Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

A flash of orange streaked across the skies above Ponyville, catching one or two passing stares from ponies still outside.

Blue Bolt flinched and rocked side to side as he decelerated rapidly. His glowing wings caught a wave of wind that threatened to blow him off-kilter, but he held steady. He was starting to get used to using his newfound powers, but the more taxing ones still left a buzz in his head that he had to shake off.

Right now, he couldn’t afford to waste time learning the nuances of hyper fast flight or supernatural headaches. His friends needed him.

Looking down at the landscape below, he could see the last few clusters of buildings on this side of town giving way to grassy plains and rolling hills. He could also see a fenced-off plot of land with numerous apple trees and a very distinct set of buildings up ahead.

“Sweet Apple Acres… thank Celestia,” Blue muttered to himself with a relieved smile. With troubling thoughts of what could have happened to warrant such an urgent call for aid running through his head, he swooped down and headed for the farmhouse.

As he got closer to the ground, he could spot numerous equine shapes out by the front of the house. Most were clad in guard armor, easily visible from above with their colorful plumed helmets. However, one white shape, in particular, seemed to be waving at him.

The stallion fluttered down to a landing right in front of the porch, where a familiar white unicorn was seemingly waiting for him with a pale look about her that didn’t go unnoticed.

“Blue Bolt, thank the stars!” Rarity deflated a bit, her joy at seeing the pegasus quickly replaced with fearful urgency as she turned toward the back of the house, a peculiar-looking vial in her hoof. “Quickly! Follow me!”

“Lead the way,” Blue said, already following after her. Judging from the mare’s trembling eyes and rigid movements, he figured that they didn’t have any time to waste.

As they ran around the house and into the orchards, Rarity consulted the vial in her hoof, seemingly to find out which way to go. The sand inside the charm glowed brightly toward one end, acting as a beacon of sorts.

“What is it?” Blue Bolt asked while he ran. “Is someone hurt?”

Rarity panted softly, already feeling exhausted. The stallion seemed to be effortlessly keeping pace with her. He could probably go faster, she surmised, but right now she was his guide. “It’s Big Macintosh.” She explained, pausing either to catch her breath or her thoughts. “We were fighting some of those dreadful monsters with sunken eyes. He… he got attacked trying to save Applejack.”

“Oh my gosh…” Blue Bolt’s mouth fell open as he envisioned the event in his head. He knew first hoof how vicious the feral ponies could be.

“You can save him, can’t you?” Rarity prodded with voice faintly wavering.

The stallion softened his expression at this and trailed his eyes down. “I hope so.”

After a few more moments of running, Rarity stopped suddenly. A sharp gasp escaped her as she pointed ahead, where three colorful shapes could be seen in the distance. “There!”

With his destination in sight, the stallion steeled himself before aptly bolting forward. Rarity was practically left in his dust, but she didn’t mind showing up last. Right now, he was their only hope.

Up ahead, Applejack and Glimmer Shine were huddled around the red stallion motionless on the ground. The orange mare was in the middle of performing CPR while Glimmer watched. An air of panicked urgency was clearly visible on their faces.

“Come on, Mac. Breathe!” Applejack fought her shaking hooves to continue pumping his chest. Every so often, she would stop her compressions and give the limp pony a breath before returning to her efforts.

However, as she noticed her yellow companion looking up, she darted her gaze forward and immediately perked up at the sight of a familiar pegasus rushing over.

“Blue Bolt!” Applejack immediately stood up and backed away to give the stallion room. “He’s not breathin’! Please…”

“Get those bandages off him.” Blue Bolt instructed as he leveled his hooves to Big Mac’s neck. He barely paused to take a deep breath before projecting his healing light.

Glimmer Shine raced to remove the bloodied gauze pads and expose the stallion’s wounds, not even pausing to note the strange warmth and tingling that came from sticking his hooves into the blue torrent of energy.

Meanwhile, Rarity finally caught up to the group. She gasped softly as she came to a stop next to Applejack, who was staring ahead with wide eyes.

“Oh my…” Rarity put a hoof to her mouth as the shock hit her. She did her best to internalize her own anxiety and rested a foreleg around her friend’s back.

