> The Sentinel of Crows
>  by Doctor Blizzard
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Crestfallen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The hunt was long, dragging on to the sounds of fearful moans with no end in sight. A hunt so ravenous and unforgiving to the weak of mind. The unrelenting silence could drive the sanest man mad in a single night. The red moon hung low in the murky skies above the gothic pillars of disparity. Neglecting to move, she ignorantly continued to live in her capsule of psychosis; trapped in a contiguous battle of perseverance. A battle so loud that her eyelids tightened and her twitching muscles forced her arms up to her head. Voices echoed, the sounds of beasts shrieking at the top of their lungs, the villagers and her fellow hunters going mad while she remained untouched by the fetid stench. Nearly reaching the precipice of her personal nightmare screaming inside of her ossified skull.

Eileen's knuckles were gripped white around her pointed black hat, grasping her pinned up ponytail at the back of her head. Her breath thickened, feeling hot and sticky wheezes expel from her lungs.

'Why now? I don't know what I did to deserve this...' She growled. The dangerous mind that she owned grew louder and louder, and finally, it climaxed. Eileen shuttered awake from her fake reality, taking the air in her hands with a grip of death and taught leather manchettes.

"Stop!"

Then, there was silence. And the sounds of peace and tranquility finally soothed her desperate, throbbing ears again. Flushed red in the cheeks with a tumultuous breath, scathing eyes looking upon the ebony black in ruin; starless, lackluster, and chalk full of despondency. Eyes darted back and forth, much like her head scanning her surroundings but found that her efforts were purely in vain. Her hand vanished through the black cloud, peering through the small eye holes of her incense-filled beak mask strapped tightly around her head.

Eileen roused herself from her slumber. She felt her sore muscles and bones popping after being curled up in a ball all day. No fire, no shelter, she needed to makes some sacrifices to remain inconspicuous to the masses of a village that ponies called Ponyville. Tufts of snow slicked off of her feathered garbs, the snow did not fall short of the way that her clothing acted. With complete disregard for their antipodal hues, the snowfall was fast and monumentally staggering.

Eileen ears pricked up behind her clothed head. That bell, that wretched bell bestowed as a gift from her subordinate nature rang out from the giant crystal tree she had been studying all day. Even the sound of a bell immediately made connections, firing through her brain and forcing her to think a violent bloodletting will soon commence. It was something she had to learn to keep under control, especially when she knew Equestria was incapable of following through with such acts.

"Aye, good girl." Eileen snapped open her large leather satchel slung over her shoulder. A smaller bell pulsated a blue hum, all dressed up fancy in a tapering silver yoke to lightly hold. It's clapper delicately pinged against the dented silver mouth. Her hands guided the bell out and she let it sing its melody two by two in response. The bell was carefully stuffed back into the satchel, not exactly a hurry. Her other hand reached up to the sky with palms wide open, but her eyes continued to search for another object.

With a snap of her impatient fingers, she felt warm embers nestle deep in her clutches. A surge of red light covered her hovel dwarfed under the giant trees, ones that loomed eerily and remained nameless. They remained naked and without a leaf to spare. The unmistakable shape of an enveloped letter quickly synthesized in one hand, the other soon pulled out a luminous blue crystal. It leaked energy and had many fissures running through the extremely brittle object. Once the blank letter was unsealed, Eileen smashed the jagged orb in her hand and smeared the loosed energy all over the letter.


'Thank you for keeping watch tonight. The rules are the same as they have been. As promised, the payment that we disclosed upon is in the normal dead drop location. Proceed as follows.'


"Hmm..." She crumpled the paper and threw it deep into the snow, knowing that the energy would soon become acidic to paper.

'Glad to know I'm still in the loop...' Her glare focused on the castle nearby, finding the buoyant and merry tidings of Hearth's Warming in abundant supply. It hurt her eyes to look at all the lights and the colors of other festivities hanging.

"You do this with a purpose, remember that." Her dark tone questioned the bounds of the conflicts burning both inside and out of her aging body. Her reflexive hand reached down and grabbed her break-action pistol. She unhinged the breech, seeing a used casing eject wildly past her head. The cartridge she put in was massive and colored in a filmy white of newly casted silver. With her terribly worn pistol ready for one good shot, she skillfully holstered the olden device and checked her blades for ease of use. Nicknamed the "Blades of Mercy" for their purpose to maim and put down the infected scourge of the hunt. Created from an unbreakable material that supposedly came from a higher plane of existence.

Eileen breezed through the snow with height on her side. The thought of lighting a torch seemed like a good idea to her, but it would not offer much in the ways of guiding her already illuminated path. She magnetized the weapons and let the two blades connect into one secure piece, resembling the vague design of butterfly swords. Glowing white sparks darted away from the tip, slowly fizzling out as they fluttered down to the snowy bottoms. She dressed in all black in front of something so divine. The castle spired terribly above her and absolutely radiated with purity, something she severely lacked. Darkness surrounded by a halo of light.

But there she stood tall, towering over the denizens of a strange land she had come to settle in for the long dream. With a castle filled with some of the most powerful beings she knew, a lot was resting on her shoulders to not screw it all up. Eileen cleared a step from the snow on the staircase and sat down, her belly filled with hardtack and bitter coffee from hours beforehand. It was hard to retain what little body heat she produced. She envied these ponies who were naturally attuned to the horribly cold temperatures, especially the ones that could fly. Her black and buttoned attire did little to protect her from the elements, sapping the energy away from her.

'Dammit you two! I've been out here all day, you can't expect me to be out here all night.' Her instincts shifted to ensure her own survival. But Eileen knew that their word was law. Whatever they told her to do, she would follow through. Even though Eileen worked alone and called the shots in moderation, the princesses trusted her judgment. It was the only thing she could do to repay them for everything. But what surprised her the most was how Celestia and Luna treated her as an equal and as a viable asset to their armament.

'But why would they force me outside like a sick dog?' Eileen lowered her head, 'Or is this just a joke? To make me stay on their good side. Or are they really afraid of me?... Which is it?'

She silently breathed in the cold scented air. 'No... I know that Luna cares... I know that Celestia—C-Celestia, I, honestly don't know what's happening. I realize my presence and being found out could spell disaster for them... All the things I do for them are not exactly held in high regards in this society.'

Her thoughts were forced on hold as a painful and sinister noise penetrated from inside the castle. It's knell of bloodlust and malicious intent. Eileen's head cocked back forcefully and with exceptional speed. There was something written on the door with magic. She climbed the steps, tripping over her foot but masterfully catching herself from faceplanting.


'Please, don't hesitate to come in! I probably wouldn't even hear you knocking.'


'What a strange thing to write on a castle door. I-It doesn't matter, this could be it. Whether or not the others see me is only secondary to protecting them.' Eileen automatically began pushing the door but remembered her protocol.

'I'd be going against their most prior rule if—No. If it says come in, I'm sure as hell not going to let some lifeless oath stop me.' No sooner did the door plunge open with both of her gloved hands. Where she expected the low tremor and scratching of the door against stone, it responded in twisted silence. The overwhelming current of warm air rushing through her body caused the long crow-feathered drapes on her back to spread and flap in waves. She silently closed the door and turned around, seeing the inside of the castle for the first time.

It was not the first time that Eileen had seen stunning imagery such as the example before her eyes. She had a knack for lockpicking and sneaking into places most desired and inaccessible to the general public. And it was her job to do so, to watch over them in the lullaby of darkness. Glancing around at the daunting ceiling and balconies above. Fluorescent blue, yellow, and pink crystal sconces flickered like imaginary flames on their mounts, bouncing off of the crystallized columns lining the walls. Standing in the grand foyer revealed many paths, running from left to right, but the main attraction was the staircase leading up to the actual body of the castle.

'Don't go stumbling in... I wouldn't be surprised if they've already sent in some of their lackeys.' She took a big step forward, her almost leaden boots clunked deeply against the hard floor. A sole and flat of thick rubber on her buckled boots. The swishing of sewn fabrics with each step filled the gaping void of tranquility. She continued to see hearts and symbols of fondness spread deeply, another thing she envied. 

She pulled out her pistol and combined blades, the latter being held in a reverse grip for aggressive slashing. Slowly, the sounds of heavy boots tapped through the halls at easily readable intervals.

It dawned on her that she did not know where anything was inside of the castle. Its architecture compared to the outside view was extremely misleading. The jolly atmosphere sewed into the halls caused her eyes to close, grimacing under the mask.

Although she never found purpose or solace in a holiday such as Hearth's Warming, it was out of her control. And as her boots clunked deeper and deeper into the empty halls, she could not shake the feeling of being watched herself. Long nights on the hunt filled with the nightmares of man caused her to grow an uncanny sense of perception in her spatial field. How hard was it to miss her, especially in the brightness of the castle? An upright creature swathed in crow feathers and a remarkable mask?

The top of the steps revealed something she did not expect. There was no balcony that she saw prior to walking in, instead, Eileen found a single door at the end of the stout hall. Its lattice frame paned in green and gilded golds shone a light at the other side. She jiggled the knobs but to no avail.

"Locked up tight as a drum... No matter." Eileen crooned harrowingly. She reached down into a secular pouch and pulled out a few helpful tools to jimmy the lock loose. She inserted a torsion wrench into the keyhole and applied pressure, using her actual lockpick to bump the tumblers into place with her other hand. In a matter of moments, the door unlocked with little to no effort.

She slowly let the door swing open and reveal to her a wicked sight.

"Well, that's new." Eileen swept through the room, making sure no one was lurking just like her. She sighed and slowly holstered her weapons and lockpicks back to her waist. Above her were the roots of a giant tree strung with simple stones of light, much like the ones in the halls prior. Six thrones made of pure blue and lavender gemstone systematically encircled a large table in the middle. One throne, however, had a smaller one right next to it. Other than the dwarfed throne, they all had a unique symbol cut into the backs of each one. Colored in various tones and resembling a certain reoccurring theme that seemed to accept a certain form of energy. It only confused her and raised more questions.

'I've seen these cutie marks before. Oh yes, I know them well... If only I knew what these things really stood for... Heh. Those six little bastards cause me more problems than they'll ever know.' Eileen's gaze soon shifted to the crown jewel of the room.

It perplexed her to think what kind of magic was coursing through the castle, more importantly, the very room she stood in. Transfixed to something alive and steadily breathing, shaded in a hazy illusion of dimmed out colors not living up to their potential hues. She even made out a rainbow somewhere. She stared at a map that popped up from the table, casting its subtle gleam upon her unblinking eyes behind the mask. It acted so transparently empty, and yet it stood up and jumped at her hungry eyes in total existence.

"What is this?" She wracked her mind to think what kind of power was behind something so perfect in its own design. "A map of Equestria... down to the last detail."

Her hand reached out almost trembling as the map rhythmically stuttered. She watched her hand simply glide through Canterlot and the mountains on the other side. Eileen lost her breath once she realized that the map recognized her presence, agitating the particles of light around her hand's point of entry. She tried grabbing onto the elevated particles but her fingers phased through the tops of frosted mountains.

'Well, this is strange indeed... What do they use this for? Plans? strategies? Methods of?... No, I highly doubt it's used for anything violent given their nature.' Eileen settled against the plinth-like object with both hands on the precise edge, obstructing a portion of Luna Bay and another unnamed territory of mountains.

'I guess that's best left to the imagination. It could be anything, really. Even a little project they've been working on.' She closed her eyes and stepped back, trying to make sense of the whole map and the biting conflict within the reaches of her very soul. A heavy-minded sigh fell into her mask with her eyes now clenched, much like her hands and how her arms crossed tightly. She leaned against the wall and lowered her head.

'Not as spry as I used to be... As much as I hate to admit it, my age is starting to catch up with me again.
And don't even get me started on my mind's health...' Her eyes glued shut with a twitching pain running through her spine.

"But who else will carry on my duty? These ponies could never bring themselves to do what I do." She disappointedly shook her head as her leg nervously bounced. "What will they think when I tell them about my previous life? I know I've told them what I do but they don't know the whole thing..."

"Maybe they already know, maybe that's why we've started to fall apart... In that case, I'm sure they won't mind if I catch forty winks in here."

