Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

Back in Canterlot, far away from the horrors Dusk was bringing to life,

Twilight and her friends all got together and went out to enjoy some well-earned time off.

Twilight sat at an outdoor table in one of the upper plazas, flanked by Rarity and Pinkie Pie, while Fluttershy sat across from them. They all had ice cream cones in hoof. The others were up by a little shop with Spike and the Crusaders, still purchasing their own frozen treats.

“Thanks for letting us come along with you guys, Rarity,” Twilight said, looking over to the white mare and flashing an appreciative smile.

“No need to thank me. I promised Sweetie we would come, so there was no sense in not inviting you. After all, the more the merrier.” Rarity chuckled a bit before sinking back and enjoying her strawberry double scoop. She flinched and looked over as a droplet of cream fell on the table nearby, only to see Pinkie Pie demolishing a banana split.

Twilight stared toward the shop ahead, watching Spike and the Crusaders finally receiving their cones of choice from Applejack and Rainbow Dash. She absentmindedly licked her own vanilla cone as she saw the young dragon staying silent nearby while the three fillies cheered happily.

“How has Spike been doing?” Rarity asked, causing the purple mare to look up. She had a bit of a somber look in her eye.

“Is he feeling better than before?” Fluttershy chimed in.

“Well…” Twilight sighed. “It’s hard to say. He opened up to me before, but now he’s just kind of…”

“Existing?” Rarity finished. Taking Twilight’s silence as a response, she exhaled softly and nodded. “Darling, we’ve all been doing a little of that since we’ve gotten back.”

Pinkie nodded, letting her ears droop a bit. “Yeah. I’ve been trying to cheer everyone up, but I can’t figure out how to do that when I can’t even cheer myself up.”

“I know what you mean.” Twilight trailed her eyes down slightly and fidgeted with a strand of her mane.

“You ok?” Fluttershy asked, noticing the unicorn growing distant.

Twilight looked up, her hair still twirled around her hoof as her ice cream cone slowly melted in her aura. “Huh? Oh… Uh, yeah. I’m good.”

Fluttershy wrinkled her mouth a bit before stiffening her expression. “No, Twilight… you’re not good. There’s no way you’re good after everything you’ve been through. You’ve spent this whole time trying to make us feel better… but you need to focus on yourself too.”

The unicorn was a bit caught off guard by how confident the timid mare was. Her eyes were full of concern, and so were Rarity’s and Pinkie’s. Twilight frowned as she thought back to her emotional outburst back when Tom died. She didn’t want to burden her friends like that ever again.

“You know… I guess I have been avoiding thinking about it too much.” Twilight said quietly. “I thought that maybe if I helped Blue Bolt adjust to his powers, that I could make up for letting Tom down… but I still feel this empty pit inside me.” She took a steady breath.

Rarity gave her friend a flat look, her mouth curled down at the edges and her eyes soft and understanding. “Twilight, nothing you do can make up for it…”

Hearing this, Twilight looked down sadly.

“...Because there’s nothing to make up for.” Rarity finished, causing the purple mare to lift her gaze back up. “Darling, you didn’t let him down any more than any of us did.” She gestured over to Pinkie, Fluttershy, and their other two friends a short distance away. “I know it hurts… and I know you well enough to know how you deal with hardships… by overanalyzing every little detail.”

“But I-” Twilight started, only to be interrupted by Pinkie.

“But nothing!” Pinkie leaned forward, a bit of an intense look to her that slowly softened into a concerned frown. “You can’t just try to fill that hole inside you by blaming yourself or trying to make up for something you didn’t even do, Twilight. Because that hole is never going to fill up with anything other than time.” She said.

“Wow…” Twilight took a moment to process her friend’s words before wrinkling her brows. “That’s… surprisingly insightful and poetic, Pinkie.”

Then, the unicorn’s moment of appreciation was ruined as the pink mare dove face first into her banana split, coming back up with white face, cherry eyes, and a smile that would make a monkey jealous.

After cleaning her face off with her tongue and chewing what was left of her treat, Pinkie looked to the others. “People always say I’m deeper than they expected. I don’t get why.”

That managed to get a reserved chuckle out of the others, even Twilight. The unicorn hadn’t laughed in what seemed like forever, so even a small giggle was greatly appreciated.

Before anyone could speak further, the four mares looked up to see their friends walking over and sitting down.

