Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

With a wash of terror and dread filling every fiber of their beings, Twilight and the others all ran as fast as they could toward the gardens. The sound of Cadence’s scream still ringing in their ears, fueling them to move just that much faster.

Shining Armor, through sheer panic-fueled will to reach his love, to make sure she was safe, pulled ahead of the group and practically skidded past the doors leading outside. He made it two steps onto the grass before freezing, his jaw falling open and a shaky breath abruptly escaping as he stared ahead. And as Twilight and the others caught up, they soon saw why.

The garden was an absolute blood bath. Bodies littered the ground, some scattered around, some closer to the center as if they were caught unaware and then rushed to retaliate against some attack.

All of the guards that were left to watch the area were lying in crumpled heaps where they fell, slashes opened into their throats or holes punched clean through their bodies and even their gilded armor. Sprays of crimson stained the grass. The flowers. The hedges. All of the beauty of the area was covered and overwhelmed with the blood that was now pooling beneath the bodies.

But strangely, the blood was moving. In fact, it was floating into the air, being pulled toward the center of the area. And standing in the middle of it all, was a pale figure with eyes burning as bright as the blood around him, wings outstretched and crimson flowing into the cuts across his form.

“Dusk!” Luna grit her teeth, inching forward to stand between the others and their enemy protectively.

Rainbow Dash unfurled her wings and got light on her hooves as she saw the imminent threat before her. She then turned to her fellow pegasus.

Fluttershy was staring ahead in silent horror, her eyes tracing between each of the fallen stallions and her bottom lip quivering.

“Fluttershy, get the others!” Rainbow instructed, both to unite their friends and to keep the yellow mare out of the fight for a moment.

Fluttershy snapped out of her trance-like stare and darted her eyes to her friends. “O-ok!” She stammered, nearly tripping over herself as she headed off into a gallop back into the palace.

Meanwhile, Shining Armor was darting his eyes around for a different reason. He scanned the area, eyes going over every equine form he could find, his heart dropping to his stomach the more dead he saw.

Until finally, he found her.

A pink shape in the grass, a dozen or so feet away from Dusk.

Her motionless form was marred with cuts down her side and limbs. She was facing away from the group, but even from where they stood they could see a puddle of blood formed underneath her.

All of the world faded before Shining Armor’s eyes. He lurched back, producing a shaky gasp as the color drained from his face. “CADENCE!”

Before they could even react, Twilight and the others watched as the stallion bolted forward, uncaring of the pale alicorn waiting for them.

“Shining, wait!” Twilight reached out for her brother to no avail. As she too noticed the body of her former foalsitter, her eyes widened and her heart plummeted. She started rushing forward as well, with Luna and Rainbow Dash following close behind.

Up ahead, Shining Armor ran to his wife and slid to a halt before dropping to his haunches. He hovered his hooves over her, freezing momentarily as he saw her entire stomach region covered in red.

“Cadence?!” He called, feverishly shaking her in the hopes of finding a sign of life. “Cadence, please wake up!” He snapped his hoof to her neck, desperately feeling for a pulse with tears streaming down his face.

It took a second, but he found the comforting thump of his wife’s heart, still beating away in spite of how she appeared. A sense of relief washed over him, which was swiftly replaced by anger as a cold chuckle entered his ears.

Dusk waved a hoof around, bringing attention to the streams of blood flowing towards him and into his three wounds from all of the guards. “Apologies for stopping by without a proper announcement, but I see you’ve prepared a welcome for me regardless.” He grinned at the group, barely even hiding his enjoyment as the streams ended, leaving all of the guards mere dehydrated husks.

Shining looked up as he heard crunching grass behind him, only to see the others rushing over. Twilight dropped to his level and rested a hoof on Cadence’s side, while Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash kept their steely gaze fixed on Dusk.

“You are most certainly not welcome here, child,” Luna said, letting her horn shine brighter as she prepared a spell.

“Child?” Dusk snorted, bringing his hoof to his chest and giving a twitch of his wings. “Come now, Princess. We aren’t that far displaced in terms of age. In fact, I dare say that Celestia was grooming me to be your replacement.”

A growl passed through Luna’s clenched teeth. She flexed her hoof, digging into the dirt beneath her as her whole body vibrated with rage. However, before she could explode, Shining Armor stepped forward instead.

The stallion lit up his own horn, which turned a vibrant orange as he prepared a blast of fire. He glared into the alicorn’s glowing eyes, uncaring of the sheer evil radiating from them. “You’re going to pay.”

