Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

The echoing of hooves against brick filled the tunnel ahead of them as Sunspot and Glimmer Shine made their way through the basement. At least, they thought it was still the basement.

After they hovered down from the hole in the floor, they had been aimlessly pressing forward through the various rooms of the castle’s lower level. They had found torture rooms, dungeons, and even a few dead ends.

Eventually, however, they had found a shorter set of stairs leading down into a vast open tunnel, which was what they were currently walking through.

Sunspot narrowed her eyes and scrunched her nose up in disgust as she observed their surroundings. There was a shallow curve to the floor, forming a channel for presumably some kind of liquid to travel through. This, combined with the many bricks comprising the walls and floor, made the space resemble a sewer.

Only, it didn’t quite smell like a sewer. The offending odor in the air was far too metallic.

“You know… this isn’t what I had in mind when I pictured saving the world from a bunch of vampires.” Sunspot said flatly, cringing as she turned her flashlight to reveal a rat skeleton.

“And what exactly did you have in mind?” Glimmer asked.

Sunspot wrinkled her expression. “I don’t know! Definitely not… all of this!” She gestured around her. “If Princess Luna had led with the fact that I would be fumbling around in the dark underbelly of a rundown castle, I might have stayed in the Wonderbolts.”

Hearing a slight snort, the pegasus looked to the side and narrowed her eyes as she saw her companion wearing a bit of a smile.

“It’s not all bad.” Glimmer remarked.

“Oh, really?” Sunspot replied.

“Yeah.” He insisted lightheartedly. “I mean, come on. Every colt and filly dreams of fighting monsters and saving the world. We actually get to do it.”

“Assuming we don’t die horribly,” Sunspot added.

Glimmer Shine turned to the pegasus. “You know, you need to learn to roll with the punches if you want to stay sane in this line of work. If you’re serious and negative all the time, you-”

Suddenly, the stallion trailed off and they both stopped walking as a low sound came from up ahead. It sounded like rushing water.

A lot of rushing water.

And as a tidal wave of red fluid came surging down the tunnel toward them too fast for them to react, all they could do was jolt, hold their breath, and stand there while the flow crashed into them.

Soon after, the crimson river diminished until it was only halfway up to their knees, leaving behind a pair of soaked ponies flinching their eyes shut.

Sunspot felt every square inch of her body dripping. Her suit was sopping wet, and her mane was slicked to the back of her neck. It was cold, but thankfully not freezing somehow. Without even opening her eyes, she slowly turned to Glimmer with a decidedly unimpressed look plastered on her face.

“You were saying?”

Glimmer sputtered and blew the excess liquid off of his mouth and nose. “I fink… I fink I got sum in my mouf.” He grimaced and spit off to the side.

It was around this time that the thick copper smell and taste, along with the red tint of the flowing liquid fully sank in. Of course, neither of them could react with too much revulsion. They had been covered in blood before, just not this liberally.

“Ulgh… is this really what I think it is?” Sunspot asked, wringing out some of her mane and cringing with disgust at the cold, slightly viscous liquid dripping out of it.

“It’s definitely not fruit punch,” Glimmer noted with utmost confidence.

“You think it’s…” Sunspot paused hesitantly and softened her eyes, “...real?”

“It feels pretty real.” Glimmer Shine retorted.

Sunspot sighed. “No, I mean, like... do you think all of this is… from somepony?” She lifted a hoof out of the crimson flow, a bit disturbed that there was so much of it.

Glimmer gave the unsettling notion some thought before answering. “I don’t think so. If it was really real, wouldn’t Dusk have just drank it instead of… this?”

“Good point.” Sunspot noted.

“I think it’s just part of whatever spell he used to change the layout. He probably put it here to mess with us.” Glimmer reasoned.

Sunspot exhaled nervously, suppressing a shudder. “I hope you’re right.” She said before moving forward again.

They slogged through the canal for another few minutes, silently contemplating the choices they had made in life to arrive at this point.

Unfortunately, the stream of blood had other unpleasant consequences besides making them want to shave off all their fur. No matter how hard they tried to be stealthy, every movement made a splashing sound that was probably audible for longer than their flashlight beams were visible.

However, their luck seemed to turn around as they saw a set of steps leading up to a stone platform along the side of the tunnel, with another doorway presumably leading out of the space.

Sunspot immediately unfurled her wings and hovered up to the platform, creating a trail of red liquid onto the relatively pristine stone. While Glimmer climbed up the stairs to her, she grabbed the front of her suit and tried to wring it out.

