Chapter 37
“Well, if nothing else, this is quite pretty.” Rarity said as she looked across the majestic valley, lined on either side with walls of rock and brilliant white snow. “I mean, I imagine it’d make for a more pleasurable scene if viewed from a more stable footing, rather than this swaying… rickety… rope bridge… eeeeesh…” The unicorn swallowed hard as she felt the worn wooden panels slowly give under her weight as the bridge swung too and fro in the wind. “But compared to what we’ve seen before, it’s a definite improvement aesthetically.”
From where she was storing the doll in her pack, the Chosen Undead gripped her sword and took a deep breath.
“Follow me, and be careful. We’ll be back on solid ground soon enough.” She said while testing the part of the bridge in front of her. Rarity nodded nervously as she failed to prevent herself from looking down, seeing the same black void below her that seemed to lie beneath every location in Lordran.
“Sure, sure… just one hoof in front of the other… like thaaaaat…” Rarity promptly pulled her hoof back upon feeling how loose the next board was. “Okay… okay… we can skip that one. Just step ooooover it… and then… again… and one more…”
From where she was surveying the scene overhead, Rainbow looked down at her unicorn friend, rolling her eyes at how Rarity was crossing the bridge with all the speed and stride of a newborn foal.
“Now once again… oooh, that’s quite a loose one too. Okay, we’ll just… just… juuumpp… and… eeeeeeeep!” Rarity hopped over a board and shivered horrendously as the bridge wobbled. “Eeeeeeeeeee… oh… okay… just a bit further… little bit… little bit more…”
“Uh, Rares… you want me to just carry you the rest of the way?” Rainbow said as she flew down to her friend’s eye level. “I get why you want to be careful, but you’re kind of holding up traffic here.”
Rarity looked behind herself, and smiled a strained smile upon seeing Twilight and Spike looking at her with blatant expectation as they struggled to hold onto the bridge.
“Oh certainly not, Dash! I just need to make a few more steps… just a few… like one… and… and twoooo… and...”
“Oh for Faust’s sake, here!”
Rarity eeeped again as she found herself enveloped in Twilight’s lavender aura, levitating her up and then launching her onto the other side of the valley.
“What the… hey! Rarity!” Spike promptly dashed across the remainder in record time, leaving Twilight to follow behind him with ease.
“Rarity, are you okay?” The dragon asked as his crush pulled herself from the snow drift she’d crash landed into.
“Oooogh… I’m fine Spike… just… brrrr… a bit chilly.” Rarity stepped out and flung her mane back. The snow sparkled like tiny diamonds in the light of the pale moon overhead, making Spike fawn as his unicorn’s impromptu tumble just added to her beauty.
“Here, there’s a bonfire just up ahead. We can warm up, and plan our attack there.” The Chosen Undead called out.
“Sounds good, gives us a chance to get over the shock of Twilight’s impatience.” Spike replied with mild scorn as the alicorn in question stepped off the bridge. “Seriously, Twi, what the hay!?”
Twilight looked back at the bridge then back at her friend with only slight embarrassment.
“Well, we’re all back on solid ground now, safe and sound, right? Hey, I didn’t want to be on that crumbling mess any more than you two did!” She argued.
“Well, a little more warning would’ve been appreciated.” Rarity replied as everyone walked forward to where another brilliant collection of flames burned beside a wrought iron gate.
“So… from the air, it looks there ain’t much here besides snow and more ruins. Lotta bodies moving about though… which I’m guessing means we can expect company here pretty soon?” Rainbow despondently asked as she alighted beside the bonfire and let the flames re-energize her.
“I fear so. The threats I faced when last here were… interesting, to say the least.” The Chosen Undead replied. Twilight looked up at her as the undead female brought out a tool kit from her pack, and set about repairing her weapons.
“What WERE you doing here in the first place, anyway?” She asked. The Chosen Undead looked to her pack again, to the doll lying innocently atop her gear.
