Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

Several minutes had passed since the fighting began in the entry hall of the castle. After a long and arduous battle, Glimmer Shine’s team and the guards managed to slay the last of the beasts.

However, the fight hadn’t been without its losses.

Three guards had perished outside when the beasts first arrived, and of the ones that came afterward, two were injured to some severity. Then there was Sunspot to consider. The group hadn’t heard from her since she left to capture Raincloud.

Glimmer Shine wiped the sweat from his brow as he finished bandaging a unicorn guard’s foreleg into a splint. Although he hated seeing such a grievous injury, he was thankful it wasn't worse. He was lucky he only got away with a few cuts and bruises himself.

Hearing some painful cringes and groans behind him, he turned and got up to walk over to his teammates. He found Sparkplug lying on her back, panting heavily with her silver blade still in hoof, and Glitterball sitting on the floor, hunched over and clutching a hoof to her midsection worrisomely.

“Are you ok?” Glimmer asked as he sat down beside the unicorn.

Glitterball glanced up to her friend and leader before wincing again and gritting her teeth. “Ngh… I think I popped my stitches.” She explained, pulling her hoof back for a moment to reveal a concerning amount of blood.

Glimmer’s features fell as he confirmed what the unicorn had suspected. Nearly all of the stitches along her stomach were busted, and the wound was opening again. “That’s not good…” He muttered to himself.

“Is she going to be ok?” Sparkplug asked, sitting up and not even making an attempt to hide her concern.

“She should be fine.” Glimmer said before turning to the unicorn, reaching into a pocket on his vest, and pulling out the meager remains of his medical supplies. “Here, let’s get you wrapped up so you don’t pass out before we can get you back to the med bay.”

“Great…” Glitter sighed in defeat. “At this rate, I’ll have enough bandages to make my own mummy costume for next Nightmare Night.”

After a few minutes spent patching the white mare up and taking stock of everything that just happened, the trio looked up suddenly as they heard a fluttering sound. They were surprised to see a familiar orange pegasus landing at the front door and entering with a certain gray prisoner in tow.

“Sunspot.” Glimmer said, managing a smile for the first time in a while as he got up and walked over to his teammate. “Thank Celestia you’re ok. We were starting to worry about you.”

“I see you’ve caught our little runaway,” Sparkplug added, shooting the gray mare an irritated glare.

Raincloud returned the earth pony’s glare with equal intensity. “Bite me.”

“No thanks. I’ve had enough biting for a while.” Sparkplug replied, crinkling her face slightly as she rubbed her good hoof over some shallow cuts she had along her neck from some close calls, not to mention her still bandaged up foreleg.

Taking a look around the room and noting a distinct lack of bloodthirsty pony monsters, Sunspot smirked. “I see you guys cleaned up while I was gone.”

“Believe me, it wasn't easy.” Glitterball chimed in as she slowly made her way over, clutching her now bandaged stomach loosely.

“Have you heard anything from anypony?” Sunspot asked, growing more somber as she looked between her teammates. “Any other attacks? Any news on Dusk?”

Glimmer Shine shook his head uneasily. “No… Nothing. Most of the guards that heard came running right away to help.” He turned to the side, looking toward one of the doorways distantly. “But I think we need to go check on the others. I highly doubt that this was the main attack.”

Sunspot, Sparkplug, and Glitterball looked at the stallion with varying degrees of unease and worry showing through their faces as they thought of their friends and Princess Luna. Anything could have been happening to them while they were busy fighting the creatures.

-Elsewhere-

Fluttershy and her friends stared for the longest time at the blue stallion that just appeared out of nowhere. Some were still in shock at seeing him alive again, while others were confused as to how or why he was here.

“Fluttershy… I thought you guys said that Blue Bolt died?” Pinkie leaned in and whispered to the pegasus. Normally, she wouldn’t broach such a hurtful subject to her friend, but it was hard to be sad about a death when the person that died was standing in front of them.

“He did… I saw him myself.” Fluttershy said, not taking her eyes off the stallion. “I… I-I don’t know what’s going on anymore.” She lowered her head, feeling more than a bit overwhelmed, until a soft noise beneath her drew her attention back to her injured friend.

