> With Eyes Open
>  by Fan4tic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1. Part 1: Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"She didn't look like this before," thought Celestia, staring intently at the unconscious pony she was straddling, horn pointed directly at her neck and glowing.

Below her laid a completely different, yet still recognisable, pony from the one she knew as Astral Blossom. For one, her coat, hair, and eyes were different colors from their original silver-and-white scheme. Her mane and tail were now a very dark pink, her coat a light rose pink, and her eyes a vibrant, almost luminous vermillion. The only remaining details that assured Celestia of the pony's identity were her voice and her Cutie Mark.

Second, she was an Alicorn. When Celestia had last seen her friend and former student, she had only been a Unicorn. An exceptionally gifted Unicorn, but just that. A Unicorn. As it stood now, Celestia was easily the taller of the two hoof-to-horntip, but Astral's horn was equally, if not longer, than Celestia's horn.

"It certainly fielded the power to back up it's length, some of those spells she used hit pretty hard." She'd blocked quite a few near hits from the pale-blood, and the more powerful, tightly concentrated ones had forced her back a step, or thrown her balance off briefly. Celestia knew she wasn't the most powerful being, and she knew she wouldn't have won the way she did without help. Despite it being two versus one, Astral had been going for the kill, while the two of them had only been attempting to subdue her. Alone, Celestia's goal likely wouldn't have been reached without significant injury or complete failure of her objective.

"I'm glad Twilight insisted on accompanying me. Astral was far more powerful than the last time I taught her war magic, even for an Alicorn," Celestia felt a frown grow at her next thought, "and more skilled, too." 

So, holding down the incapacitated Alicorn in case she awoke from her violence-induced slumber, Celestia waited for the Princess of Friendship to begin working her magic at unwinding, or at least weakening, what both Princesses had discovered was a geas placed on Astral.

"Twilight, you are certain," panted Celestia, still holding her horn ready at Astral's neck, "that you can do this?"

Even though they had come to save Astral after Twilight had pried the story out of Celestia, they could not afford another confrontation. Twilight, for all her power, didn't have the experience to combat an obviously well-trained warmage using foreign techniques, and Celestia had nowhere near enough reserves left to keep Astral occupied while Twilight played support and looked for an opening in Astral's assault to exploit safely.

If they had to beat a retreat, Celestia wanted to have started three minutes ago, despite her own deep-seated desires to remain and rescue her friend.

"Yes, Princess, I'm certain. Give me fifteen minutes and I'll have her lucid enough to at least resist the geas." said Twilight with a wary, but determined look in her eyes.

Under many other circumstances, Celestia would have been proud of her student's ardor towards helping somepony. This was not one of those circumstances.

"Twilight," said Celestia, a twinge of uncertainty creeping in to her voice now. "I do not have the strength to battle her a second time, so I must ask again. Are. You. Certain?" Normally, she wouldn't have questioned Twilight's capabilities, but Astral's case was anything but normal.

This time, Twilight paused, her eyes turning pensive. She was obviously running through the calculations in her head. Could she do it?

Many factors contributed to the length of time it took for a geas to be unwound, such as the duration its target had been ensnared, the skill of both the planter and unwinder, and the overall complexity of the geas.

Despite the fact her former student had been under the geas for nearly 700 years, Twilight gave a resolute nod. "Fifteen minutes, and I'll have it done enough for her to not kill us."

Sighing, Celestia nodded once and resigned herself to waiting and going over all of her potential questions while her faithful student unwound the accursed geas.

"What shall I ask? Well, most important, I suppose, would be who put the geas on her? It would be unlikely she'd know, but it's worth an attempt. Secondly, does she remember me? Did the geas damage her mind?" Celestia's mood plummeted. That was a bitter thought, that her close friend and former student could be permanently affected by such an evil and insidious curse. 


"No, I must not think that way. Remain positive! She will be fine, I'm sure." Not feeling much better despite her own self-assurances, she forged on. "Third, how in Tartarus did she become an alicorn?" Celestia knew Astral was a pale-blood, she'd known since taking her in, but she hadn't expected her to ascend.

Astral's cutie-mark was a splotch, much like Luna's, of slightly red-tinted silver underneath of what appeared to be some form of flowering tree blossom, blood red at the tips and a soft rose pink, much like her coat but slightly redder, from the center to the tips, the very center being a red wine red. The coloration on the tips formed a chevron along the tip edges. Surrounding the blossom were numerous white four-pointed stars.

Astral had described the stars as representing the heavens, the blossom as a representation of blossoming magic, and the silver splotch as a simple reminder of her lineage.

The last time Celestia had seen her, she had merely been conducting research on her lineage's past, nothing so grand as to facilitate ascension. Ascension required a few parameters be met, such as the purpose of a ponies' special talent being met to the greatest of its capabilities, or a massive wave of magical energy fueling the transformation. Most likely both, as the former tended to follow the latter, in Celestia's experience. 

When Astral had left, she'd technically been under Celestia's personal tutelage, despite having advanced past needing a tutor long before her disappearance. As her teacher, Celestia had trusted Astral with a great wealth of knowledge, and was one of the few ponies in Celestia's waking memory she'd granted unrestricted access to the section in her library dedicated to the Dark Arts, not even Twilight had been granted that. Had Astral found a text on Alicorn Ascension that she hadn't known about, Celestia had no doubt Astral would have told her, let alone done something so brash as to leave and attempt it alone.

But Astral, like Sunset, had left quickly and quietly, leaving behind almost no trace as to where she went. However, unlike Sunset, she had also left a note. It was simple, saying that there was a personal matter she would see to, then return. She had said that it shouldn't take more than two weeks. A fortnight.

That fortnight had turned into 700 years.

After the alloted time had passed plus a few days, Celestia had started to feel bad, very bad, like something had happened to Astral. She'd assembled scouts, fliers, search and rescue to try and locate her former student, but all her attempts had failed. Even scrutinizing Astral's leftover papers and notes yielded no quarry. The pony had simply seemed to vanish from the physical world altogether, without a single lead to guide Celestia to her.

She'd grieved at Astral's loss, though not as intensely as she had with her sister. It had still hurt, though. She'd felt like she'd failed again, that she should have seen what was going to happen so she could stop it. It was like going through Nightmare Moon all over again, but without any closure, any purpose to her loss.

Then Twilight had pried the story from her, and found a book which referenced an ancient city "made by blood" and referencing pale-blood in Luna's private collection, and for the first time in 700 years, Celestia had felt hope. Perhaps her old friend could be found, and perhaps she was still alive? Maybe she'd come with them, from wherever she was?

Now, with Astral lying beneath her hooves and Twilight working beside her, Celestia felt one of the greatest surges of excitement she'd felt since her sister's cleansing. If this worked, there was a chance she'd get one of her closest friends and someone she'd never thought she'd see again back!

"But that's still an if, Celestia. Don't get your hopes up yet; you may have to leave her and come back later," Celestia quickly reminded herself. Excitement for the future could wait, first she had a pony to save.
> 2a. Extra Reading
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was an exciting opportunity for Twilight. It wasn't often she was allowed into the Canterlot Royal Library before her coronation, and she hadn't exactly had much opportunity to visit after, either. One thing or another had kept her busy, and so far she'd had far less time alone with all those books than she'd liked.

"Too bad I'm here specifically to find literature on Friendship," Twilight thought glumly, "and double too bad they don't let me take these books home." The Library had a strict policy for no take-outs, as many of the books in the Library were one-of-a-kind. Twilight understood the need for care, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel consternation at that particular rule.

So befitting the personal student of Princess Celestia, Twilight kept to her word, and continued perusing and occasionally lifting a book from the "Theoretical Magic/Magic Theory" section in the Library to add to the slowly growing pile floating beside her. Unfortunately for Twilight, the section was huge and many of the books had no cover reference to Friendship whatsoever, forcing her to file through them by hoof. Even the librarians and archivists couldn't help, as many of the books hadn't been read, only sorted and filed into their correct positions.

Her only saving grace was a woefully inadequate catelog of the books within the section, last compiled roughly 400 years ago by a particularly bored librarian. It was obviously incomplete, even in it's time, as a fair number of the titles 400 years and older Twilight encountered hadn't been recorded at all.

"Hmm? What's this?" Twilight thought, pulling what appeared to be an unfinished book from the shelf. "It doesn't look like the others. No title," – Twilight flipped the book open – "no title page, and inside there's... Notes, on magical theory?" 

Flipping the book closed, Twilight eyed the outside of the book. "It's old, badly bound, and is obviously a first edition. This shouldn't be on a shelf, but probably in preservation somewhere." So, Twilight put the book on her pile, and continued through the rest of the shelves, not exactly hopeful for a drastic breakthrough in her search.

