Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

Tensions were high as Blue Bolt soared over the countryside below, following alongside Luna, Celestia, and a very reluctant Raincloud.

"Why am I here again?" The pale blue pegasus spoke over the rushing wind, her annoyance audible even through her raised voice.

Luna cast a flat look back at their forced consultant. "Consider this part of your recompense for your earlier sleight against us."

"I said I was sorry," Raincloud whined. "I thought you guys were all about that mushy friendship malarkey?"

"You are fortunate Rainbow Dash vouched for you." Luna narrowed her eyes before rolling them and turning back ahead.

Meanwhile, Celestia was focused on other things. She stared ahead as she flew, her eyes distant in troubled thought.

What horrors were waiting for her? Dusk was apparently vulnerable, so he could have been seeking a source of blood. Truth be told, anything could have happened, especially if she considered that the pale stallion most likely allowed himself to be found.

Noticing the white alicorn with a blank stare and uneasy frown, Blue Bolt flew a bit closer to her. "How long ago did you lose contact with the town?" He asked.

"It's… hard to say," Celestia said. "The guard station didn't make their hourly check-in, so sometime within the last hour."

"Unicorn Ridge isn't that far away from Canterlot, so Dusk probably took shelter there before the sun came up," Luna added, glancing up to the golden orb as it neared the horizon. "Speaking of which… The day is almost over, sister.”

Celestia stared ahead with a bit of intensity to her eyes. “It can wait until we’re done.”

A few minutes later, the group saw the humble town coming into view down below in a clearing.

Unicorn Ridge was a fair bit smaller than Ponyville, with buildings situated in small clusters that roughly formed a 'T' shape from above.

However, as they started their descent, the four could already tell that something was horribly wrong. Celestia and Luna touched down first, just ahead of the first few buildings in the town. They stared ahead with eyes full of shock and color draining from their faces.

Bodies.

The street was covered in bodies.

Old. Young. Big. Small. All were drained of blood, as indicated by a single dry slash wound across their forms. There were even a few animals present, most likely pets. The townsfolk weren’t lying where they fell either. It almost looked like they had been purposefully spread out.

Blue Bolt and Raincloud landed shortly after. They looked at the carnage around them with varying levels of unease between them.

"Mother of mercy…" Blue muttered softly.

"Kid… mercy had nothing to do with this," Raincloud said. It was almost shocking to see the normally cruel pegasus with a disturbed look on her face.

Luna knelt down and rested a hoof on a pegasus colt's side, staring at his pained face with a somber frown for a moment before standing up and turning to the others. "This is unforgivable. He… he slaughtered them."

"And fed on them, more importantly." Raincloud chimed in, a bit more casual than her companions appreciated. "With this much go juice, I'll bet he's set for a few months."

Celestia narrowed her eyes at the gray mare. "Have some respect, Raincloud."

"I do, believe it or not," Raincloud said, pausing at the sheer number of dead and displaying an expression that anyone else might call somber. "I know we killed some folks and tried to kill more back in Raven Feather's group, but that was just business… and maybe a little personal." She shrugged before shaking her head. "But this… this is wrong even in my books."

"Hearing that coming from you only confirms my fears of what we're dealing with." Celestia sighed.

"Sister…"

Celestia and the others looked up to see Luna a short ways ahead. She was pointing behind her, toward something on the ground. And as they approached, they could immediately see what had garnered the blue alicorn’s attention.

A large trail of blood, too large to not have been intentionally placed, stretched out in a path clear of bodies further into the town.

"So… are your alarm bells going off? Because mine are." Raincloud commented.

Celestia followed the winding trail as far as she could with her eyes, a tense knot developing in her stomach. "Blue Bolt… can you sense anything here?" She asked, turning to the stallion with a serious expression.

Blue felt a bit hesitant as all eyes shifted to him. He had gone over how to use his senses with Twilight before, but that was when there was nothing to feel.

"Give me a sec." He said before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Then, he exhaled, producing a high-pitched hiss and a plume of mist from his mouth.

After a few moments, Blue Bolt skewed his expression, his still closed eyes crinkling around the edges.

“What the…?”

Celestia and Luna watched the stallion uneasily while Raincloud kept her eyes on their surroundings. After he released a few more puffs of mist, their concern only grew.

“What is it, Blue Bolt?” Luna asked, somewhat impatiently, as she cast a paranoid glance around her.

Finally, Blue opened his eyes. He turned to the royal sisters with a perplexed and mildly unsettled look on his face. “There’s nothing here.”

Luna narrowed her eyes. “What?”

Blue Bolt let out one final burst of his senses, only to sigh and shake his head at the result. “I can’t feel anything intense enough to belong to Dusk or any vampires. I… think there’s a faint trail coming from that way, but it’s old.” He pointed back toward where they came, toward Canterlot mountain in the distance. “At least… I think so. I’m still not used to interpreting all this.”

“Well, the trail is most likely from when he arrived.” Luna reasoned, bringing a hoof to her chin pensively. “But how did he disappear?”

“I’m afraid there is one way to find out,” Celestia said, pointing to the trail of blood.

The others all looked at the trail, and then at each other, and then at the white alicorn.

“Are we seriously going to follow that?” Raincloud asked. However, as she looked up, she noticed that everyone was already moving ahead. “Hello…? Ghost of poor decisions present, here.” She said before sighing and slapping a hoof to her face. “I left jail for this?”

With light steps and honed senses, the four followed the crimson path toward whatever end it had in store. If their current surroundings were anything to go by, nothing good was waiting for them. Still, they had to pursue Dusk, if not for justice for every pony they were walking past, then for justice for every innocent life that the pale stallion had cut down.