Rainbow Dash groaned softly as she was fitting and limply twitching her forelegs. She loosely held a hoof toward her wound, indicating some level of consciousness, but judging from the look in her fluttering eyes, she was fading fast.

“Stay with us, Dashie… please.” Fluttershy cradled her friend’s head with one hoof while pressing the other to the hole in the cyan mare’s chest, hoping to stunt the bleeding enough.

Applejack frowned as she looked down to her wounded friend. Rarity seemed particularly distraught, though everyone was huddled around wearing worried expressions. “Girls… we’ve got to get her out of here.”

“We can’t move her like this. She would die before we could get her to the infirmary.” Rarity fretted.

“She’s dyin’ now, Rare!” Applejack said before softening her eyes as she heard a restrained whine from Fluttershy. The sight of the yellow mare fighting back tears nearly broke her heart as much as the state of her cyan friend did.

Meanwhile, Twilight was still where she had fallen after Dusk dropped her. She hadn’t moved, not just from her exhaustion and pain, but also because she was frozen to the spot like her friends. Even Luna and Shining Armor were watching the blue pony in stunned silence.

“Is… is this really happening?” Twilight muttered to herself. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. All signs pointed to one reason for why the stallion had so suddenly appeared before them, but her mind was too scattered to fully accept it.

“Hmm…” Dusk took a step or two forward, his mouth curved with intrigue. “What have we here?”

In the center of the garden, the pegasus stallion still seemed confused and dazed. “What’s going on…?” Blue Bolt asked, his eyes steadily losing focus until he put a hoof to his head. “Ngh… why do I feel so weird?”

Pushing herself up on her forelegs, Luna stared at the blue stallion in disbelief. Could he really be a slayer? If he was, he could be the answer they had been praying for. However, before she could dwell on these thoughts, a feral growl from off to the side drew her attention away.

The trio of strigoi that had been watching the newly arrived pony with snarling teeth and lowered stances started barking viciously. Then, one of them bounded forward at a full sprint toward the imminent threat to themselves and their master.

Luna widened her eyes as she realized that she couldn’t react in time to do anything but warn the stallion. “Blue Bolt, watch o-”

Before the alicorn could even get the words out, a shrill hiss of air expelled itself from Blue Bolt’s lungs as a puff of blue mist came from his mouth. He held a hoof to his throat, having not expected such a reaction. Just then, however, his eyes narrowed in confusion and he turned toward the approaching beast.

“What the- WOAH!” He yelped, immediately recognizing one of the beasts that he had encountered with Rainbow Dash. A wash of terror filled his body, forcing his muscles to seize as he recoiled back and brought a foreleg up to shield his face.

The ponies watching flinched, expecting to witness the stallion getting tackled to the ground and mauled.

What happened instead, was a flash of embers erupting out of the beast’s neck as it closed in on the hapless pony. As its body collapsed into ash around Blue Bolt, he was still left flinching his eyes closed. However, everyone else could immediately see why the beast had spontaneously combusted.

After a solid second of nothing happening, Blue Bolt squinted an eye open, only to realize that he was unharmed. Looking ahead to where the beast once was, he found his foreleg still held up, and much to his surprise, he also found something sticking out of his wrist.

A silvery metallic circlet was around his hoof, with a hollow band in its center that went all the way around. Seemingly attached at this hollow track, was a triangular blade with a pattern on its face composed of many stylish lines of darker metal curving back and forth, almost resemblant of a half sun.

“Huh…?” Blue Bolt cocked a brow as he examined the strange blade. As he moved his hoof, the blade moved around the circlet, spinning loosely with momentum and gravity. He tested it for a moment until suddenly the blade clicked into place and moved no further, seemingly at his whim.

Looking to his other foreleg, nothing was present on that one. However, after a brief moment of thought, a series of embers and flames flickered to life around his free wrist, taking shape into another exact circlet and blade.