“That… is a good question, to be honest. At times my quest has taken me to places I’d have no business going to… yet still I find myself going there, as if my actions were being directed by someone else. In this case, it was after I returned to the asylum. There’s a crow there that provides an interesting assortment of useful items in exchange for things to feather their nest with. They told me a soul had come and left something in my cell while I was away. I went in and found the doll… which then drew me to this: the Painted World.” The undead’s voice shook as she puzzled over what reasons could she have had for making such strange detours on her journey. Twilight shared the sentiment as she looked around the snowy environment.
“Hmmmm… is there anything of value here?” She asked.
“Plenty, though nothing that would’ve really been crucial for my quest… well… until now.” The Chosen Undead propped her helmeted head on her fist. “It’s strange... Priscilla insisted my presence here was a mistake, that there was nothing here worth my time. I certainly could believe that, thus when she asked me to leave, I was all too happy to do so. Never once crossed my mind that a soul as passive as her could have come from one like… well… Seath.” The undead looked to Twilight, who had perched her own head on her folded front hooves.
“Yet still, some force saw that you found out about her, so that when the moment came you could inform Seath that she lives, as well as prove it by bringing her to him… again we face the ever present question of who do we thank for this… and why would they orchestrate things to see they unfolded this way...” Twilight rubbed her forehead in aggravation. “Where is Priscilla?”
The Chosen Undead rose and pointed beyond the gate.
“At the very end of the ruins, in a chamber containing the exit from this world. While getting there is going to be a challenge, hopefully she’ll at least be as diplomatic as she was the first time we met.”
Twilight nodded and took a deep breath.
“Well then, if everypony is ready, we’re not going to accomplish anything by just sitting around here. Let’s do what we came here to do, and find Seath’s daughter!” The alicorn jabbed her hoof in an onwards motion, adding in a low breath. “And hopefully we’ll also find some damn answers to this wearisome mystery!”
***
As time continued to stagnate around Oolacile, a dark presence reclined in the shadows of the Abyss, viewing the world around it with a closed gaze.
“Strange… there is a presence I did not expect… Seath’s essence radiates as the moon in the night sky, but beside him burns a second… something not known for many years since…”
The being’s gaze snapped open in realization. It looked to the horn of Sombra, tenderly picking it up from the pillow it had been resting upon and cradling it in its hands.
“Death follows thee closely, brother… and with it, the means to pull one’s soul from its grasp… if death could but be summoned here…”
A monstrous rumble of inspiration rocked the vast caverns of Oolacile, followed by the even greater rumbling of footsteps charging through the darkness.
“Manus, to me! A boon doth wait to aid us in our work!”
***
“Alright let Trixie try this one more time.” The unicorn said while taking a deep breath. “She just has to concentrate, believe…annnd...”
Trixie’s cape glowed softly as a shock wave of golden light erupted from her body. The clay pots she was facing promptly found themselves being forced back at speed till they shattered against the far wall of the ruins.
“And… whew. That’s it, huh? That felt… enlightening.” She said while panting. Behind her, Petrus clapped softly.
“Truly, even as one from distant lands, the gods do bless you with their grace. The miracle of ‘Force’ comes as natural to you as it does to any follower of the church.” He said with quiet pride. Trixie did him the service of smiling and pumping her foreleg in a gesture of victory.
“Perhaps Trixie judged herself too hastily… or perhaps Pinkie Pie spoke truth that Trixie’s calling lay in a different path to the usual avenues of magic.” The unicorn’s chest swelled as she found reason to hold her head high for the first time in what felt like too long. “More, Petrus! Trixie must learn more of these miracles!”
The knight’s pride promptly vanished as the unicorn turned to regard him with great expectation. Indeed, Trixie noticed that, for a moment, he seemed uncertain on if he was doing the right thing.
“I would be happy to show you more, but in due course. The gods do not look favorably upon haste. Take some time to rest yourself and contemplate what you have learned, perhaps in the cathedral above us. A weary body is of no use to any being, be they clergy or commoner.”
Trixie looked disappointed, but as her foreleg slowly flopped back onto the ground, she did have to concede that the practice had taken its toll upon her.
“Very well. Trixie should probably see about getting something to eat too.” She said while sniffing the air. “Smells like Pinkie’s working away at her usual non-stop pace for cooking. Would you care to be Trixie’s dining companion, Mr. Petrus?”
