The three assassins’ voice’s quieted down when they approached Twilight. The middle one then spoke out, “Hail Night Fang. I hope the deed is done?” Twilight just nodded in response. “Oh good, with that damn Reaper Knight outta the way capturing the princess will be easy,” the lead assassin stated with a laugh. “Our master will reward us handsomely for this,” he added while grinning.

'That is it Twilight, keep them talking,' I thought while I unclipped the daggers from my sides. I then quietly took the vials of anticoagulant and paralysis poison and carefully dribbled them over the edges of the blades. Afterwards I looked up to see the lead assassin appearing confused when Twilight remained silent.

“Are you feeling alright Night Fang? You’re normally not this quiet. Wait! Night Fang doesn’t have a hor-,” he started to say before he was interrupted when Twilight angrily smashed both her front hooves into his face.

Then as the lead assassin fumbled backwards I jumped out of the tree line, yelled “Surprise!”, and pointed my front hooves forward. The two side assassins only had enough time to turn to face me before each got a poison coated dagger thrown into their necks. They both fell like sacks of oats as a result, but their leader though managed to gather enough of his senses to turn and run. However he did not get far before I pointed my left hoof in front of him and focused my mind. My scythe then instantly materialized in front of him and clothes-lined him.

He made a gagging noise as he was thrown on his back. He then started stumbling trying to get up when I began to focus my mind again. I then raised my left hoof into the air and slammed it into the ground. And in response my scythe rose up from my mental command and stapled the assassin’s right hind leg to the road.

He immediately began shrieking in agony from his now stapled leg all while futilely attempting to free himself. I on the other hoof leisurely walked over to him, taking my time. For as I may have mentioned earlier, I am notoriously apathetic to those who are sent to kill me. But after I finished walking up to the struggling assassin I merely grinned and said in a calm voice, “Who sent you?”

And to his credit he laughed and spat out, “I’m not telling you!” as Twilight walked up next to me. I in turn frowned, placed my left hoof on the back of my scythe, and slowly dug the blade further into his leg. His back quickly arched in pain before he mockingly said, “Is that the best you’ve got? My master will do worse if I speak.” Then without warning he quickly sat up and thrust a silver dagger at me. But in one smooth movement I smacked the blade out of his hoof and back-hoofed him to the ground again all while keeping the same frown on my face. I did however in all this sneak a glance over at Twilight only to see her glowing purple eyes were unflinchingly focused on him. An interesting sight to say the least as it truly seemed mortal wounds do wonders to make one more battle hardened.

But regardless of all that I soon yanked his other dagger off of his belt with my magic and tossed it into the forest next to us. I then kept my voice as calm as I could and said, “Alright, I shall ask a different question. Why are you out here?”

He chuckled and stated, “To do you in of course. Why else? Although, we did have some fun with a small family out here while we were waiting.” My eyes opened in shock from his statement but then quickly narrowed with rage. Then without the slightest hesitation I unconsciously formed the armor on my right foreleg into a spike and drove it into his left hind leg. His proceeding howl of pain swiftly turned to laughter as he said, “Aww did I strike a nerve?”

I quickly lost my temper at this before I pulled my spike and scythe out of his legs. I then picked him up with my magic and slammed him up against a tree. A red haze started to cover my eyes as I pressed the pole of my weapon up to his neck, pinning him to the tree’s trunk. “How could you?!” I spoke balefully.

He chuckled pushing his front legs against the pole of my scythe and said, “Quite easily, they didn't put up much of a fight. Oooh those young ones always taste so…nice.” He licked his lips until I crushed my scythe’s pole harder into his throat.

I then glared at him burning with fury before I spat out, “YOU MONSTER! How could you corrupt our purpose?! We were meant to serve and protect! Not mutilate and destroy!”

He started laughing again and then said, “Serve? You mean be a slave! We are so much better than those puny ponies. Why would I serve them when I could just drink from them?” In response I further crushed my scythe’s pole into his throat causing him to gag.

And I let him do so for a few moments before I stared into his mocking eyes and said, “I would rather be a servant, than a monster." I then placed my front hooves on my scythe’s pole and crushed the life out of him. He in turn struggled for a few seconds before going limp.

