Consciousness stirred, the fundamental spark of awareness. With it came a sensation of waking up from a long nap. Twilight stretched, her neck felt tight, unused. She was old and dried out, aware of how stiff her muscles were. The room she found herself in was decrepit and broken. Dust covered every surface and furniture lay broken and scattered across the floor. Vines clung to the walls, stretching from the ceiling to the floor. A single window opened to a sunny day, sunlight filtering, unabated by clouds.
“That’s what she meant! I didn’t think the bonfire could teleport.” Twilight trotted to the window and pulled herself onto the lip to peer out. “Woah…” An ocean began and spread out towards the east below her hooves, Mountains stretched across the coast forever. The view was mesmerizing. Walls taller than Canterlot ran next to the seas. She looked down, seeing the sea crash against the cliffs beneath her. The distance seemed to stretch for her, making her dizzy and start fall forward. Twilight hopped back, flopping into the chamber again.
“Spike! Take a note! No leaning out windows on high places.” Snickering to herself. Twilight sighed, remembering her friend and her home. “I‘ll be home soon girls, I promise.”
The purple unicorn made her way to the only exit to the room. shoving the door it open, she stepped out into the day, looking out at an immense castle. Hues of silver and grey along the castle walls made the huge building look imposing. Twilight found the staircase that descended into a watchtower courtyard. Horrifying carcasses were strewn about, dead on poles, scratching and clawing at each other as if trapped in a living nightmare.
“I keep forgetting how horrible this place is,” shuddering Twilight began the descent, four steps when she noticed an unlit bonfire down in the tower. “It’s so bad, you’re talking to yourself Twilight”
“Ok, I do that anyway but still!” Twilight said “But talking to yourself isn’t bad... Right? I’m going through a lot, I can do what I want darn it!”
Twilight cantered down the stairs towards the bonfire. In front of the fire, she stuck her hoof out, making the flames jump and radiate an aura of peace. It reminded Twilight of something the old women said to her.
“Oh! I forgot to trade those souls to the firekeeper. I guess I’ll have to go back at the next bonfire.”
Two staircases led farther down onto the ramparts. The left path caught her attention, she could make out a falling apart dragon corpse. Grey scales speckled its hide, sharp spikes and large leather wings, making it an imposing sight even from a distance. Twilight stared, wide-eyed, wondering they what was needed to kill a dragon that size.
A canter down the stairs brought her down to the ramparts. Bodies were hunched and gaunt, the majority were praying to the hung deceased. Trying to silently walk between the praying hollows left her distracted. Her armor shook when a sword crashed into her side and a zombie-like person made itself known. The sound of her sword unsheathing rang through the air. Twilights shield flew through the air to counter a sharp rap from the walking corpse.
“COME ON UGLY!” Twilight shouted getting into a sword stance and swinging for the neck.
The unicorn’s sword chopped clean into the neck. The flesh was taken with the sword as it passed through. the hollow scratched at its neck with one hand. With its last dying gasp, it swung and cut at Twilight’s face. Raising her sword, she jabbed the soldier in the gut and twisted. It grunted and lurched back, falling to the floor dead.
Twilight let out a hiss, finding a deep cut when she checked her cheek. Sh could hear footsteps to her left, finding a cloaked body waving a lantern around as if to chase her off. From behind the lantern, a skeleton with a shield and a spear charged. She raised her shield to parry the charging hollow. Twilight swung underneath the soldier’s shield, chopping its leg off.
She hopped back, taking her out of the reach of the spear. The hollow soldier remained in front of her already dead. Stabbing once more, Twilight charged past, eyes solely for the lantern wielder. A blood-curdling roar left her muzzle as she rushed towards her adversary. As if someone flipped a switch, Twilight was on her back. Dazed, Her ears were ringing, as she felt a pinch in her chest. Twilight surveyed her chest, noticing a sword sticking out of her chest.
Numbness spread through her frame, Twilight sliced the culprit across the collar. She fumbled through her pouch, fishing for her Estus Flask. Finding it at the bottom she drew it to her lips and chugged. The pain exploded after the fire reached her throat. Howling, she had a momentary thought of clarity. She had left the sword inside her. Twilights wounds were closing around the blade.
“This will hurt so bad” Twilight thought as she gripped the hilt of the protruding sword and pulled it straight out.
