Angel of Justice: Blood Moon

*Boom*

Luna teleported a few feet back as a flash of flaming fury erupted into the wall she was just standing against. She lifted a foreleg and cringed against the shower of ruined stone flecks before pausing for a moment as her hind hoof brushed against snow.

Glancing behind her, she found that their battle had landed her in a courtyard. She recalled seeing the open space from the air, and save for the openings into the twisted maze of halls and rooms, it seemed relatively unchanged by Dusk’s spell. It looked like they could even fly out if they wanted to.

A tin-sounding roar snapped her gaze back ahead to see her sister recoiling from the same armored specter that they had been fighting for the past few minutes.

Blue Bolt was hovering behind the suit of armor and striking at it with his blades every so often before dodging a strike from its surprisingly powerful forelimbs. Any hit he landed seemed to bounce right off, just like the majority of spells she and Celestia had tried.

"We cannot keep this up forever," Luna said as she walked alongside her sister, who was taking a tentative reprieve between attacks.

Celestia produced a frustrated growl. “Blue Bolt said that it must have some sort of weak point.” She said, watching the armor closely for anything useful she could glean.

Apparently, the possessed suit of armor was made up of many wayward spirits charged and forced together with dark magic, which lined up with what Dusk said earlier. Such unstable conglomerations of spirits tended to have weak spots, at least if Blue Bolt’s spotty access to his inherited slayer knowledge was accurate.

“That may be so, but how are we supposed to reveal such a weakness if we can barely interact with it?” Luna asked, a touch disheartened. Nothing they tried had worked. They could barely even pick it up with their magic before it overwhelmed them.

Before Celestia could even think of an answer, the specter kicked Blue Bolt, sending the stallion bouncing along the ground with a series of pained grunts. It shifted its head to look at them, its glowing eyes burning into their forms as it started shambling toward them, building speed as it went.

With little time to react, the sisters did their best to evade. Luna spread her wings and hovered back, while Celestia merely jumped backward as the admittedly smaller suit of armor slammed its iron fists down, cracking the stone where the white mare just was.

With a ringing zap, Luna fired a fairly powerful explosive blast ahead, impacting right into the specter’s side and engulfing it in a fiery cloud of smoke that almost masked the dark smoke already pouring out of it.

Before the cloud even cleared, Celestia fired off two of her own attacks, putting more emphasis on piercing power in the hopes of punching a hole in the knight in frightening armor’s ironclad defenses.

The bolts of magic struck something behind the fading smoke, giving a distinct set of two satisfying clanks that could have been the sound of rending metal.

However, their brief elation was swiftly dashed as the form of the armor stomped forward, unfazed and unaffected entirely, save for its renewed rage evidenced by a demonic roar. As fire quickly gathered in its maw, Luna zipped off into a flying dodge, narrowly avoiding a burning projectile to the face and barely keeping ahead of a few more blasts.

Seeing her sister under attack, Celestia fired off a few more lasers from her horn, hoping to distract the knight. Her blasts struck uselessly into its chest, causing it to pause before glaring at her.

Then, much to her alarm, the armor widened its beak. The flame within intensified for a brief moment before suddenly spouting forward in a torrent reminiscent of a dragon’s breath.

Celestia widened her eyes and quickly cast a shield around herself. Even from behind her magical barrier, she could feel the frigid air heating up from the flames diverging around her like a parted sea.

Up in the air, Luna grit her teeth as she saw the older alicorn literally under fire. There wasn't much she could do other than grab its attention, but they couldn’t just play hot potato with it forever, because eventually, they would end up getting burned.

“Worry not, sister! I will--” Luna started until something abruptly silenced her.

“Hey! Take this you musty tin can!”

Luna and even the knight paused and looked toward the source of the shouting. For the suit of armor, it barely had time to move before a familiar blue stallion was flying toward it, foreleg reeled back and the tip of his hoof glowing bright orange.

With a mighty yell, Blue Bolt punched his hoof forward and collided with the back of the knight’s chest piece. A sonorous bong rang out as the stallion’s unnatural power surged through his hoof tip and sent the hulking knight flying like a sack of potatoes.

The armor sailed across the courtyard, crashing into the wooden remains of a stockade, pulverizing it instantly into a shower of splinters and debris before coming to a stop in a crumbled mess of a stone wall.

Celestia stared at the spectacle for a moment before turning to the stallion. After remembering to pick her jaw off the floor, she chuckled. “I hadn’t realized just how strong you are, Blue Bolt.” She said before pausing as she noticed how out of breath he seemed. However, he quickly recovered, flashing her a sheepish smile.

“Let us not waste this opportunity!” Luna suggested from up in the air. “Sister, help me hold it down. Blue Bolt, see if you can ascertain its weakness!”

"Got it!" Blue Bolt replied as he darted forward toward the knight.

Celestia rushed forward as well, casting her magical influence over the armor the instant she could. A second aura wrapped around hers as her sister joined in the effort.

The armor shook with rage as it found its attempt at lifting up impeded. A booming roar echoed out of its helm and it cast its burning gaze ahead, toward the pegasus stallion approaching it.

Blue Bolt came to a tense stop before the possessed hunk of metal. It was flexing and bucking as hard as it could against the two alicorns' holds.

"Quickly, Blue Bolt!" Celestia said through clenched teeth. "We… cannot hold it for long!"

With the mounting exertion clear on the pair’s faces, Blue gave an admittedly rushed look over the knight for any signs of weakness.

Its armored shell seemed impenetrable from all angles, and there weren’t any openings large enough to offer a glimpse at whatever swirling mass of angry souls lay within, and that was without even considering the thick puffs of pitch-black smoke cascading out of its every nook and cranny.