“How long has he been like this?” Blue Bolt asked, glancing over to the yellow stallion beside him. He didn’t want to trouble the orange mare any further.

“He passed out right before you got here.” Glimmer answered. He couldn’t shake the pit in his stomach as he looked over and saw Applejack barely holding it together.

“Y-you can fix him, can’t you?” Applejack looked to the pegasus with more desperation in her eyes than he had ever seen in another pony. Her normally strong form seemed frail and jittery, like the only thing holding her up was the unicorn by her side. “Tom brought Twilight back after she died, and he ain’t even dead yet!”

Blue Bolt felt a tenseness in his limbs, and it wasn't from stamina drain. He barely even felt anything yet from his healing light, but somehow he felt cold despite the warmth radiating from his hooves.

“I-I’m doing everything I can, Applejack.” He replied, swallowing his nerves so he could keep a straight face.

The group collectively held their breath and watched as Blue Bolt desperately tried to pull the eldest Apple child from the jaws of death. While it was hard to see through the luminous wave of energy, they could just barely make out the sight of Big Mac’s wounds sealing up.

After giving the process more time than he thought was needed, Blue Bolt let the light fade. He examined his work while lightly catching his breath, and after a brief investigation, he found no traces of any punctures in the stallion’s throat.

Strangely, however, Big Mac still didn’t stir.

“Did it work?” Applejack asked, inching closer to her sibling until she was across from Blue Bolt. “Wh… why ain’t he wakin’ up?” She looked down, then up to the pegasus, then back down to her brother.

Blue Bolt seemed troubled by this development as well. “I don’t understand… His wounds are gone. I thought this was supposed to restore his strength too?” He muttered, looking down to his hooves. Did he do something wrong?

“Unless…” Glimmer Shine started, only to stop himself.

The others turned to see the vested pony wearing a distant and grim expression.

“Unless what, Glimmer?” Applejack turned to the stallion, keeping one hoof on the side of Big Mac’s form.

Glimmer dodged his eyes to the side. He seemed unable to meet the orange mare’s gaze. “Tom said that his powers normally can’t bring someone back that’s already…”

Even though he couldn’t get the words out, his message was clearly received. No matter how much some didn’t want to receive it.

“No. That ain’t true… he’s not-” Applejack shook her head, her steely eyes starting to water as she turned back to her motionless sibling. “He’s… he’s n-not dead.” Her voice failed her.

Rarity felt her lip trembling as she watched her friend just sitting there like a statue. Her heart only broke more as Applejack collapsed into the red stallion’s form and silently wept as she wrapped her forelegs around him.

Glimmer Shine lowered his head, lifting a foreleg and resting it around Rarity as she sank into his side and sobbed. He had desperately wanted to prevent anyone from ever going through this, but it seemed as though he had failed.

Blue Bolt had failed as well. He shrank back and allowed the orange mare some space as he silently looked down to his hooves. He was supposed to be able to save people now. Was he still just as weak as he had always been?

Applejack cried her eyes out as she hugged Big Mac close. She had so much pent-up emotion building up inside, and only a portion of it was coming out. She couldn’t believe that he was gone.

And then, she felt some movement as the sound of a deep, sucking breath came from beside her, followed by some coughing. Lifting her head, she noticed the red stallion was indeed moving.

“Big Mac?” Applejack blinked in disbelief, her stunned eyes still wet as she watched him open his. “You’re alive?!”

“Ee..yup…” Big Mac muttered, voice a bit creaky and drowsy sounding. He looked around, showing confusion through his unfocused gaze, before grunting slightly and sitting up. “What happened?”

Applejack was still processing things, but she couldn’t help but smile as she leaned back, revealing the pegasus beside them. “Blue Bolt healed you.”

“Hi there…” Blue gave a slightly awkward wave. “I don’t think we’ve met.”

“Thank ya kindly…” Big Mac said, though there was still a sense of confusion about his face even through the grateful smile. “You healed me?”

“I guess so.” Blue gave a half-hearted chuckle as he looked down to his hoof and let a bit of the soft blue light shine out. “I’m just glad it worked.”

“And thank the princess that it did. We thought we lost you.” Rarity chimed in.