-#-#-

Hours later, Twilight felt glad she hadn't hoped. Now she only felt a little depressed at the complete lack of relevant information or theories on Friendship that hadn't yet been proven or disproven. For all intents and purposes, it seemed like she was the first person in nearly five hundred years to take a serious look at Friendship and how it affected ponies. As it stood, she and her friends were not only the best suited, but also the best equipped to research the phenomenon. Twilight tried to feel happy about researching a heretofore poorly understood force, but as far as she'd read, Friendship wasn't even quantifiable outside of the effects it had on ponies.

"Actually, now that I think about it, that makes things a lot easier," Twilight realized, a book pausing in its flight to the "return" pile, "passive experimentation instead of active. Awesome!"

Out of the corner of her eye, the only book she hadn't read sat alone on the far side of her table. It wasn't in Twilight's nature to leave a book she'd picked unread, and it technically was in Twilight's specified study area. "A quick glance, that's all. Probably nothing new in there anyways."

-#-#-

A few short hours later, Twilight left the library under cover of night doing something she'd never done before.

She was stealing a book.

Not just any book, though, but possibly one of the most interesting books she'd read in her life. The book she had secured under her wing was a theorists notebook. The first few pages had been typeset, Celestia knows why, but the rest was entirely hoofwritten, scores of ideas and theories about magic crammed into its heavily yellowed pages. Notes about experiments and correlations, diagrams of magical forces and their effects often dominated several pages at a time.

Yet something bothered Twilight. While many of these theories had already been proven (or disproven), there were a select few that, as far as Twilight could tell, hadn't ever been publicized. Even worse, all of them had simply stopped mid-sentence.

"Maybe the researcher died? Maybe this book never saw the light of day because its author passed it off to another researcher, who finished the theories and experiments?" Twilight mused in her head. "Either way, this pony was obviously a genius in her day. I wonder if Princess Celestia knows anything else about Astral Blossom?"

"Oh," Twilight stilled, her heart feeezing in her chest as she suddenly remembered a very important detail, "the Princess is going to be capital M mad when she realizes I stole a book. Maybe I should –" Twilight levitated the book in front of her, debating the pros and cons of keeping it, "– no, whatever the consequences, I want to know all about this pony's work. Tonight, I'll read what I can of this book, and tomorrow I'll ask Princess Celestia about Astral Blossom."

So once more tucking the book under her wing, Twilight continued her trot towards her old tower by the castle, eager to spend her night reading the inauspicious book she'd daringly snuck from the Royal Library.
> 2b. Extra Reading
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blinking the blearyness from her eyes, Twilight, stretched, groaned, and, with monumental effort, lifted herself from where she'd fallen asleep the night before while reading Astral's notebook. As she'd assumed, the book so far had been an insightful glance at early Equestrian magical research. Most of the methods practiced were crude, sure, but they were obviously the genesis for the modern methods.

Checking first to ensure Astral's notebook was where she'd remembered leaving it, Twilight glanced out the window, catching sight of the first rays of the sun peeking up from behind the horizon. She hadn't always been a morning pony, but one developed such habits when Princess Celestia was their teacher. She sat there for a moment, appreciating the sun's warmth, before the sounds of vigorous sizzling reminded her stomach to be hungry.

Shuffling to the open kitchen door, Twilight spotted Spike finishing his preparations for his breakfast and Twilight's snack before her own breakfast with Princess Celestia. "Hey, Twilight. Sleep well?" Spike briefly looked up from his work when he heard her enter the room, before turning back to the stove.

"Pretty good, despite the late night. What're you making for breakfast?" Twilight glanced towards where he was standing, trying to sneak a peek at whatever it was he was making. She wasn't always a fan of whatever culinary masterpiece her favourite baby dragon cooked up, but this one did smell nice.

"Sauteed onions and cauliflower with mushroom" – he replied while flipping the pan's contents – "but not much, since you're already scheduled with the Princess. Should be done in about, eh, another two minutes?"

Twilight nodded. "Okay. Guess I'll do the morning rituals after breakfast, then." Twilight recalled Astral's notebook from the other room, and briefly leafed through its pages.

"I noticed you reading that book last night, before I went to bed. What is it?" Spike turned from his cooking, eyeing her reading. "It's not some sort of forbidden magic book, or something, right?"

Despite herself, Twilight giggled. "No, silly. As if the Princess would ever let anyone into that section, I'm pretty sure even she's not allowed in there." Truthfully, Twilight couldn't recall ever hearing about a pony being let into the Forbidden section in the Library, ever. Not even the Princess visited it, and most of the books were heavily protected with unique charms and wards created by ponies long dead.

Still looking suspicious, Spike took the food from the stove and began to dish it out. However, he reserved any of his other comments about Twilight's new book, not wanting to rev her lecture mode.

-#-#-

When Twilight was led into the private dining room in the castle, she made sure to keep the book carefully hidden. Celestia may have been observant, but Twilight was certain she could at least keep some secrets from her Princess. Not that she wanted to, but timing did matter when one revealed that they'd broken a law.

The room was very simple, it held a large window on one side which caught the setting sun and moon, a table with three chairs on each side and one at each head, four doors to adjoining rooms, and lighting fixtures, all in the castle's signature colors. Of the chairs at the table, Celestia sat at the head furthest from the door Twilight entered through.

Said Princess was already at the table, having arrived only shortly before Twilight. Hearing the door open to admit Twilight, she turned to her student with a friendly smile, but Twilight beat her to the spoken word.

"Princess, –" Twilight said while bowing "– thank you for having me for breakfast, it's been a while since we did this, hasn't it?"

"It has. I would have invited you sooner, but I didn't want to drag you all the way from Ponyville to here just to have dinner with little old me," – Celestia paused,  taking a sip of her tea, – "but I wouldn't mind it if you dropped by more often.

Now, come and sit down. I don't want anypony to think I treat my student and friendly badly," said Celestia, pulling out the chair on her immediate right with her magic.

"I can try, Princess, –" said Twilight, hopping into the chair Celestia selected for her, "– but Ponyville's a day's trip away, and I'm not sure how often I could make that." She would like to take up the Princess on her offer, but both her duties as Princess of Friendship and as Ponyville's resident librarian made it hard to find free time.

"I understand, Twilight, everypony has their obligations and commitments, I wouldn't take you away from them to satisfy my own desires." Celestia's eyes settled on her right wing, an eyebrow almost imperceptibly raising, before her smile shifted to a slightly mischievous one. "Oh, but I would like to know exactly what my student is hiding from me."

Twilight started. "But- I- oh, horseapples," she thought. "N- nothing, Princess. Just a little bit of extra reading, that's all."

"Oh? So nothing related to your current studies?" Celestia asked with as much innocence as she could muster while pulling the face that she was.

Hopping from forehoof to forehoof in a vain attempt to calm her nerves, Twilight tried, in vain, to explain with coherence. "Well, yes but- I mean, it's, um, magic, about ma-"

Letting her mischievous smile fade into a gentler, more familial, and almost apologetic smile, Celestia relented on Twilight. "I'm sorry, Twilight, I didn't mean to interrogate you. If you thought this book important enough to bring to my attention, then I will listen."

Twilight shakily nodded and levitated the book from beneath her wing, cringing at how thick it actually was. "No wonder she figured me out." Twilight set the book down on the table.

"So, what is this book, my most faithful student?" Celestia maintained a relatively neutral face, but Twilight could see the inquisitiveness hidden behind Celestia's mask.

With her seated, a maid brought Twilight a cup of tea. Taking a shaky sip, Twilight found her nerves slightly calmer. "W- well, it's a book on, um, magic theory."

"Really? Please, let me see it." Celestia levitated the book, glanced at it briefly, and looked back to Twilight with a smile. "It's been l some time since I've read a book on magical theory, I prefer to stay within the confines of verified science, as it is. However, if it's piqued your interest, then I'll take a glance for myself."

Before Twilight could say anything, though, Celestia's eyebrows rose into her hairline. "Twilight, this book looks old. Very old, actually. Where did you find it?" Celestia's eyes roamed over the books exterior, before she flipped it open and began reading.

"I- In the Royal Library, Princess. I noticed it sitting in the shelves, and decided it probably shouldn't have been there so I stacked it with the other books I decided would be work looking in, but-" finally noticing the quiet, Twilight looked up at her teacher, not at all expecting the look she saw on her teacher's face.

Celestia's ears were drooping and her mouth had turned into a sad frown. Her eyes had become slightly misty and distant, like someone remembering a dead friend or family member; a stark contrast to her previous expression.

"She probably is remembering Astral," Twilight realized, her own ears flattening. "Princess, did- did you know Astral?"