Circlets formed around his hind hooves as well, all identical to the first in every way, save for the reversed angle of the blades and patterns on opposite limbs. Somehow, seeing the weapons made a smile form across his face.

“That’s new...” He muttered, before another bark ahead of him drew his attention up to see the other two creatures coming his way. “Oh man!”

Twilight and the others watched as the stallion backpedaled away from the two beasts nervously. As one got close and made a snap at him, he awkwardly shoved it away before glancing down at the blades on his wrists. He rotated one of them before locking it in place and throwing a punch across the creature’s neck.

The swing missed as the beast ducked under it, leaving Blue to recoil with a surprised yelp and nearly lose his footing over a loose tree root before recovering and striking again. The way he moved and attacked suggested no prior combat experience, yet somehow he also had a certain familiarity with his weapons already. It was like he had the instincts of what to do, but not the knowledge of how best to pull it off.

With a snarl and a pounce, one of the creatures nearly landed on top of the stallion, only to miss and come back down just behind him as he used his wings to dodge to the side. Spotting an opportunity, Blue kicked out a hind leg, aiming past the creature so the bladed circlet could hit its mark.

The angular blade carved into the beast’s neck, nearly decapitating it. Even if it didn’t go all the way, the supernatural essence of the weapon was enough to cause a ring of embers to start to spread, overtaking the creature’s head before it could even make a sound.

Blue Bolt smirked triumphantly. However, as he turned his head forward again, he was suddenly met muzzle to teeth of the last creature mid pounce.

“Ack!” He startled, only to be cut off as a full-grown pony crashed into him, sending him onto his back against the unforgiving ground. As he hit his head, the sudden pain was apparently enough to break his subtle concentration over his weapons, causing them to vanish into embers.

“Blue!” Fluttershy gasped, bringing up her wing to cover her eyes, only to peak out slightly shortly after.

The feral pony lunged down toward its prey, only to be pushed back by a set of hooves. Blue Bolt turned his face to the side, cringing at the foul breath being forced out of the creature’s mouth each time it snapped at him.

He looked to his hooves, only to see that his weapons were gone. Even if he had use of them, he could hardly get a good stab off with the creature fighting to get closer to him.

“Guh… Get… off of me!” Blue protested, lifting his hoof and jamming it into the beast’s neck in an attempt at preventing it from biting. “Get off!”

Suddenly, the creature was enveloped in a surge of pale blue light. The ponies watching lost sight of the beast as the light flowed out of the stallion’s hoof, overtaking everything above him as it traveled up with a low hum that was familiar to the group. The only sign of the creature that could be discerned was a few embers scattering to the sides and out of the cone of light.

As the light died down, Blue Bolt opened his eyes hesitantly and looked up. He blinked, seeing nothing but fading steam and a few ashes in the air above him where before there was a monster.

“Woo!” Pinkie Pie cheered from off to the side. “Gooo Blue Bolt!”

“Did… did I do that?” Blue sat up, looking at his outstretched hoof curiously. A soft blue glow was present across its surface, almost looking like it was coming from within.

The glow quickly faded, leaving him perplexed and a bit amazed. He trailed his gaze to the side, really noticing the four mares behind him for the first time.

His expression fell as he noticed their injuries, and then his eyes widened as he saw a certain cyan mare lying on the ground in a pool of blood. “Rainbow Dash?!”

Before anyone else could say anything, a few clops came from Dusk, drawing the stallion’s attention away from his friends. The alicorn had an amused smile on his face as he watched the pegasus.

“Well, well, it seems that I may have a show yet.” He chuckled giddily. “What a delightful display that was, Sir… Bolt, I believe it was?”

Blue Bolt stood up, turning to face the pale alicorn with an angry glower contorting his features. One look at the red eyes, pale complexion, and slash wounds across the body, told him that this was another monster.

“Did you do all of this?” Blue asked, motioning towards Twilight and the others. His expression grew darker and his voice shifted to a low growl as he pointed back at the cyan mare. “Did you do that… to her?”