“Ugh… why did I bring my suit? I’m never getting the stains out of this thing.” She whined a bit, already picturing what her old colleagues in the Wonderbolts would say if they could see her now.

“Yeah. Remind me to burn this vest when we make it out of here.” Glimmer added. On the bright side, the majority of their equipment was waterproof, even if it would never smell the same again.

Shifting their attention to the doorway in front of them, they could see that it led to a tight corridor before opening up further down into what appeared to be another larger room, but it was hard to tell at this distance.

“Well… looks like this is our only option.” Glimmer said, glancing back at the tunnel of blood behind them. “Unless you want to go for another dip?”

“I think I’m all dipped out, but you be my guest.” Sunspot said flatly.

“Nah… I’m good.” Glimmer replied, already walking through the doorway. His pegasus friend followed close behind, hoping that there wouldn’t be any more surprises on their way.

As they left the open space, both of them failed to hear or see a small shape breaching the surface of the crimson fluid behind them.

Elsewhere in the lower levels, Raincloud followed along behind Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie through a labyrinth of corridors and rooms.

The oppressive atmosphere and pervasive darkness weren’t bothering the gray pegasus. She was used to being the scariest thing in the shadows, and she lived in a haunted mansion for a good few years.

No, what was bothering her, was her companions.

Pinkie had slowed the trio’s pace a considerable amount as she searched every crack and sconce ahead for signs of boobytraps. After hearing what their friends had gone through upstairs, she was taking no chances. However, the two pegasi wished she would take at least a few.

“Pinkie… I really don’t think we need to be this careful.” Rainbow said as gently as she could while watching the pink mare examine the flagstones with a magnifying glass. She didn’t even know their vests had magnifying glasses, and she was afraid to look on hers for fear of confirming that she was friends with a benevolent trickster.

Pinkie gave a particularly raised stone a wary look, adjusting the magnifying glass further and then closer to her eye before turning to her friend and blinking through it. “You can never be too careful.”

Noticing Raincloud feeling a hoof around her wrist off to the side, Rainbow skewed a brow curiously. “What are you doing?”

“Just checking my pulse,” Raincloud said. “I thought my heart exploded from all this excitement.”

“Would you rather us get eaten by vampires? Because that’s the alternative.” Rainbow said.

Raincloud grumbled under her breath. “I’m considering it.”

Seeing her two companions losing patience by the minute, Pinkie sighed. “Fine. But don’t come crying to me when you get caught in a trap!”

“Oh, thank Celestia.” Raincloud rolled her eyes and deflated with relief as they picked up their pace to a reasonable walk.

A few minutes went by. The path before them showed no signs of ending any time soon. Other than trying to reunite with the others and possibly find Cadence and the fillies or the symbol that was causing all of the spatial warping, they didn’t really have a long-term goal. Still, it felt like they were going in circles, which was not doing wonders for morale.

As her thoughts drifted, Raincloud eventually found herself staring at Pinkie Pie, or rather, her vest. The pink mare had taken charge of the remote that controlled her collar, and while they hadn’t openly said anything about it, she could tell that they were uneasy toward her.

If they continued on like this and actually confronted Dusk, they were dead meat. She knew this, and yet she agreed to come anyway. Did she feel guilty? Was it really worth all this just to try and save three fillies and an alicorn that probably hated her guts by now?

Should she make a move? There were only two of them with her, so this would be the time to do it. If she was being honest, she didn’t hate either of them, and she even felt a little bad that they were going to be slaughtered. Then again, all her being there was going to do was add her body to the pile.

Pinkie Pie turned to look at the gray pegasus, forcing her to dart her gaze away. “So, Raincloud… when’s your birthday?”

“E-excuse me?” Raincloud blinked, having not expected the sudden question.

“You know, your birthday.” Pinkie replied plainly.

Raincloud stared at the pink mare, this time with confusion vaguely showing through her face. “It’s a week after Hearts and Hooves day… why do you want to know?”

“Well…” Pinkie sighed a bit. “I know I said you were a big meanie, and you kind of still are,” She said, ignoring the cocked brow her words caused, “but since you’re helping us save our friends and trying to be better… I wanted to know when to send you a present to thank you.”

“Really?” Raincloud tilted her head, unsure of how to react.

“Yep! I would throw you a little party, but I don’t think the princess would let you out for something like that, and I’m not allowed to visit the jail in Canterlot after the last time I was there.” Pinkie explained.

Rainbow Dash suppressed a snicker at the memory. They were still finding confetti in some of the cells to this day.