Celestia's eyes closed and she let out a small sigh, before shutting the notebook and laying it back on the table. "Yes, I did. She and I were close." Celestia's eyes opened again, but they were glazed in memory and fixed on the sun outside the window. Twilight cringed internally. When she'd taken the book, she hadn't considered that particular possibility. 

Instead of replying immediately, Twilight gave the Princess a few moments to work through the emotions she'd inadvertently dredged up. "I'm sorry, Princess, I didn't mean to bring up something painful."

Celestia's eyes swiveled back to Twilight, having lost their glaze, and gave her a small, reassuring smile. "It's not your fault, Twilight, you couldn't have known. The book wasn't labelled, and most mention of her has been lost to time anyways."

Twilight accepted the pardon with a nod, but her nagging sense of morbid curiosity wouldn't go away. Before she could stop herself, Twilight found herself blurting out something really stupid. "Princess, how did she die?"

Celestia's eyes widened slightly, then grew sad, like they had been a few minutes earlier, though her smile didn't leave her face this time. "I don't know, Twilight. She disappeared one night, promising to return in two weeks time. She never did come back, and I never found her."

Despite her own shock at her callous words, Twilight noticed that Celestia didn't seem to mind talking about Astral. In fact, Twilight got the feeling she wanted to talk about her. "You, erm, don't mind if I ask you about her, do you?"

Celestia looked, again, surprised. "I don't see why not. Nopony save you has asked me that, and you happen to be one of the few I trust to tell about her."

Twilight nodded. "Okay, Princess. If I ask anything you don't want to tell me about, just let me know." Twilight thought for a moment, then said: "Tell me how she acted, how was her personality?"

"Astral was actually very much like you were. She was a studious pony, and my personal student," Celestia began. "I'm sure you've seen in her notebook, she was extremely meticulous in her experiments; she did not like leaving things to chance. Everything was calculated carefully, including her relationships."

Twilight furrowed her brow. "Calculated? So she chose friends superficially?"

"To a degree, yes," replied Celestia, "I'd often seen her pick and choose friends based on what they had to offer her, and indeed many of them didn't stick around long. However, there were a precious few, myself included, who she came to consider as "true" friends. Ponies she trusted, ponies she cared for. How she chose, I didn't know and didn't ask.

"Before you say anything about her ethic, Twilight, I was much the same," said Celestia with a hint of remorse, "I won't try to justify why I acted the way I did, but I have no doubt she picked that behavior up off of me."

Twilight had been watching Celestia's face while she talked, and came to a conclusion within herself. "It's obvious she cared about Astral like she cares about me. What would it do to her if I suddenly disappeared?" Twilight thought carefully for a moment, weighing her options. "I guess the best option is to hear it straight from the horse's mouth," Twilight decided, feeling guilty because of her next words.

"Princess," Twilight began hesitantly, "what would you do if what happened to her happened to me?"

Celestia's face flashed through many emotions at once. First, shock, then anger, then fear, then back to calm, but edges of fear and anger remained. "Please, Twilight, don't- don't ask me that, ever again. And for the love of the Maker, do not do what she did. If you ever need to go somewhere obscure or dangerous, please, tell me first." 

To anypony else, Celestia would have simply been reprimanding a pony who'd gone to far in personal matters, nothing more, but to Twilight, she'd seen much more. The faint creases at Celestia's eyes, the slight furrowing in her brow, the almost imperceptible tremble in her voice. Celestia was afraid.

It was at that moment that Twilight made her decision. What had happened to Astral had affected Celestia quite deeply. Deeply enough that even after seven hundred years Celestia still felt responsible, if her pleas for Twilight to tell her of any "dangerous or obscure" outings were an indication.

As Celestia's friend, who was she to simply sit idly by while her friend was weighed down by guilt? There was a chance she could fix it, a chance she could take, and what kind of friend would she be if she didn't take that chance?

"Princess," Twilight began, determination welling in her chest, "I think we're going to go find Astral."
> 3. Reunion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite whatever her internal clock had in mind, Astral did not want to wake up right now. She groaned, trying her best to block out the sore muscles, pounding migraine and throbbing horn and fall back asleep. It was a losing battle, and she knew it, but why not try?

Regardless of her stubborn refusals, it was in this semi-conscious stupor that she noticed a few things with increasing awareness. First, she was laying on a hard surface. Second, something was holding her down, and it was heavy. Third and most alarmingly, somepony was poking a highly concentrated source of magical energies directly at her jugular. 

Astral's eyes snapped open, scanning the visible room, and noted the markings of a vicious battle on the unfamiliar walls and floor. "Whoever was fighting put up one hell of a fight," she thought, quickly formulating battle plans. "Speaking of which, let's have a look, shall we?" Glancing towards the source of her imminent death, Astral caught sight of a particularly unique, flowing, multicolored mane.

"Celestia? What in Tartarus is she doing?" Before she could sputter indignantly or demand to be let up, however, the pony pinning her down shifted her horn forward, needling the tip into her neck. In a quiet yet absolutely resolute tone, Princess Celestia spoke. "What did I get you for your 72nd birthday?"

Astral recognized the question immediately. Despite it's seemingly mundane nature, the two of them had agreed to use it between themselves as a passphrase of sorts, used in times when the identity of either her or Celestia was questionable.

Astral recited the passphrase's continuation, suddenly a lot less concerned with her dignity. "You gave me a recording of Silver String's Strings Concerto in D major, Op. 47. I was quite happy with it though I was not partial to the fanfare with which I received it."

Celestia cut the magic to her horn, and finished the passphrase. "Meanwhile, I found it quite hilarious and vowed to find a way to lure you into another 'painful public event'." She leaned back and off of Astral, moving to a sitting position next to the still prone pony.

Taking it as permission to get to her hooves, Astral pulled her legs beneath her and, for the first time, noticed what should have been a glaringly obvious detail. "'Tia, why am I pink?" she asked, forgetting to actually get up.

Instead of answering, Celestia lunged at Astral's back, wrapping her in a hug and leaning her head on the rose pink pony's withers. 

Astral cringed, Celestia had hit a few bruises jumping on her back. "No, really, why am I – 'Tia? Are you okay?" Astral cut herself off, eyes widening in surprise at the wetness she felt on the back her neck.

Like her first question, no response. "She'll talk about whatever it is that has her upset when she's ready," Astral, not without some worry, decided. Instead, she scanned the room, looking for clues to her whereabouts and perhaps Celestia's sudden emotions. Of course there were the marks from battle, but that wasn't the only thing.

The room was massive, easily as large as the throne room in Canterlot. At its head was a massive and incredibly intricate clockwork mechanism, and in the rafters were the workings of the same clockwork mechanism, which were likely the reason she heard a massive shift and tick every few minutes moments. Lining the walls were shelves – some destroyed – of vials, papers, flasks, boxes, virtually anything that could store either items, fluid, or information. Smack dab in front of the massive clockwork was a modest and unassuming desk, covered much the same as the shelves, and at that desk sat a purple Unicorn reading the papers on it.

Astral's first instinct upon seeing the unknown pony was to jump to her hooves and demand what was going on here, but she refrained. If this purple pony was the cause of all this, then there was likely nothing she could do anyways. She wasn't as powerful as Celestia, not even by a long shot, and she doubted Celestia would let her guard down like this in front of anyone but her closest friends.

Unless they were both about to get fried. That'd take anypony's guard down.

She turned her head back towards Celestia, who was thankfully no longer tearing up into her coat. "'Tia? Are you okay?" she asked again gently, not wanting to upset the Alicorn.

Celestia opened her eyes, looking directly into Astral's. "It's nothing, Astral. It's just – it's good to have you back," replied Celestia, both wistfully and happily.

Astral quirked an eyebrow. "'Good to have me back?' 'Tia, it's probably not even been a year. It certainly doesn't feel like it, at least."

"Astral, I... don't know how to break this to you." Celestia looked away from Astral, trying to find the right words. "You've been gone seven hundred years. I thought you were dead."

Astral's blood nearly, and possibly would have, turned to ice had it not been for the sheer insanity of such a statement. "I– I beg your pardon, but did you say seven hundred years?"

"Yes," replied Celestia, looking back to Astral, "that is what I said."

Astral simply blinked at Celestia. Had it been any other pony, she'd be laughing right now, she'd be having a riot, but this was Celestia. She'd trust Celestia with her life, and if Celestia of all ponies had suddenly decided to start lying for giggles she'd grow a pair of wings.

Deciding that pacing was probably better for digesting such news, Astral stood, Celestia pulling off of her to instead sit. "'Tia, I – I'm afraid I don't understand how that's possible," Astral said, stopping to squint at the floor and scuff it with her forehooves, "I might be long lived, but nearly eight hundred years is a stretch, and I don't feel any older than ninety-two."

Celestia cringed and tilted her head to the side, away from Astral again. "You... may want to look at your back."