The stallion glanced around at the small gathering around him before settling his eyes on Blue Bolt again, this time putting full focus on his earlier confusion. “Why do you have Tom’s fancy powers?”

Hearing this, everyone’s expressions soured. In all the commotion, they hadn’t realized that Big Mac and most everyone in Equestria hadn’t been told about what happened to the human, or how the pegasus died and came back as a new slayer.

“Mac…” Applejack sighed softly, her ears drooping a bit. “A lot’s happened up in Canterlot… a lot of bad.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think we have time to fill you in on everything. The others might need our help as we speak.” Glimmer Shine pointed out.

Rarity’s expression fell as she thought about how much danger her friends could have been in. “Perhaps we should check in on them? I’m certain that at the very least, they will want to know that everyone’s ok over here.” She suggested.

“Right.” Glimmer sighed before getting up and taking a few steps away. He put a hoof up to his ear, which glowed near the tip shortly after as he focused on his teammates. “This is Glimmer. The situation’s been taken care of over here. Everyone’s fine.”

A few moments later, a relieved sigh filled his head.

“Thank goodness for that. You were starting to worry us.” Glitterball said.

“Did I miss something?” Sparkplug chimed in, a bit concerned.

Glimmer gave a slight chuckle. “Nothing that didn’t get sorted out. How about down at the square? How are things looking, Glitter?”

“We’re still waiting on backup. We really need the numbers before we make a move. Town Hall’s been quiet, but I’m sure they’re watching the entries like a hawk.” The unicorn explained uneasily.

“We’re almost there. I can see the square now.” Sparkplug assured.

“That’s good…” Glitter said, though her tone seemed to contradict her, “But I still don’t feel good pushing unless we’re really ready to take on eight of them at once. Glimmer, you think you guys could head down here since you’re done?”

Glimmer glanced behind him to see the others all watching. Applejack and Rarity were still huddling next to Big Mac. They were all ready to go, but the two mares, the farmer especially, were still celebrating the fact that Big Mac had survived. He didn’t want to take them away from such pleasantness, but they had a job to do.

“Yeah. We’ll be down there as soon as we can.” Glimmer said before skewing his expression a bit as he thought of something. “What about Sunspot? Any news on their progress?”

“Uh… I haven’t heard from her. Have you, Glitter?” Sparkplug asked.

“No, I haven’t either.” Glitter said, growing a bit concerned. “You there, Sunspot?”

A troubling silence went on for several seconds.

“Sunspot?” Glimmer Shine prodded, only to receive no response. As brash as the pegasus was at times, it wasn't like her to just not answer. Something was wrong. “That’s not good...”

“What’s not good?” Applejack chimed in uneasily.

Glimmer gave the others a brief acknowledging glance before holding up a hoof, signaling for them to give him a minute to finish his conversation. “Girls, I think we’re going to have to take the square without Blue Bolt. It sounds like Sunspot and the others might be in trouble.”

“You think it’s serious enough to warrant Blue flying over there? We’ve got a hostage situation on our hooves, guys. Sunspot and Rainbow Dash are tough enough to handle themselves until you could get there… right?” Sparkplug ventured, though her voice wavered a bit.

“I think it’s better not to risk it. Blue can get there a lot faster and find out what’s going on.” Glitter added.

“My thoughts exactly.” Glimmer sighed tensely. “Besides, we can handle the square. Between you, Twilight, Shining, and Rarity, we should have enough unicorns to immobilize those vamps long enough for the rest of us to take the others out. We’ll be there shortly. Sit tight until then.”

“Roger that.” Glitter replied.

“You got it,” Sparkplug added.

As Glimmer dropped his hoof from his ear and turned around with a less than thrilled expression, the two mares and two stallions listened intently for whatever was to come next.

“Something wrong with Rainbow Dash and the others?” Blue prodded, stepping forward a bit.

“We think so.” Glimmer Shine nodded and set his mouth in a somber line. “Sunspot isn’t answering us.”

Rarity and Applejack’s expressions immediately fell as they thought about their pegasus friends being in danger.

“Oh… I hope nothing’s happened to them.” Rarity fretted. “I knew poor Fluttershy shouldn’t have been so involved.”