Dusk narrowed his eyes. “From the way you speak, you must think yourself far more important than you really are. Still… I will humor you. What exactly have I done to you that you would make such hollow threats?”

A cloud of steam puffed out as the white stallion snorted and hardened his features. “For starters, you hurt my friends… you foalnap my sister, my brother, and some literal foals,” He growled, growing angrier with each passing word as he stepped forward. “You change Celestia into some monster like you. You killed a good friend of mine and a lot of good ponies. And to top it all off… you hurt my wife!”

Dusk’s eyes widened, but not from fear, from revelation. “Oh, so you’re her husband?” He asked, shaking his head and putting a hoof to his forehead. “I was wondering when my children told me about a princess of love that married some captain of the guard. This makes so much more sense.” He smiled and chuckled to himself, which only further served to boil Shining’s blood. “At any rate… I’m not certain why you think I’ve hurt her. I merely knocked her out.”

Shining Armor jabbed a hoof behind him in an accusing manner. “Does that look like you just knocked her out?!”

“Oh… you poor fool. You didn’t think that puddle you were so ignorantly stepping in was her blood, did you?” He asked, a corner of his mouth lifting smugly.

Suddenly, a hint of movement caught Twilight’s eye. She looked down to Cadence’s body, only to notice the blood running off, leaving behind pristine and untouched pink fur as it flowed into the puddle on the ground, which in turn was rising into spear-like points-

And pointing right at her brother.

“SHINING, LOOK OUT!” Twilight cried, lighting up her horn far too late to do anything.

Shining Armor whipped his head back, only to widen his eyes as he saw a series of bloody projectiles in mid-flight, heading straight for him. His mind screamed for him to move, but he knew he couldn’t react in time. All he could do was flinch back in refusal as the crimson spears darted forward.

Then, instead of feeling the pain of being pierced into, Shining saw a flash of blue light as a magical barrier appeared before him, shielding him from the makeshift arrows and scattering them into liquid against its glowing surface.

The others watched as Luna stepped forward, horn aglow and eyes burning into Dusk’s general direction. She paused just ahead of the still-rattled Shining Armor and dropped the shield around him, instead conjuring two floating swords seemingly made of condensed moonlight and pointing them toward the alicorn.

“You shall not harm anyone else so long as I draw breath, monster!” She declared.

“Princess…” Shining looked to the wounded mare, frowning as he saw a certain amount of shaking in her limbs. She hadn’t fully recovered from the last battle she had with Dusk, and it was easy to tell.

Luna stole a darting glance at the stallion and the others behind her before turning her attention back to Dusk. “Get Cadence and the others back and keep them safe. I will hold him off for as long as I can.”

Before Shining could respond, a slight chortle brought everyone’s attention back to the pale alicorn. He had an amused look about him as he sized up the princess of the night.

“So long as you draw breath?” Dusk asked. “I would be careful with what you wish, Princess. It just might come true.” He said as a pair of blood tendrils rose up from his wrists, tips curved lazily and pointing toward the blue mare like a snake watching a potential threat.

Twilight watched uneasily as Luna prepared to do battle. She wanted to help somehow, but at the same time, she was nervous about fighting such a powerful foe. Looking off to the side at Rainbow Dash, she could see the pegasus struggling with similar emotions, only there was a distinctive lack of fear. The pegasus seemed worried to be sure, but it didn’t seem to be focused on herself.

Suddenly, a slight groan beneath them drew the two mare’s attention down to Cadence. Miraculously, the pink alicorn was starting to stir, and her eyes clenched under their lids.

“Wh… hngh…” Cadence muttered as she lifted her head drowsily. She blinked hard, her vision clarifying to the sight of a purple unicorn and cyan pegasus staring down at her with concerned faces.

“Cadence? Can you hear me?” Twilight asked softly, resting a hoof on her side. It looked like she was relatively unharmed, with only a few bruises and cuts present.

“Twilight…?” Cadence spoke, a bit of urgency behind the drowsiness in her voice. “Wh… what happened?” She asked, looking around for a moment. As she caught a glimpse of a dead guard a few feet away, a sudden look of alarmed revelation came over her. “Dusk!” She gasped, trying to get up, only to cringe softly from her battered body.

“Take it easy. Can you stand?” Twilight asked.

