Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

“Ugh…”

Spike’s eyes creaked open as consciousness found him amidst a blurry landscape of colors, shapes, and shadows. His head was throbbing. His back was throbbing. Really, everything was throbbing. It felt like he had been trampled by a stampede.

As the young drake pushed himself to a seated position, aided in part by the wall he was seemingly slumped against, he took a look around. He was still in the equipment room.

Bringing a hand to the back of his head and rubbing it, he cringed in sharp pain and jerked back. Although it was hard to see from the dim light scattering out from the magical lantern nearby, he could immediately tell that his hand was covered in a concerning amount of blood.

A quick inspection of the wall behind him revealed more of the crimson fluid, with one spot even higher up than he currently was. The pale stallion must have smacked him pretty hard to get him to fly so far, which also explained why his cheek stung.

With more memories of what just happened flooding into his mind, his features fell into a worried frown as he thought to Cadence and the three fillies. They must have been taken away while he was unconscious.

Then, his eyes shot open as he remembered who else he was with.

“Raincloud!” Spike gasped and darted to his feet, uncaring of his stiff muscles. He turned to where he remembered the pegasus being tossed to, only to spot her motionless form still lying where she was before he got knocked out.

The dragon rushed over to the fallen mare and paused beside her. The light from the nearby secret chamber softly illuminated her body, which had four deep wounds steadily leaking blood from her chest and stomach.

“Raincloud, can you hear me?!” He shook her foreleg, desperate to get some kind of reaction. Even if she had tried to kill him before, even if she did sell him and his friends out, and even if part of him still feared her, he didn’t want to see her dead.

“Think, Spike. Uh… Pulse!” He exclaimed to himself as he recalled his training. With heart quickening and a feeling of dread building inside of him, he reached down and placed two fingers on the gray mare’s neck.

Not feeling anything, Spike shifted around. He had learned basic first-aid thanks to Twilight’s need for being prepared, but he was no expert. The longer he didn’t feel anything pressing back on his digits, the more anxious he got.

Then, he flinched back a bit as the pegasus tensed up and took a labored breath before falling into a coughing fit.

Raincloud moaned weakly as she opened her eyes and gently covered one of her wounds with a hoof. She rolled her head to the side, only to notice a small purple shape beside her staring back with green eyes full of a mixture of worry and hesitance.

“You’re alive.” Spike formed a relieved smile, though he knew that the mare was gravely injured. “Don’t worry, I’ll go get some help.” He assured before turning and scampering away.

“Wait!” Raincloud called before cringing and clutching her chest as she tried to move.

The dragon skidded to a halt and turned back to the bloodied pony. “Raincloud… you’re hurt pretty bad. You need medical attention.” He reasoned, walking back over to her slowly.

The pegasus took a few strained breaths and tensed her lips as a wave of pain hit her. She looked down to the floor beside her, which was steadily collecting her blood, before shifting her dull eyes to the dragon.

“Kid… I’ll be dead before you… even get back.” She tried to catch her breath, only to give a few wet coughs instead.

“Wh… what should I do?” Spike asked.

As if to answer him, Raincloud struggled to lift her foreleg and brush a hoof against her collar. “You gotta… f-find the remote.” She wheezed as her fragile lungs threatened another cough. “I can heal… my… myself.”

“You can?” Spike asked, a bit surprised that the mare could use her powers for something so positive.

Raincloud nodded, or at least attempted to. “Yeah… well, I-I’ve never… done it before, but-” She cringed and stifled a yelp as she held one of her wounds. “No time… l-like the present, right?”

Spike cringed nervously as the pressure of the situation swiftly mounted. He had overheard roughly where Sparkplug put the active remote when she told the others and he and Twilight were in the room, but he didn’t know exactly where it was.

“O-ok.” He nodded sporadically. “Just hang in there… I’ll be right back!” He said before turning and rushing toward the door.

“Oh, don’t mind… me. I’ll just be here… turning into a corpse.” Raincloud deadpanned, either from weakness or sarcasm, as she let her head thump back against the wall. If she was going to die, at least she could say that the throes of death didn’t take her scathing cynicism at the end.