“Give her some credit, Rare.” Applejack said, though she wore a troubled expression as well. “She’s a lot tougher than you’d expect in a pinch. B’sides that, she’s got Rainbow and Sunspot to look out for her.”

Blue Bolt looked to Glimmer Shine with a more serious air to his eyes. “What do you want me to do? If I had my say, I’d already be gone to go help them, but I know other lives are at stake here.”

Glimmer was impressed to see the pegasus so eager to try and help as many people as possible. It very much reminded him of their human friend. Blue really was a slayer after all. “We can handle the square.” He glanced at Applejack and Rarity, who seemed eager to agree. “You go see what’s up with those three, and meet up with us once you’re done.”

Blue Bolt looked at the two mares. They offered him confident smiles and a nod or two. He smiled back before turning to the vested pony. “Alright. You guys stay safe.”

And with that, the pegasus took off like a hawk in flight, going fast enough to remind Rarity and Applejack of their cyan friend. Not many pegasi could accomplish that.

Still, as confident as they were in Blue’s ability, they couldn’t help but worry about their friends. With Big Mac right next to them, serving as a sobering reminder of what they were fighting and what could happen in the blink of an eye, they hoped against all hope that the three mares were ok.

-Earlier-

With their target coming into view, Sunspot and her two companions hovered down toward the ground. They paused well above the moonlit pasture that Fluttershy’s cottage sat on and scanned the area for movement.

After finding no signs of life from the air, the trio landed just before the bridge over the stream, the only source of noise in the whole area.

Fluttershy wrinkled her face with concern as she stared at her home. The once serene cottage was still lit from within, almost like nothing was wrong. Still, she couldn’t stop thinking about the teal mare within.

“I hope Lyra’s ok…” She let the hoof with her silver dagger dangle a bit and trailed her shimmering eyes down. Then, a few hoofsteps brought her attention to the side to see her cyan friend walking forward.

“She’ll be fine once we get in there. Right, Sunspot?” Rainbow flashed a confident smirk, hoping to receive the same kind of confidence from the suited mare.

However, Sunspot seemed more uneasy than usual. “I think right now we need to be cautious… and believe me, I know how that sounds coming from me.” She said, pulling up her detector from its cord and holding it out in front of her as she slowly walked over the bridge. Most of the fluid inside was aglow, confirming what they already knew.

“How many do you think there are?” Fluttershy asked as they followed along. She was used to moving softly, drawing as little attention as possible, but now she felt as though even her hoof falls were loud as thunder.

“Hard to say. Going off what that guard said, probably four or five.” Sunspot inferred.

“I’ll take two, and you take two. That’ll leave one for me when I get done with the first two.” Rainbow stated.

Sunspot snorted, “I like the enthusiasm, but let’s not get too carried away. We don’t know if they have any of those weird long-legged ones.”

“I hope not.” Fluttershy stiffened at the mere mention of the beastly ponies.

Rainbow Dash started to go off on some nonchalant dismissal of the feral creatures, either to comfort Fluttershy or boast, when Sunspot’s ear suddenly pricked to the side.

“Sssh!” The suited pegasus halted and faced toward the sound she heard. The other two mares quieted down and shifted their eyes over to where their leader had singled out. They all quickly realized that they were looking at Fluttershy’s shed.

Sunspot pulled out her silver dagger, while Rainbow Dash kept her own at the ready. Fluttershy stayed behind her two friends as they slowly approached the shed.

They gathered before the door. The sound had since ceased, but they were still on high alert. Sunspot nodded to Rainbow Dash, who in turn readied her weapon, before the orange mare reached for the door and threw it open.

“AHH!” A feminine scream greeted the trio as an equine shape fell backward, followed by a loud crash. Fluttershy mirrored the scream and jumped back, while Sunspot and Rainbow Dash merely flinched.

As they took a second to process who they were looking at, they realized that they recognized the pony currently lying on their back in the middle of the shed, covered in empty plant pots and dust.

It was a teal unicorn mare with bluish-white mane. A golden harp adorned her flank, all but confirming what they already knew.

“Lyra?!” Rainbow widened her eyes as she stared at the last pony she expected to see.

