//------------------------------// // 5 - The Tarnished Estate // Story: The Hollow Pony // by Type_Writer //------------------------------// I wandered the town for a long while. While it was a large village, the square seemed to be where most of the townsponies gathered, and those living in the buildings beyond, or out on the outskirts, seemed to remain simply because they'd always lived there. The town was half-abandoned, and there were far, far too many buildings for me to explore, even if time itself had seemed to stop. So I lived a half-life for a long time, eking out a rotting existence among the other Hollows. Every once in a while, Applejack, or as the others called her, “The Hollow Huntress,” would stomp through town. Sometimes she’d spotted somepony who got too close to the wall, or they’d been unlucky and ran into her, and she’d go on another crusade through Ponyville. We all hid, terrified of being found and kicked outside. But every once in a while, I did find myself wondering about “The Everchaos” and the rest of Equestria. Was Ponyville the last bastion of Ponykind, even as far gone as it was? Or were there other towns out there, other places where Hollows were struggling to stay sane?  I wasn’t going to be able to find out on my own, however. The threat of Demons kept us afraid of the outside, and while the guards on the walls kept them out, for the most part, they kept us in as well. Ponyville seemed as much a prison as a fort, but one we were too afraid to want to leave. And so I fell into the same stalemate as the rest of Ponyville had, unable to stay, unable to go, and waiting to die. On occasion, the fog surrounding the town and the smoke from the north got thick enough for rain. The skies darkened, if only for a little while, as ashen raindrops hammered the town, and drowned the gutters. One of those times when it was raining, an armored pony, in her late teenage years, entered the square. She moved through the square confidently, trotting with her shoulders held high. Her eyes were sunken from hollowing, and her faded pink fur seemed well-maintained under her silvery armor. Strapped to her side was a matching helmet, and a rapier locked inside a thin scabbard. No older than her late teens, she walked like a soldier through the township, eyes sweeping each hollow in turn, looking for somepony. Eventually, her eyes landed on me, and she approached. “You there. I'd like to hire you.” I blinked at her. “H...hire?” She scoffed. “Yes, hire. Is your brain rotten like the others?” I stood, shakily. I could tell from her expression that I wasn’t impressing her, but she didn’t walk away. “What would…I n-need to do?” She rolled her eyes. “I need somepony who can hold a torch. That’s all. I can’t do it myself, and the bulbs are blown out where I’m going.” She saw my trepidation, and frowned. “Relax, it’s inside the walls. Just not a place anypony’s explored yet.” Shakily, I stood, and she stepped back in case I fell towards her. When she seemed satisfied I wasn’t going to collapse under my own weight, she shrugged. “Thirty bits, given to you after we’re done. Deal?” Slowly, I nodded, and she pulled out a wide stick, with the end wrapped in cloth. “Hold this.” She pulled back when I pushed my head forward to bite it. “What are you- Not like that! Don’t you know how to hold things?” Suddenly feeling very small against this armored teenager, I swallowed as best my dry throat would allow. “H-hold? Like with… magic? I… I can’t, I’m-” “A pegasus, yes, I can see that.” She shook her head. “Poor bastard, must’ve already forgotten. Or maybe nopony ever taught you, if you came from one of the big cities. It’s Earth pony magic, but Pegasi can pick it up too. Close your eyes.” Closing my eyes worked just the same as it ever had, as far as I could tell. I didn’t really have anything to compare it to. I didn’t have eyelids any more, but moving the muscles associated with them seemed to dim the embers of my eyes, my vision dimming with it. My body had adapted to whatever magic kept me alive disconcertingly easily. “Okay. Now, focus on my voice, and yourself. Tune out everything else.” It had been long enough I’d begun to tune out the constant dinging of Rockhoof’s hammer, but it leapt into prominence again for just a moment, before I forcefully tuned it out once again. Soon after was the mumble of ponies, fading to nothingness. One by one, all sources of sound, all sensation was tuned out, as I tried to shut it out, shut it all out, except for the teenager’s voice. Then, I was alone, in a sea of darkness. The teenager didn’t sound impressed. “Well?” “I… I don’t un...understand… What… do