Cadence took a quick breath and pushed through whatever pain she felt so she could get to her hooves. She shook the last of the drowsy haze from her head and leveled her eyes on the situation around her. Her features softened as she saw all of the death and carnage around her, before hardening again as she looked ahead to the pale alicorn. “I can do better than that… I can fight.”

“Let’s make this creep pay.” Rainbow Dash said, flipping her silver dagger around in her hoof and staring ahead, mouth set into a grim line.

Twilight stood up, her jaw tensing as she thought back to the friend she had lost because of the pale stallion. He was right within her reach, but she couldn’t save him. She had made such a big deal about him letting her help, but she couldn’t deliver when the chips were down.

Lighting up her horn, she resolved to make up for past mistakes.

“This is for you, Tom.” She muttered to herself as she lowered into a battle stance.

-Elsewhere-

Glitterball stood up, her joints and back popping, eliciting a groan of pleasure. She wiped her forehead and scratched at the edge of her neck concealed by her vest before admiring her handiwork. "There… that’s the last of them."

Glimmer Shine walked up beside her and looked at the line of symbols she had just drawn along the floor. The whole room was covered in a mismatched scrawl of the arcane glyphs thanks to the efforts of his team and their begrudging partner. "Good job, everyone. I think we're as ready as we'll ever be."

"Thank Celestia for that." Sunspot sighed, sliding down to a seated position. Her forelegs were covered in splotches of red and blue paint. She looked like she had gotten into a fight with a clown and lost.

"Aw, don't be such a baby," Raincloud said, pausing as she stretched her neck, craning back until she was nearly looking at the orange pegasus upside down. "It wasn’t that bad."

Sunspot flattened her expression at the gray pegasus. "Easy for you to say with your freaky deaky shadow powers."

Raincloud narrowed her eyes, letting a few unpleasant thoughts into her mind as she stared daggers at her fellow pegasus. She lifted a hoof, contemplating shaving off a little fur from Sunspot’s head until a series of clicks came from the collar on her neck.

"Speaking of which," Sparkplug said, remote in hoof as she watched the bands spinning back into place and locking on Raincloud's collar, "I think it's time for your power privileges to be over for now."

"I don’t appreciate being treated like a filly getting a toy taken away," Raincloud said, giving the gray mare a thoroughly unimpressed look.

"Well, you probably should have thought about that before you broke like… all the laws." Sparkplug retorted.

Raincloud felt her eyebrow twitch. "You’re so lucky I'm contractually obligated to be on my best behavior, or I'd sock you so hard you'd need an ultrasound at your next dental visit."

"Somehow, I believe every word of that." Sparkplug said, taking a nervous step back.

Glimmer Shine snorted and shook his head, unable to hide a smirk. "Sparkplug, what have I told you about antagonizing our scary associates?"

"To my knowledge, nothing." Sparkplug scratched the back of her head.

"In all fairness, this is the first time we've had scary associates. It kind of goes against the job description." Glitterball reasoned.

“Well, hopefully this will all be over soon so we can go back to fighting the scum of the earth instead of working with it,” Sunspot added.

“Ahem…” Raincloud cleared her throat loudly. “Whenever you guys are done talking about me to my face, your discount glowsticks are… uh, glowing.” She pointed to one of the vials on Sunspot’s suit.

Looking down, Sunspot noticed the vial in question to be her detector vial. It was glowing softly and even vibrating a bit.

Glimmer Shine and Glitterball pulled their own vials from their vests, only to discover them to be glowing as well. The yellow liquid inside was getting brighter, and it was pointing toward the front doors.

“That can’t be good…” Glitterball muttered. By now, she and her other teammates had gotten up and huddled together as they faced the entrance.

Then, some muffled shouts and a disturbingly familiar snarling sound came from outside.

Raincloud stared at the doors warily as the noises grew louder. She had heard monsters before, but nothing quite like that. “Hey, Sparky,” She said, turning to the gray mare behind her, “undo this collar, would ya?” She tapped the annoying device around her neck that was keeping her from using her powers at will.

Sparkplug darted her nervous gaze away from the doors and over to the pale pegasus, and then at the remote stuffed into one of her front pockets.

Noticing the gray pony’s hesitance, Raincloud groaned and rolled her eyes. “Look, you wanted me to fight the big fight with you, and it looks like it’s about that time. I can’t do much if I can’t use my magic, now can I?”

Before Sparkplug could make the decision on her own, Glimmer Shine stepped in front of her, his intense eyes locking with hers.