Eventually, the path came to an end. It curved off the main road and led around the back of what looked to be an ordinary house.

Making their way to the back of the house, the group was met by a pair of wooden doors set at an angle into the earth. A cellar entrance. One door was ajar, and the blood seemed to go right inside.

Celestia looked to her sister and their companions, giving the younger alicorn a solemn nod. Luna then took a familiar remote out of a bag over her side and pushed the button on its face.

All at once, Raincloud’s collar spun to life as the metallic bands rotated, leaving the line of symbols broken. She could immediately feel her shadow magic being freed.

The pale blue pegasus tugged at the collar and looked at the alicorns, a bit surprised. They gave her a grave look that caught her off guard.

“Be prepared for anything,” Luna said.

Blue Bolt nodded. He kept his newly acquired weapons forefront in his mind, ready to summon in an instant, and steeled himself for whatever was waiting for them. Raincloud merely watched quietly as Celestia opened the doors and walked down into the earthen tunnel with her horn alight.

Soon after, all of them stepped inside after their fearless leader. They kept as stealthy as they could and kept close to each other.

Celestia paused before the corner into what must have been the main space of the cellar. The trail of blood sat beneath her hooves, taunting her into following it to its end. Her legs felt stiff as she stared at the wall ahead. Finally, she took a slow breath and forced her body to move.

She almost wished she hadn’t.

Ahead was a humble example of a root cellar. There were shelves full of canned fruits and vegetables, along with some dusty knick-knacks. Boxes full of various things lay underneath the shelves and slumped up against the walls, opulent homes for spiders and forgotten memories.

And, up against the far wall, were four more bodies, and a star on the floor made of blood that held seemingly random objects at its points. There was also a pile of plant matter that had been burned.

Celestia felt her heart plummet as she stared at the bodies, what must have been a once happy family. The carefree mother with violet hair and beige fur, the bold father that was a unicorn guard, and the two innocent children, one filly and one colt. Somehow, seeing these four hurt almost as badly as seeing all of the bodies outside.

Luna’s mouth fell open and a small gasp escaped her as she witnessed the scene ahead of her. Not only that, but her sister’s motionless form staring ahead at the bodies and a message on the wall, seemingly painted with the children’s blood.

‘Quid pro quo, Princess…’

“Sister…” Luna walked over to the deathly silent alicorn and rested a hoof on her shoulder, frowning as she felt how still and devoid of energy her sibling was.

“This is all my fault…” Celestia muttered quietly.

“Sister,” Luna whispered calmly, leaning in close and putting a foreleg around the older mare. “You cannot give him the satisfaction of breaking your heart. He wants you to suffer… If you give up, it would be like letting him win.”

Celestia pulled her mouth back, even biting a trembling lip as she took in a tense breath, before finally exhaling and stiffening her posture. “You are right, Luna… you are right.”

Meanwhile, Raincloud approached the message on the wall and stared at it curiously. “Quid pro quo…?”

“It means something for something.” Blue Bolt answered before skewing a brow, as if he were surprised that he knew that.

Raincloud grumbled and folded her forelegs. “I knew that…” She trailed her eyes down.

“I’m certain Dusk intends this as a warning to me,” Celestia said. “We beat him, so now he is paying us back.” She eyed toward the four bodies before forcing herself to look away, instead shifting her focus to the symbol on the floor. “The more pressing question is what he used this symbol for.”

As if on cue, Raincloud walked up to the symbol and knelt down. She traced her hoof along the crimson lines for a moment as she examined the various ingredients at the points, which included burnt ash, small bones of some sort, and some sort of black powder.

“Looks like a summoning symbol,” Raincloud noted. “I’ve never seen one made using blood magic before.”

“Summoning symbol?” Luna parroted, a growing sense of unease in her eyes.

“What did he summon?” Celestia added, getting up from the floor with newfound paranoia.

“It’s hard to say exactly…” Raincloud muttered as she continued examining the symbol and the ingredients. “The pentagram could point to something demonic, though.”

Blue Bolt’s expression fell. “Demonic…?”

“Yeah… y’know… demons.” Raincloud deadpanned.

“Yeah. I do know… now.” Blue Bolt replied. “I know that’s not a good thing.”

Meanwhile, Luna approached the charred pile of plant matter curiously. “What about this?”

“Smells like… sage and nightshade,” Celestia noted after a few sniffs.

Suddenly, Raincloud got a blank look on her face that slowly shifted to unease. “Uh oh…”

“What is it, Raincloud?” Luna asked.

“I think I just figured out why little boy blue here couldn’t sense anything before,” Raincloud said. “Sage and nightshade can be used to create masking charms.”

Then, before anyone could speak further, Blue Bolt lurched forward abruptly as all the air left his lungs, accompanied by a shrill hiss and a stream of blue vapor.

The stallion coughed a few times and rested a hoof to his neck from the seemingly unpleasant event. However, his eyes went wide with alarm as he turned to the others. “We’ve got company.”

“What?” Celestia leaned forward tensely. She darted her eyes to the entrance briefly before turning back to the pegasus. “What did you feel, Blue Bolt?”

“Something’s out there… a few yards away,” Blue explained before hesitantly using his senses again. The process seemed to go over more smoothly this time now that he was expecting it, but the result didn’t change. “It isn’t moving.”

“Is it Dusk?” Luna asked urgently.

Blue Bolt merely looked to the princess of the night with a grave expression. “No.”

The alicorns weren’t sure if that was a good sign or not.