you-” My eyes opened slightly, and she curled her lip as she saw me do so. “Look, I don’t have all sunset. If you can’t do this, I’ll find some Hollow that can.” She turned to leave, but I stumbled forward, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “I can!” I rasped, panting, and she shook her shoulder, dislodging my hoof. “I just… just don’t know what I’m... supposed to be doing...” She sighed. “Fine. Again, close your eyes.” I did so, and she continued talking. “I’m trying to teach you Pyromancy. See, you and me, we can’t manipulate magic like hornheads can. But we still have our own magic, deep inside. That’s what you’re looking for.” I wasn’t quite sure what she meant, but I focused as hard as I could, probing out. It was strange, like exploring my muscles again after I’d woken up. I found a muscle, a tendon, that was unfamiliar. But when I pulled it, all I felt was something sliding off my back. Snapping my eyes open, I turned my head to look at my right wing, which had flexed just hard enough to slough off my back. It was still connected by the atrophied bones, yet hanging limply. I glanced at my back and retched, as I could see the grimy outline of where it had been pressed against my back for so long. “That’s really the best you can do? Ugh. Forget it.” “Wha- wait…” I croaked, but the teenager had already turned, only to come nearly face-to-face with another teenaged pony, just a hoof-width shorter than herself. I’d run into Dinky a few times during my aimless meanderings around town, since our first introduction. Often, she was helping repair something using her magic, or lighting a dark building, or occasionally helping the guards fight the hollows who were truly gone. She always seemed absent when Applejack came looking for her to help evict any but the undeniably feral, and I was glad for it; I’d seen her golden sorceries from a distance, and she wielded them with deadly precision and efficiency. Dinky raised an eyebrow. “Diamond? You’re back, then. What are you doing?” Rolling her eyes, Diamond started to walk around her. “Oh good, it’s the sorceress’ apprentice.” She paused, then smirked. “You know, I might have a job requiring your impressive skills.” “Uh-huh,” Dinky deadpanned. “And what’s that?” Still smirking, Diamond drew the same torch she’d offered me. “I need a torchbearer. Hold this for me while I go and clear out one of those ruins full of Hollows that Applejack likes to rant about. You can use your teeth if you like.” Dinky stared at her, her expression never changing. However, her horn lit with a bright yellow corona of magic, and an identical aura enveloped the torch before her. “Is that what you offered her, too?” Sticking her tongue out, Diamond shoved the unlit torch back in her bags. “Actually, I offered her some bits to do it. Not my fault she can’t even hold a torch. Bet she can’t even ignite it.” Dinky shook her head. “That scam actually works on some ponies?” She turned to me. “Those bits she would’ve given you are basically worthless these days. Some traders will take them out of habit, but they’re mostly shiny garbage without a bank to back them up.” “Ugh. Killjoy.” “Bully.” “Apprentice.” Dinky sucked in air through her teeth. “Alright. How many buildings are you planning to loot?” “Loot? How dare you. It’s scavenging at this point. Picking the bones clean.” “Call it whatever you like. If I help you, will it get you out of town faster?” Diamond curled her lip. The ghost of a smile. “I do believe it would, yes. It’s just the one structure, too. Nice and fast, then I’ll be out of your mane. You can go back to… whatever it is you do around here afterwards.” “Great. Fine.” Dinky exhaled slowly. “Lead the way.” Now fully smirking, Diamond turned back to me. “I guess you can come along if you like. Can always use another set of hooves.” Dinky glared at her as I hesitantly began to follow. “Let me guess, once we get inside she’ll take the lead? Worried about traps, or just crumbling architecture?” “Little of column A, little of column B. Offer still stands.” Dinky shook her head. “Fine. We’ll lead you around by the nose wherever you want, so long as you leave afterwards. And I mean right afterwards.” “Fine by me. Follow.” For now, Diamond took the lead and set the pace. I had some trouble keeping up, but DInky matched my pace, and we more-or-less managed to keep up with Diamond. Now that I was walking beside her, I noticed just how accurate Dinky’s name was; she was at least a full hoof’s width shorter than myself, while Diamond in her armor stood at least a head higher than her. “You’re so… y-young…” I mumbled, more to myself, than anypony else. She