She extended a hoof to the knight, only to notice he looked very uneasy.
“Erm…no, no that’s quite alright. I fear my stomach is not yet in the mood for sustenance. Shock and trauma of what has transpired.” He hastily replied. “Please by all means I will be happy to wait till you return!”
Trixie arched an eyebrow, then shrugged her shoulders.
“Suit yourself. Trixie will see if she can nab you some leftovers just in case.” She said while heading back out into the main area of the shrine.
“Alrighty then! Who’s up for some nice creamy eclairs? Or perhaps one of Applejack’s award winning mini apple pies?” Pinkie set down one plate of treats after another. “Oooh and I also whipped up some lovely roasted cheese tartlets to go with this moss salad.”
A bowl of mushy green and purple…something was set down as well. Fluttershy gave it a cautious look over.
“Umm…is that the moss that Miss Aurelia helped us gather back in Darkroot Forest?” She asked, trying to not turn up her nose. Pinkie’s smile grew strained.
“Well… yes… but that’s what the tartlets are for. Hopefully they’ll overpower some of the bitter taste.” She replied. Applejack eyed the salad carefully. In fairness, the finely crusted cakes of goat’s cheese stacked atop it did help it to look more appetizing.
“Normally Ah’d be very cautious about tryin’ any foreign sorta plants, considerin’ what’s happened to us in the past. ‘Course, that being said…” Applejack carefully tried a cheese tartlet and let out a sigh of relief. “Yer Pinkie Pie, and somehow, you always make what you got work.”
Pinkie’s smile relaxed again as Trixie trotted up.
“Ah, there you are, Trixie! Just in time! Grab a plate and dig in!”
Trixie nodded as she took in the selection of treats, though her nose still found something to turn itself up at.
“Trixie will be glad too… as soon as she finds a spot away from the stench of rotting bodies.” The unicorn said, turning to the dead hollows skewered atop Discord’s spike trap.
“Ah, yes, sorry about that. I was going to cover them in potpourri to mask the smell, but… oooh, they seem so eager to keep chasing me… I couldn’t possibly ask them to stop!” The draconequus popped up from behind the picket fence, levitating himself into the air in time for another motley gang of hollows to leap at him, miss, trip over the fence and meet their end on the spikes. Discord smugly held out his eagle talon for the souls that were all too happy to depart their defeated owners and make a new home in his body as more hollow rushed forward to keep the flow going. "Oooh, here they come again, like a train endlessly rolling along the tracks from station to station. Mmmm, I like trains."
The hollows stopped at the hoot of what sounded like a steam whistle, and presently they found themselves being reduced to paste on the ground as the Ponyville Express ran them over. Several ponies peeked out of the windows of the passenger cars in confusion as the train raced across the shrine and vanished back to its original destination.
“Hee hee hee hee! Oh, this is more fun than the time I filled Celestia’s bath with lumpy custard!” Discord snickered and clapped his hands as more souls rushed to find a new home in his body. Trixie placed a hoof to her forehead and shook in disbelief as more hollows popped up to keep adding to the chaos god’s total. From where she was eating, Applejack looked at the twitching bodies and puddles of gore, and turned a delicate shade of green.
“Right… erm… mind if Ah join you Trix? Don’t think mah appetite is going to fare well around this.”
The unicorn gathered a plate and levitated it in her magic.
“To the cathedral again, then. It may not be as safe as here, but at least it’s quiet.” The unicorn grinned as she recalled Petrus’ words.
“Oh, don’t worry about safety. I’ll come with you, soon as I give Sif something to take the edge off her appetite, too.”
The great wolf looked up in surprise as Pinkie slid a dog bowl filled with bone treats over to her.
“Based these off the recipe I baked for Winona’s last birthday. Granted, I’m sure you’re more used to eating meat, but these should still prove substantial.” The pink pony smiled as Sif looked down at the food and then tried one. Her ears rose in surprise as she crunched and swallowed the surprisingly filling confection. She turned to Pinkie again and whimpered, much to the mare’s confusion.