Meanwhile, Raincloud was at a loss for words. She didn’t expect any of the group to offer her a kind gesture like that after everything she had done to them. “Uh… thanks.” She trailed her eyes to the side. Despite her uncomfortable expression, there was a bit of red to her cheeks.

Rainbow Dash smiled a bit at how awkward the bluish-gray mare was being. Pinkie Pie had the ability to melt the hardest hearts with her genuine bubbly joy.

However, the cyan pony paused as they came upon a doorway that was wider than most of the ones they had seen before.

Shining her light inside revealed a small workshop of sorts. There were wooden tables with rusted tools on top and a few finished products lying around. Judging from the uncomfortable-looking iron shackles placed on one of the tables, this place must have been used to build and modify torture devices.

As disturbing as the space was upon closer inspection, there was something else that caught Rainbow’s eye. Nestled at the back was a curved stairwell leading up.

“Hey, check it out! There’s some stairs in here!” She pointed out eagerly, already stepping into the room.

Around the time that her companions turned toward her, she stepped on a false stone. There was a metallic clang as a set of iron bars swiftly descended both in the doorway and just before the stairs, effectively locking the pegasus within.

“What the hay?!” Rainbow darted her eyes between the two barricades. She rushed up to the one separating her from her friends and grasped the bars with her hooves.

Pinkie gasped as she watched the cyan mare being blocked inside. “Rainbow Dash!”

“Well, that’s just great. You couldn’t have spent five hours looking for traps where there actually was one?” Raincloud deadpanned as she looked at the pink mare.

Pinkie thought about Raincloud’s words for a moment before her expression fell. “Oh no, you’re right! She’s going to be stuck in there forever, and it’s all my fault!”

Rainbow Dash sighed and looked to her friend with a sympathetic frown as Pinkie slid down the bars, crying like she was already dead. “Calm down, Pinkie. There’s gotta be some way of opening this thing.” She gave the bars a good tug before giving that venture up. “Look for… I don’t know, a switch or something. I’ll see what I can find in here.”

With newfound purpose, Pinkie sprang up and adopted a determined gleam in her eyes. “Okie dokie lokie. Don’t worry, we’ll have you out of there in two shakes of Gummy’s tail!”

And with that, the pink mare started searching high and low for some sort of secret mechanism to free her friend.

Raincloud started searching as well, but her efforts were diminished as an earlier thought popped back into her mind. She turned to look up at Pinkie before trailing her eyes down and giving her mouth a conflicted wrinkle.

Finally, she let her shoulders sink and exhaled softly.

“Hey, puffball…” Raincloud said, her voice a bit flat, but not with sarcasm.

Pinkie looked up from her position of pressing on stones near the door curiously. “What is it? Did you find something?”

Raincloud tensed her jaw and softened her eyes, but stood up anyway. “You know, I could get her out of there if you just… undo this collar.”

Hearing this, Rainbow Dash paused her search of one of the work tables in the room and looked over. By now, she could see the pair through the bars, and Pinkie was suddenly very quiet and looking hesitant.

“Umm…” Pinkie trailed her eyes down to one of her front pockets, then back to the gray mare, who took a step toward her. She smiled widely and took a step back. “Sorry… I don’t think I should do that. I mean, it’s not that I don’t trust you or anything, even if I kinda don’t... it’s just--” She trailed off as she saw Raincloud harden her expression slightly.

“Give me that remote,” Raincloud asked softly, holding up one of her hooves.

“Raincloud, what are you doing?” Rainbow Dash asked as she walked back up to the bars.

Raincloud eyed back at the cyan mare, her expression wavering briefly, before turning back to Pinkie. The pink mare had backed up even further, and she jumped slightly as she hit the wall behind her, all the while not taking her eyes off the gray pegasus.

“Raincloud… I thought we were working together now?” Pinkie asked, a bit of genuine hurt in her voice that only made what was coming next feel even worse.

“Just hand over the remote. I’ll even cut her free, and then I’ll be on my way and out of your mane.” Raincloud said earnestly.

Pinkie shook her head and placed a hoof over her chest, particularly over the pocket she was keeping the remote in. “No. I can’t let you do that.” She insisted, shrinking down as the pegasus growled impatiently.

“Look… I don’t want to hurt you, but if that’s what it takes…” Raincloud held a hoof up and planted it on the wall beside Pinkie.

Rainbow Dash pulled the bars and rattled them, but no matter how hard she tried, they wouldn’t give. “Leave her alone!” She yelled, but the gray mare seemed to ignore her. “Raincloud, I swear if you hurt her!”

