The damage is done

Nocturnal watched in horror as the cloud of black magic moved towards the city. It would wreak havok among the residents, the elements of harmony were there, the princess of love ... and Kallaxia had opened the barrier for this disaster.
He could not believe it.

"please bid me wherefore thee didst yond?"

"I... don't want to lose you! I haven't thought and his promise that he can heal you sounded too good!"

"too valorous to beest true. "

Nocturnal closed his eye and took a deep breath.

"Kallaxia, I love thee more than anything, but that was stupid. We never rely on dark forces to solve our problems, and certainly not when we risk the lives of ponies."

Kallaxia looked like a beaten dog, shuffeld a hoof across the ground.
It hurt Nocturnal to see her like that.
But it had to be said.
He got ready to go, looked over his shoulder, the eye patch at Kallaxia. He still trusted her with everything he was

"Let us make up for our mistake. That nay pony is harmed"

He began to smile, which made Kallaxia join him.
Both galloped off, also because they could see how the barrier broke around the city and was now limited to the tower in the middle.
There was still hope.

In the battle

Unfortunately, you can't kill black clouds from pure dark energy.
No matter how hard Nocturnal tried, his sword wouldn't help.
But with strong wing flaps he was able to keep the cloud at bay.
For now, at least.
While he was trying to do this, Kallaxia flew around to collect scattered Crystal Ponies and bring them to the tower.
Thanks to the others, they knew that they had to hold out a little. Twilight had an idea.
Nocturnal hoped this would work, no matter what.

"How are you, Nocturnal?"

Nocturnal didn't look at Kallaxia, focused on his task, but took the time to answer.

"my wings are getting tired, but I hold the front as long as I can."

Kallaxia nodded and helped fillys and ponies to the tower.
Yes Nocturnal would hold his ground as best as he could. But it couldn't take too long. not that there are still losses.

Out of the fog came an attack that Nocturnal hadn't expected. One of the crystal ponies smacked him with green flames in its eyes. probably possessed by Sombra's evil magic.
Nocturnal had to be considerate of these ponies and not injure them. or at least had to try to do as little harm as possible, which was not so easy.
In addition, these ponies had no instinct for self-preservation and rushed to Nocturnal, which is why he drive the sword, which had been useless up until now and was now only dangerous, back into its scabbard.

So hoof to hoof combat was the order of the day. And that with tired wings.
Unpleasant.
But it had to be done.

Unbeknownst to Nocturnal, he was enveloped and surrounded by the black cloud, and all escape routes were cut off when he noticed it.
Obsessive ponies broke out of the clouds and tried to overpower him. And slowly they would succeed.
But not without a fight.
Nocturnal's thoughts only revolved around the nearest enemy and how to fend off, but his muscles grew tired, his blows weaker.
Not much longer and he would ...

A kick in his stomach made him fall.

"You fought well, Wandering Blade, but now your time has come. I'll add you to my army, and with the training you teach my soldiers to come, I'll become unstoppable."

Nocturnal wanted to get up again but the crystal ponies under Sombras control pushed him back to the ground.

"I will now tell you a little secret. Once for all time one of the Wandering Blades was my subordinate. I cursed this unicorn with a plague. The Red Rage."

Sombra's face appeared before nocturnal and he heard everyone laugh maliciously.
In the distance he could hear Kallaxia screaming his name.

"It is a curse that was brought into your order by this unicorn. Surely you know him. I feel this plague in you. Weak, but it is there. Let me stir up this hatred in you I'll turn you into a killer like Equestria has never seen before!"

He tried to defend himself against those lying on him and looked at Sombra angrily

"Test my blade, Evil King, and I will strike thee down with the thunder of righteousness! I will nay fall on my knees before thee, i shall die first!"

Sombra laughed as black clouds broke away from him and entered his mouth and ears.
Nocturnal screamed, it felt like his insides were on fire. Even more so, he saw red at the edge of his field of vision.
The red rage slowly began to rise in him and his scream turned into a growl
When the transformation was complete and Nocturnal got on all fours with a growl, he looked around, his saliva was flowing uncontrollably, his movements were more animal than pony.
And to top it all off, King Sombra laughed derogatory and maliciously.