Only then did she notice the light glow brighter than before, shining on her closed eyelids. A glassy shimmer echoed in the room.

"Huh?!" Eileen ripped her eyes open just as a single pulse of energy flowed through the crystal structure before her, feeding into the map. She squinted her eyes as the blinding light slowly died down.

"What the-" She suddenly stepped back up to the table, looking down just below the city of Canterlot rotated a small image of a cutie mark around the castle, the very one she stood in. It completely matched the cutie mark right next to the smaller throne, and it even matched the giant six-pointed star from outside after looking at the castle all day.

'Did I say something? Is it an alarm?' Suddenly, Eileen heard the sounds of a hastily driven trot, and it was only getting louder.

'Shit! I didn't even check to see if they were—No, it could be an assailant! I can't risk it!' Her idle fingers silently grabbed her pistol and cocked the hammer back, taking it with two hands instead of one. 'Whoever's coming is blocking my only way out!'

Eileen wretchedly searched for any place to hide, but anything obtainable was out of reach. The thrones were too small to hide her body and the root system was too far up to even touch. She could see the shadows now, stretching across the open door. The autonomous trot turned into a careful pace, almost stopping at the door. She kept her breathing in check, hearing the silence come back into play and covering up her hidden demons.

"I don't remember leaving the door open..."

'Wait! That voice...' Eileen's firm grip on her gun began to shake. Her mind now plagued with second guesses.

"Hello? Is someone in here?" The familiar voice rang out once more, "it's ok... Ugh! Stupid cutie mark! Why do you have to do this right now?"

Eileen watched in horror as the door slowly creaked open, her finger on the trigger debating on taking the shot or taking a chance. 

'Now or never, what's it going to be?!' She counted the beats of her heart and felt the throb in her eyes. To be the judge of another's life, to know that their life was measured in a few more precious seconds haunted her. She took a chance and acted upon her emotions without looking back.

Watching as another pony obliviously walked into her gun's path, Eileen's finger delicately released from the trigger. She watched as the alicorn's eyes scanned the room; it had not occurred to her yet that a human stood in her presence. But when it did, both of their actualities quaked in awe and uncertainty. The very fabric of reality was broken indefinitely. Hiding behind the mask offered nothing as both pony and man stared into each other's eyes, dumbstruck in their own ways.

Eileen lowered the gun slowly, letting it hang limply in her hand right after. Her breathing was smothered by the beak but still audible completely. She uncocked the hammer and gingerly holstered her weapon. A smirk formed on her face after seeing the pony jump slightly once her arm moved around. 'Must of been as solid as a statue... This was only a matter of time.'

"Who—What are?" Eileen noticed the pony's eyes glancing at the door. She tried to stay silent as the mare began to increasingly freak herself out. But when she started to back up to the door, Eileen's vow of silence had to be broken.

"Don't. Don't even think about it." Her eyes felt heavy from all the breathing, the light-headedness was really starting to take its toll. As manageable as it was.

"You can talk?!"

"Of course."

"I... I don't understand—Who are you?! What are you?!"

"Patience. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Twilight."
> The Kindred
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Quickly, Spike!"

For how demanding her voice carried weight, Twilight Sparkle's due diligence in a time of celebration still kept a hint of urgency; urgency that was forcibly soft to the ears. Not an uttering left in her boundless vocabulary were those two words that Spike had been listening to the entire day.

"Relax, Twily. Everything's going to be perfect! Don't worry about the small stuff." Cadance walked in from behind, finding Twilight's anxiety insatiably humorous to her own imagination. "You're acting like you used to as a filly."

"Yeah, I mean, this place is already decked out. Have you even seen the outside yet?" Spike's knees almost buckled as the box of decorations landed with an earth-shattering thud.

"Eeeek! No, not yet! But I'm so excited for all of us to see it together!" She contentedly clacked her hooves together. It was the night of Hearth's Warming Eve and the land of Equestria remained at peace. Such a time that the best in everyone came out to celebrate the bringing about of the land and country. Wrought from the earthy ground for its beauty and coursing potential to all who would come to settle the land. A place of equal promise and a life under the seraphic oligarchy of four kindred alicorns within one firmament.

The mute halls of Twilight's castle were formally hung with festive linens and energetic warmth, wrapped up in various colors of tied ornate bows. Strings of lights stuck on time loops, freshly coiled wreaths of snowberry and garlands of violets and imported lavender. If the smell was not intoxicating enough, the delectable scent of a banquet stewing surely sealed the deal.

"Just a few more things and I can rest easy, ok Spike?" Twilight beamed with joy under the watchful eye of her sister-in-law who rolled her eyes with endearment.

"We're opening presents tonight, l-like always?"

"Of course! It's a family tradition. We've just got to wait for everyone else to arrive first. The princesses said they'll be here shortly and the rest of the family should take a few more hours. The ice on the rails delayed the trains a little."

"I know. Long as I get some time to rest after all these days of decorating." Spike saw the box flaps open as a few of the contents flew out and pinned themselves on various places within the lofty space.

"Here Spike," Cadance put a flawless and gleaming gemstone shaped like a star in his claws. He eyed the monstrous jewel and immediately began to slaver over the yellow and blue brilliance. "Put it on top of-"

A loud crack and a crunch assaulted their folded ears, wresting their attention to the delighted mouthful of splintered gemstone.

"Spike!" Twilight and Cadance phrased in just the right tone.

"Wha?" He continued to munch. The star-shaped stone had a giant bite taken out of it, lined with clear but jagged teeth marks.

"That was for the tree!"

"Oh... I thought you were giving me an early present." Spike brushed the stone and sheepishly held it out, still giving into the selfish delights of emotion. "Eheh-hehe. Sorry?"

Cadance broke out into a fit of giggles, spreading like an infection to Twilight and soon Spike. He was lifted up and placed the broken star on top of the tree brimming with gifts at its base. The trio stepped back to take in the fruits of their labor.

"I'm so glad that everyone's getting together for the holidays. It's been too long since we've all came together in one place. And I'm so glad that we get to do it in my castle. I don't have to travel anywhere, Tehehe."

"Yeah, you even managed to butter up Celestia and Luna to come too. They're either too busy or celebrating in their own way at home." Cadance smirked once more at the now lopsided star. Twilight focused her magic on the brown box and teleported it away to some other place in the castle.

"Well, I don't exactly know how I did it, either... Eh, oh well. They're coming and that's that. Also, is Shining Armor coming with my parents or is he taking a separate train?" Twilight's voice was heavy with want.

"Oh, no. He should be riding with everyone else. Then again, anything can happen, huh? Don't worry, I think Flurry Heart can't wait to see her auntie again."

"And I can't wait to see my little niece... You really need to stop her from growing anymore, Cadance."

"I know, she's growing up too fast!"

"Uh, Twilight?" Spike's voice rose through their long overdue chatter. "Imma' go check up on the food, see how it's doing."

"Alright. Thanks, Spike." She turned her back for only a second before the sound of Spike's eager claws tinkled against the stone floor. "I trust you won't eat everything?"

"Oh, I might have a taste here and there. How else will I know it's done?"

"Heh, alright, just go. Silly little dragon, you're lucky I love you so much."

"I'm practically your little brother."

"Well, of course you are! I did hatch you when I was just a filly... Hurry along, Spike. Go taste your food like you wanted."

"Ok!" Spike's voice slowly dimmed, as did his tapping claws. Twilight gently snorted with a soft smile. She felt the gentle caress of Cadance's hoof on her neck. What started out as a kind pat soon turned into a full-on hug around her body.

"Ever think about actually settling down with someone?" Cadance's simple musing weighed heavy on Twilight's mind. She bobbed her head back and forth, not exactly set on a clear path or sense of direction for that matter.

"Haha! What kind of question is that, Cadance?"

"Oh, I don't know. It's just one of those questions, you know?"

"I have, but I'm more enthused by my studies and books than to settle down... not just yet. Don't get me wrong, I like Flurry Heart and the thought of having a child. But it's just that: a simple, harmless thought."

"And that's completely fine, Twilight. There are plenty of ponies out there that have the same mindset. Although their passion probably isn't studying, reading books, and being a princess all at once." Cadance let Twilight out of her clutches and sat down on the opulent couch together.

"Geez, I'm so glad you and my brother got together though."

"O-Oh? Why's that?"

"Because he can be awkward around mares, not to mention protective."

"Are you calling my husband and your brother a weirdo, Twily?" Cadance prodded and poked Twilight's sides playfully.

"Hahaha, yes."

"Yeah... I can see why you say that. And maybe that's just an added feature. I like his awkwardness." She curled her wings once she dived back into the couch. All pride and revelry in the actions that followed Cadance proved how close the two mares were. And now, after all of their demands in their roles as princesses and rulers were fulfilled, they finally had a night to get even better acquainted. They sat back and enjoyed themselves only in the present. The future and past did not matter.

"So-" Twilight peeked over, getting even more comfortable than before. "-what's my sister-in-law up to in The Crystal Empire?"

"Oh, you know. The duties that were bestowed upon me... A lot of duties."

"Same old stuff? Paperwork and visitations of the sort, I assume."

"Yeah... I really need to find a scribe or someone I can trust. One who's actually good and quick at their job."

"Me too. I only have Spike and Starlight to help me with the work I get, but I try not to involve them too much. I mean, it isn't their job to do those things. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's not as bad as your work or, especially in this case, Princess Celestia's."

"Oh! Where is Starlight, anyway?"

"She's spending the holidays at her old village. She really hit things off when she returned there a few months back. At least everyone has something to do on a day and night so magical... Sorry, what were we talking about? Paperwork?"

"Ooh yeah! Celestia is very stubborn about her paperwork. She has to look it over herself before it gets passed through the scribes. Maybe you can talk her into hiring us some of her scriveners? You seem to have more pull with Celestia when it comes to talking her into things."

"Keh-he, I think she felt more obligated when I played coy with her. And now that you mention it, I remember fondly as a filly watching her pass inspection on stacks and stacks of paper." Twilight felt so deceitful and fake when she actually did go up to Princess Celestia and talk to her about coming over. But she found it delightfully fun to do so.

"Guilt-tripping a princess? Doth—thou, have no modesty?" Cadance grinned and scratched the back of her neck.

"That was terrible. Wait... Were you mocking Princess Luna?" Twilight slyly questioned Cadance, but she was nowhere near afraid to tell the wholehearted truth.

"Yes."

"Heh, why?"

"Oh my goodness, have you never seen her get angry, Twilight? Haha! It is absolutely hilarious!" Any ounce of Cadance's modesty was chucked out of a thirty-story building. 

"What's so funny about it?"

"She yells so formally and sometimes mixes Old Ponish into her sentences. She'll just start spouting off like an old Canterlotian fancy who's been mocked by someone. I have to leave every time she goes off on a rant because I can barely cover my muzzle from laughing. Even Celestia giggles about it before coaxing Luna to calm down."

"Wow, that really does sound like something Princess Luna would do... Ha! Haha! I bet she starts cursing up a storm, too."

"Oh yeah, you would not believe how many times she yells-" Cadance quickly glanced at the door, "-I didn't want to cuss in front of Spike, but she yells the word "fuck" religiously. Like, it doesn't even fit into her speech patter when she yells it, sometimes at the top of her lungs."

"I barely know her, but she does seem to be the type that gets angry easily."

"I mean, I love the girl. I'm not making fun of her or anything because we all point out each other's flaws and laugh about them."

Twilight Sparkle furrowed her brows, "do you talk about me?"

"Well, sometimes. But we haven't really started picking on you yet."

"Oh..."

"Don't take it personally, Twilight. You're still adjusting to your role... We'll start making fun of you soon enough, ok?"

"You sound excited about that. Hehe, I don't know if I should be scared or not."

"Oh, it's fun. I've got to start introducing you to some inside jokes we have. But I think that'll have to wait for another day."

"Twilight! Twiiilight!"

"What, Spike?!" She yelled back into the bounding hallways.

"Celestia and Luna are here!"

Naturally, Twilight's eyes looked up at the clock. "Oh, like they said. Right on time."

———

"Are you sure, dear sister?" Princess Luna trooped through immeasurable amounts of snow and glazing ice. "She will be ok, yes?... Gah! I'll have whoever's ass made all of this snow!"

