Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

The chill of the night crept through the streets of Canterlot in a flash. A low fog clung to the air, only weakly staved off by the city lights. One might call the sight eerie, even if they didn’t know about the danger somewhere out there that was now free to walk the earth unfettered.

For the first couple of hours, the castle was on high alert. Guards and scouts were working extra diligently, Luna and Cadence were using their magical senses to try and cast a net of awareness around the immediate area, and Twilight and her friends were all ready to band together and fight at a moment’s notice.

But, that moment didn’t come. Not after one hour, or the next, or the next.

Eventually, Twilight found herself stepping outside into the royal gardens, where Luna and Cadence were waiting with Shining Armor and a small troop of guards.

The group were watching the skies above and what could be seen of the countryside below. There was still a certain level of tension among them, but this was slowly fading into complacency, which was a danger that no one wanted to become ignorant of.

“Anything new?” Twilight asked as she walked up to the two alicorns and her brother.

Luna and the others looked to the unicorn with a certain lack of energy in their faces that seemed to answer her question before they even spoke.

“I’m afraid not.” Luna explained. “As far as we are aware, there haven’t been any sightings of Dusk or any reported attacks or missing ponies.”

Twilight couldn’t keep a frown from forming. She trailed her eyes down and sighed before returning her gaze to the princess of the night. “I suppose there’s a chance that he won’t even come for us tonight.”

Cadence adopted a grim look that was very unlike her. “That may be true… but that doesn’t mean he’s just out there doing nothing. He could be turning more ponies and rebuilding his numbers.”

“Well, if he is, he’s being very cautious about it.” Shining said. “None of my men have received any reports of any suspicious activity, and there haven’t been any towns that have gone dark yet.”

There was a tense groan, drawing everyone’s attention to an extremely stiff looking Twilight. “I hate not knowing what’s about to happen. The girls are getting pretty antsy… and I can’t blame them.”

“Not to worry, young Sparkle. Raincloud and the others are still working on our trump card as we speak.” Luna said, bringing a hoof to the unicorn’s shoulder.

“I wouldn’t necessarily call it a trump card. It hinges on him being in the entrance hall for it to even work… if it would even work.” Cadence deflated slightly, letting her shoulders sink as she realized how flimsy their strategy was.

Twilight gave her former foalsitter what she hoped was a reassuring look. “Well… if it doesn’t, we still have the Elements of Harmony. They’ll work…” She softened her eyes, allowing them to waver momentarily. “They have to work.”

Meanwhile, in the entrance hall, Glimmer Shine, his team, and their unlikely ally were hard at work on their supposed trump card.

Trump card, in most cases, implied singular objects that gave a clear advantage. That wasn't entirely accurate. A more accurate term in this case, would be throwing the book at the problem.

The team of five were employing every supernatural safeguard or magical spell they had in their arsenal to create a killbox of sorts in the castle’s main entrance. Glitterball, Sunspot and Raincloud were drawing runes across the floor and walls, and Sparkplug and Glimmer Shine were setting up warding symbols at every doorway and window.

Stealing a glance up, Sparkplug paused what she was doing as she watched Raincloud etch mystical symbols into the floor with shadow magic. The purple and black energy wreathed her hoof like fire, though it didn’t seem to affect her. Even from where she was sitting, Sparkplug could feel the already scarce heat being pulled from the air by the unnatural cold of the dark energy.

Raincloud looked up abruptly, meeting her gaze with dark blue eyes, which quickly narrowed upon noticing the gray pony staring. Sparkplug quickly dodged her gaze back to her work, but she could feel the pegasus’ eyes still lingering, though perhaps not on her. She picked up the remote on the floor next to her and put it in a pocket on her vest before returning to her task.

Up off the ground, Sunspot squinted her eyes and focused, her tongue poking out of her mouth as she made careful and precise movements with the brush. Given enough paint and enough attempts, even she was capable of impeccable art, and the runes she was drawing on the many marble pillars were fairly impressive looking. However, she wasn't going for looks. She was going for effect.

“Are we sure these are going to work?” Sunspot asked, pointing a not so carefully hidden look of annoyance down to the pale blue mare on the ground.

“Not as well as you think.” Raincloud reported without even looking up.