“Do it, Sparkplug.” He instructed.

“But-”

“Just trust me on this. We need all the help we can get.” Glimmer insisted. “Unlock her collar, then leave the remote with Glitter so you can go get Princess Luna and the o-”

The front doors opened with a crash, sending an utterly terrified-looking unicorn guard smacking into the floor. He had blood all over his chest piece, but it didn’t look like his.

“Help! Somepony!” He cried, but his pleas were almost drowned out by the now intensified sounds of screaming and unnatural barks and snarls.

From what the team of ponies could see past the guard, the stairs outside were a battle zone. At least two guards could be seen on the floor lifeless. Two others were fighting and losing against gaunt blurs of red eyes and teeth. One poor soul was getting ripped apart on the ground, screaming and kicking to no avail as the feral beast on top of him overtook him.

Glimmer Shine and Glitterball reached for their dagger and crossbow respectively, while Sunspot flexed her wings in preparation to go save the wounded guard at the door. Before anyone could react further, however, the stallion was set upon by a pale maw of teeth clamping down on his hind legs and dragged out of sight.

As the stallion’s screams died down, three new shapes entered the doorway and stepped inside, immediately recognizable as strigoi, seemingly created from dead guards.

“Sweet Celestia…” Sparkplug backed up, utterly horrified by the carnage outside. It was hard to tell how many of the feral creatures there were from the many blurred shapes leaping around to chase after some guard, but there were at least a dozen.

“Uh, guys… maybe now is a good time to activate those spells we worked so hard on?” Sunspot reasoned, keeping in front of Glitterball and Sparkplug alongside Glimmer Shine.

“I don’t think they would work for this many targets.” Glitterball muttered nervously. “We designed them to drain the energy from one powerful vampire, not a lot of weaker ones.”

With that, a spine-tingling roar came from the beast in the middle as its two companions lowered themselves in preparation to pounce.

Glimmer Shine grit his teeth at the three creatures and clutched his dagger tight in his hoof. “Alright, new plan. Don’t die!” He announced, just as the beasts charged forward.

With a quick button press from Sparkplug, Raincloud charged forward as the collar around her neck clicked and spun, freeing the flow of energy within her and allowing her to light her hoof aflame with purple fire.

The pegasus yelled and shot her hoof out just as one of the creatures pounced at her, lanky forelegs reaching out to her. A shockwave of air erupted in front of her, creating a thunderous noise and sending the pale pony flying backward and out of the doors, where a few of the beasts outside paused what they were doing to watch as one of their own sailed above their heads.

Not one to be outdone by a former enemy, Sunspot gave a beat of her wings and intercepted one of the creatures heading toward Glimmer Shine. She knocked it off balance, and while it was rolling to a stop off to the side, she produced her own silver knife and leaped toward it.

Glitterball swiftly aimed her crossbow at the last creature as it charged her stallion friend. She fired, the bolt’s tip glinting in the light as it zipped straight into the lithe pony’s ribs. Glimmer Shine flinched and shielded his face with a foreleg as a burning mass of dust crashed into him, though all he felt was a warm draft and some particles hitting him.

As Sunspot finished dispatching her creature, she looked over to see her friends standing victorious. However, nobody could celebrate in time as more feral noises came from the entrance.

“Holy hayseed!” Sunspot yelped as a veritable pack of the emaciated creatures came bolting into the palace. Two of them broke off and headed for her, while the other five went for the others. She barely had time to dodge out of the way before a gnashing set of teeth snapped shut mere inches away from her face.

Glitterball dropped her crossbow in a panic, while Sparkplug fumbled to take out her dagger. The unicorn lit up her horn and conjured a wall of light, acting as a barrier that managed to occupy two of the beasts.

Raincloud used her shadow magic to pull one of the creatures toward her, distracting it enough that she could deal with it. However, that still left two of the creatures free to sprint right toward Glimmer Shine and Sparkplug.

“AH!” Sparkplug ducked as a maw of teeth sailed right over her head. She whipped around, the knife in her hoof trembling as the beast skidded on the marble floor and faced her.

Meanwhile, Glimmer Shine failed to make a strike at his creature before the monstrous stallion pounced on him. He shot his hooves out and yelped as he was sent to the floor. While his back throbbed and the wound on his shoulder burned, he managed to keep the snapping jaws far enough away from him to save himself.