She choked. The pain was entirely secondary to her first death here. Suckling at the lip of her Estus dashed the pain away though. Climbing to her hooves, she recalled the lantern wielding hollow was still standing. With a glance, she knew he had no way to fight. He settled with his rear to the wall growling at her, swinging his lantern.…. Menacingly. Twilight speared him with her blade as she passed. A final growl left the hollow as his body dropped.
“I can’t believe I managed that!” Twilight danced on her hooves “I can’t believe they stabbed me like that! I have to be more attentive.”
Twilight searched the surrounding area, plucking useful items from souls. She was still cautious of the still alive praying hollows. Sneaking by, she started her move towards the dragon body. The head lay next to a stairwell leading down into the tower the corpse lay on. Inspecting the head, she saw a staircase that would bring her to the body. Twilight trotted up and crested the last few steps to check for enemies.
“Not going to sneak up on me this time, no sir.” She noticed another lantern carrier staring at the ground. Looking at where it was, she saw it was staring at a rather shiny brick.
“This…. Gives me an idea” Twilight thought.
The unicorn crept silently along, trying not to rattle her armor. Making her way behind the carrier without being heard, she took her still unsheathed sword and stabbed it in the chest. The carrier gurgled and fell off her blade into a heap. None of the other hollows reacted to the sound of there comrade dying. Twilight found her way over to the dragon body. Inspecting the corpse she saw small slash wounds that went through the scales.
Twilight shuddered at the thought “What could cut a dragon so easily?”
Tugging at an intact scale with her telekinesis twilight pulled it out from the root. She tucked it into her bag, ready to give it to the blacksmith Andre for an upgrade. Bringing herself back to her first fight she made her way down the stairs. Glancing around the dark room the first thing she noticed was a trapdoor with a ladder heading down into darkness. The skeleton sat rocking on the floor also stood out.
A way down without waking the skeleton was the best idea. So the unicorn made her way to the ladder, eye’s on the skeleton as she edged closer and closer. Her back hooves bumped the ladder and she hooked them to the first rung. Twilight descended the ladder in a rush. When hooves touched the ground, front hooves swung off the ladder and landed her on the floor. She couldn’t see in the darkness but could make out a light at the end of the tunnel.
She made a run for it. The darkness felt oppressive and stifling, drowning out her thoughts from even standing in it. Bursting out into the light she could see a stairway upwards back onto the ramparts. A walkway led to a different wall but the things standing on it scared her stiff. Six hollow stood on the path idle. One looked up and spotted Twilight, the rest following the first’s look.
With odds stacked against her, she did the only thing she could think of “We can talk this out, right guys?”
“Ggggrrrooooooo” the hollow with a crossbow shook its head at her then raised its crossbow.
“Right… well, you all suck!” Twilight screamed and then ran for the stairs. A bolt whizzed over her head as she got to the staircase.
The staircase vanished three steps at a time. Reaching the top Twilight looked over her shoulder to see the hollow hot on her heels. A door was the only escape she could see. It led into the tower, a place she could hide from the undead chasing her. Running at the door she shoulder checked it, bouncing off.
Shaking herself out of her daze she reached for the handle and yanked and pushed. “NO NO NO! PLEASE, YOU HAVE TO OPEN!”
Twilight turned around and pulled out her sword and backed herself against the door. The hollow were surrounding her now, the ones with crossbow lining up shots from behind the ones with swords. The unicorn pulled up her shield to deflect the shots that would have hit her. She couldn’t swing fast enough at the closest sword hollow before a loud rush of air hit the crossbow wielders. A crash from above made her look up, a living dragon had landed on the tower.
With a deep breath, the dragon let out a wave of fire. It covered the skeletons and all of the immediate area. The hollow began to thrash around before falling and dying. Not looking down, the dragon missed the pony pushed against a door. The door swung open and suddenly she tumbled into the tower. A dagger slid between her armored plates and stabbed right above her cutie mark. Pain lanced through her body. It only lasted a moment before she began to feel woozy and sleepy.
“Ha stupid hol- wait that’s not a hollow” Twilight could hear a voice from above that was raspy and feminine. Her eyes fluttered shut as the voice brought back memories of rainbow dash and her home.
“Nay you fool! It looks to be another ashen one! You stabbed it! Why must you stab everyone we meet!?”
“Shut it ludleth, the horse will be fine when it wakes u-”
Twilight dreamed of rainbow dash and the mud puddle they first met at.