Astral raised an eyebrow before looking over her shoulder. "What d– dear mother of the Maker I've got wings. 'Tia, I've got wings," she said with slowly increasing hysteria. "When? How? Do they even work?" – she stretched out her wings – "They work! They're functioning wings! Are they part of a spell?" – again, she tested them, this time with her horn, – "They're real! As in, real-real! I mean, completely, one-hundred percent, real," she finished, the hysteria bleeding into contemplative absence.

Still absentminded, Astral wandered towards the face of the massive clock to look out of its apparatus and over the cityscape below. "If I've got wings, then something happened to put them there," she thought, "and if something put them there, then it'll have to have been big, but the real questions are what, where and when?" Astral had an idea who might know, but failing that she hadn't a clue where to even start looking.

For her own sake, she hoped Celestia could answer all her questions.

Coming up from her thoughts, Astral found herself gazing out over a vast cityscape. Whatever this tower was, it dwarfed every other building in this city, and she could see everything from the tall, spear-like rooftops of the buildings, to the sea on the other side of the city stretching out to the horizon. Even with her questions still burning red hot, she stood and absorbed the view, the sun now halfway down from its zenith and reflecting off the many windows and peaks of the alien architecture.

She didn't know why she stood there or even for how long, but she felt a strange sort of connection to this particular spot, looking out over the aggressive rooftops. It was soothing in a weird, hard-to-describe way, as if someone were trickling cold water on her overheated brain.

Sensing, more than hearing, Celestia and the purple pony approaching Astral spoke up, albeit quietly. "It's quite beautiful, isn't it? Wherever we are, that is."

"I'm not sure I'd call it beautiful, but it's certainly... interesting," replied Celestia, sitting next to Astral and looking out the window as well, before turning to look at her. "You do not remember where you are?"

Astral searched her mind, coming up with a wave of nausea rather than memory. "Nope, I'm getting nothing but nausea," she said, sagging a little as the wave passed, "blegh. Any idea why I feel like throwing up when I try to remember" – she paused, trying to think back to before she woke up – "urgh, anything?" 

Instead of answering, Celestia looked over both their shoulders at the purple Alicorn, motioning for her to step forward.

"Alicorn?" thought Astral. "Why am I even surprised?"


Celestia spoke up first, conducting the introductions. "Astral Blossom, this is Twilight Sparkle, my current student, Princess of Friendship, and bearer of the Element of Magic," She said, smiling between the two of them. "Truth being told, she's the one you owe your life to, and the one who can answer most of your questions, including those about your memory," Celestia supplied.

Astral looked from Celestia to Twilight and back again, then back again. "Princess? Do I bow or...?" she asked, honestly not sure.

Twilight almost cringed at the word 'bow'. "That won't be necessary, Astral. Any friend of the Princess's is a friend of mine!" Twilight beamed radiantly, holding out a hoof for Astral to shake.

"Thank you, Twilight," Astral replied, her smile much more reserved, "I'm sure the two of us will make excellent comrades. Before that, though, I would like to drill your brain about what's going on in my brain, so to speak. Would that be agreeable?"

"Of course! Come on, we should probably go sit somewhere, because to be honest, I kinda need to drill your mind to figure out what's going on so I can tell you what's going on! I've never dealt with a geas before, so this is all new to me." In spite of what Astral considered a very serious situation, Twilight practically radiated excitement as she trotted away to find a comfortable spot to sit away from the clock's face.

Casting a "help me" look over her shoulder at Celestia, Astral followed behind Twilight, unnerved by the purple pony's joviality and not entirely certain she'd enjoy being the testee for once.

-#-#-

Fifteen minutes of thorough examination later, Twilight had almost finished her questioning, and was just now writing down the final of her observations. 

For her part, Astral had answered Twilight's questions to the best of her ability, but all too often her response would be "I don't know" or "I can't remember". As somepony who prided herself on her mental faculties, it was simultaneously terrifying and incredibly frustrating to have one so vital compromised so extensively.

"Well, it's definitely interesting. Everything like speech, magic use, and broad generalities, which seems to include friendships, though not the details of said friendships, are remembered. Then there are the more 'specific' details that you remembered, like your and the Princess's passphrase," said Twilight, her face scrunching in an apparent attempt to interpret her data. "It's a bit early to say for certain, but right now it looks like your memory will come back with time, and maybe a stressful situation or two."

"Lovely, so that's it, then? I'll get my memories back when I get them back?" Astral scoffed, a snarl half formed on her face. Truth being told, she was terrified, not so much angry, but Twilight didn't need to see that. As much as Astral trusted Celestia, she didn't trust Twilight, not yet. As of now, she was Celestia's friend, and while that certainly commanded some of Astral's respect, Twilight was little else to her.

"I'm sorry, I wish there was more I could do to help, but without more observation I can't say what will actually happen," soothed Twilight, "for all we know, your memories will be all back tomorrow morning. When we get back to Canterlot, Princess Luna can probably help you with your memories, if they're still suppressed and you're willing."

Astral's face softened, incredulity written all over it. "Another Princess? Just how many are there?"

"Five now, if we include you, but you didn't know about Luna? I thought with–"

"I can't exactly remember, Twilight," Astral said, suppressing another wave of nausea with a scowl.

"Ah, right. Sorry," Twilight cringed.

Sighing, Astral rubbed her forehead. "Not much we can do about it right now anyways, so why don't I ask a few more questions? I doubt this day can get any worse."
> 4. Pathways
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So we're somewhere called Yharnam?" Astral repeated. She was seated behind "her" desk, with Celestia and Twilight seated before it. She wasn't fond of the seating arrangement, but Celestia, and by extension Twilight, had insisted as Astral was apparently "the boss" here.

Said Princesses both nodded. "Yeah, but we didn't expect this," Twilight said, gesturing behind Astral out of the Clock's face and around the room.

"The reference we found that guided us here was already at least a thousand years old," Celestia clarified, "and yet I'd never heard of Yharnam. For a city of this size to still be operating without my knowledge..."

"... Something doesn't add up," Astral sighed, finishing Celestia's sentence. "Anything out of the ordinary you've noticed, then?"

Twilight and Celestia both stopped, but while Twilight's expression was ponderous, Celestia's got tense. "There is one thing. As far as I can sense, the Sun is completely outside of my influence," Celestia provided, followed by dead silence from both of her students.

"Well, that's not very promising, is it?" Astral replied after a moment, having had a tough time processing such information.

Celestia nodded gravely, a wing over Twilight as said pony also processed that statement. "It's not every day I have my connection stripped from me, Astral. I think we should be cautious."

"Agreed, for the time being." Astral rubbed her temples, of all the things... "Lost connection to your Sun, eh? Either something very powerful or entirely natural is causing that, and I'd like to find out what."

"So would I. Anything particular in mind?" replied Celestia.

Astral closed her eyes, still massaging her head. "I need more information before I can say anything. First, how did you get here?"

"I – it felt like a teleportation spell, but different," Twilight spoke up from under Celestia's wing. "We walked through a pony-made ravine, and halfway through I feel a tingle, you know, like the kind you get when someone casts something on you, and then we walk out and see a whole city and no rainforest."

"So I see. Think you can find that ravine again?"

"Probably, it'll take a while though." Twilight said, regaining some of her composure.

"That's fine. No guards?"

"Twilight doesn't have a guard yet, and none of my own were with us when we passed through the ravine. I took only a few with me to conserve on resources and maximize speed," supplied Celestia.

"I see. Why didn't you fly over this ravine?"

"Inclement weather of the magical variety," grumbled Twilight. "One of my friends can fly in it, but I sure can't, I just got these wings a few months ago."

"Is that so." Astral opened her eyes again, scanning the clockwork above them as if it could answer her questions. "I have a hypothesis. You said you felt like you'd been teleported, but different? Perhaps you have been teleported, but through time, not space. Of course, that implies a number of things by itself, like a pony intelligent and powerful enough to cast such a spell somehow sneaking up on you two unnoticed, and then casting an intricate and very powerful spell on two Princesses in such a manner as to avoid detection or alarming either Princess." Astral breathed in. "Unless someone has designed a time travelling ward?"

Twilight shook her head. "Time magic is unstable by nature. Nopony has ever managed to create a stable, long-lasting spellform for any kind of time travel."

Astral nodded. "Then I suppose we've got a hypothesis. Any alternatives you two can think up?"

Both Celestia and Twilight shuddered, but Celestia spoke for them both. "Yes, but we'll say later if it becomes important."

Astral raised her eyebrow but pressed no further. "Alright, then. We'll need ideas to test our hypothesis. Twilight, you're smart, so you start."

-#-#-#-

It only took another half an hour to reach a consensus, and Astral learned a few other interesting tidbits along the way.