“Not spectacularly fast on the uptake, are we?” Dusk sighed. “But, if you insist on knowing, yes. I am responsible for laying low the element of loyalty.” He pulled a corner of his mouth up. “Really, I did the poor girl a favor. With that temper, if not me, someone else would have put her in her place when she bit off more than she could chew. At least her death will be relatively quick this way.”

Off to the side, Twilight felt her teeth grinding from listening to the alicorn. She lit up her horn, preparing to blast him into next week, uncaring of whether or not he would heal. “Why you little-”

*Fwoosh*

A sudden crackle of flame and the ringing of metal made the unicorn pause abruptly. She looked to the side, only to reel back slightly as she spotted Blue Bolt.

The stallion had summoned his spirit weapons again, most likely on sheer instinct. He was glaring ahead at the alicorn with death in his eyes, which were glowing orange. And as he unfurled his wings and stretched them in preparation to lunge forward, the deep blue of his feathers was overshadowed by a warm glow spreading out across the two appendages like heated metal.

“You… mother… BUCKER!” Blue yelled, leaping forward and giving a mighty flap of his wings, perhaps mightier than he first realized. In a blur of orange and blue, the stallion was across the garden and hovering a mere foot and a half away from Dusk’s face.

Applejack and the others covered their faces as a shockwave of air was kicked up from the sheer force and speed the pegasus displayed. They barely had time to blink before Blue was gone like he was shot from a cannon toward the alicorn.

Surprised, but not overly alarmed, Dusk summoned tendrils of blood from both his wrists and his neck. He pointed the three makeshift spears toward the pegasus and sent them shooting forward, piercing his body.

Twilight’s face paled as she watched three exit wounds form, two in the chest and one in the neck, and spurt blood as the bloody projectiles carried through. “NO!” She cried, reaching toward the stallion in denial.

Strangely though, the one that seemed the least affected by the brutal attack was Blue Bolt himself. He still wore an angry scowl on his face as he continued forward with his unnatural momentum. He pumped his foreleg back before sending it forward with all his strength and a fierce yell.

As his blade neared Dusk’s face, it started to glow orange in a similar fashion to his wings. A low hum was coming off the blade’s surface, faster and more hostile sounding than the hum that came with the blue light.

Dusk’s eyes rounded slightly and he dodged his head to the side. However, the pegasus was moving faster than a normal pony should have been able to, managing to move fast enough to barely keep up with the vampire’s unnatural reflexes, and sending Blue’s hoof into the alicorn’s face.

With a bone-crunching crack, which was more than likely the crunching of actual bones, Dusk was sent flying back like he was flung off of a trampoline. He went crashing through a hedge, leaving a near-perfect outline of his body as he went tumbling into the next section of the garden.

Blue Bolt panted heavily, his hoof still stuck in the air. His blade wasn't glowing anymore, as if it had spent its power to give his punch some extra oomph.

Suddenly, he cringed and grit his teeth as the three holes in his form came alight around the edges. In a seemingly painful display of ember and ash, the wounds sealed up perfectly, not even leaving any scars. If Twilight and the others had any doubts, they were gone now. Blue Bolt was a slayer, tried and true.

“Ok… that’s new too.” Blue Bolt said, taking a moment of pause to look at his chest, which was now devoid of wounds.

Hearing some grunts beside him, the stallion looked over to see Twilight struggling to her own four hooves again. He rushed over and gave her some help standing up. “Sweet Celestia… are you ok, Twilight?” He asked with a concerned frown.

Twilight stared at him for a moment, still not quite done processing that she was talking to a dead pony, before finding the mental clarity to speak. “Y-yeah… more or less.” She said, glancing to the side briefly before turning back to the stallion with a more serious look in her eyes. “Blue Bolt, you need to go help Rainbow Dash. She’s hurt bad.”

Blue Bolt seemed to agree as he looked toward the group of mares further away, his eyes shimmering with concern as he saw his friend. However, he was also incredibly confused. “What can I do for her? I’m no doctor.”

