Time slowed and I could hear each heart beat in my head. Darkness soon began to creep up on the sides of my vision as I stared at Twilight's room door. Then just like it started, time snapped back to normal when a heavy impact slammed into the other side of the solid obsidian and steel door. The result was a deep indent in its center before its hinges gave off a high pitched whine.

The shock-wave shot out and everything in the room shook violently for a second before I had realized what was happening. My pleas for aid not but a few minutes ago were truly answered. But given the current circumstances of Twilight's near death and transformation, this situation could end very...very...poorly. So with what little function I had left in my drained body, I threw Twilight on my back and dragged us both over to her bed. I then moved back the covers and placed her in such a manner that would look like she was sleeping before covering her up again. It was doubtful the small deception would hold but it was all I could think of at the time. All that was left now was to wait for the soon to be "aid" and attempt to lie my barely moving little flanks off.

Time soon ticked on and Twilight's door admittedly held out further than I thought it could. Even with the crumbling obsidian and bending steel, it still took a dozen swift blows to break it down. But eventually when the door could hold no longer it snapped from its hinges and slammed on the ground with a thunderous crash. Then not but a moment afterwards several Night Guards poured into the room.

In the slight darkness and with my fading vision I did not recognize anypony until I saw two golden slitted eyes looming over me. A crooked grin crawled up the side of my face before I coughed out, "Greetings General".

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at me and then the bed behind me and then back again. The tone of her response was one of both concern and of scorn when she replied with, "What happened in here?"

I shook my head a few times before realizing Black Hammer was standing next to her holding his hammer looking quite winded and worried. Fates be damned that I was now going to have to somehow talk my way passed two walking deception detectors. So I gathered up what little consciousness I still possessed before stating, "Twilight was attempting to run some tests on me when something had gone wrong. We managed to rectify the situation, but it left us both exhausted. We should be fine after some rest."

It was a long shot and the statement was not incorrect per say. It just left out several key details like Twilight's almost untimely demise. Black Hammer looked to buy the story. He had seen me in far worse condition in my past and it seemed reasonable enough. Black Wing however did not change her analyzing expression. She just leered at me before stating "Meet me in the night court meeting room. We have much to discuss," and then walked out though Twilight's broken room door.

A deep sigh left my lip as I realized I was truly in for it. I had little idea how in Equestria I was going explain to Black Wing what had happened. However, I had little choice than to do so now. Luckily my sour thoughts were interrupted when Black Hammer placed a hoof on my shoulder and shook me a little.

"Ya alright lad? Ye seem ta have givin' us a bit of a scare," he said still looking concerned.

I rubbed my face a few times before lowering my voice when I noticed the other Night Guards were still in the room. "Black Hammer I need you to do me a favor," I whispered to him.

He leaned in and whispered, "Hmm? Is somethin' wrong lad?" I looked over his shoulder again before reaching behind me and uncovered Twilight for a second when the Night Guards were not looking. Black Hammer gasped in response and whispered "What in Tartarus happened ta her?!"

I shook my head a few times before stating, "I will explain everything to you after I speak with Black Wing, old friend. But in the meantime can you promise me you will watch over her? And keep the other guards away from her until I can somehow sort this out." He looked at Twilight behind me and then nodded while looking more worried than ever.

And so I began my journey to no doubt what was going to be one of the most uncomfortable conversions I will ever make in my life. It did not help that all the guards along the way gave me strange looks along with their hushed whispers. I suppose I could have listened in to what they were stating, but I was having difficulty walking with such low death energy levels and could not concentrate well enough to do so. The added weight from my Book of Shadows and Star Swirl's Tome that I brought along just in case did not help matters either. In turn I just continued my partially limping walk all the way to the night court meeting room.

And then there they stood in their usual ominous manner, the two grand obsidian doors of the night court. But as I put my hoof on them I hesitated for several minutes. And just as I was about to lose my nerve I heard Black Wing state, "Come in Blood Moon," on the other side. A chill crept down my spine from the words as I swallowed hard and pushed open the doors.

The doors gave way to familiar sights. The large obsidian table still dominated the room with its rows of chairs. Blue flame torches also still lit the room in their eerie light. But one thing above all else was more familiar than the others, the golden slitted eyes that stared at me from the head of the table on the opposite side of the room. Eyes that soon motioned for me to sit in a seat next to them.

Several more hard swallows preceded my hoofsteps to the chair before I sat down. I then put my Book of Shadows and Star Swirl's tome on the table before rubbing my face a few times. But just as I was about to state something Black Wing pushed a steaming cup of mint tea in front of me.

And in that moment the whole world disappeared for a few seconds as I stared at that absolutely wondrous cup of liquid in front of me. Then without a moment's more hesitation I picked up the teacup, took a sip, and practically hugged the cup to the side of my face. The steam and warmth comforted me and seemed to lessen the throbbing headache I did not know I had. But just as I enjoying myself I heard Black Wing clear her throat. She glanced at me with an amused look before stating, "Though I do not wish to end your pleasing experience, I need to know what happened to Princess Twilight, Blood Moon. It is highly doubtful she started dying her tail black and white due to some 'Phase'."

