Without wanting to spend another second in this damned enchanted cell, I got up and said the activation words for my armor in my mind. The armor’s liquid metal then flowed out over my body as I walked towards the exit. And while perhaps any other time the feeling of such would have been unnerving, but now somehow it was a small comfort instead.

Then admittedly I did not know what to think by this point. I had come here in a fiery rage looking for answers, but somewhere it had taken an odd turn. I had this little plan in my mind on what to state and what to do and yet here I was. I ended up somehow saving Luna and not only accepted back into the Reaper Knights, but promoted in rank. This truly seemed to puzzle me as to why? Why would Black Wing do such a thing, princess saving aside? She did not accept lieutenants directly under her for some unknown reason and yet again, here I was.

My puzzlement continued only until the cell door shut and locked itself again behind me. This was because the guards stationed just outside had noticed my presence, stood up straight, and did something absolutely dreadful. They both saluted before barking out a firm “Lieutenant General Sir!”

I stopped in my tracks in response as a cold shiver screamed down my spine. Now as I had mentioned in the past, I dislike fanciful titles and I loathe being called by them even greater. It was truly horrid enough that I was called a “Captain” in times past. But now my fancy little title had turned into a rather revolting grand one. With an air of authority apparently thrown in for good measure it seemed.

My mind recoiled at the surreal situation that had become reality as my right eye twitched uncontrollably. I then said to myself, “Oh by the stars and moon I have spent most of my life evading authority figures only to become one. Fate has such a cruel sense of irony, Luna and Celestia help us all…”

My little display however did not go unnoticed as I heard the guards giggling to themselves. But then without really thinking I glared at them before I barked “As you were!” This of course caused them to straighten up as I hurried away and turned the corner. To which I promptly began gagging at what I had said and shivered some more. A deep scowl soon developed afterwards as I continued walking out of the royal dungeon. And in this very moment I had adamantly decided that my little conversation with Black Wing was going to be a firm one.

But then after the several dozen steps or so, I finally exited the royal dungeon to the throne room. I had unconsciously braced myself for any type of contact that I would meet, but nothing came. Not that I minded of course, but it was eerie. The throne room was never dead. There was always something happening, but this time it was completely devoid of life. Even Luna's and Celestia's royal guards were missing.

It began to become truly strange until I was almost trampled by two soldiers gleefully galloping past me. Their frantic yet joyful statements about Luna's recovery shed light on what was happening. In all likelihood, Celestia was busy fending off a horde of happy onlookers outside of Princess Luna's room. I probably would have also investigated myself, but that would mean answering all sorts of unpleasant inquires on how I aided Luna. Inquires that I was not in the mood to answer even on one of my better days. So I quickly skulked out of the throne room and made my way to library.

Then with no small amount of luck I managed to evade any inquisitive souls on my way and slipped into the library. And once behind the library doors I took a deep sigh. While I thought it was pleasing that everypony seemed to be in better spirits, I still preferred less hectic areas like the library. But finding refuge was not my reason for coming here. No, that fell to the task of locating a certain purple princess that had apparently holed herself up in here.

Now at first I was grinning from ear to ear at the thought of seeing Twilight after nearly a month. I had missed her dearly during my self-appointed exile and in more ways than one I might add. But my mood did not seem to last when I realized how worried she must have been. I had left in a rage without so much as a "good-bye" and here I was going to show up like nothing had happened. I bit my lip as a knot formed in my stomach in response, but I kept searching with no less intent until I found her.

And I had to admit, it was reasonably trivial on how I located her actually. All I had to do was search for the desk with the largest pile of books. And then there she was, slumped over on her desk, obviously asleep. I had smiled despite myself until I got closer and realized she was not in the greatest of condition. Her mane and tail were unkempt and she had multiple bags under her eyes. Judging by the several dozen opened magic books and greatly worn maps she must have been here for a while. She was probably searching for me and studied Luna's aliment until she could go no further. And who know how many times she repeated that process.

So with a few quiet steps and bated breath I crept up to her. I then lightly nuzzled her cheek before kissing it. Her left forehoof swatted lightly at me for a bit as she mumbled something under her breath. Then her eyes slowly opened before her slitted pupils shrank and then dilated again. And at first she blinked a few times as if confused by what she was gazing at.