Deciding to take the lead, Celestia headed back through the earthen tunnel that sloped back up to the outside. Luna and the others soon flanked her, keeping a united front for whatever threat they were about to face.

As they departed the cellar and walked out onto the grass behind the house, Blue Bolt turned to look toward where he sensed the strange entity before pausing and staring ahead. The others gradually turned to where he was looking, only to have similar uneasy expressions come over them.

Finally, Celestia looked over, only to spot what they had already spotted. A lone figure standing in the middle of the street.

Its lithe form was humanoid, though it was concealed underneath a tattered piece of fabric fashioned into a makeshift cloak. The face seemed to be shaded in darkness within the confines of its garment.

There it stood, among a sea of dead ponies, staring ahead at the group silently.

Celestia stared at the figure a moment before exhaling softly through her nose. “Dusk always did have an air for presentation… and I fear we’ve walked right into his trap.”

“Trap or no, I think it is clear at this point that Dusk himself is not here,” Luna said. She inched closer to Blue Bolt and craned her head to the side, not daring to take her eyes off the strange figure for an instant. “Do you know what manner of creature that is, Blue Bolt?”

Blue Bolt shook his head regretfully. “No. I’m sorry, but I didn’t recognize it.”

“Wow, you suck at being a slayer,” Raincloud commented, only to receive some stern looks. “What? It’s true.”

Celestia glared at the pale mare a moment longer before shifting her eyes forward and sighing. “Very well… I suppose we shall have to find out the old-fashioned way who our new friend is.” She said, walking forward with an uneasy sense of resolve.

Without a word, Luna followed after her sister. Blue Bolt followed after the pair, determined to do his part in removing Dusk’s evils from the world one at a time. Raincloud lingered for a moment or two before sighing and following the three.

As they walked, the figure watched them silently. It didn’t move toward or away from them. It didn’t even move in general, almost like a statue. They might have thought it to be a statue if it wasn't for the subtle shifting of its cloak in the breeze.

The white alicorn came to a halt a good distance away from the figure, close enough to examine it or converse with it if it proved to be intelligent, but far enough away to give them ample time to dodge if it attacked.

“Where is your master?” Celestia asked, not really expecting a response.

There was a sort of clicking sound that came from the figure, reminiscent of something an insect might make. And perhaps it was their imagination, but the group could almost swear to see small, oddly shaped protrusions moving from within the cloak.

“Truly, your diplomacy skills are unrivaled, Princess,” Raincloud said, giving the alicorn a flat look.

“Be quiet, Raincloud.” Luna scolded before pausing abruptly as she noticed something. Looking down, she found a trickle of blood flowing near one of the bodies at their hooves, barely large enough to even distinguish among the dirt path.

“Blue Bolt. I know this is very sudden and difficult, but can you please try to concentrate and see if you can’t figure out what this thing is?” Celestia asked, keeping the figure in the corner of her eye at all times. “Slayers have a compendium of monster knowledge built up that they pass down through each individual. Twilight said that some of your abilities may be affected by your sudden rebirth, but you should be able to use them still with enough focus.”

Blue Bolt looked to the princess of the sun nervously. “Uh… I… I guess I can try.” He said before closing his eyes and focusing. He used his senses again, really concentrating on the unique, and admittedly disgusting, feel of the entity ahead of them.

Meanwhile, Luna was lowering herself down and examining the trickle of blood she found. It kept on flowing through the dirt, like a tiny stream being carried by the slight slope of the land. And as she looked up, she noticed another of these streams a bit further away.

Another series of guttural clicks came from the cloaked figure, along with the beginnings of a low snake-like hiss as its hood and the edges of its cloak moved slightly.

“Sister… something is wrong,” Luna said.

Suddenly, Blue Bolt cringed and opened his eyes to reveal a slight glow of orange. “Wait… I’m getting something.” He grunted softly as a slight throb filled his head along with some familiar whispers. The glow soon faded, only to be replaced by a look of horrified revelation. “Oh… oh…!”

Celestia glanced at the stallion uneasily before turning to her sister’s seemingly more immediate problem. “What is it, L-”

Then, before she could even finish her sentence, a deafening half screech half roar filled the air as the figure shed its disguise.

Two long, spindly brown arms tipped with wiry hands and razor-thin bladed digits extended to the sides, shredding the cloak entirely and letting what remained fall. An insectoid maw was revealed, with furry spider fangs at its top mandible and two slightly longer appendages at the sides. It had four beady black eyes, once again likening to a spider’s appearance.

Along with the twig-like arms, four other appendages raised from the creature’s shoulders, two on each side. They lacked digits, instead having black protrusions at their tips that resembled actual blades more than anything organic.

Its whole body was repulsive-looking, a brown carapace covered in sparse, tiny hairs and dozens upon dozens of smaller insect limbs that seemed to serve no purpose, but were fully and separately articulate from each other. Its legs looked like they had many joints, and its feet came to a point with three toes that had black chitinous claws.

The sudden reveal of the creature stunned the ponies for a moment. For all of them save for maybe Raincloud, it was the most horrifying thing they had ever laid their eyes upon, and it sent a feeling of revulsion through their crawling skin briefly akin to an arachnophobe spotting a spider on their wall.

After processing the jolt of fear coursing through him, Blue Bolt sprang into action. He charged ahead of the group, heading to meet their newly revealed foe. A circle of embers sprang to life around his forehooves, and soon his weapons were ready just in time for him to jump up with a slight yell and make a swipe at the creature.

The creature dodged backward in one swift, jerky motion. It then made a swipe of its own at the stallion, using one of the limbs protruding from its shoulder as an organic sword that managed to clip a few hairs from his mane as he ducked below.