I put the tea down as a deep sigh left my lips. It was foolish to believe I could "pull the wool over her eyes" as some would state. So after another sip of mint tea, I let loose a litany of all that had happened. At first I was going to leave out a few details, but my mind was far too tired to care so I spilled everything. Everything that more or less lead up this moment that is. And all was going as I had expected until I had mentioned something Death had told me.

"So you see from the poem in Star Swirl's tome this is the reason Twilight is now the way she is. And trust me, I had little say in the matter. It truly appears that fate is pulling us by the strings and we are along for the 'ride'. And to make matters even more interesting I was also tasked to find something called the 'Shade of Dark Heart' whatever that is," I said and rubbed my face to try and stave off fatigue. But I did not realize anything was wrong until I heard Black Wing's breathing stop.

I looked up to find her wide eyed and shaking. The calm and collected demeanor she had possessed up to this point had seemed to drain out leaving nothing but naked fear in her eyes. She was more terrified than I had ever seen her in my entire life. The same general that had regularly stared down Discord, other villains, and even countless monsters. And here she was shaking like a new recruit on the eve of their first battle. Something was definitely and seriously wrong.

"Are...are you alright?" I questioned, but she did not respond. I even waved a hoof in front of her face and she just kept staring forward. This lasted for a minute before she put her head in her forehooves.

"T-that is a...a name I have not heard in many moons. A name that I had little desire to hear...ever...again," she said almost whispering. Then not but a second later she reached to her side and retrieved a flask of some sort before popping the lid. The heavy smell of alcohol emanated from the container before she brought it to her lips and drained it hastily. "If you desire me to speak of the tale of that...individual...then we shall require more of this," she stated and shook her now empty flask.

So after a good hour and several bottles of hard liquor that no doubt was being saved for something special did Black Wing finally tell the awful tale. And it truly shed some light on why Black Wing never seemed to take on lieutenant generals, because her last one tried to do something unforgivable to her. To explain further countless moons ago Black Wing took a unicorn vampiress named "Dark Heart" under her wing. As such Dark Heart soon became the definition of loyalty to her. And they also became much more than that, they became lovers.

But this is where the tale takes a dark turn. Dark Heart eventually became obsessed, consumed even, with everything about Black Wing. So much so that she wanted to be her. The awful deed ultimately happened after a grand tryst as Black Wing told me. Dark Heart tricked her into wearing a strange enchanted necklace. A necklace that unbeknownst to Black Wing had a twin.

Dark Heart attempted to use the power of the necklaces to swap bodies with Black Wing, but it had failed. Upon realizing her lover had betrayed her Black Wing managed to tear the necklace off of herself in time and destroyed it. However, Dark Heart was not so lucky. Without the connection to its twin, the necklace Dark Heart wore wrenched her soul right from her body and corrupted it. And so Dark Heart became no more and the "Shade of Dark Heart" was born.

However this was not the end of such a creature. In some realization of her failure and her now current condition the shade shrieked before ripping the remaining necklace off her previous body. Then using the now cursed necklace's magic she possessed some poor curious palace servant that went to investigate the noise. The unfortunate servant's body was found cold and seemingly discarded in the forest not far from the palace. The shade and her cursed necklace on the other hoof, were nowhere to be found.

After the tale had been told to me it all began make sense in my mind. Death was guiding me to first go after the elusive and manipulative leader of the rogue vampires, The Cloaked Lady. The one pony that seemed to be slain by us over and over again. With no body of her own the shade could possess another poor soul and appear again and again like she had in a past. It would also be quite reasonable as to why she would have a grudge against us or at least Black Wing. But it still did not explain why she would lay siege to Canterlot to get the box we trapped Death in those moons ago. That part truly did not make any sense.

Now I probably would have thought about this further but there arose another problem. I had gotten so caught up with her tale that I failed to realize that Black Wing had been passing me several shots along the way. Several...extremely...alcoholic...shots. Needless to say that I in my folly was not far off from Black Wing's level of inebriation by this point.

This would have been truly awful enough until a rather guilty looking Black Hammer came skulking into the room. He was soon tailed by an irate looking Solar Princess, a groggy Lunar Princess, and a barely moving Twilight. What I believe proceeded was a sloppy and slurring explanation of what happened to Twilight followed by several lapses in memory. Ultimately the only fact I remembered from the rest of the night was that Luna wanted me to meet her in the royal dungeon for some reason after I had sobered up. Everything beyond that turned into one long distorted blur before darkness took me.

In turn I slipped out of time and I had little to no idea how long I was unconscious. In fact I did not begin to wake up until a small throb started in my head before turning into a dreadful pounding. This of course caused me to groan in pain before attempting to put my forehooves to my head.