But as her vision seemed to clear, red tears began to well in her eyes for only a few seconds before her face contorted into a mask of pure fury. And as her lips curled back reveling shaking clenched teeth, her forehooves scrapped down her desk. She then pulled herself out of her chair before sending it flying away with a swift back hoof. What made it worse was the entire time she was doing this, her searing gaze never left me. And it only seemed to escalate from there when her horn and eyes soon blazed with a burning purple light.

Reasonably I stumbled away from her but she matched me with stomping steps until she pinned me against the nearest bookshelf. Then we sat nose to nose as she took several long enraged breaths through her still clenched teeth. At this point I had little idea what was going through her mind, but I doubted it was anything pleasant. She just kept glaring at me for what felt like an eternity before she growled out, "I am soooo angry with you! I...I...I..." and grabbed the sides of my face.

And then in a complete surprise she slammed her lips into my mine and began passionately kissing me. She only pulled away a few seconds later to state "Stiiiill sooooo mad at you!" before continuing. Shock soon turned to pleasure as my body melted under the embrace. I ended up sliding down the bookshelf I was pinned against until she was on top of me. Then her kisses began to move across the side of my face before going to my neck. I shuttered in response as her pointed tongue slid over the side of it. Then as I felt her fangs about to puncture a horrible realization flashed through my mind.

My eyes snapped wide open as I let out a yelp. Then without thinking I forcefully shoved her off of me before she stumbled back several steps with a wounded look. My breath was heavy and my heart was beating out of chest at what almost happened. But with my body still so charged from the encounter I did little else but stare at the ceiling of the library.

Silence reined for a minute before I heard Twilight speak up," Are...are you okay Blood Moon? What's wrong?"

It took a moment to gather my thoughts to respond. Bitterness and frustration gathered in me as I said, "Everything is fucking wrong. I...I needed you so desperately that I...you almost..." but I could not finish the words.

Twilight's expression soon turned from confusion to worry when black tears started streaming down my face. Then after she helped me up she said "What happened?"

"What happened was you almost killed yourself," I said bitterly. When she became confused again I added "This form...this...body has been imbued by Death's touch. I was turned into this...thing...his advocate as he calls it. As such I do not run off life force, but death energy. And as a result my blood has turned into a jet black toxic ichor that is poisonous to living creatures. I had discovered this when a wolf once bit me in the forest where I was hiding."

When she grew silent I had time to mull my statements over for a second. I then realized that another "intimate fluid" probably possessed the same properties. This fact made me become illogically angry. My face hardened in response as I slammed my forehooves into the floor until the stone slabs cracked. It did little to alleviate my rage, but my hooves now throbbed too severely to continue. I truly needed her and I could tell that she needed me as well, but there was nothing I could do. I did not want to risk harming her to determine if my assumptions were correct.

After a few seconds she began to state, "Well...you could always bite-" until I interrupted her.

"That will not work either. Being Death's advocate I have these horrible dark urges. The death energy I run off of is like a self-replenishing well that eventually overflows. I am naturally drawn to the life force in living beings to negate the build-up. There is a chance I would not be able to stop myself. I could accidentally harm or kill you," I said more bitter than before.

Twilight's face scrunched up in frustration that matched my own as I noticed her hind legs kept rubbing together. But without having a bucket of ice water to shut our tensions down I decided to do the next best thing. I pulled Star Swirl's tome that I was carrying with me and passed it to her.

She accepted it but said, "What's this?"

In a deadpan voice I replied with, "Oh that is just the object that almost killed Luna."

This of course made her squeak in surprise as she forcefully tossed the book away from her. "What were you thinking?! OH MY GOSH LUNA!" she yelled out in surprise but I quieted her down.

"Do not worry, I broke the curse with a grand amount of death energy. The issue has been resolved. Luna is now recovering under the watchful care of her sister. The tome is just a tome now. Or should I say, a tome about death advocates that has only been read by me and its creator Star Swirl the Bearded," I said.