“What do you think? I mean I couldn’t quite make them the same, since you don’t have anything I could substitute the frosting or the cinnamon with, but I at least tried to make them taste somewhat sweet… or do you not have much of a sweet tooth? Wow, that is weird, how some folk don’t like sweets. Still can’t believe that Frampt character spat out one of my prize winning Pinkie specials! I mean, he eats trash and poop, you’d think he’d be pretty lax with his food preferences!”
Sif’s ears lowered themselves again as the pink mare’s thought process did its usual thing of veering wildly off course. Stifling a nervous smile, Fluttershy walked up and cleared her throat to get her friend’s attention.
“I think Sif just isn’t used to anypony showing her kindness. From what I gather, she’s had a rough time ever since she lost her master and friends…”
Pinkie promptly broke off from her rant. “What?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes, she used to be the companion to a mr… uh… Artorias, did you say his name was?”
Sif nodded.
“Well, Aurelia and she trained under this Artorias during their childhood, then apparently they were forcibly separated when Aurelia became a… erm… well… an undead. After that, she accompanied Artorias to a place called Oolacile, where he too was lost, and she nearly died. Since then, she’s been having to fight intruder after intruder in the Darkroot Forest.” Fluttershy said with deep sympathy. Pinkie’s mane deflated slightly as she paid the wolf the same understanding.
“Awwww, you mean you’ve spent all these years with no friends? Oh that simply will not do! Soon as we get everything sorted I’m going to throw you a party! Yeah, a ‘Happy for having purpose party!’ Something to remind us why we’re here and why we can’t give up for the sake of our friends!”
As if to test this claim, Pinkie felt a burning sensation from the Darksign encircling her cutie mark. With a brave smile she rubbed it and gave it a look that she wasn’t going to bow that easily to her cursed status.
“Whatever happens, we’re all still in this together! Faust knows I’m not going to let me being an undead zombie who’s running on the living essence of slain humans stop me from being there for those I care about! Right everypony?”
There were several awkward glances at Pinkie’s choice of words.
“Yeah… sure… right.” Applejack replied.
“Of course.” Fluttershy said with a nervous giggle.
“So long as I can have fun with these mindless toys, sure thing.” Discord smiled while dodging the axe of another advancing hollow. “Speaking of which, you’re quickly lagging behind me on the soul count, Pinkie.”
The pink mare narrowed her eyes as the chuckling chaos god before turning to the last member of their party, the one who had yet to speak.
“Right Trixie?”
The unicorn looked at her fellow ponies, then to Sif. She likewise narrowed her eyes at the wolf, as if questioning whether she was being truthful or was merely trying to make a sympathy ploy so everyone would forget her previous transgressions. Sif merely stared warily back as the unicorn sighed and turned around with her plate in her magic.
“Right.” Trixie lowly replied.
***
“Well, nice to see the rabble remains as varied as everywhere else.” Rarity turned up her nose as three most revolting entities amassed on the party. From the waist down they looked no different to the hollowed bodies that had greeted the ponies at the gate beyond the bonfire. From the waist up, however, they could best be described as a mass of horrid, purple, tumorous flesh. Jaws fixed in a permanent silent scream of agony were smooshed in between the cheeks of bloated skin, a last chilling vestige that the abomination was, at one point, human.
“Honestly, by this point I don’t know if I should be disgusted by the state of these cretins… or awed that no matter their state of suffering, they don’t seem to be lacking on stamina or violent tendencies.” The unicorn meeped as the tumorous monsters opened their mouths wider and spat a foul smelling liquid at the party.
“Just stay behind me until we get into the courtyard. These bloated ones explode if attacked in the normal fashion, but they can be safely taken down with fire.” The Chosen Undead explained as she ignited her gauntlet and began hurling fireballs at the enemies. They duly lurched back as their flesh charred and blackened from the flames, causing the tumors to finally burst and spew more wretched ichor as they fell down dead.
“Hey… rest assured, we’re happy to let you take the lead. Urrrrghhh…” Rainbow clutched her stomach as more bloated hollows appeared and were quickly incinerated with fireballs.