Lyra lifted a pot from over her eyes and blinked at the surprised trio. “Rainbow Dash… Fluttershy? What are you doing here? I thought you were off in Canterlot.”

Fluttershy stepped out from the cover of her friends and offered a helping hoof for the mare on the ground. She said, “We came to help as soon as we heard the town was under attack.”

“Wait… the town’s under attack?!” Lyra asked, clearly alarmed. “Does that mean there's more of them?!”

“We’ve got people handling it.” Sunspot chimed in.

Rainbow wrinkled her expression in confusion. “More importantly, what are you doing out here? We thought you were being held hostage by those fanged freaks.”

Suddenly, the fearful unease in the teal mare’s eyes shifted to outright worry as she darted her eyes to the cottage. “It was awful. Bon Bon and I were spending some time together while I was watching your animals for you. I was out here tending the chickens when these… these…”

“Vampires.” All three said in unison.

“Right… Vampires! These vampires just came barging into the house! I tried to go get help, but the two guards that showed up got captured as well. I’ve been hiding out here ever since.” Lyra explained, her ears falling flat against her head. “Please, you have to help them. I overheard them arguing about who was going to get to…” She swallowed uneasily, “k-kill Bon Bon.”

“Oh dear…” Fluttershy brought a hoof closer to herself.

Meanwhile, instead of showing concern, at least outwardly, Rainbow Dash offered the teal mare her usual confident smile. “Don’t worry. We’ll save Bon Bon and those guards no problemo.”

Lyra blinked, “Really? I mean… I know you guys deal with monster attacks often, but this seems different.” She frowned with concern for the three mares.

“Nothing we haven’t dealt with before,” Sunspot added with a hint of pride in her eyes. “Trust me. We’re professionals, right girls?”

Rainbow Dash posed with her dagger as she let out a hearty noise of agreement, while Fluttershy merely smiled uncomfortably and gave a hesitant murmur.

By the end of the display, Lyra wasn't sure what to think, but she didn’t really have a choice in who got to save her and her friend. “Well… l-lead the way.” She gestured nervously, hoping to anyone that was listening that this wasn't going to go as poorly as some of Rainbow Dash’s other endeavors.

With their new companion reluctantly in tow, the three pegasi slowly crept toward the side of the cottage. Sunspot took the lead, sweeping her detector side to side to make sure that all of the signals were coming from in front of them rather than behind.

Once they reached the house itself, they all hunkered down against the wall and moved toward the front. Almost immediately, they could hear muffled noises from inside. It sounded like talking, but they couldn’t determine what was being said or by whom.

Sunspot gestured for her companions to stay put for a moment and rounded the corner. She craned her neck up, barely peeking through the window and into the lit interior of the cottage.

She could instantly see Fluttershy’s living room, mostly intact save for a few overturned pieces of furniture. Six figures were inside.

One was a very petrified-looking Bon Bon. The cream mare was sitting, or rather, cowering on a couch at the back of the room, being watched over by a pale unicorn mare.

Two stallions easily identifiable as guards were tied up on the floor. One was missing his helmet, and the other was bleeding from a bite mark on his shoulder. A petite framed earth mare was stepping on the helmet-less guard roughly while another earth stallion seemingly argued with her.

“We’ve been waiting long enough! I say we eat these three and call it a day!” The stallion snarled hungrily.

“The Prince doesn’t want us to do anything until the elements get here! How can we have hostages if you eat them all?!” The petite mare retorted.

“You could stand to at least eat the mare. I’m amazed these two didn’t snap you in half, toothpick!” The stallion jabbed a hoof at her.

“Don’t call me that!”

“Toothpick!”

A sudden growl made everyone, even the suited pegasus watching from outside, shift their attention to the unicorn mare, who by now was getting hot-headed enough to counteract her pale complexion.

“Would you be quiet for five seconds?! Prince as my witness, I will take one of those silver daggers and end BOTH of you if you don’t shut the buck up!” The unicorn fumed.

The first mare pouted and averted her gaze, forcing Sunspot to duck out of sight for fear of being seen. “He started it.”

Back around the corner, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Lyra looked to their suited leader as she rejoined them in relative safety. They were half expecting her to get caught, but it seemed as though they were still in the clear.