“Blue Bolt!” Celestia paled with alarm as she watched the stallion charge into battle with little consideration for his own wellbeing. It was like he was trying to keep them from fighting at all. Still, she wasn't about to let another slayer die on her watch.

Raincloud and Luna watched as the white alicorn lit her horn and galloped forward to assist Blue Bolt. They prepared to charge into the fray as well until Luna felt something grabbing onto her hind leg.

“What the-” Luna paused abruptly and widened her eyes as she turned to see what had grabbed her. It was a hoof, which belonged to one of the dead bodies around her. She watched with mounting horror as the corpse of a green earth pony mare lifted its head up toward her, its blank, glassy eyes open and staring ahead at nothing.

Raincloud rushed over to see what had grabbed the alicorn, only to reel back at what she found. “Holy crap!” She exclaimed.

“Unhoof me!” Luna demanded, yanking her leg away with some resistance and causing the partially risen body to fall again. However, this setback didn’t seem to faze the dead mare at all, as she started getting back up again.

It was then that both Luna and Raincloud noticed what looked to be small streams of blood flowing into the dead mare’s body. They could actually see the spindly streams underneath her skin, bulging out like misplaced veins. However, instead of turning the body into a vampire like Dusk usually did, it seemed as though these streams were merely puppeteering the late pony.

“What unholy trickery is this?” Luna asked, thoroughly disturbed as she took a few steps away from the animate corpse. Then, she felt a tap on her shoulder, only this time it was Raincloud.

“Uh, Princess… I think we’ve got problems. Like… a lot of problems.” The pegasus said, more than a bit of unease in her voice.

Luna looked around, only to see what had spooked her companion. More of the bodies were starting to get up. Around ten of them, in fact. All being manipulated with stiff and unnatural movements that seemed like it would cause physical pain, were the ponies alive.

And coming out of all of the bodies were several streams of blood floating in the air, like crimson strings. They were all coming from behind them, where the insect creature was currently doing battle with Blue Bolt and Celestia.

“I see,” Luna muttered as she backed closer to Raincloud, a small band of lifeless corpses closing in on them. “It would seem that the problem has been doubled.”

“Well… let’s start subtracting,” Raincloud said, lifting a hoof and covering it in shadow energy. Luna followed her example and lit up her horn. As much as she hated the idea of desecrating these poor souls’ bodies further, it couldn’t be helped.

Meanwhile, Celestia and Blue Bolt were locked in battle with the repulsive monster. So far, it had managed to dodge every slash or magical blast they sent its way.

Blue Bolt grunted as a spindly limb caught him across the cheek with its pointed end, leaving a bloody welt behind. The wound quickly healed while he used his blades to parry two of the limbs away.

Celestia fired off a few fireballs toward the beast, but she too was having difficulty landing a hit. Weirdly enough, the creature wasn't using its actual arms to fight. Instead, they were held at its sides with the fingers outstretched.

“You seemed like you figured something out before,” Celestia said as she reeled away from a swiping limb. “Do you know what it is now?”

“Yeah,” Blue replied. “It’s something called a blood widow. They’re a type of lesser demon.” He explained before producing a frightful squeak as he narrowly avoided being impaled through the head. What the creature seemed to lack in strength, it more than made up for in speed and reach.

“Excellent.” Celestia thought. “Demons are weak to slayers. You can bend it to your will if you try.”

“No. I don’t think that would work. They aren’t full-blooded demons. They’re more closely related to vampires… and arachnids.” Blue Bolt said before a smile built on his face. “Hey, I think I’m getting used to this whole inherited memory thing!” He chuckled triumphantly before widening his eyes as the creature screeched at him and made a lunge. “Woah!”

Wondering where her sister and Raincloud were, Celestia glanced over, only to widen her eyes in shock at what she found. The pair were apparently doing battle with a small army of the formerly dead townsfolk.

No. They seemed to still be dead. Their attacks lacked much intelligence, and they seemed almost marionette-esque in their movements, which was all but confirmed as she noticed the thin streams of blood hanging in the air. Streams that seemed to originate from the insect creature’s fingertips.

“Do these blood widows have any special abilities… say, body manipulation?” Celestia asked, just a touch of sarcasm in her voice.

Blue Bolt narrowed his eyes in thought before raising his brows. “Oh yeah… I guess they can do that.”

Celestia snorted softly. “This would have been pertinent information to know before, Blue Bolt.”

“Sorry! I’m new at this!” Blue protested as he tried and failed to land a clean hit on the creature. Suddenly, he paused, eyes wide with pain as the creature stabbed one of its bladed legs through his chest. “Grk!” He lurched forward, a bit of blood shooting from his mouth as he clutched the wound.

“Blue Bolt!” Celestia gasped. Before she could even lift a hoof to help the stallion, the creature picked him up by the leg stabbed into him and used another to slash sideways, creating a fleshy ripping sound and sending him tumbling off of the limb and to the ground with a gruesome spray of blood.

Blue yelped and cried as he clutched a large gash in his side with one hoof while using the other to push himself up. He squinted one eye open and looked up to the alicorn. “I’m ok… I’m… ngh… o-ok.” He assured, though his appearance seemed to claim otherwise.

Frustrated at her friend getting hurt, Celestia growled and clenched her teeth at the monstrous insect. Casting her magic around its lithe form, she wrapped it in an aura and pushed past the disadvantage she had to lift the supernatural creature into the air.

“Blue Bolt, can you stand?” She asked with some urgency, already feeling sweat building up as her magic strained and the creature struggled.