“Don’t worry, I made sure to open a few short cuts the last time I was here. At least we don’t have to deal with the hollows waiting on the long way around these ruins…” The Chosen Undead soothed, before feeling a few small stones clink off her helmet. She looked up, and promptly jumped out of the way as the aformentioned hollow dropped from the wall above. “Well… hopefully not too many of them at least!”
She ignited her hand in preparation to cast more pyromancies, only for the new arrivals to beat her to the punch by hurling their own fireballs at her! The warrior promptly extinguished her flames and whipped her shield out to try and deflect the attacks.
“Wait… so these guys are weak to fire… but they also use fire as an attack? Seriously… do they want to die that badly?” Rainbow asked just as another hollow dropped down in front of her. As if taking offence to her commentary, it gave the Chosen Undead a berth and focused hurling fireballs at the pegasus instead.
“EEEEP! Hey, I was just making an observation okay!” She said while taking to the skies. The tumor laden zombie stumbled backwards, leaning back to try and shoot Rainbow out of the air. “Grrr! Twi, Rarity, Spike, make a break for the courtyard! I’m gonna stay here and vent some frustration on these fat-heads!”
Twilight looked uncertain, but as more hollow dropped from the wall, she reasoned it would be tactful for them all to not be bunched up at a choke point. She blasted a few of the normal looking hollows with her magic, then ran through the doorway to an area lined with four broken walls and several ruined tombstones.
“Okay, so we made it to the courtyard. Let’s turn around and try to provide some back up to clear out the unwelcome welcoming committee.” The alicorn replied as she primed her horn and aimed it in the direction the ponies had come from. She was all set to fire, only to feel a very tense tug on her tail.
“Yeah… great idea Twilight… but it seems those guys weren’t the only ones waiting to welcome us.” Spike replied while staring straight ahead. Against her better judgement, Twilight turned her back on the hollows and the Chosen Undead to see what had spooked her beloved assistant… and just as quickly she regretted doing so.
Surrounding a statue in the middle of the courtyard stood an entire legion of fleshy abominations. Glittering bronze shields and gleaming sharp spears were gripped in a multitude of hands, which in turn were fused to far too many torsos, legs, and other body parts for a normal entity to have. The pained expression of the head that capped each monstrosity told of what torture their anatomies bore, as they raised their spears and advanced on the ponies in a phalanx formation.
“You know… I’d mention something about how they’ve got to be kidding us… but honestly, I’ve ceased to be surprised by what we’re running into here.” Twilight said despondently as she backed away from the monsters.
“Rest assured darling, you’re not alone…” Rarity confided. “So… do we have a plan for how we’re going to get past these?”
Twilight swallowed and scanned her surroundings. The Chosen Undead and Rainbow were mopping up the remaining hollows behind them… and while the lumbering flesh beasts were trying to box them in, she noticed they were hampered by several archways lining the sides of the court yard; archways through which side corridors could be glimpsed… leading to more open doorways!
“Move to your right! Looks like you can make a hasty exit through there!” Twilight pointed with her hoof. Spike and Rarity viewed the means of escape in hesitation.
“But… what about you, Twi?” Spike cried.
The first row of the phalanx made to stab the ponies with their spears. Twilight released the magical charge she’d been holding in her horn and forced the hollowed masses back.
“I’m going to make use of my status and clear this place out. They may have the advantage of numbers, but death is… well… a minor inconvenience for me!” The alicorn said, narrowing her eyes as the monsters shrugged off the magic and advanced again. This time she charged her catalyst and hit them with a dual burst of her own magic and Seath’s sorcery. They in turn admitted this was harder for them to ignore as several of their numbers collapsed and vanished in a flurry of light. Spike swallowed as the remaining phalanx hastily reorganized themselves and charged at Twilight.
“Just… be careful, please!” He begged, before having to turn and run as several of the hollow’s spears came within inches of lodging themselves in his body. Twilight threw up a barrier and grit her teeth as the hollow began to beat upon it with their weapons and shields.
“I’ll call you when it’s safe to come back in here!” She promised, before grunting as the beasts continued in their relentless search for a weakness in her shield.
Rarity and Spike ran as hard as they could through the gap in the courtyard walls, stopping when they came upon another open field area, marked with snow covered cages and a grisly slew of corpses impaled on long spears mounted in the snow.
