Blue Moons are truly a sight to behold, so rare that generations would pass before one would even occur. Thanks to a combination of atmospheric conditions and smoke particles, the light shining from the moon turns blue. Granted the moon itself doesn’t turn blue, it's more like a part of the sky is covered in a blue lens that when the moon’s rays shine through it gives off a blue hue to everything. While it is a rare and bespectacled sight to behold, it also has magical properties that can affect all living things. Much like how some monsters in Equestria become either more violent or docile when in the presence of a blood moon’s rays or how strange phenomena occur during an eclipse such as gravity being distorted or holes in space-time occurring, the blue moon affected monsters in a very unique way. The blue rays didn’t make the monsters stronger or weaker, but it gave them a special ability that is very rare. With the right methods and magical power, monsters could transform humans into monsters. The Order of the Sleeping Sun, an organization that is tasked with protecting humanity, was unsure as to what exactly the Blue Moon would do to the monsters, as the last Blue Moon was over 1000 years ago. Nevertheless, despite how little was known about the effects of the Blue Moon, the Order did not want to take any chances. As an extra precaution, they had placed more wards on houses and the castle within Canterlot and brought in people from neighboring villages and towns until the night ended. This would end up being a grave mistake and the end of Canterlot.

Flash Sentry, a Winged Human, thought back to his lessons on the moon’s supernatural abilities it had on monsters, or Night Creatures as the Sleeping Sun had labeled them. He knew that it affected them, but never did he think he would be where he is now, fighting Night Creatures in Canterlot, the very heart of the Sleeping Sun. Not only that, he was fighting one of his comrades.

Or rather, she used to be his comrade, her name is Redheart, a human with skin as soft as silk, kind and gentle baby blue eyes, and long pink hair that draped past her shoulders. She was a medic that helped many injured soldiers, Flash was one of them, he recalled a time when he almost lost his life if Redheart hadn’t donated some of her blood to keep him from dying from blood loss after his battle with a Wendigo.

Seems now that she wanted that blood back, as Redheart snapped aimlessly at Flash, desperately trying to bite down on his neck. Her once blue eyes that were soft and caring now replaced into a bloody crimson full of hunger and violence. Flash knew what he had to do, he had the means to end her right here, his steel spear tip laced with silver and Blessed Water that could kill a vampire if pierced through their heart. Nevertheless, Flash couldn’t bring himself to commit the justified deed, forcing him to do nothing but parry and defend. Flash’s mind scanned the room, while still keeping an eye on his friend-now-turned-foe, looking for a means of restraining her or knocking her out in a painless way.

His eyes fell on the two, now dead, soldiers lying on the hospital beds, a pool of fresh blood dripping out from several bite marks on their necks, their eyes wide open and their faces contorted in a lock of shock, betrayal, and fear. The multiple holes on their necks indicated that Redheart had bitten them several times, parts of their flesh were missing too, Flash noticed after another glance. He looked to an empty bed in the back of the Med Bay, where the beds were attached with chains and straps to keep patients locked. He devised a plan to push Redheart into the room, knock her out, strap her to the bed, and then figure out what in the name of the Divine was happening.

Unfortunately for the winged male, he took his eyes off of Redheart for too long, because when he looked back she had lunged at him with her jaw unhinged. Her teeth were sharp and pointy, her front teeth resembling something akin to fangs. He raised his spear to defend but it was knocked away by Redheart, the spear slid against the floor and bounced off the door behind Flash, who had just now been tackled and pinned to the ground.

His instincts kicking in, he wrestled against the female doctor, pushing against her face and shoulder to keep her fangs from reaching his neck. Redheart leered back, shaking Flash’s grip, he reflexively rebound his arms to stop her from her assault, only in his quick action did his right hand grab her temple and his left accidentally groped Redheart’s breast.

The doctor let out a soft “eep” at the sudden touch, pulling back in surprise and what could be mistaken for embarrassment. However it was nothing compared to the beet red and flustered Flash, words of apology and excuses spewed profusely from his tongue. However, his apology fell on deaf ears as Redheart recovered, grabbing Flash’s hands and forcing his arms to the ground. Flash’s struggle was in vain as Redheart had him pinned, her waist pressed against his, and held him down, Flash’s arms were extended in a “T” pose and held down by Redheart’s superior strength.

Redheart appeared to revel in Flash’s struggle, slowly lowering and opening her mouth down onto Flash’s neck, who was now breathing heavily and tightly shut eyes in fear of becoming a meal for the doctor. Flash’s life flashed before his eyes, him joining the order, going through testing with Applejack, meeting Rarity and Fluttershy, the sparring match behind him and Soarin, saving Cheese from that Necromancer, and meeting Twilight. The thought of that beautiful mage filled the Avian with regret, silently wishing he could see her one last time, or that someone would protect her from what was happening.

His prayers would be answered by the sound of a loud bang, blood splashing across his space, and Redheart lurched backward screaming in pain and anguish, releasing Flash from her hold to cover the newly made golfball-sized hole that had burrowed through her head. She growled at her assailant now standing in the open doorway.

Looking up, Flash saw his comrade, Cheese Sandwich, standing in the doorway. Adorned in gold armor, missing his helmet allowed his poofy chocolate brown hair to be exposed. In his two hands, he had a heavy break-action revolver aimed at Redheart. Cheese looked down at Flash with his usual trademark smile, but this time Flash knew it was being forced.

"There, now we're even." Cheese declared triumphantly, but his moment of pride quickly diminished as the cavity in Redheart's skull began reforming, quite rapidly too. Shocked by the ineffectiveness of his firearm, he shoved it into its holster and dashed for Flash's spear.

