I woke with a jolt- rather, I woke to the sound of Twilight screaming at me, shaking me, and slapping me with the fish she found in my refrigerator. "SIFTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY" she howled, "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALP-"
Moving quick, I grabbed the fish from her magical grip and slapped her with it. This seemed to calm her down. "What's going on?!" I growled, fumbling to put my gear on. "While you were asleep, a colossal portal tore open over your house! I need your help to close it!"
"Ah, Christ!"
The pony and I bailed outside, and when I looked up, my heart skipped a beat. It was the same kind of portal that dragged me into the witcher's realm. But something was different- it wasn't dragging me along with it. As I stepped forward to look into the portal, something broke inside me. I lost all my breath, went winded, and fell to my knees. "Sifty!" I heard Twily scream once again. Struggling to look up, difficulty catching my breath, I realized why Twilight screamed.
A massive wave of blue, white and orange energy was escaping my body and being pulled into the portal. The dragon's soul that I bore, it was being sucked clean out by this massive tear in reality. I could feel it- the ancient knowledge of every shout I learned, being pulled from me and escaping into the ether. I couldn't even bring to mind their names. Their words.
Just then, it stopped. It was over- the portal had reclaimed my new soul. Panting, I looked ahead- and realized my chainsword had also slipped from my back, and was slowly dragging along the floor. Struggling, I flopped towards it, crawling on hands and knees to grab at the weapon- but alas, it slowly flew out of my reach, it too being reclaimed by the portal. The thought hit me then- it was not taking my witchering blades!
But it didn't seem to want them. The portal closed up, an almost cartoonish zipping sound tearing across the land as it did. The world went black.
--
"Sifty... wake up, please..."
Don't wanna go down to Blighttown.
"Um... Blighttown? Sifty? Please wake up..."
Don't wanna go down to Blighttown.
"Sifty!"
Don't wanna go down to Blighttown.
"WAAAAAAAAKE UUUUUUUUUUUUP!"
"DON'T WANNA GO DOWN TO THAT POISON TOWN-AaAAAaGH. Fucking Christ, my everything hurts..." I whined, looking about and staring into the eyes of Fluttershy. "Sorry... too loud?"
I didn't reply to the little pony, merely tussling her mane a bit before standing up out of bed, a hand to my head. "Fffuuuuuck... How long was I out?"
"A couple of hours." Came Twilight's voice, as she trotted downstairs. "The portal did something to you, but neither I nor Fluttershy can figure out exactly what. We're just glad you're okay!"
"I know what it did..." I whispered. "When I started coming back, I gained the power to use the voice of old. A dragon's soul had intermingled with mine and granted me the ability to use shouts, a kind of magic used by dragons. I guess the universe I got the skill from wanted it's Mary Sue powers back."
"But what about that loud sword you had?" Twilight replied, "Surely enough you didn't get that from the same universe!"
"Apply enough phlebotinum to the story and it might make sense." I replied, reaching into my coat pocket and pulling out a small potion vial filled with a misty, blue fluid. As Twilight questioned me about the good old TVtropes term, I swallowed it- the world went white for a moment, and I felt better almost instantly. I snapped my fingers, summoning a brief gout of flame, which snapped Twilight out of her pondering and startled Fluttershy.
"I need to stop waking up in your house, Flutters." I stroked the pony's mane, standing up and checking my equipment, "Someone might get the wrong idea. I would love to stay and chat, little ponies, but there's much work to be done."
Before they could voice any more replies, I was quickly out the door.
--
The Hive Guardian I was hunting was completely and totally resistant to all of my Signs- if only because I couldn't seem to cast any in its presence. Clearly, the runes carved into its flesh were creating some sort of air of silence. Be that as it may, the pommel of my sword seemed to do the job of putting the bastard down well enough. Though I had no time for games, I could at least prove to these bastards that their resistances, mutations, conversions- it was all for naught. Regardless of any adaptions they take, there is nothing more powerful than a witcher's blade.
I pressed my boot into the Guardian's head, pressing its face down into the mud. The ire in its body was easily detectable in a ten mile radius, but there was nothing it could do. Both of its blades severed, all of the tendons in its limbs cut loose, it could only struggle to flop its thick neck to protect itself. With a scoff, I raised my silver blade. "Nighty night."