"Very well, my faithful slave. When your work is done here you will have no other place than to serve me. And if you still refuse, as if you are, you are just as useful. Now go and ..."

Sombra looked up when a purple spot with the crystal heart appeared.

"That can't be! No!"

Sombra was literally torn apart by a wave of energy.
The crystal ponies he controlled came to their senses again, but Nocturnal ...

Just a few meters from the tower

Kallaxia had shielded her eyes when the wave of energy rolled over her.
she had expected that the same thing would happen again as in Canterlot and that she would be thrown away immediately, but that was not the case. She could see how the dark cloud that Sombra once was was just dissolving, and then looked around in panic for Nocturnal.
He had stopped and fought the cloud, as little as that had done.
No. it had bought them time.
She was still worried about him now.
When she could see him her heart was filled with relief until she could see what she feared most.
He stood there, hunched over, growling at a crystal pony.
This pony seemed very frightened and raised a hoof protectively as Nocturnal dashed forward.
And he just bit into it, growling and nagging.

The scream was enough to wake Kallaxia out of her shock. She briefly considered drawing her sword, but she let it go. Nocturnal should be injured as little as possible.
So she used her momentum and flapping her wings to ram one of her Hindlegs against his temple, whereupon he let go.

"Quick! Get the Elements of Harmonie! Maybe they can help me! Or the Captain of the Guard! I'll try to stop Nocturnal!"

The just frozen ponies gallop away and head for the tower.
Kallaxia, meanwhile, tried not to be caught by Nocturnal, who kept attacking and jumping at her.
His attacks didn't seem to slow down, even though he'd only recently been so exhausted.

"It's me ... kallaxia ... do you recognize me?"

Nocturnal just growled at her, sniffed like a wolf, and his ears rose. His expression was less bloodthirsty, but his eye was still bloodshot.

Then he slowly began to withdraw.

Right in the direction of Twilight, which raised him with a telekinesis field.
Nocturnal didn't like it at all and he snapped at Twilight, growled at her and tried to reach her with flaps of his wings.

"What's with him? Why is he acting like a wild animal?"

"This is the red rage. He seems to have gotten into a blood frenzy. or he was very angry. I've only seen it once before and he attacked everyone and everything. "

Twilight looked at Kallax in shock. That was really terrible news.

"What can we do against it?"

"We have to calm him down. The best thing to do is to numb him for a day or two"

"I ... know a spell. It could help us."

Using her magic, she gently sent Nocturnal into the realm of dreams.
But Twilight was also exhausted by it.

A few days later

Against all odds, Nocturnal later still woke up under the influence of the Red Rage. But it was weaker. Instead of growling, he roared around and asked to be released.
He wanted blood.
It should flow like rivers in spring.
Kallaxia was a little unsure what was going on, but as long as he was tied to bed he couldn't harm anyone.
So the hope.
But at least Kallaxia was allowed to visit him, which took a great burden off her heart.

"How are you, Nocturnal?"

"I want to taste the blood of my enemies! I want to bathe in it until my fur is completely red! It has to flow!"

"But ... you can't really want that! Remember who you are!"

"I am a wandering blade! My destiny is to slaughter my enemies! I will only find peace when I have dammed a lake of blood in which I can bed!"

"You are a nocturnal wanderer. You are a kind being, a good friend and the pony I love most! You can't mean what you say!"

"Thou oath made us enemies! Thee swore it on our blood! Thee tasted my blood and I tasted Thou when thee promised that we would fight again!"

"That was before I fell in love with you."

Nocturnal said nothing more, but stared at her with bared teeth. If it weren't for these chains ...
A nurse came in and brought something to eat and drink.

"Where is the blood that I thirst for? Where is the meat that I crave? I will not eat this ... rabbitfood!"