“*pant*… okay… so from one nightmare to another and back again… *pant*… great.” Spike gasped as he looked up upon the skyline decorations of death. “You know what, I take back what I said before. Yeah, Twilight says my comics get a bit too violent at times, but they never stooped to this sort of depravity!”
Rarity felt her stomach turn a bit more as she checked none of the bodies were moving. By this point she wouldn’t put it past a few of the monsters they’d been encountering to pull a fast one on them by only pretending to be devoid of life.
“It’s almost fascinating… in an utterly perverse sense. Equestria is home to many dangers, yet none of them would ever dream of causing suffering on this level. Even during the war with the gryphons, both sides permitted the other to collect and bury their dead, not put them on display for the sake of… oooh… I honestly don’t know. Whatever this is meant to be, it certainly isn’t art!” The unicorn grunted as she turned her focus to something other than the corpses. “Oh look over there! I think we might be able to circumvent the courtyard from that direction. Maybe try and back Twilight up!”
Spike checked the indicated direction and felt his heart leap.
“Sure thing. Even if she is technically right about dying, I’m not going to run away while she’s in trouble!” He said while smacking his hands together.
“Nor I. Come along now!” Rarity broke into a gallop along the cliff face. “We’ll take out those dreadful hooligans, find Priscilla, then be done and out of this horrid place before…”
A body stepped out from behind one of the cages up ahead, cutting the unicorn’s line of thought off along with her head of steam. Rarity stumbled then tripped and rolled head over hooves through the snow, coming to a rest at the feet of the new arrival.
“Erm…before…anything else…umm…”
The body raised a torch revealing itself to be another hollow.
“I… I… uh, I do apologise. Wrong turn, sorry for crashing into you, glad you’re okay andOHFAUSTSPIKERUN!”
Rarity was back on her hooves and rushing back the way she’d come in the time it took the hollow to bring its burning torch down upon her. Its slow reaction would not cost it its victory, however, as several more hollows slowly rose up from where they’d been buried under the snow fall.
“Rarity! No wait, Rarity, stop! There’s more coming from that direction!” Spike cried as he turned and ran further into the field.
“Well, I can see reinforcements coming in from there too, so get back here!” The unicorn activated her levitation spell and pulled Spike back just as five more hollows stepped out of the stone cages and prepared to beat the purple off his scales. “Oh bother, did I unknowingly offend you all with the comment about your friends up there on the spikes? I mean it’s not my cup of tea but… well, one must embrace what other cultures appreciate as a creative expression!”
The undead continued to amass, unmoved by the unicorn’s apologetic statement. Spike gripped the hilts of his dueling swords as he sized up the opposition.
“Okay, well, these guys don’t look like they’re packing anything beyond a few burning torches. We can handle this, right?” He said cautiously. Rarity swallowed as she levitated the axe off her back again.
“Considering our friends are trying to hold off other such horrors behind us, I don’t think we have any option but to try. Indeed, at least we appear to have the easy fight this time.” She said, grasping for whatever bright ember might exist amidst the quickly darkening scenario. Two of the hollows raise their arms and ran at the pair. Spike threw himself onto the ground, forming a tripping hazard that sent the corpses crashing onto their faces. He rolled over and drove his swords into their backs as Rarity grit her teeth and swung her axe at a third undead that was moving to do unkind things to her. The body count rose steadily as the two proved the experience of their past battles had not worn them down too much.
“Yeah… see… just gotta knock ‘em down and hit them in the right spot and… ngh… all is good.” Spike said uneasily as he ripped his blades out of another hollow. A white soul shot out of the deceased body and infused into his scales, making him feel like he’d just downed an espresso. “That is, if you consider what we’re doing ‘good’… I mean… I know these aren’t strictly living beings, but…”
Rarity’s teeth chattered as her axe sank into the cranium of a further hollow. Its expression remained fixed in an open mouth groan of tired pain as it slumped to the ground and a soul shot up to merge with the unicorn.
“Spike, not that I’d normally advise this, but we can cry and worry about the morality of our actions later. Just focus on the fact that right now I’m in extreme peril and you need to protect me!”