Princess Celestia was not the only one having to be in the same figurative boat. The layers of snow went all the way up to their underbellies in some places. The trail that winded through the countryside was non-existent.  Eerily quiet was the frozen landscape, nothing but the crunch of powdery snow and their company. Giant fluffs of snow fell from the sky at an alarming rate, flaking off onto their warm bodies and manes. "Of course. She's faced far worse things than the cold."

"Are you sure? It's going to get really cold tonight. Not saying it isn't already."

"It isn't the first time she's agreed to do this." Celestia gazed up at the brilliant crystal castle as bright as the sun. The lights and the luminous crystals blinked like little firecrackers without the report.

"I—I know... It's just-"

"What is it, Luna?"

"...Nevermind. It's nothing." Their muzzles and necks were covered in long scarves. Reading each other's emotions relied solely on the sharpness of one's ear.

"Alright then. Just a few more steps and we'll be out of the cold."

"Right... Of course." Luna wore her guise given the things expected and to come. But the feeling she felt inside was something she could not ignore for too long. 'Calm down, I'm sure she will be ok.'

"Do you have that bell, Luna?" Celestia gained a foothold on the staircase leading to the castle door and stood above Luna as a blackened figure amidst the light. She overshadowed Luna as a big sister and as her forerunner of kin. Not bound by the laws of their diadems, nor were they enslaved by the roles gifted to them at such a young age when Equestria was leaderless.

"Uh, I should..." She cleared out her saddlebags in a cloud of deep blue magic. Everything that was inside now flittered around her eyes, "where, oh where, did my little bell go? Ah! found you."

"There you go." Celestia snickered, "do you need to borrow my reading glasses, Lulu?"

"Haha, very funny. I am not amused by your childishly snide remarks. So you will have to do better than that, Tia... Or Celie. Whichever offends you the most."

"Oh, I think we'll have plenty of time to make derogatory banter and quips at each other. This is just the beginning... I really hope you don't get frustrated and start spouting off about everything you hate. You may want to check your language."

"I really do that a lot, huh? Hmm, I do wonder where I get all of my cynicism from. But I shall try to refrain from certain actions. Even if it is to prove that your point is false."

"Lulu, just ring the damned bell."

"Heh, ok-ok. I'm already ahead of the game, anyway." Princess Luna firmly inspected the small bronzed bell covered with a thin layer of white and green tarnish. Alien symbols were deeply carved into the cast but not enough to compromise the integrity of the bell. A sound most unexpected from something so small, its venomous knell created a deep brassy trill instead of a lighthearted tinker. And as Luna rang the bell, it reeked of otherworldly magic, falling off its rim in long blackened tendrils. Disingenuous in nature as its beckoner's intent for who it was designed for. Regardless, the sound reverberated but the scene remained inert.

"Did it work? You know I can't-"

"Shh..." Luna quickly silenced Celestia. Closing her eyes to concentrate always seemed to work. Her ears searched for something to move out in the wild, out in the desolate wintery wastes.

'Come on, ring the b-'

'ting-ting—ting-ting...'

'Good girl...' Luna breathed a well-deserved sigh of relief. Being greeted by the resonant bell's silent rattle gave hope to her every time.

"She's here. Send the letter, Celestia."

"Done and done, little sis." Princess Celestia turned the letter into fiery powder and watched it streak across the frostbitten fields. "Come on, let's hurry inside. Twilight's probably dying to see us right about now."

Luna stared over the fields, watching the contrail land near the Everfree Forest in a small thicket of trees. She only managed the feat due to its sheer brightness of red through the thickness of white flakes. She did not want peel her eyes away.

"Luna, hurry up..."

"Sorry, I-I shouldn't worry so much." Luna turned to face Celestia, stepping in her actual hoofprints up the stairs.

"Huh?" Celestia read a note scrawled in magic on the door.


'Please, don't hesitate to come in! I probably wouldn't even hear you knocking.'


"Um... alright then." Her yellow magic pushed the door open. A rush of heat bombarded their bodies as the two princesses quickly shut the door behind themselves.

"Heh, well. Princess Twilight sure does like decorating for Hearth's Warming." Luna's eyes were already starting to sting from all the lights and visual stimulation. Celestia did her a solid and unclothed both Luna and herself, placing their scarves onto a crystal coat rack nearby. "Thanks, sis."

"You're welcome, Luna." Even Celestia found the pretentious display a little much. "You're right about it being awfully bright, hehe. I'm more used to the light show back home. It's more, uh, uniform and spread out."

"My thoughts exactly."

"Ok, maybe Twilight left us directions to where she's at, hmm?"

"Yeah, that also sounds like something she would do. A right and proper neat freak she has always been. Ever since I came back from my imprisonment, that thought seems to stick with me the most."

"Oh, right... I sometimes forget that you two don't exactly know each other very well."

"Yeah, I'm always sheltered away within the castle or in my room polishing up on my cunning."

"Or talking to her..."

"Is that bad, Tia? She's done so much for us."

"What? Of course it's not bad... Eh, look, I'm just saying that you need to focus on other things too. She can handle herself."

"Well, pardon me for my diligent attitude towards someone I worry for. And if I recall, you two used to be inseparable."

"I understand, Luna. And I thank you for being good to her in all. But this can wait later." Celestia motioned Luna's transfixed gaze towards Spike walking around on the balcony above.

"Hello? Spike?" 

"Oh, hi Celestia!" Spike noticed Princess Luna starting to peek out from Celestia's towering stature. "A-And Luna."

"Greetings, Spike."

"Where might we find Twilight? Uh, are you eating?" Celestia looked at his stuffed cheeks deliberately. She smirked once he started to smile with gemstone slivers between his teeth.

"Uh... maybe just a little? Eheheh."

"Spike, you'll spoil your appetite."

"I know, but I didn't eat a lot! I swear!"

"It's ok, Spike. I'm just teasing you."

"Ok, well, follow me. I'll go take you to see Twilight and Cadance."

"Ah," Luna raised her muzzle high, "Cadance is here already, I see."

Spike cupped his claws and began shouting down the hall, announcing the arrival of the two mares. Celestia and Luna quickly strode up the steps within the massive hollowed tree, finding Spike waiting for them at the very top of the stairs.

"Right this way, ladies." Spike immediately heard snickering coming from Celestia, then Luna soon after.

"Oh, Gentleman Spike is here to escort us."

"Thanks!... I guess?"

Celestia could already hear Twilight's excitement about everyone coming over. But it was hard to discern if what she was hearing was real or purely left to the mind's eye. Sprites and flashes of images ran rampant inside of her sequestered thoughts, most of when Twilight was just a filly. How she was filled with energy and innocent joy, not to mention her scary aptitude for knowledge.

"Always a quick learner and thinker... she still is."

"Did you say something, sister?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just reminiscing is all."

"Oh no, don't start yourself down that path, Celestia. You know how emotional you can get once you start delving deeper."

"I know. But I'm only remembering all those years when Twilight was a filly. She'd always be so innocent and, well, cute about it. Don't worry about me either, ok?"

"Ha! The one time I worry about you and you play it off as a pony would with too much pride in her bleeding heart." Luna filled her vitriolic tone with a haughty smile.

"So, when was the last time you read through your dictionary?"

"Yester-oh, you little b-"

"Luna... Watch it." Celestia's voice oozed patronizingly, "I wouldn't want my little sis to blow her top already."

"I'm sure you would not. What a terrible thing of me if I were to return the favor tenfold."

"Um," Spike cocked his little head back towards them, "are you two ok?"

"Oh—N-No, Spike, we're just having some fun teasing each other. We're not actually fighting. I would have won a long time ago if that were the case."

"Is that right?" Celestia stared at Luna for a moment before seeing Twilight and Cadance in the doorway. Strangely, they stayed silent, as if waiting for their conversation to stop. Although Twilight could barely contain herself from springing forward and giving Celestia a heartfelt hug.

"I'm so glad you two could make it!" Twilight dug deeper into Celestia's fur.

"Of course, Twilight. We wouldn't miss something so special." Celestia graciously nuzzled Twilight but she did not let go so easily. "My-my, you're a little clingy today."

"O-Oh! Sorry, hehehe! I don't get to see you as much anymore. I'm just making up for lost time!"

"You're quite alright, Twilight."

"Yeah, I've been holding that in for a while now." Twilight glanced around, all the other princesses of coveted power in their respective grasps now stood as one. She did not care how everyone made it or what they had to do to get to there. Whether it was immoral or selfish, their actions she cared naught. She quickly began to question herself, was she acting out of brazen selfishness for begging everyone to come over? Were her pleas and actions taxing to the ponies and family that had to travel, putting all things aside just for her? Twilight knew there were ponies out there who would be fortunate to have what she had, but she was only one pony. And she knew that all those kinds of problems would never be solved in many lifetimes to come.

"Twilight? I'm going to go check a few things around the castle... Twilight?" Spike waved his claws around Twilight's face. She rapidly blinked and looked down.

"Uh-go ahead, Spike." Twilight processed her thoughts intensely over the repercussions formulating in her imagination. She shook her head lightly, getting the thoughts away for a moment's pass. But another deceptively simple question followed.

"Celestia?"

"Yes, Twilight?"

"I was talking to Cadance about everything you three do together. That you share playful banter and joke around to keep things from being dull. And, I was wondering what else you know that you haven't told me?" And at that exact moment, Twilight's ears flickered to the all too familiar noise, loathing every solemn warble. Her cutie mark began to pulse. And a pit formed in her stomach without effort.

'Oh no! Why is my cutie mark doing this right now?!' Twilight's eyes darted every which way before firmly settling on the open door. "Will you excuse me for a few minutes?"

"Uh, well, of course, Twilight. Is something wrong?" Celestia gawked at Twilight strangely, especially at her cutie mark.

"No! Nonono, everything's fine! You just keep chatting. There's tea and wine on the table if you want-" She netted a hangdog look on her face. "-I'll be right back."

Twilight entered the silent hallways, making sure no one was around. She opened her wings and immediately darted down the corridor. The door to the throne room was open, and a sharp figure blurred from beyond the glass.
> The Pact
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Answer me or else! I'm only warning you once! How do you know my name?!" Twilight's alicorn horn hummed with vibrant and frothy life.

"Take it easy. Let's not rush into anything dire."

"Quit evading! Why are you here?!"

"I said take it easy, there's no reason to get angry." Eileen took a small step forward, but Twilight gained just as much back. She eventually crossed her arms and leaned against the wall again. If Twilight was going to attack, Eileen knew something would have happened by now.

"Why should I calm down?! You broke into my chambers! Are you here to hurt everyone? Is that it?! Because I won't let it happen!"

"If I wanted you dead, there'd be no discussion right now... Besides, I'm no good to you dead either. So put the magic away if you know what's good for you. You're a bright young lass, I thought you'd know better." She watched Twilight raise her head slowly, eyes filled with newfound hesitation.

"I doubt you could have."

"Hehehe, do you want to back that?" Eileen proceeded to pull out her pistol once more, "do you see this? The thing I was pointing at your head?"

Twilight squinted closely at Eileen's game and nodded just slightly, clearing her nostrils in the process. "What about it?!"

"Well, to put it bluntly. It would of blown your head clean off and onto the walls... You're lucky I didn't pull the trigger, Twilight." The gun soon found its place back at her waist. "You actually gave me quite a scare."

"P-Prove it, then."

"A tremble in your voice." Eileen inwardly laughed at the thought of proving her point but only let out a shallow sigh instead. "So, you want me to prove that it can kill? I'd choose wiser words, heh heh."

"This is ridiculous! I'm going to get the princesses!" Twilight's horn changed from an aggressive toned magic to something softer but tense as all hell.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Twilight."

"What are you going to do? B—Blow my, guh!"

"No, because I'm not acting as stupid as you right now. Do you really think they'll believe you? Hmm?" Eileen's patronizing tone really got into Twilight's head.

"Yes! I used to be Princess Celestia's most prized student and she made me into a princess! They will believe me! I doubt you know anything about that or even the princesses for that matter!" Twilight's anger boiled over before reaching a conclusion. "Wait, why am I explaining this to you?!"