Meanwhile, Spike made as much haste as his own battered body would allow as he went down the hall and into another room. This one was a small storage room of sorts, which seemed to have been taken over by Glimmer Shine and his team.

Boxes full of random items ranging from alchemical ingredients, to empty glass beakers, to a few empty charm vials were neatly stored on shelves against the walls. Glitterball had kept this place tidy at least, as there was a clear divide between the magical equipment, the weapons and tools, and the mechanical equipment that must have belonged to Sparkplug.

Spike climbed onto one of the boxes of mechanical odds and ends and gave it a quick search before feverishly turning to another, and another. No matter where he looked, he couldn’t find what he needed.

“Come on, Sparkplug… where did you put it?!” He muttered to himself anxiously. The wounded pegasus didn’t have the time he was currently wasting.

Then, his claws wrapped around a promising shape. And as he pulled the object free of the cluttered mess, his eyes lit up at the sight of a familiar remote.

“Yes!” He formed a relieved smile before suddenly losing his balance and falling backward with a startled yelp. This small setback didn’t deter him, however, as he was back up in an instant and scampering off to the equipment room. “Don’t worry, Raincloud! I’m coming!”

As he rushed back into the room, he felt a nervous pit in his heart as he saw the grayish-blue mare barely moving. Her head was limply propped up by the wall behind her, and she was loosely staring at the ceiling while taking shallow breaths.

Spike looked down to the remote in his hands, and then at her collar. He couldn’t deny a feeling of unease, but this wasn't the time. He pushed the button in the center of the strange device, and almost immediately there was a whir of clicks.

The metal band in the center of Raincloud’s collar spun around until an empty gray slate was left in place of some of the symbols across its surface. It had worked. The pegasus could use shadow magic now.

That is if she could manage it.

Raincloud groaned softly and tried to lift her hoof. She could barely even pick it up, let alone move it to her chest. Eventually, the trembling limb fell back to the floor as she let out an exhausted wheeze.

Seeing the pegasus struggling, Spike rushed over and picked up her foreleg himself. He gently held it to her form, placing her hoof over one of her wounds. “Stay awake, Raincloud! I can’t do this for you!” He pleaded.

However, much to the young dragon’s horror, her eyes began to lose focus and close.

“Raincloud?” He gasped.

Then, just as the dragon was losing hope, he felt the temperature plummet near her hoof as a dim purple glow enveloped its tip. With a disquieting sound, an aura of shifting dark energy formed, concealing one of the wounds from view as it began flowing into her form.

Much to Spike’s amazement, he began to see the other wounds on her chest and stomach closing up. It reminded him of watching Tom heal someone, only it was cold instead of warm, and a sickly shade of purple instead of a comforting blue.

A few moments after all the wounds had closed, the light faded and Raincloud shifted on the ground. With a dreary, although markedly louder and more energetic groan, she sat up and patted her chest.

“Ngh… that sucked.” She huffed, taking note of the puddle of her own blood she was sitting in with a bit of disgust before working her way to her hooves. However, as she stood up, a series of clicks and whirs brought her attention to her collar, which just activated again, and then to the dragon in front of her.

Spike was backing up slowly, not breaking eye contact with her. A distrusting frown was on his face, and more than a hint of hesitance was in his eyes despite how brave he was trying to be.

The pegasus sighed and gestured with her hoof, “Kid, give me that remote.” She instructed, not in a threatening way, but still firm.

Spike arched his body, keeping the remote close to his chest as he darted his eyes between it and the mare now towering over him. Even without her dark powers, she was more than a match for him if she chose to overpower him.

Then, his eye caught something on one of the nearby stools, seemingly leftover from the tinkering sessions the team had.

“Oh… you mean, this remote?” He said, a hint of impish defiance in his voice as he tossed the device to the ground and snatched up a small mallet. Before the pegasus could even move, he raised it high and smashed it down a few times.