“It’s a long story.” Twilight groaned, running a hoof down her face as she tried and failed to find a quick way to explain the stallion’s situation to him. “Look, just trust me on this, you’re the only one that can save her. You need to-”

A sound like a whip cracking rang out as a blur of red and magenta came from the side. Twilight turned her head just in time to see a tendril of blood striking a magical shield floating just above her and Blue. And judging from the color of the shield, she knew just who was casting it.

“Twilight, Blue, look out!” Shining Armor yelled, having managed to get to his knees.

The pair looked ahead to the tendril’s source, following it through the hole in the hedge to a familiar dark form approaching them. The figure lifted its foreleg, and another tendril shot out toward them at rapid speeds.

Without a second thought, Blue Bolt pushed Twilight out of the way as the tendril approached her. It circled its new target, going out of its way to pin the stallion’s forelegs to his chest before wrapping itself around his waist and lifting him into the air.

Twilight looked up from where she landed and widened her eyes as she saw the blue pegasus struggling to break free to no avail. “Blue Bolt!”

Through his previous exit, Dusk stepped back into the garden with an irritated scowl on his face. His red eyes were wrinkled, and his jaw was practically vibrating with anger, or perhaps it was still loose from the strike he endured previously. Either way, he was very aware of the stallion’s abilities now, and he was not very pleased.

“Nobody… in this forsaken kingdom… has ever had the gall to strike my face before,” Dusk growled. He curled his hoof inwards, and the tendril holding Blue reciprocated his motion, tightening around the pegasus’ waist and producing a disconcerting crackle.

“GAH!” Blue shouted, his head rocking back either from pain or from his body being squeezed.

“I was having fun before… now I’m just angry!” Dusk stamped his other hoof on the ground before clenching the tendril even tighter. A bit of blood spouted out of the pegasus’ mouth as a strangled cry of pain died out and the crunching of bone filled the air.

Then, a series of magical discharges sounded out, and the alicorn was struck by bolts of magenta and blue light. He yelped in pain and jolted to the side as many bloody holes were punched into his form, actually managing to disrupt his concentration enough to drop the tendril holding Blue Bolt.

The pegasus flopped back to terra firma with a breathless croak before panting heavily. He could feel a burning sensation inside of himself as whatever damage he sustained started to mend.

As the assault ended, Dusk looked down to see a smoking hole left in his foreleg, along with much of his side and neck. He then trailed his fierce gaze over to see a certain unicorn and alicorn with their horns lit up.

Twilight and Luna were staring back at the pale pony with steely gazes, more than a bit of discouragement welling up inside of them as they watched his wounds sealing up. However, the unicorn’s eyes twitched in fear as Dusk ignored her and started to approach the wounded princess.

“Luna… you blasted wench,” Dusk said through clenched teeth, a feral noise simmering in his throat and death in his eyes. “I will have you bathe in the blood of your loved ones before you die!”

A pair of tendrils slowly snaked up out of the stallion’s wrists. Luna watched with a tense grimace as he approached her. She tried to back away, but her hind legs gave out the moment she tried to put weight on them.

“Princess!” Twilight reached out to the alicorn, before suddenly looking off to the side.

In his rage, Dusk didn’t hear the sound of hooves rushing toward him until they were right on top of him. He whirled around, ready to impale whoever was foolish enough to approach him, only to flinch back as he saw Blue Bolt mid-strike, a pair of bladed bracelets appearing out of fire around both forelegs.

The first blade was stabbed sideways into the alicorn’s chest, burying most of the way in with a satisfying squelch.

“AGH!!” Dusk screamed, reaching a hoof to his wound in agony. The tendrils dropped to the grass as scattered blood as he lost control over them.

As the alicorn grit his teeth and tried to dodge out of the way of the second strike, Blue rotated the other blade before clicking it into a new position and making a slash with its edge. Metal sliced through flesh, sending a spatter of blood out of Dusk’s neck and immediately leaving smoldering ash along the edges of the wound.

Dusk fell backward to the ground, the first blade ripping out of his chest as he went. He clutched both of his still burning injuries and clenched his teeth, feeling the most pain he ever had in his life.

Not wanting to leave a fight half-finished, Blue Bolt repositioned his blade again and leaped forward, preparing to stab down into the pale pony’s head.