heard it anyways, ears twitching in my direction as we walked. “Yes and no.” She shrugged. “I feel like an old mare sometimes, with all the time I’ve spent learning magic here in Ponyville, but I’m still physically seventeen. It’s like I stopped aging entirely, while time moved on. Of course, it’s hard to tell when any time has passed at all, without the clocks, but... I think I got off lucky, regarding the curse.” “And yet you’re only an apprentice,” Diamond chuckled from in front of us. Dinky closed her eyes, and tried to ignore her. “Despite what the peanut gallery says, I am very much the Archmage of Ponyville, for the present and the foreseeable future.” That seemed to put an end to the conversation. As we walked, I preoccupied myself with my wing, which still hung at my side, useless and limp. Pulling the same muscles I had before just made them ache; they seemed too atrophied from disuse to overcome their own weight. Eventually, I managed to use my teeth to pull it over my back once again, but the little twitches, the miniscule works of muscles, were barely enough to hold it in place. We continued to walk, passing out of Ponyville’s main thoroughfare and into the outskirts to the southeast. Out here, it seemed to have been a mix of lesser businesses and greater houses, shifting somewhat from Northwest to Southeast from rich to poor. I say “seemed to have been” because most of it had been burned down already. Either the bucket brigade was never able to reach these buildings in time, or they simply deemed them unnecessary to save. Stragglers remained, some scorched but standing strong, while others were little more than burnt-out husks, creaking in the winds and threatening to topple with every breeze. After a few minutes, I turned back to Dinky. “Can you… do that thing? That she was.. trying to t-teach me?” Dinky was instantly wary. “Thing?” “Relax,” There was a snort from up ahead. “Your friend there just doesn’t remember Pyromancy. Must’ve rotted away.” “Ah, Pyromancy.” Dinky shook her head. “I know of it… I can make sparks, enough to light fires, but that’s about it. Most of what that kind of magic can do, I can already do with my horn. Not much point in training to use it.” After a moment though, she added, “Though, Zecora... She’s probably the best Pyromancer I know here in Ponyville. Whatever lets it come so naturally to Earth Ponies, they share it with Zebras. But she’s sort of tricky to see these days, always busy.” I nodded, and up ahead, Diamond turned, now clearly making her way towards a large mansion backed right up against the wall. “We’re here. Still got that lightbulb spell ready, or need a few hours of rest before it’s good to go again?” “Ha ha,” Dinky replied mirthlessly, as she turned to face me. “Anyway. If you don’t know Pyromancy, then she’s right, you can’t hold a torch. But I do have these.”  She opened up her saddlebag, and pulled out a small wooden box. Light poured out of the cracks, and when she clicked the lid open with her magic, the source quickly became apparent. Set inside the box were five brightly glowing gems, emitting a bright amber light. She selected one with her hoof and pulled it out by a rough string tied around it, then held it in front of me. She casually clicked the box shut with her magic, behind her back, and stowed it in her saddlebags. “I made these a little while back when practicing infusions. They’ll emit light in the darkest of places, and shouldn’t start to dim for… well, a very, very long time. Longer than it’s been since the sun stopped, certainly. They’re actually really cool, because they don’t need charging, they take ambient magic from the surrounding aether-” “Real pretty. Can we please get moving?” Diamond sighed and rolled her eyes. Without waiting for us, she stepped up to the wide oak double doors, rotten with age. Dinky huffed. “Fine. Long story short, I set them into necklaces, so they’re really hard to lose. Keep it on you, a lot of places don’t have lights any more. Plus it’s not a fire hazard!” She groaned back at Diamond, who just rolled her eyes again. Using her magic, Dinky looped the rough string necklace over my head, and the gem settled against my chest. She was in the middle of adjusting the length when there was a splintering crash. Diamond had turned and bucked both doors open in one blow with her armored hindlegs. Dinky growled under her breath, but finished adjusting the necklace, and we followed Diamond inside. The interior of the mansion had fared only slightly better than the exterior. A fine layer of dust and rubble caked every surface, and a heavy cloud of it hung in the air. The light from my