Afterwards I pulled scythe away and dropped it onto the ground. I then turned my head to face Twilight and said, “Please, turn away, I do not wish for you to see me do this.” And in reply she turned her head and closed her eyes. Then not a second later I tilted the assassin’s head, bared my fangs, and tore open his neck with my teeth. I then proceeded to rip off his cloak and armor with my magic. After this I picked up the silver dagger I swatted out of his hoof minutes before and made several precise deep cuts on his legs, stomach and chest. And finally I nailed him to the tree through his heart with the dagger before doing everything to the other two assassins as well. I then picked up my scythe and wrote the words “Justice be done” with one word under each of them in the ground as their life fluids pooled into the engraved letters. And I solemnly watched this for a few moments before I held my scythe in my front hooves and drained their remaining life force.

I then put a shaky hoof on Twilight's shoulder and told her follow me. However, it did not take us long to find the assassins’ “fun”. The bodies of their victims were twisted, bitten, and stabbed. My will soon began to crack as a single red tear came out of my right eye. Unconsciously I picked up a rock with my magic and crushed it to pebbles and dust in a fool's attempt at staving off sorrow. Twilight on the other hoof soon broke down and began to openly weep for them.

However I could not let myself break, at least not yet. For these poor souls deserved a proper burial. And so in grim fortitude I picked up the bodies with my magic and placed the young colt and filly between the two adults. I then moved them so the two young ones were being held by their parents. The resulting sight of this caused my will to start to crumble further but I still held together.

Then over the next several hours me and Twilight constructed a cairn over the deceased family. And when it was complete I placed my left forehoof on the cairn, closed my eyes, and said “Rest in peace, for you have been avenged.” A small surge of energy flowed out and swiftly dissipated in response.

Afterwards I unsummoned my scythe, gathered my pack, and located a small cave in the forest for us to wait out the day. I then dragged in a fallen tree to sit on. In turn we both sat down, I lowered my helm, and put my face into my shaking front hooves. But as the red haze in my eyes drained away my will finally shattered and I cried like a pathetic little foal.

This horrid episode lasted for the better part an hour and was filled to the brim with mental pain and flashbacks. But after a while my mind began to calm enough to feel Twilight leaning on me with her left wing wrapped around my back. And while small in gesture this minor comfort did however allow me to master myself enough to speak.

“Since we are going to be here until dusk I will tell you about myself. For you have the right to know who is protecting you,” I said, my voice sounding ragged, but I continued, “When I was but a foal, my village was attacked by a group of rogue vampires. They destroyed everything and killed everypony, save but me and one other foal.” I then took a deep breath and said, “We were saved by another group of vampire guardians from a village next to ours.”

I closed my eyes afterwards trying to be remember before I stated, “My adoptive father found us, two orphans from two different families. His name was Darkhoof. He was an unusual tan unicorn with a knack for raising cattle. He did not know much about raising foals however, but he did his best,” I then opened my eyes, smiled, and looked at Twilight. “He named me ‘Blood Moon’ in reference to the red full moon on the night he found me. He named the other foal ‘Pure Blood’ after which I can only guess was a lost love of his,” I said before I took another deep breath and continued, “We found out later that he was one of those vampire guardians.”

And after a few seconds I smiled again and said, “He was strict, but fair. He took in any lost soul that had a strong back and was a hard worker. As long as nopony got hurt and the work got done, he did not care. He was a beacon of hope for many and most of us looked up to him,” I chucked slightly before adding, “I have a feeling your friend Applejack would have loved to meet him and swap farming methods,” Twilight wiped the remaining tears from her eyes and smiled at me. I then wrapped my right leg around her back and said, “I eventually chose to be turned by him so I could better protect my village. That happened only a few months before my village was attacked by the solar channalers.”

In turn that last point made me go silent for a few moments before I shook my head and stated, “That last part was originally the cause of my nightmares and the reason I had to be anchored at night. My first true love, Pure Blood, was killed by the same monster that impaled you.” Twilight rubbed the scar on her stomach and frowned in response. And upon noticing this I decided to lighten the mood a bit if you will so I merely wore a sly grin and said, “Also to answer your question from earlier, two.”

