I waited outside the interrogation room as I grabbed a few items in preparation. My mind swam with ideas of what to say and how to word them. My soon to be unpleasant conversation with the prisoner could go many different ways. But this quickly became far too impossible to predict everything. So in turn I resigned myself to focus on yet another annoyance, my still malfunctioning vision.

I had shaken my head several times in response to my thoughts but the blasted color blue still faded in and out. It was beyond me why anypony would willingly hazard consuming such a potion that Luna had given me. And while I admit it did the trick, the side effects were irritating. But luckily I did not have much time to suffer these thoughts for just when I was finished preparing I was summoned by the guards.

I merely nodded my reply as a twinge of nervousness crept up in my mind. To put it plainly I was not the greatest interrogator to be honest. I was also at one point sitting on the opposite side of one of these very rooms. They truly grilled me for days or perhaps weeks. Anything to use as an excuse as to why they destroyed my home over two centuries ago. But again I digress. Regardless of my mood, condition, or general distaste for both this situation or said individual, I had a task to complete and I would see it through. So with renewed will I opened the door and held my head high.

Now these rooms did not have much to them. Just two chairs, a table, and a few blue flame wall lanterns. The lanterns only partially lit the room as per usual for some reason. Supposedly it was designed to unnerve the subject of our interrogation. To "ease the tongue" as a few have put it. However at the moment the blue light of the wall lanterns just served to annoy me as my vision shifted yet again. But either way I strolled into the room and sat down on the one side of the table before looking up at our prisoner.

I was not sure what I was expecting, but it was not this. It truly was not this. A deep frown crawled down my face as I continued to gaze at the pony on the other side of the table. I usually had little sympathy for assassins, especially ones that have attempted to end me, but this time it was different. This time the poor soul that was on the opposite side of me was the very image of despair itself. The small red vampire pegasus was dirty and nearly bone thin. In her forehooves she held what appeared to be her right wing. The bones on said wing must have been broken and did not heal properly which would seem to render it functionally useless. The last thing I noticed was that her tired green slitted eyes were dim and they just continued to be cast downwards.

If this was some sort of ruse to garner sympathy it was superb. However, in all my years as a Reaper Knight I know real anguish when I see it...this...this was unlikely to be a trick. Odds were this was honestly the "real deal". The realization of this fact did nothing to ease my nerves. How was I supposed to question somepony that has become so downtrodden? So utterly lacking in hope that they probably did not feel anything at all anymore? I have been down such a road before and I knew what she must have been going through. But more importantly, I also knew there was only one thing that truly helps...a small measure of kindness.

I took the blood cylinder I had next to me just in case I was here a while and slowly pushed it towards her. Her eyes slowly shifted to gaze at the object and I even saw her lip quiver a bit before she spoke. "Is this some sort of trick? What did you put in there?" her voice came cracking and raspy.

"There is no trick. I just want to talk. And you...you look as to need that more than I do," I stated. Then when she was still not taking it I pulled it back, popped the top, took a sip, swallowed, and then pushed the open container back to her before stating, "See, there is nothing wrong with it."

I then have to state that I have never seen a pony in such a condition move so fast. She yanked the cylinder off the table and slammed it to her lips. In a few long draughts the container was drained and discarded. And without a second thought I fetched two more and showed her they were safe before she did the same to them.

After she was done I noticed some vitality had returned to her. Her eyes almost had the same color and sharpness I saw back when she attacked me at the ponyville hospital all that while ago. "Why...why did you do that for me? What's in it for you?" she snapped after leering at me.

"I have been in your horseshoes and I know how that feels. However...I require information," I stated leaning back in my chair.

"Information...I knew it...waaaait a minute. Don't I know you?" she said genuinely confused.

A small chuckle left my lips. "I guarantee you do...Night Fang. My name is Blood Moon. You tried to slay me in my hospital bed remember?" I stated in a cold tone.

"Wait! You know my name?! Awww shit...wait naaa you can't be the guy. He had white fur. I never forget a mark," Night Fang replied clearly skeptical.

"That...that was a while ago. I have been...altered...in an unpleasant way. But we are not here to talk about me. We are here to talk about the whereabouts of your little 'Friends'," I said leaning forward again.

"They aren't my friends," she snapped. "No, friends don't shove your ass back in your cell after beating the shit out of you for failing at your job."

Red tears started welling in her eyes. "No, they just free the others and beat the shit out of you before leaving you to rot. By Tartarus the things I've done...the ponies I've killed for them...I...I can still see all the dead faces of my marks. Every mark. Every fucking one of them. Every time I close my eyes and they just leave me to FUCKING ROT IN THIS SHITHOLE! THEY ARE NO FUCKING SHITTY FRIENDS OF MINE!" she screamed and stood up before the chains she was wearing kept her in place.