Whatever knowledge he had of this thing said that there had to be a weak point, but what was he supposed to do if he couldn’t even reach it?

Not one to waste an opportunity, Blue threw caution and planning to the wind and lifted his right forelimb. He spun the blade around his wrist into a better position before locking it into place and beginning to charge it with fiery energy.

However, before he could finish his attack, a different sort of fiery energy gathered within the knight’s open beak.

“Ack!” Blue Bolt squawked as he narrowly avoided a blast of fire surging past him. He darted his gaze to follow the bolt of flame, only to watch it sailing right for Luna.

The alicorn widened her eyes and fell backward through the air, giving a powerful flap of her wings just to get clear of the burning projectile. She started to right herself when she suddenly clutched her head and cried out in pain.

Celestia jolted as well and clenched her eyes shut as a great strain was put on her magic. She looked up, only to see Blue Bolt casting a worried glance her way, and an armored gauntlet reaching up behind him.

Before anyone could react further, the knight struck out, breaking the already fragile hold the alicorns had over it as its metal limb collided with the stallion, creating a bone-jarring sound and sending Blue Bolt flying with a pained cry.

Risking only the slightest moment to watch the stallion bouncing along the ground in concern, Celestia grit her teeth and faced the possessed armor. She fired a concentrated beam at it, actually managing to scorch its chest plate.

More luminous bolts of magic came zipping down and exploding into the knight’s form. It creaked its helm up to gaze at Luna before opening its beak again, this time sending a large spout of flame at the irritating flyer.

Luna yelped as the spout caught the edge of her hip as she evaded. She was forced to the ground, where she scrambled to gain distance.

Celestia reeled back as the knight stomped forward, ignorant of any and all attempts at slowing it. It marched toward her. Unrelenting. Unwavering. Merciless. Bolts of magic bounced off its form or harmlessly fizzled against its metallic skin before fiery projectiles started going the other way.

While Blue Bolt recovered, Luna got in front of him and raised a shield. They both watched as Celestia slowly retreated backward toward them. None of them could go on the offensive with how persistent the specter was being with its fireballs. Any time one of the alicorns even thought of dropping their shields, a fiery impact dissuaded them and pressed them even further back.

Just as they were wondering if they were going to need to run from their dauntless foe, two distinct cracks came from off to the side, swiftly followed by green flashes of light zipping into the armor nearly faster than the eye could see. The bolts didn’t do any discernible damage, but they did make everyone, the knight included, look over.

Two familiar ponies were standing at the mouth of the courtyard, both holding a smoking vial in their hooves. One vested yellow stallion and one suited orange pegasus, both looking mildly disheveled, but nevertheless determined.

“Sunspot? Glimmer Shine?” Celestia said, more than a bit surprised to see the pair.

“Sorry we’re late. We got a little lost downstairs.” Glimmer Shine said with a lighthearted smirk.

Sunspot gave one of her trademark sly grins. “Yeah. I think we took a wrong turn somewhere between the rec room and the torture chamber.”

Then, in the time it took for the knight to open its maw and gather a ball of flame, the color drained from the pair’s faces and they ducked back around the pillars they just exited from with a shrill squeal and a more dignified yelp, though it was hard to tell which noise came from which pony.

“You two need to get out of here! It is entirely too dangerous!” Luna instructed urgently.

The suited pegasus poked her head out and looked to the scorched crater in the floor where she was just standing with wide eyes. “Thanks for the heads up, but I think we can see that just fine.”

“There’s no way we’re leaving you.” Glimmer Shine said, keeping his body pressed up to the edge of his pillar and cautiously leaning out to observe the knight before another fireball forced him to flinch back to safety. “Any tips on what this smoky rust bucket is? Preferably some kind of weakness?”

“We’re kind of trying to figure that out ourselves.” Blue Bolt chimed in. “It’s being controlled by a lot of spirits, so it should have a focal point of some kind, but all that armor is covering it up!”

Sunspot growled in annoyance, “I knew we should have brought Sparkplug. She’s good at fighting haunted hunks of metal.”

“Wrong kind of hunk of metal, but I don’t think she would have wanted to come anyway. With all this fire getting thrown around, someone might get their face burnt off… and she has a particular distaste for surprise facial surgery.” Glimmer said.

“I mean… understandable.” Sunspot tilted her head.

Meanwhile, Celestia tilted her head for a decidedly different reason. “You found Sparkplug?”

Glimmer answered, “Yeah. We ran into her, Applejack, and Fluttershy before we made it back up here. They got a little roughed up by some monsters, and we figured there was a fight over here, so we left them in a room not too far away.”

Hearing that the three mares were safe and relatively unharmed came as a pleasant surprise for the trio. Blue Bolt in particular felt some tension leave his body. He hated not knowing how either of his closest friends were doing, and he dreaded the shy pegasus getting put into any danger, so he was overjoyed.

“I’ll patch them up after we put this freak to bed.” The pegasus stated, returning his steely gaze to the specter and dashing toward it. Now that it was distracted, he hoped to be able to catch it off guard.

With the battle close to recommencing, Luna turned to the two ponies still hiding behind cover with a serious expression. “Stay on the move and keep your distance! It is extremely powerful up close, but its projectiles and flames can be easily dodged. Just help us distract it and look for anything that looks like a weak point!”

“Got it!” Glimmer and Sunspot replied in unison.

Seeing that Blue Bolt was coming in close, Sunspot quickly hovered into the air and popped around the corner, taking a few potshots with her popper. While the knight was firing at her, Glimmer Shine emerged and took a few shots as well, heading forward into the courtyard while still keeping the possessed armor looking in one direction, away from the pegasus stallion.