“Just shut up!” The pegasus turned and snapped. However, as she turned back to the pink mare, Pinkie grabbed her flashlight and pointed it up into Raincloud’s face. “Gah!” She flinched, allowing Pinkie to make a break to the side. Raincloud swiped at her with a hoof, but she didn’t connect. “Get back here!” She yelled, sprinting after the fleeing pony.

Rainbow Dash watched the pair vanish around a corner, her face paling as she heard Pinkie squeal in terror. “Pinkie!” She yelled to the empty hallway outside, giving the bars a few more angry shakes before stepping back and panting.

“Think, Dash, think!” She muttered frantically as she raced to find some way of helping her friend. Shifting her eyes down to her vest, her eyes widened as an idea came to her.

The pegasus sat down and started tearing through her uniform in search of the one thing she needed. She vaguely knew what it looked like, but she couldn’t remember where it was.

“Come on, come on…” She could barely keep her hooves steady the longer she searched. Darting her eyes up at the hallway outside in between rifling pockets only made her more anxious.

Finally, she pulled out the charm she needed. “Ha! Yes!”

Shifting her attention to the bars, she held the cutter to them and pressed the button on the bottom. A bright light sparked to life at its conical tip and a zapping noise could be heard as she held it in place.

“Come on, baby… don’t fail me now.” Rainbow grit her teeth as she waited for a result. The bars to the gates upstairs must have been magically protected from how much resistance they had, but these bars looked different. They were worn in places, and they actually had some give to them.

Her expression brightened as she saw a successful cut being made. Soon enough, she was through the bottom half of one of the bars.

“Yes!” She cheered before doubling her efforts at the top of the bar. She would have to cut out at least two or three bars before she could squeeze through. She only hoped that in that time Raincloud wouldn’t catch up to Pinkie.
.
..
…
“AHH!”

“Stop running!”

Pinkie bolted through the twisting corridor as fast as she could. She could hear the pegasus’ hoofbeats echoing behind her, and they sounded close.

Maybe Raincloud was being honest about not wanting to hurt her? She did seem hesitant about it. Either way, Pinkie wasn't going to let her have the remote. Who was to say that she wouldn’t hurt someone else if she got free with her powers?

With her lungs burning and her stamina running out, she needed options and fast. Raincloud was too fast to lose, and even if she wasn't, there weren’t any branching paths that she could see.

“Raincloud, please stop!” She cried. “You don’t have to be bad anymore! You can-” Then, before she could finish, she felt an equine shape crashing into her and tackling her through a doorway and into the room ahead.

Pinkie yelped before having the wind knocked out of her as she hit the floor. She looked up, only to see the pegasus on top of her.

Raincloud wasted no time in shoving a hoof into the mare’s front pocket. Her annoyed glare intensified as a pink hoof grabbed her wrist. She tried to grab with her other hoof, but Pinkie matched her movement. Now they were grasping each other wildly and struggling against each other.

“Just give it up!” Raincloud shouted.

Pinkie whined and tried her best to wriggle out from under the pegasus, but there was no way she could escape. No nice way, at any rate. Deciding to take matters into her own teeth, she pulled the gray mare’s hoof close and bit into her foreleg.

“OW!” Raincloud yelped.

Using the momentary distraction to her advantage, Pinkie kicked a hind leg into the pegasus’ gut before scrambling to her hooves and pulling away. However, Raincloud immediately growled under her breath and followed after.

“Leave me alone!” Pinkie pleaded as she made her way through the open room she now found herself in. If she weren’t occupied with being a terrified mess, she might have noticed the slight sloshing in front of her. She also might have noticed the sheer drop-off into a canal of blood-red liquid a few feet down.

As she realized that she had run out of ground, Pinkie gasped and skidded to a halt. She peered down into the canal dividing the room in half. It didn’t look like there were any stairs immediately visible leading down.

Turning around, she was immediately met with a hoof grabbing her by the front of her vest, along with a very agitated-looking Raincloud.

“You’re really starting to piss me off!” The pegasus said as she tried to forcibly take the remote.

Pinkie got into a miniature wrestling match with the gray mare as she stood on hind legs and tried to fight back. “Get off me!”

However, before she could try and think of some clever way out of this confrontation, she suddenly found herself being shoved backward. A gray hoof was reaching into her pocket, and a familiar remote pulled free just as she lost her connection with solid ground.

Raincloud cringed a bit as she watched the flailing mare smack into knee-high liquid with an alarmed scream. She could tell it must have hurt, as it took Pinkie a minute to breach the surface again in a dazed and sore mess.