Rainbow Dash looked around at the suppressed smirks and diminished laughter with a raised eyebrow. “What’s got you all so giddy?”

“Oh… it’s nothing. Just some thoughtful conversation.” Twilight said, to which Rainbow could only shrug.
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After a few minutes of enjoying their frozen treats and each other's company, it was time to head back to their home away from home.

Applejack smiled and laughed at something Pinkie said. She looked up to her sister, who was currently clinging to her back with an ice cream-induced stomach ache.

“Ooogh… I’m never eatin’ ice cream again.” Apple Bloom groaned, struggling to keep the contents of her stomach situated.

“You said that the last time we had some.” Applejack reasoned with a small smirk. Her gaze then shifted up to the sky. Strangely, it was still daylight out, and the sun had barely moved from its position at the cusp of the horizon. "Shoulda gotten dark by now…" She commented.

"You think something’s wrong with the Princess?" Sweetie Belle asked with a twinge of unease in her voice.

Twilight looked over and flashed a reassuring smile to the children, hoping to quell the anxiousness she knew her friends were feeling as well. "No, she's just on a mission. I'm sure she's just too busy to lower the sun right now." She reasoned, turning back ahead to hide her soft eyes.

"I hope so." Sweetie Belle fretted. "That alicorn guy seemed really focused on her."

Rarity used her aura to pat the young unicorn on the head and flashed a confident smile. "She has Princess Luna and Blue Bolt with her, Sweetie. She's perfectly safe."

Sweetie and the others seemed a bit more at ease, but now Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were the ones trailing their eyes down uneasily. They couldn't deny the worry they felt for their friend and the two alicorns.

Seeing the castle coming quickly into view, Twilight and the others decided not to dwell on worrying thoughts, at least not outwardly.

As they were walking into the entry hall, they noticed a slight commotion off to the side.

A few guards were gathered around Shining Armor and Cadence, who were walking out of the room with slight urgency. And while it was hard to make out amidst the small crowd, Twilight and the others noticed a familiar pair of alicorns and a pegasus stallion leaving their view. It seemed as though the royal sisters had returned from their mission.

"Uh… Spike, could you stay with the others for a bit?" Twilight asked, already inching away from the group before outright walking off at a rushed pace.

“Wait for me!” Rainbow Dash quickly zoomed off to follow the unicorn. Soon enough, Fluttershy joined behind her cyan friend, eager to find out if everyone was ok.

Rushing to catch up with the group, Twilight smiled as she saw her mentor and the others unharmed. Her expression fell as she noticed such a troubled look on everyone’s faces.

“Princess!” She called, thankful to be able to peter out to a stop as the alicorns turned to see her. “Thank goodness you’re ok. The sun wasn't going down, so we were starting to get worried for you.”

Celestia’s face softened as she saw her student, though she couldn’t shake the somber expression from it. “I am sorry to have worried you, Twilight. After what we encountered, I must admit that lowering the sun had slipped my mind.”

“What did you encounter?” A second voice came as a familiar cyan pegasus fluttered over, followed closely by Fluttershy. All of them were glad to see that everyone seemed ok, but now their uneasy curiosity for what had happened was the forefront of their focus.

Strangely, Celestia and even Blue Bolt were hesitant to speak. Seeing how uncomfortable her sister was, Luna decided to step in.

“We… found where Dusk took shelter after he fled last night. A town not too far from here. I believe it is called Unicorn Ridge.” The blue alicorn explained, though even she couldn’t shake the unease that came from trying to say out loud what actually happened.

Twilight frowned as she caught on to the shared hesitance of the trio. “How bad was it?”

Celestia sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, letting her head droop slightly before she gathered the strength to stand tall again. “He wiped out the whole town. Mares… foals… he spared no one.”

The three mares gasped. Rainbow Dash recoiled back in the air, and Fluttershy covered her mouth with both hooves.

Twilight pressed her lips together tightly as a mixture of sadness and anger churned inside her. It was a lot to process for her to hear such a terrible thing. She had actually heard of Unicorn Ridge before, so she roughly knew its size and population. “But… but how? It’s broad daylight out there!” She said, a bit exasperated. “How could he have wiped out the town only a few hours ago?”

“Actually, we suspect that he had help.” Luna chimed in. “We found a summoning symbol in the basement of a house, and shortly after, we were attacked by a pair of monsters that were perfectly capable of being out in daylight.”

“We think that Dusk threatened somepony into gathering materials for him. Then, he used those monsters to bring the rest of the townsfolk to him so he could feed on them.” Celestia added.