Twilight’s eyes looked puzzled for a second or two in response before she tilted her head and inquired, “What do you mean two? Two what?”

I chuckled at this and said, “How many others have I done a certain 'activity' with,” before Twilight quickly blushed and giggled slightly.

I rolled my eyes in reply before I said, “The first was Pure Blood. She had gotten badly injured and I was forced to turn her or she would have died. She did pretty much the same thing you did to me at the hospital. However, I tried to push her away at first. This though resulted in her sub-conscious becoming enraged and she proceeded to bite down hard on my left shoulder,” I chuckled again and added, “That little devil of a mare adamantly refused to let go until I gave her what she wanted. Although as one could imagine it was extremely difficult to become aroused when you have a pair of fangs dug nearly gum deep in you.” Twilight soon smiled and blushed again.

But regardless of this I shook my head again and said, “the second was more…interesting,” as Twilight seemed to hang on every word.

However when I did not continue she moved her face closer to mine and said, “Well, who was it? You've gotten this far, don’t leave out the details!”

I merely grinned awkwardly in reply and stated, “Do you really wish to know?” She smiled and nodded. I laughed in response and said, “Alright, just note I did warned you, it was Princess Luna herself.”

Twilight’s mouth soon dropped wide open after I spoke but she remained silent afterwards. However wanting to get it over with if you will I continued but not before I developed a twitch in my right eye as the memories from that day flooded my mind. “Well...it all started when I first joined the Reaper Knights after Princess Luna’s return. As I was already a royal guard at the time it was simple to be transferred due of my…uneasiness…of working with the solar channelers. Then shortly afterwards a certain somepony thought it was a wise idea to transplant a tiny mint plant into one of the small royal herb gardens,” I stated.

I then grinned and continued, “Well unfortunately for this somepony, that little mint plant spread like wildfire. And because I was the only one who regularly consumed said mint, it was trivial for them to hoof the offender." I then put my face into my hooves, shook my head, and added, “The royal chefs were furious. And in turn this lead me to being ordered by Princess Luna herself to remove the mint. However this simple task proved to be quite difficult because even after two long years of research and experimentation the mint still refused to go. And by Tartarus I even resorted to ripping it out with my bare hooves. Eventually after two years of nearly constant complaints from the chefs, Princess Luna understandably had enough and barged in on me while I was in my alchemy lab.”

I then lifted my head, leaned back against the wall of the cave, and stared at the ceiling with an uncomfortable look on my face. “It was a long day and as a Reaper Knight the dreaded mint plant was nowhere near my only task. So as most horrid situations begin she started using her Canterlot voice on me and I lost it. I then armored up in some sort of mental defense and we ended up getting into a shouting match. Her two accompanying Night Guards however ended up being the wisest ones in all this. For they slowly backed out of the lab and closed the doors,” I stated narrowing my eyes at the ceiling.

Afterwards I began to nervously laugh then looked at Twilight and stated, “As you can imagine, yelling back at Princess Luna is a rather...foolish...idea. And whatever calm she possessed at the time was quickly abandoned when she forcefully picked me up with her magic and threw me over the length of my alchemy table. She then began slamming me into almost everything in the room all while yelling something about insubordination and disrespect.” I soon closed my eyes again and put my face back in my hooves.

But after a few moments I chuckled and said, “She then proceeded to pin me up against one of the walls with her front legs and lifted me off my hooves before finally tearing off my helm with her magic. And at this point I figured she was just going to rip me to pieces anyway so I just glared defiantly at her. This however resulted in her burning blue eyes turning from having round pupils to slits as the glamour she normally wore broke. With the delightful addition of her long fangs appearing while we she kept leering back at me.”

I then sat up and stared at the cave wall in front of me before I narrowed my eyes and stated, “However, what happened next was something I did not expect. For her burning eyes for whatever reason lowered slightly and began gazing at a tickle of blood running down my left cheek. She then moved closer to my face and licked the blood up,” I then leaned forward trying to focus on the memory before continuing, “It seemed to set something off in her. Her body started to shake for some strange reason before she closed her eyes and began passionately kissing me. She then went on to tear off most of my armor to get to the rest of well…me." And after stating this the twitch in my right eye quickly became worse.