However I could not seem to move my legs for some reason. So with what little consciousness I seemed to have regained I decided instead on the regrettable decision of opening my eyes. Regrettable because while the room was only lit by a small blue lantern on the ceiling above me, the dim light still made my head throb that much harder. A low groan left my lips in response to such increased pain before I somehow slid off the bed.

This resulted in me dragging the blanket I was tangled up in along for the apparent ride before I crashed into the floor. And while I was expecting a hard landing from doing such, I did not expect to land on several empty bottles that were scattered along the floor. This probably would have puzzled me if my mind was functioning properly, but my mind was far from that. The only thing I managed to do was state several colorful words before stumbling to stand up and scan my surroundings.

However, this only lead to further confusion as I had no idea where I was for a minute or two. But after blinking multiple times it became quite obvious I was in my own quarters. My own quarters that now somehow seemed to possess a small pile of empty bottles next to the bed. And upon looking further I realized that upon the bed was Twilight. Who of course was thoroughly out cold drooling all over the pillow and hugging a half empty cider bottle. Even Spike was somehow in the room more or less lying unconscious and snoring loudly on top of a small mountain of apple juice boxes.

I just seemed to gaze around in disbelief before grumbling out, "What in Tartarus happened in here?" However the only reply I received were the continued snoring of Twilight and Spike. So without the desire to wake them for answers I merely placed Spike on the bed and covered him up before heading for the door.

And admittedly it took several tries to open my room door in my current state. But when I did I was greeted by yet more empty bottles. It was probably worse at some point but the palace servants and even some Reaper Knights were seemingly cleaning up some of the mess. Although their progress appeared slow due to each of them holding their heads like I was.

But what truly stirred my curiosity was when they noticed me, each said the statement of "Great party Lieutenant General," or something of the like as I walked by. I probably should have inquired what they were speaking of, but my head throbbed far too much to focus. It would have to be a question I would ask when I was more fit to do so.

Until then I made my stumbling walk to the royal dungeon guided by Luna's request. A request that also puzzled me. Why did Luna request my presence? And in the royal dungeon of all locations? Again my focus was too fragmented to concentrate so I just followed the directions of the guards when I got there. This resulted in me stumbling down to one of the interrogation rooms in the middle of the dungeon. To which of course outside it sat a better looking Luna than yesterday.

"Greetings dear Blood Moon," she stated in an almost cheerful tone before adding, "Also fantastic party yesterday. I believe we all truly required that."

I stopped in front of her still holding my head and with one eye partially closed. This was the final straw as my curiosity had piqued. "Greetings Princess and I must ask...what party was this that everypony is speaking off?" I stated confused and groggy.

She just tilted her head to the side, looked me up and down before laughing to herself. "Oh dear you do not remember do you?" she inquired still giggling to herself.

"Remember what? What did I do?" I said more confused now than ever.

"You...well I believe somepony, perhaps my Sister, slipped you one of our more aged bottles of absinthe near the end of the night. That would explain your memory loss," she said tapping her lip with a forehoof before adding, "But regardless let me just state that was probably one of the more amusing times that you shall probably never remember," she said laughing some more.

I probably would have attempted to probe her for further answers, but she interrupted me by stuffing a blood cylinder in my hooves along with a small vial. Said small vial contained a strange unknown purple glowing liquid.

"Umm what is this?" I said shaking the vial.

"Something to remove your migraine. Oh and do not breathe for ten seconds afterwards...or else it shall be regrettable," Luna stated in an almost "matter of fact" type of tone.

Needless to say I was not in the mood for arguing, so I drained the blood cylinder before drinking the strange purple liquid. And at first it was not all that horrid...well until the aftertaste kicked in. However all I remember after that was letting out a heavy gag and sucking in a quick breath before my eyes rolled back into my head and I collapsed.

It was anypony's guess as to how long I blacked out. However I did not wake up until I felt Luna slapping me awake while shaking her head. "I told thee not to breathe for ten seconds. And no I do not care if it tasted like swamp water mixed with compost. Tis still your fault for breathing," she stated in an almost scolding tone.

"What...in Tartarus...was that...horrible thing?" I gasped out.

"It would be best if you did not know such things, but it should aid you," she replied pursing her lips. And again I was just not in the mood for arguing. It did admittedly clear up the headache I had, but at the cost of not being able to see the color blue for a few minutes afterwards.

But back to the reason why Luna had told me to meet her down here in the first place, information. It appeared that in my previous drunken stupor I was babbling about the "Shade of Dark Heart" to Luna and requested her aid. This lead to her more or less interrogating the heavy inebriated General Black Wing before getting the answers she required. To which she told me that we somehow still had a lead on the possible whereabouts of the rogue vampires.

But this is where such things turned sour as this "lead" of hers went by the name of "Night Fang". Also known as the assassin that attempted to end me in my hospital bed after I was forced to turn Twilight into a vampire all those moons ago. In turn I was not sure how this encounter was going to go. But one thing I did know, I truly had a "Bone to pick" with her as some would state.

Next Chapter: Chapter 42: To Defang a Cloaked Puppet Master: Part 3 Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 35 Minutes