new necklace and the sunlight outside shone through it as we looked around. “Tch. Looks like the main staircase rotted away. Foyer’s useless, in that case. There should be a staircase in the kitchen for the servants, much smaller and better supported. I’d be surprised if that turned to rot as well.” Diamond glanced over at the door, and her scowl deepened. “Blocked by more rubble. Damn. Alright, we’ll go through the dining room. First door on your right.” She pointed to me, and I led the way, first trying the door handle, then thumping my shoulder against it. I swear I felt something crack, and I fell back, whinnying in pain, as Diamond nickered at me. Dinky just winced, then stepped up, a golden yellow ball forming at the tip of her horn. After a second, she released it, and a bolt of yellow magic trailed through the dust as it launched up, curved back, and sped across the floor at barrel height to slam into the lock of the doors. The whole portal exploded, with chunks of brass and splinters of wood scattering everywhere. I was showered in dust and tiny splinters, from where I lay on the floor. “Oh, you do know some offensive spells. Very impressive, apprentice.” Dinky turned, words forming in her mouth, but there they stayed as she dropped into a combat stance, more magic coalescing at the end of her horn. For a moment, Diamond looked shocked, unsheathing her rapier. But when Dinky released the trailing ball of yellow energy, it streaked right past Diamond, and instead slammed into a Hollowed maid that had emerged from a room behind her. The mare flew back into the doorway from which she'd emerged, while Diamond's eyes narrowed. “Damn, that roused them. Good going, you two.” “Yeah, sure, it’s our fault…” Dinky muttered, as she formed another ball of magic. This time, she released it upward, where it bobbed like a glowing golden bubble, coming to a halt just below a massive, creaking chandelier. It lit up the entire room, and as I stood shakily, I was taken with just how grand this mansion must have been, so long ago. Then another Hollow was stumbling out of the blown-open doors of the dining room towards me, and I had no weapon. Glancing down, I spotted a broken banister that would make an okay club. Grabbing it in my teeth, I brought it back up and into the jaw of the moldy butler. There was a crunch, either from my teeth or his own, and my vision went white. After a moment, I was shaking it off, and my jaw seemed fine. The butler’s jaw had been smashed by the impact, but that didn’t stop him from letting out a growl through the remnants, shambling towards me again. Then Diamond was there with her rapier, stabbing it clean through the Hollow’s neck. When that only seemed to slow him down, she yanked it forward, ripping it out and taking a hefty chunk of rotting flesh with her. The Hollow stumbled, then collapsed into the rubble, black ichor soaking into the moldy carpet. “Humph. You definitely fight like a Hollow.” Diamond smirked as she wiped the blade clean on my back, until I shook her away, disgusted. She didn’t seem to mind, but took the opportunity to sheathe her sword and pull her helmet on, encasing herself fully in her silver armor. On the other side of the room, Dinky had blasted a couple more Hollows with her magic, and had blocked off another doorway with a golden shield. A second decaying butler was hammering against it, to little avail. “Let’s get this done as quickly as possible! I’d rather not disturb the rest, if we can avoid it.” “Eh, if only because I don’t feel like getting my armor dirty,” Diamond agreed with a shrug. “Dinky, rearguard. Hollow, take point.” She ducked down, picked up a worn brass candlestick, and tossed it to me. It clattered against the floorboards when I missed the grab, but I got the idea. I grabbed the thin end with my teeth, and let the lightgem against my breast light the way forward. Stepping over the dead butler at my hooves, I glanced around the dining room. What had once been a grand table took up the center of the room, but it had cracked down the middle when the ceiling had started to crumble onto it. At the far end, a door was left askew, and I could see a stove through the gap. There were more sounds of violence from behind as I pushed forward, but my way forward was clear until I entered the kitchen. The tiles had a fetlock-deep layer of grime across them, and the appliances in this room had long ago gone silent. A layer of mold had spread outwards from the gray icebox, but even that had died with time. Light filtered in through ancient curtains over the windows, above the sink. In the middle of it, another Hollow was shambling towards