"Because if you leave now, I won't be here when you come back."

"Then I'll lock the doors!"

"I picked the lock in under ten seconds, good luck." Eileen stared intently at Twilight and shook her head. "Listen, I know the princesses, they are allied with me and are sworn to keep my existence a secret. So spouting off to them about a creature on two legs wearing an outfit lined with crow feathers and a plague doctor's mask won't do you any good. In fact, It'll make you sound freaking mental."

"What're their names then if you know them so well?" The way Twilight looked completely showed Eileen just how peeved and offended she really was. Some cloaked stranger judging the superiority of a princess really offended her unquestionable logic.

"Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. Cadance had a child recently who is named Flurry Heart. Celestia and Luna are close sisters and Cadance is your sister-in-law."

"A-Anyone can know that stuff! What are my parent's names and where do they live? Answer me that!" Twilight triumphantly raised her head with closed eyes, only to be disappointed.

"Twilight Velvet and Night Light, they live in Canterlot where you've spent the majority of your life."

"How did you know that?!"

"I can tell you, Twilight. But promise not to tattle on me?" Eileen grinned with a single finger to her wooden beak, shushing Twilight ever so gently. The feeling of being kicked against the wall and the adrenaline excited her dormant body. Whether or not Twilight knew it, she had all the cards and Eileen was lacking a good hand. She needed to sweeten the pot a little bit. "You're a mare hungry for knowledge, I know you are. You can't possibly pass up a grand opportunity such as this."

"Show me something so I know I can trust, you-you—Whatever you are."

"Oh, physical proof is what you're after?..." Eileen let out a wickedly playful but subtle giggle. "You really are an odd one. Just as they said."

"Yes. And I am not "odd"." Her tonal structure still seethed. Eileen sighed with a nod of her head. She reached behind her with Twilight putting her defenses back up. Her fingers gently felt and grabbed a piece of cardstock. Twilight carefully allowed Eileen to come closer as her fingers slide something out to her face.

"You'd be surprised at my profession, Twilight." She looked at Twilight studiously examine the photograph of Princess Celestia and the limp-winged creature, the same creature only feet in front of her. "I've known Celestia for a long time now... turn it over."

Twilight turned the photograph to the backside and saw Luna being added to the formula. Each one exuberated pure delight, happy that they were together and safe, fortunate to have found each other. But the feathered figure remained emotionless, the mask as secure as it was in Twilight's current reality.

"And I'm under Luna's allegiance even more... Understand that I am not your enemy, but I am also not someone you should deify."

"I... I still don't understand. Why haven't they told me? Why am I just learning about this now?" Twilight's purple glow immediately fled back inside of her horn.

"They don't want the secret coming out about me. And they only do it to protect you if my words even mean anything right now... I'm only telling you this because of your clout with them, this was bound to happen eventually." Eileen was not arrogant enough to play it off. She fessed up and admitted that she had been caught, but it was a bittersweet loss in her honest opinion. She could finally meet the prodigy student of Princess Celestia.

"It..." Twilight closed her eyes and sighed, holding the picture out for Eileen to grab. "What's your name?"

"Eileen."

"Ei-leen... and, where from exactly?"

"Well, not from around here, that's for sure." Eileen quietly chuckled and stowed away the photo, "A place called Yharnam."

"What?" Twilight wore a face of complete confusion mixed with seated interest. "Yharnam?"

"Across the mirror of realities, Yharnam is where I spent a lot of my life."

Twilight furrowed her eyebrows, "wait, are you talking about the mirror in?!-"

"Canterlot? Yes... It's quite the long story. Eh, the details are a bit hazy because it was so long ago." Eileen dipped her head even lower into her chest but remained ever vigilant. "Heheh—normally, ponies tend to run away at the sight of me. Sometimes leaving thin trails of piss in their wake. But you... hmm, you don't seem to care at all."

"I've traversed the gap. I've been to the world of humans before." Twilight closed her eyes, "but how did you not change into a pony? That doesn't make sense!"

"Well, I didn't exactly enter this world with a lot of hope or will. It just happened."

"What?"

"I don't remember how I got to your world, g-give me some time to think... but I remember being covered in my own blood... What was it? What happened—I, sorry."

"Oh, sorry..." Twilight shrank away from the thought, leaving it to her imagination to put the pieces together however she pleased.

"There are blank spots in my memory that are hard to recall sometimes. Mmm-hmm... Don't mind me if you hear mindless ramblings from my lips." Eileen depressingly sighed, "being the only human here really screws with your mind."

"I see..."

"Eh—I'm sorry, but why is your arse lighting up like that?"

"Ugh!" Twilight sounded out with guttural emotion, "idiotic map ruining my perfect holiday."

Eileen shifted away from the solid walls and looked at the perplexing map again. She saw Twilight's rotating cutie mark remain stationary, hovering over the same spot of her castle.

"Wait, what?" Twilight banged her hoof on the table, "stop lying and tell me the truth!"

Her hoof rapped the table once again as her cutie mark refused to move. It sank down deeper into her castle until it finally dissipated, along with the glow in her actual cutie mark. She wondered if the map was really telling the truth or simply lying to her face about a friendship problem.

"Is that where you came from? The human world? Are you a mare? Did you know any of my friends there? Was there a school there called Canterlot High and-and-" Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin after feeling Eileen's hand softly wrap around her meek muzzle.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, I came from Yharnam and that's it. I've never heard of Canterlot until I woke up here, ok? And I'm a female if that's what you're trying to ask." Her hand easily followed Twilight's bobbing head and let go shortly after.

"Woke up?" 

"Once again, it's a long story... One I don't like to talk about."

"Ugh, damn. I have so so many questions." Twilight's eyes shifted towards the beak mask. "Well, you see, I was just concerned about the other world is all... I didn't mean to get excited like that. I thought there was a sickness outbreak in the other world and I... you know."

"Oh no, hehehe. This is for a different purpose, but I guess it actually functions the same if I told you why. The only reason I'm telling you all this is because you're an alicorn... I tend to make a point to avoid contact with the common rabble." Eileen peeked down at Twilight with a simper. "I'm only trying to clarify what I said earlier. Surely most of it went flying over your buzzing head."

"Huh?"

"Heh, exactly." Eileen momentarily went silent and stared at Twilight. "It's not easy to explain, but it has to do with my line of work and where I came from."

"What might that be, then?"

"You don't want to know... You'd think different of your leaders if I told you."

"Well, now I want to know even more." Twilight was on the verge of begging. 'She must have had a really dark and scarring past to be this reluctant... Something is definitely strange about her, but I want to know more. I need to.'

"I can't tell you. Even I don't take pride in it... But it's something that has to be done. Just know that it's to protect you and your friends." Eileen glanced down at Twilight's leg, noticing a small trickle of blood coming from her right hind leg. "When did you cut your leg?"

"Tch! I figured I did. I was in a rush to get down here and tripped on the stairs... I'll be ok though."

"No, let me take a look. You could get a serious infection from something so filthy. We wouldn't want that, would we?"

"Are-you a doctor, E-Eileen?" Twilight noticed the peculiar change in Eileen's voice and how carefully sweet it sounded.

"Yes." 

"Then I need to call you Dr. Eilee-"

"No!... I mean, n-no, please. Just call me Eileen... That was a long time ago and I want to keep it in the past."

"That's something you should be proud of though, right?" Twilight sat up against the nearest throne, she did not want to sit in it for fear of tracking blood on the cushions. She reeled from Eileen's sudden outburst and still felt a little bit strange around the masked figure.

"You should... But the things I had to do, they were not a doctor's work. You can guess by the mask that it wasn't about saving lives as much..." Eileen's hands reached back and grabbed a few topical items from her medical pouch. Her mouth let out a quivering, self-deprecating giggle, lacking even the basic ingredients of a humorous laugh.

"Oh... I-I see." Twilight glanced away after seeing Eileen's hands dampen a cotton ball with clear liquid. She looked away in order to hide how she felt first and foremost. The more she learned about Eileen, the more she started feeling simply terrible for her. The leaps and bounds that separated the two vanished, and even though Twilight would never know or experience what Eileen was dealing with, she knew the problems that came with bottling everything up inside.

"You sound like my friend, Fluttershy. She always gets concerned when someone's hurt and then makes it her responsibility to nurse them back to health." Twilight grinned at the memory of Fluttershy trying to make Philomena all better and freaking out when nothing worked.

"The yellow one? The terribly sweet girl?"

"Yeah, the yellow one." Twilight secretly rolled her eyes knowingly, "we have names, you know?"

"I know, but it's not my job to keep track of you six little troublemakers."

"Ok, I'll give you that. But it's not on purpose. Stuff just seems to fall into place here." Twilight clenched her teeth once the cold liquid in the cotton ball touched her wound. She expected it to sting madly. Instead, it was rather cooling to the touch.

"I guess it's working out for you all, then. Judging by your lifestyle here... A castle of gleaming stone."

"What do you mean?"

"Evil always seems to follow you around, but your methods of non-violence earn you a coronation ceremony and a big castle to boot. It's strange to know that someone's been watching you grow up and not even know it, hmm?... Do you remember when you were a filly and you were trying to get into that school for gifted unicorns?" Her tactful hands spread antibiotic ointment over the cut. "This is strange, messaging a mare's arse must be a first for me... But not for you, I'd wager."

"Not at all. I mean, it's where my cutie mark is." Twilight closed her eyes for only a moment before looking back up at Eileen. "How could you possibly know about that? Just how long have you been around?"

"I've been around, sweetheart, hehe. I would go there every day when they hosted those tests and watch what kinds of magic you kids would use. I was confused about magic, I didn't know anything about it until I started watching from the shadows. Just like the ponies you call pegasi that fly high above the clouds. The idea of magic eluded me for one reason: it was new, unlike the fabricated arcane arts in my world. I remember seeing Celestia go up and talk to you about it. And I remember you jumping up and down in total excitement for everything that had just happened..." She finished wrapping Twilight's cut leg with the slightest tug for good measure.

"That was one of the few days I genuinely smiled..." Eileen added with her own smile.

"I... Um, thank you, Eileen. That was... t-touching." Twilight looked up with hopeful eyes but was greeted by a still silence. She looked upon her palms dripping blood onto the pristine white floors beneath. Eileen was on her knees, looking beyond her soaked hands with sanguine liquid streaming down her clothes and legs, pooling incredibly fast. It glistened in the light and undulated like viscous soup. She wanted to get up, but the images of the past entered her violent mind, forcing her into a state of paralysis. All the coffins clapped in irons, the thick steam rising from the warm crimson on the cobblestones, the horrifying screams. 

She blinked her eyes and lightly searched the grounds. "I—I'm sorry, let me clean that up."

"Uh-" Twilight looked down and saw nothing but cleanliness, "there's nothing there."

"Oh... You're right, I don't,"

"Are you ok, Eileen?"

"Yeah... I should've told you, but I have—Flashbacks and visions, occasionally. Are you sure the floor isn't, uh, drowned in blood?"

"Umm—No?" Twilight watched Eileen look back at the palms of her gloved hands again, noticing that they were still clean. Twilight's own face was stricken with mild disgust. 'What is happening?'

"R-Right, of course..." She stared at Twilight without her knowing, "how silly of me."

'There is definitely something going on with her... it's something severely traumatizing. Hmm, at least I'm getting her to talk.' Twilight stood up and moved her bandaged leg around, feeling just how non-existent the gauze was. 'Ask more questions.'

"What kind of accent is that, Eileen? I've never heard it before."

"Oh, um. English... in the United Kingdom. Or, perhaps from the hinterlands."

"United what?"

"Oh, right. It doesn't exist here." Eileen's voice grew more wistful with age. Secretly, it was mired in hate for what she was in charge of, what she did for everything in their world. But what angered her most was the fact that she could not escape from her job. It always seemed to haunt her, especially on Hearth's Warming Eve. 

"W-Where did you get the idea for your, uh, outfit? It looks... well, terrifying."

