many of them had siblings as well, and they couldn’t imagine going through what the two earth ponies had. They were just glad that this story had a happy ending, unlike so many others.

“I can’t believe it’s finally over… I’m back.” Scribble said.

“You never left.” Page said, though his expression fell slightly at her words. “But… for a while there, I was so scared I was going to lose you. Honestly, if they didn’t find that cure… I don’t know what I would have done.” He glanced back at the group behind him, flashing a grateful smile.

Suddenly, Scribble’s eyes widened and a sense of alarm washed over her as something occurred to her. “Wait… where’s Glitterball?!” She pulled away from her brother and looked at the princess and the others desperately.

“Glitter?” Twilight skewed her expression with concern at the sudden shift in the mare’s behavior. “What’s wrong? Did something happen to her?” She asked, glancing between Luna, Glimmer Shine, and Sunspot with growing unease.

“She’s not hurt, is she?” Rarity brought a hoof toward her mouth.

Scribble’s lip wrinkled with guilt. “Before, that alicorn ordered me to attack her. I… she… s-she-”

“She’s perfectly fine. Don’t worry.” Another voice came from outside.

Sunspot and the others all turned, only for her and Glimmer to widen their eyes as they saw none other than their unicorn friend. The white mare looked like she could barely walk, with a thick bandage around her stomach to indicate her wound. Yet, somehow, there she was, slowly shuffling forward like the little pony that could.

“Glitter?!” Glimmer Shine’s jaw dropped.

“What are you doing out of bed?!” Sunspot fretted, rushing to the unicorn’s side to help her, only to be graciously waved off.

“It’s alright, Sunspot.” Glitter said, briefly pausing to cringe and hold a hoof to her underside. “I’m ok…”

Applejack winced sympathetically. “You sure don’t look ok.”

“Why has everypony I’ve seen told me that today?” Glitter managed a smirk. Then, her expression suddenly fell into stunned silence as she laid eyes on the peach mare.

Scribble could barely meet her gaze. She expected the white mare to be furious or at least upset, but strangely, Glitterball seemed glad to see her.

“Look at you… It worked!” Glitter gave a joyous half chuckle, only to drop her smile as the peach pony’s eyes trembled. Then, before she could even react or say anything further, Scribble rushed up and gently wrapped her forelegs around Glitter’s form.

“Glitterball, I’m so sorry!” Scribble nestled further into the unicorn’s neck, a fresh set of remorseful tears welling up in her closed eyes.

Glitter curved her mouth up into a soft smile and allowed the younger mare to get her emotions out for a moment. She patted her back before pulling away slightly and resting a hoof on the side of Scribble’s shoulder, much to her surprise.

“You have nothing to apologize for, Scribble.” Glitter said.

Scribble tried to wrangle her trembling lips into forming words, but not much came out. “But… but I-I…”

“But nothing.” Glitterball insisted, her tone soft and comforting. “That wasn't you… you know it, and I know it. There wasn't anything you could do to stop yourself. I’m just glad we stopped you before you drank any blood.”

If Scribble was holding herself together at all before, that was the crack that broke the dam. She sniffed, and although her lips were still trembling, they curved up into a heartfelt smile. This time, Glitter was the one to initiate a much-needed hug.

“Thank you… Thank you so much.” Scribble half sobbed as she wept over the unicorn’s shoulder. Glitter didn’t seem to mind.

The others waited as the peach mare got her emotions under control for a few moments. Where before the atmosphere between them had been vaguely tense and full of dread for what the future held, these few moments were full of genuine warmth and happiness for all involved.

However, they couldn’t ignore the specter of the future forever.

Blank Page sat next to his sister, keeping a hoof on her back as he looked around at the group. "So, what happens now?"

Luna was the first to answer. "Well, now that both of you are in relatively good health, I think it would be best for you to head home as soon as possible."

Scribble skewed her brow slightly at that. "What do you mean?"

"It isn’t safe for you here," Luna frowned, a more severe look in her eyes, "and I'm afraid that traveling at night isn't safe either, so you will have to stay in the city tonight. We will cover your expenses, of course, and we will send a guard with you to ensure that you make it home safely tomorrow."

"No… I mean, what are you going to do about that alicorn?" Scribble fretted.

Nobody seemed to have an answer for that. There was an uncomfortable silence as everyone glanced among themselves and the two siblings.