“Sounds like something a creep like him would do.” Shining Armor wrinkled his expression in disgust.

"You said you fought some monsters… are you ok?" Fluttershy asked softly. She couldn’t see any wounds on the trio, but she knew that anything was on the table when monsters were involved.

Celestia shifted her eyes to Luna briefly, a hint of concern showing through before she turned back to the others. "We suffered some injury, but thankfully Blue Bolt was able to heal us."

"Wow…" Rainbow Dash smiled a bit as she looked at her friend. "You’re really getting the hang of this slayer thing, Blue."

The stallion tittered a bit and rubbed his foreleg. "I'm just glad I could help."

Then, before anyone could speak further, another guard hurriedly trotted up to the group and up to Shining Armor. The stallion whispered into his captain’s ear, causing a few shifts in expression that immediately drew the others' attention.

"Something wrong, Shining?" Cadence asked.

Shining glanced to the others before whispering something back to the guard, who nodded and rushed off. "We just got done searching the town. You were right about those tracks you found. A carriage was missing from the local station."

"So that’s how Dusk fled under the light of day," Celestia said, though she expected something like that from her former student.

"That’s not all," Shining added, his eyes growing a bit more severe. "We did a headcount of all the bodies against the population… Some ponies are missing."

The news was confusing to some of the group at first, until they realized what they were dealing with.

"You think Dusk turned them?" Twilight asked hesitantly. The last thing she wanted her friends to deal with was more vampires.

"I'm afraid that is very likely." Celestia sighed tensely and looked back to Shining Armor. "How many ponies were missing?"

"Only nine, assuming everyone was present when everything went down," Shining replied.

"I feel that we should assume so, unfortunately." Luna shook her head sadly.

"Do we know where they went?" Rainbow Dash asked, holding onto a bit of hope. "Could Blue follow Dusk’s trail?"

The stallion trailed his eyes down slightly. What little hope the group had seemed to shrivel up along with him.

"No good. He used some kind of magical charm to hide himself. I guess it works on slayer sense too." Blue said.

"We will have to send word to be on the lookout for those missing ponies after we set the sun and raise the moon," Celestia suggested, starting to walk off at a hurried pace. "Come, Luna."

Before the two alicorns could leave, Twilight stepped forward. "Wait!" She called.

Celestia turned to see her student wearing an uneasy expression.

"Shouldn't we keep the sun up?" Twilight asked, glancing out of the nearby window. "I… I mean, if Dusk can kill that many people with it up, imagine what he can do when it isn’t!"

Celestia softened her features as she looked at the worried unicorn. "I'm afraid that is not an option. It is not natural to keep the sun up this long, and we have already stretched the day out longer than we should have."

"But… this is an emergency! The night already lasted a long time on Nightmare Night. We can fix the calendars later!" Rainbow Dash chimed in.

"And do you recall how cold it got that night?" Celestia asked, to which the others could only fall silent. "The repercussions of longer days or nights are far worse than misaligned calendars. If the sun were to be up as long as the moon was that night, we would start to have uncontrollable heat waves. Crops would start to die, rivers would dry up."

"But…" Twilight hung her head low and stared at the floor, her jaw agape as words failed her briefly. "We can’t just let him win."

A sudden hoof on her shoulder made Twilight look up. She was met with the sight of her mentor looking at her with soft eyes.

"Worry not, my student… I swear to you that we will not let him win. He will pay dearly for all he has taken from us… from the whole of Equestria." Celestia said. She then looked up at Shining Armor and adopted a more serious expression. "Notify all guards across the country to be on the lookout for those missing ponies, and tell Glimmer Shine and the others to be prepared to retaliate at a moment’s notice."

Shining nodded. "Got it." He glanced to his sister and to Cadence, flashing a slight smile that didn’t reach his eyes before he turned and trotted off.

Celestia gave a reassuring look to Twilight and the others. She then turned to Luna and nodded before heading off, leaving the four mares to themselves and their thoughts.

No matter how much they wanted the sun to stay up, it was time for the night to come, bringing with it whatever it may.

-A few minutes later-

As the moon climbed higher into the sky, the guards around Equestria felt a sense of dread well up inside them as they settled into their shifts. The once peaceful country had been on full alert ever since the events of Nightmare Night, and while most of the events had been kept from the general public, the guards at least knew what they were fighting.