The remote bounced and shattered over the course of a few hits. Tiny pieces of it broke off, followed by it snapping in half as the main housing was loosed. Soon, the button on its face was even dislodged, bouncing and rolling on the floor until it came to a stop by Raincloud.

Raincloud trailed her eyes to the scattered pieces on the floor, and then to the dragon. She produced an annoyed grumble, her face tensing a bit, and then deflated.

“Touche…” She said flatly, a thoroughly unimpressed look on her face.

Spike slowly relaxed his tense form, having fully expected her to strike him or at least raise her voice. “You’re not going to… do anything?”

“Not much point in it now.” She reasoned. “Besides… I do kind of owe you some thanks for saving my hide, so… thanks.” She scratched at her mane awkwardly before walking past the dragon toward the door.

Spike did a double-take as she started to leave. “W-wait! Where are you going?!”

The pegasus sighed and rolled her eyes up as she heard scampering behind her. She turned to see the innocent young dragon looking at her with mild concern like he was contemplating trying to stop her.

“Look, charcoal breath… I appreciate you doing me a solid like you did, but I need to get while the getting’s good. If I’m lucky, the guards will still be running around trying to figure out what’s going on, and I can just slip right by.” She explained before turning back around.

Spike said, “You can’t just leave! What about Cadence, and the girls?!”

“Relax, kid. I’m sure your friends and that featherbrained new slayer can find Princess Lovey-Dovey and the brat brigade before anything bad happens. Either way, that’s you guys’ problem.”

“You know, Scootaloo and the others wouldn’t be in this mess if you didn’t sell us out like that!” Spike protested, causing the pegasus to pause midstep.

Raincloud growled under her breath, though Spike couldn’t tell if it was directed at him or not. She turned back to him, eyes hardened in annoyance.

“You know, I didn’t have to almost die saving your ungrateful tail. I could have just let them take you! But nooo, I had to go and get myself stabbed half to death, like that brat Twilight Sparkle and her friends weren’t gonna find some stupid way of saving everyone again like they always do!”

Spike cowered and waited as the pegasus huffed and caught her breath. Eventually, he let his guard lower again and looked to her with soft eyes. “Why do you hate Twilight so much? What did she ever do to you?”

Raincloud shifted her steely gaze for a moment as she gave the matter more thought than she first intended. “You wouldn’t get it… After all, you’re her pet. You’ve had everything you ever wanted handed to you on a silver platter… just like she has.” She said, quiet and composed.

The dragon wasn't sure what to say to that. While he was left staring at her, she tensed her lips and exhaled softly through her nose before turning and leaving.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to leave this dump before-”

Before she could even finish her sentence, Raincloud paused as a series of frantic hoofsteps and voices came from outside, growing louder as they swiftly approached the room.

“Aww, son of a b…” Raincloud caught herself, glancing back to the dragon and puffing out overdramatically.

Soon after, the door to the room flew open, and a team of four guards entered. They all darted their eyes around before settling their gaze on the pegasus and the dragon behind her.

“Step away from him.” One of the guards instructed, keeping his eyes on the gray mare. Two others kept their swords in reach, and the lone unicorn lit his horn.

Raincloud sighed, “Relax, boys. I can’t do anything with this collar on even if I wanted to.” She said before sticking both forelegs out, waiting to be taken into custody once more.

Seeing that she was being at least somewhat cooperative, the guards relaxed ever so slightly. While three of them took the pegasus and started leading her out of the room, one earth stallion walked over to the young dragon and knelt down.

“Are you hurt?” He asked, showing as much concern as a seasoned guard could through his face.

Spike rubbed the back of his head gently, producing a slight grimace as he did. “I bumped my head pretty hard… but I think I’m ok.”

The stallion carefully examined the dragon’s bruised cranium. While there was some drying blood from where it was busted open, it didn’t seem immediately threatening. “We should get you to the med bay… make sure you don’t have a concussion.” He reasoned before adopting a more serious expression. “What happened?”

Spike’s expression fell as he thought to the pink alicorn. “They took Cadence and three of my friends. I’m not sure how long ago… How long has it been since they attacked?”