First, all of the documents on her desk were in a runic script none of them had ever seen, and yet despite not having any memory of the runes, Astral could identify and read them fluently. She had tried to read them to figure out exactly what she'd been doing here, but all she got was gibberish about gibberish. Frankly, the whole thing made no sense and hurt her head.

Second, she wasn't the only pony here who spoke modern Equestrian. The pony who'd led Celestia to her had also spoken modern Equestrian, though like her with an accent. That threw her theory of time travel off, but not by much.

Third, she had a small bell on her desk which had served as a method of summoning servants. She'd ordered some tea for the three of them as they had sat and brainstormed.

And last, apparently tonight was a "night of the hunt". Ominous, but ultimately inconsequential. Hopefully they'd be out of here long before that became a problem.

"Alright," said Astral, gazing at the sun outside the window, "it's looking to be roughly three-thirty to four, so make this quick once you're out there. I'm not eager to stick around for a "night of the hunt", nor am I eager to alter the timestream anymore than I already have if I'm right."

Astral rung the bell on her desk one time, summoning a servant who appeared within seconds. She was a dusky redish-purple with pale lavender hair, named Yvonne.

"Yes, my Lady?" she asked in near monotone.

"Yvonne, find me somepony I can trust, and who takes my orders. Actually, find me two ponies, specifically a librarian and a guard, or the best guard-like pony I have available to me."

"As you wish, my Lady," Yvonne replied, leaving and closing the large door opposite them.

For a few minutes, silence, aside from the occasional creak of the mechanisms above, reigned in the room. Astral thought out their plan, how it could go wrong, what she'd do if they weren't time-displaced.

It got ugly, fast. She didn't like the implications.

"Astral, are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Celestia broke the silence first, obviously uncomfortable.

Astral stirred from her thoughts. "Yes, 'Tia, I'm sure. Combined, we know virtually nothing about this place, and the Church's library is the best place to learn. I'm the only one who can read their writing, so I stay, and I don't trust this city enough to give either of you to it alone."

Celestia sighed, nodding once. "On point as usual, Astral," she said, giving Astral a small smile, who returned it.

It took another fifteen minutes before Yvonne returned with two ponies in tow: an Earth Pony stallion dressed in an odd leather coat, and an Earth Pony mare with only a pair of glasses on. "My Lady, your requested servants," Yvonne bowed her head and stepped back to allow the two ponies center stage.

The stallion in leathers stepped forward and bowed on his hooves to Astral. His coat was a sage green, while his short hair was a sickly, pale yellow. Over his right shoulder was a sheathe for a sword, and over his left shoulder was another, but absolutely massive metal blade. Wrapped around his left hoof, over his elbow and up his sleeve was a strange metal contraption, the centerpiece of which was a tube connected to his lower leg and nearly so long as to touch the ground before his hoof.

"My Lady, Eustace Guthrie, at your service," he said smoothly.

Astral nodded at the pony, unused to deference being displayed to her. "Oh, please, I'll have none of that. Stand, if you will. I have a special assignment for you, but first I'd like to know who our other guest is," she said gesturing at the mare with a wing as he stood up.

Said mare bowed much like Eustace, but her posture was laced with trepidation. "Mary Domnhall, my Lady," she said. She was a dull turquoise, with brown hair tied in a bun.

Astral smiled. "A pleasure. I also have a job for you, but I suspect you'll like yours more than Eustace will like his."

Eustace perked his ears up, "Ah, and what may be my assignment, Lady Astral?"

"A simple job. Escort these two" – Astral gestured to both Princesses with a wing – "wherever they wish to go, while keeping them safe and ensuring they return here in one piece."

"Understood, my Lady," Eustace replied, face kept neutral. "Should they not have weapons, in case trouble finds us?"

"If you believe it necessary, Eustace."

"I do. Before we leave," he said, addressing Twilight and Celestia, "we shall make arrangements at the workshop. Are either of you versed in the fine Arts of combat?"

"I am, Twilight is not," Celestia said, eyes narrowed, "why?"

Eustace cocked his head at her question before answering. "Because beasts have a peculiar sense of smell, of course. Chances are, they'll find us even if we try to avoid them," he said, his neutral tinged with confusion.

Twilight's ears perked, despite her apprehension. "Beasts? What are those?" 

"They are –" Eustace started before cutting himself off abruptly. He quickly turned his head to look at Astral, eyes wide. "Outsiders? With no knowledge of the hunt? My Lady, please reconsider this, tonight of all nights –"

"Is a night of the hunt, yes, I know, but they will work quick," she said, pointedly looking at the two Princesses, "and return here before nightfall."

"My Lady, tonight will be no ordinary hunt! Even in the day the Hunters are having a bloodbath, the streets are no place for outsiders!" Eustace exclaimed.

Astral understood his reluctance, to a degree. He was a professional guard, or soldier, or something, and he was being given an escort order. What she didn't understand, however, was what exactly his last statement meant.


She looked at him, curiosity mixed with caution. "Hunters? Bloodbath? Eustace, what's going on out there?"

Eustace closed his mouth before he said anything. Instead, he turned to Mary. "Did I miss something?" he said, barely above a whisper.

Mary only shook her head, equally confused.

"I – I see. So..." he mulled over his words carefully, "with all due respect, are you suffering from amnesia, my Lady?"

"Thank the Maker Celestia made me deal with Court," Astral thought through her pokerface. "Actually, yes. I was hoping I'd get away with simply digging the information from some ponies discretely. Seems I wasn't discrete enough," she deadpanned.

"Ah, is that so? Things make sense, now. That's why you called the librarian?" Eustace said, shaking a forehoof towards Mary.

"Yes, my amnesia seems to be rather total, aside from the basics of some or others." Astral turned her head to Mary fully. "This is why I've summoned you, Mary. I need to be led to the library and shown how it works, where everything is. That's your assignment."

Mary breathed a visible sigh of relief, but Eustace still looked unsettled with his situation. "My Lady, You might not remember, but tonight will be no ordinary hunt. The Beast scourge has only risen in intensity these past few weeks, and as of late the despicable creatures appear in broad daylight, only increasing in numbers. I must protest against bringing a non-combatant, it puts all of us in too much danger!"

"Time is of the essence, Eustace. Twilight is more than capable of protecting herself," Astral said, privately praying that Twilight had been given the basics of staying alive, "and Celestia is quite the seasoned veteran. I'm sure with their help, nothing will happen."

Eustace's lips tightened, and he looked at Celestia in particular, looking her up and down. "Wings and a horn, eh? Don't know how I missed those before." He turned back to Astral. "Fine, but they'd better live up to your precedent, my Lady, else I'll resign."

Astral sighed, relieved. If she was certain of one thing, it was that Celestia would blow Eustace's expectations out of the water.
> 5. Weapons
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

If there was one thing Celestia noticed right away about the Upper Cathedral Ward, it was that the place was eerily quiet. Celestia had expected it to be bustling with activity, much like Canterlot's Royal District, but instead found an empty street, a few empty buildings and the whistling of the wind.

Whereas the Royal District was densely populated, at times more "functional" than Celestia liked, and buzzing with activity, the Upper Cathedral Ward's construction was sparse, stately, decadent even, and the place was utterly empty. Tall spires peaked from each building's rooftop, competing with each other and the rest of Yharnam, artwork of mares pouring pitchers and other seemingly ceremonial actions were depicted in excess, gilding on metal railings, elaborate wood carvings and other grandiose architectural details displayed the importance of those who lived and worked here, yet the Upper Ward was silent, as if nopony lived here.

The only other living beings she had seen so far were the Church Doctors; large, pale ponies who stood on their hind legs, supporting their weight with canes. Eustace had interacted with a few as they passed on their patrols, but their speech, for all Celestia could decipher, was as simple as grunting and rasping. She found them highly unnerving, and vowed to stay away from them as much as possible.

"So, what do you do here, Eustace?" Celestia said, more or less to ease her own growing unease.

"Later. Keep quiet, and walk calmly. I don't like it here either," he half-whispered back, "nopony likes it here, but the Doctors like it less when ponies start running."

So she kept quiet and followed the sage green stallion through the Upper Cathedral Ward, keeping herself focussed on anything other than the growing sense of wrong. She didn't know what it was, but something about this place put her hairs on end. Maybe it was how quiet it was?

The rest of the trip was short, not more than five minutes before they reached the bridge out of the Upper Cathedral Ward, and already her coat hairs were standing up straight. Not much could affect her like that these days, but that place, something in it scared her, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know what.

"We're not going back through there, are we?" Twilight asked Eustace as they all crossed the bridge. She had stayed quiet the whole time they'd been in the Upper Ward, but she could see the purple pony wasn't in any good mood coming out of there either. 