Finally, it was Applejack who spoke up. "Don’t worry about us, sugarcube. We'll be alright. After all, this ain’t our first rodeo."

“Yeah,” Sunspot added, managing some semblance of enthusiasm. “In fact, we’re already working on a plan to beat that pale jerk.”

While the pegasus’ statement wasn't exactly comforting to either Scribble or Page, it was surprising to Glitterball, who skewed a brow and turned to her teammates.

“We are?” Glitter blinked. “Gosh, how much did I miss while I was out?”

“Ooh… uh… heh…” Sunspot cringed nervously as she realized that the unicorn hadn’t been present for a lot of things. Particularly, the acquisition of a certain gray business partner from their past. She looked to Glimmer Shine, hoping that he would save her the trouble of explaining.

Glimmer Shine rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and drew air between his teeth as Glitter looked to him with understandable confusion. “Yeah… about that-”
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Over in the study, Raincloud tapped her hind hoof against the desk in front of her as she lazed back on her floor cushion. Almost half an hour had gone by since Luna and the three monster hunters had left to go check on Scribble, whoever that was.

And as much as spending her time studying through books on obscure magic and monsters with a room full of people that she mutually disliked was boring to her, she was starting to miss it.

“Ugh…” The gray pegasus groaned as she craned her neck to stare toward the door upside down. She found herself staring at the guard posted nearby, blinking for a moment as he remained unmoving and unexpressive as ever. “Don’t you guys get bored standing around doing nothing all day?” She asked.

The guard didn’t even shift his eyes to her, though the slight wrinkle of annoyance on his lips broke the statue-like facade that he and many other trained stallions in his position held while on duty.

“So,” Raincloud started, rolling over and propping her head up on her hooves as she looked to the stallion with an impish smirk, “have the princesses ever gotten up to anything… scandalous?” She waggled her brows. Only stern silence came as a response. “What? No love affairs? No secret cloning facilities with the express purpose of making more guards? Like, seriously, why do you all look the same?”

This time, she elicited an agitated snort, which she took as a mini victory. She could practically see him contemplating if his duty, honor, and pay were worth putting up with her any longer.

“Is it fur dye?” Raincloud asked. She smirked, even though she still received no answer. “It’s fur dye, isn’t it?”

The stallion finally looked at her, his eyes flattened and an expression on his face that spoke volumes, even if he didn’t.

“You’re no fun,” Raincloud grumbled as she deflated into her cushion. She started gearing herself up to take a nap when the sound of the doors opening made her perk up.

Much to her relief, she found Princess Luna returning with the three members of spirit in tow. However, they had another among their numbers this time.

Trailing along behind the group, moving slowly due to a plainly apparent injury, was a white unicorn mare with a colorfully bespeckled ponytail mane and a severely unenthused expression on her face that seemed to be directed straight at Raincloud.

“Oh, hey…” Raincloud stood up, looking at the unicorn curiously. “Long time no see, Sprinkles.”

Glitterball internalized a sigh and put on a strained smile. “Hello, Raincloud. I’d say it’s nice to see you… but I won’t.”

Raincloud lifted a brow as the unicorn cringed slightly and brought a hoof to her bandaged stomach. “Yikes. What happened to you? Did you lose a fight with a porcupine?”

“Something like that.” Glitter said before adopting a serious expression. “Enough about me. I’m told that you can translate some passages describing what that Dusk creep is?”

Luna narrowed her eyes slightly at the gray pegasus. “Speaking of which, you were supposed to keep working on that while we were away, Raincloud.”

“Relax, your royal grouchiness,” Raincloud replied flatly as she lifted a hoof to point at the desk behind her. “I already finished.”

“You did?” Luna perked up slightly. She walked up to the desk and picked up some of the papers strewn about with her magic.

Glitter and her teammates keenly gathered behind the alicorn, gauging Luna’s expression as she read through Raincloud’s work. However, as she got further and further into the passages, Luna’s eyes grew wary and a sense of dread slowly washed over her.

“No…” Luna muttered to herself as she shook her head.

Sunspot was surprised to see the alicorn so somber. “Princess…?”

Luna turned toward the ponies watching her. She took a steady breath before exhaling and managing a more neutral expression. “I was afraid of this… It seems as though the type of vampire Dusk turned himself into has no particular weaknesses.”