Moving fast and quiet, Blue Bolt closed the distance between himself and the armor. It still hadn’t noticed him, and it didn’t, right up until he reeled back his foreleg and jammed his blade toward its open helm.

Through one means or another, the knight apparently heard the stallion. It dodged its head back just in time to keep the ornate blade from entering its maw. A scraping sound emanated as metal clashed against metal before Blue found his weapon glancing off. He growled in frustration before jumping back as the knight swiped at him in retaliation.

Sunspot tried to aim a shot into an opening in the armor, but a hastily aimed fireball heading her way dissuaded her as the specter bellowed and whipped around, furiously trying to distance the attacking ponies all around it.

As explosions and flames rocked the peaceful snows of the courtyard, Celestia narrowed her eyes. “This is going to be much harder than I initially thought.” She said before conjuring a shield around Glimmer Shine, and then herself as more fiery projectiles spewed forth.

Elsewhere, safely tucked away from the battle just down the hall, Sparkplug and her two companions rested and licked their wounds.

The room they were in seemed to be a reading area of sorts. It was warmly lit and had two entrances, making it one of the safer feeling rooms they had found. It had a luxurious-looking couch positioned before a lit fireplace, which Applejack and Sparkplug were making use of.

There were also a scattered few bookcases and tables nestled against the walls, alongside a large portrait of a griffin standing atop a hill. Its dimly red eyes and imposing stature were a touch unsettling to look at, so they did their best to ignore it.

Another distant explosion made Fluttershy look up and cast a concerned frown toward the doorway. Even from her chair at the back of the room, she could feel the vibrations.

“I hope they’re ok.” The pegasus fretted.

Applejack sighed and rested a hoof below her bandaged shoulder. “We should be out there helpin’ ‘em, not sittin’ on our tails.”

“You heard Glimmer. We would just get in the way.” Sparkplug said before deflating slightly. “But… I get where you’re coming from. I hate sitting here too.” She looked down to her injured ankle, gingerly trying to put weight on it before cringing and wrinkling her expression in disappointment.

Looking over to her gray friend, Applejack’s frustrated glower melted into an uneasy frown. “Have you heard anythin’ from Twilight and the others?”

The sudden question made Sparkplug’s features fall as well. She didn’t look like she had a lot of hope, but she lifted a hoof to her ear anyway.

“Hello? Is anypony there?” She asked. “Glitter…? Twilight…? Shining?” Several seconds went by, with no response from any of the three unicorns. Sparkplug let her hoof droop and pool in her lap as she stared ahead absentmindedly.

“It’s been way too long for them to be this quiet.” Fluttershy reasoned softly, her ears falling flat against her head and her eyes shimmering with concern. “I hope n-nothing… bad, happened.” She swallowed.

“I’m sure they’re fine.” Applejack said, leaning over the back of the couch to face the pegasus. As much as she tried to appear confident, she didn’t. “I mean… at least one of them would have called for help if they were in real trouble. Maybe somethin’ is messin’ with that spell of yours?”

“Is something like that even possible?” Fluttershy asked, shifting to look at Sparkplug as well.

The gray mare shrank down a bit as her friends shifted their eyes to her in unison. “I… I’m not sure.” She lowered her head. “Glitter would be the one to ask about that…”

An uneasy silence fell over the room, only broken by the popping of the fireplace and the few lamps scattered around, and the occasional rumble from the fight in the courtyard.

Eventually, Sparkplug lifted her head and narrowed her eyes in thought for a moment before bringing a hoof to her ear again. “Pinkie, have you guys made it topside yet?” She asked, drawing the silent attention of her two companions.

“Yep! We found a staircase up a while ago. I think we’re on the second floor now.” The pink pony’s voice responded a few moments later.

Slightly relieved that Rainbow and Pinkie were still safe, Sparkplug relaxed into the couch behind her before adopting a more serious expression. “Good. Hey… since you’re up there, can you look for Twilight and the others? We haven’t heard anything from them since they said they were looking for Princess Cadence and the girls up there.”

Pinkie responded after a brief pause. “So, it’s not just me that can’t reach them?” She asked quietly. Seemingly understanding the uneasy silence from Sparkplug, she adopted a more determined tone. “Don’t worry. We’ll find them. We were already kinda on their trail, but this place is so big and confusing, even with your locators…”

Sparkplug gave a half-hearted smile, but it struggled and eventually failed to overtake her concern. “I hear you there.”

Then, the gray mare skewed her expression as she heard a slight protest from Pinkie, followed by another familiar voice coming in slightly quieter.

“Hey, have you guys heard from Blue and the Princesses?! Are they alright?!”

“Gah! Rainbow, not so loud! That’s my ear, not a microphone!” Pinkie whined.

Sparkplug hid a snicker as she heard some muffled apologetic sounding words from the cyan pegasus, along with some faint laughter from a third voice, most likely Raincloud. She knew that background noise could sometimes bleed through the communication spell, but she never thought about other people talking through it that way.

Her ears swiftly drooped as she actually thought about how to answer. After some thought, she spoke. “You can tell Rainbow not to worry. Blue and the Princesses are fine. They’re just… busy right now.” Sparkplug explained, doing her best to sound genuine.

“Okie dokie.” Pinkie replied, pleased to hear such good news. “I’ll let you know if anything changes. You guys stay safe, and tell Fluttershy and Applejack I said hi!”

Sparkplug smiled a bit. “You got it… and you guys stay safe too.” She said before dropping her hoof from her ear and sighing.

Looking over, she discovered Applejack giving her a pensive look.