The pegasus took a moment to push himself to his hooves as fire sprang to life across both his injuries. He yelped and took a few shallow breaths to deal with the pain before turning to the alicorn and seeing what she was doing. “On it.” He said, resummoning one of his blades and charging for the floating creature.

Suddenly, Celestia felt a sharp pain in her foreleg. “AGH!” She yelled, losing focus on her magic for the briefest moments. She looked down, only to spot a dead stallion clad in guard attire biting into her leg with unnatural strength, causing a bit of blood to trickle out.

Blue Bolt kicked into the air with his wings and reeled his foreleg back in preparation to strike. However, as he was sending his leg forward, the aura around the creature faded, but not before his blade neared its body.

The spirit weapon raked across the beast’s side, slicing off two of the smaller limbs and opening a decently sized gash that sent a glob of green blood flying out.

Celestia noticed the dead pony’s grip on her leg lessen, which she used to yank her mildly bleeding limb away. She looked back to Luna and Raincloud, only to see the remaining dead ponies freezing momentarily.

The monster shrieked in pain as it fell to the ground. And then, there was a disturbing crack.

Celestia and Blue Bolt watched as the creature’s body suddenly snapped to the side at its waist. Its top half was now at a ninety-degree angle to its bottom half. It plopped to the ground on its back, and like a cockroach fleeing in the light, it used the many small limbs across its body to skitter away and up the side of a nearby house, where it stopped and hissed at the ponies.

Blue Bolt shuddered slightly at the sight of the creature leering at them before turning to the alicorn. “Are the monsters you fight always this weird and creepy?”

Celestia couldn’t deny a slight shiver down her back either. “I’ve seen my fair share of nasty creatures… but I must admit, this one is in the top three.”

“Oh sweet you, it’s getting worse…” Blue Bolt stared ahead, mouth falling agape and face scrunched in revulsion as more cracks rang out.

The creature’s body folded and contorted as it rotated around the wall it was on to make room. Its legs popped and bent, forming a sharp curve like a grasshopper and nestling underneath its body. It rolled its top half back in line with its bottom and stretched out the four limbs on its shoulders, planting them on the wall.

After some wet and disturbing noises, two more of these limbs sprouted from its back, creating a malformed approximation of spider legs as it lifted itself off the wall and roared.

And then, it jumped. Straight at them.

“AHHHH!” Blue Bolt shrieked like a little filly and beat his wings, flying backward and away from the beast as it landed on the ground and took a swipe at him with its primary arms. It seemed like it wasn't caring very much about puppeteering the dead anymore, as it didn’t have any more streams of blood coming from its fingertips.

Celestia took a few steps back to distance herself from the beast as well. It was closer to the ground now as it stood on its spindly former weapons and contorted legs. It didn’t at all look efficient from an aesthetic standpoint, but the results seemed to speak for themselves.

Back on the other side of the town, Luna and Raincloud paused as the bodies they were fighting stopped moving and gradually fell to the ground.

"Uh… Did we win?" Raincloud asked, looking around with a bit of confusion.

Luna looked over to see Blue Bolt and her sister fighting the creature, which seemed to have found a way to become even more repulsive.

"I'm afraid not. It merely stopped focusing on us." The alicorn said tensely.

"Well, let’s go squish this bug and pack it in al…" Raincloud trailed off as she noticed more of the dead bodies getting up. "...ready? What the hay? I thought that thing was busy fighting them?!" She said, backing closer to the house behind her as three ponies shambled toward her.

As more of the bodies started to get up, Luna looked around at the various streams of blood piloting them, only to narrow her eyes. None of the streams seemed to lead toward the creature.

"Raincloud, be on your guard. Something is wrong h-"

Raincloud raised a brow as the alicorn stopped talking abruptly. She looked over to see Luna staring in her direction with wide eyes.

However, before either of them could react further, the pegasus felt something cold and slimy drip onto her shoulder, followed by a loud clicking noise above her.

Trailing her eyes up, Raincloud was met with the sight of another tall cloaked figure standing on the roof staring down at her, a set of mandibles poking out of its hood.

"AHH!" Raincloud yelped and dove to the side. She landed on her back on the ground and pointed her hoof up toward the creature before quickly shooting a spout of dark flames.

The wave of purple fire surged up with a disquieting roar, leaving a wake of smoldering wood and hay as it vanished. But the creature, it seemed, was faster than the pegasus.

Raincloud rolled to her hooves and backpedaled, keeping a foreleg pointed ahead with some shadow energy channeled through it as she darted her eyes around in search of the creature. “Where’d it go?!”

“I lost sight of it,” Luna said as she moved closer to the gray mare and stood side by side with her horn alight. “But it couldn’t have gotten far!”

Raincloud turned a tense eye to the few corpses still shambling toward them. There seemed to be a fraction of them compared to before, but they still presented a problem. “We need to find this freak before he catches us off guard. He’s probably hoping to attack us while we’re busy dealing with these stiffs.”

Hearing this, Luna perked up slightly as an idea popped into her head. “Of course… Follow the blood! The creature must be connected to them to control them!” She stated.

“Hehe… now we’re talking,” Raincloud smirked at the thought of using the monster’s ability against it. She quickly found a set of the crimson strings coming off of one of the bodies and followed them to their source.

The makeshift strings were somewhat hard to keep track of. They went into the grass and blended in surprisingly well due to how thin they were, but eventually, the pegasus found their source. The hooded figure was hiding behind a building, just barely looking out at them.

“Aha!” Raincloud exclaimed, preparing to send a wave of shadows through the ground so she could then explode out a skewer and impale the creature. “Got you now you ugly little- OW!”

Luna looked over as her companion yelped in mild pain. “What is wrong?”

