The Hollow Pony

by Type_Writer

51 - Canterlot, City of the Sun

We turned a corner, and for a moment, we were blinded by the light of the sun.

We had been in the dark for a long time, with only the flickering light of Red’s pyromancy—and the bright sunlight shining down from distant grates high above—for us to see by. But those had been small embers and pinpricks of light, and they were nothing in comparison to the glowing doorway at the end of the tunnel.

We reached it in moments, eager to leave these tunnels—and found a gate that barred our path. GIlda jiggled the handle, and found it had been locked securely, with a chain and padlock.

“You’re dickin’ me.” She said, with a tired sigh.

I peered out through the gate into the city beyond as much as I could. It wasn’t much; I was still blinded by the light, and as my magical eyes adjusted to the difference, I could only make out a backstreet, paved with smooth cobblestones, and pale-painted walls on the buildings around us. And in the distance—movement. “H-hello?”

“They’re not gonna hear you like that, Holly.” Gilda cleared her throat, then Red and I both jumped as she let out a shrill cry of “HEY! YOU!”

There was a startled yelp from the light, and a blurry figure stepped a few paces closer to the locked gate. A mare’s voice answered, nervously. “Who are y-you? Wh-what are you doing in there, that’s s-supposed to be locked!”

“Yeah, that’s the problem, genius.” Gilda rattled the locked gate again, to demonstrate. “You got a key?”

“N-no, the guards locked it, they s-said it wasn’t safe—”

“Well, it’s safe now, we killed all the nasties down here. Why don’t you go get a guard and tell them the exterminators are all finished with their pest problem?”

My vision cleared a bit, and I could make out the mare clearly now. She was a unicorn, and Hollow, of course, but she still had her mane and most of her pale yellow fur. She glanced between the four of us nervously, taking in our weapons, the dark blood that stained our fur and armor, and Dinky, still being carried by Red. “I…is she hurt?”

“Is she hurt? What about us? This guy got eaten!” Gilda pointed at Red, who leaned away slightly from the crazy ranting gryphon.

“I—uh. I don’t…” The mare trailed off as she glanced between the four of us one last time, then seemed to find some measure of resolve. “I s-suppose I can find a guard…?”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Gilda squawked. “Go, already!”

The mare seemed all too relieved to break away from our conversation, and she nearly tripped over herself as she turned and galloped away. I spotted more blurry movement further down the brightly-lit street; several lethargic townsponies were turning around and looking to see what was causing the commotion. Were they not used to seeing commotions like this up here at the top of the mountain?

“Smooth,” Red quietly grumbled.

“And if it was up to you two, we’d be stuck in here for all of eternity.” Gilda shrugged. “I’ve no patience for meek little ponies who are too damned delicate to work themselves into a good lather.”

After a few moments, Gilda rattled the gate impatiently again. “Can you believe we got all the way up here, only for the stupid gate to be locked?”

I chuckled a little bit to myself, though I was still occupied by the light from outside. I could barely see Canterlot, and after hearing so much about it, being so close and yet so far? Especially since we were blocked by suich a tiny little thing as this padlock? It was actually kind of funny, though it didn’t seem as though Gilda felt the same way.

“How strong do you think this lock is, anyway?” Gilda grabbed the padlock, and the chain rattled against the gate as she held it up to one of her eyes for inspection. “You’re a big tough stallion, Red. I bet you could stomp this lock into scrap, or maybe kick the door off its hinges, or use that axe, or…something.”

“Maybe,” Red conceded. “But then the gate won’t be locked when the next beast tries to follow us out.”

“Pshft,” Gilda blew through her beak. “They can handle it, it’ll toughen ‘em up. Come on, let’s get out of here already. I’m sick of these tunnels.”

“Eeenope.”

“Bah. Holly, what about you? Or maybe the filly, if she was awake. Bet unicorns have all kinds of tricks for picking locks, since they don’t even need picks—ahhh, nevermind.”

Gilda’s plans for escape were brought to an end when the mare returned, with a golden-armored guardstallion following close behind. He paused when he saw us clearly through the gate, and the mare stopped in turn, to look at him. After a moment, he nodded, and flicked his head back towards the rest of the town. “I’ll handle it from here, Lemon Hearts. As you were.”

The mare—now that he’d said her name, I could see how well it fit her coat before it faded from Hollowing—nodded, then darted back off down the street, out of sight.