"Not if I can avoid it. The place has always given everypony but the Choir creeps the willies, even us Hunters," he replied. "Lucky us, we can take the long way back up once we're done doing whatever it is you two need to do."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Celestia asked, "We told Astral we'd return by nightfall, didn't we?"

Eustace stopped on the other side of the bridge to give her a blank look. "You want to go through that place again?"

Celestia's ears flattened and she shook her head.

"Then we go the long way and say we're sorry once we get back," he said plainly, turning to his left and down some stairs. "Just through here is the workshop, where we'll get your weapons. From there, we'll use some of the less traveled routes to the outskirts."

Eustace stopped in front of an ornate door, clearly designed for ponies of his and Twilight's size and not Celestia's, and knocked before inserting a small brass key and pushing the door open, beckoning them in. "Hey, Arthur! We got visitors!" Eustace called down the hallway, closing the door and locking it again.

"Aye, thought I'd heard somepony come in!" a gravelly voice called back. "Visitors? Precious little of them these days! Or are they recruits?"

Celestia walked into the large circular room at the end of the hallway. Along its sides were all sorts of shelves and cupboards, and saws of various shapes and sizes hung from the ceiling. Weapon stands, mostly empty, were arranged haphazardly throughout the room. Sitting in a wheelchair amongst the stands was a grey pony wearing a top hat, and in his lap was, for lack of a better term, a larger scale model of whatever was attached to Eustace's foreleg.

"Ooooh, and she's a big one in't she?" he said, his beady yellowed eyes giving her a thorough raking from behind the stands. "Nice and big! But you're here for weapons, aren't you? Looking to get in on the hunt while the getting's good, eh?" he finished off his statement with a manic laugh, turning towards the nearest row of stands and beginning to mutter to himself, between chuckles, as he eyed all of their contents carefully.

"Don't mind him," Eustace said coming up beside Celestia, "Arthur might be mad, but he's brilliant with weapons. Everything you get from him will be top quality, you've just got to deal with... well, everything else."

"You're sure about that?" Twilight asked from behind them both.

"Hey!" called Arthur, "You can call me mad, but don't question my workmanship! These here –" he brandished, for lack of a better term, a curved saw with an elongated handle "– are the best cutters you'll find in Yharnam! Even if I can't get out there and kill the beasts anymore I take pride in knowing my workmanship is facilitating their deaths!" Once again, the old stallion descended into manic laughter, this time punctuated with a few coughs.

Eustace looked at Twilight and shrugged. "He's not wrong, there's a reason he's the workshop's quartermaster," he said before motioning that they should join the old stallion in selecting weapons.

"Arthur, meet Celestia. Celestia, Arthur," Eustace introduced after the three of them managed to navigate the maze of stands to Arthur's small clear spot. "And this is Twilight."

Arthur spared the two of them a nod, before returning to his close inspection of his weapons. "Whaddya need, Eustace? Tell this old codger so he can get you out of his workshop."

If Eustace hadn't been expecting that, he didn't show it. "We need the best you've got, Lady Astral's orders."

Arthur wrinkled his nose at mention of Astral, giving Eustace a displeased look. "Choir? Boy, I told you to stay away from that lot, and let me guess, these here are some of their cronies?"

"Not at all, they're outsiders."

Arthur wrinkled his nose even more. "Bah, even worse! And you want my best? Tell me why I should give it to you, or them."

"Because if you don't, the Choir might pick this workshop as the next place to run their experiments," Eustace said, a sharp edge of warning in his otherwise smooth tone.

Arthur turned around in his wheelchair to look at the three of them, once again raking his eyes over them all. "Threats? Not idly made, I'd say, either. The Choir isn't known for keeping it's snout where it belongs, especially that Astral mare. Fine, you'll get your tools, at least that's more blood out on the hunt tonight. Now, what'll it be?"

"I was thinking something heavy for Celestia," Eustace offered to start.

"Like what you've got? Eh, she's certainly got the size," Arthur said, wheeling himself closer and jabbing a hoof into her upper forelimb, "and the muscle, too. Big it is, and the little one?"

Arthur wheeled himself towards Twilight, giving her a thorough look, tail to nose-tip. "Cane. She's a cane type, I can tell."

"Actually, Arthur, I was thinking she'd get a rifle. Something powerful, of course, like a Piercing Rifle."

"Aye, but she needs a weapon for when the beasties get too close to shoot, Eustace. Cane it is," he added before Eustace could interject again. "Trust me, Eustace, she'll need it, especially tonight. Everyone can smell it, this is the big one."
> 6. Yharnam Streets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Great Bridge, Yharnam's main thoroughfare and the largest connector for it's streets. Celestia stood just outside of the gate to the Cathedral Ward, looking down it's length to the main gate that led out of the city through the outer wall. Or she would have, had it been clear. Most of the Bridge had been blocked with carriages of varying sizes, totally obscuring the view she might have had had they not been there.

She sniffed once, confirming that, indeed, what she thought she smelled was what she was smelling. Smoke rose high above the rooftops of Yharnam, carrying with it the scent of burning bodies and the stench of the hunt. "Perhaps I should have insisted Twilight stay behind," she thought, looking at the purple pony.

Twilight was covering her nose with a hoof, a sour look plastered on her face. She looked at Celestia, her expression clearly saying "what is that?"

Celestia just looked away, keeping her face neutral. "You don't want to know," she answered. She had every idea to keep Twilight away from whatever was making that stench, the little pony didn't need to see that.

They both heard the gate that sealed the way into the Cathedral Ward finally slam shut, and turned to see Eustace walking towards them both, an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry to keep you two waiting. After Old Yharnam happened the Church doesn't like the main gate being opened without some paperwork,to explain why" he said, walking to just behind the two Alicorns. 

He too smelled the air, scrunching his nose in distaste. "Hate it when they do that, makes the whole city smell like beast," he supplied when Twilight looked at him, anddaxa then moving in front of them and pointing down the Great Bridge. "Down this here bridge is the fastest way out of Yharnam, but we won't be taking that route. Instead, we'll head down some side streets off of Central Street until we reach the outer wall. From there, we'll follow the wall until we find a way through, then we'll slip through there as quietly as possible.

"And before we head out, I'd like to make absolutely certain you both understand a few rules," Eustace said, looking at both ponies with great intensity. "First, don't get hit. Beasts have claws sharper than any sword, and the muscle to push them through just about anything. Second, don't run. Beasts are faster than ponies. Third and last, don't hesitate. Hesitate, and you die. Understand?"

Celestia nodded firmly. She'd long ago learned the last rule, having learned it far before she had ever had to use it. However, she had a suspicion that the type of "hesitance" Eustace meant was different than the hesitance taught to her guard.

Twilight nodded too, although more reluctantly. Celestia had never taught her anything more than the basics of combat, and absolutely nothing of any sort of warrior's code.

"Good, because at this rate," Eustace stopped and looked at the sun, gauging it's decent, "it'll be into the night by the time we get back here. So make any last minute adjustments you need; we're not going to stop for anything once we're out there."

Eustace turned and began to walk, albeit slowly, down the bridge while Celestia adjusted the straps holding the massive metal hammer and the sheathed silver sword, identical to Eustace's in all but size, to her back. Celestia was surprised when the workshop madstallion produced a weapon in her size, but according to him the workshop preferred to "be prepared rather than caught out."

She looked to her side, where Twilight eyed the Piercing Rifle she'd been given cautiously, adjusting it so it would be easier to reach at a moment's notice. She looked up at Celestia and smiled weakly before quickly following after Eustace, cutting off any thoughts Celestia had about offering to leave her behind.

"Perhaps I taught her too well."

-#-#-#-

If the Upper Cathedral Ward demonstrated the sophistication of Yharnam's elite, then the streets of Yharnam showed something completely different. 

Celestia stepped over what had to be the hundredth pothole she'd seen so far, following Eustace down one of the many claustrophobic streets of Central Yharnam. On either side tall, imposing buildings crowded the already cramped street, while refuse, disrepair and dim lighting made the street difficult to traverse. So far, every street Eustace had led them down had been the same: cramped, damaged, and, worst of all, labyrinthine.

If it weren't for Eustace guiding them, Celestia wouldn't have had a snowball's chance in Tartarus at navigating the city streets. Almost none of the streets had any special characteristic or landmark, and all of them had irregular intersections, all adding up to a street system utterly unforgiving to anypony but natives. In fact, Celestia had half a mind to assume that there wasn't a system, and that streets were simply made wherever somepony wanted one.

"Right," Eustace called back at them before taking a hard turn down another narrow side street, but this one eventually opened into an open plaza, ringed with the same buildings she'd seen everywhere else. In the center stood a monument, inscribed with the same runes Astral's paperwork had contained, and, unlike the rest of Yharnam thus far, some green space was incorporated into the architecture. High above, the pale amber of the fading sun reflected off the few windows that remained unboarded.