“We lost them about five minutes ago. They had the Princess and three fillies with them… I assume they must be the three that have been staying with us.” The stallion reported somberly.

“Oh no…” Spike’s face paled as he thought about what was going to happen to his friends. If his previous experience with Dusk and the monstrous ponies was anything to go by, he knew that they were in grave danger. “We have to do something!”

“Don’t worry. We just received word that the Princesses are on their way back, along with Captain Shining Armor and the elements. We’ve also got search parties scouring the mountain and the countryside. We will find them.” The stallion assured. “Right now, let’s get you taken care of.”

Despite how anxious he still was, Spike had no choice but to follow the guard out of the equipment room and toward the infirmary. He almost wished that he had been taken with the others. At least then, maybe he could do something to ensure that the three fillies were safe.

“Twilight… please hurry.”

Elsewhere, the soft and rhythmic clacking of the train coasting over the tracks filled the air, creating a sort of relaxing atmosphere for Twilight and her friends as they returned toward Canterlot.

Instead of the tense ride they had coming up to Ponyville, the train car was full of accomplished smiles and victorious cheer. At least, for the most part, it was.

While her friends beamed and celebrated defeating the pale ponies once more, even sharing some of the more harrowing or exhilarating moments they had with each other, Shining Armor looked over to see his sister staring out the nearby window in deep thought.

Ever since they reunited, the purple mare had had a sort of troubled look to her. He could tell when she had something on her mind, and now it seemed as though that something was preventing her from truly relaxing.

“Something wrong?”

Twilight looked up, only to notice her big brother watching her with a hint of concern in his eyes. “No, nothing… it’s just,” She sighed, “when those ponies were holding me, one of them said something about the others being more important than they were.”

“Hmm…” Shining furrowed his brow a bit as he glanced toward the others, who were all talking amongst themselves. “From what everyone said, it didn’t seem like any of the other groups were really doing anything important… kind of like they had no plan.”

“I know. That’s what’s bothering me.” Twilight said. “They might not have had a plan, but I know Dusk did. He didn’t just send them to attack Ponyville for no reason.”

Shining gave the matter some more thought, but eventually, he shifted his focus back to Twilight and put on a reassuring expression. “Well, there’s no sense in worrying about it right now. Once the princesses get back, we can all discuss what to do next.”

“I hope they’re ok.” Twilight let her ears droop as she thought about her mentor fighting the pale alicorn again. However, she looked up as she felt Shining reach across and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“They will be.” He said, though she couldn’t tell if he actually believed himself.

Back toward the other end of the compartment, Fluttershy and Blue Bolt sat together and watched with passive smiles as their friends shared stories about their individual experiences back in Ponyville.

“What?! You took on three of them?” Rainbow Dash gave a shocked chuckle as she stared at Rarity and Applejack.

“It’s true.” Rarity said. “Well, Applejack and Big Macintosh did most of the work. I was too terrified of those dreadful creatures to do much of anything. Although, I think we can both agree that Blue Bolt was the real hero in that mess.”

“I hear that.” Applejack nodded in wholehearted agreement. She smiled warmly as she turned to the blue stallion. “I don’t think I ever got the chance to thank you for savin’ Big Mac, Blue. So, on behalf of the whole Apple clan, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Blue Bolt gave an awkward chuckle and smiled sheepishly. “Hey, don’t thank me. I’m still getting used to these new powers. I’m just glad it worked.”

“Well, I’d say you’ve earned more than a few thanks.” Glitterball chimed in, rubbing her neck where previously she had a set of puncture wounds. Even her black eye had been healed.

Meanwhile, Sunspot adopted a bit of a concerned expression as she looked to the stallion. “Are you sure you’re ok, Blue? You seemed pretty out of it when we left Fluttershy’s place.”

“Huh? What happened at Fluttershy’s?” Pinkie asked, growing a bit worried herself as she and a few of the others shifted their attention to Blue.

“It’s fine. I just got a little tired is all.” Blue said in a disarming manner.