Instead, the guardstallion approached alone, though he didn’t get too close to the gate. “Well, then. How’d you get in there? And for that matter, where did you come from? Canterlot has been locked down, by order of the Golden Guard.”

The flexible edges of Gilda’s beak curled into a smirk. “Yeah, we know. That’s why we had to go through the sewers.”

At that, the guard stepped back a pace. “From below? You came up through those tunnels?”

“You got mud in your ears, colt? I already told you. We cleared out your infestation, too—is there a bounty posted for that hunt?”

The guardstallion blinked. “We—infestation?”

That was about the end of GIlda’s patience. She grabbed the bars of the gate and rattled it frantically in the hinges, as she loudly squawked, “LET US OUT OF THIS DAMN HOLE!”

“Gilda!” Red barked, and the gryphon hen stepped back—though she flicked her middle talon upwards at the guard as she did so, which was probably meant to be a rude gesture. Red stepped forward to take her place, and nodded politely at the guard. “Sorry. We’ve been in here for a while.”

The guardstallion still seemed skittish, and he peered around Red to look at Gilda. “I’m not sure I want to let you out, even if I was allowed—”

“We’re acting under orders from the Princess.” Red stated in a formal tone. “Holly, show him that artifact.”

Here? Now? Just like this? It felt wrong, but if it would get us into the city, then I could hardly refuse. I realized, as I reached into the bag, that Red hadn’t seen it yet himself—would he recognize it? His sister was one of these Elements, wasn’t she? Or she had been, at least. How would he react to seeing another?

It was too late now to do anything else but find out for myself. I withdrew the tarnished necklace from my bag, and held it out in the light for the guardstallion to see. I heard Red take a sharp intake of breath by my side—which almost certainly implied that he did recognize it—but he said nothing, and gave no other indication.

The guard recognized it too, after a long few moments of confusion as he seemed to be trying to recall from where. His eyes went wide, and he let out a quiet, “Oh,” as he looked at the four of us once again. He peered intently at Dinky in particular, but whatever he was searching for, he didn’t find it in her. “Right. I’ll unlock the gate for you.”

“Wha—just like that?” Gilda said, with surprise in her voice as the guard started to flick through his keyring.

The guard nodded. “Yeah. Look, I don’t know who you all are, but if you have…that, then whatever’s going on, it’s way above my pay grade. You should take that to the castle, maybe you can get through to them…”

My thoughts turned to the Pillars of Equestria, still waiting for us. “W-we have friends w-waiting for us to open the way. D-down in Hammerhoof.”

“Hammerhoof?” The guard turned his head to look back at the town—presumably towards the gate in question. “I think that’s locked down even harder, they might not even have the keys. But if you can get them to open that gate, it’ll make lifting the lockdown a lot easier.”

“Worth a try,” Red said with a nod, as the guard found the right key, and unlocked the gate. “Thank you.”

“Just—try and solve this mess, yeah?” The guard mumbled quietly. After we had all moved out onto the street, he re-locked the padlock, and rattled it a bit to make sure it was locked. “I was retired, but, well…all this happened, you know? And the Princess pulled everypony back into active duty. I’d like to go back to those days, someday.”

“We’ll t-try our best,” I mumbled, half-heartedly.

He nodded. “Thank you. And if there’s anything else I can help with, I’m usually on patrol around this district. You know, royal guard and all.”

Gilda blinked at him. “Wait, I thought you were one of those golden chumps.”

He chuckled mirthlessly, and shook his head. “Nah, I was always just a royal guard, from before they formed that division. I’m just Sergeant Spearhead.”

Now that we were outside the dark tunnel, my eyes were fully adjusting to the light outside, and I looked at the guardstallion again, where I started to notice a lot of little differences. His armor seemed much more ceremonial, and decorated, with little cloth frills at the edges and gilding on the metal, as well as a blue crest that ran up the back of his helmet to his brow. The armor of the Golden Guard seemed to be made of a similar metal, but it had been stripped down and made much more utilitarian—perhaps because it was expected to be used in combat, as opposed to his role, which seemed to be that of military police.

Then my gaze shifted to the street around us, and I found, to my shock, that we weren’t even in direct sunlight. This whole street was in shadow from the buildings around us, and only the rooftops were lit by the sun. And now, I realized, we were above the cloud layer. I had gotten used to the oppressive gloom of the constant clouds and fog in the valleys below, that to see the world so illuminated, especially after the dark of the tunnels—I really had been truly blinded.