me, with a squarish chopping knife buried deep in her shoulder. She seemed too far gone to use it herself, though, and I swung the candlestick into the side of her head to stun her. She staggered, legs stumbling over the detritus scattered across the floor, and I swung again, which earned a meaty crunch as the wide base of the brass candlestick smacked against her skull. She hit the floor, still flailing, and I dropped the candlestick with a clatter to make a grab for the knife instead. She was squirming, but I managed to get my teeth around the handle, and as I tugged she made this awful whining noise. A silver rapier stabbed into her chest, slowing her down, and it was enough for me to find my leverage and yank the knife free with a squelch and a squirt of black ichor. Then I brought the heavy knife back down on her head, feeling it jerk out of my teeth as a crack reverberated through the room, and she went still. I was still tugging it back out of her skull as Dinky caught up, firing another golden bolt of magic back into the dining room. Diamond had moved right past me, after retrieving her rapier, and was using another knife to pry open a door exiting the kitchen. There was a snap, and she swore, before tossing the handle away. Then she spun, bucking clean through the rotted wood once again.  The dead Hollow’s skull thumped against the floor as I kept trying to free my own knife. It was really jammed in there, and more ichor leaked out around the blade as I tugged. Then it suddenly came free, leaving a deep, bloody dent where I’d smashed through the Hollow’s temple. As I was still reeling from that, the corpse twitched, and one of the Hollow’s eyes sparked back to life, looking at me as one side of her body tried to reach for me, the other remaining still. I rasped out a low shriek in surprise around the knife's handle, scrabbling back, and Dinky grabbed me with her magic. While I’d been retrieving my new weapon, Diamond had bolted up the narrow stairs, and we followed. “You know, it makes it hard to cover behind us when you keep knocking down the doors!” “What, your shields aren’t holding up, Apprentice?” Diamond yelled back down the stairs. We emerged onto the second floor landing a moment later, and Dinky dropped me to grab the chandelier from before. The light she’d tossed out before seemed attached to it, and they both came loose as the Archmage ripped the Chandelier free from the ceiling. I gaped, as she easily swung the heavy glass chandelier into the stairway we’d used to get upstairs. There was a deafening crash, and the stairway was blocked, as broken glass teardrops bounced and rattled across the floorboards and showered down the stairs. “That should keep us safe for a bit from the ones below. Diamond, how’s it looking up here? Where are we going now?” “This way!” She shouted from around the corner, and we followed, galloping past several closed doors. One made me jump as we passed by it, as another Hollow inside hammered at the closed door. The floorboards creaked worryingly as we moved, but they held as we followed Diamond, who was holding open a door near to the end of the hallway. Dinky dashed inside, and I staggered in a second later, before Diamond slammed the door shut behind us. Then she held up a hoof, and we froze, our tired panting the only noise in the room. Outside, there was the occasional dragging hoofstep, a dumb thump against a wall, but it seemed we’d lost the majority of the Hollows within the mansion. As they focused on the door, I took in the room. We seemed to have taken refuge inside a lavish bedroom, with a dusty bed covered in moldy pillows clearly being the centerpiece. A mirror over the nightstand had been cracked from age, the glass shards mixed with a long-hardened makeup kit. A bookcase filled with books that were too decayed to read sat next to a shelf covered in dusty trophies, between them fully taking up one side of the room. All of these, Diamond barely glanced at, scowling as she moved away from the door. Instead, her eyes swept the room. She scanned the bedside dresser and a nearby desk, before her eyes landed on a leather-and-brass traveling trunk beside the bed. “Maybe in there... I’ve been putting this off for long enough.” She was about to crack it open, when Dinky stopped her. “Wait. What’s this about, Diamond? This isn’t some random looting, I can see that. Why this place, what are you looking for?” Sighing heavily, she glared at Dinky. “You don’t remember, huh? I used to live here. Before all this.” Realization lit up Dinky’s face. “Oh! I never… Well, you never had anypony over to visit except for Silver Spoon, back then.” Her