In an instant her interest got noticeably peaked as her eyes began to glow. Then in an effort to sweeten the deal I leaned closer to her and whispered into her ear, "And he had to merely observe from a distance. You have an actual 'living' advocate you could retrieve a first hoof interview from. A nearly...untapped...field of study."

Without a moment's hesitation Twilight dove at Star Swirl's tome and scoured over its cover. She then sped over to her desk and grabbed a quill and parchment with her magic. She then began to pace back and forth quickly mumbling to herself while writing something down. She then rushed and plopped herself right in front of me and said "What to ask what to ask?!" before her face deeply blushed. Then without a moment's delay she blurted out "Bite me!"

I was taken back for moment before I said "Umm we just had a conversation about this moment before remember? Overflow? Possible agony and doom?"

Her face heated up further before she blurted out "You probably removed the overflow from breaking the curse! BITE ME! RESEARCH!"

I gave her a skeptical look as I half narrowed my eyes on her. "Research hmm? There are no ulterior motives as to why you chose this first?" I inquired.

"Nope! Just one hundred percent research! Yup research! Nothing but research!" she blurted out some more.

It was a ploy and not a grand one at that. Yes, she truly may have been interested in the research too but it was painfully obvious that was not the main intent. Her mind had come up with a loophole to my statements and she was attempting to exploit it. It was actually quite amazing how quickly a pony of her intellect could come up with something like this. I suppose rational thought and survival instincts be damned when you are unbearably sexually frustrated. But to her credit she did have a point. I was not overloaded with death energy at the moment and in fact I was on the lower end of such things right now. Controlling myself would be trivial in this small window of opportunity.

So with a sly grin I walked forward until she was pinned to the bookshelf behind her. I then wrapped my forelegs around her and placed my mouth merely centimeters from her exposed neck. Then in a teasing fashion I gently licked with my pointed tongue from the base of her neck to the her cheek. "Is this what you desire hmm? For your 'research'" I cooed.

Her body shuttered at the sensations before she mumbled out, "Y-y-yes," as she exposed more of her neck to me.

I slowly licked her neck again before stating, "Twilight?"

"Y-y-yes?" she inquired after stuttering some more.

"You are a horrible liar," I replied in a whisper before I sunk my fangs into the soft flesh of her neck.

She sucked in a quick breath of surprise before releasing a deep moan of pleasure. Any and all effort she had involving actual research were quickly discarded along with her quill and parchment. Then as a small trickle of her arcane charged blood flowed into my mouth I felt her body shutter almost violently.

At first I was worried until I realized her forehooves had wandered further "south" on herself. Then after only a minute of such she let out an echoing moan of pure pleasure as her body shook uncontrollably before collapsing on top of me. After which, probably due to gross exhaustion, she completely slipped unconscious and began audibly snoring.

I could not help but laugh to myself I as pulled my fangs out. Then thinking for a few seconds I decided to use my new powers to draw the death energy in the air away from her bite wound. And surprisingly my hypothesis was correct by causing it to rapidly close. In turn I made a mental note to research that further as I lifted Twilight on my back and carried her to bed. I truly wanted to slip into bed right beside her and drift off to sleep. But there was one other I needed to aid before there was to be any rest for this weary soul.

Which in turn is the reason that I soon walked passed a "Welcome to ponyville" sign. Admittedly it required an absurd amount of focus to do, but I managed to open a death gate near this little town from Canterlot. I had figured that opening the gate directly in the middle of town was not such a grand idea, so I opted to open one in the everfree instead. I had frightened several animals doing this but it was better than scaring dozens of sleeping ponies, however I digress.

The true reason for coming here was to somehow locate Cloud Streak. Now I knew from General Black Wing that Cloud Streak had been put on leave under the care of Rainbow Dash. So I skulked quietly around ponyville looking for any clues about their whereabouts. But ultimately that proved to be fruitless so I ended up asking one of the town guards for directions.

But again this proved to be yet another issue. At first I thought they were having a jest at my expense for frightening them when they directed me to a mailbox with no house around it. Well no house I realized until I looked up at the clouds and there sat or should I say "floated" my destination. In response to seeing this I grumbled out all sorts of colorful ungentlecolt like words and bashed my head against the lone mailbox several times.