Then, from the back of the room, the sound of armor-clad hooves fast approaching drew Glimmer Shine’s eyes briefly.

A small band of four guards came rushing into the room, whereupon they looked ahead with wide eyes at the fierce battle going on.

“A little help here, guys?!” Glimmer asked desperately as he struggled to keep his hold on the beast trying its best to bite at him.

The guards all shared a brief look with each other before steeling their expressions and drawing their silver weapons. Charging forward, they all spread out and did their best to assist the team of monster hunters in defending the entry hall.

Sparkplug deflated with relief as one of the guards slashed at the creature focused on her, reducing it to ash from a nasty cut to its chest. She gave the stallion a passing look of gratitude before turning her attention back to the door, where even more of the creatures were making their way inside.

“Oh, buck all kinds of duck…” She muttered tensely before tightening her grip on her knife and drawing air between her teeth as she ran into the fray.

Dusk looked around at the formidable group of Equestria’s greatest heroes. They were watching him like a hawk, waiting for him to make the first move. Of course they would be cautious. After all, they already knew what he was capable of, and what he had done to them in the past.

However, the alicorn himself seemed out of place in a mounting battle, as he didn’t seem the least bit bothered by his opponents.

“While I must applaud your tenacity, I feel the need to remind you that I have already defeated you and Celestia once before.” He said, casting his cold eyes toward Luna. “Not to mention that poor excuse for a hero, Thomas." Dusk stated.

An angry growl came from Rainbow Dash as she stepped forward. "Don’t even say his name, you freak!"

Dusk lifted his brows at the cyan mare’s pointed glare and twitching wings. "Hmm… touchy subject, is it? I suppose it would be. After all, you could have saved him if you moved just a bit faster."

Seeing the sadistic grin on the alicorn’s face made Rainbow’s blood boil. She grit her teeth and snorted, her body instinctively lowering and her wings arching in preparation to swoop forward. "Why you little…!"

Then, before the cyan mare could take off, a magenta aura flashed in front of her, halting her movement.

Rainbow looked over, eyes still carrying the rage against the alicorn, only to see her unicorn friend wearing a soft expression of worry.

"Wait, Rainbow." Twilight pleaded. "He's just trying to get under your skin so you'll make a mistake."

Thinking back to her previous battle with Dusk, Rainbow softened her expression slightly and brought a hoof to her neck as she eyed the two tendrils swaying unnaturally by the alicorn’s sides. She grit her teeth a moment longer, her rage still trying its best to surge through her, until she sighed and nodded. “You’re right… We need to be smart about this.”

Hearing who that was coming from made Twilight realize just how serious their situation was. Both she and Rainbow knew that their best shot at beating the pale stallion was using the elements, and that required the bearers to all be alive to use them. As much as they wanted to, they couldn’t just dive into combat alongside their friends willy nilly and risk it all.

Equestria needed them to win. Their friends and families needed them to win. They had no other choice.

Spotting some movement from the two tendrils, Luna widened her eyes and raced to project a shield around herself and Shining Armor. However, Twilight, Cadence, and Rainbow Dash were too far away to fit inside her barrier.

“Twilight, Cadence, defend yourselves!” She exclaimed.

Twilight shot back from her rampant thoughts and looked ahead, only to see a blur of red as the two tendrils shot towards her and her pegasus friend. “Eeep!” She squeaked with fear, lighting up her horn and racing to project a shield.

A magenta barrier appeared, which quickly flashed blue as Cadence joined in. Rainbow Dash flinched back as the twin streams of blood darted closer.

Then, just before impacting either of the shields, the two tendrils broke off at sharp angles, heading to either side of the area.

The group watched the tendrils from within their magical domes with looks of confusion on their faces. Some watched Dusk, wondering what ploy he had in mind, while others kept their stares focused on the crimson trails zipping through the air.

Then, all at once, they realized where the tendrils were heading.

Twilight and the others watched as the two streams broke off into several smaller lines. Each line flowed toward one of the bodies of the guards scattered around the area, forcibly entering their wounds and disappearing within.

“What the…?” Rainbow’s mouth wrinkled with disgust as the bodies twitched from the sheer force and volume of blood flowing into them.

“What’s he doing?” Cadence asked, genuinely at a loss for what was going on. The pale stallion just drained all of the blood from the guards’ bodies, so why would he be putting blood back in them?