“You sure you want to lie to them about the princesses like that?” AJ asked in a surprisingly understanding tone.

Sparkplug let her head thump back against the couch. “I didn’t want to worry them… They can’t do anything about it, and they have enough on their plate right now. Besides, I wasn't technically lying. I’m sure Blue and the princesses will be fine.” She said, though her confident stare wavered slightly.

“I sure hope you’re right.” Fluttershy chimed in from the back of the room. She shared a hesitant glance with her friends before letting her head hang from the weight of all the troubling thoughts she had.

However, the yellow mare looked up abruptly as a hint of movement caught her eye.

Fluttershy trailed her gaze to the side, to the back right corner of the room. She could see the shadows cast on the bookshelf there from the torch sconces outside the open doorway to her right.

The thick shadowy lines created by the enclosures for the torches almost seemed to move and shift from the flickering light. If she couldn’t directly see one of the torches herself, she might have been unsettled by them.

Still, somehow she was sure she saw something out of place. A shadow that didn’t belong, that moved just a bit too much. Now, however, everything seemed normal.

After a few paranoid moments spent staring at the opening, and a few quick scans of the room, Fluttershy tucked her legs in close and hugged herself. This far away from the fireplace, she couldn’t tell if the shivers she experienced were from unease or the cold. She only wished that they could accomplish their goal soon and that all her friends would be safe.

“Gah!”

Blue Bolt yelped as he was given another bone-shaking smack across the courtyard from the knight’s seemingly endless rage.

“Watch out!” Sunspot cried as she and Glimmer Shine both dove out of the way of an explosive fireball shooting into the ground where they just were.

Finding himself roughly smacking onto the ground, Glimmer looked up and widened his eyes as he saw more flashes of fire aimed at him. He yelled fearfully and rolled as fast as he could, evading two more explosions sending plumes of dirt and snow scattering into the air.

Then, the stallion suddenly hit something solid, halting his movement. He darted his eyes to the newfound obstacle, only to find that he had rolled all the way to a raised square of cobblestone, most likely meant to hold a tree or some other outdoor plant.

Shifting his wide eyes up to the possessed armor, Glimmer flinched as he saw it with maw open wide and flame already gathering. With his awkward position and the solid wall stopping him, he couldn’t get up and dodge in time.

However, as the fireball shot forward and exploded, he strangely felt no pain. After uncovering his face and looking up, he saw a faintly gold-tinted forcefield in front of him.

“Glimmer Shine, are you alright?” Celestia asked from across the courtyard. With Luna and Blue Bolt fighting to take the knight’s attention away, Glimmer had time to look over and see her with her horn lit up.

“Y-yeah…” He said, still a bit shaken from his close brush with death. “Thanks.”

Hearing the fluttering of wings beside him, the stallion looked over to see his pegasus friend landing with a worried expression.

“Come on, get up. If you stay still too long, you’ll end up a pony flambé.” Sunspot said, offering a hoof to help her friend up faster. The near-constant clangs and zaps of laser fire and the assorted roars and yells from the knight made it sound like a warzone, and the various craters and holes around them helped this comparison.

Blue Bolt grit his teeth as he narrowly dodged a spout of flame in the air. He could barely get close enough to even try to land a strike, not that his strikes were being effective. “We can’t keep this up forever! There has to be some way to beat this thing!”

Then, as Sunspot was getting Glimmer Shine back to his hooves, she looked to the knight and paused. It was looking up at Blue Bolt and Luna flying overhead, so its neck was stretched, partially exposing the inside. It was hard to see, so much so that she had to squint, but she could just make out some multicolored lights gleaming through the smoke.

Sunspot frantically tapped Glimmer Shine on the shoulder and pointed ahead. “Hey, you see that?!”

“See what?” Glimmer asked, making an effort to find whatever it was his teammate was pointing out.

“There! In its neck!” Sunspot insisted. However, she and the stallion were forced to scatter as the knight shifted its attention to them and started stomping toward them.

With surprising speed, the armor got within reach of the pegasus and made a downward strike at her. Sunspot flinched her eyes shut as she took off into the air, narrowly avoiding the clawed gauntlet clipping her tail.

Hearing the distinct sounds of fireballs being sent her way, she dodged to the side and made a swooping arc. While she was evading, she put a hoof to her ear and focused on her companions, making extra sure that she was heard. “Everyone! Aim for its neck! I saw some lights inside at the base!”

Celestia glanced from the pegasus flying about in the air down to the raging knight. It was incredibly hard to make out, but there did seem to be some luminescence underneath the smoke coming from the slats in its neck.

“That must be it.” The alicorn reasoned, feeling freshly invigorated to end this fight. Being careful to time her moment and aim precisely, she shot a paper-thin bolt of magic while the knight was tracking Sunspot.

While her aim was spot on, the knight turned slightly to track Luna instead, causing the minute laser to ping uselessly off its metallic hide.

Celestia growled under her breath before lighting her horn once more. “Sister! Help me hold it down when it’s looking up! Glimmer Shine, Sunspot, Blue Bolt, do whatever it takes to hit its weak point!”

Sunspot landed behind a thick stump and poked her head out. She looked down to her popper briefly, deciding to put it away and pull out her strobe. “Got it!”

Seeing what his teammate was doing, Glimmer Shine did the same and crouched down behind the raised square of stone. “Ready when you guys are.”

“On your signal, sister!” Luna said, prepping her horn while also flying above the knight to get it to look up. When it lost interest in her, she fired a few weak blasts down at it, eliciting an agitated rumble from within it as it lifted its burning eyes to meet her.

Once the knight had exposed its neck as much as possible, Celestia acted in a flash.