SHINKT
The green, baleful light faded from the Nightmare's eyes, and I unthinkingly stuck my trophy hook through them. Another corpse for the cart. Another job off the board. But, alas, there was still much to do. I needn't collect the bits on these bounties- it was pointless. The only things I needed to spend money on were ingredients for my potions, oils and explosives, but ponies were all too eager to help, and Everfree was still rich in resources.
I simply trudged into town, staked my trophy on a pike in the town square, and declared another job finished. Before the next hunt, I would sit, polish my blades, sharpen them, and finally apply an oil suitable to the hunt.
Sitting on the steps of the town hall, ponies giving me appreciative nods as they passed, I pulled my baldric off and placed both of my swords next to me. Pulling a rag and a small jar of pink matter from the pack on my lower back, I unsheathed the steel sword I had brought from home. A gift from long past, long before my first experiences in this land, it was a large german bastard sword, a gorgeous piece of work. I had chosen to name it Strunfiik- Storm's Reflection, in the language of dragons. I polished the blade to a mirror finish, and moved on to my silver blade. When all was said and done, I unwrapped the small scroll that held another contract.
"To all able-bodied ponies,
My name is Lady Rarity. You may know me as the local fashion designer and owner of the Carousel Boutique. Indeed, most know of me from the awe my designs inspire- however, the brightness that was once my boutique has been extinguished by a horde of monsters I know all too well. They are called Mannequins, and they have been a plague upon my work ever since I was but a little filly. Beasts made manifest from fear, latching onto the most familiar and conveniently hollow forms they could find- a clothing store mannequin. They were once little more than a nuisance. However, ever since the loss of the Cham"
The writing cut off, there. The contract itself seemed to have been stained by tears. At the bottom of the page, it was written in much less elegant form.
"please help me"
Mannequins were classed as Specters. Oil made from a boiled fat and the essential essence of the Arenaria Montana flower would surround my blade in a coating capable of lingering within the spectral bodies of creatures that were not meant to be on this side of this mortal coil. Thankfully, I always had an oil on hand. With my silver blade ready to go, I began my march to carousel boutique.
--
Just as I arrived, I realized that Rarity would likely flip her shit if she saw me out of the blue, especially if I only came just now, and only to cover a contract. Regardless, I needed this job done. With a few brief knocks, I heard Rarity's voice announcing that she was on her way. When the pony opened her door, she looked a sight- as if she had stopped taking care of herself. Eyes were low and melancholy. She stared straight ahead, as if to meet another pony's eyes. However, as she drifted up and met my scarred face, her eyes exploded to life.
"Sifty!"
With that, she slammed into me, squeezing around my waist so much I was sure to have an imprint of chainmail in my skin. "Darling! Where have you been?! They said..."
"...Who said?"
"...Nothing, nothing! Oh, my dear, sweet Sifty! You simply can't fathom how bad it's been without you!" The pony squealed, finally loosing her hug and stepping back, the makeup trailing down her cheeks.
"Oh, trust me. I've got the message." I coughed. "Listen, sweetheart, it's great to see you again. I would love to catch up, but I'm dreadfully busy as it is."
"I... I would figure as much. I'm guessing you're here about my mannequin problem?"
"Correct."
"...Follow me, please."
Once again, I found myself facing the massive barricade at the bottom of the stairs to the upper floor of Rarity's boutique. "One showed up, following the usual trend. I could take care of one- simply rolling up a newspaper and slapping it about was enough to drive it off. But others kept coming. They would show up in pairs, and eventually entire groups would come. It was maddening to stay inside the boutique.
"Even so, I kept trying to fight them off. But, it was all for not. They found me, wherever I slept, to the point where it was impossible to sleep and I was just about to collapse. None of us were capable of handling so many of them at once- it's as if they've got a little bit of Nightmare in each of them!
"Finally, I simply waited at the top floor, and triggered an avalanche of furniture as soon as I was sure that all of them were in the top floor, waiting for me to try and sleep in my own bed. I escaped just as the last couch fell, sealing them all within. Twilight and the others helped board up the windows from outside. Nobody's been able to help, since. I took the only solace I could in at least being able to sleep in my own home, but my business has suffered dreadfully."
I nodded along to Rarity's explanation, taking mental notes of what was occurring. I observed the barricade- certainly sturdy enough for a possessed mannequin-thing to have difficulty clearing, but loose enough for a single one of my Aard signs to clear. With a nod, I looked down to Rarity. "Fluttershy and Twilight know that I've returned. Rainbow, Pinkie and Applejack don't, though I wouldn't be surprised if word has spread. Go to Fluttershy's cottage, wait there while I sort this out.