Sunspot furrowed her brows as she processed the mare’s response. “What the hay is that supposed to mean?”

Raincloud groaned under her breath and paused what she was doing so she could cast a flat stare upwards. “I’m not a miracle worker, Carrot Head. We’re dealing with a nigh immortal creature of darkness here, not your average run of the mill vampire. These hexes and spells should sap some of his strength, but it’s up to us to do the rest.”

“Carrot Head?!” Sunspot’s lips curled as the words bellowed out. She practically receded in the air before lunging down slightly and pointing a foreleg at the pale pegasus. “Don’t make me come down there, you little wannabe goth primadonna!”

“Oh, be my guest. That way I can shave off that rat’s nest you call a mane!” Raincloud retorted, lifting her still aglow hoof and letting a small spout of purple flame shoot into the air like a blowtorch.

“LADIES!” Glitterball shouted, deafening the room and causing an abrupt silence. “You’re both pretty. Now, can we get back to work before the big scary alicorn comes and redefines ‘exsanguination’ on all of us?”

There was a blissful silence after that as the two stunned pegasi blinked at the surprisingly vocal unicorn.

Sunspot grumbled under her breath as she returned to her scribbling on the pillar. “She started it…”

Meanwhile, Glimmer Shine looked up from the book he was reading to give the white mare an appreciative smile. “It’s times like these that I’m glad to have you with us, Glitter.”

“What would you do without me?” Glitter replied with a playful smirk.

However, Glimmer Shine’s smile faded as he watched the unicorn cringe softly and bring a hoof to her bandaged stomach. “Let’s hope we never have to find out.” He muttered to himself before returning to the book in front of him.

Elsewhere, the rest of the element bearers were making their own preparations for the battle ahead. Though, the only preparations they had to make were mental.

There was a palpable air of tension present through the monotony of waiting. None of the five mares could bring themselves to address it, but everyone was thinking about it. Tonight could have been the last night of their lives, or whenever the alicorn decided to attack.

Rainbow Dash fidgeted with the silver dagger in her hooves as she lay across an entire couch, propping her hind legs over the armrest. It was the only weapon she and the others had, but she knew it to be little more than an inconvenience to the alicorn.

Killing monsters was supposed to be relatively simple. Just find a weakness and exploit it. But what were they supposed to do about a regenerating foe with seemingly no weakness?

A drawn out sigh made Dash lift her head, only to spot Pinkie Pie in the middle of the floor, looking more bored than concerned. Still, even she had a troubled frown on her face as she stared at the ceiling wistfully.

“I wonder what the Cake’s are doing?” Pinkie pondered, pausing her hoof tapping that had been going on for a solid minute. “I hope they’re not worried about me... I know! I’ll write a letter to them tomorrow.”

“I should probably write to Lyra and tell her I’ll be up here longer than I thought. After all, she was only supposed to watch the animals for me for a few days.” Fluttershy mused before trailing her eyes down as a thought occurred to her. She might not even make it through the night to get to write such a letter. And for all she knew, Dusk wouldn’t just stop at eradicating Canterlot.

Perhaps noticing her friend looking more dismal than usual, Rainbow Dash sat up and softened her features. “I’m sure she won’t mind. After all, we’re only going to be up here a while longer.”

The attempt to cheer her up only garnered a slight reversal of her frown, but Fluttershy quickly returned to a neutral expression with distant eyes. “I hope so… I-I just want all of this to end.”

“You and me both, sugarcube.” Applejack frowned sympathetically as she saw the familiar twinge of heartbreak working its way back up in the yellow mare’s eyes. She wondered if any of them would be alright again.

Then, there was an abrupt knock at the door, followed by the door itself slowly opening. The group looked over to where an average pony would stand, instead finding empty air. They had to trail their eyes down a bit until they could see a tiny white unicorn filly entering the room.

“Sweetie?” Rarity spoke, setting aside her silver dagger and getting up from her chair. “What are you doing up this late?”

The filly seemed hesitant to answer. She had a certain watery look to her eyes that told of recent crying. “I can’t sleep… I had a bad dream.” Sweetie explained, her voice cracking and muffled simultaneously by drowsiness.