With steel in hand, Cheese lined the spear up with the doctor's heart and drove it clean through. Redheart jerked back as Cheese drove her off of Flash and rammed her against the wall, the spear nailing her to the wall like a post-it note. More annoyed than in pain, she growled at Cheese and grabbed the spear, using her strength to pull it out of her, despite Cheese's resistance.

"Oh, come on!" Cheese groaned. "Does anything work anymore?!"

Flash just stood in shock and horror, not only had this vampire managed to heal her wounds from a bullet specifically designed to keep her from regenerating, now she was able to keep herself alive despite a blessed blade having pierced her heart. She should be nothing more than ash after that kind of strike, yet here she was defiantly fighting Cheese. Flash pushed his fears to the back of his mind, focusing on his friend struggling with the snapping vampire. He would figure out why the vampire could resist the blessed artifacts later, right now he knew of only one way to keep the vampire down.

Flash pulled himself up and ran into the next room, running past Cheese, who shot Flash a betrayed look as he ran past the human struggling to hold off the vicious vampire. Flash scanned the room until his eyes landed on his target, a sealed box hanging from the wall that had a toxic symbol on it. He unlatched the box and searched the contents within, he scanned several syringes looking for his target until he came across it. Grabbing the shot with a "z-z-z" symbol on it, unsealing it, and double-checking to ensure that he had the right shot, he made his way back to Cheese and Redheart.

Before doubling back and grabbing three more knockout shots, just to be safe.

Back in the main room, this time without hesitation, Flash made his move and injected Redheart with three syringes into her neck, pushing the purple liquid into her bloodstream. Within moments, her movements started becoming more sluggish and weaker, struggling to keep her eyes open, until she went limp drifted into unconsciousness.

Flash and Cheese waited with cautious stances and held breath, once they confirmed that Redheart was knocked out for good, the two let out a sigh of relief and heavy breathing. Flash slumped against a cabinet and Cheese sat on a bed, quickly sitting up when he realized it was already occupied by a corpse.

Flash's ears perked up at the sound of quick footsteps down the hall, both he and Cheese readied themselves for another battle but their stances softened when it wasn't another monster that entered the room, but was thankfully their teammates.

Entering the room was Soarin, an avian human with sharp emerald eyes and spikey navy blue hair, followed by Fluttershy, a timid avian human who looked at the two deceased humans with shock and sadness, muttering a quick prayer under her breath. Next was Rarity, a human mage who quickly began to examine Flash and Cheese to ensure they were fine and unharmed. Lastly was Applejack, a straightforward and honest terra farm-gal who was watching the doorway to make sure no other monsters would be entering the room.

Soarin moved up to Redheart, noticing that she was motionless and had a spear sticking her to the wall he made the association that she had been killed by the spear.

“Did you-“ Soarin began, only to be caught off by Cheese.

“Nope,” he shook his head, “the spear didn’t do jack to her, neither did my revolver. She’s not dead just knocked out from the potions Flash injected her with.” He looked to the still Redheart as Rarity inspected his neck. “We gave her six times the normal dose, don’t know how long that’s gonna keep her knocked out so we better keep moving.”

“Wait,” Flash blurted, causing everyone to freeze for the moment, “we need to find Twilight.”

The group paused, before Soarin spoke up, “She’s with the Sentinels, she’ll be safe with them.”

“None of our equipment is working,” Flash stated, grabbing his spear, he removed it from Redheart who fell to the floor, her wound already closing, “case in point.” Flash pointed out to the vampire’s rapid healing. “The sentinels are walking murder machines, but if their blessing and enchantments aren’t working then we need to help.”

Cheese rolled his eyes, “sure buddy, we all know you just wanna save Twilight cause you have a weak spot for librarians.” He smirked, and everyone chuckled at the blushing avian who opened his mouth to protest but was silenced by Cheese bringing a finger to his lips. “However, while your reasons are both thirsty and desperate, you are right. The Sentinels are magical machines, with everything that has happened so far there’s a good chance that they’ll be malfunctioning or their equipment is nullified. Also, there’s a good chance we’re the only soldiers still in Tintagel, meaning Twilight only has her magic to defend her and if she gets turned…” Cheese shook his head, removing that kind of thought, "the Maiden is too important to take any kind of risk.”

Soarin held his chin for a moment, contemplating their next action. “Alright, Twilight must still be in the Sanctuary so we’ll head there first to ensure she's safe. On the way, we’ll grab Spike and high-tail to the school.”

With those orders, the team collected themselves and ran to their destination. Heading down hallway after hallway, eventually making their way outside as they began crossing one of the walls, Flash had a moment to witness the terrifying tragedy of Canterlot. The once prosperous and beautiful city was filled with spots of illuminating fires, some from the lanterns of pockets of humans huddled together to comfort one another, others were from roaring fires of either house's set ablaze or controlled walls of fire created to serve as protection for the innocent. This heartbreaking sight was even more painful when the blood-curdling screams met the avian’s ears.

Overwhelmed by the violence being imprinted upon the home he held dear, Flash looked up to the blue moon looking down on the world. Either he was captivated by its beauty or gazing at it to distract himself from the ongoing slaughter, he didn’t know. The moon was a deep shade of blue, shining like a sapphire in the inky black sky, the moon was in its new phase meaning that it was at its closest point to the earth and massive, being so large that it was almost impossible to not notice it.

Flash had wondered how something so beautiful and wondrous could be the cause of such chaos and violence. His mind wandered back to three days prior before the slaughter had begun.

Author's Note

Information Available for Public Disclosure

Night Creatures

A label for any non-human creature that preys on, feeds off of, harms, intends to harm, controls, and/or manipulates. This umbrella term is used for a variety of species varying from ones that appear like humans to spirits that take on abstract shapes and forms. Despite their appearance, they pose a threat to humans and therefore must be killed without hesitation.