Pinkie sputtered the foul-tasting liquid out of her mouth as she pushed herself up with a groan. She nearly stumbled, but she managed to work herself to all fours and look up to see the gray mare staring down at her. “Raincloud!”

Raincloud shook her head sympathetically. “Sorry, puffball. It’s nothing personal… this jailbird just needs to be free.” She tossed the remote up and caught it again in her hoof before turning around.

She made it one step before catching a cyan hoof straight to the jaw.

Falling to the rough stone beneath her, the remote sliding out of her grip and off to the side, Raincloud brought a hoof to her now throbbing muzzle and looked up.

Standing there, an intense scowl plastered on her face, was Rainbow Dash.

Raincloud looked off to the side, spotting the remote lying near the edge of the canal, before turning back and locking eyes with the cyan mare. Both of them sprang into action at the same time, but Rainbow was faster.

Rainbow Dash rushed over to the remote and scooped it up. Raincloud was prepared to pounce on her when a metallic twang rang out as she spun around with a silver dagger in her other hoof.

“Woah…” Raincloud backed up, holding a hoof up in a disarming manner.

Rainbow Dash panted, still a bit out of breath from running to catch up with the pair. She looked off to the side and down into the canal, where Pinkie Pie was still standing in a veritable river of what could only be blood.

“You ok, Pinkie?” Rainbow asked.

Pinkie waved a bit, sending droplets of crimson flying off and back into the crimson pool. “I’m alright… Just a little bruised… and icky.”

Seeing her friend in such a pitiful condition made Rainbow tense her jaw angrily. She looked back to Raincloud, who took a step back nervously.

The gray mare softened her eyes as she waited for whatever was about to happen. She half expected Rainbow to lash out at her with the dagger, not that she could really blame her.

Rainbow looked between her dagger and the gray mare, her eyes growing harsher, but also more hurt. Finally, she shoved her weapon back into its sheath with an angry huff. “Dangit, Raincloud!”

Raincloud stiffened her posture and wrinkled her mouth as the cyan mare stuffed the remote into a pocket. “Oh, come on! What did you expect me to do? I couldn’t just stay here with you guys and get myself killed by some snaggletoothed freak.”

“I can’t believe it.” Rainbow Dash said as she stomped over to Raincloud. “I can’t believe… that I actually thought you would try and be better!”

Raincloud shrank back slightly at this. Rainbow’s voice was harsh and angry to be sure, but it sounded betrayed and upset more than anything. “I don’t care what you believed…” She said, though her voice was quiet and her eyes wavered a bit. “I never asked to be your charity case, so don’t you dare look at me like you’re disappointed!”

Rainbow Dash didn’t say anything for the longest time. She just stared at the gray mare with soft eyes as all the tension gradually left her body.

“Fine.” She said finally.

Raincloud blinked, her glare falling into a surprised stare. “F… fine?”

Rainbow Dash let her shoulders sink and lowered her head before looking back up to the pegasus. “If you want to live your life being selfish and pushing everyone away… I won’t stop you. I’m done trying.” She said, voice holding no emotion other than a hint of resignation. “Once we get topside… assuming we can even leave, you’re free to go wait outside with the guards.”

“Just like that…?” Raincloud asked, unsure of how to react.

Rainbow nodded. “Just like that.”

A well of churning emotions bubbled up inside of Raincloud, but she wasn't sure what any of them were. She wasn't even sure how to feel as she stood there silently.

Seeing the gray mare at a loss for words, Rainbow Dash shifted her attention elsewhere. “In the meantime, I think the least you could do is help Pinkie get out of this-” She paused abruptly as she turned, only to see the canal devoid of any ponies, pink or otherwise.

“Pinkie Pie…?” Rainbow walked up to the edge and panned her head around. There was only one exit to the canal, consisting of a more enclosed tunnel further down, but there should have been no reason for the pink mare to move.

“Uh… where’d she go?” Raincloud asked, loosely following behind the cyan pony.

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and hovered down, keeping just above the crimson fluid as she scanned the area. A nauseous pit was forming in her gut as she found no traces of the party pony.

“Oh, hardy har… very funny, Pinks. The joke’s over now, so get out here.” She smiled, half expecting her friend to appear out of nowhere as she usually did. However, her smile wavered as nothing but the faint sound of moving liquid greeted her.

“Pinkie…?” Rainbow called, hovering closer to the mouth of the tunnel. She cupped her hooves over her mouth and raised her voice. “Pinkie?!”

The sound echoed slightly, but no matter how hard she wished for a reply, there was no sign of her pink friend anywhere.