“Now!”

All at once, the two alicorns wrapped their auras around the armored specter, using every bit of magical stamina they had to prevent it from moving an inch.

Immediately after, Glimmer Shine popped out of his cover and fired a barrage of strobe bolts at the knight’s neck.

The colorful orbs all near perfectly struck their mark. Many of them exploded on contact with the outer armor, sending a shower of multicolored sparks flying out. Two of them, however, entered through the lowest slat in its neck and exploded within.

Seemingly in response to this, the knight bellowed and shook. Celestia and Luna could feel it straining against them, managing to move ever so slightly. Sweat started forming on their brows as they fought to keep it steady.

“It’s not enough! You must… ngh… hit it directly!” Luna ventured. The shower of energized sparks seemed to hurt it, but a more precise shot would be needed to do the damage they were looking for.

Glimmer Shine grit his teeth and produced a frustrated growl. At this rate, none of them would be able to get in position for a more direct strike in time.

Then, however, he saw Sunspot swooping along the ground, beating her wings to swiftly move toward the knight.

“Sunspot!” Glimmer reached out to the reckless pegasus, but she had her mind set.

Sunspot felt every fiber of her being yelling at her to turn back. The knight could break free at any moment and shatter her fragile body with a single strike or burn her alive. Still, monster hunting was a dangerous business, and if it meant saving her friends from similar danger, she would risk it to end this fight right here and now.

Time seemed to slow to a painful crawl as the pegasus swooped in front of the possessed armor, its metallic form towering above her from her position. She held out her strobe and thrust it forward, hoping to stick the end right into the exposed slats of the knight’s neck.

Just then, a metallic squeak came as the knight opened its helm. The all-encompassing darkness within its form was split by orange light, which painted the pony’s paling face as it lowered its gaze to meet her.

Everyone in the courtyard felt their heart skip a beat. Celestia and Luna raced to try and think of some spell to save the pegasus. However, they knew that they couldn’t cast a different spell in time after using so much effort to keep the knight in place.

Before Sunspot’s life could flash before her eyes, she watched as a blue set of forelegs wrapped around the knight’s helm from behind. With great effort, Blue Bolt managed to lift the armor’s head up just in time for the fireball it shot to be off course, sailing above the suited mare’s head and exploding into the castle wall higher up.

Blue grit his teeth as he put all of his enhanced strength into bending the knight’s gaze skyward once more. It started to move to pry him off or strike him, but before it could, he freed one of his forelegs and lowered it.

In an instant, the stallion’s wrist was wreathed in flame and ember as one of his blades flashed into form. Blue barely gave it time to materialize before he jammed his weapon up and into the thin slat at the base of the knight’s neck.

There was a noise like glass cracking, followed by a flash of multicolored light from within the slats. The knight arched back, and an ear-piercing shriek came free as its form shook and vibrated. The red lights in its eyes blinked out, and a shockwave of smoke was expelled from its body.

Sunspot shielded her face, and Blue Bolt turned his head away. Everyone else watching could see a cloud of smoke dispersing in all directions, which quickly faded.

Celestia and Luna felt the armor going limp in their magical grasp, and as they both let go, the metallic shell that once held such fierce spirits collapsed to the ground and split apart into pieces, accentuated by the empty helm rolling to a stop just in front of Sunspot.

With a newly arrived silence in the courtyard, Sunspot blinked at the sight in front of her. She lifted a shaky hoof to the knight’s helm, still expecting it to get back up, and gave it a light kick. She then looked up to see Blue Bolt panting lightly.

“H-holy cow… You saved my hide, Blue.” She said, a bit shaken by her close call.

“Don’t mention it.” Blue Bolt managed a smile as he finished catching his breath and vanished his blade. “We pega-brothers and sisters gotta stick together, right?”

The pair looked to the side to see their companions coming closer, all wearing pleased grins now that the battle was over without anyone being harmed.

“Well done, Blue Bolt,” Celestia said earnestly.

“That was amazing…” Glimmer Shine added.

Luna patted the pegasus on the shoulder. “Amazing is perhaps putting it lightly. I think I can confidently say that you are finding your wings as a slayer. I’m certain Tom would be proud if he could see how far you’ve come.”

Blue Bolt chuckled nervously and dipped his head. “I don’t know about all that.”

Meanwhile, Sunspot glanced down to the now empty armor and adopted a pensive frown. “So, what exactly was Dusk’s plan leaving this guy here to fight you? What’s he after?”

The suited mare’s question caused an uneasy silence to form for a brief moment as everyone returned their thoughts to their primary goal.

“Knowing Dusk, he most likely used this dreadful spirit to toy with us.” Luna offered with a scowl at the thought of Dusk and his smug smirk.

Celestia pursed her lips and exhaled softly. “I’m afraid it may not be so simple. Dusk might be cocksure and impulsive, but he is also conniving. I’m sure Blue Bolt’s prior victory over him in battle gave him a wake-up call of sorts. One that would make him less likely to underestimate his abilities.” She looked to the pegasus with a hint of unease in her eyes.

“So… what? You think Dusk wanted to test Blue Bolt’s abilities on an expendable target?” Glimmer Shine asked.

“I wouldn’t put it past him… although, I’m quite sure he also reveled at the chance to cause us harm and waste our strength,” Celestia said.

However, the others were surprised to see the blue stallion’s face brimming with determination instead of fear or worry.

“Let him play his games. I’ll beat him no matter what he throws at us.” Blue Bolt stated.

“We shall beat him.” Celestia reminded. “I appreciate your drive, Blue Bolt, but please remember that we are in this together. I have seen too many people go it on their own… and I would rather not lose any more friends to Dusk.”