"Please, don't be too long, Sifty. You should be ashamed of yourself, you know. Making a lady wait..." She sighed, a light smile on her lips- a rare thing to see, I would assume, after the last few months. "Oh, and Sifty? Thank you for bringing back my little sister. She refused to tell me who helped her..." With that, she quickly gathered a few of her things, and swiftly left the boutique, the door echoing as it slammed shut.
Cracking my knuckles, I pulled free my silver blade, and pulled a very small bottle of murky, bluish-black fluid off of my shoulder. With a heavy exhalation, I stuck the bottle in my mouth, tore the cork out, spat it away, and guzzled down the contents of the bottle. Color turned grey as black veins criss-crossed my vision, and I could feel my sinuses roaring alight in pain and pressure. Half a second later, and it was done. The potion had its desired effect. As I wiped an errant drop of blood from my nose and flicked it away, I could hear it sizzle.
Taking a sharp breath, I braced myself, and thrust my hand outward, loosing a heavy telekinetic blast that smashed away all the furniture and blockage of the stairs. As the dust settled, I pulled a flare from my pack, struck it, and hurled it into the upper floor, filling the blackened room with a baleful, crimson glow. My mirrored sword almost seemed to be aflame as the flare's fire gleamed off the polished silver, and I could feel nonexistent eyes locking onto me.
I waited. No motion. No action. I could see them all in the red, posing as if they were nothing more than ordinary mannequins. But there were heartbeats. Ghostly life pulsing into each of them. My ears twitched and my neurons fired, begging me to take action and cut them down. But still, I waited. Finally, a rustle- barely audible amidst the hiss of the burning flare. One second. Two seconds...
Now!
With a hearty grunt, I grapevined my legs and gracefully stepped around the lunge of a mannequin, a lunge it didn't anticipate to miss, and it landed face-first into another, causing them both to stumble. The sheer volume of bodies in the room, the distance between them all, caused every mannequin to fall out of its pose and trip, flail and fall, bringing down their illusion like a paraplegic giraffe. With a smirk, I brought my sword up.
Whirling forward, I span and brought my blade around the room, each step fueling my swirling momentum and cleaving through specter after specter, each creature helpless on the ground after being so unpredictably stunned by a single slip. Mannequins were absolutely worthless if they lost their only advantage, and as such, they were little more than small animals, lambs for the slaughter, bodies for the cart. As my whirl came to an end, I stood motionless in the center of the room, spectral blood dripping off my blade and fading into the ether as the invasive souls I cut down returned across the veil.
Sheathing my blade, I began to make an exit. Just as I reached the stairs, I was slammed into from behind, and pinned down by, what I assumed, was a mannequin that hid under the corpses of its fallen allies. With a ghostly wail, it sunk its hidden teeth into my neck, only for me to elbow it in the neck before it could tear through any further. Stumbling back on the ground, I swiped the handgun off my thigh and aimed, as the mannequin chuckled quietly to itself.
"Foolish human. You cannot kill all of us. So long as one of us remains, there will always be another left to torment that worthless pony."
"You stupid motherfucker." I all but giggled, pressing a hand to my neck. "Good night."
The mannequin stared at me, wondering what I could possibly have meant. It clearly seemed to have claimed the advantage. Another laugh left my lungs as the mannequin looked down at its hooves, now beginning to turn grey as black veins creeped across its lightly blooded, white form. As soon as it noticed, heavy, hacking coughs left it, and soon enough, it had keeled over, spasming in pain. Such is the toll of the Black Blood potion, making sure that the witcher who drinks it always gets the last laugh.
I holstered my pistol, reaching into my side pack and frisking a flask full of swirling, lightly glowing white liquid. A quick guzzle of said fluid, and my wounds closed up just about instantly, though the toxic shock of the potion made my vision blur. Wiping my hands, I began to clear the stiffened mannequin corpses out of the boutique, only to light them up on a mass pyre.
Not wasting time, I idly rubbed the healed-over wound on my neck, and moved on to my next contract, while there was still light out.
--
"Hey! Applejack, here!
