The evening of the next day came, the air was full of energy...

Nocturnal could sense it. An itch in the corner of his mouth.
a horrible smile spread, and he looked excitedly out of the window.
The battle would come soon.
And with the battle came the blood.
Sweet, sweet blood.
He grimaced, only a frustrated frown remained from his grin when he closed his good eye.
when he opened it again, he looked skyward.
this curse became more and more of a problem. And every day Kallaxia could feel its effects too.
It made his love, which it fed on, so much more bitter.
Still, she would stay with him.
He knew that and she knew that.
Until the bitter end if it had to be.

"Are you feeling worse again?"

Nocturnal didn't have to look over her shoulder to know that she was giving him a worried look. He could feel her gaze resting on him.
His wings stretched as far as he could, then folded them back in before turning around.
His cloak billowed and lay flat on his back.

"I am getting weaker. The red rage is getting stronger and I am losing more and more of myself."

Lying was pointless when dealing with a master liar. Besides, it would be a very cold and dark day if he condescended to lying to his comrades. And the same was even more true of Kallaxia.
She came to him and nuzzle him tenderly, cuddled up to him and closed her eyes.
That calmed him down and he was tempted to close his eye for a moment.
But only tempted.
Everything in him suddenly screamed "danger", and when he turned around he could see what was going on.
At the edge of the barrier there was a first fight.
The Royal Guard used all sorts of tricks to break the barrier, but it didn't seem too easy. Worse, the unicorns seemed to be counting one and one together and made their way to the inn.

"Oh what a pleasure! We soon have visitor! Do thee think, we should give them a fitting greeting."

With a single swift movement, his sword was in a combat stance, and Kallaxia did the same. They both ran towards the window, and it broke out in a magical wave as Kallaxia prepared the way for them.
What a joy, now it came to a fight!

"We have to get through this barrier! Immediately!"

The commander of the attacking Royal Guard paced up and down while his unicorn unit tried to break the barrier.
But that was not as easy as expected.

"Sir! There is fighting within the dome!"

The commander let a pair of binoculars float to him and looked through, saw on the inside how two bat ponies armed with swords stood against the unicorns. Their red cloaks were blowing in the wind and he could see the blood these two fighters were shedding.
Nevertheless, it was clear that these two were not attacking, but only defending.
Granted, defending them meant the attackers were killed, but that was fine with him. Less resistance later.

Left, right, left, left, crouch, roll sideways.
The whole thing was more and more like a dance.
And Nocturnal's brain knew the steps.
Right, sword around and stab.
Again one of these enemies was missing and it only took a few steps to get back on the ground.
Kallaxia also moved like a dancer across the battlefield, with an elegance that was unparalleled.
In contrast to her fight with hellria, in which she had been driven by anger and hate, she was now in her element and nocturnal enjoyed seeing her spinning around, using her wings to change direction in flight.
Yes, if the order still existed, it would certainly have become a dancing blade.
The black of the capes would have gone very well with her.
a magical beam reminded him to turn his attention to the enemy.
Stab, twist, hit the side with the hoof and ... that had been the opponent's throat.
Another fallen.
If nochturnal had known how easy it would be, he would have started to cause a masacre much earlier.
No, now was not the time to lose control, even if the blood that ran down his blade called for him so incredibly seductively.
He couldn't lose control.
Not so close now with kallaxia. and only when the Royal Guard was inside the barrier to stop him if necessary.
The smell didn't make it any easier.
The fresh blood reminded him of numerous fights, victories, defeats ...
and suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his side.
He had allowed himself to be distracted.
And the price was an icicle that had been rammed into his side with the help of telekinesis.
When he took a look at the side and was expecting a pile of blood, he took a deep breath. The icicle was broken without penetrating, the damage was blunt in nature and it was not bleeding.
Lucky it wasn't a dagger.
He looked at the unicorn that had tried to kill him with ice.
He hadn't seen anything weak and dishonorable like this for a long time.
He stood menacingly over the stallion lying on the ground. A wound in his side showed that his reaction was touched by despair rather than really thinking about what he was doing.
It made no difference.
With a quick movement, nocturnal's sword found the throat of the stallion lying on the ground and sank deep into it until the sword on the other side severed the cervical vertebrae and thus ended the suffering of this unicorn stallion.

'Luna help me, I felt far too much satisfaction to kill this rather defenseless enemy...'

Part of him, however, hoped that Luna wouldn't watch.
It would only make him a monster, he was as sure of it as the sun had risen.
To his surprise, however, he noticed that the voice that asked him to kill had become quieter. and less demanding.
So it only took a fierce battle to curb him?
no, it wouldn't be that easy, he was sure of that. The right mix of control and violence was still needed.
he felt it.
Both set out to attack the unicorns that created the barrier. Once they got rid of those unicorns the barrier would collapse.
But just as they were working their way forward, chaos broke out. The captured ponies began to rebel, which led to the two of them now having to watch out where they hit with their swords.
It took much longer to make up the ground now that they had to find their way. The Pegasi made sure that lightning struck everywhere, earth ponies tore down buildings that blocked the streets.

"That will be really exciting."

Kallaxia smiled at Nocturnal and Nocturnal smiled back. When he was about to take off, a lightning bolt struck near the two of them.

"We can not take the risk of flying. The only way left is the way over the ground."