“Oh no…” Glitterball brought a hoof up to her mouth, her eyes wavering at the grim revelation.

Sparkplug was surprised and more than a touch unsettled to see her normally confident teammates showing nearly as much fear as she was feeling. “So… w-what does that mean for us?”

“Hate to be the one to break it to you, Sparky, but it probably means we’re all gonna die,” Raincloud said aloofly.

“Don’t say that!” Sunspot chided.

“What? It’s the truth.” Raincloud shrugged before adopting a surprisingly sober look on her face as she looked around at the group. “I know you were banking on me blasting this guy to kingdom come with my shadow magic, but I doubt very seriously if that would work. He’s like a damn cockroach. You can keep shooting him and he’ll just keep coming back… I mean, hay, the best chance you had was sending the human after him, but since you came to me for help, I’ll bet ol’ Tommy boy got himself killed.”

Glimmer Shine turned to the gray pegasus with a bit of a glare. “Raincloud!”

Hearing this, Raincloud sighed and trailed her eyes down. “So he is gone… Damn. We are so screwed.”

Somehow, hearing that coming from the gray pegasus served as an emotional punch to the gut for much of the group. Glitter and the others had been getting by on an optimistic drive to keep going and protect their friends, however daunting their foe was.

Now, however, the weight of their situation was coming down on their shoulders. If Tom couldn’t beat the pale alicorn, how could mere mortals like them hope to stand up against him?

“Do not lose hope,” Luna spoke, causing everyone to look up. She had a certain air of determination behind all of the dread and worry in her face as she turned to her team of devoted monster hunters, not as their leader or princess, but as their friend. “We can’t allow ourselves to give up. If we are to be defeated, then it should be while standing tall in defiance.”

“But… Princess, how are we supposed to win against him?” Sparkplug asked softly.

Luna regarded the gray mare’s question for a moment, pressing her lips together as thoughts of failure threatened to overtake her. She swallowed her fears for a moment so she could address them like the leader they expected her to be. “Simple… First, we stop thinking of him as immortal. He isn’t unkillable.”

“He seemed pretty darn close from where I was sitting.” Glimmer Shine noted, a corner of his mouth twitching as his shoulder wound reminded him of its presence.

“He is certainly strong,” Luna said, a more serious quality to her, “but even his power has a limit. His regeneration, along with all of his other powers, relies heavily on how much blood he has consumed. All we need to do is push him past his breaking point, and then he will be vulnerable to a killing blow.”

Even with the alicorn’s words of encouragement, the others could still feel just how insurmountable the wall in front of them seemed. Still, if they didn’t fight back, who would?

Eventually, it was Raincloud who spoke up next. “Well… since we’re all dead meat anyway, we might as well go down swinging.” She reasoned. The others looked over and saw a familiarly devious smirk on her face that they remembered despising in the past. “If putting the hurt on this asshole is the name of the game, I think I’ve got an idea or two that could help out.”

Sunspot sighed at this, “There’s no way I’m letting her put up more of a fight than me. I’m game for getting some payback on that creep if all of you are.” She looked around at her friends eagerly.

“Count me in,” Glitterball stated, managing to stand tall despite her injury.

“Welp,” Glimmer Shine stretched his neck and limbs, “I’ve got nothing planned for tomorrow. Let’s go kill us a vampire lord.”

With no one else left unspoken, all eyes in the room shifted to Sparkplug. The gray mare still seemed uneasy, not that everyone else wasn't as well, but she was wearing it more visibly than they were.

“Sparkplug,” Luna started, causing the earth pony’s darting gaze to straighten, “Are you going to join us? If you wish to back out of this fight, now is the time… We won’t think any less of you.”

Sparkplug stared at the alicorn and her teammates for a moment before looking down to her injured leg. The bandaged forelimb served as a reminder of everything that Dusk and his minions were capable of if left unchecked.

Finally, she took an even breath before looking up.

“Princess… I joined this team to make a difference. If I can help put a stop to this, even a little bit, then I’m going to stay and fight.” Sparkplug explained in a surprisingly resolute tone.

Luna and the other members of Spirit smiled at their friend’s bravery. The alicorn regarded each of them for a moment longer before nodding and adopting a more determined smirk.

“Then, let’s get started. We have until sundown to finalize our plan of battle.”