Fluttershy didn’t seem convinced. “You nearly passed out, Blue.”

“I didn’t, though. That’s a lot better than last time.” Blue pointed out. Seeing his friends still wearing unsure frowns, he sighed. “Look, guys, we should be patting ourselves on the back, not worrying about me. I’m fine.”

The others still seemed unsure, but eventually, they relented and let the subject go. Rainbow Dash stared at the stallion a bit longer than anyone else before she too settled back in for the rest of the trip.
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Eventually, the train rounded Canterlot mountain and made it up to the city. The group departed out onto the streets and headed straight for the royal palace.

The streets were unusually empty, even for the night. They saw at most two or three ponies in their whole trip. It was a strange sight for Twilight and the others who were familiar with the city, and it only served to further remind them of how bad things had gotten.

However, as they reached the palace and headed up the steps, it was a completely different story. Guards were rushing in and out of the main doors sporadically, and there were many pegasi visible flying to and fro.

“That’s… not normal.” Glimmer Shine commented as they passed a pair of guards rushing down the steps. They had a certain urgency about them that wasn't exactly comforting.

“Did something happen?” Fluttershy asked, voice laced with concern.

Twilight started to say something assuring, perhaps to set her friends and even herself at ease, until she paused as she noticed something by the doors. There was a stain on the wall that looked like it had been recently cleaned, but whoever cleaned it hadn’t gotten rid of everything.

It looked like a brownish sort of red that was troublingly familiar to them by now.

Shining Armor eyed the stain for a few moments, his expression growing more unsettled by the minute. Finally, he turned to one of the guards standing nearby. “What happened here?”

The stallion didn’t answer at first. He looked to his companion and wrinkled his normally steadfast expression before forcing himself to look his captain in the eye. “We err… we were attacked by those vampires, sir.” He explained, though it seemed like he wasn't saying everything that was troubling his mind.

“What…?” Twilight reeled back in shock.

“But… why?!” Sunspot asked. “Dusk is after us and Princess Celestia. Why would he send his goons here?!”

Suddenly, Shining Armor’s pupils shrank as the realization dawned on him.

Twilight and the others watched as the stallion rushed for the door and headed inside. It took her a moment longer before her face paled as well. “Oh no…”

“Where’s the fire?” Pinkie asked as she watched the unicorn following Shining inside. Not wanting to be left behind, she and the others decided to follow as well.

Bursting through the doors, face full of alarm, Twilight looked ahead and found her brother standing a bit ahead. The entrance hall was just as bustling with guard activity as the outside of the castle was.

Up on the stairs, a smaller group of guards was gathered before two familiar alicorns. Sure enough, Celestia and Luna had gotten back before they did. However, they looked a lot worse for wear than Twilight and her friends had.

The two sisters were both clad in various bandages, with some still holding faint red stains. Luna in particular had practically her whole midsection wrapped up, resembling how she looked when Dusk first attacked on Nightmare Night. They had a certain grave look about them as they talked with the guards before looking up at the new arrivals.

“Princess!” Twilight smiled with relief as she rushed forward to meet her mentor.

Celestia and Luna walked down the steps toward the two unicorns. They were paying particular attention to Shining, and they looked like they had something that needed to be said, but neither of them wanted to say it.

“Twilight… I am glad to see you are all unharmed.” Celestia said, giving a brief friendly nod to the group as they gathered behind the purple mare.

“Glad to see us? We were really worried about you.” Shining noted with a slight smile. However, his bright expression faded the longer they went on with troubled frowns. “What’s going on? The guards said the palace got attacked. Is Cadence alright?”

The two alicorns glanced at each other, but neither answered for the longest time. Luna could hardly bring herself to look at the stallion or even Twilight and the others.

“Princess?” Twilight prodded softly.

Celestia tensed her lips and took a steady breath before setting a hoof on Shining’s shoulder and looking him in the face. “Shining… I’m sorry. They took her.”

“Wh… what?” Shining inched back, not fully processing what she meant.