"It neeeeded to be a cloud house hmm? Uuugh blasted pegasi," I growled out staring at Rainbow Dash's residence. Now the reason for my frustrations were quite simple. It was a well known fact that without help only pegasi could walk on clouds. A spell could be used to emulate this ability, but I greatly disliked using it. The obvious reason was because it did not always work. Let us just say that I had horrible luck at basic sky scout training in my past and almost perished howling to my doom. No, it was not enjoyable in the least.

But unfortunately needs must at this point so I begrudgingly cast the spell on myself and used a death gate to teleport to the house. And in that very moment an absolutely dreadful memory had soon repeated. My spell had failed, probably due to years of neglectful lack of practice, and I found myself literally screaming towards the ground at terminal velocity.

My mind completely panicked at this point and I scrambled to cast the cloud walking spelling again. The good news was that it worked this time. The bad new was that clouds now became solid to me. Namely the front door of Rainbow Dash's house when I foolishly opened a death gate directly in front of it. My only comment to such was that momentum is truly an unforgiving fiend when I zipped through the gate before abruptly slamming into said door.

A few seconds of painful involuntary twitching had passed before I managed to peel myself off the door. This of course was soon followed by a rather bewildered voice behind it that stated, "What the fuck was that?! That was waaaay too big to be a bird. Please tell me Scoots isn't using rockets to get up here again..."

Then with a huff sound I heard somepony walk over to the door before opening it. Which of course caused who I assumed to be Rainbow Dash to open her eyes to the size of dinner plates before slamming the door in my face. Shortly afterwards I heard her muffled voice stating, "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh! He's come to reap our souls! What am I going to do?!"

I half narrowed my eyes and in a flat tone I said "Raindow Dash, please open the door."

"Noooope!" she barked back and then added "No can do! We got a strict no soul reaping rule in this joint! Now beat it before I have to kick the stuffing out of you!"

A deep sigh left my lips as I leaned my head against her door. "Again, please open the door. I am not here to harm either you nor Cloud Streak," I replied.

"Yeah yeah just like you 'Didn't harm' Princess Luna right? And how do you even know Cloud Streak is here huh?" she snarked back.

"I did not cause that affliction to Princess Luna, it was caused by a book she had given me. Besides I cured her of that illness not that long ago. She is most likely still recovering under the watchful eye of her sister. As for Cloud Streak, I had spoken with General Black Wing after the Princess Luna incident. She stated she put her on leave under your care. As such it is doubtful Cloud Streak is currently in a good mental state after everything that had happened," I said with a tired tone.

"She's...she's not," Rainbow Dash replied before opening her front door again.

Behind the door the house was mainly dark. The figure that stood in front of me looked malnourished and heavy tired. Her left foreleg had been hastily bandaged as it they had been put off and on several times. The mighty element of loyalty had definitely seen better times.

Rainbow Dash sniffed a few times and looked me at me with eyes full of worry. "She...she's holed herself in my room. Never goes outside even to feed herself. I...I gave her so much of my blood, but I can't really hunt well and..." she said as her sentence trailed off as she rubbed her bandaged foreleg.

It was as I had feared. Cloud Streak was not one to handle long extreme hardship well. As I mentioned in the past the only reason I had turned her was because she attempted to end herself for being a "filly fooler". I often felt like she was the daughter I never had so the news of her like this struck me hard. But I had at least come prepared for the worst. Before I had left the palace I gathered up a few blood cylinders in a pack just in case. Though it pains me when I am correct about the need for such things.

After taking a deep breath I pulled one of the blood cylinders out of my pack. I then floated it to Rainbow Dash before unsealing it after she held it. At first she was hesitant until I said "Please drink. I have more with me for Cloud Streak too."

Without a second's delay she slammed the container to her mouth and gulped it down. Then when she was done I asked her to let me in. Afterwards I passed her another cylinder before heading to where she told me where Cloud Streak was.

When I made it to Rainbow Dash's room I probably would have knocked first if the door was not off it hinges. It was heavily damaged with two deep hoof prints on it. I was not certain I desired to know the story that surrounded why this was. But, it was probably was not anything remotely pleasant.