Raincloud mumbled something under her breath that was most likely some kind of profanity as she lifted her hoof. “Gah… something sharp just poked m…” She trailed off abruptly and widened her eyes as she spotted the problem.

Several of the streams of blood were now connected to her foreleg, and she could see tiny serpentine bulges under her skin, crawling up her leg in a disturbing display.

“Uh… UHH!” The pegasus waved her foreleg frantically in an attempt to shake off the crimson strings, but it didn’t do much.

“Good heavens,” Luna muttered as she tried to help the distressed mare somehow. Then, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and looked up, only to spot the creature approaching them.

As expected, it had several strings of blood protruding from under its cloak, some of which were leading to Raincloud. It produced a series of garbles and clicks that almost seemed like it was laughing at them.

“Get your dirty mitts off me!” Raincloud yelled as a crackle of dark flame gathered on her hoof. However, just before she shot the flame toward the creature, her foreleg jerked to the side violently.

The shadowy fireball zipped straight in front of Luna, coming close enough that she could feel how cold it was, before exploding on the ground a few feet away.

“Raincloud!” Luna turned to the pegasus in stunned surprise.

Raincloud seemed just as surprised as the alicorn. “That wasn't me!” She protested before her leg suddenly shot to the ground stiffly. She tried to lift it again, only managing to produce a slight shake. Much to her horror, she looked down and noticed the protruding lines under her skin spreading up her leg and to the rest of her body. “Gah! I can’t… move!”

Luna reeled back as the pegasus suddenly swiped at her with a hoof. She was forced to back up a few steps, only to bump into one of the risen bodies behind her. She was surrounded.

“Raincloud, you must fight it!” Luna pleaded. “I do not wish to hurt you!”

Raincloud grit her teeth and tried to wrench herself free of the bloody strings, but any attempt to do so only resulted in sharp pains throughout her whole body. “Just do what you gotta do! I’m stuck, and I can’t use my shadow magic like this!”

With the gray pegasus and more of the fallen townsfolk slowly closing in around her, Luna cringed regretfully before lighting up her horn. “Forgive me, but I have no choice!” She said. Just then, a wave of concussive energy surged out around her, knocking everypony flying back through the air, including Raincloud.

The pegasus tumbled to the ground with a painful grunt. Still, she couldn’t move to get up with the streams of blood under her skin, keeping her muscles from working properly. “Ngh… I wanna go back to my cell now.” She whined, not even choosing to lift her head.

Luna cast a regretful frown to the pegasus lying in a crumpled heap before steeling her expression and turning toward the creature. “You’ve done enough harm, monster. It is time for you to meet your-”

*Shlick*

“Ngh!”

Luna darted her eyes down as a series of sharp needle-like pains stabbed into her limbs. She paled as she saw several red lines piercing into her legs and working their way up through her skin.

“Let me go!” The alicorn protested, struggling to move away. However, there was nothing she could do with her legs already under the creature’s sway. She was forced to watch with mounting horror as the rest of her body slowly stopped following her commands while the disturbing sensation of tendrils crawling up her skin continued.

The creature slowly approached the now pinned alicorn. It cast off its cloak by extending the four appendages from its shoulders, pointing the razor-sharp blades at Luna.

Luna started sweating nervously as her doom approached. However, as she trailed her eyes up, she noticed that her horn was still alight. “I see… You may be able to control our bodies, but you cannot control our magic.” She leveled her gaze at the creature before forming a determined smirk.

In an instant, the alicorn blinked out of existence, causing the bloody strings that were inside her to fall limply to the ground. She teleported behind the creature, where its speed and agility wouldn’t be able to help it, and immediately fired a blast of energy through its torso.

An unearthly shriek filled the air as a sizable hole was punched clean through the bug monster’s form. Bits of burnt carapace and green fluid flew out of it and plopped to the ground.

However, Luna’s victory was short-lived, as the creature jerked around in its agony and got off a clean slash at her with one of its limbs before it flopped backward to the ground.

“AGH!” Luna yelped as she was sent to the ground hard. She landed on her saddlebag, creating a metallic crunch. She shakily clutched a hoof to her chest, only to feel warm liquid gushing out.

Meanwhile, Raincloud suddenly found control of her body once more. She pushed herself to her hooves, only to pause and hold a hoof to her collar as it activated with a series of clicks and spun closed. “What the…” She trailed off as she looked over to the side. “...Oh, crap.”

The creature was writhing on the ground, its limbs all flailing wildly as it screeched and convulsed from the grievous wound it had sustained. Eventually, it let out one final shriek before falling still.

A short distance away, Luna was lying on the ground amidst a puddle of her own blood. She was breathing heavily and clutching part of a gory slash that went clear across her form diagonally. Blood was leaving her at an alarming rate, and she already seemed to be descending into shock.

Raincloud walked past the motionless creature, sparing a moment to poke it with a hoof before shifting her attention to the wounded alicorn. “Oh man… uh…” She cursed under her breath and held her hooves to the back of her head briefly as she stared at Luna with an overwhelmed expression of shock. Much to the alicorn’s surprise, the pegasus rushed over, cradled a hoof under her neck, and lifted her up slightly.

“Hang in there, Moony. If you die, I won’t hear the end of it.” Raincloud said.

“Hng… Rh… R-Rain...cloud…” Luna muttered weakly through her shallow breaths as she stared up at the pegasus, a trickle of blood falling from her mouth as she let out a wet cough.