Her body shook with fury and her eyes burned before she added, "Fine! You want that damn information you can fucking have it. I don't care anymore. But there's one thing I want from you!"

"And that is?" I stated and raised an eyebrow.

"I want you... I want you to kill me...please," Night Fang said before red tears streamed down her face as she sat back down.

I was taken back for a few seconds before I spoke. "You...you want to die?" I inquired.

"You heard me. I heard what happened above this dungeon. All those screams before that awful silence. I know death when I hear it. I was begging and pleading for it to get me too...but nothing showed up," Night Fang said while openly sobbing. "I just want to die dammit. I want out of here. Please, I just want out of here."

My heart fell out of my chest and sunk into my hooves. I have said words similar to those before when I was on the other side of that table like she was. It was so similar it was eerie.

When I went silent for a minute she just sniffed a few times before stating, "Well...well do we got a deal?"

I remained silent again for another few minutes to think. I then closed eyes and took a deep breath through my nose before standing up. And then after a short while I returned to the room with a small silver short sword.

After placing the sword next to me I sat down again. My eyes glared into hers before I stated, "Do you truly want to have them pay for what they did to you? Do you want them to pay for every life they had you take?

"I want them to burn in Tartarus..." she hissed with renewed fury in her eyes.

"Then talk," I replied.

Without moment's hesitation she spilled everything she knew about the rogue vampires. Every little dirty secret they possessed. All of their bases of operations. All their troop locations and their recruiting tactics. Even the spies they had in the royal army, everything.

After she was done I lifted the silver short sword and leveled it at her. Her eyes watered before they closed and her lower lip quivered. Then slowly she stuck out her chest as I pulled the sword back to strike true. I could hear her heartbeat speed up as she shook in her chair. And then in a flash of an instant I drove the blade all the way down to the hilt...into the table in front of her.

Her eyes snapped open and she sat there and gawked at what she was seeing. I stared right into her quivering green slitted eyes before I stated, "By my title as Lieutenant General of the Lunar Forces I invoke my right of conscription."

Her jaw hung open for a second before I got up and walked behind her. "WHAT?! You're recruiting me?! Why?!" she yelled at me while turning her head to face me as I walked.

Without replying to her questions I rolled up the cleaning cloth I brought in for the short sword. And just before I stuffed it in her mouth she said "What in Tartarus are you doing?!"

My only response was "I am fixing you," before I grabbed her right wing and snapped several bones.

Her muffled screams came from behind the cloth as I reset the bones in her wing. I then placed my hoof on the center of it and drew the ambient death energy in the air away from her. Night Fang's life force surged in pulses as I forced her bones to correctly mend themselves. This however seemed to be the limit of her pain threshold as right after I was done she collapsed unconscious on the table in front of her. But regardless my work with her was done, for now at least. In turn just gathered any items I brought into the room, took one glance back at Night Fang, and walked out.

Then right outside the door I told the guards to get Night Fang cleaned up and inform me when she was ready. She was undoubtedly going to be unconscious for at least a few hours. Not surprising given that if my little trick with my death magic was anything like my life force magic previously, her body will need some time to recover. This at least left me some time to ready myself for the inevitable journey of tracking down the whereabouts of the rogue vampire main base. But just as I was about to make my leave of the royal dungeon I noticed a certain somepony to my right.

"Do you believe it wise to recruit one such as her, Blood Moon? It is doubtful she deserves the privilege of joining us given her crimes," Luna replied in a firm and almost scornful tone. Her vision remained fixed in a gaze on the one way enchanted window of the interrogation room as she spoke

I glanced over at her before stating, "First, with all due respect princess, we have recruited far worse than her in the past. And while unwise I believe I have committed no mistake in my choice. Second, I honestly feel she is burdened by the crimes she has done and the lives she took. And being as such my decision is no privilege for her, but a punishment." Then as a frown crawled down my face I added, " For we both know, the only thing worse than dying with guilt in one's heart...is living with it."

Luna's expression shifted from one of scorn to a deep sorrow at my words. Then just before I walked away from her, I saw single red tear hit the floor.

After my meeting with Luna I continued to ready myself and a few others for our scouting mission. Hours passed by and soon the light of the sun dipped behind the horizon. The moon and stars quickly replaced it in kind as a cool wind blew by me. This however did little to sooth my tense muscles as I gazed over the edge of Reaper Knight Arena.

This arena used to be a grand structure for the training of soldiers. And while much of a rubble had been removed in my previous month long absence, it was still in rough shape. The automatic dome roof would take years if not decades to replace. But at least it still somewhat resembled its previous form enough to work as a reasonable staging area. But just as I began getting lost in my thoughts I heard somepony clear their throat next to me.