"I don't know. The role was passed onto me, just as I'm responsible to pass the role onto someone else. Its origin is lost but a crow I remain. In fact, my nickname in the other world was "Eileen the Crow". And if I'm not mistaken, some of the ponies here have made comics about me. Calling me "The Silent Crow" who only works in the shadows and uses magic as a pegasus or something. It's all leavened with rumors from previous run-ins with me, but let them see what they want to see. It's kind of cute, really."

"Wait, that's you?! Spike, my, uh, little brother, reads those comics as soon as he gets his claws on one. I never knew that was you!"

"How could you know? You just learned that I existed. Not to mention I look different on those things."

"So, why haven't you made yourself known? You say that your work shouldn't be, but it can't be that bad. If it's to protect ponies like me and my friends, then it must be very good and noble... are you afraid of what ponies will think of you?" Twilight's hooves carried her forward without even the slightest budge from Eileen's feet.

"Twilight, everything that I've said is very confidential and replete with surreptitious actions."

"But why, Eileen? I don't understand, please. I... I want to help. I know you're hurting." Twilight restrained herself from reaching out and feeling her hand, hoping to receive a spark or a glimmer of hope still left in her. A signal within the body of a neglected and beaten soul whos only purpose now half lived.

"Do you really want to know? You'll think differently of them and especially me, I can guarantee. You can't go back on this." Eileen leaned down slightly as Twilight's eyes listed away to the ground. Twilight bit her lip painfully; this was her only chance to help Eileen before she would vanish for good, most likely never to be seen again by her very eyes. The thought of the map entered her head and she knew that this was the friendship problem, and she had this gnawing feeling that it was not going to a pretty one. But like Eileen, she had her work to deal with too, even if it was not pretty. Twilight looked straight into the black voids of Eileen's mask.

"Yes..."

Eileen nodded apprehensively, "if that is what you wish, only... I wish to discuss this in front of them. Is that possible, Twilight?"

"Well, yeah. Of course."

"I'm not sure how they'll react, though. But I imagine they'll be furious with me for talking to someone while on duty, it's one of my tenets. Perhaps even to a point of high treason, but I've never broken this code until today. So I don't know what will happen." Eileen plan of recourse fell solely on Twilight and her loyalty to the princesses.

"Are you serious?!" Twilight gritted her teeth together, "this is unacceptable! I—I can't let this keep going, it's random for me to be this passionate, but everything you've said should never be wished upon someone like you... You don't deserve it."

"Twilight, I know it's upsetting to you and I thank you for worrying. But there's a reason I've kept my mouth shut about it all this time."

"No, I can't have this on Hearth's Warming... it isn't right now and it isn't right ever."

"Twilight!" Eileen snatched Twilight by the leg. "Stop and breathe for a moment! Don't rush into things so brazenly."

"This isn't ok, Eileen. I want to help you, it's my duty." Twilight took Eileen's advice and closed her eyes for a few moments of intense reflection.

"I know you do... and I think you're the perfect candidate for the job." Eileen let her go slowly, "They'll trust you. You've proven yourself time and time again. Maybe they'll blow it off at first, but once you start really digging deep. They'll get the message loud and clear."

"Are you saying we should face them right? Ri-Right now?"

"Celestia and I have been drifting apart over the past couple of years, and I fear Luna is starting down the same path. I think they need to be reminded of a few things to bring back the fire between us. Not to mention a few bad omens from my past that I just need to get out. This is what this holiday is about, right?" Eileen's unsteady voice resonated with Twilight's apathy.

"Of course, Eileen."

"If we do this, I need to set a few things straight for you all when I speak to them, understand? Prepare yourself for what you might hear because it isn't good... I might say a few things that will question your newfound trust in me."

"N-No, whatever it is, I'm going to help you all see through the problem." Twilight opened the doors and let the hall's glory flourish into the room, unleashing a change in pressure. Eileen's feathers danced in the air wildly for a brief moment, much like Twilight's mane and tail. 

"All will be revealed," Her heavy boots started up again as Twilight exited the room just before her. Eileen towered over Twilight and even had a few inches on Celestia herself. Granted, the pointed black hood gave Eileen the few extra inches. "I understand I'm keeping you in the dark, but it's best if you learn with everyone around... It's been a long time coming, really."

She turned heel and closed the doors with nary a peep to rattle the ears.
> The Reckoning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight glanced back at Eileen with her boots starting and stopping against the floor. It was strange for her to hear the patter of footsteps in her normal world where every pace, trot, or gallop seemed to have an undeniable and rhythmic ring. But Eileen's way consisted of many diminuendos and crescendos, not to mention a faulty pace.

"So, why did you come inside if they said it's against the rules?" Twilight stopped just at the lip of the intersecting hallway next to the staircase of deception.

"I heard a strange noise and I thought you were being attacked. I probably let myself get carried away on that one. Then I guess I took a wrong turn and... well."

"A strange noise? I didn't hear anything extraordinary."

"Are you, sure? I could have sworn-"

"It-It's ok, don't worry about it. No one is hurt or anything like that." Twilight was quick to dismiss the case. Secretly, she had a sneaking suspicion that Eileen was probably trying to hear what her subconscious wanted her to. 

"Ah, I see. Probably a tree snapping in the woods or, something like that." Eileen put her hand on her forehead, "am I freaking losing it or what?... Those damn bells!"

"I'm sure you're just under a lot of stress... is this what you do every Hearth's Warming?" Twilight raised a questionable eyebrow, "also, bells?"

"When the guards go home to their families, I'm their only protection... but to be honest, I—I do this almost always. Or, at least, when I can." Eileen followed Twilight through another hallway that she completely missed when entering. She began to trail off but she reminded herself of Twilight's question. "The bells? Oh... it's nothing to fret over."

"Why do you do that to yourself? You need to take a break! No wonder you-"

"Death doesn't take breaks, Twilight. A carefully placed blade is all it takes. It's my job to protect them when I can, ok?!... I will not let them get hurt, not while I'm around."

"But I'm sure they want you to take breaks. It's just—It isn't healthy. They can handle themselves." Hearing Eileen say those words, almost as if she swore an unwavering oath of flesh. Twilight's body shivered ever so subtly, creeping even closer to the truth.

"Twilight, you don't understand." Eileen found herself beginning to stumble over her words.

"What do I not understand, then?"

"Just wait until we talk to them. There's a lot you don't know, be patient."

Twilight squinted and gave Eileen a faint glower to her look, "I've been patient, Eileen."

"Patience is the greatest tool in anyone's arsenal, Twilight. But too little makes you impulsive. Too much makes you indecisive. Your trouble-making friend Rainbow Dash or even most of your friends lack this tool. Don't muck it up like they do."

"What did they ever do to you? Do you, not l-like them?"

"No, they act like children who are too ignorant to see the full scale of things. I've never met them personally, but when I see you all work, all I see are headless chickens. And perhaps my judgment is clouded, but not everything has a happy ending." Eileen watched Twilight's mouth stay agape and frozen in place.

"Excuse me, we've saved Equestria numerous times. We have a bond that's more powerful than every alicorn combined."

"And I'm not questioning that. But don't forget the work I've done that you'll never hear about in the press." Eileen sealed her lips, as did Twilight. They had established an agreement previously and did not want to abolish it. Twilight only bide her tongue for as long as she could before finally giving up.

"I just really think you should give my friends—A chance."

"Perhaps I should, who knows..."

"U-Uh, may I ask another question, E-Eileen?"

"Who's stopping you?" Eileen looked down to Twilight who bobbed her head around mindlessly, trying to find the right way to say what she wanted to say. "What is it?"

"Oh-I, I just wanted to ask, were you telling the truth about that... thing?  The thing made of metal and wood? Could it really have, you know-"

"Killed you? Yes. It would have-"

"Please! Don't talk about things like, like—Like that."

Eileen peered through her mask and could see how elevated Twilight was. The experience of near death was seldom seen, especially in Twilight's society. Eileen knew what Twilight was starting to uncover at the surface.

"Ah... I forget that you fear death, sort of. Mortality."

"What? Are you immortal or something?" Enthused by a newfound passion, Twilight leaned in and eyed Eileen to no end.

"It's complicated, but I used to dream. And maybe I still do, I don't know."

"What does dreaming mean? Please tell me. You promised."

"Not yet."

"You better tell me everything, then." Twilight went as far as to sulk about being left out of a cache of valuable information.

"I can tell you a lot. But you may not be able to comprehend what you hear... Heh, even I can't understand some of it still."

"O-Ok, I think you underestimate my abilities. But thanks for the heads up." Twilight haughtily giggled under her breath. "I can handle my-hey! What the-"

Twilight quickly glared up at Eileen who easily wrapped her arms around Twilight's torso. Her hind legs skidded across the floor while Eileen stayed as silent as the night. Twilight suddenly noticed the door that was right on her face was completely open. 

'Oh no, Cadance! What will she think of all of this?!' Twilight glanced up at Eileen and tapped her hand now tightly wrapped around her lavender body.

"Eileen, let me-"

"H-Hey! What are you doing?!"

"No-no! It's ok, Cadance!" Twilight flailed her free foreleg, "hold on a second!"

"What in Celestia's righteous mane are you?! Let go of her now!"

"Cadance, stop yelling, please!..." Twilight wanted to shout back but obviously knew better. But Cadance continued to charge her magic.

"Cadance, hun? What's going on?" Both Twilight and Eileen immediately fixated their gazes on Shining Armor, who flipped the switch in a matter of seconds.

"Shit, shit!... This went pear-shaped fast." Eileen's breathing started up fast and her pulse throbbed violently in her bloodshot eyes.

"Hey! Let go of my sister, asshole!" Shining Armor charged forward with his own horn in mind. Instinctively, Eileen began to pull her gun but Twilight quickly caught her in the act.

'I'm just going to have to take this one. I can't hurt them.' Eileen watched as Shining Armor closed the distance.

"Eileen, no!" Twilight reached over her hand and pushed down. The inside voice rule was officially ousted. "Just let him tackle you and let me go! I'll handle this!"

"Stop, stop-stop! Twilight! Your priming it!" Eileen pushed her hoof away as the hammer cocked back. Twilight fell out of Eileen's grasp, but it was too late. Shining Armor rammed into Eileen, but Twilight went down with her.

"Guh!" The air in Eileen's lungs was pressed out with extreme force, hitting her head and scattering some of her medical tools around. "T-Twilight, let go of my gun this instant!"

"No, don't use it!"

"I'm not going to!" Her other arm was pinned behind her back. And at some point, the trigger on her gun was effectively pulled. Her finger was able to hold the hammer back just enough, but with the incessant jerking and pulling from Twilight, it was slipping fast. Twilight tried pushing Shining Armor off of Eileen but he stood on top of her prone body. Her thumb was on a constant downward slope now fast fading.

"I know you're too stupid to get this, but let my finger go!"

"Don't yell at my sister you freak!" Shining Armor pushed harder and called out for others as Eileen desperately tried jerking her pinned hand free of the weight. 

'Shit! She's not getting the message!... Eh-uh, p-plan b!' Eileen quickly looked around for a safe spot. She knew her gun was about to discharge. As her conscious took over, Eileen noticed a large window towering over her. 'It'll work. Do it, now!'

There was no room for mistakes when every millisecond counted. She brought her foot to Shining Armor's stomach, catching his horn when he instinctively leaned down. Years of studying the new anatomy of ponies revealed to Eileen many exploits she used almost always to her advantage. And she knew that unicorns had a very sensitive nerve at the base of their horns. With a generous tap, he toppled over next to Eileen. Twilight could not understand what happened to him, and she too fell victim to Eileen's attack.

But the struggle could not be any less frightening than the silence soon after. She felt her thumb slip as Twilight tightened her magic reflexively before blacking out. Eileen covered her closet ear.

Alas, nothing happened. 

Her head throbbed with a leg pointed at the window, waiting for a plume of smoke and the roar of her firearm, preparing for the bullet to rip through her leg.

"Huh?!" Eileen stared down and noticed another's magic slowly unholstering her pistol and letting the hammer down gently. It became apparent once her eyes drifted up to Luna's inquisitive and somewhat conceited flare. 'Well then...'

"Cadance! Cadance, it's ok. Stand back. Celestia trotted up to her and carefully peeled her away from the scene. She handed over Flurry Heart to Cadance to deal with the situation.