The nurse looked at him in shock. apparently no one had told her what state nocturnal was in.
She fled the room.
Kallaxia sat down next to Nocturnal and sighed, then looked around. Nobody else was in the room, so she dropped the midnight disguise. It felt strange since she was so used to it.
What wouldn't she give for being a pony ...
at the moment there was a bigger problem.
She looked at Nocturnal.
He stared back, still with those bloodshot eyes.
Then she sighed and drew a dagger

"Yes! Kill me as long as I can not defend myself! Let my blood flow! Soak this bed in my blood!"

to Nocturnal's surprise, Kallaxia cut herself in the hoof.
Her green blood smelled so delicious to Nocturnal.
Another surprise was when she spread the blood over the food that the nurse had brought in. Then she took the fork and began to feed him.
A little insecure and without really having an idea what else to do, he let himself be fed.
The blood made the food so much better, and he ate it with greater pleasure.

More days later

Nocturnal slowly came back to his senses.
And he was very ashamed of what he had said and done.
Kallaxia had a few more cuts on her hoof, every time he asked for blood she'd given him something.

He just looked at her, and wondered why she hadn't just left him.
Yes she said she loved him but ... so much?
He knew he would stay with her for as long as she wanted, because he wanted to see her happy.

"I owe thee. I will never be able to repay that."

"That's what you do when you love, isn't it? You're there for each other in the good times ... and the bad times as well."

"I can only apologize that my bad times are just this bad. I know that not many are as loyal as thou are."

Kallaxia smiled thinly and leaned down to kiss him, a kiss Nocturnal returned with delight. She was just the best.
There was no doubt for him.
And tomorrow he would be on the road again with this wonderful mare.
A goal in front of your eyes, a direction to go, a comrade at your side whom you could blindly trust.
What couldn't be nicer for a Wandering Blade?
He just hoped that the Rote Rage wouldn't always be this bad.

Another good news was that this explosion of energy had solved his problem with emotions. As if the embers in him had not only come with new fuel but a completely new fire.
Too bad that the Rote Rage hadn't ended when he was trapped in it.
Apparently he had missed a very interesting sight, how everyone looked like crystal.
He could well imagine Kallaxia standing there like a black gem. Or Midnight as a midnight blue star.
And he'd missed it.
Pity

The time to say goodbye.

Kallaxia was hugging Twilight and her friends one last time, while Nocturnal opened the saddlebags and got ready to go.
From here it was just west, and not even that far.

"Take care of yourselves, yes, Midnight? And write me.

"Of course. But I don't expect a lot of mail to go where we're going."

The group laughed, and Nocturnal looked at the picture again.
A changeling that was eight months ago? a year? still enemies i had seen these ponies, and whom he had also seen as enemies, was now surrounded by friends.
And he was waiting for her for the next adventure.

Pinkie Pie had planned the route, much to the astonishment of Twilight, and Rarity had packed extra clothes for kallaxia.
There would be a few more villages ahead of them.
A trip of three or four days.
and to Nocturnals' regret, you would not be able to travel at night, as the temperatures here were far too low when the sun went down.
For this he would always take himself off in the evening to look at the stars, wherever they would rest.

"Let us go, Midnight. We will surely see our friends again."

"What makes you so sure?"

The question was serious, but she said it with a smile and a confident face.

"As long as we are together there is nothing that can stop us. Nay weather, nay enemy, not even evil curses!"

"We'll see, but as long as our blades are ready ..."

"... everything has to be prepared for the fact that we will fight back."

"exactly."

A final thought, and the two left while the other six got on the train and drove south again, home.
Nocturnal's home was right next to him. He knew, home is where the heart longs for.
So may the journey go on, further west, further to find out what happened to the Wandering Blades.
And towards an uncertain future.
This time He silently prayed not only to Luna, but also to Celestia that she might let this future shine brightly.
The sun lit their way from behind.
A good sign

Author's Note

This is the rewriten version of Chapter 8.
I apologize for the fact that I rushed this chapter last time

This time I'm a little happier with the chapter and I've given myself more time.
(I hope that this time it is really better)

Kallaxia/Midnight teasing Nocturnal
Art by AlexDTI

You let out the wedding? Why?

Because it was hasty. The whole last time was a mistake and to rushed.

You're right! I wasn't allowed to plan their wedding! something I'm still mad at you for

That's what I thought. Don't worry, I already have an idea how it will be.

Do I have to wait long?

I Dont Know... well i know but i dont know... And don't ask Alex. He dosent kknow ether.

We will see

Ah damnd... sorry Alex if she comes bothering you now...