Either way I walked into the pitch black room and looked around until I found a small figure huddled up in the far corner. Upon noticing me they turned their head, glared, and said "Go away."

"That is no way to speak to your commanding officer," I joked back.

"Too bad you aren't. You ran away remember? You ran away from me. You ran away from everypony. You saved me from death only to fucking leave me scared and confused. Now go away," Cloud Streak snapped back.

The small grin I possessed drained off of my face at her comments. A knot formed in my stomach as I played her words over in my mind. What made it worse was that they were correct. A deep sigh left my lips as I walked over and sat down close to her. "There is somewhere I want to show you before I speak," I said in a firm tone.

She spun around, glared at me again and yelled, "I'm not going anywhere! I said get out!"

I matched her angry leer with one of my own. "It was not a request", I replied and grabbed her with my forelegs. Then with a great amount of effort and focus a death gate formed under us and we fell through it.

My body absorbed the majority of the impact hitting the ground before she shoved me away. She then spun around looking at the small cave before growling out "Where the fuck are we? Where did you take me?!"

I closed my eyes and in a sorrowful tone I said "This was where I stayed for almost a month. A month of fighting with my very body, mind, and soul. Fighting to determine what I had become. Fighting off anger. Fighting off sorrow and betrayal."

"What are you talking about?" Cloud Streak replied still slightly angry but more confused than anything.

"Look me in the eyes. Just like you have done many times in the past. Truly look me straight in the eyes and tell me what you see, " I stated before walking over to her and sitting down.

She raised an eyebrow before squinting at my gaze. Then after a few seconds, probably somewhat involuntarily, she started to slowly step backwards. Her eyes seemed to also get wider with each step until she pressed herself against the cave wall. "What...what in Tartarus are you?" she said nervously.

I broke our gaze and closed my eyes before lowering my head. "You stated before that you were scared and confused? You stated I saved you from death? Well in my case...that...that was only half true. In that sealed box of mine we had trapped Death itself previously moons ago in the Apple family apple orchard. The same spirit that spoke through me if you remember correctly," I took a deep breath and continued, "When that box was opened we literally released Death on Canterlot. Due to my part in doing so I suppose I was offered a second chance at stopping the war between us and the other three factions. By Death itself. So to answer your earlier question I was saved by becoming 'Death's Advocate'."

I heard her walk closer before stating "Death's Advocate? What does that mean?"

"Other than a second chance at stopping the war and fighting off this dark urge to end the lives of the living, I...I have little answers beyond that," I replied opening my eyes and looking at her.

Cloud Streak looked to be quite bewildered by this point. When she did not say anything I decided to lighten the mood. "However, do you also remember when you stated I was not your commanding officer?" I joked.

"Yeah," Cloud Streak replied raising an eyebrow.

"Wellll that is wrong...but I am no longer your captain," I said with a small laugh and added "No no noooo I am now a Lieutenant General."

"What?! But you hate most of those stuffy old high ranking wind bags. Why'd you ask to be one?" she said back half shocked half amused.

"Oooh hilarious story. I inquired to get my old position back and got promoted...and no...I did not have a choice in the matter..." I deadpanned.

It was silent for a few seconds before she let out a small chuckle before breaking into hysterical laughter. I joined her shortly afterwards when she blurted out, "We've really got shittiest luck known to all ponykind haaaaahahahahha we should be given awards!"

It was really quite amusing after one truly thinks about it. Just the sheer absurdity of it all. We both seemed to have to endure one nightmare after the next with no end in sight. I highly doubted the word "normalcy" was in either of our vocabularies because of this. But after we laughed our proverbial heads off I gave her a hug and kissed her on the forehead.

Then after a minute while I still felt Cloud Streak giggling in my forelegs she said "Well? What now mister Lieutenant General Sir heh heh heh."

I must have twitched involuntarily at the words which caused her to giggle further. But then I rolled my eyes in response before stating, "Well first I need to get us back to Rainbow Dash's residence. And then I need to locate my pack and get you something to eat other than draining your poor marefriend dry. Then I say we collect her and head to the palace. We...we have a grand amount of work to do."

With relationships repaired one must not become too complacent. For soon the drums of war shall be pounding through the night.