My gaze continued upwards, over the rooftops, and I saw the mountain above us; the cliffs of the Canterhorn, still looming over the city, the snowy slopes lit by the sun. But above that…

I gasped sharply as I saw the peak of the Canterhorn clearly, for the first time since my original awakening. It was as though the mountain’s peak were a jagged blade, which stabbed through the unseen flesh of a great beast, and the wound it had torn open still bled darkness across the sky. The tip of the mountain simply disappeared within the torn-open sky, and as hard as I squinted, I couldn’t see where it had gone. The wound itself seemed to be an abyss, like the one inside my bag, but I swore I could see a twinkling within…or perhaps I was just seeing snowfall near the peak.

Sergeant Spearhead followed my gaze, and he coughed. “Oh, yeah, probably your first time seeing that. We…we try not to look at it directly.”

“That’s…new.” Red murmured to himself. Even Gilda seemed unsettled by the sight. “When did that happen?”

“I was still retired when it happened,” Spearhead said, still pointedly not looking up. “As best as anyone can figure, Princess Luna did…something, at the peak of the Canterhorn. There’s nothing up there except an old monastery, but she hasn’t been seen since, and that part of the mountain was already on lockdown long before the palace kicked out all the staff. It doesn’t seem to be causing any trouble, but…it’s definitely unsettling to look at.”

I swallowed, and nodded, as I forced my eyes back down to street level. Red did the same, and nodded to Spearhead. “Sergeant. Thank you. Hopefully things are better soon.”

“Hopefully,” agreed the guardstallion. “Good luck.”

Gilda was still staring up at the peak when we started to leave, heading towards the Hammerhoof gate, but she caught up after we’d taken a few paces, and shook her head. “What did you ponies do to the world?”

* * *

We reached the Hammerhoof gate and spoke to the guards, but little came of it. We could do little to convince them, Element or no, and Spearhead was right—they didn’t have the keys to unlock the gate anyways. They were locked up securely in the palace, and without those keys and the authority to use them to open the way for the Pillars, we were out of luck.

However, as we wandered around Canterlot, mulling over our next move, I spotted a pair of familiar mares, sitting on a bench near the sun-and-moon square. A cream-colored earth pony, and a mint-green unicorn, who was still quietly strumming at her lyre. “Bon-Bon?”

The mare in question looked up in surprise, then recognition spread across her face…but she wasn’t looking at me. “Oh, wow. You’ve been gone for a long time.”

“I go by ‘Red,’ now,” the stallion quickly interjected, as we approached the bench.

Gilda hopped up onto a steel trash can—which nearly tipped over from her weight, since it was completely empty—and after she'd settled, she said snarkily to me, “More friends of yours, huh?”

Bon-Bon watched Gilda warily, but nodded. “There’s not a lot of other travelers out there in the world, and the few that brave the fog and the demons tend to take similar paths. We met a while back.” She looked back at me, and examined my new equipment in detail. “Didn’t keep the sword, I see. Picked up some new friends with your equipment…interesting choices, too.”

“Do you know me, pony?” Gilda said, as she fluffed up slightly.

“Only by reputation.” Bon-Bon’s eyes softened as she spotted Dinky on Red’s back. “What happened to Dinky?”

The entire time we spoke, the unicorn mare by Bon-Bon’s side never stopped gently playing her lyre, and slightly out-of-tune notes played under our conversation, rising and falling as whimsy took her moment to moment. She never even once opened her eyes; she seemed almost to be sleeping, but for the slow movements of her hoof on the strings, and the gentle undulation of her magical corona holding the instrument.

Red turned so that we could see the unconscious filly on his back clearly. “We got into a fight on the way here, and I think Dinky pushed herself a bit too far. She’s breathing, but she won’t wake up.”

“Pushed herself in a magical sense?” Bon-Bon asked. I nodded, and she frowned. “Then she probably burned herself out. I’ve seen it before, but not in a long time, thankfully. Didn’t know it could still affect Hollows. Speaking of, when did that happen? Last I saw her, she looked a lot better.”

Red turned to me, and I looked down at the ground as I started to explain. “Sh-she, uh—”

“Speak up, Holly. I can’t hear you when you’re talking to the cobblestones.”