"Umm Blood Moon. Why are we all just waiting here again?" Cloud Streak stated.

I shook my head a bit and glanced behind me. Applejack, Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Cloud Streak seemed to all be in various states of boredom. Cloud Streak was just the only one brave enough to ask. "I told you like everypony else. We are going to go on a bit of a scouting mission for the royal forces. We need to find the main rogue vampire base and drop a beacon crystal inside. They shall do the rest." I replied as I tried to return to my thoughts.

"Well yeah we get that sugar cube, but why are we waitin' here. Shouldn't we...you know...be out scoutin'?" Applejack interjected as she tipped her hat up.

"Yeah AJ is right. This is soooooo booooring. We're just sitting here doing nothing," Rainbow Dash bemoaned.

I rolled my eyes and turned around. "I suppose I shall just state my little surprise seeing as the guards are truly taking their time for some reason. While I know the general location of said base there is...ah ha," I said before I noticed Night Fang getting lead though main arena double doors. "There she is," I added as I walked down the side arena stairs into the middle of the arena itself.

The others were swift to follow probably due to curiosity, but stopped next to me when I sat down. And I was just about to greet the guards and our new guest when Twilight blurted out "What the fuck is she doing here?!" in obvious fury.

I held my breath in response as it did not take a scholar to realize that she knew exactly who Night Fang was. I suppose it was too much ask that she would have forgotten, but no, it seemed to be abundantly clear that she remembered. With the unpleasant addition of still being quite cross with her too.

But with some quick thinking I held Twilight back with my right foreleg and attempted to coax her into calming down. Although, this truly only worked for a grand total of thirty seconds before Night Fang had committed the folly of opening her mouth.

"Errrrm heh heh heeeeeey Princess Twilight Sparkle. Sorry about the whole trying to assassinate your bodyguard and then capture you in your sleep. No hard feelings right?" Night Fang stated in a shaky voice and had attempted to give what I assumed was the largest winning smile she could conjure up.

This of course ended as well as one could expect. Twilight swiftly blurred passed my reach and began to savagely pummel the moonlight out of Night Fang. With of course the added benefit of all sorts of obscene unladylike words spewing forth from her mouth in a sort of an enraged battle cry.

Now any other time I probably would have laughed to myself at such a display but I was quite certain Twilight had murder on her mind. In turn if I did not do something and fast, Night Fang would be little more than a red smear on the ground before we knew it. So I dashed forward and forcefully pulled Twilight off of her. But just when I did so the others figured they wanted a piece of Night Fang as well.

It was at this point that I had more than my fill of such actions. Red and black lightning crackled around me as my voice thundered out the word, "ENOUGH".

Afterwards I leered around me with a heavy scowl worn like a mask on my face. "Enough of this damned foolishness. I know full well of Night Fang's crimes and what she had intended to do moons ago. However this does not excuse all of you attempting to fix one injustice with another. I expected better from everypony here."

In response Twilight shook from my grip before turning around to glare at me. "Why are you defending her?! She tried to kill you! In your sleep even!" she yelled still shaking with fury.

I glared right back before stating in a firm tone, "DOZENS have tried to slay me by various means over my two century old life. Night Fang is just one more in an extensive list and has been sitting in a prison cell rotting away for doing so." Then after taking a few heavy breaths I softened my voice before adding, "She is our best shot at locating and destroying the rogue vampires once and for all. A true end to one of the factions that have ruined and destroyed countless lives. But more importantly than that is that we need to be better than those we fight against. Even if that means seeing that everypony we believe worthy of a second chance gets one. A simple try at attempting to right the misdeeds they have committed."

Twilight and the rest resigned to looks of embarrassment before I barked out, "Now everypony grab your supplies and gear! We are finally heading out!"

Then while the others were preparing to depart I walked over to Night Fang and helped her to her hooves. But as she stood her legs began to buckle so I wrapped one of her forelegs around my neck to offer support. Afterwards I picked up my saddle bags and placed them over my back before I lead our way out of the arena.

"You...you didn't...have to do that. I...I probably deserve far worse," Night Fang whispered to me before coughing up a bit of blood and spitting out a few teeth.

"Nopony 'deserves' to be savaged in such a manner unless they physically escalated the matter. Such unprovoked attacks are the behaviors of undisciplined brutes and ruffians for which we are neither I assure you. One should always fight with their words first as violence should only be a final resort," I whispered back before shifting my weight and adding, "However save your strength. You need to conserve your energy until I can mend your body after we board the next working train out of the city."

Next Chapter: Chapter 43: To Defang a Cloaked Puppet Master: Part 4 Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 22 Minutes