As her sisterly instincts kicked in, Rarity strolled over to her young sibling and knelt down. “You know, dreams are nothing to lose sleep over, darling. They can’t hurt you.”

“I know…” Sweetie Belle said, looking up with big eyes that trembled and shimmered lightly. The sight alone could have softened the features of the most hardened guard in the castle. “I just… w-wanted to see you.”

Rarity glanced back at her friends, who were offering her understanding expressions. Finally, she exhaled softly and lit up her horn. “Come along, Sweetie. Let’s get you back to bed. I’ll stay until you go back to sleep.” She cooed, gently lifting the filly up and onto her back as she stepped out of the room.

“You will…?” Sweetie sniffled as she buried herself into her sister’s fur.

“Of course I will. But first, why don’t you tell me what that horrible dream of yours was about?” Rarity asked.

There was a bit of a pause after that.

Rarity glanced back toward the filly. “Sweetie?”

“I’m sorry.”

Rarity stopped walking for a moment. “Sorry? Whatever for?” She chuckled lightly and smiled, only to have her mouth droop as she saw her sister with a face like a melodramatic puppy.

“I… kind of lied about having a bad dream.” Sweetie said, hugging her sister’s back a bit tighter and hiding her face. “I just wanted an excuse to come see you and talk to you.”

Suddenly, Sweetie Belle felt her body lifting into the air once more. She was gently whisked over her sister’s head and spun around, now staring face to face with a very concerned looking Rarity.

“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” She asked as she set her sister on the floor. “You don’t need to lie to talk to me about something.”

“I know… I just… I just…” Sweetie Belle lowered her head, hiding the fact that she was starting to tear up, until she felt a hoof tilting her chin up. There was no hiding it now. “Do you have to fight that Dusk guy?”

“Umm… darling, what do you mean?” Rarity asked after a pause, a bit taken aback by the filly’s question. Firstly, she had to take a minute to piece together Sweetie’s words behind her sobs. Then she actually had to think of an answer.

Sweetie Belle took a moment to stop her breath from trembling and her eyes from pouring tears. “It’s just that… he’s so scary… a-and strong. I don’t want something bad to happen to you like… l-like… T-Tom.” She sniffled.

Rarity’s face scrunched into a conflicted half smile half sympathetic wince. She could feel her heart snapping in two just from seeing her sister so hurt. ‘Oh, Sweetie…” She reached down and wrapped her forelegs around the tiny marshmallow and picked her up into a warm hug.

After a tender moment, Rarity pulled the young filly away and looked at her with a bit of a frown, which didn’t make her feel any better. “I’m sorry, but I have to fight.”

“What?” Sweetie Belle’s mouth dropped open in silent denial, her brows knitting together and her eyes showing fearful concern. “No… please don’t. I don’t want you to… y-you’ll get hurt!”

“Sweetie...” Rarity spoke softly, hoping to quiet her sister’s frantic spiraling.

“You can’t beat him! Not even Tom could beat him!” Sweetie cried. “You’ll just end up getting k-”

“Sweetie.” Rarity spoke again, this time successfully capturing the filly’s attention. She honestly wasn't sure if Sweetie genuinely stopped to listen to her, or if she just ran out of breath, but she didn’t care. “I’m sorry… I wish I could tell you everything will be ok, but I can’t. I don’t know what will happen next.”

Feeling a few tears welling up, Rarity blinked hard and exhaled softly before continuing. “I know Tom lost to him… but we can still win. Tom was… having some trouble with his powers when he lost.”

“That’s why he…” Sweetie started, unable to finish as she trailed her eyes down.

“Yes, darling… that’s why.” Rarity nodded, trying not to let her broken heart reach her face in the pursuit of comforting her sister. “It was a series of bad things happening all at once… and I’m afraid he simply couldn’t handle it all by himself.” She trailed her eyes away, briefly letting darker thoughts of regret into her mind. “But he gave us a chance… and I will not simply waste it because I might get hurt.”

“But-”

“No buts, Sweetie.” Rarity said before softening her expression. “Look… I promise you that I will do everything in my power to make it back to you safely. I have the others to help look out for me. I know they wouldn’t let anything happen to me… just like I won’t let anything happen to them. Just like you and your friends would protect each other no matter what… understand?”