Before the pegasus had scarcely even left the ground, however, Dusk waved a foreleg across the air, sending a spray of blood out of his wrist and forming it into a band which shot forward, wrapping itself around Blue’s neck and sending him backward.

Dusk scrambled to his hooves and backpedaled away from the pegasus struggling on the ground. He pressed on his chest wound and then lifted his hoof away, only to pale even more so than usual as he noticed the injury healing slower than it was supposed to. “No… how could this be?” He muttered under his breath before shooting his head up as he heard a sound like rope being cut.

The blue pegasus had apparently used his blades to slice the cord around his neck, returning it to crimson liquid and freeing him to stand up and breathe. He glared at the vampiric alicorn and readied himself to fight once more.

“You will learn to regret this,” Dusk grunted, seemingly struggling to get the words out. “The next time we meet, you will beg me for forgiveness!”

Blue Bolt crinkled his eyes. “What do you mean next time? I’m not letting you get away!” He lowered his stance, ready to pounce at the slightest twitch of a wing or the slightest hint of red.

Instead of attacking with his blood, however, Dusk lit up his horn. Before anyone could even think to react, a bright flash filled the area, blinding everyone who was looking ahead. By the time the light faded, Dusk was gone.

Luna looked up and narrowed her eyes as she found the alicorn flying away into the night sky. She was equal parts relieved and uneasy. For one thing, she and her friends had survived the impossible, but for another, the pale stallion was still alive as well.

Twilight walked over and helped her brother with standing up. She softened her expression as she saw the grizzly-looking hole in his shoulder. Then, she hobbled over alongside Princess Luna to properly greet their blue savior.

“That was amazing, Blue Bolt… you actually scared him off!” Twilight said, managing a slight grin.

“I’m… still not entirely sure what’s going on, but I’m glad I could help… however much it mattered. He got away.” Blue Bolt sighed a bit.

“Hey, I’d count this as a victory. We’d all be dead if you didn’t show up.” Shining Armor said.

Then, a cry of despair came from off to the side.

“No!”

Twilight and the others turned toward the noise, only to be met with the sight of Applejack and the others huddling around Fluttershy, who was, in turn, hovering over Rainbow Dash’s still form with tears in her eyes.

“Oh no… Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shot forward suddenly, leaving Shining Armor to be supported by Princess Luna as she rushed to her friends. Blue Bolt quickly joined the unicorn, while the others were left behind at their considerably slower pace.

The pair slowed to a stop and watched as Fluttershy gently shook the cyan mare, her jaw trembling and her eyes clouded with tears. “Dashie!”

Rainbow Dash’s face was slack and unmoving. Her complexion was pale as death, and with the wound on both sides of her trickling blood out at a steady pace, she looked dead.

Twilight knelt down and gingerly moved the distraught pegasus aside so she could take one of Rainbow’s forelegs and check for a pulse.

The others watched, feverish and hearts beating out of their chests.

“Is she alive?” Rarity asked desperately.

The purple mare didn’t answer for a few seconds. She just stared into the middle distance for a moment, feeling for any signs of life. Eventually, she rushed a shaky hoof to the pegasus’ neck, her jaw falling open in silent shock before a slight sigh of relief escaped her and she looked up.

“She has a pulse… but just barely. We’re losing her.” Twilight reported, struggling to keep it together herself as she looked to the blue stallion. “Blue Bolt… please, you have to heal her.”

“But… I don’t-” Blue started hesitantly until he was interrupted by the unicorn.

“You’re a slayer now!” Twilight stated before catching herself and forcing a calming breath. “Look, there’s no time to explain, but you’ve got Tom’s powers now. You can project this healing light out of your hoof. I don’t know how it works… but you kind of already did it when you killed that monster. Just try doing that, and think about wanting to save her. Please…” She muttered, a few tears rolling down her face as she looked down to Rainbow. “Before it’s too late.”

Blue Bolt stammered silently, beginning to form a hesitant statement until he looked down to Rainbow Dash. She didn’t have long left in this world, and while he might not have understood how yet, he did have strange new abilities.