My face soon began to scrunch with discomfort. “She had her way with me for two…long…hours. And her fangs…by the moon…her fangs. I lost track of how many times she bit me,” I stated and leaned my head to the left to show Twilight the rows of scars on my neck. “She ended up snapping several of my bones like twigs. I also had countless bruises and cuts all over me from her roughness. I even had to resort to using my life force magic to prevent myself from bleeding to death,” I said while I crossed my front legs over my chest, cringing.

But after a few seconds I shook my head again and stated, “Eventually when she returned to her normal self she became horrified when she looked upon what she had done to me. I even believe she kept apologizing over and over again, however, I was just barely clinging to consciousness at the time so take that for what you will. I do though remember her propping me up on her lap before she pressed her right foreleg against my fangs. It was also the first time I tasted her blood when she was trying to help me heal.” And I could not help but smile as I remembered the taste.

Then after a minute or so my face had brightened before I said, “She held me the entire time while I was piecing myself back together again. And all while she began to explain that she had an awful amount of pent up 'tension' from her thousand year banishment. This in turn caused her to snap at everypony on a regular basis and most would cower away from her as a result. But in stark contrast my open defiance of her authority aroused her to the point where she could no longer take it anymore. And while not exactly the most delightful experience she at least seemed to be in a better mood from that point on.”

Silence then reigned for a few seconds before I looked into Twilight’s eyes, began to laugh, and stated, “However in all this the truly ironic twists were these. First, our little 'encounter' ended up destroying all of my two year mint research. Thus all but ensuring that plant was never going anywhere. Secondly, this very same mint plant became a popular tea flavor for the royal family. And lastly, I got the nickname ‘Sir breaksalot’ from the other forgers as I was the only one to somehow completely destroy my own armor from some ‘unknown’ reason.”

I then pulled Twilight closer and said, “But anyway, no doubt we require some rest. A few hours sleep should do us some good,” before we both closed our eyes and she fell asleep on my lap as the sweet darkness took me. And while my dreams were far from easy from the recent trauma, my tormenting nightmares at least from all those years passed were gone forever.

Eventually I awoke sometime later when the sun was beginning to set. And admittedly it was peaceful in this cave. There was very little noise other than the wind blowing. I in turn looked down at Twilight on my lap and brushed her mane away from her face with my right forehoof. I then gently nudged her in the shoulder and said, “Come on princess, it is time we get moving.”

She merely rolled over in response before mumbling out, “Not now Spike…Princess Cadence wants me to re-organize the Crystal Empire’s library. Princess Celestia, what are you doing here? Why are you covered in vanilla ice cream?”

I just rolled my eyes at this before I shook her more and spoke louder, “Princess, it is time to get up.”

Her eyes snapped opened instantly and she panicked. “AHH where am I!? Who are you?! What’s going on!?” she said in quick succession.

I smiled at her reaction and then stated, “It is me, remember? We are currently trying to get to the Reaper Knight outpost to help your friends.”

She then quickly gathered her wits, rubbed her face with the back of her right forehoof, and said, “Oh...right,” as her stomach started to rumble.

“Hungry I see," I said before chuckling and adding, "Good thing I brought some blood cylinders with me,” as I took them out of my pack, opened one, and floated it over to her with my magic. But as she sat up and tried to drink from the cylinder, she kept hesitating.

She then whimpered and said, “I can’t do this.” And I admit drinking blood was one of the first hard tasks of being newly turned. Yes it does become natural to us after a while but it takes time for the proper cravings to take hold. In turn Twilight just ended up closing the cylinder with it still full before again stating, “I can’t do this.”

I frowned in response and said, “Princess you must drink. You need your strength.” But she just pouted and looked at me in reply. And in slight amusement, I had never thought a vampire could pull off a pouting look, but here we were.