Sweetie Belle looked into her sister’s face, still wanting to say something in protest. However, words seemed to escape her.

Appreciating that the filly was at least processing her words, Rarity smiled softly before lifting her sister back up and over her back. “Come along then. It is entirely too late for you to be up thinking about such dreadful things.”

A begrudging groan came as the young unicorn splayed out on her sister’s back. “Do I have to? I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep.”

“Oh, I think you will. Like I said, I will stay with you until you drift off.” Rarity said. The conflicted sigh against her neck told her that the filly was still unsure. “What if I took you and the others for ice cream tomorrow? Would that persuade you?” She asked with a sly grin.

Sweetie Belle lifted her head and perked her ears eagerly, but then restrained herself. Still, despite her best efforts, she couldn’t turn down the promise of ice cream for herself or her friends. She was sure she would get an earful from both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom if they found out she did.

“Ok… but only if you promise to be extra careful.”

Rarity felt the corners of her mouth tugging up warmly. “I promise.”

“Pinkie promise?” Sweetie added.

A soft snort came as Rarity turned her head. “You know, it isn’t actually a Pinkie promise if Pinkie isn’t the one you’re promising to.”

Sweetie Belle looked at her plainly. “We could go back and make it official.”

“I think a good old fashioned Rarity promise will do for now, don’t you think?” Rarity mused.

“Ugh… fine.” Sweetie rolled her eyes. After a few moments of walking, she trailed her eyes down before shifting them back up toward the white mare. “Hey, sis’?”

“Yes?” Rarity acknowledged without even moving her head or stopping. She knew she couldn’t take too long away from her friends just in case.

There was another slight pause from the filly, until Rarity felt a tiny set of forelegs wrapping around her neck softly.

“Love you.”

Her previously broken heart melted back into one piece. “I love you too, darling.”

After some time spent staring out into empty skies and dull countryside, worrying over something that she had no control over, Twilight decided that she needed a break. Really, everyone needed a break.

As she made her way inside, with Princess Luna and her brother tagging along, Twilight sighed wearily. "I don’t know how much longer I can keep waiting like this."

"Unfortunately, it is an unavoidable necessity." Luna said, offering the unicorn an understanding expression. "I merely wish Cadence would have joined us. I am certain that the guards could keep an eye on matters for a few minutes."

"She likes it out in the gardens." Shining Armor chimed in. "It relaxes her… but I think some food would help."

"My thoughts exactly." Twilight managed a smile, her eyes trailing off into blank space as she pictured a midnight snack. Usually, she wasn't awake to indulge herself with such a thing, but if she was going to be up at odd hours, she might as well get something out of it.

Meanwhile, Luna had her mind set on other things. "You two go on ahead. I am going to check on my sister."

Hearing Celestia being brought up immediately caused a somber air to wash over Twilight and Shining. They were so caught up with waiting for a potential attack that they hadn’t even thought about the pale alicorn.

"Should we pick something up and bring it to the two of you?" Twilight offered.

Luna let a small smile tug at her lips before it immediately gave up. "No thank you, Twilight. I am not hungry… and I'm afraid that regular food tastes repulsive to a vampire." She explained. Earlier, she had attempted to get Celestia to eat something to stave off the looming hunger, but the pale mare gagged and nearly returned it to her expediently.

Noticing a veiled sense of sadness and worry in the alicorn’s eyes, Twilight frowned softly. She could practically hear the pain in the alicorn’s voice from having to refer to her own sister as a creature of the night.

"We'll cure her in no time at all." Twilight assured, though she couldn’t hide the worry in her own eyes.

Luna started to reply, but was interrupted by hoof beats coming down the hall. They all looked up to see Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy walking towards them.

“Hey, girls.” Twilight greeted, showing a genuine smile. “What are you two doing?”

Rainbow Dash responded with a dull sigh. “We’re taking a walk. Well… I’m taking a walk, and Fluttershy came with me.”

“Hmm… it seems that we are not the only ones feeling restless.” Luna noted.

“At least we’re all raring to go.” Shining Armor said.

“How’s that little project Glimmer and the others are working on coming along?” Rainbow asked, cocking an eyebrow curiously.