Looking down to his hoof, and then to the dying mare, the stallion felt a sense of dread in his heart. What if he failed? What if he let her die?

No. How could he ever forgive himself if he let her down after everything she had done for him? He couldn’t fail her. He wouldn’t.

Taking a steady breath, Blue sat down and lowered his hoof toward the wound on Rainbow’s chest. He closed his eyes and concentrated, filling his mind with images of their time spent together and silently praying, willing for her to be saved.

And then, much like instinct had guided him to summon his new weapons and use them appropriately, he felt a nudge in his mind. A memory, but it wasn't his. He tensed his hoof and felt a slight warmth forming at its tip as a low hum filled the air.

Rarity gasped softly, and the others shifted their weight forward as a comforting and familiar blue light flowed out of the stallion’s hoof. They were somewhat used to seeing it, but not coming from him. However, they didn’t care who it was coming from as it gently enveloped Rainbow’s body.

The ponies watched, silently hoping against all hope that the light would work. They knew Tom sometimes had difficulty using his healing powers, especially after a taxing fight. However, if the stallion did feel taxed by his abilities, he wasn't showing it just yet.

After a few moments, Blue let the light fade and opened his eyes. He wasn't sure what to expect.

He looked down, and where before there was a bloody opening through the cyan mare’s form, there was now pristine fur once more, at least in the spot the hole once was. There was still blood staining the area around the wound, even though it was gone. Even her foreleg had been healed.

The collectively held breath the group was maintaining finally left them as a series of relieved smiles started to form, soon to be replaced by outright cheerful grins.

“You did it!” Pinkie Pie cheered excitedly, reaching over and hugging the nearest pony, which just so happened to be Rarity, whose black-stained mascara was running down her face as joyful tears fell.

“I did it…?” Blue Bolt blinked.

“He did it!” Applejack hooted, giving the stallion a hearty pat on the back that probably would have dislodged a rib or two if he wasn't supernaturally enhanced. “Blue Bolt, you beautiful son of a gal!”

Suddenly, a noise and a fidget came from their cyan friend, silencing everyone and garnering their full attention.

“Ngh… wh… what’s with all the racket? Can’t a pony take a nap in peace?” Rainbow Dash mumbled, limply bringing a hoof up and rubbing her still closed eyes. She fluttered her lids, barely taking in the world above her in a blurry mess of colors and shapes.

However, as she pushed herself up with her forelegs a bit and blinked a few times, her vision slowly came back to her, and what she saw next didn’t quite process right away.

She stared up at the blue stallion, and he stared down at her. There was a certain look of confusion about her that gave an outsider looking in a hint that the gears turning in her head were grinding to a halt.

“Blue Bolt…?” She muttered, half convinced that she was merely still half asleep.

The stallion gave an awkward chuckle and a small wave. “Uh… Heh… Hi.”

Then, Rainbow's half-lidded eyes shot open, and she reeled back to the grass beneath her with a yell.

“BWAAAHHH!!” She scrambled back, crawling away while staring ahead with face as pale as it was when she was bleeding out. “GHOST! VAMPIRE! BODY SNATCHER!” She yelled, pointing a shaky hoof at the stallion as she slunk up the stone wall of the palace behind her.

“No, no, no!” Fluttershy rushed over to her friend, initially worried that Rainbow would hurt herself. Thankfully, one look at her back revealed that the wound had been sealed up on both sides. “Dashie, it’s really him.” She explained, hoping to calm the defensive pegasus before she started searching for a big stick.

“It is…?” Rainbow asked, darting her eyes between her friends and Blue Bolt, her voice still laced with adrenaline like she wasn't entirely convinced. “But… but… that’s not possible. He was dead!”

“Yuh-huh. We almost died too!” Pinkie Pie chimed in, ever helpful. “But then the sky got all flashy, and the wind got all wooshy, and then he appeared out of this really cool fire! Then he kicked that Dusk meanie around for a bit and healed you.”

Rainbow cocked her head to the side a solid five degrees. “Who the what now?”