Spike paused and looked up at the unicorn.
“What? I’m keeping myself going with the thought of what’ll happen to you if I give up!” She said before ducking under a swinging torch.
Fierce, heated determination surged through Spike’s small body as he raise his blades and slashed madly at the beings who dared to attack his beloved. The hollows gave a wistful groan of apology as their numbers were cut to the ground under the combined edges of two souls that fought as much for each other’s lives as they did for their own.
“Well, when you put it that way… *pant*… wow. You know just the right thing to say, Rares.” Spike gasped, feeling his heart pounding as Rarity dropped her axe and collapsed into the snow beside him.
“While we’ve had our ups and downs, there’s not a single thing about the past five years I’d change. For the ponies I’ve met, the friends I’ve made, the feeling that I have truly done something good and right with my life… there is much cause for me to keep going, and to lay down my life if I must. For you as much as Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack or Fluttershy!”
Now Spike felt his face pulse with heat as Rarity turned and nuzzled him.
“I… uh… Faust, while it really means a lot to hear you say that, Rares, can we not contemplate that just yet? I’d like to get back to Twilight before anything else goes wrong!”
Rarity nodded and pulled herself back to her hooves.
“Oh yes, of course, it just felt good to say. To let you know now that we’re safe for the moment…”
A low humming sound echoed across the desolate field, stopping both unicorn and dragon in their tracks. They turned to look behind them, to see something new and frighteningly different materialize in an aura of red and black. It appeared to be another humanoid figure, draped in a tattered array of flowing robes, with any hint of facial features hidden under a obscenely huge turban, or some other manner of wrappings securely tied around its face and piled heavily atop its head.
“Uh… you sure about that… Rares?” Spike asked as the being stood up, clenching its gloved hands into fists.
“To thee that sought the secrets of Chaos! Thou that dubs thineself the Xanthous King Jeremiah and did drench thine flesh in sin! Legendary Exile, the gods now demand your servitude!”
Spike and Rarity’s hopes fell as the red phantom unfurled a whip in one hand and surrounded its other with flames.
“This prison of thine, the Painted World of Ariamis, hath tarnished Anor Londo long enough with its fetid contents and unholy purpose. Of thee, the Dark Sun Gwyndolin orders a task to atone for the sins thou hast committed in life! Use the power thou hast sought, and purge this world with cleansing flame! Be as the old monk thou once was and let no crime against the gods go unpunished!”
Rarity looked up to the heavens in pleading, to ask the source of the voice that he please not do this. She never got the chance as Jeremiah violently cracked his whip against the ground, summoning a wall of flames that began to consume the field around them.
“No… no, I clearly have put my hoof in it again, Spike.” She instead whispered as the fire surged towards them both.
Hey, hey! Guess who's back!
Yep, as stated in my blog, I finally got over the hump of figuring out what would happen when in the Painted World and now we can proceed from that previous cliffhanger...to a whole new cliffhanger! 
Do you guys hate me yet?
Not much to say on this one save for yes I'm a bastard for not having Priscilla feature, and yes I'm working to make sure she does so in the next part (which is around 50% completed). Special thanks goes to everyone who replied to my blogs and gave their approval for this, I shall strive to not disappoint you!
In the mean time, read on and enjoy!
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The old monk eh, brings back memories that does, a lot of very painful memories.
Oh gods above, I remember King Jeremiah... Y'know, as interesting as the lore was of the Painted World was, I couldn't find anything about the Xanthous King, no matter how hard I looked. Kinda like Man-Eater Mildred, he was a big mystery to me. Interesting that tidbit you gave on his introduction was.
7150689 You might find this video helpful then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag2uMkU-Y0o
Re-invigorated by the release of Dark Souls 3 then?
7151069 Not so much reinvigorated as having an epiphany of 'oh hey, so this could work if I have this and this happen first' then having DS 3 confirm that, yeah, From Software was apparently thinking the same thing.