The blue stallion wasn't sure how to respond, but he gave a reserved nod. Still, the alicorn and even the others could see a gleam in his eye that told of how little he considered her words.

Luna cleared the air and her throat before turning to Glimmer Shine and Sunspot. “I think it is time we took a short rest and regrouped before pressing onward. You said you found Sparkplug and the others, yes?”

“Yeah.” Glimmer nodded. He and Sunspot walked alongside the group and led them in the right direction as they talked.

“You said that they were hurt by some monster? How bad are they?” Blue Bolt asked, his mouth curving downward with worry.

“Nothing too serious.” Sunspot said. “Sparkplug hurt her ankle, and Fluttershy is fine. I think if any of them needed some healing, it would probably be Applejack. She had some of her blood drained, apparently, and her shoulder is kinda messed up.” She added, cringing a bit as she recalled their brief examination of the two mares’ wounds.

Luna’s eyes softened at the thought. “My goodness… Did they encounter some of the vampires?”

“I wish.” Glimmer Shine added. “We dealt with a few different monsters down there. Apparently, they had a run-in with one of those blood creatures that the hooded ponies summoned at the school before you brought us to Ponyville.”

“Oh dear…” Celestia’s eyes widened briefly. She remembered viewing the report that Twilight had written her regarding the event, along with the depiction of the creature from one of the magical tomes recovered from the hooded ponies. “I understand Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were somewhat traumatized from that event. Are they both ok? Have you heard word from Pinkie’s group?”

Glimmer smiled reassuringly. “Pinkie’s fine, at least as far as we could tell. Sparkplug said that Pinkie called her a while ago warning her about the monster and that she found some stairs. I assume some stuff went down, but she didn’t seem upset or particularly scared, so I think she and Rainbow are fine.”

“Unfortunately, that also means Raincloud is probably fine too.” Sunspot grumbled, mostly jokingly. Mostly.

Glimmer Shine chuckled. “Every cloud has a gray lining I guess.”

Luna snorted softly before returning her thoughts to the others and frowning. “And what of Fluttershy? I know she is… umm… what is a polite way to phrase this?” She pondered for a moment. “Sensitive, to a degree. I hate to think of her dealing with old foes and memories like this.”

Sunspot smirked as she looked down the hallway toward where they left the three mares. “She’s fine. In fact, Sparkplug and Applejack told us that she saved them from that freak.”

“Really?” Luna blinked, an impressed smile slowly forming.

“That’s my girl.” Blue Bolt said.

“Are you surprised, sister?” Celestia asked lightheartedly.

Luna chortled softly and shook her head. “Not surprised… merely proud. I suppose I shouldn’t have counted against her… or any of them.”

“Yeah… they put some of the best guards at the academy to shame.” Glimmer Shine noted.

Sunspot puffed out some air. “Now they know how Glimmer must have felt.”

The yellow stallion twitched a brow, though he still wore a lighthearted expression. “Hey, easy now. I was at the top of my class.”

“As you’ve so often told us.” Sunspot shook her head and smirked. “Come on, you can admit it. Pepper coasted you through the tests, didn’t he?” She asked, watching him for a reaction and vaguely hoping that she was just teasing and not actually crossing over into being hurtful.

“Hah…” Glimmer actually laughed briefly. A small smile tugged at his lips, and while his eyes drifted slightly, he still seemed to be happy with whatever thoughts he had. “Not so loud, Sunspot. The princesses are right here.”

Luna and Celestia smiled alongside the stallion, though theirs were fragile as well. They couldn’t imagine how Glimmer felt after that night. For Luna especially, she viewed it as one of her gravest failures.

The blue alicorn walked closer to the stallion and rested a hoof on his shoulder, causing him to pause and look up to her soft face and kind, sapphire eyes.

“He would be proud of you, Glimmer Shine… as we both are.” Luna glanced back to Celestia, who was eager to join with a smile and a nod of agreement.

Glimmer trailed his eyes down and even closed them briefly. He took a breath and then sighed before returning a smile to his face.

“Thank you, Princess. It means a lot to hear you say that… and I’m sure it would have meant a lot to Pepper too.” He said, soft but still earnest. “You know, this one time-”

Then, the yellow stallion was interrupted suddenly by a sharp gasp and a hiss of air as Blue Bolt lurched forward, a trail of blue wisp coming from his mouth.

All at once, both Sunspot and Glimmer Shine heard a distinct buzz and felt a strong vibration against their vests as their detector charms flashed brightly and frequently, a sign that a strong presence had come into close proximity.

Luna’s expression immediately fell. “What is-”

However, before she could even finish her question, Blue Bolt looked ahead with wide eyes and pale face before taking off at a sprint down the hallway.

“Blue! Wait up!” Sunspot called after the stallion, but to no avail. After a shared moment of realizing where he was running toward, both she and Glimmer Shine started running as well, with Celestia and Luna close behind.

They chased the pegasus a short ways down the hallway before he suddenly skidded to a halt before a familiar open doorway into a firelit room. It was familiar to Glimmer and Sunspot, at any rate.

Almost the instant he looked inside, any remaining color in Blue Bolt’s face left and an alarmed gasp escaped him. They piled behind him and peered in, only to grow pale themselves as they immediately understood.

Applejack and Sparkplug were immediately visible in front of a couch nestled before a fireplace. The gray mare was on the floor, clutching her side as blood leaked out around her hooves. Applejack herself was clutching at a crimson tendril wrapped around her neck which stretched from across the room.

And standing at the back doorway, holding a petrified-looking Fluttershy close, was the last person that anyone wanted to see. Prince Dusk.