I swallowed, then looked back up at Bon-Bon. “Ap-Applejack threw her in j-jail for a long time. That w-was when I met you, and Tr-Trixie was still traveling with me. Then…I got k-killed again on the w-way up here. D-Dinky spent a l-long time trying to f-find me, and she st-started to lose herself a little then, I th-think.”

“Holly died like a rutting champ, though. Tackled a knight made of burning metal off the mountainside.” Gilda said, with a grin at the corners of her beak. “Whatever happened to that guy, anyways? We lost you both in the fire.”

Bon-Bon’s ears snapped upwards, and she was suddenly very interested in my story. “A knight? Made of burning metal?”

“Y-yes…?” I replied, unsure why she was so interested.

“Did it have burning red eyes?” Bon-Bon asked, and at that moment, I knew she’d seen it herself. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t forget those eyes. I nodded, and Bon-Bon scowled. “So they’re still around. Fan-rutting-tastic.”

“Wait, you know that guy?” Gilda asked, as she perked up on her perch.

Bon-Bon let out a long sigh. “I did; they’re…dangerous. Thought we’d hunted all of them down.”

There was more than one? I felt my knees knocking together at the thought of encountering two or more of them at the same time. “W-what are they?”

Bon-Bon looked around the street, and I followed her gaze. This was a very public space, but the Hollows living in the city were closer to Lyra than Bon-Bon. Some seemed to be sleepwalking as they carried on their lives as though nothing had ever changed, and the more lucid ones regarded each other with wariness, as though prepared for any other citizen around them to suddenly turn feral. The royal guards paced the streets intermittently to help keep the peace, and a few body-lengths away, a deeply-Hollowed mare wearing a tattered janitor’s coverall checked another set of trash cans by the side of the road.

Satisfied, Bon-Bon leaned in close, and waved her hoof to indicate that we should do the same. “You don’t have clearance for what I’m about to tell you. But the world’s long past the point where I give a buck about that, and if you’re seeing one regularly, then it’s hunting you, and you need to know.” She spoke in a low whisper, to make sure that nopony else could hear. “When the Everchaos first came alight, the Princess sent a division of the Golden Guard in to investigate, beyond the burning front lines. They were meant just to scout the forest, see if they could determine the source, and then report back. But they never returned.”

“Spooky,” Gilda said, dismissively.

“Shush. In between then and a few years after Cloudsdale fell, we started getting reports of knights wearing melted armor out in the wilds, on the edges of towns. They never spoke, they usually kept their distance, and few wanted to get close, because they’d look at you with those burning red eyes, and you’d nearly wet yourself. I’ve seen a minotaur shrivel before that gaze.”

Bon-Bon tapped her hoof on the cobblestones, and continued, “They were looking for something, or somepony. Sometimes they’d get into fights, usually because scared townsfolk tried to ambush them, but sometimes because they’d found whatever it was they were looking for, and they were trying to haul it back into the Everchaos. We didn’t know what they were working towards; we still don’t know. But they were causing a panic, so we had to hunt them all down.”

“Who’s ‘we’?” Gilda asked, as she eyed Bon-Bon warily.

“Like I said, you don’t have clearance. Although he might have had that, once.” She gave Red a sad look. “Don’t worry, Red. Whatever your reasons are for coming back, I still trust you.”

“Thank you,” the stallion said, quietly. “What did they try to haul away?”

Bon-Bon glanced at Lyra, to make sure she hadn’t been distrurbed from her music, then continued. “Ponies, sometimes. Other times, artifacts. Anything related to Pyromancy, or sometimes a few weapons with fire enchantments. We thought they might be hunting phoenixes for a while. It’s always related to fire. Except for when they started going after Elements of Harmony.”

Red stiffened. “Necklaces, or bearers?”

“Either. Both.” Bon shook her head. “As far as we can tell, we did our jobs well enough that the remaining Bearers didn’t even know they were being hunted. But Fluttershy had already disappeared by that point, and we think one got to her early, before we knew what was happening. She didn’t do herself any favors, living out there in her isolated cottage like she was, though I was hoping that her…significant other”—Bon-Bon ground her teeth as she said those words—“would keep her safe.”

Gilda raised an eyebrow at that. “That filly actually got into a relationship? Hard to imagine any pony managing to get that close, before she bolted. Was always a skittish little bird.”

Bon-Bon and Red looked at each other, and I could see a whole conversation happening in their eyes, which went right over my head. Eventually, Bon-Bon looked back at Gilda. “If you don’t already know, then I’m not gonna tell you.”