"W-What do you mean "it's ok"?! Do you know this thing?!"

"Y—" Celestia glared down at Eileen. There was no signal and everything between them stayed silent. "Y—Yes... But it's not easy to explain!"

"Eileen?! What are you doing here?!" Luna trotted past Celestia and rushed to Eileen's side. She quickly got to her feet and set Twilight and Shining Armor upright. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"I heard another bell, I... I'm afraid I'm hearing things again..." Eileen looked at Celestia who continued to glare wildly as payment.

"Eileen... Are you having flashbacks again?" Luna reared her head all the way back just to talk to the masked face.

She only nodded, picking her gun up and firmly putting the wretched thing away. Her hands slid the various tools that scattered about back into a pouch."I'll be fine, Luna."

"No, Eileen! You've been getting worse recently... I'm worried about you and you-you—" Luna trailed off, waiting for Eileen to make up another excuse. Luna shook her head and dug her muzzle deep into Eileen's stomach, which caused her to stumble just slightly. She did not know what else to do, neither of the two did.

"Oh, Luna..."

"You're worried about her, Luna? Do you realize that everyone will know our secret?!" Celestia breached the line separating the two.

"Sister!" Luna turned around and finally faced Celestia.

"Luna! Take this seriously for once!"

"With all due respect, Celestia. She is taking this-"

"Shut the hell up, Eileen!" Celestia did not, she could not even give Eileen a shred of dignity and disgraced her without even looking into the mask. But Eileen subserviently closed her mouth. She continued to bite her lip until she tasted metal.

'As you wish.' Eileen got down on her knees and pulled out a small white pill. It cracked open, releasing an obnoxious scent of ammonia as it wafted into their nostrils.

"Wait..." Cadance forced herself to stay stationary. She carefully eyed the feathery body and heard everything she was saying. 'Maybe I was wrong to judge so quickly...'

"Aye, eyes on me now." Eileen patted Twilight and Shining Armor on their muzzles with a soft coo. Their eyes flittered and soon were actually held open by the inhalent's potency. "There you go."

"E—Eileen? What happened?" Twilight breathed even deeper, feeling supercharged.

"I had to knock you two out because you weren't listening. Y-You'll be completely fine, though."

"Oh... What did I do?"

"Heheh, you were trying to pull my fingers away from a firing gun. If Luna hadn't stopped it, my gun would've discharged... I hope I didn't hit you both too hard."

"O-Oh, oh I'm sorry. I... I wasn't thinking. I'm so sorry!" Twilight immediately turned and hugged her brother tight.

"You're just looking out for him. No worries." She loomed over their bodies and stared at Cadance clutching onto her child more defensively. No matter how many times she saw that face, Eileen could not help but lightly chuckle at their expense.

"Eileen." Celestia's demeanor absolutely demanded Eileen's utmost attention. Her voice carried weight, especially when it leaked with vexation. Eileen could tell just how much Celestia was trying to keep calm under so much pressure in such a short time. "I think you... You need to leave."

"No."

Celestia looked at Eileen but quickly realized it did not come from her, it came from Twilight. Celestia was struck directly to her heart, never thinking that Twilight would stand up and openly defy her so righteously.

"Have you two—Have you two been, talking?"

"Yes, we have... And I'm shocked, Celestia. She will not be going anywhere." Twilight tramped directly in front of Eileen and stared at Celestia. Cadance trotted over to Shining Armor and looked him over. She glanced up at Eileen, feeling a strange and basic mutuality deep in her gut. Eileen nodded her head and Cadance nodded back.

"Twilight, this is none of your concern."

"But it is. Just what else are you hiding from me? Do you think I'm too young and innocent to know these kinds of things?"

"I—Twilight, it's more complicated than-"

"No! From what I've learned, you've been hiding her from the public and treating her terribly!" Twilight felt a hand on her neck and glanced up. Eileen held a finger up to her beak and hushed Twilight a second time.

"Celestia, I think it's time we have that talk we've put off for so long now..."

———

*Click... Clunk...* Eileen remained completely still, leaning against the crystal walls with a brewing aura. The clock heavily notched the seconds as an ornate pendulum swayed back and forth. She could hear Celestia freaking out without any reason, speculating with no end in sight just beyond the closed door. Everyone else tried to get her to calm down and to think rationally. Everything she said only came up grim and utterly hopeless. No matter how much everyone else assured her, she was not having any of it.

Eileen forced herself to stay quiet as the room did the same. The door opened, revealing to her a welcoming sight.

"Eileen? Please, will you come in?" Luna craned her head up to Eileen. She did not respond. Only, she stepped by Luna and entered a newly tensed room. Her boots effectively filled their anxiety-riddled ears. Luna did not take it to heart. In fact, if Eileen would have said anything, Luna knew something was wrong. Eileen watched Shining Armor grow in his defense, shielding his child and his lover. She was used to the silence, it was inviting to her no matter how much everyone else gave it to her. But even she could not deny that her body was vibrating with apprehension.

"Please, sit down." Twilight patted the cushion right next to her. Twilight seemed completely fine with it but Shining Armor was about to put a stop to it.

"I'd rather stand, thank you."

"Come on, Eileen. It's ok. There's nothing to hide now." Luna stepped to Eileen's side and softly touched her lower back. She shook her head at Luna.

"Look at them, Luna. Sitting down isn't a good idea..." Eileen looked down into Luna's eyes. Luna nodded her head, feeling Eileen's hand delicately message her long neck as she sat with Celestia. And once again, the deafening ring of silencing tension rushed her back against the wall, crossing her arms and bowing her head. A moment that Eileen, Celestia, and Luna feared but knew it was only a matter of time. Eileen stared at each pair of eyes brimming with muddled emotions.

"I understand you're all angry or completely confused, perhaps both."

"Like you wouldn't believe!"

"Sister! We promised to hold our tongues!" Luna raised her head high, "continue, Eileen."

"Ei—leen? What kind of a name is that?"

"What kind of a name is Cadance? Especially when it's spelled wrong, hmm?... Obviously, my name is strange to your race." Eileen secretly rolled her eyes.

"Please, back on topic." Twilight cleared her throat.

"You can be angry all you want, Celestia. Mulling it in your head over and over again like a sulking child doesn't do much." Eileen peered into Celestia's contracting irises, baring her teeth with no ounce of sophistication.

"How dare you, you insolent cur! Everything that we've done for you and you have the audacity to mock us?!" Celestia's horn released a frightening snap as she immediately stood eye-to-eye with Eileen. Her sewn feathered shawl waved with the artificial swirling air. Eileen did not move a muscle.

"Celestia!" An array of voices followed her trail, followed by the hasty shuffling of ponies rushing to Celestia. She was quickly pulled back towards the furniture enclosing Eileen from afar, her trial.

"Celestia, no! You need to keep a clear mind about this! You need to think rationally!" Luna yanked Celestia back to the sofa nearby. "Eileen, stop trying to get under her skin!"

"Why did you come inside and ruin what we had, Eileen?" In an almost cry of desperation, Celestia tried to redeem what she had lost.

"I thought you were in trouble... I heard a bell. A killer's bell."

"Of course, it had to be about those damned bells."

"Eileen, what are you talking about when you keep mentioning bells?" Twilight questionably raised an eyebrow and felt Luna touch her shoulder.

"Twilight, the sound of these types of bells to her is like a dog whistle to a dog. Only, it signals the presence of others like her for cooperation or to, um, kill... It deals with her past life and can sometimes send her into a violent panic, that's how scarring it is to her."

"Y-Yes, and like a dog whistle, only certain things can hear it. Luna is the only one besides me that can hear these bells." Eileen pulled her bell out, as did Luna. Both held it out and rang it profoundly, hearing its familiar ring. Only did Luna's pair of ears pinpoint the noise, everyone else's remained stagnant.

"You're right... I can't hear anything. But it's just a bell, why can't we hear it? What exactly makes it scarring?"

"Because of what comes after a bell is struck, it's knowing how I can't... I-I really can't explain how it works, but it works. I told you that there are some things you won't be able to understand, Twilight."

"Why can Luna only hear it?"

"I don't know, but we believe it is because she holds power over the dream realm and the night... Something you have no knowledge of. A-And I know that this sounds confusing but it's because of my previous life."

"S-So, what the hell are you then?"

"Shining, be polite." Twilight nudged Shining Armor. "She is a human that came from the mirror in Canterlot. Remember that thing?"

"Yes... I do."

"So you've traveled across the mirror?" Eileen raised her head.

"No... No, I haven't. But my sister has." Shining Armor did not smile or accept Eileen, but he knew that trying to fight would not lead anywhere.

"No, she's been to a different version of the human world. She didn't land in mine, thankfully."

"Well, how did you even get through the mirror?" Cadance was still on uneasy grounds, much like Shining Armor. Not only that, she was on uneasy grounds with Celestia and Luna for keeping such a huge secret. Eileen clenched her eyes closed and put a hand on her cloaked head.

"Ragh!..." She muttered various notes of pain under her shaking breath.

"Eileen, are you-" Luna let Eileen raise her hand and shake her head.

"I don't—I don't want to talk about that, ok? I just-" Her breath rattled out of her tired lungs, afraid of what she would find so loosely buried. "I remember now."

"Do what you feel is comfortable to you. Don't force it." Luna sternly spoke.

"Can't you just go back?" Shining Armor continued his long-lasting frown. "What's even stopping you from going back to your own kind?"

"N-No, I can't."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because I've tried you fool! I've tried so many times to go back, but nothing works. But why the fuck would I want to go back to that rotten cesspool of a life anyway?!" Eileen denoted a semblance of actual insanity. "Sorry, I-I didn't mean to..."

"How... H-How long have you been around?" Cadance managed to open her mouth and covered Flurry Heart's ears.

"Twenty-three years..."

"Oh, my—Celestia? Is she being serious? Have you really kept her a secret for twenty-three years?!" Twilight gawked up to Celestia's pain-stricken face.

"Yes." She did not hesitate to answer. Both she and Luna went deathly quiet.

"I can't believe this... I—" Cadance wracked her mind in strange disgust. "Wha?"

"What do you do, Eileen? Y-You told me you protect them, but why? And, and how?" Twilight leaned forward with such daring.

There was nothing left to hide, and Eileen knew it. "I'm their royal assassin."

"Did you just say what I think you said? W-Who gives you orders?!" Shining Armor felt a second wind get pumped directly into his bloodstream.

"Oh, don't knock a damned screw loose, idiot. I do it myself, no one gives me orders!" Eileen raised her voice right back at him. No matter what, she was not going to throw Celestia and Luna under a bus. "I give them a chance to cooperate, and if they don't, they-"

"Stop—Just, stop!" Twilight demanded.

"You freaking murderer! How many innocent civilians have you killed, huh?!"

"I kill whoever poses a serious threat to your princesses and this country. Do you really think I enjoy doing this, Shining Armor? I do this of my own accord because peace can't be created without someone doing the dirty work." Eileen could not afford to gauge their reactions. "It's—Just what I've done long before some of you were born... even longer than that. Hell, if you didn't do anything about Starlight Glimmer, Twilight. She was my next mark."

Twilight had to restrain Shining Armor from Eileen. 

"What?! You were going to kill her?!" She did not restain her own voice, however.

"I had no choice! If she would've succeeded in keeping your powers, imagine what kind of message that would send. An alicorn letting her powers go willingly to some lowly unicorn? She would've tried going global, and I wasn't going to let that happen! If she threatened the peace of this world, she would taste my blade." Eileen flashed her warped blades for a moment before retreating back into silence. Twilight closed her eyes, needing a moment to think things over seriously.

"Now... can I ask how you got here? What happened, t-that forced you into our world? Why are you an assassin?!" Twilight braced herself for even more terrible things as she secretly began choking up over the things that could have happened.

"Twilight, I'm warning you right now. You're treading on very thin ice... I promised to tell you, but it's not what you want to hear." Eileen managed to calm her voice down but could feel her body shaking. Seeing the shake in her hands.

"Say it." Twilight remained absolute in her pursuit and cause, ready to hear what Eileen had to offer.

"E-Eileen, please." Luna crawled off of the sofa towards her.