Out in the middle of nowhere, on a lengthy stretch of open wilds between towns, a small team of guards stood watch at a checkpoint of sorts they had set up along the only path for miles. Visibility was poor due to a mist that had rolled in from the nearby hills, and the groupings of trees to their right did little to help.

A younger, more inexperienced guard turned to his only two companions, a more seasoned earth stallion and a unicorn of similar experience. While he was brave as most guards, he couldn’t hide a hint of anxiousness.

“Did you hear that guy we’re looking for attacked the castle again?”

The unicorn looked up at this and sighed. “Yeah. Some dozen of our guys died… Thank goodness the princesses and the elements of harmony are ok.”

“I’ll never understand why those girls insist on being present for such dangerous things.” The other earth guard shook his head uneasily.

“Clearly you’ve never met them.” The unicorn said.

The younger guard raised an eyebrow. “And you have?”

“I saw the captain’s sister, Twilight Sparkle, one time right before the royal wedding.” The unicorn shrugged. “That girl is sweet as they come, but you should see her in action when her friends are in trouble.”

“I’d rather take on changelings than vampires any day.” The young guard said, tensely keeping a grip on his silver blade.

The other earth guard walked over and patted the rookie on the shoulder. “Relax. Our orders are not to engage that alicorn freak. The only way we’ll get into a fight is if we find some poor folks that got changed into one of those monsters. Otherwise, we’re just here to keep an eye on things and radio in if we find anything.” He nodded back toward a box they had set up nearby with a lantern and magical telegraph device on top.

“Hold up, boys… we’ve got company.” The unicorn said, pointing further down the road.

It was hard to see in the fog, but what must have been a carriage drawn by four ponies was approaching.

The other guards stopped their idle chatter and re-adopted their professional personas as they flanked the road.

As the carriage got closer, they started to notice that the four ponies pulling it along were clad in hoods that obscured most of their appearance. There also wasn't anyone sitting atop the carriage, instead most likely housing its passengers inside the main compartment.

The unicorn guard stood in the road and lifted his foreleg in a halting gesture, and after a brief moment, the carriage slowed to a stop.

While the rookie stood nearby and watched, the veteran earth stallion walked up to the side of the carriage and turned to the four ponies drawing it. “Evening, fellas.” He greeted in a somewhat friendly manner. “Mind telling me your business out here?”

Strangely, there was no response.

The unicorn twitched a brow upward at the strange silence of the four. The ponies barely even seemed to acknowledge their presence. Although, he did just barely see a hint of movement within their cloaks that sort of looked red.

Before any of the guards could speak further, the window of the carriage opened and a mare poked her head out. She had snow-white fur and delicate blue hair that fell to her shoulders, which were wrapped in a red shawl.

“Hello, Mr. guard sir… what seems to be the issue?” The somewhat refined-sounding mare asked with a smooth, velvety voice as she shifted her sapphire orbs between them.

“Umm… There’s no issue, ma’am,” The veteran guard said. “We just need to know your business and where you’re headed.”

The mare sighed and seemed to almost deflate onto the windowsill. “Can’t decent ponies travel outside their hometown without being accosted at every turn? What has this country come to?”

“I’m sorry for any inconvenience, ma’am… but you really shouldn’t even be out here this late. Didn’t you know there’s a curfew in place?” The veteran asked.

“Yes, yes… we’re well aware of that business off in Canterlot. I understand the princess, bless her kind heart, is concerned for our wellbeing, but this is just getting silly.” The mare shook her head and sighed before looking back to the guards. “Very well, if you must know… My husband and I have urgent family business in the next town over, and it simply could not wait until morning.” She glanced into the carriage and flashed a patient smile. “It’s rather embarrassing I must admit, but if you really must know, I will tell you.”

The veteran guard shared a quick glance with the unicorn, who could only offer him a shrug in response. He looked over to the rookie, not that the younger stallion had much input to offer either, before finally rubbing his neck uncomfortably. “No, no, there’s no need for that. I believe you. Still… I don’t feel comfortable letting you folks travel at night by yourselves. May I suggest that we send word to the nearest town and get an escort down here for you?”

“You’re too kind.” The mare smiled and flopped a hoof. “But no, I think we’ll be fine.”

Suddenly, a strange clicking sound came from underneath the carriage. The guards weren’t sure what to make of it, and the mare stared down at the ground briefly before looking up to see the stallions about to act on their curiosity and investigate.

