As you may have guessed, it wasn’t long before Clam Breeze and I got married. Yeah, I know, big surprise there. Luna was ecstatic about it. It was hilarious, being lectured about my antisocial tendencies by the princess of the night. Right, where did she think I got it from, considering she’d raised me for most of my life?
Anyway, it was a bit rough at first. We couldn’t decide on where to live. I thought it’d be best to stay in Canterlot, but she didn’t really like the castle life. Eventually, we found a small town just south of Trottingham. It was a quiet place, and seemed safe enough. Of course, I went in first to do cleanup duty. Three vamponies were hanging around the place. Low ranked lurkers, not a problem for me. They dropped quick, and at last I was satisfied that the village was safe. We moved in not long after.
Then came the issue of my job. Luna decided that the best course of action would be to spend time with my family, and she would only call for me if it was urgent. It worked out quite well, as most nights I spent at home. I occasionally pulled an all-nighter, but for the most part, I slept pretty soundly nestled against Calm Breeze. Life became quite peaceful for me after that. We didn’t want for anything - working for a princess had some really nice benefits - and we were happy. Life was wonderful.
But all good things come to an end.
I was sitting in Canterlot with Luna. It was seven months after I got married, and those months had been very quiet in vampony activity. The only movements we had seen had been more Lunar Convent ponies. It was disturbing enough how they were killed, but the fact that Luna was their real target was my real problem with the attacks. The fact that I had trouble catching them was also getting on my nerves. They knew I was after them, so they never stayed in an area for too long.
Anyway, I had just taken down a particularly bothersome Phantom that night, and earlier that day, I had visited the ruin on the map. It was my first visit to the place, and, true to Breeze’s word, there was no sign of any sort of access point to get into the ruin. And, also true to Breeze’s word, the place felt wrong. It felt evil. It felt... to be honest, it felt like it was calling me. There was something in there that wanted me. And it wanted me badly.
Luna was smiling as I talked about home life, about Breeze’s latest antics. At last, she finally spoke up.
“So, when can we be expecting to see some young ones running about?” I coughed for a moment, startled by her question.
“Um, well,” I began, unsure of how to phrase this. “We’re trying. As soon as it happens, we’ll let you know. Actually...” I turned away and looked at the floor. “We were hoping that, when it happened, if you would be the young one’s godmother?” Looking back up, Luna had put a hoof over her mouth. It was clear by the smile she was trying to hide and by the flush on her cheeks that she was touched by my question.
“We would be delighted,” was her reply. I smiled, satisfied that another small thing had been lifted off of my chest. One less thing to worry about.
It was then I felt it. A fluctuation in the flow of the night. Something big. These were not uncommon, but there was something different about this one. I know Luna felt it too. She dropped her hoof, her smile fading in an instant. Neither of us moved. We merely let the night speak to us. It felt like it was calling me. Pleading for me to move.
“Shade, go,” Luna commanded, closing her eyes. She was far more in tune with the calling of the night then I was, and so she could pinpoint the exact location of the discrepancy. “This is big. Bigger than anything you have yet encountered. Go to her. Now!” I knew exactly where she meant, and called upon her magic to get me there. But I couldn’t move. The teleport wasn’t working. Something was blocking me. So, I teleported to outside the town.
The moment I landed, I felt what was wrong. Before I could even see the flames, I could feel them. Looking up, my heart sank like a ship at sea. The entire town was ablaze. And, in the sky above, no stars could be seen. A curse had been placed on the night sky that lay over the town. It was blood red. Another message by the vamponies, this one directed to me. It was a sign. That all in the village were gone. They were all either dead... or worse.
Including Breeze.
Fury began to build within me. I felt a rage I had never felt before. They had gone too far this time. Even as Luna’s presence began to fill me, I drew my crossbow and gazed around. I found a solitary vampony standing at the edge of the inferno. He was laughing maniacally. I growled, charging towards him.
As I drew close, he turned to see what this new noise was. “Hey, he’s here! It’s-” was all he managed to say before my bolt met his throat. He collapsed with a gurgle, and I approached, pulling the bolt free. It was bloody, but I cleaned it on a patch of his skin, reloading the crossbow and turning to face the village.
‘You have got to be kidding me.’ Seven vamponies emerged from the heart of the flames. At the head of that small group was a Phantom, and she looked none too pleased that I had just slain one of her children. I knew that I was in for a real fight, but I didn’t care. I had lost too much to them. And they were going to pay.
I lept forward into the fray, but didn’t immediately go for the Phantom. I wanted that one to suffer the most. I wanted it to feel my pain before I killed it. Luna was trying to communicate with me as I lunged, but I ignored her. My mind was clouded by a bloodlust, nothing would sway me.
My bolt met the head of a vampony, taking him out of the equation. I landed and spun, connecting the crossbow with the head of another. It knocked him flat, but didn’t kill him. With the small breathing room I had, I sheathed my crossbow and drew two silver bolts from my quiver. Then the vamponies closed around me.
I felt the slash of the first before I could react. He got me across my side with his claw, tearing a huge gash in me. I retaliated in kind, planting a bolt in the side of his skull. He collapsed. Whirling about, my bolts managed to stop a second slash, this one aimed at my flank. The claw in question now had two puncture wounds in its center, and the vampony cried in pain, backing off. Another took her place, and I made short work of him, driving both bolts into his neck with blinding speed.