"No, Luna... I need to tell you how I ended up here... It's about time. Enough festering." Eileen stepped forward and caught Luna before she latched on. She leaned down with Luna's muzzle in her hand and sniggered acceptingly to her choice. "Ah, don't waste your tears on me... I chose this life, Luna. Someone has to do it."

"I know..."

"Go sit with your big sis, ok?"

"O-k, sorry."

"You've nothing to apologize for. It's all on me." Eileen's hand left Luna's muzzle as she trotted back to her seat. With her watchful eye captivating her audience, she stood back up on two feet. A heavy mind that could not be so easily soothed and mended by simply talking. Once the mind was corrupted with all purity ripped away, it's permanence became rooted with no hope of redemption.
> The Reconciliation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

———

'Clunk... Clunk... Clunk'

The streets of Yharnam were completely barren, in disarray. Anyone who occupied an inch of cobblestone had fled inside in a hurry. Fog hung low and loomed with a sense of madness as it truly defined the hues of the night, moreover what it stood for. Street lanterns covered the ground in saucers of light, hiding unsightly things just beyond. Strollers were abandoned by loving mothers, who had either fled or were lying cold just a few feet away. Coffins were in chains and piled into the streets; for nothing would get out. Massive pyres were erected to burn the beastly scourge to ashes. Yharnam was in shambles, but there seemed to be a gentle wind blowing through the alleyways and streets, making such an eerie and nightmarish pitch.

Through the miasma of death, there persevered a lonely hunter strolling through the streets.

"Another one." Eileen kneeled at the side of a dead hunter with a mangled body. Normally, the active hunters with newly ministered blood on the hunt would have been reborn back to their fighting selves, ready to slaughter once more with an emboldened spirit. But his body was cold like the rest. "Plumb out of dreams..." 

She gently removed his heavy cloth hat and half mask, examining his rather untouched face. Her hand washed over his open eyes and closed them respectfully with a slight shake in her fingers.

"May you find peace... I'm sorry this happened to you."

Eileen didn't know him, but a hunter's bond was so much more than friendship. It was to be held sacred and close to heart. She rose from her knees, all pride in her work left her body ages ago. Everything was silent all around her. But every once and awhile, she would hear a beast scream, a gunshot, and silence, then the process would start anew. She did not even notice the bells until it entered her train of thought. It was something she learned to ignore. All of the peculiar and one of a kind noises they emitted and how each one signified a hunter in dire straits.

'God, there must be hundreds of them...' She swore she could have seen the ripples of time through the slits in her mask. 'What are the odds that any of them will walk away without turning? They don't know what the blood and the hunt can do to them... There's nothing I can do about it and it's sad to say, unfortunately.'

Eileen pitied their sorry souls. Their unfortunate and unknowing ignorance, a kind of ignorance that could not be helped, but only witnessed from a distance. She stared up at the snowy white moon dominating the night sky and how unmoved it truly was.

'It'll be a long hunt tonight.' Eileen's lips pursed as she sighed, looking down the endless and cluttered walkway. She pushed forward, not knowing what she would encounter or what the hunt had in store. Silently, she fled down a small bridge and walked towards a solid stone precipice surrounded by a gothic fence at the very rim. It was terribly worn and nearly corroded, but she did not care as she leaned against it with elbows crossed. What a gorgeous view through all of the disparity she saw below her. The tapering of gothic spires atop even taller buildings basking in the white glow. Every bit of metal glinted as the stars did. Every sidewalk and narrow corridor that cut the city into pieces. And every column of fetid black smoke from sources unknown.

She could smell the singed blood in the air, even through her mask. Her docile hands reached into her harnessed satchel and grabbed a folded piece of red-stained parchment. Most of it came from the sanguine ooze dripping from her feathers. Of all the names on a list called 'Marks', there remained only two.

"Henryk, and... G-Gascoigne..." Eileen sighed.

"N-N-No, not yet. He still has time..." She could not bring herself to say what was expected of her. And like the snap of a bone-dry twig, she immediately dropped the paper and spun around, her blades split menacingly, ready to draw blood with firm hands. Eileen noticed automatically that another hunter stood in her midst, his hands were up high and his saw cleaver clattered to the ground.

"Who are you?"

"I-I'm sorry if I startled you. But are you, E-Eileen? The Crow?" The unnamed hunter goggled at Eileen's attire. It certainly matched up pretty well.

"That would be me." The first thing she picked up on was his very young voice and shoddy figure. Quite literally quaking in his boots and a face stricken with fear just by a glance. But she could not blame the new hunter with blood coating every surface of his clothes. "Again, who are you?"

"A hunter, j-just like you! My-My name is William Drake!" His eyes darted every which way, just waiting for Eileen to lunge forward. She stayed silent for the moment, which probably freaked William even more. He would have never noticed Eileen smirk under such a fervid and notorious mask of the city.

"Hehehe... Relax."

"Oh, thank the Gods-" William's arms fell back limp at his sides, picking up his fleshy cleaver and slowly walking towards her.

"So, what did the new hunter kill tonight?"

"Uh, A-A few werewolves and some Yharnamites who'd, um, turned already. Ma'am, I can't-"

"Ah, putting in some work that no other killer wants to touch. Well, I'm glad someone is putting blade to flesh." She put her daggers away with a deplete chuckle to boot. "Practice makes perfect, I always say. You're not from around here, just like me."

"I was only protecting myself... And, you're right."

"Whatever you say, young man." Eileen glanced down at his gargantuan cleaver lined with saw teeth. The blade was wrapped up in thin strips of cloth and abandoned by its user long ago. She knew that hunter weapons were falling to dangerously critical levels for a lack of, but nothing had changed it seemed. And she remembered that message was given out years ago. Every proud, noble, and even fierce hunter of the hunt had been turned to malformed abominations long ago. The age of the old hunters was long past, and she was one the few still standing. "Hmm... here. For you."

Eileen held out a few scraps of horribly yellowed parchment with the symbol of the hunter burned into each one. "You still have dreams, do you not?"

"Don't you?"

"Oh, I'm afraid that was a long ago. I killed my beasts, now it's time you kill yours. Now off with you, you little killer."

"You're a beast hunter just like me, we share the same work. I don't understand what you-"

"We do not share anything. And if you really knew my name, you'd know exactly why." Eileen glared into the hunter's frightened eyes as she put her back against the stacked bricks of a building wall. Her voice cut through the foggy air with force. She slightly recoiled at herself for snapping so easily at his small truths. The hunt made people do crazy things more often than not.

"You're right! Y-You're right, I don't really know what you do. My apologies."

"Listen, you just keep killing beasts. And I'll keep doing what I'm best at. I suggest you get to it."

"I will, but could you listen to me for a damn second?!" William shouted louder than he had intentioned and covered his mouth. Taking a moment to breathe, he collected his widely scattered thoughts of what her reactions were going to be soon.

"What is it? I've no time to fraternize." Eileen opened her ears once she heard his boot steps stop only feet from her.

"Umm... Eh. T-There was another hunter in Oedon Chapel when I stepped inside. He told me he'd just killed a man who'd turned into a beast before his eyes. Wearing all black with a white scarf around his neck, a-and he-he had a giant axe, unlike others I've seen." William reached behind him, but Eileen lowered her head almost immediately.

"He told me to find you because your name is inscribed on the bottom of this music box. I guess he thought it was only right to return it... I'm terribly sorry." William watched in awe as Eileen held the small music box and a giant red brooch tightly wrapped in a shred of Gascoigne's scarf. She put it up to her massively throbbing heart and quietly sobbed behind her mask. How quickly her emotions flipped only killed her inside.

"Thank you..."

He must have heard her crying because he gently patted her shoulder before silently retreating back into the streets of such an abhorrent city. She waited a good ten minutes before she slid to the ground, absolutely broken inside and out. 

'No... No-no, no! God, please stop!' Eileen tried to stop herself, but she felt a flood of tears roll down her face. 'God dammit! N-Noo!... No-no—No!'

She wanted to scream, but even that comfort was denied.

———

"Hello? Hello?!" Eileen knocked on the window of a stately home overlooking the grand ravine of a sewer. "Girls?! It's ok, it's me, Eileen! I'm a good friend of your parents!"

She rushed around to the front entrance when she noticed the locks were unlatched and the door was ajar. "Shit!"

Every light in the house was extinguished in black. But Eileen barged through the door with a pistol in one hand and her blades in the other.

"Girls?! Come out, it's ok! I'm here to get you someplace safe... Please! You don't need to hide!" She heard the things she was saying in her perturbed voice. 'Get it together, Eileen! Calm down!'

"T-They're ok, they're all ok. Just... calm down. They couldn't have gone far." Eileen scoured the room for clues and almost immediately found a note on the table. 'I'm sure once they see there godmother they'll come running to me. Just level yourself.'


'I went to Oedon Chapel, mum. I'll be safe there with big sis.'


Eileen did not have time to reflect. She threw the paper and slammed the door behind her. Sliding down a long ladder into the very shallow sewers, Eileen sprinted past giant crows and caustic villagers missing their bottom halves; she made sure not to recognize any of them. But then she stood at the mouth of a giant tunnel where darkness truly manifested. A sinister chill rolled out of the tunnel as she looked at her feet. Ribbons of blood slowly filtered out of the stone passage. She grabbed an iron shaft leaning against a pipe and wrapped it in oiled linens before taking a piece of fire paper against it.

It lit up instantaneously, filling the tunnel in a warm orange glow as the flames licked the ceiling. She jogged through the muck and checked everything, she did not know what lied within the tunnel. 

Only, she stumbled upon a giant mound of flesh, one that failed to move in the slightest. The ribbons of blood now turned thick and syrupy as the mound leaked from enormous lacerations scoring every side. Eileen recognized the thing to be a giant hairless pig with sharp tusks once she got up close. A giant chunk from its shoulder was cleaved off, likely the work of a hunter's axe. 

She leaned in closer; there was something snared in its tusks. Eileen wrapped her hands in a bloody cloth with a painfully familiar embroidery running through it. And next to the pig there laid a pair of buckled shoes belonging to a little girl. She wanted to collapse to her knees but her damned stoicism continued to deny her what she wanted. She could not cry anymore.

Eileen drew her pistol without any feeling of remorse or hesitation and shot the pig in the head. The angry metallic verberation shook her to the core, feeling the roar of the firearm fill her with uncomforting rage. She pulled another bullet and unloaded another sharp crack into the city. By the time she was done, ten casings slowly drifted with the sewage and the blood, one after another.

She hated the hunter who killed the pig, whoever it was. To deny her vengeful wrath upon a beast of the hunt that had killed her inside long ago. It would have gone against everything she believed in and swore in the Hunter of Hunter's oath. To kill hunters who had gone mad from the stench of blood in order to protect the innocent people of Yharnam. It was not her job to kill the nightmare's brought by The Hunter's Dream; a place of rebirth and desperate peace. But it dawned on her that everyone was a beast, even when they cloaked themselves in false clothing. Everyone turned eventually and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She was killing beasts all along.

———

After the red moon unleashed its hidden power, the veil of hidden secrets lifted. Revealing the truth of man and the hazed line that separated them from being beasts. If Eileen had any speculations, none of them remained. She had lost track of time once the moon was washed in the corrupting ire. At moments, she became lost in her emotions and sojourned in places she always found comforting. Other times, she was violent and snapped at anything around her. But most importantly, she became utterly careless.

Eileen drifted in and out of consciousness, stumbling around the streets in a tempered slur with a hand pressed hard against her abdomen.

"B... Bastard. Snuck up on me good." She glanced down at her gloved hands and eerily admired the thick color of rusted red spilling off in long bands. She stuck her finger into her belly and cried out sharply in pain.

She knew almost immediately she coughed up blood into the mask. Her vision blurred as her head began to spin in a city of iron railings and the color of black and red. Suddenly, her legs buckled under the dead weight near the main cathedral of Yharnam. Atop a mountain of stairs, Eileen's eyes began to flitter as she painfully staved off the gentle embrace of death. A needle and thread found themselves in her hands after she ripped open her outfit slightly. "Oh, god..."