Raincloud bit her lip as she struggled to think of something to do, before suddenly a look of revelation came over her. She could use her shadow magic to heal the princess. Of course, she had never done it before, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

“I got it! Hold still, this will be over in a m-” The pegasus trailed off abruptly as she hovered a hoof to the alicorn’s wound, only for nothing to happen. She stared at her hoof momentarily before realizing what was wrong. “Oh, crap… the collar.” She tugged at the restrictive device briefly before shifting her attention to the only way to unlock it.

Looking beneath Luna to the saddlebag, Raincloud fished around for a moment before pulling out the remote, or at least what was left of it. The device was a crushed mess of exposed wires and mechanical bits, and it seemed to have triggered a failsafe in the collar when it was destroyed.

“Oh, for the love of…” Raincloud wrinkled her expression as she practically watched the life leaving the alicorn. She shifted her head to the side as an explosion rang out further away, only to see Celestia and Blue Bolt still in the midst of their fight. “Uh… guys! We’ve got a bit of a problem here!” She shouted.

Celestia spared a moment after dodging a strike from the creature to turn toward the pair. She widened her eyes as she saw the familiar form of her sister on the ground with Raincloud crouched over her, a disturbing amount of red on the ground nearby.

“Sister!” She cried, before an agitated growl drew her attention back just in time to back away from another wayward swipe. The creature wouldn’t let either of them rest for an instant. If they were going to save Luna, they had to deal with it first. Unfortunately, it was too agile, and no matter how many spells she shot toward it, she couldn’t land a hit, and neither could Blue Bolt.

The stallion dodged or parried as much as he could to keep the beast from hitting him, but it was hard to keep up with how fast it was with its claws. “Ngh… Sorry for the pun, but this thing is really starting to bug me!” He stated.

“Indeed,” Celestia said before pausing to duck out of the way of a stab from one of its spider limbs. “Were it only as easy to kill this abomination as it was to swat an insect.”

Suddenly, Blue Bolt flinched back as the creature hopped toward him with its powerful legs. He failed to dodge out of the way in time to stop the beast from landing on him, knocking him to the ground with a painful grunt.

Blue yipped in pain as he reached up and grasped two of its front limbs, but not before one of them cut into his shoulder. He struggled to push back, but then he looked up with wide eyes to see the creature about to slash him with its claws.

Just before the monster could complete its attack, two magical bursts sounded out and a pair of yellow bolts of light slammed into its back, burning it and causing it to arch back with a pained shriek.

Blue Bolt looked up to see Celestia with the tip of her horn crackling with arcane energy. Not one to waste an opportunity, he held out his hoof and flinched his eyes closed nervously as he let loose a wave of positively charged light.

The light engulfed the front of the insectoid creature, and immediately a steaming sound could be heard as it backpedaled off of the pinned pony. By the time Blue let his light die down, it was frantically rubbing its sizzling face while the rest of its tiny limbs twitched and flailed.

“Ha! How’s that for a bug zapper, ugly?” Blue smirked as he got back to his hooves and lowered into a battle stance, ready to launch another attack.

However, before he could even think to lunge forward, the creature jerked to face him and extended its arms with a hiss. Out of its spread digits, streams of blood shot out like liquid from a depressed syringe and flew straight at the stallion.

Blue Bolt flinched back and started to dodge, but he couldn’t stop the crimson strings from piercing into his skin. They entered his legs, his chest, his shoulders; all causing sharp pains that led to the sensation of something forcibly pushing up through his body.

“Gah!” Blue tensed and strained to keep control of his movements. He could already feel his muscles seizing up.

However, before the creature could start to control him, spouts of steam started coming through each entry wound in the stallion’s body. Soon enough, the bloody streams shriveled up and evaporated into droplets, almost like contact with the pegasus was burning them.

As it watched its puppet strings being cut, the demonic insect chirped and clicked angrily, only to jerk its head to the side as the sound of flames roaring to life came from behind it. It narrowly managed to leap to the side in time to avoid a fiery lash whipping down onto its head.

Celestia narrowed her eyes and growled through clenched teeth as her attack missed. The creature was too alert and too fast for its own good. She shuddered to think of the damage it could do if it wasn't limited to this town. However, she couldn’t reflect on troubled thoughts for long, as the beast spun around and shifted its focus to her.

The alicorn blasted a fireball towards the creature as it leaped toward her. With little time to aim her strike, the blast sailed harmlessly underneath the beast, allowing it to knock into her and send her to the ground.

“Ngh!” Celestia grunted as the weight of the creature came crashing on top of her. A few bladed limbs planted into the earth beside her head and around her body, while one lifted up and prepared to impale her. All she could do was grasp the limb with her magic and resist, but then it raised another and even reeled back its hands for a more direct strike.

Blue Bolt widened his eyes as he saw the alicorn struggling to keep all of the creature’s limbs at bay with her straining magic. “Princess!” He yelled, immediately running into a flying leap toward the insect with his blades at the ready.

As he neared, the creature’s back limbs lifted up and caught him before sending him hurtling away. He grunted painfully as he tumbled along the ground before rolling to a stop.

“Blue Bolt…” Celestia called out as she shifted her head to the side. A black pointed appendage was mere inches away from her face, and she was losing ground fast with so many limbs to keep hold of. “Some assistance would be greatly appreciated!”

The stallion sat up and held a hoof to his head before looking forward and paling. He had to do something quick, but what could he do?

Then, an idea popped into his head. One that made him look down to his strange new weapons hesitantly before raising his head toward the alicorn struggling on the ground.

“I hope my aim has improved since training…” He cringed before closing his eyes and concentrating. Soon enough, a familiar rush of energy surged through his limb and into his blades, causing them to glow orange.