Scurrying around the plaza were the first signs of inhabitation she'd seen, aside from a few lit windows. Ponies wearing coats and hats went about, lighting the lamps that lined the plaza with torches.

Eustace walked to just in front of the monument, stopped, then turned to address his two companions. "All right, we've made good time. Take a breather while I make sure we're where we want to be," he told the two of them.

Despite her enhanced endurance, Celestia was beginning to feel the effects of moving at what amounted to a rapid march with several hundred pounds of steel strapped to her back. She gratefully sat on her haunches, feeling the weight of the Kirkhammer nearly pull her over in the process. 

Eustace had gone over the basics of combat with such weapons and how they were meant to be used. Celestia and Eustace's weapons were dual purpose: a blade for cutting down swift, small foes, and a massive, heavy attachment to kill larger prey. Unlike weapons Celestia was used to, the "transformed" version of her weapon was meant to be used while standing upright, in order to maximize its destructive potential.

While standing upright was, by nature, awkward and graceless for ponies, Yharnamite hunters had perfected a methodical, rapid "burst of action" strategy, where they would wait for an opportune moment to strike in a flurry of blows, or, in the case of Eustace and herself, one absolutely devastating blow to cripple prey and secure an easy kill. In the case of the Kirkhammer, momentum from one movement or another would be swung into the Kirkhammer's detachment from its wielder's back, allowing the pony to assume a partially upright stance while they took position and prepared for their counterattack. According to both Eustace and Arthur, the Kirkhammer was by far the hardest to use, but also the hardest hitting of all of the Church's tools, requiring an adept and exceedingly strong pony to wield even its regular sized variant.

It was primarily for this reason that the Kirkhammer wasn't often used, and why when it was used it was used by highly experienced hunters travelling in groups. Eustace had explained that most hunters travelled in groups of 3 or more as it was, since one pony often wasn't anything more than a particularly feisty snack for a large beast.

Eustace had also mentioned a method of combat where a pony could remain entirely on their hind hooves, but had said such a method was beyond both him and Celestia, at the moment.

Celestia was roused from her impromptu meditations by the sound of a loud, shrill "Freak!" coming from the opposite side of the monument. Jumping to her hooves, she quickly rounded the base of the stone monolith, looking for the source of the commotion.

What she saw was an angry Twilight Sparkle seemingly arguing with one of the cloaked ponies, while an increasingly agitated Eustace tried to intervene. Celestia, deciding it was best if she herself intervened as well, moved closer to the three ponies, not failing to notice the other cloaked ponies also taking notice of the argument.

As she got nearer, she caught Twilight's response to the cloaked mare's outburst. "And what gives you the right to say that about him?" she said, jabbing a hoof towards the mare, a highly disapproving look in her eye. 

The mare in question bared her teeth and practically growled out her response, switching focus from Eustace to Twilight. "Oh, looksie 'ere, an outsider. Come to tell me what to do, have ya? I might as well grind up your 'ead along with the Freak's! Two birds, one stone!" The mare finished shrilly and advanced a step, prompting Twilight to take a step back into Eustace, who calmly pushed her behind himself, shooting Celestia a very intense, very brief "stay out of this" look.

"Tonight's going to be a big night, won't it?" Eustace interjected calmly, but she could see his muscles tense as he spoke to the madmare.

She looked up at Eustace for the first time, finally letting Celestia get a clear look at her face. She was an incredibly pale blue, and she had numerous scars all over her snout. She wore a bandage over her eyes, either limiting her eyesight or covering a wound. "Yeah, what of it, Freak?" she ground out, venom dripping from every word.

"Well, you're going to need to get ready, aren't you? Sun's going down, not much time left now," he said in the same type of monotone she'd heard Yvonne speak in.

The mare once again let out a guttural noise, grinding her teeth as she wobbled a bit on the spot. Finally, she spat a heavy gob at Eustace's hooves and turned away, muttering beneath her breath about beasts and the hunt.

Celestia had been keeping a careful watch on the crowd that had formed, and while their sizes and builds varied widely, they all had borne the same vitriolic, almost murderous look beneath their hats. As the mare left, the rest of the crowd dispersed as well, returning to their previous actions.

Eustace practically shoved Twilight towards Celestia as he rapidly closed the distance. She narrowed her eyes at him, looking between him and the rest of the now visibly agitated mob. "Eustace, what the –"

"We've got to go, now," Eustace said as soon as he was in whisper range, "I'll explain later." Without waiting for a reply, he took off at an even faster pace than at which he had led the three of them to the plaza, and with Twilight, still recovering from the hostility even Celestia could feel, following close behind him.

Celestia made a mental note to dig what just happened out of the stallion even if it was the last thing she'd do.
> 7. Discovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ahead, Celestia watched Eustace fall into step beside Twilight. She'd since gotten over her encounter, if only mostly. Now she only looked perturbed, a minor improvement but an improvement nonetheless.

Eustace began to speak to her and Celestia, content to listen, hung back. She'd tried to talk to Twilight earlier, but perhaps she'd tried a bit too early.

"You're not used to that, are you?" he asked after a few moments, still looking forwards.

"No, not really," she said, lowering her head slightly, "but it's not the first time, either."

He nodded in acknowledgement before continuing. "Where're you from, anyways? Part of one of those tribes from up north?"

Despite her mood Twilight perked her ears at that, and so did Celestia. The implications of his statement were clear: this was the past.

"I guess you could say so," Twilight replied after thinking for a second. "It's not like a normal tribe though. How are the tribes?" she said, the not-so-subtle subject change making Celestia cringe inwardly.

"Guess I'm going to have to teach her like I did Astral."

If he thought it strange, though, he didn't indicate it. "The tribes? As far as I know they're fine. Yharnam isn't exactly known for its... hospitality, as you witnessed. We don't get much news from outside because of it. I'm guessing your little corner of the world doesn't hear much from them either?"

"No, not recently anyways," Twilight shook her head, and despite being behind her, Celestia could tell she was trying to decide what to ask next. "Besides, what was with those ponies back there? I've met unfriendly ponies before, but these ponies were..." she finally said, shuddering at the memory.

Eustace didn't reply immediately, not like how he'd behaved before. Instead, he looked like he was debating something. He stopped walking, his face passive. "Remember what I told you about beasts?"

Twilight looked at him, an eyebrow raised. "You've said a lot about beasts, Eustace."

He cracked a thin smile for a moment, before he let his face relax again. "Got me there. What I said about their sense of smell. Remember?"

Twilight nodded. "You said their sense of smell was 'peculiar'. What has that got to do with anything?"

Celestia was in a similar position. Why he'd brought up beasts when she'd asked about ponies was beyond her.

Eustace looked between the two of them. "Did you see her eyes? The one who threatened us?"

Both Celestia and Twilight shook their heads. "No, she had a bandage covering her eyes," Celestia said.

"Is that so? And how, do you suppose, she knew exactly where we were then?"

"Because she," Twilight's eyes widened and she nearly took a step back from Eustace, "had a peculiar sense of smell."

Celestia's eyes didn't widen, but her mouth did pull into a thin frown. "You knew?"

Eustace nodded solemnly. "They don't make see-through bandages, but normally they're not so aggressive before the sun goes down. I didn't think they'd try to start something."

"So you mean–" Twilight said before she cut herself off, taking a moment to calm down. "So you mean, that pony was a beast?" She said, before another possibility occurred to both her and Celestia. 

"Beasts are ponies?" They said in unison, horror, disbelief and disgust apparent in them in every manner.

Eustace sighed. "Were," he emphasized heavily, "they're not ponies anymore. In all honesty, we should have put them down, saved somepony else the trouble of dealing with them," he said while turning to lead once more, leaving Celestia and Twilight to follow in silence.

-#-#-#-

Since their encounter in the plaza, the streets had widened considerably. On either side the buildings didn't rise nearly as high, though the streets still remained in poor maintenance. Greenery was interspersed in the construction more liberally, signifying a dispersal of Yharnam's urban sprawl.

Twilight and Celestia had both remained silent since they'd learned of the nature of the beasts, with only Eustace's occasional updates on their progress through the city to fill the air. Neither of them had been eager to process, let alone rationalize the situation, but as time wore on the situation had become quite clear to Celestia.

They were all in a dog-eat-dog sort of situation.

Celestia wasn't new to killing, wars and time had taught her far more than she'd ever wanted to know, but Twilight hadn't grown up in a world dead-set on setting itself aflame. She hadn't been taught anything of the matter, not even what the Guard or military garrisons were taught. For all intents and purposes, she'd been thrown straight from the freezer into the fire.