Seeing the confusion understandably still present in the cyan pony’s face, Twilight decided to step in. “Rainbow, he’s… like Tom.”

“Wait… you mean-”

“Yes. He’s a slayer.” Twilight nodded, turning to the stallion with an odd mixture of emotions churning around inside of her. The only reason the pegasus was here now was because Tom died, but if he hadn’t shown up, who knew what would have happened?

Rainbow turned to her old friend, her eyes still showing a hint of doubt. Only this time, it was more like she was doubting that she wasn't dreaming all of this up. “You mean… it’s really you?” She asked softly, hoping that he wasn't going to just fade away right in front of her.

“You think you could get rid of me that easily?” Blue smiled.

Suddenly, he was surprised to feel the cyan mare stepping forward and wrapping her hooves around him. She rested her head on his shoulder, uncaring of the tears welling up in her eyes as she squeezed him close.

Blue rested a hoof on her back, silently enjoying the warm embrace, when she suddenly backed up and lightly punched the side of his foreleg.

“You big jerk!” Rainbow said angrily. “What were you thinking going and dying on me like that?!”

“Wh… what?” Blue cowered back hesitantly.

“I cried like a baby in front of Sunspot because of you! You broke poor Fluttershy’s heart. We were gonna have to go to your funeral! Do you know how many black outfits I own? Let me answer that for you! None! Zero! Nada!” Rainbow fumed before taking a few breaths.

“You know, I’m sure you could have asked Rarity for a black dress.” Twilight offered softly.

“I’m not sure if that’s the issue here, darling,” Rarity added, cleaning herself up from her earlier bout of crying.

“Umm… I’m sorry?” Blue said with a half-shrug.

Rainbow sighed. “Just don’t do it again, and we’re square.”

“Square?” He blinked. “Haven’t I saved your tail more often than you’ve saved mine? I mean hay, I just stopped you from dying literally a minute ago.”

“Well…” Rainbow smirked. “What were you gonna do? Just let me die?”

Blue Bolt deflated and let a snort past his nose. “You’re lucky you’re endearing.”

“You’re darn right I am.” Rainbow folded her forelegs and stuck out her tongue.

Then, the group turned as they heard hoofsteps approaching. They found Princess Luna walking up to them alone. Shining Armor was further back, gently helping his wife back to consciousness and checking her for injuries.

The princess of the night still bore many fresh wounds, and her form shook slightly from her old ones. Still, she managed to smile as she looked at the blue pegasus.

“I was never one to believe in luck… but you may have just changed my mind, Blue Bolt. It was most fortunate you arrived when you did… however it may have happened.” She said, shifting her eyes to the sky in brief thought before turning back to the stallion and warming her expression. “But, however it did happen, you have my eternal gratitude for saving us in our time of need.”

Blue Bolt rubbed the back of his neck, his face reddening a bit with flattery. “There’s no need to thank me, Princess… I was just doing what I could. I still don’t understand what’s going on or why I’ve become a… err…”

“A slayer.” Twilight chimed in.

“Yeah, that.” Blue gave the unicorn an appreciative nod before looking around at the others. “But, if it means that I get to be here with you guys again, then I’d say it’s the best thing to ever happen to m-”

The group watched as the stallion trailed off abruptly. His eyes lost focus, and he stared ahead blankly for a moment with mouth agape.

“Blue Bolt…?” Luna narrowed a brow. “Is something wrong?”

Blue didn’t answer. Instead, he started muttering incoherently as his eyes glowed orange, similar to how they did during the fight with Dusk. He cringed softly, clenching his eyes shut and bringing a hoof to his head. He nearly fell over as he stumbled to the side, only to be caught by Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

“You ok there, partner?” Applejack asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

“Gh… sss… ss…” Blue panted, his whole body starting to shake. “Sss… stop…” He slurred.

“Blue…?” Rainbow Dash reached out and put a hoof on the stallion’s side, staring at him with concern. He felt markedly warmer than he did before. “What’s wrong?”

Then, the stallion’s face went slack and his body went to the ground as he collapsed right at their hooves.

“BLUE!”