However, Twilight’s features dropped as she realized what the stallion had planned. “Oh no…”

All at once, the streams of blood feeding into the bodies ceased, but that didn’t stop them from twitching. The ponies watched in mounting horror as the formerly white and brown fur coats of the fallen stallions started to gray and wither.

Skin shriveled and fell away from bone. Flesh simultaneously wrinkled and stretched as the framework it sat on changed. The limbs of the guards lengthened in a slow, painful-looking spectacle that produced a series of muted pops and a sound like rope stretching.

Red lights came to life in sunken eyes as the rest of the visage of a proud defender of Equestria was replaced by that of a twisted monster. Soon enough, all seven of the guards stood up, given new unholy existence as the disfigured creatures known as strigoi.

Cadence gasped and stopped a hoof from shooting to her mouth as she darted her eyes between the seven snarling and drooling figures now surrounding them. “Oh my gosh… what… what has he done to them?”

“We’ve seen these before.” Twilight explained tensely. “They’re mindless slaves… slaves with sharp teeth and crazy strength.”

Rainbow Dash felt a shiver down her back as she was faced with the same monstrosities that killed her friend. Their sunken eyes and expressionless faces would haunt her dreams for years to come. Still, she tensed her muscles and kept her cool. For the moment at least, there was a magical barrier between her friends and the beasts.

“Does your vile heart hold nothing sacred, Dusk?” Luna asked, staring daggers into the pale stallion. “You already took these ponies’ lives. Can’t you at least let them rest in peace?!”

“Oh, but they are so much more useful to me this way. I find the idea of you doing battle against those sworn to serve you quite amusing.” Dusk retorted.

The smug look on the alicorn’s face made Luna’s teeth grind. Still, she couldn’t do much at the moment. Both she and Shining Armor would be overwhelmed in moments if they dropped the shield now.

Shining Armor looked around at the many soulless creatures stalking them like vultures. He couldn’t stop a bit of fear from welling up as he thought back to the last time he fought the fierce beasts.

“Can he get through your shield?” He whispered, nodding subtly toward Dusk.

Luna wrinkled her expression as she noted how fatigued she was. “I am not certain… I did not have the opportunity to test a shield when I last fought him.” She explained, looking to her faintly shimmering barrier with a hint of unease. “Supernatural beings like him tend to have an adverse effect on magic, but I do not know if this would apply to all spells.”

“So, what do we do?” Shining asked again.

After a moment of thought, Luna turned to him with a more serious air about her. “Perhaps we can pick them off one by one if I drop the shield and put it back up as soon as you dispatch one?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Shining nodded. “We could probably take out a few of them before Dusk tries something different to stop-”

Then, the sound of frantic hooves behind them interrupted the stallion.

Everyone looked back to the doorway back into the castle, only to see a familiar set of four mares rushing out, a panic-fueled need to come to their friends’ aid burning in their faces.

“Oh no…” Shining’s pupils shrank as he saw Fluttershy returning with the rest of their friends in tow.

“Oh dear…” Luna’s face paled as well.

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Cadence all felt their hearts sink as they realized what was about to happen.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie rushed to the front of the group and hopped onto the grass like an agile cat before darting her eyes around the area, silver dagger in hoof. “Guys, we’re here! Where is…”

The pink mare trailed off as a series of growls ahead of her drew her attention to the scene waiting for them. By now, all eyes in the garden were fixed squarely on them, including the empty red glow of all the strigoi.

“...Uh oh.”

“Sweet apple pie…” Applejack muttered, the color leaving her face as she lowered into a defensive stance.

Rarity widened her eyes and allowed Fluttershy to shrink behind her as the both of them took in everything waiting for them, from the blood on the grounds, to their friends trapped in protective bubbles, to the pale alicorn and all of his vicious minions.

“Merciful Celestia… What on earth is-”

“Guys! Get out of there!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed frantically from within the bubble she was safe inside.

Before anyone else could react, a brief chuckle came from Dusk as he eyed between the four newly arrived ponies. “Hmm… fancy that, some new toys to play with.” He grinned, casting his invisible influence to his servants as he lifted a foreleg. “Kill them!”

With that, a collective snarl came before a series of barks announced the blur of teeth and lithe forms sprinting forward. All seven of the withered ponies all passed around or over the two protective bubbles to get at their new targets.

Pinkie and the others all felt their breath catch in their chests as a pack of former guards on supernatural steroids came charging at them with fangs bared and death in their sunken eyes.

“AHHHH!!!”