expression softened. “Sorry about her. Is that why you came back here? To find something from before?” “Something like that.” Diamond sighed, looking back down at the trunk. “Look, after we’re done here, neither of you say anything about this, alright? You didn’t know me, this was just a scavenging job. Got an image to maintain these days.” I nodded, as did Dinky, but she still seemed curious. “What’d you come to get, anyway?” Diamond shook her head, bracing her hooves on the lid of the trunk. “My mom, she had this enchanted necklace my dad gave heraaaaaggghhHHHH!” Her explanation was lost in a scream as she forced the lid open. Instead of the interior of a trunk, like we had expected, Diamond was met with a slavering maw, ringed with teeth that looked like metal nails. A pair of arms unfolded from under the lid, and claws formed of pony legs made three fingers and a thumb. In an instant, they reached out and grabbed Diamond’s shoulders. She was yanked bodily into the open jaws of the living trunk, and the lid came down with a bloody crunch around her midsection. “Mimic!” Dinky shouted, magic forming around her horn, and fear shot through me as I realized I’d been watching the teenager getting eaten and hadn’t moved a hoof. Growling through the handle of the knife clenched in my teeth, I leapt towards the living trunk, and buried the blade of the knife in the leather of its lid. The aged skin split like it was fresh, and red blood spattered across me as the blade dug deep. The creature shook as Dinky's own magic bolt rocked it back, and the lid opened. For just a moment, I thought it defeated, but I was quickly proven wrong when it just used the opportunity to pull Diamond in even further, her hinds twitching weakly as dark blood flowed between the nails. The lid came down again with a horrible crunching of bones and silver plating, and Diamond's hooves twitched weakly, one final time, before it pulled her all the way under the lid. Then it clapped shut, and the trunk lifted up entirely, standing on a dozen pale hooves. It seemed slightly off-balance as it tried to scuttle away from us, towards another corner of the room. “Quick, kill it quick!” Dinky yelped, as she blasted it with another golden magic bolt. My knife was still buried in the lid, blood seeping from the wound, but out of desperation I leapt at the creature, my hooves hooking onto the lid as I tried to tear my knife free once more. All this seemed to do was enrage the monster. The lid flapped as I rode atop it, trying to shake me free. Those claws made of hooves emerged from under the lid again, grabbing at me, but I held tight as my world became a blur of blood and leather and magic. Then one of the claws grabbed around my midsection, and I let out a cry as it squeezed crushingly tight, trying to rip me off of the monster's back. There was a flare, and one of Dinky's missiles slammed into the beast's elbow, blowing it apart with a smell like burnt fur. Below me, the monster shook, letting off a muffled howl. The other claw grabbed me instead, yanking me forward, and the lid snapped open as it tried to drag me into its maw alongside Diamond. My teeth clamped shut around the grip of the knife as I dangled over the flapping tongue of the monster, and my hooves kicked the fleshy muscle in terror while blood from its wound filled my mouth. Another missile slammed into the underside of the open lid, and the beast shrieked, before the remaining claw lost its grip and flung me upwards. There was a moment of resistance before the knife came free, and my neck ached as I was whipped over the back of the mimic. My legs windmilled until I smacked against the ceiling, before I then plummeted back to the floor in a shower of rotted ceiling plaster. I was already dazed when I hit the floor, and the world spun as it was set alight in a fireworks show of magic around me. Then Dinky screamed, not a battle cry but a shriek of fear, and my fire within flared. I found my hooves, and my teeth found the knife, before spinning to help the frightened child. Dinky had been grabbed by the monster's remaining claw, and was holding tightly to the bedpost of the mouldering bed. Her magic sparked and flared wildly, golden bolts launching without a target out of panic. But the claw holding her was taut, and that was all I needed.  