A radiant buzzing hum slowly increased in frequency and volume as the glow intensified and some sparkling embers came off the edge of the blade. Blue Bolt opened his eyes, a determined look behind the fiery glow in them, and took aim as best he could.

Please don’t miss, please don’t miss, please don’t miss… He repeated in his head and drew air between his teeth nervously before swinging his foreleg in a slashing motion and averting his eyes.

Just like before, a thin arc of orange energy shot out of the stallion’s blade with a fiery whoosh as it raked across the air. The blade-like edge of light zipped toward the pair struggling on the ground at breakneck speeds.

The creature whipped its head around at the odd noise, and although it only had beady black eyes, there was a look in them that some might describe as fearful as it saw a glowing projectile approaching faster than it could dodge.

Celestia watched as, in a literal flash, a wave of energy sliced through the creature’s neck, sending its head flying off before it vanished skyward. She would have been showered in green goop, were it not for the merciful fact that the wound was instantly cauterized. The monstrous form on top of her seized and twitched before falling sideways as its legs collapsed.

Blue Bolt walked over as the alicorn wiggled sideways to free herself and managed to get to her hooves. They both watched as the creature’s body wriggled and twitched in a disturbing display before all its spider-like limbs curled inward.

“I think I’ve suddenly developed a fear of bugs.” Blue shivered slightly as he watched the diminishing twitches of the dozens of smaller appendages.

Returning her thoughts to her sister, Celestia turned and widened her eyes before galloping forward. “Luna!”

“Oh no…” Blue Bolt frowned before urgently rushing to follow the alicorn.

The two of them came up to see Raincloud crouching over a very pale and weak princess of the night. Luna could hardly keep her eyes open or move. The only thing even keeping her hooves to her wound was the assistance of the pegasus.

“Luna… can you hear me?!” Celestia knelt down and took her sister from Raincloud’s care. Her heart sank as she examined the grizzly wound. If left alone, it would prove to be fatal.

“Ngh…” Luna’s eyes fluttered as she drifted on the edge of consciousness. All she could see was a white blur above her and a familiar voice in her ear. “T..T..ia…?” She muttered weakly.

Celestia gasped softly as her sister’s eyes closed and her head fell back limply. “Blue Bolt-”

The stallion rushed over and knelt down beside the two alicorns. “Way ahead of you.” He said, exhaling tensely as he briefly looked to his bare hoof before lowering it to the slash across Luna’s chest. Much to everyone’s relief, a soft blue light traveled out and washed over Luna’s form.

Soon, color returned to the blue alicorn’s face as the wound started closing up. Once it was gone, with only bloodstained fur left behind as a reminder of its presence, Blue Bolt let his light die down and watched with bated breath alongside Celestia.

Slowly, Luna opened her eyes and sat up. She brought a hoof to her previously wounded chest and looked confused for a moment before seeing the stallion and her sister looking down at her. “Thank you, Blue Bolt. That was… a close call, as they say.” She muttered, still a bit stunned from her sudden injury and even more sudden recovery.

Celestia smiled warmly and wrapped a foreleg around her sister’s neck gently. “Far too close.”

“Blech… I think that’s going to make me sicker than those two freaks.” Raincloud made a gagging motion with her hoof as the two sisters shared a brief embrace.

After expressing their relief and joyfulness from coming out of the battle relatively unscathed, the group got up and took stock of what just happened.

Luna frowned slightly as she held up the broken remains of the remote to Raincloud’s collar. “Blast… I fear Sparkplug will grow to disdain me when I tell her she needs to make another of these.”

“Well, maybe if you didn’t fall on it so hard,” Raincloud said flatly.

Luna cocked an eyebrow. “Didst thou just call me fat?”

“If I answer that, will you hit me?”

Meanwhile, Celestia was examining the creature that Luna killed. It was utterly repulsive even before it had a gaping hole in its chest, but that was nothing new. What did catch her eye, however, was a small ring of blackened plant matter being clutched by one of the smaller appendages on its body.

“Interesting…” She said as she took the small circlet up into her magic. She gave it a slight sniff, the odor burning her nostrils a bit. However, she realized that she recognized it. “Sage and nightshade.”

“So that’s the concealment charm.” Blue Bolt noted before adopting a more paranoid expression. “Hey… how do we know there aren’t more of these things just hiding somewhere?” He asked, taking a darting glance at the town around him.

Raincloud yelled abruptly as she clamped a hoof down on the stallion’s shoulder, making him jump slightly. She chuckled a bit before taking his question to some serious thought and shrugging. “I guess there’s no real way of knowing. I think we’re good though… If there were more of these freaks, they probably would have attacked by now.”

“Indeed. Dusk most likely left them here as a distraction while he somehow fled.” Luna added.

Now that the battle was over and they could return their focus to the pale alicorn, Celestia walked forward along the street a few steps before pausing and staring out into the distance. The many bodies still lying around her still pained her heart and weighed heavy on her mind.

“We must find him… before he suffers anyone else the fate of these poor ponies.” Celestia frowned deeply at the thought of what must have transpired in this once humble town. She could practically hear the terrified screams and lamenting cries now.

Luna walked over to be by her sister’s side. “We will. But for now, let us head home and regroup. Standing here worrying will get us nowhere.”

Celestia looked at her sister’s concerned stare for a moment before exhaling softly and turning. “Come, then. Let’s go.” She said, spreading her wings and taking off into the air.

Blue Bolt followed after, and Raincloud shortly after that. Luna lingered for a moment or two, taking one last look at the fallen ponies around her. She bowed her head remorsefully and whispered an assurance of justice for their wrongfully departed souls before taking off skyward toward her companions.