“What’s going on in there?” Rainbow asked.

Sunspot sighed tensely, “Looks like three of them. They’ve got Bon Bon treed and those guards tied up, and it sounds like they’re getting antsy.”

“That’s not good.” Fluttershy cringed nervously at the fight they had ahead of them. They might have had the numbers advantage and the element of surprise, but she knew that the pale ponies were formidable opponents in direct combat.

Meanwhile, Lyra seemed uneasy for an entirely different reason.

“Wait… you said there were three of them?” The teal mare asked pointedly.

Sunspot skewed a brow warily. “Yeah, why?”

“There’s supposed to be six of them!”

Before they could even process a reaction to Lyra’s words, Fluttershy looked over as movement caught her eye. Fast movement.

She turned just in time to watch a pale white shape crash into Sunspot’s back, slamming the suited mare up against the side of the cottage with a painful thud. It was another pegasus, a mare with washed-out white fur and sickly yellow and green hair. The red eyes were a dead giveaway that this was another vampire.

Fluttershy gasped, “Sunspot!”

“Fluttershy, look out!” Rainbow Dash called out from behind the yellow mare.

The next thing she knew, Fluttershy was yanked back just before another equine shape crashed to the ground where she just was.

A gray pegasus stallion with brown hair growled at the three mares, paying particular attention to the cyan one that just pulled his target out of the way. Lyra produced a shrill scream as she fell to her haunches.

“Get them!” Another voice shouted from above. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy darted their eyes up to see a third orange and red pegasus hovering in place above them, pointing a hoof at them.

Sunspot grunted as she struggled against the mare grappling her. She had the clear disadvantage from strength and poor positioning, but she wasn't about to just give up. She elbowed back into the mare’s ribs, eliciting a pained yelp. In turn, the mare grabbed her foreleg and wrenched it to the side.

“Get off me!” Sunspot demanded, though she didn’t exactly expect the vampiric mare to comply.

An elbow pressed into her shoulder, seemingly a response to her resistance. In response to this, Sunspot kicked off the wall of the cottage and gave a flap of her wings, sending her falling backward on top of the mare before the both of them started rolling and flailing at each other.

While the two mares struggled on the ground, Rainbow Dash stood in front of her two friends protectively and brandished her dagger. Fluttershy tried to keep herself from tensing up fearfully as she held her own weapon. Lyra, meanwhile, had nothing to protect herself and was reacting accordingly by cowering close to her allies.

The stallion snarled at the three mares and charged forward with eyes flaring and fangs bared. Rainbow immediately made a lunge for him, only to have her foreleg grabbed and twisted, nearly wrenching the dagger from her hoof.

“Back off, creep!” She punched at his face, but it didn’t seem to have the effect she intended, as his sadistic grin still remained even after two or three hits. Then, he grabbed her other limb and pulled her close.

Seeing her friend in danger, Fluttershy reluctantly rushed into action. She started to move around the side to get a stab in at the stallion, when he suddenly tossed Rainbow Dash to the ground and hissed at her, causing all of the hairs on her neck to stand up.

Much to both mares’ surprise, a fearful yell came from behind as a teal shape charged the stallion. Lyra jumped into him and tackled him, nearly sending him to the ground.

“Gah!” The stallion yelped in surprise, only to harden his expression in annoyance as the seemingly defenseless mare assaulted him. “Get off!”

“Lyra!” Fluttershy paled as she saw the stallion about to reach over and bite into Lyra’s neck. She rushed forward and stabbed her dagger toward his chest, only to garner his full attention. He grabbed her hoof, forcing her into a grapple with him alongside the teal pony.

Rainbow Dash got off the ground and started to rush to help her friends when she suddenly heard the swooping of wings far too late to stop a pair of forelegs from hooking under her shoulders and lifting her up. Her dagger fell out of her grip and uselessly plopped on the ground.

“Woah!” Rainbow flailed against her attacker, even reverse headbutting into him. A masculine grunt all but confirmed that the orange pegasus was a stallion. “Let go of me!”

“Like that’ll happen!” The stallion retorted, doing a surprisingly good job of counteracting her movement in the air. Apparently, vampiric strength applied to wings as well.