“Honey, I thought we had the carriage fixed?” The mare said, leaning back inside briefly.

Another voice came, masculine and somewhat gruff. “Erm… Sorry, dear. I guess they must have missed something.”

The mare shook her head with a tight-lipped smile as she turned to the guards. “Don’t mind this creaky old thing. Some days it never stays quiet.” She chuckled as she forcefully tapped the side of the carriage.

“Right…” The veteran said. He then cleared his throat and looked down the road for a moment before turning back to the mare with a slight smile. “Well, I’d hate to keep you any longer. You folks stay safe, and keep to the road, you hear?” He cautioned.

“Thank you so much, Mr. guard sir. You three stay safe yourselves… Whole of Equestria’s turned on its head with that talk of vampires and the princess getting attacked.” The mare said before turning and leaning out of the window a bit more. “Ok, boys, get a move on! We want to get there as soon as possible!” She instructed to the four ponies at the front of the carriage.

The guards watched as the team of ponies took off at a gallop. Soon, they lost sight of the carriage as it vanished into the fog.

Then, a series of high-pitched beeps made them look to the side. The telegraph device on the nearby table was coming alive with a message.

"What is it?" The rookie guard asked before falling silent as the unicorn shushed him.

"Sounds like… new orders from Canterlot." The unicorn reported before settling in to decipher the rest of the message.
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Meanwhile, the white mare with blue hair leaned back into the carriage and patted her mane. Her fur suddenly paled slightly, and her sapphire eyes shifted to a ruby red as she poked her abruptly elongated fangs with her tongue before turning to her companions.

“Very good.” A hooded figure chuckled as he leaned forward. He let his cloak down, revealing the silver hair and brown fur of Prince Dusk. “It’s always a pleasure to see someone so quick on their hooves.”

“Thank you, my Prince.” The mare said graciously before her expression soured as a series of muted clicks came from outside.

A loud sigh came from beside the mare as another cloaked pony stomped his hoof on the floor. “Be quiet down there, freak! You almost got us caught!”

“My Prince… if I may be so bold as to speak freely, may I ask why that horrid creature is still with us?” A second mare asked from beside the alicorn. There were around five other ponies in the carriage with Dusk, with two of them cramped uncomfortably to their side to give their master as much space as possible.

Dusk’s expression furrowed as he thought to the insect monster that was currently hiding underneath the carriage, puppeteering the four ponies in front into pulling them along. “It is a necessary evil, I’m afraid. It has proven rather useful in allowing us to move freely and discreetly.”

“But why couldn’t we just pull the carriage?” The first stallion asked cluelessly. “We can make ourselves look normal.” He gestured to the mare that just sweet-talked their way past the guards.

The mare in question narrowed her eyes at the stallion. “Because the sun was up, simpleton. Do you want to burn to a crisp?”

“Well, it isn’t up now, is it?” The stallion retorted, leaning closer to glare at the mare.

A slight growl made everyone fall silent and stiffen up as they turned to see Dusk wearing a displeased expression. They quickly got back into place and silently hoped that he wasn't about to feed them to the creature below.

After getting his point across, Dusk relaxed a bit and exhaled softly with annoyance as he realized how curious his new children were.

“If you must know, my little ponies, we are traveling in such discomfort to stay hidden. I could reveal myself to Celestia and her whelps any time I want…” His eyes grew a bit more distant and intense as he went on, causing some of the pale ponies to shrink back into their seats. “But after that slayer up and appeared out of nowhere and humiliated me like that… I want to get some special payback. That is where all of you come in.”

The blue-haired mare bowed her head respectfully. “Anything to serve your will, my Prince.”

“What would you ask of us?” The stallion leaned forward, eager to please.

Dusk smirked as he looked around at his small gathering of servants. He then reached into his cloak and pulled out some empty glass vials. “For starters, I want you to take these.” He said as he held out one of his wrists to each vial and let some of his blood spill into them from his ever-present wounds. “You will need them to give yourselves more numbers to work with in my absence.”

“You’re leaving us?” The second mare asked before shrinking back timidly. “I-I mean… of course, my Prince. Whatever you desire. But… might I ask why?”

“All in due time, my child…” Dusk said softly, his calm voice somehow simultaneously soothing the mare and instilling a slight tenseness in her form. He shifted to look out the window at the moon rising higher into the sky, his lips curling up in a grin as his fangs poked out slightly.

“All in due time…”