Her assailant's katana had gone straight through the center of her abdomen and out the back. She tried and tried but nothing was going to stop the bleeding. The needle tinkled against the stones below her body, her horrendously trembling hands would never come close to fixing everything. Even when she took blood to heal herself, more of it was going out than in.

"This may be it for me—"

Her ears honed in once she heard the sounds of heavy steps drawing near. 

"Come on you bastard. Finish the job. Kill me already..." Eileen glared at the lip of the stairs, waiting to see the blood-addled hunter who had stabbed her clean.

Not long after, she noticed a different hunter just beginning to notice her writhing body on the cold ground.

"Oh... it's you—I'm glad you're ok." She looked deeply into William's eyes.

"E-Eileen? Shit, what happened?!" William Drake kneeled at Eileen's side, trying to find anything, anything at all to help her from succumbing to her injuries. "Are you ok?!"

"I've made a bit of a blunder." She watched his hands grab something, preparing a blood vial for her. She reached up and held his vibrating hand. "Don't waste your blood on this poor old woman... This wound can't be healed in time. He's my mark, turn back. That thing needs to die by my blade. You don't need to bloody yours anymore..."

"You won't last a minute before collapsing, Eileen..." William had a crazy thought enter his head. If a hunter could do this to Eileen, he knew that the mad hunter would have to die. "I'm doing to this for you. This is to pay you back for helping me so don't try talking me out of it!... H-Hang on, ok?"

Eileen closed her eyes and felt a faint smile cross her face as William sprinted into the cathedral. "The new hunter isn't so new anymore. Good. There's still... left for me—"

But she knew that moment was it for her. A lady growing old and deprived of any hope thereafter. Everything that gave her purpose was swiftly butchered in a single night. It was her job to protect the people of Yharnam and she failed miserably. And as her mind scrolled through simple musings, her eyes drifted off towards the sky where nothing but death lingered. 

"Eileen! Eileen, no!" William jolted her back to a barely conscious state. She felt the death of a fellow hunter nearby in his wake.

"I told you not to go. Listen to your elders next time, you understand? Well, you saved my life." Eileen heaved out a heavy cough and reached up to him and let William hold her hand. "H-Here... I think you deserve this."

She pulled a small badge off of her necklace; it vaguely resembled the symbol of a crow.

"This is your choice alone. To-To be my successor as the new crow hunter... As it was for the hunter before me, the one you put to rest. No one will understand, but it is a hunter's work too—Oh, don't worry about me. My glory days are far behind me now. I'm just... Let me rest my eyes a bit." But when she expected the embrace of darkness clouding her vision, she experienced a terrifyingly bright flash. A flash that somehow devoured her body until she could not keep her thoughts any longer.

———

Eileen curled up against the wall as she did twenty-three years ago. She did not care if they heard her crying this time, even in the deafening silence before her peers. All those sleepless nights and every mission she went out on in her new world would never amount to what she experienced on the night she died.

"And—And then I saw w-white floors and watched them, turn red. I thought I was in the afterlife, and I-I shambled through the halls, I didn't know how I was up and w-walking, but I was! I just couldn't take the pain any longer and I collapsed in-in a strange and warm place. The next thing I knew, I saw Celestia cradling me in her hooves after she removed my mask, that was it..." She tried to stop her voice from quivering, but she far gone.

"A-After I found out they all died... I-I-just-gave up. That world died alongside me, I welcomed death and I ended up here... Twenty-three years ago on this night." Eileen gripped the cold marble and forced herself up without looking at anyone in the room. 'Dry your damned tears! Crying won't bring them back.'

She reached down to the doorknob with her nimble fingers, letting the door swing open without any help. But something nudged her black boots. Something small and alive after the soft patter of hooves latched onto her leg. Eileen turned around and stared down at Flurry Heart who continued to pull at her bootstraps. And Eileen looked up at Cadance and Shining Armor who were astonished from either her story or what was happening, much like the rest of the room. 

She reached down to the babbling alicorn and nested her in the crook of her arms, returning Flurry Heart to her parents. "Take good care of her, ok?"

Flurry Heart nervously cried out in a panic as Eileen made for the door again.

"Ei-Eileen, wait!" Cadance gently jostled Flurry Heart. Once Eileen stopped and turned slowly, Flurry Heart stopped whimpering almost instantly. "She doesn't want you to leave... And—I don't think anyone else here wants that either... It's ok, l-let it out."

"I let them all die... I'm not fit to protect you." Eileen was taken by surprised when both Celestia and Luna assaulted her with such an emotional embrace. She nearly tipped over, and after staring at the two alicorns so distraught, she tried to comfort them somehow. She opened her mouth but nothing came out.

"You didn't let anyone die, Eileen. H-How dare you blame everything on yourself! I won't have any of that talk here. Never tell that to yourself, understand me?!" Luna hugged even tighter as Eileen got to her knees for ease of access. "I don't know what it feels like to be the world you lived in, but I know how it feels to be alone and scared..."

"Why didn't you ever tell us this, Eileen?" Celestia broke away and looked into the holes. "No one should hold onto something so difficult to deal with alone!" 

"I didn't want you to hurt inside, none of you... It's my burden to bare and you shouldn't suffer for it. As far as I'm concerned? I treat you two like I did those two girls. You two are the closest things I consider family. But we've grown apart recently, so I-I—Thought it was happening again." Eileen let Luna go as she sat at Celestia's side, who was still very closeby. "I used to be one of the best. But I couldn't even save the ones I loved and I nearly went mad because of it... It makes me question my value, and it makes me obsess over perfection."

"Don't do that, Eileen! You can't blame everything on yourself!" Twilight's eyes were already wet from the very thought. "Don't let it eat you alive!"

"It's not even about that. It's my fears of what I never want to see again. Why do you think I never let up on anything I do?" Eileen searched the ground and felt her eyes shutter.

"Is this why you never back down? Why you always feel like it's your sole duty to protect everything in this world?" Celestia sounded almost hurt for causing undue harm to Eileen.

"I don't want to lose anything I love again. I will not, I-I can't let it happen again! If I have to kill to protect this world I'll do it!" Eileen's hands hopelessly laid at her sides. "I don't want that burden on my shoulders... I don't know what I'd do if I lost you all again. There wouldn't be a second chance this time!"

"And you think we never worry about you? We wouldn't know what to do either! There are times where I worry about you never coming back! Both of us do!" Celestia held Luna in the process.

"We used to be the best of friends, Celestia. Why did you just... Stop?"

"I don't know! I'm just a damn idiot for doing something that isn't me at all. Just—Ugh! I'm so disgusted with myself... I understand now why you came inside. I've just been so busy the past couple of years that I forget you have feelings too. If only I knew what was going on." Celestia poked Eileen's mask with her golden hoof. "I want to see you, personally."

Eileen nervously reached back and unbuckled the straps on her mask. She could not remember when Celestia had last seen her uncovered face, but to reveal herself in front of a group of heart-wrenched ponies seemed more daunting. The metal buckles rattled as the mask came loose, just like her pointed hat. And slowly, her identity dropped into her lap, avoiding Celestia's motherly smile. Eileen watched Celestia's hoof go under and raise her chin. Her gorgeous smile already trembling at her rarely seen face.

"I'm so sorry that you lost everything you loved and how that must feel every waking hour... Because I wouldn't have the strength that you have. But you're here now, and-that's all that matters, ok?" Celestia wicked a tear away from her rapidly filling eyelids but continued to admire Eileen's elderly charm.

"Now, now. Don't start with that. Lulu's going to keep you in check if you do." Eileen looked at everyone else in the room who were enthralled by her face, "not what you expected, huh?"

"I said you could call me that in confidence..." Luna felt an ember-like heat build in her cheeks as Eileen jokingly tapped Luna's chest with a finger.

"It's not like anyone in here has never heard it before. I call you Lulu just like I call you Celie." Eileen glanced back at Celestia, "I like seeing you get worked up over nothing I guess, call me silly if you want."

Celestia chuckled, but in a way that yearned for something of nostalgia. "Well, I guess that story makes sense now, Eileen. When I first found you?"

"I remember before I passed out completely, how panicked you were when you yelled "Help me, dammit!" to the guards."

"Hehe, it was pretty easy to find you." Celestia's smirk turned serious in a matter of moments. "Thankfully I helped you back then. I'm sure you were very confused once you came to. And even though I didn't know you then, you looked at peace."

"You saved my life, Celestia... It's part of the reason I do what I do. It's a debt I can't repay." She fingered the mask and carefully studied each blotch and every dent. "And I'm glad I ended up here."

"Nonono, you paid that off a long time ago... Your company's payment enough. A blessing in disguise, I'd say." Celestia held Eileen's face as each smiled for one another.

"Well? What are we going to do about all this? It's been a good run, but."

"Oh-" Celestia tapped her muzzle. "We'll definitely make a few more changes to your job. You know, one that doesn't require you to be on guard duty for us all the time. Of all things, huh?"

"I may be getting old, Celestia. But you won't take that job away from me. It's what I do best. Hehehe..."

"Oh, I know! Heh heh—Just, could you possibly take breaks? Please?" Celestia feverishly wiped her eyes.

"Y—Yes... I reckon its time I start taking things a little easier, yeah? Just a little bit."

"I think we can all keep this a secret until we figure out what to do, yes? This is still a delicate matter." Luna stood up and eyed all of the bobbing heads and soft agreements. Twilight nodded most enthusiastically and closed her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief.

"And I think I owe you all an apology. Especially you, Twilight. I got—Excited, you could say." Celestia sheepishly admitted. "You were brave enough to stand up and know what was happening was very wrong. My, sincerest apologies."

"That's an understatement." Luna poked Eileen's side. She stood up and smiled down at Luna. 

"That's ok, Celestia. Eileen said you needed to be reminded of what you two had, or, the three of you in this case. I'm just relieved this nasty business is over." Twilight's eyes opened even deeper, looking back at her pulsating cutie mark. A wave of actual relief washed all of her cares away. But another issue was still left unattended. Twilight gazed upon her merry works of Hearth's Warming and wondered what would happen now? She found her eyes slowly drift back to Eileen and how she patiently waited for someone to decide what to do with her presence. Shining Armor worked up the courage to apologize to Eileen for tackling her, but she understood and even complimented him for his strength. Seeing him blush was enough to make Eileen and Twilight smile. Eileen sniffed the air deeply, feeling her nostrils being overloaded with all the pleasant scents. Behind the mask, it all smelt the same, but now she was introduced to newfound delights. 

Twilight understood the meaning of Hearth's Warming to heart. And she knew that leaving Eileen out of everything—someone who really was alone in a world of ponies—would not settle well with her. For everything that Eileen had to endure, it was only right.

"Eileen?"

"Yes, Twilight?"

"I don't know how my parents will react, but would you like to stay?... I want you to be a part of this. And if you want... a part of this family tradition."

"If that's ok with everyone else, then I'd be delighted to stay... It's been awhile." Eileen crossed her arms, everyone else was more than welcoming.

"Of course! And you'd better visit after this, Eileen, ok? I want you to be here every year. And I want you to meet my friends sometime. I know you have your differences, but I have a feeling they'd grow on you pretty fast."

"Ok now, don't get too far ahead of yourself... Give me some time and I'll visit your palace again soon." Eileen plucked her bell back into her hand and showed the thing to Twilight. 

"Here, I'm sure Luna won't mind if you borrow mine. Ring this when you find yourself in desperate need... Or, if you need me to deal with a more—Furtive issue..." Eileen tossed it over as Twilight caught it in a magic cloud.

"Go ahead, Twilight. She can tell who's ringing which one anyway." 

"Thanks, Eileen. I'll take good care of it." Twilight stared at the strange little bell, holding it tight against her beating chest. To be entrusted with such an important piece of captivating metallurgy made her shiver with pride. "I promise."

The room went silent

"Twilight! Your parents have arrived!" Spike barged through the door with overwhelming ambition and enthusiasm to match. Twilight Velvet and Night Light examined the silence in complete puzzlement as the blackened figure reared her head back. Spike finally opened his eyes and saw what they saw.

"Um—Hi! Mom and dad, h-how are you?" Twilight put on the biggest smile she could muster.

"Uh, good... Well, are you going to introduce your friend, sweetie?"

"Oh boy, where do we begin, hehe!"