Back on the ground, it was a mess of chaotic yelps, grunts, and struggling as both sides fought to gain the upper hand over the other. Lyra and Fluttershy were having a hard time dealing with the pale stallion, while Sunspot was still wrestling with the white mare.

Sunspot choked out a pained noise as she found herself on the bottom of the rolling mass she had been a part of up until now. A hoof was jammed into her throat hard. Her windpipe was being crushed, and she couldn’t breathe.

The pale mare on top of her seemed to enjoy watching her struggle and clutch at her neck. Any time she would reach for her knife or another tool off her suit, the mare would simply grab the offending foreleg or swat it away.

“The Prince will reward me when he hears how I killed you.” The mare chortled sadistically, not even an ounce of remorse or hesitation in her stone-cold eyes.

Really, she was asking for what was coming to her.

With lungs burning and vision blurring, Sunspot punched at the mare with one hoof, easily being blocked. Using this as an opportunity, she quickly jabbed her other hoof at the pale pony’s face, aiming right for the crimson orbs staring down at her.

The white mare jerked both hooves up as the suited pegasus poked her in the eye. “Ow! Why you little-”

She didn’t even get to finish her sentence before Sunspot raced a hoof to a pocket and pulled out a silver dagger before jamming it up. The blade pierced right into the mare’s throat, cutting off her words with a shocked gurgle.

Before the pale pegasus could even reach a hoof to her grave injury, her neck exploded into a wave of fire and ash that swiftly overcame her head before racing down through her body. Her form collapsed into dust atop Sunspot, and soon there was nothing left.

Sunspot cringed and shut her eyes, turning her head to the side to avoid the expected shower of particles. She barely had time to process her disgust before she shot off the ground, ready to help her friends.

A darting glance at the scene ahead of her showed the three mares in serious trouble.

Fluttershy and Lyra were struggling with one of the pale stallions, but they were clearly outmatched in terms of strength.

Rainbow Dash was up in the air, with the other stallion holding onto her tightly. It seemed like she wasn’t even making any progress with her flailing and bucking.

Sunspot cursed, "Horsefeathers… Hold on, girls!" She charged forward, ready to assist Fluttershy and Lyra.

However, just as she was making a lunge with her knife, her movements abruptly halted as a faint glow appeared before her vision.

"Ngh… what the hay?!" Sunspot jerked her limbs, but they were stuck in place, with only slight jitters showing how hard she was struggling.

Fluttershy and Lyra looked up at their orange friend, only to have a sense of fear and defeat wash over their faces.

"Oh no…" Fluttershy whined softly. Then, before she could even react, the stallion wrenched her hoof to the side, causing a painful yelp and forcing her to drop her dagger.

Lyra produced a similar yelp as a hoof roughly grabbed the back of her mane.

Sunspot trailed her eyes to the side as a chuckle pricked her ears. She saw the unicorn mare and the stallion from inside the cottage walking over casually.

"Well, well, well." The unicorn sneered, eyeing up Sunspot while her companions finished capturing the other two mares. "Looks like we got ourselves a jackpot. Two elements and one of the Princess’s monster-hunting morons."

The earth stallion looked around as he took hold of Fluttershy from his pegasus companion. He skewed a brow as he seemingly failed to find what he was searching for. “Hey, where’s Silky?”

A slight grunt drew their attention to the side, where Rainbow Dash was being forcibly shoved to the ground after the red stallion landed. He took a moment to keep his hold as the cyan mare wriggled and strained before glaring in Sunspot’s direction. “That featherbrain killed her.”

“Aww… she owed me five bits.” The earth stallion frowned before perking up slightly and turning to their apparent leader. “Hey, can I eat one of them? Surely we don’t need this many.”

The unicorn mare smirked as she patted the side of Sunspot’s face, much to the trapped flyer’s chagrin. “Oh, don’t you worry… I’m sure we’ll all get to eat very soon.”

Sunspot still couldn’t move very much, but she seemed to deflate with worry as she realized how much trouble she and her friends were in. All she could do was limply struggle and watch as the pale ponies ferried her, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Lyra inside the cottage, where an unknowable fate awaited them.