I chopped the knife’s blade down on the monster's elbow, and felt the joint split between my teeth as the blade dug almost all the way through the limb. The monster howled again, and scuttled back as it dragged its broken claw behind it. Dinky was freed, and looked back at me in surprise as I pulled her to her hooves by the scruff of her neck. She rallied quickly though, and  her eyes narrowed at the monster. “Okay, this isn't working, it's too tough. We gotta pull her out. I'll hold the lid open, you gotta grab Diamond.” I nodded, though I was in no hurry to see the inside of that maw again. Turning back, I faced the monster, which seemed to be trying to slam its way through a door besides the one we'd come in from. A private bathroom, maybe? I let loose a growl, ragged and tired, and galloped at the monster. I had no weapon; my knife was still lodged in the remains of its claw. And if I picked it up, then I wouldn't be able to pull Diamond out. This was a stupid plan. I was unarmed. I was going to die. But I had to save Diamond, so I kept galloping. The green, dull remains of an ancient mirror exploded against its back, and it turned around to howl at us just as I reached it. The beast howled, and I jumped between its jaws, those nail-like teeth were barely a hoof-width away from my unarmored belly, and still wet with blood and saliva. Then Dinky's golden aura wrapped around my barrel and the creature's lid, and a magic tube formed between me and those teeth below, protecting me as I reached forward with both hooves. The platform also filled the cavity within with light, and Diamond's armor gleamed wetly, shining like a beacon. I wrapped my hooves around her shoulders, and pulled her up and out, with only the constrained writhing of the monster around us giving me any trouble. “I got her-” I yelped, before it was suddenly cut short by that same magic yanking me free, and Diamond with me. Together, we flew backwards, slamming into moldy carpet. I sprawled, and Diamond sprawled atop me, her heavy silver armor crushing me against the floor. Distantly, I could hear Dinky shrieking “Rutting die already!” and the smashing of furniture around us. I couldn't see anything from underneath our companion, but it seemed like Dinky was winning, as far as I could tell. After a few seconds, the last smash faded into the gentle creaking of the mansion around us, and distantly, a faint dripping. I groaned, and a moment later the weight of Diamond was pulled away. If I felt the need to breathe, I would've drawn in a gasp, but as it was I simply lay there and felt my body ache from the fighting we'd done to get here. A moment later, I realized the dull purple shape in front of me was Dinky's hoof, offering to help me stand. I accepted, and she hauled me up. Dinky sucked in air greedily as she glanced back at the broken body of the monster in the corner. “I, hah, think I got it…? hah…” She wasn't sure, and I didn't blame her. Even as we watched, it twitched spasmodically, and the lid flopped backwards onto the floor. But Dinky seemed to be victorious, with more than half of the monster's legs broken or smashed, and the tongue still limp within its mouth. Two of the four-poster bed's braces had been stabbed through its sides, while another pierced the lid. It lay in a pile of broken and splintered wood, and blood seeped through the sawdust, soaking it and turning it a filthy brown. “What… w-was it?” I croaked, and Dinky shook her head. “Mimic. Didn't know there was one in town, I’m sorry about that. They're really weird ambush predators, magical in nature. Nopony really knows where they come from, but we do know they like to nest in places with lots of valuables, waiting for somepony to open the lid so they can grab them. Speaking of…” Dinky swallowed nervously. “Diamond? Are you okay? Wake up, please…” Reaching out a hoof, she shook the other teen gently, and waited with bated breath. Diamond was a mess. Her armor was soaked in dark blood, smeared with saliva, and more blood was still gently ebbing out from the cracks in the overlaid plating. Her midsection was totally crushed, with the armor encasing it pinched to barely a hoofwidth and punctured through with dozens of holes from the Mimic’s teeth.Her hinds were still, but gently, her fores twitched, and that made Dinky jump into action. “Come on! Let’s get her helmet off, get her some air!” I grabbed onto the brim of the helmet, clasping it between my hooves as Dinky’s magic undid the straps holding it in place. It slid off easily with a click, and I fell back, the helmet still held between my hooves in surprise. Then Dinky’s face blanched. “Diamond! Damn it…” As I stood back up, my heart fell. Diamond was alive, by a certain definition. But the pretty teenager that had led us into this mansion was gone, now that her face was decayed and Hollowed. Her eyes were nothing but embers, and she clawed dumbly at us, trying to move closer with her broken body to attack us. “How…?” I