A second slash was the reward for my carelessness, on the back of my left hind leg. I collapsed, the pain driving me to the ground. But I managed to drive the bolts into the roof of the vampony’s mouth as he dove for the finishing blow. Tossing him aside, I felt a regenerative spell flow through me, courtesy of Luna. The wound on my leg stopped hurting instantly, but wasn’t fully healed. I knew it wouldn’t be ‘til the fight was done, and so I had to push through the pain and blood loss.
As I rose, twirling the bolts, I took in the situation. Now there were only four left, including the Phantom. Judging by the look on her face, I could tell that my plan was working. She was enraged by the deaths of the four. I leered at her. A furious enemy was a clumsy one.
But a distracted enemy got themselves killed.
There was a third slash, this one on my back. The pain was unbelievable. I would have fallen again, but Luna’s magic began to pour into me. She held me up, holding the pain back and trying to keep the wound closed. I knew that this fight could kill me if it lasted much longer, so I made my move. I spun and threw the two bolts, taking two more of the vamponies through their eyes. Drawing two more silver bolts, I found the vampony I had wounded earlier, the one that had just wounded me, and decided that the bolts were too good for him. Instead, I lifted him up with magic and threw him at one of the burning houses. His cries lasted for a good minute before the fire finally claimed him.
At last, there was only one. The Phantom was stunned. Even with three slashes, two of which would have normally spelled my demise, I was still standing. Not only that, but I had killed all eight of her children without so much as a second thought. I could see the hesitation in her eyes. So, I called out to her.
“Is that it?” I cried, goading her. “Are you just going to let me slaughter them, and then slink off to your master? Or will you fight me and die with honor? Come, let me end your miserable existence.”
‘And we thought that one Phantom was cliche.’ I ignored Luna as the Phantom roared, her rage getting the better of her. She pounced forward, and it was then that I remembered the one thing about Phantoms: you have to stun them first.
I leapt aside, dropping the bolts and grabbing my crossbow. She managed to get me across the face, near the same spot that Phantom in Trottingham had hit me. The pain coursing through my body was at excruciating levels now, but I had to fight through it. I aimed the crossbow at her, but then remembered as she spun about that it was empty.
‘Oh, for the love of Celestia!’ I jumped aside again, much earlier this time, and drew a bolt. I had to keep dodging in order to buy the time I needed to reload. ‘I have got to find something better for this thing’s ammo.’ I managed to get the bolt in, but my momentary lapse in concentration allowed for a fifth strike, once again in the face. I swung the crossbow and, to my surprise, heard crunching. I turned to see that I had struck the Phantom in the mouth, and broken quite a few of her teeth. She screamed in pain as I whirled about and pulled the release. The bolt struck true and she fell, her scream dying with her.
At last it was over. I let myself fall, panting heavily as the bloodlust lifted and the adrenaline faded away, replacing itself with more pain than I would have thought physically possible. Luna’s magic began to flow through me, mending the wounds the vamponies had inflicted upon me. The pain didn’t quite leave, but the edge was most certainly gone when she had finished. Also, every wound had been sealed, so the flow of blood was finally stopped. I felt shaky and weak, but I knew that something had to be done. The flames of the village were dying down, but they weren’t dead yet.
‘What can we do about this fire?’ I asked. Even my thoughts sounded weak. Luna knew it, too, but chose not to say anything about it. Instead, she reached out around me with her magic.
‘Is there a body of water anywhere?’ I nodded, giving her the general location. As I watched, her magic lifted the entire body of water - what had once been a lovely little pond - and used it to douse the flames. It took some time, but at last the blaze was finally quenched. As soon as Luna gave her all clear, I dashed forward into the village, searching for any signs of life.
There were none.
I quickly ran up to what was left of my house. It was nothing more than a charred remain, but I still began to cast spells, trying to find if she was still nearby. If she was still alive. Or if she was among the ashes. To my relief, I found nothing that showed she was dead. But I also found nothing to show she was alive. I sat in the ashes of what had once been our home, feeling the tears creeping up at the edge of my eyes.
“She’s alive.”
I turned to see an earth pony stallion standing behind me. He looked weary, but nodded at my look. “There were some of us that managed to get away before the blaze took hold of the whole town. She ran south with the others. I ran north to try and get help from Trottingham, but something made me come back. She told me you would be coming.” He gestured for me to follow, and I did so. This stallion was largely unremarkable, green with a navy blue mane. He had a scroll for a cutie mark, which told me he must have been a scholar of some sort. Other than that, he didn’t seem to be that impressive. But he still surprised me.
“I saw something as I ran north. It was off to the west. I don’t know exactly what it was, but I think I can point it out. It might be important.” As we reached the edge of the village, he lifted a hoof and pointed west. The moon was just beginning to draw near the edge of the horizon, and I knew that soon, Luna and Celestia would begin the process of lowering the moon and raising the sun. But that wasn’t what really caught my eye. What caught my eye was standing on a plateau not too far off, a shadow against the radiance of the moon.
‘Do you see it?’ I asked Luna. It was a long moment as I stared at it, still trying to take in the fact that it existed. At last, Luna replied.
‘We see it. We are just still having trouble believing it.’ As I watch, the being shot a bolt of magic to the sky above the town, which was still blood red. The color vanished, and the true night sky became visible once more. How it did this, I would never know. All I know is that I was watching the master of the vamponies at work.
And, judging by the silhouette of his massive wings and horn, he was an alicorn.