“Gee. Thanks. So gracious of you to pick and choose what I’m allowed to know.” Gilda spat, before she shifted around on her trash can perch, and looked back out over the square.

Bon-Bon leaned back out of the huddle, and focused on me, instead. “If one’s hunting you, then you must have attracted their interest in some way. Does anything come to mind?”

Well, for one thing, I was walking around with one of the Elements of harmony on my person. But…I’d started seeing the Blackguard long before then. One must have been what killed me, long ago, for my first death, and they had left their blade stabbed into my gut up to the hilt. Then I’d seen one just before we began to sprint back to Baton Verte, though it hadn’t seemed interested, then. It had retrieved its sword, then confronted us just before we entered the tunnels…how had it gotten up there, I wondered? And why did it try to stop us there?

Eventually, I shook my head. “I d-don’t know…I have my m-mission, but I saw it b-before then. It’s been st-stalking me for a while…”

Bon-Bon rubbed her jaw with a hoof. “Hmmph. Alright. If you see another one, though…just run, alright? We’ve only ever seen them move faster than a steady march when engaged in melee, so you should be able to outpace it. Don’t ever let them catch you and kill you, or else…I don’t know what’ll happen. Come find me if you learn anything new.”

“How do you kill ‘em?” Red asked, bluntly.

Bon-Bon chuckled, but there was sadness behind it. “It’s not that easy. Dumping them in water, or blasting them with ice magic, worked to slow them down. But they’d always break free from the ice or boil off the water eventually. The few we managed to dispose of completely, we had to freeze solid, and then haul them out over the ocean before they thawed. Dropping them into the watery depths seemed to get rid of them well enough, though if you’re seeing one now, then maybe they’ve—”

Lyra’s gentle playing of her eponymous instrument was suddenly interrupted, and her eyes went wide when Gilda whirled around on her perch, and squawked at her, “Would you give that thing a rest for a minute—!”

Bon-Bon blurred in an instant, and a metallic ringing noise echoed across the street, as the grip of a throwing knife suddenly appeared between Gilda’s legs, embedded in the domed metal lid of the empty trash can. “Say one more word to my wife, and the next one’s between your eyes.”

Gilda slowly looked at Bon-Bon, and the second knife balanced by the tip of the blade atop her hoof. “Gryphons don’t go Hollow. You’d be killing Holly’s friend.”

“I don’t care. Don’t talk to her like that, and never interrupt her playing.”

There were a few more tense moments, before Gilda gently hopped down from the lid of the trash can, and onto the pavement. She seemed wary of even brushing the thrown knife by accident, and she pointedly didn’t look at it, or Bon-Bon, as she flicked her leonine tail at me. “I’ll be over there…somewhere. Come get me when you’re done talking to the crazy mare.”

I nodded, and the clicking of Gilda’s claws echoed off the cobbles as she walked down the street, perhaps looking for a safer place to perch.

When I looked back at Bon-Bon, the second knife was just gone, and I couldn’t figure out where she’d stowed it. She had already shifted closer to Lyra, to pull her into a tight hug, and she pressed the lyre to her wife’s breast. “Lyra. It’s okay, honey. You can keep playing.”

The mint unicorn was long-Hollowed, and her embered eyes timidly flicked to her wife, then to me, and Red and Dinky as well. She seemed to be seeing us, and the town around us, as if for the first time. She held the lyre in her hooves almost with that same kind of unfamiliarity.

“Lyra. Honey. Please, keep playing. Close your eyes, and just focus on the melody. I know it’s still there.” Tears were streaming freely from Bon-Bon’s eyes even though she kept her voice level.

Lyra still looked scared, but after a few moments of quiet confusion, she allowed herself to be lulled back into the trance seemed to have been lost in before. Her hoof strummed the harp, and after a few discordant notes to start, she seemed to remember the motions. The music started once again, but the rising and falling seemed to be mostly minor keys, now.

Bon-Bon kept hugging her wife tightly, as she gently turned back to us. She didn’t bother to wipe her eyes before she spoke again, and when she did, it wasn’t more than a whisper, to try and keep herself from interrupting the music. “Holly. You need to start finding better friends. I remember Trixie, and I remember Gilda, both from before. This… all of this…” She closed her eyes and swallowed. “Time makes everything, and everyone, start to fall apart. Sometimes, all that’s left aren’t the nice parts of a person. They used to be better… everyone used to be better.”