“Fluttershy!” Blue Bolt immediately rushed into the room, staring daggers into the alicorn.

Glimmer and Sunspot raced for some kind of weapon on their vests, and Celestia and Luna lit their horns as they raced to join the pegasus. They didn’t make it two steps inside before they froze in place at a pained squeak.

Fluttershy squirmed in Dusk’s limp grasp. He was simply keeping a foreleg around her shoulder, but it was soon clear why she was so stiff and hesitant to move. A second blood tendril, separate from the one holding Applejack, was snaking out of the wound across his neck. It went behind the yellow mare until it came back around and pressed into her neck like an iron spike, waiting to pierce skin at the right amount of pressure.

“Ah, ah, ah… let’s not do anything we might regret,” Dusk said calmly, a blood boiling and spine-tingling look of confidence in his eyes.

Celestia begrudgingly dimmed her horn and stopped where she stood. She glanced to the side, to the farm pony stiffly staring at her and the others with wide eyes, and the gray mare barely able to move, before settling her eyes ahead.

“Let them go, Dusk.” She said, firm but restrained, because that was what everyone was, her included.

“You’ll forgive me for holding onto them a while longer,” Dusk said. “I’m surprised that they have so much fight left in them after everything they’ve been through. That gray one over there barely even missed a beat to try and stop me when I grabbed their friend. Honestly, I’m impressed.” He smirked before flattening his expression. “Of course, if anyone else tries that, I’ll aim for the head… and I assure you it won’t be a grazing wound.”

Near the back of the group, Sunspot looked over to Sparkplug with a worried frown and considered moving over to aid her friend before looking back to Dusk tensely and deciding against it. “Sparkplug… are you ok?”

It took a minute for the gray mare to respond. Her vocalizations only consisted of agonized whines and groans, but eventually, she squinted an eye open and nodded before curling in on herself again.

“Look…” Blue Bolt said, making every effort not to sound as livid as he felt. “There’s no reason to bring them into this. You want to fight me? Fine. I’ll fight you all you want if you-”

“If I what? Let them go?” Dusk interrupted. “And what if I didn’t let them go… hmm? What if… I killed one of them? I’d bet you’d still want to fight me then.”

Suddenly, Applejack stiffened up further and gave a distressed croak as she clutched the tendril around her neck, which seemed to tighten ever so slightly and grow taut, even nudging her forward enough that she had to take a step.

Fluttershy flinched her eyes shut as the foreleg around her tensed. Dusk might not have been a full-grown alicorn, but his lithe form dwarfed her in comparison as if to swallow her up. She whined softly and even yipped, her chin lifting up and away in an attempt at getting away from the surprisingly sharp tip pressing into her neck. A slight trickle of her own blood fell down.

Seeing this, Blue Bolt inched forward and clenched his teeth. His eyes held a fiery rage to them, and for an instant, an orange glow seemed to appear.

Not wanting the situation to get any worse, Celestia decided to step in. “Dusk… these ponies have nothing to do with this fight. Just release them.” She took a slow step forward, keeping her horn dim and a disarming calm to her movement. “If you let them go, I will-”

Dusk interrupted her sharply, “So sorry, Celestia, but the time for negotiations is over. I’ll play with you later… right now, I’m more interested in that slayer fellow.” He said, narrowing his eyes briefly as he looked over to the stallion. “How about it, Blue Bolt…? Care to have a little wager with me?”

All eyes tensely shifted to Blue Bolt, who seemed to be entirely unimpressed and thoroughly agitated.

“Against my better judgment…” Blue Bolt said, eyeing to Fluttershy and Applejack and softening his glare slightly before returning it in full force as he looked back to the pale alicorn.

That same, succinct laugh that they had all grown to despise cut through the air like paper as Dusk smirked at him. “I wager that by the end of this conversation, you will give up one of your friends to die.”

“What?!” Blue Bolt reeled back. “No way! I don’t know what sick games you’re used to playing, but I don’t bet with lives… especially not my friends!”

Dusk’s gaze didn’t waver. “Oh… but don’t you want to hear the stakes?” He asked, and without even waiting for a response, he giggled in a self-pleased sort of way and continued. “If I win, I’ll let all your friends go free… minus the one, of course. And if you refuse, well… I’ll just kill everybody like I was going to anyway.”

“Yeah right!” Sunspot chimed in. “As if you’d let us go even if we did listen to you! Which, by the way, is not happening!”

Dusk cocked his head to the side and gave the pegasus an odd look. “I don’t know why you can’t take me at my word. Did I not hold up my bargain with that human friend of yours? If I hadn’t, you wouldn’t be breathing to spew your insolence right now.”

Sunspot growled under her breath, but a hoof on her shoulder from Glimmer Shine settled her down, at least enough to stay silent.

Dusk looked back over to Blue Bolt, who by now was starting to sweat nervously. “Have you made a decision yet, Mr. Bolt? I know where you stand as far as physical prowess goes, but how strong is your character?” He prodded. “Are you really willing to let all of your friends die, just because you couldn’t decide which one to sacrifice?”

“Sister… what do we do?” Luna whispered without even breaking eye contact with the stone-hearted killer in front of her.

Celestia wasn't sure what to say. And while she was hiding it well, her heart was starting to pound.

Blue Bolt’s heart was pounding too. His head felt fuzzy, and he was sure it wasn't from exhaustion or his powers acting up. He had spent a fair bit of stamina in that fight with the possessed armor. Could he muster the strength to do something to save the two mares? Could he do it fast enough before Dusk could react?