Luna wrinkled her lip briefly, trying to think of how best to answer that. “Well… Raincloud’s help has certainly expedited the process. They have already finished the major spellwork. However, I’m afraid that all of their work will only give us a slight edge.”

“Slight?” Fluttershy chimed in.

“How slight of an edge are we talking?” Rainbow narrowed her eyes a bit.

Seeing that the alicorn was hesitant to explain, Twilight spoke in her place. “I’ve read over the passages that Raincloud translated. Dusk isn’t exactly something we can just kill in one go like a regular vampire.” She let her eyes shimmer a bit with worry as she continued. “He’s… kind of like a slayer in a sense. His body can regenerate based on how much blood he has consumed, on top of his other abilities. He can be burned, cut, or stabbed with silver,” She gestured a hoof to Rainbow Dash, “and heal back to normal like nothing ever happened.”

“Oh… n-no.” Fluttershy cowered down and softened her eyes, even starting to tremble a bit.

Rainbow Dash frowned as she saw such fear in her friend’s face. “What about sunlight? Can’t Princess Celestia just raise the sun for a minute when he comes? He can’t regenerate if he’s a smoking pile of ash.”

“That is a good idea, Rainbow Dash.” Luna said before her expression fell slightly. “Unfortunately… given what happened with Scholarly Scribble earlier, I’m afraid that Dusk could issue a command to my sister and prevent her from raising the sun. That is even assuming he wouldn’t anticipate the sun rising and wear some kind of protection. As much as I wish there were another way… we will have to fight him.”

“But… how can we win against something that neither you or Princess Celestia could beat?” Shining asked, an uncharacteristic sense of hopelessness in his voice that caught the others off guard.

“It is simple in theory.” Luna explained, adopting a more determined tone of voice in the hopes of reassuring the group. “We keep damaging him, until he can no longer keep up with it. Once his stores of stamina are used up, we should be able to exploit his weakness to silver or fire to finish him off for good.”

The princess’s words filled much of the group with a rising sense of hope. The insurmountable wall barreling toward them was now vulnerable, even if only slightly. There was a chance for them.

Meanwhile, a certain yellow mare still wore a somber frown. “Princess… you said that we have to keep damaging him until his powers run out, right?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes.” Luna replied, her slight smile fading as she already caught on to what the pegasus was getting at.

“Then, wouldn’t that mean that a lot of us might…” The timid mare trailed her eyes down, her jaw trembling slightly as she struggled to get out the rest of her sentence. “Die?”

A troubled silence fell over the group. They all knew that there was a very real possibility that even if they won, they might lose some people. But the reality of the situation was much worse than they imagined. They were about to fight a war that they were not prepared to win. A war of atrophy.

After a moment, Rainbow Dash lifted her head and adopted a solemn look in her eyes. “Don’t worry, Flutters… I won’t let that happen, even if I have to beat Dusk down myself.”

Twilight and Fluttershy were taken aback by their friend’s resolve. They hadn’t seen her look so grave before. They didn’t like it. Even Shining Armor was unsettled, for he recognized that look. He had seen it before. It was the look of someone who thought they had nothing to lose.

Luna watched Rainbow for a moment before clearing her throat uncomfortably. “While I appreciate the determination, I would remind you that you need not do this alone, Rainbow Dash. We are all in this together now. And while I pray that the Elements of Harmony will successfully subdue Dusk, if they do not…” She paused for a moment, looking between the four ponies and thinking to the others. “I am honored to lay down my life and fight for the good of Equestria with you all… my friends.”

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and even Shining Armor couldn’t help but smile warmly. They might have been in for a fight they couldn’t win, but they wouldn’t go down without doing everything in their power to protect their friends. After everything they had been through, they weren’t about to let Equestria get taken over by some tyrannical alicorn, vampire or otherwise.

And then, just as they were starting to feel good about their situation, a feminine scream pierced the air.

Everyone’s ears stood on end and they immediately stiffened up. Then, their hearts plummeted as they recognized the direction and source of the blood curdling shriek.

Twilight and Shining Armor looked at each other with wide eyes before darting their gaze down the hall, toward the gardens.

“Cadence!”