In turn I sighed and laid her down on my lap. I then lowered the armor on my right foreleg, opened her mouth slightly, and pressed my leg into her fangs. Soon after two thin streams of my blood poured into her mouth. To which she closed her eyes and began to lap at the wound. Then after around two minutes I stopped when I became moderately light-headed and force healed the bite wound. This however made me become so hungry that I ended up drinking both of our cylinders instead of just mine.

After that we got up and I placed the cylinders back into my pack. I then fully armored up as we walked out of the cave and back onto the road. There waiting for us were three piles of ash where the slain assassins were. To which I stopped for only a moment to look upon them with a malicious grin behind my helm. I then let out a cold laugh as we continued walking.

After a while we made it to the outpost with no more mishaps. The guards at the gate saluted me and opened the doors. It was not a large building, but enough to protect the surrounding area. We then made our way to the small alchemy lab and found what I looking for. I just smiled and stated, “Ahh there you are. Did you miss me?” as I lifted my leather and dark iron bound tome. For inside were all of the spells, incantations, and alchemy circles I have researched and studied over my long life. And upon discovering what I was holding Twilight disregarded everything in the lab when I picked up the ten centimeter thick book.

Her eyes soon widened with interest and delight before she said, “What book is that?”

I merely grinned and stated, “This is my Book of Shadows. It is what I came here to get. If I am correct, there are two particular alchemy circles in here that should help your friends. And while I know you would love to read this. We are however, short on time and we need to return to your friends,” Twilight looked disappointed in response, but frowned and nodded in agreement.

And we were just about to leave when I noticed something was next to my book. For there sat a familiar looking black metal ring. Further inspection of this revealed that this ring seemed to be socketed with a six-pointed cut amethyst. But regardless of that what was most curious of all was the note I found attached to it. And it read as follows, “So I hear ya had to turn yer fillyfriend. I swear yer a magnet for trouble heh heh heh. Here’s a specially made model of the new armor fer her. Hopefully ya can git this to her before she yanks a door off its hinges, Regards, Black Hammer.”

I shook my head after I rolled up the note and thought, 'Well Black Hammer, it seems we were a bit late for that last part.'

But regardless I picked up the ring, separated it, and told Twilight to come over to me. I then pulled off her cloak and stated, “Do not be afraid, it may seem a bit odd as first. However, it will help you to contain your new powers." She in turn gulped before I slipped the ring around her neck and snapped it back together. I then said, “I will have to teach you the proper commands later. But for now I will activate it for you.”

After this I took a deep breath and touched the amethyst with my horn before speaking in my mind, 'Suppression armor, activate.' And in an instant the dark iron fluid flowed out over Twilight and shaped itself into plates. However curiosity soon struck again when the armor eventually formed a tiara behind her horn with another six-pointed cut amethyst sparkling in the middle of it. And I do say that it all looked both charming and fitting to say the least. As such I smiled at the newly armored Twilight and stated, “There, that should keep you safer.”

Then again we rested as we waited until dusk before heading out again. We even managed to made our way back to the cave from before to wait out the day again. However this time I was able to tackle a medium sized deer along the way and filled my enchanted cylinders with its blood. But as one could figure Twilight again was unable to drink like last time and I was forced to have her feed off of me. In turn this fact was becoming bewildering as I was beginning to feel like a walking entree and mentally noted to wean her off my blood sometime in the near future. This point was only enhanced by the observation that the feeling of her feeding off me was starting become strangely pleasurable.

But at last and with great luck I might add we managed to make it back to the Ponyville with little trouble. We then walked through the front doors of the hospital and made it to Applejack and Rarity’s room. Spike was found asleep on one of the chairs by the door. Even Rarity was only partially responsive in her body cast. In fact the only one not still sleeping was Applejack whom was sitting up reading a book on medical procedures, specifically leg surgery. Twilight happily trotted over after noticing this and hugged Applejack before saying, “We made it back. I hope what Blood Moon has in mind will help.”

Applejack just gave a pained smile in return before replying with, “Me too sugar cube, me too," as fresh tears began to well in her eyes.

For this chapter I wanted to allude to more of Blood Moon's back story. I am trying to give him a little more depth and show that despite his own pain he truly does care for others. Another fact I wanted to show a little again is what causes his "red haze' or seething hatred for those that take pleasure in hurting innocent ponies.