Sensing Blue Bolt’s hesitance, Applejack gathered her strained breath and spoke. “Forget about me, Blue, just save Flutters-ACK!” She suddenly found her windpipe being restricted even further, causing her to stumble forward and narrowly catch herself on the couch with one hoof, with the other clutched to her neck.

“Applejack!” Blue Bolt started toward the orange mare until he saw the tendril stretching over to her move. It seemed to tighten even further until he decided to back off, whereupon it relaxed enough for the farm pony to gasp in a breath.

“Time is short, Blue Bolt. Who’s it going to be?” Dusk asked. “You can weigh out your options if you like, but I think you’ll find there is only one choice where the majority of your friends live to see another day.”

Seconds twisted and dragged on like hours. Blue Bolt felt so stiff that he was afraid he might snap. He eyed between Fluttershy, then Applejack, then to Celestia and the others, then back to Fluttershy.

She looked so scared and desperate. The faint communication she was able to make from her eyes alone told that she didn’t know what to do either, but she didn’t want anyone to get hurt. She was perhaps even willing for him to pick her if it meant the others were safe, however much she was terrified.

“If you’re having trouble, I can pick for you,” Dusk said.

Like a snake closing in for the kill, the tendril shifted around Fluttershy’s back, pushing itself further into her neck. The pegasus squeaked and flinched her eyes shut, standing up on the tips of her hinds, but even then, the tip of the tendril cut into her, until she couldn’t hold in a pained yip anymore.

Hearing that yell, something snapped in Blue’s eyes. In the span of one second, they shifted from shocked and worried, to appalled, then to angered, then to furious.

And as they shifted from blue to vibrant orange and narrowed, everyone watching felt more deadly intent than they did from Dusk himself.

“Let… her…” Blue growled, his words digging through clenched teeth as the muscles in his neck tensed. In an instant, he unfurled his wings to full span with one stroke. They were already glowing with energy, the feathery tips awash in the blink of an eye like a flash fire.

“GO!”

A wall of wind blew through the room. It extinguished the fireplace, it blew books off of shelves and sent papers fluttering mad in the air, and it made near everyone flinch.

Fluttershy flinched as well. By the time she opened her eyes, the pain in her neck was still present, but the pressure was gone. In fact, Dusk’s foreleg was gone from her shoulder. She barely put two and two together when she noticed liquid dropping to the floor around her.

Applejack dropped to her haunches as the tendril around her turned to broken liquid and quickly fell to the floor. The others looked at her, surprised as she started coughing and rubbing her throat.

However, soon everyone shifted their attention to the side. Blue Bolt was gone, and so was Dusk. Following the trail of wind and debris, they found themselves staring outside into the hallway, and into a hole in the next wall.

Luna blinked, still a bit stunned and not entirely processing what she was seeing. Then, her pupils shrank as she put two and two together, and realized what had just happened, and what was most likely happening now.

“Blue Bolt!” The blue alicorn cried before rushing forward. Everyone else quickly glanced amongst themselves and Luna as the realization dawned on them as well.

Soon, they were all picking up their wounded companions and rushing to assist their friend in what was to be the fight they all knew was coming, but dreaded its arrival with every fiber of their beings.
.
..
...
Meanwhile, Dusk was still locked in his involuntary embrace with Blue Bolt. The pair were flying through stone and wood walls like they were nothing. They had slowed down a bit since their initial burst of speed, but they were still going fast.

Dusk looked up, struggling to even move from the sheer force pushing on him. He saw the pegasus glaring at him, those orange eyes the only burning beacon he could focus on amidst his blurry surroundings.

He tried to summon some blood to skewer the stallion off of him, but the frequent impacts of his body bursting through obstacle after obstacle made it hard to concentrate. Eventually, he tried to lift a hoof and punch at Blue’s face, but before he could even wind back, the pegasus slammed him into a final wall and pumped the brakes hard.

Blue kicked off the alicorn’s chest with his hind legs, using some of the awesome power still flowing through his body to enhance the strength of the motion. He could hear the air leaving Dusk’s lungs along with a pained sputter as the pale pony was sent further into the already crumbling wall. It was hard to tell if the cracking sound was the stonework or Dusk’s ribs.

Giving one final flap to right himself in the air and spin around, Blue skidded to a halt as his hooves met solid ground again. He panted heavily, his glowing wings and eyes swiftly vanishing and leaving him somewhat fatigued.

It was worth it all to see Dusk so out of sorts.

The vampiric alicorn, the immortal predator of the night, full of unnatural grace, charm, and poise, slid to the ground in a most unbecoming heap. Dusk coughed and spit up some blood. He planted a foreleg beside his head and pushed himself up, panting himself to some degree as he looked up and locked eyes with his foe.

“You…”

Dusk said under his breath, either out of exhaustion or pure rage. He pushed himself to all fours and wiped his muzzle, briefly looking down at the blood on his hoof, and then up at Blue.

“You… hornless… soft-minded… pig-headed, whelp!” He fumed.

Blue Bolt couldn’t help but smirk as he lowered himself into a fighting stance and summoned all four of his blades. The fiery embers almost seemed brighter, as if they had met their purpose for creation. “Y’know… Between getting these sweet powers, and getting to wipe the floor with your sorry butt… I’m almost glad I died.”

Seeing the stallion so confident and unwavering in the face of death incarnate, Dusk tensed his expression briefly before relaxing. His cold eyes still held rage, but it was different somehow. It had a sort of calm resolve to it.

“Very well…” Dusk said, looking down to his hoof and licking the blood off of it before planting it back on the ground and letting his signature weapons drift up and out of his wrists. He grinned, baring his fangs with an eager snarl and letting his red eyes flare.

“If you want to skip to the chase… then you had better be ready to run.”