Been a lot of creepy things happening at the apple farm, lately. My sis' says she's been seeing Nightmares all around the apple orchard. I didn't wanna believe her, at first, but then I saw the biggest Nightmare I've ever laid eyes on, even bigger than the one that Sif The Champion saved me from a long ways back. I watched it for a while, and I reckon that it's some kind of pack leader, an alpha. I'm willing to give a hefty lotta bits if someone can get it away from my farm!"
Girl can't even bring herself to write my name down. That, or she doesn't want to upset anyone that knew me close enough to know that was my name. Though I believed what Applejack wrote on her contract- she was the Element of Honesty, after all- I had to make very sure that I was hunting an Alpha. Nightmare Alphas, I had very little information on them, myself. If I wanted to prepare for this hunt properly, I would need to talk to someone.
Think she would enjoy the visit.
-
Twilight was still at Fluttershy's, or was out doing errands, because I didn't feel her presence anywhere near her library. But that was of no importance, because my intended contact was still sitting cozy in her little bed in Twilight's room. My reconverted Nightmare friend smiled as her gorgeous blue eyes realized who was approaching her, and she stood up, adorably stretching all her limbs, almost like a cat. "Hello, Champion!"
"Good afternoon, Beryl. Was wondering if you could help me with something."
"Of course!" She chirped, trotting over and gazing proudly up at me. "I'm guessing it has to do with my former allegiances?"
"Aye. When we first met, you told me a bunch of shit your Alpha had fed you."
"Indeed, lies to a lower ranking Nightmare in order to convince my freshly redeveloped brain that I was actually doing something. Why do you ask?"
"Where was this Alpha stationed? I've got a contract for him."
Beryl thought it over for a moment, rubbing her blades together idly and flicking her tail before she suddenly popped up in realization. "Ah, yes, if my memory serves me correctly, the Alpha should still be in the orchard near that orange pony. How much do you know about him?"
"Next to nothing."
With this, Beryl smiled once more, and used her magic to grab onto my hand. She led me to a table, pulled out a chair, and sat me down, as she took a seat across from me. She explained to me exactly what a Nightmare Alpha was. Alphas were mountains of meat- standing almost as high as a Nightbeast. They were encased in impenetrable armor, and their backblades had the strength to split trees with almost no effort. They were heavy and huge, preferring to flatten opponents in an all-out charge. However, they had their vulnerabilities- primarily, only their fronts were armored. Their backsides, and the joints along their limbs, were completely vulnerable. Furthermore, the armor mutations attached to them were metallic- if I could set an Alpha alight, I could theoretically cook its skull in its own armor.
I thanked the little Nightmare, and with a hug, I left for Sweet Apple Acres.
--
As I moved forward, the intense cloudiness began to rumble. Icy water hit my cheeks as it began to pour down rain. This was perfectly fine- I always felt like rain helped me rejuvenate. Besides, it was hot in this bloody armor I wore. For that matter, I needed to get a new set- I had been wearing this barely modified set for ages. Something my mentor pulled out of the armory back at the fort where I underwent mutation. It was handy, but variety is the spice of life.
I passed under the arch that marked the start of apple property, and made my way towards the house. A spot of orange in the distance was struggling to move a cart of hay out of the mud, slipping over the reigns she grabbed with her teeth and shoulders, falling in the mud. She seemed ludicrously tuckered out. Moving out of the way of the cart, she sat under the roof of the barn, wiping at her eyes with her hat. Dammit, Aj...
Rushing over, I slammed my weight into the back of the cart, my speed jostling the cart out of the puddle it was stuck in. I continued pushing, eventually moving the cart into the safety of the barn. Applejack had just finished straining out her hat when she came to see where the cart had gone. "Ah, horseapples, Macintosh! I told ya' that I didn't need yer help!" she puffed, before looking into the barn proper. "W-wait just a minute, here... My mind ain't playin' tricks on me, is it?"
"Nope."
With that, the pony turned into a blur of orange and slammed into me with such force that she managed to throw me onto my back. Tearful, but hesitant to show it, the little pony muffled a sob in my shoulder as I closed a hand over her back. "Sifty..."
"Aye, Applejack, it's me. Surprised you recognized me so fast, what with the-"
"Glowin' eyes, long hair, fancy armor? Come now, partner! Ain't no mistakin' that voice!"
Girl had a point. She stepped off, and I rose to my feet, brushing mud off my sleeve. "I heard the rumors, but I didn't wanna make any assumptions. Got hopeful before, only led to disappointment..."