rasped. “That stars-damned Mimic.” Dinky croaked, moving a few paces back to be safe. “We took too long. It got her, killed her, pulled all the Equinity out of her. We took too long. Dammit!” She slammed her hoof against the floor. “They c-can... d-do that?” I asked quietly, looking back at the dead monster in the corner. The blood seeping from it and its victim was mingling, soaking into the mouldering carpet as it mixed together. Maybe it was my imagination, but I swear it was grinning at us. Dinky sat down heavily against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah. They don’t actually eat, so far as anypony can tell. They feed off of your strength, your memories, your mind… Your soul. Sap it until you’re an empty Hollow, and spit you out. I bet it let us pull Diamond out. Dammit!” Guilt overwhelmed me. I’d let this happen, I hadn’t moved fast enough to save the teen. I looked at Diamond again, still struggling dumbly as she tried to drag herself over to us. Her broken body and her smeared silver armor weighed her down too much. I felt like I was wearing it too, like it weighed me down, and I fell to the floor beside Dinky, lost in guilt. Together, Dinky and I just stared at her sadly. We wished that somehow, her eyes would flare with intelligence, that we would be proven wrong, but it never came. Eventually, Dinky shook her head, beginning to stand. “Look… come on. We can’t stay here, we’ll just end up like her.” I didn’t want to move. My legs felt heavy. But Dinky used her magic, pulled me up to my hooves, and then slowly walked over to Diamond. Gently, Dinky pushed the hollowed teen onto her back, grimacing as she flailed dumbly, still trying to grab Dinky, fight her. Holding up Diamond’s rapier, she unsheathed it, looking at the silver blade. “Should w-we…” I trailed off as Dinky turned back to face me, but found my voice a moment later. “...F-finish her off?” Dinky blinked at me. “What? You can’t… That doesn’t work that way.” Sheathing the rapier, she pulled the leather loop around her neck, and trotted back to put a hoof on my shoulder. “Hollows can’t die, remember? Trust me, I want to, but all we’d be doing is wasting our time.” I nodded sadly, leaning against the wall as Dinky seemed to consider the sword again. After a few moments, she began to properly attach the sheath to her side. “This is silver, or at least some alloy of silver. I’ll take it to Rockhoof, he’ll know. But I think this sword would enchant well.” “W-would she… w-want you to h-have it?” “Diamond? Pfft, not even.” Dinky giggled for only a moment, before her mirth was squashed once again by the sound of the Hollow behind us on the floor. “She’d hate me even holding this thng, let alone working magic into it. But I think Silver Spoon was smarter than that, might have meant for her to find an enchanter to finish the job she started.” Dinky gave Diamond one last sad look, before shaking her head. “Come on. Let’s go, nothing else to be done here.” I nodded sadly, trailing behind the Archmage like a lost puppy as we left the room, walking back down the hall. We were almost back to the main foyer when we ran into another Hollow, another maid. She turned to growl at us, and Dinky barely glanced at an open door before simply picking up the wandering Hollow and chucking her inside, slamming the door behind her and shoving a table in front of it. It wouldn’t hold her forever, but it would at least contain her until we left. It did raise a question, though. “What about...the h-Hollows…?” Dinky shook her head. “They may have been docile before, but we definitely stirred them up here. They’ll probably start wandering out from now on. I’ll have to tell Applejack about it, I guess. Maybe it’ll sate her bloodlust for a while, I don’t know.” She paused a moment later. “You… Look, I saw you back there. You’re not a good fighter, but you did genuinely try to save Diamond. That’s rare nowadays, especially in Hollows. I’ll tell Pinkie you really did try.” She pursed her lips. “I… I’m also a friend of Zecora’s. I don’t know any if it myself, and Sorcery’s more my speed anyway. But she’ll be able to teach you the basics of Pyromancy at least, so you don’t need to hold everything in your teeth.” I paused, considering it. With how ubiquitous those basics seemed to be, in this new, unfamiliar world, that would be useful. Being able to hold things properly was the first step to being able to fight, to hold my own. From her, I could relearn how to use my hooves, my mind. Dinky smiled as I nodded, and I rasped out a quiet “Th-thank you.” For the first time since I’d met her, Dinky smiled, even if it was just a faint, sad smile.