Intresting view on the king in yellow. I personally can't wait to see priscella'so reaction to spike. All too often I forget about him, and when his species is so important to the lore of this game. Also, discord just discoverd the cure to world hunger. Beef jerky at all hours. Nice demon souls reference, though I thought the monk was actually the parisitic cloth? Is it going to seek out a new host? The phalanx brings back fond memories of soul farming with wrath of the gods and emit force. Silly chosen undead! She should know to use the dragon slayer spear instead on the walking hearts, as that saves spell casts. It can kill them without poising you with its insane reach. Loved this chapter.
As with so many things in the Souls games there's multiple ways to interpret the lore. I tried to write it so that it wasn't clear whether Gwyndolin is actually addressing the figure wearing the cloth, or the cloth itself with that mention. See if I can cater to everyone's take if possible.
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It's just a joke. Though I did love the fact that when I played I didn't have to waste all of my lightning spears, especially so since In my mind fluffy tail would be weak to them being half dragon.
The fact that Rarity-senpai noticed you, fills you with determination!
The fact that Rarity-senpai noticed you, fills you with determination!
As much as I want I can't really picture this anymore as serious at all. The white world tendency is extremely high and well doing things that really doesn't fit the character at all. Is your headcannon but at the end all of us known partially the truth. THERE'S NO GOOD ENDING IN DARK SOULS. You are only being used for others ambitions you give the power back to the gods or you let the world be engulfed by the darkness.
Is obvious that you are creating one where the dead curse will be lifted and all but is something that I never liked in stories that thanks to the ponies and the Friendship is magic thing everything will be okay and happy. Each character of the souls universe had its tragic or not past and sometimes they must be put down or good(Gwyn)
One more thing, the main six from naive innocent girls become op lucky warriors who are able to defeat enemies with a simple lash...
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Do I really need to say more on that?
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You know I kinda expected that this was just going to be a story of teachings and learning and it was like that but then it turned to this. Perhaps I was eager to see the chosen come but still my point remains
I want to point one more thing but I will not because I don't want to attract unwanted attention from others
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Dark Souls 3 (and to a lesser extent 2) would argue otherwise. Yes you have to jump through a lot of hoops and move a lot of heaven and earth to get anything resembling an ending that benefits you, however sparingly, but the games do show there is some small glimmer of hope. Granted it also involves furthering the ambitions of others but most of the time those others are so ambiguous in what they wish to accomplish one could argue for either camp on just whether you're really doing evil or just making the most of an extremely bad situation.
Is it? I haven't gotten close to the ending yet. There's plenty more story left to tell and no guarantee anything is going to improve at all. Course I say that when, yet again, the Dark Souls games themselves have in fact confirmed the curse can be lifted and the main gist of the gameplay repeatedly emphasizes that while the odds may continue to stack ridiculously against you, defeat is not a certainty. For those who hold onto their purpose and never give up, victory is eventually achievable.
I should also mention, I've gotten several messages from readers complaining that I'm not making things nice enough for those involved and not sticking true to the spirit of MLP so at some point I have to accept there are extremities for both sides I just cannot satisfy. Instead I must strive to find and stick to the middle ground where most will find my writing decent and entertaining, if not adherent to the strictest rules of the franchises it covers.
Well yes, you do need to say more. Because across all 5 seasons the main six have been involved in a plethora of violent situations and managed to hold their own. Granted they haven't done so via the use of physical weapons but according to several noted medieval combat enthusiasts, the protagonist of each Dark Souls game isn't all that skilled of a fighter either, going on how they wield the majority of their armaments.
Here's one that I found particularly insightful for your reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXGns-R8KkM
I figure if the chosen can survive with their fairly basic grasp of combat, then the ponies should be able to do likewise with a bit of experience. Perhaps yes I haven't made their battles tough or gruelling enough but again, I'm writing this to tell a story, not to follow the game concept of repeatedly dying and having to fight the same battles over and over again.
I fear it may be a bit late for that considering how many comments you've posted in the last 48 hours. I also am close to posting the next chapter so please, finish your critique. You have as much right to voice your thoughts as I have to defend my choices, and so long as you don't get into outright offensive territory or start threatening my life I'll see to it that both are left up for our fellow pony enthusiasts to decide for themselves.
7194687 Do so. I like Let's Plays, especially if they are by people who knows the game they play.