“I’m told that they came looking for her specifically. She was with the Crusaders when it happened… they took them too.” Celestia explained, standing as stiff as a statue.

A solid moment passed before another voice rang out.

“WHAT?!” Applejack widened her eyes.

Rarity gasped and brought a hoof up to her mouth. “Oh no… Sweetie.”

Luna let her head hang and trailed her eyes to the floor as the group understandably descended into shocked murmurs and attempts to calm or comfort those most affected.

“This… can’t be happening.” Shining ran a hoof down his face and nearly stumbled.

Twilight helped keep her brother standing as she looked back to her friends with a somber frown. She couldn’t imagine what Rarity and Applejack were going through to have their siblings taken by bloodthirsty monsters twice. However, as she followed that avenue of thought, her eyes widened briefly and she turned to the Princess with newfound alarm.

“What about Spike? Is he ok?!”

“Thankfully, yes,” Luna said. “Apparently, they tried to take him, but Raincloud protected him.”

Twilight tilted her head a bit. “Raincloud?” She narrowed her eyes in thought for a moment before deflating with relief. However it happened, she was just grateful that the dragon was unharmed. Still, she couldn’t be too happy about the situation as she turned back to her friends.

Applejack was sitting on her haunches while Fluttershy tried to console her. She was staring at the floor with a sort of stunned defeat to her eyes. “No, no, no… This can’t be happenin'. They were s’posed to be safe!”

“We will get them back,” Celestia spoke, a certain level of steely determination to her voice that made everyone look up. She walked over to Applejack and Rarity, taking a glance back at Shining Armor before lowering herself to their level. “I promise you… I will do everything in my power to get your sisters back. Dusk has gone too far… I think it’s time we put an end to this nightmare.”

“Wait… Princess, you don’t mean-” Twilight started, only to be interrupted as the alicorn stood up.

“Yes, Twilight. We’re going to go face him.” Celestia said. She looked around at the others, pausing and flashing a bit of a concerned frown before steeling herself once more. “I cannot speak for all of you… but please understand, this will perhaps be the most dangerous mission of all of our lives. I cannot and will not ask you to accompany us… but if you choose to come along, get your affairs in order and get ready. We leave as soon as preparations are made.”

There was a brief pause before the first person stepped forward. Oddly enough, it was Blue Bolt.

“Whatever you need, Princess. I’ll do whatever it takes to stop that psycho.” Blue said.

“Thank you, Blue Bolt. I dare say that you are our ace in the hole, as it were.” Celestia managed a slight smile. “I hate taking advantage of you and your powers… but you have my eternal gratitude for fighting on our behalf.”

“Well, if he’s going, I’m going too.” Rainbow Dash chimed in without a second thought.

“Me too…” Fluttershy fought her trembling voice and stepped forward, standing with her friends with as much bold resolve as she could muster.

Rarity stepped forward as well, and after wiping a stray tear, she steeled her expression. “I made a promise to Sweetie Belle that I would stay safe… but how can I keep it if she’s gone?”

“We fight… that’s how,” Applejack added as she joined the line and settled her hat on her head. All the fear and remorse in her eyes was replaced with determination and bravery. “My family’s almost been broken twice now… and that’s twice too many in my books.”

Soon enough, everyone was voicing their opinions and stepping forward to join their friends. Glimmer Shine’s team, the other elements of harmony, everypony. They were all sick and tired of their homes and fellow ponies being threatened. They had suffered through loved ones being taken and hardships being thrust on the innocents around them, and they were done standing around and letting it happen.

Celestia was surprised to see everyone so eager to pitch in and join their expedition. Then again, part of her was expecting this to happen. However proud and humbled she felt by everyone’s displays of bravery, she couldn’t shake a feeling of dread inside of her.

Shining Armor shook the stunned sadness from his system and walked up to the white alicorn. “I don’t care how powerful that Dusk guy is. Nobody hurts my friends… and definitely not my wife. It ends tonight.”

Celestia nodded sternly. “It ends tonight.” She said, confident on the surface, but more uncertain underneath.

One way or another…