Kallaxia nodded and they looked for a path that was not blocked, in which there was less fighting and which protected them from the heavy thunderstorms that triggered the Pegasi.
When they finally got there, they raised their swords and pointed them at the group of unicorns.
To their surprise, they immediately gave up and dropped the barrier, lifting their hooves into the air.
The fighting broke off as quickly as the barrier collapsed.

Shortly after the fighting

The surviving unicorns got a strange ring on their horns, whereupon they probably no longer worked, and were led away.
the slaves who had not yet run away or were injured were provided with blankets and food, those who had run away were looked for by the Royal Guard.
It was still very cold.

"That would be a good fight that you delivered in here. In all of my time in the Royal Guad I have never seen two ponies fight like this."

"My fighting style is getting a bit old. But I am happy that I was able to show the guards of Princess Celestia something that they did not know yet."

The commander of the troops smiled as Nocturnal said this and looked at him closely.

"I think I remember you. You were in the streets during the battle for Canterlot, fighting changelings and defending the hospital. Heard about it in the barracks. The boys said that a Batpony in a red cloak and with strange language habits was almost there single-handedly held off the changelings long enough for them to be evicted. "

"That is correct. I am a Nocturnal Wanderer, and both the last of the orriginal Wandering Blades and swordmasters of the newly formed Order of the wandering Blades."

he bowed formally to the commander

"Always at the service of the princesses."

The commander bowed just as formally and then began to organize his troops again.

Orchid came to the two of them.

"What will become of me and the others? Some of us have no place where we can go. Or we don't want to go back."

Nocturnal looked at Kallaxia, and she looked at him. then she started smiling.
Nocturnal smiled too.

"We will convert the Inn into a barracks, and also train wandering blades here. In winter it is too cold here to move on anyway. So we will overwinter here and everyone who wants to can come and learn our sword fight. So this never happens again. We will stay in this village for so long. So if thee want, we can take this eyesore and make it something thou all need. A real home. "

The freed slaves looked at each other. a few didn't seem to think about it, but there were a few volunteers who would stay and turn this village into a real commune. and there were also those interested in martial arts and the order.
And while the new residents of the village began to clean up, Kallaxia and Nocturnal went back to their inn and soon barracks. It was a longer break than planned, but both knew that the winter months on the way would be too hard. and there was work here.
So... why not?

A letter to Twilight Sparkle and friends

Twilight,
We would like to thank you for forwarding our message to Princess Celestia. We found out about the Lost Track, the stallion who received the message from Kallaxia and passed it on, is well back with his family, which we are very happy about. We are also happy to report that the village has been liberated.
It got the name Freedom's Light.
We will hibernate here and set up a branch of the Wandering Blades, similar to that in Horseshoe End.

The Royal Guard has already suggested setting up an outpost here and laying a railway line for it. in a month or two (depending on the weather) there could be a new station here.
Feel free to visit us if you want.
But be warned it's very cold up here.

Greetings from Midnight and Nocturnal.

PS .: please also write our thanks to the princess, yes? she is also cordially invited to come over here.

PPS .: The red rage got worse for a while. Could you look for a counterspell, please? or after a potion that might help?
Thank you, your friend Kallaxia / Midnight

Twilight smiled a little as she read these lines. Fortunately, everything turned out well. At least nothing indicated that it was really difficult.
And a little trip to the north would be fun.

"Spike. A letter to the princess."

Spike nodded and, with quill and scroll, immediately got ready to compose the letter Twilight dictated to him

In Freedoms Light, a couple of months later

True to there word, the Royal Guard had set up a small outpost, along with a train station and tracks.
And the first train came with urgently needed building materials, food and ... visitors.
Kallaxia, again at midnight, saw the six joy and the small jaws coming out of the train and hugged one after the other.

"Twilight! And all of our other friends! Nice that you could set it up! I have to admit that I was a bit surprised when your letter arrived this morning that you come over today. I came right here afterwards to pick you up."

after giving Spike a hug, too, she was going ahead

"Come on, I'll show you everything we've built in the few months."

There was now a picket fence around the village to protect against wild animals. The outpost of the Royal Guard nestled against it on the inside to take up as little space as possible. Actually only the train station was outside this fence.
Inside there was a lot of life as workers unloaded the train and loaded ores from a nearby mine. The trade slowly picked up.

"It is amazing what you have built in such a short time!"

"Wouldn't it? Without the others it wouldn't have been possible. Come, follow me."

She proudly showed the school that had been built, and other new buildings, such as a small library, wich would have been raided by Twilight almost instantly if not all of her friends had stopped them.
The biggest surprise was the inn. It was now a small, defensive fortress with a training area. There were just eight ponies practicing sword fighting on dolls, while Nocturnal sat silently and meditated.
The red rage was back, but by now Nocturnal believed he had it under control thanks to meditation and a task that he had to cope with
All in all, things seemed to be going very well.

"Twilight! Rarity, Appledash, Rainbow Jack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet thou again! And of course nice to meet thee again, Spike!"

Everyone giggled at Nocturnal's name slipup.

"Nice to meet you again, friends. It's been a long time since we met"

"Okay, training over for today, Blades. You are making great strides and I am proud of each and every one of thou."

He bowed to his students, and they bowed to him.
They all disappeared inside the inn, while nocturnal went to the others with a big smile.
It was a pleasure indeed, and he too hugged each one with a big smile.

Author's Note

It's good to cross the village off my list that I've created with adventures that I still want to send Nocturnal on. ^^

Can we go with them on the next adventure?

I'm not sure about that yet. But the next one is sure to be interesting.

Really? what is it?

I dont know. Well I already know but I don't know