"Well, I'm back, cowgirl. I've been saying this to pretty much everybody I've reacquainted with at this point, but-"
"Yeah, I know. Yer' here on account of the contract I put up. Tell me, first, though- who else knows yer' back?"
I accounted for those that knew of my return, truly and fully. Applejack accepted this, and sighed. "Figured as much. Well, anythin' ya' need to know?"
"No, Aj. I've just gotta build a few bombs... Actually, do you still have your cider distillery?"
"Yeah, why?"
-
I spent a while taking the excess moonshine that resulted from the hard cider Applejack brewed, filling up my explosive pouches to precise amounts and testing the resulting proof of the alcohol within. After I was satisfied with the possible result of lighting the moonshine up, I stuck a fuse into the mouth of each pouch and placed each bomb in a sash around my waist. Indeed, the proof was high enough that the flame could burn, even in this rainy dimension. That's what a Dancing Star was all about. Glorified goddamn molotov.
With that, I went into the apple acres. The ponies were quite fortunate not to have been direct victims of these senseless assholes- then again, they probably haven't gone out to work the orchard for a good, long time. The trail was immediately obvious- mostly due to the fact that the Nightmares were relatively close by already, and due to the fact that the rain had muddied the earth. Drawing my silver sword once again, I took off after the trail.
Half a mile into the orchard, lulling myself to sleep due to the peace of the rain and the inaction of my quarry, I decided to take a brief knee and catch some respite. As I stuck my sword in the earth and began to drift into a half-meditative state, I heard something a few trees over. Curious, I stood up, and stealthily made my way over to the source of the noise. There, I saw several Nightmares seemingly doing battle with a creature I remember from a hunt ever-so-long ago, and something I was tracking late yesterday, before Twilight interrupted me.
A Whisper. A ghostly being I had next to no information on. An atrophied body, constantly dripping with fog and smoke, came to a sharp, mouthless, head, with a pair of short, bladed arms leading the front. The Nightmares galloped to and fro, clashed blades with the ghostly mits of the Whisper before it simply phased through them, almost seeming to rob them of their essence- the Nightmare in question crumbling to little more than a black skeleton after the deed was done. The Nightmare Alpha was there, too- but it had much better luck against the Whisper. I had an advantage, here- two birds with one stone.
Or, rather, three stones.
I swiped a small glass orb of bluish liquid off my belt. Inside it, thousands of tiny, silver flakes sloshed about. Moon Dust- this would scatter a field of silver throughout a great radius of space, making anything caught within lose its otherworldly powers. In my other hand, I held a tightly wrapped ball of cloth- this was a Dragon's Dream, which would release a cloud of explosively flammable gas. Lighting the Dream with an brief flick of my fingers, I tossed both bombs into the fray, just as another Nightmare fell to the Whisper.
Neither quarry knew how to react as both bombs went off. The Whisper lost its ability to seemingly steal life, and the Alpha became extremely defensive instead of the roaring offensiveness it had borne a scant few seconds ago. I finished this triple-threat with a single one of the Dancing Star bombs I had prepared- and quickly ducked behind cover.
BOOM
The Whisper, it was unaffected by the flames, but the lesser Nightmares that were still functional were crispy as soon as the gas from the previous bomb had caught. The Alpha struggled to stay away, shaking its head around, ineffectively trying to extinguish the flames on its head. It's roars of superiority had whittled down to nothing more than pathetic screams; the last breaths of a dying animal. Finally, with an earth-shaking collapse, the Alpha fell to the earth.
The Whisper turned, and I could feel its eyes on me- even behind cover. Either it saw me, the direction the bombs came from, or it had some sort of life-seeking abilities. It had to be the former, because the Moon Dust made the creature wholly incapable of using any supernatural abilities. Stepping out, Aerondight's blade dripping with rainwater, I took my stance across from the Whisper. With not a sound, it effortlessly floated towards me, rearing back its frontal claws.
As the beast was floating, I quickly dashed forward, only to slide underneath it, dragging my blade along its exposed gut. It recoiled, swiftly flailing to the side, as I rolled to my feet, ready to strike again- and I did. Before the Whisper could float away as it did before, I took a heavy step forward and launched my body into a pirouette, bringing the spinning gleam of my blade almost cleanly through the creature's face. Several Nightmares lay dead, the Whisper I was tracking about to be a headless corpse, the Nightmare Alpha charging at me with intent to kill-
Wait, shit.