Red looked away, and I glanced between them, before settling back on Bon-Bon. “I’ll t-try.”

“Good,” she replied, her voice still a whisper. “Why’d you come to Canterlot, Holly?”

Once again, I withdrew the Element of Generosity from my bag. I really shouldn’t make a habit out of this; I wasn’t sure what repercussions flashing an artifact of such great significance in public might have, in the short or long term. “The P-Princess asked me to r-retrieve this, and b-bring it to Canterlot. But the g-gate was locked…”

“And the castle is, too.” Bon-Bon agreed. “You’ll need to get inside, then. That’s tricky to do; I’ve been contemplating it myself, but it’s extremely well-secured on both hoof and wing. Your best shot is a bar a few streets over that way, near the end of stonecutter boulevard, called ‘The Plastered Princess.’”

The ghost of a smile played across Red’s face, and he quietly nodded. “Remember that place. Been a while since I’ve had a drink.”

“It’s gonna be a bit longer, sadly. They’re just as much out of stock as anywhere else. But a lot of the palace staff have settled in there, since they got kicked out by the Golden Guard. If anypony knows how to get in, past the interdiction fields and the guards, then it’ll be them.” Bon-Bon closed her eyes, and leaned against her wife’s shoulder once again. “Don’t wait for me. I’m going to stay here for a while, and just…enjoy this.”

I looked around the street once again. Canterlot was filled with Hollows, and as much as they seemed to be trying to ignore what had happened, there was only so much they could do. Near the Hammerhoof gate, I saw a Hollow wearing weathered noble’s clothing trading golden bits for a chipped and faded vase, like they were tourists out visiting the sights of the capital. Another pony seemed to be mixing rainwater in a paint bucket with some rock dust to make fresh gray paint for the sun-baked plaster walls of the buildings. That pony wearing the janitor’s uniform barely gave us a glance as she checked the trash can that Gilda had been sitting atop only moments ago, but she did seem confused by the presence of the throwing knife.

It wasn’t safe here. Ponies couldn’t escape the reality of our world, even here in the capital. But it seemed as though this might be the only place that was close enough for ponies to try and forget. And after all that Bon-Bon and Lyra had done to get up here somehow, despite the demons and the lockdown, they more than deserved what little bit of rest they could get.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay, everyone! My internet was out for most of the day, though thankfully it all seems to be resolved now, even if I'm not entirely sure what happened.

Welcome to Canterlot! It's better than Ponyville, mostly because the demons attack the town much less frequently, and it's quite a bit better than Hammerhoof. But the palace is still sealed for reasons unknown, and until Holly and her group can get inside and talk to Princess Celestia, it certainly looks as though things are going to stay that way. Obviously, Canterlot in this story takes heavy inspiration from Anor Londo—high parapets, golden bricks, the light of the eternal sunset...it's a really good aesthetic for a dark fantasy story. I'm still sad we never got to properly explore Dark Soul's City of the Gods as a real city, only across the rooftops, but even those little glimpses of the world below were inspirational.

So, time to talk about hiatuses. We're not going on hiatus yet, don't panic, but I'm nearly out of chapters to post, and I'm running behind. I'd prefer to have the next arc ready to post in full before I begin to do so, thus a hiatus is looking likely in the future. It won't be nearly as long as the last one, that I will promise, barring another sequence of minor personal calamities. When that next chapter goes up, I'll update everyone in the author's note as to what I decide.

The song for this chapter is: Brown Bird - Where the Idle Lie

Big thanks, as always, to my pre-readers Non Uberis, Prince-Nightfire93, and Citizen for all their hard work!

I've also got a tip jar, if you're enjoying the story and want to toss me a couple bucks!

Comments

[Non Uberis]

More like Canter Londo.

[Type_Writer]

11311056
You are an absolutely wonderful dork and I wish I had thought of that five years ago

[Evilhumour]

Man,I read most of this in a span of two days and it was well worth it.

[SirAquila]

Take all the time you need. And damn if this isn't athmospheric and foreboding.

But noone thought that they would get out of the ocean eventually... well they where probably rather busy with other stuff.

[Silverblade5]

I would argue that Irithyll from DS3 takes the form of the Anor Londo streets. But that's besides the point. Can't wait to find out that Celestia only exists as an illusion