She didn't like it. When she'd first heard beasts described, she'd immediately thought of ravening, mindless creatures. Ugly and vicious things, an easy enemy to justify killing. Now, they'd been given a face far too close to home, and she wasn't sure if Twilight was up to the task because of it.

In fact, she didn't know if she herself was, entirely. She didn't truly know for certain that what she'd seen was a beast and not just some madpony. "Damnit, Celestia," she chastised herself, "you've gone over that point thrice now. Talk to Twilight, you need to know how she's doing."

Now beside her, Twilight was, unsurprisingly, looking like she was going to be sick. "Twilight," Celestia began, "are you all right?"

"I... I'll be fine," she said quietly, head drooped. "It's just– they were ponies, right? With friends and family, brothers and sisters? I... I don't think I can do it." Twilight stopped walking as she stopped walking, looking at both Eustace and Celestia with an almost desperate look. "There's got to be a way to help them! There's just got to be!"

Celestia swore internally, wrapping a wing around Twilight and pulling her close. "I really should have convinced Astral to leave her behind..."

Eustace cleared his throat, getting both of their attention. "Trust me, when it happens, you'll find it much easier than you'd think," He said sympathetically, turning back to lead. "We all do," he added quietly, before taking a left down another street.

Twilight breathed in deeply, and though she still looked sick, Celestia could see some manner of acceptance in Twilight, however tainted with apprehension, fear and grief it may have been. She smiled at Celestia briefly, before moving out from under her wing to follow Eustace once more.

Everyone let the conversation die out after that. Twilight's words had made Celestia feel horrible for dragging her into this mess. Ultimately, silence had become preferable at this point in time and for some after that.

-#-#-#-

Down another street and around another corner, so it had been for the past twenty minutes as Eustace led the three of them further and further from Yharnam's core. Over time the apartment blocks and spires of the city had been replaced with family homes and small businesses, small parks and streets littered not with coffins or other macabre debris, but with the abandoned belongings of fleeing families and individuals.

The wall had been visible ever since they'd come out on to the latest street, hiding behind the houses that backed up to it. They had the wall, now all they needed was a hole through it.

After walking the street for seemingly ages, Eustace stopped in front of an alley between two houses before turning down it. They both sped up to catch up to him, finding, to their surprise, a literal hole in the wall. The gate sealing the opening had been forcibly removed at some point, and all that remained was a few jagged metal bars in the ceiling which Celestia was very careful to avoid.

As they stepped through, they were met with an open field bordered by a high cliff some three-hundred-odd meters away from the wall. The field stretched in either direction endlessly, with only a few trees to break up the monotony of the grass swaying in the cool, late evening breeze.

"Here we are ladies, Yharnam's city limit. Let's get to wherever it is you need to get to," Eustace said before looking at them expectantly.

Twilight and Celestia shared a look. "We need to be led to a way out Yharnam, so we can get as far away from Yharnam as fast as possible."

At Celestia's words Eustace's face morphed with suspicion, his posture tensing. "You're not planning on running, are you?"

"No, this is part of our experiment," Celestia said, holding up a hoof placatingly. "We'll see this through, we wouldn't abandon you."

Eustace gave them both a piercing look, before relaxing. "Good. Sorry, it's just..." he said, turning to look over the field instead. "Most ponies think of abandoning your comrades on a night of the hunt as an utmost treachery, myself included. I'm glad to hear neither of you are like that."

He turned fully away from them both and took off at a canter into the barrel-high  grass of the field, using the few trees that dotted it's expanse as navigational landmarks. As Celestia and Twilight followed, they slowly made their way towards the cliff face while Eustace routinely checked the wall for any activity.

"So, Eustace," Twilight spoke up, sounding much better than last time she spoke, "how old are you, exactly?"

"37, give or take a few years," he said, choosing one of his wall scans to answer her. "I stopped keeping track a while back."

"Oh man," Twilight giggled, "Pinkie'd have a field day with that. She's a friend from back home, really likes parties," she added at Eustace's querying look.

Next time Celestia spoke up. "Have you always been a hunter?"

"No, not always. I used to be a carpenter. Turns out being good with a saw translates well," he replied, though not very enthusiastically.

As they moved through the field, the cliff ahead continued to grow in their vision until it came to dominate entirely in it's direction. It's walls were high, though one could see more grass on the ridge up above.

As Eustace met the cliff edge, he kept an eye on it, keeping watch for any sign of an opening. As soon as he saw it, Celestia did too; a tall but thin cut in the cliff face fell into a cleft that, from their position outside, went deep into the cliff's stone.

"Alright, this is it. Ladies first," Eustace said as he tilted his head towards the opening, grinning wryly at them both.

Celestia rolled her eyes at him, but took point and lit her horn against the black that permeated the cleft. She was met with masonry, much of it heavily worn and cracked, lining the floor and walls, while rusted and unlit braziers sat cold and empty. Stone and wooden beam alike had, presumably, been installed to prevent collapses, but all that was left of the ones Celestia could see was piles of rubble that somewhat obscured the view forward.

"Shouldn't take us more than fifteen minutes to get through, seeing it's a nearly straight line through the Plateau," Eustace said as he took the rear behind Celestia and Twilight.

Celestia began to move further into the cleft, which rapidly proved to be more akin to a ravine, while carefully watching her step on the damaged masonry. While she could heal a twist or a sprain with ease she would rather not have to deal with the pain, however short lived it may be. She spent the next few minutes in silence, slowly getting used to the pattern of damage seen in the floor enough to not have to watch her hooves as closely.

"Hold on," she heard Eustace call from the back, "Didn't we pass this not just a few minutes ago?" he said, pointing a hoof at a particular pile of debris as they passed it.

Celestia stopped and looked at the pile. It didn't look familiar, but she hadn't really been paying attention anyways. "I don't know. How long until we get to the other side?"

"Up ahead there's a bend that leads into a tunnel that exits into the Rough, shouldn't be any further than another five minutes, I think," he replied uncertainly. 

Celestia simply nodded and continued forward, suddenly much more eager to get out of the ravine.

"Hold on, this isn't right," Eustace called up a few moments later. "We should have hit the bend by now. Celestia, can you get above the Plateau and see where the bend is?"

Once again she nodded, and without another word detached the Kirkhammer and took wing. Within a few seconds she was in the air above the Plateau, looking down at the ravine's outline. She could see it twist up ahead, then disappear suddenly, presumably into the tunnel Eustace mentioned.

"I see it, just a few more minutes ahead," she called down as she descended, retaking her position at the head of their column and leading them forward. They spent the next few minutes in silence, waiting for the bend to manifest.

It did not.

"Alright, now I'm getting freaked out," Eustace said, "we definitely should have reached that bend by now." He stopped, raising a hoof to scratch at his chin. "Celestia, make it as quick as you can, but get to the other side of the Plateau and call to us from the tunnel entrance. The acoustics should carry your voice to us."

"Alright," she said, and again took to the air. This time, she dipped just to the side when she reached the top of the ravine and out of sight of the bottom. Settling into a satisfactory position for the wind conditions, she began to beat her wings and propel herself forward.

As Celestia flew, the most peculiar thing happened. Even though she could feel the wind, the momentum, even see the Plateau's surface moving from her flight, the outline of the ravine didn't move at all, not even an inch. After a moment Celestia closed her eyes and shook her head, then began to descend once again.

"And so the experiment is concluded," she thought gravely, "with immensely dissatisfactory results."

"You're back," Eustace said as he spotted Celestia descending, "why?"

"Something stopped me," she said as she alighted on the ground. "I could feel the wind, the momentum, even see the Plateau moving, but the outline of the ravine just… stayed the same."

As Eustace listened, his expression only became more and more worried. "'Something' stopped you? I don't like the sound of that, at all," he said, shaking his head, clearly very eager to put distance between himself and whatever that something was. "Let's get out of here."

"Wait, aren't you at all curious about this?" asked Twilight as he turned away.

"Not at all," he said as he started back as fast as the ravine would allow. "'Something' can take itself and jump off the Great Bridge."

"Not. At. All." Eustace said quietly a few short minutes later as they emerged from the ravine, far quicker than they should have. Once again he took off at a canter into the field, watching the wall as he did before.

~~~~~

Far behind the buildings and the wall, the last rays of the day's sunlight glinted off the pinnacles of the Upper Cathedral Ward, and the Celestial Dial of the Astral Clocktower, unseen to Eustace, Twilight or Celestia, shifted one place counter-clockwise.
> 8. Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Screams and shouts. Gunfire and smoke.

Gradually the sounds and sky of Yharnam had shifted, the city once again cloaked in the ink of the hunt. Celestia had been tuning it out, so had Eustace, and Twilight had learned by now to ignore the sounds as much as they did.

But they couldn't ignore them completely.

They hadn't yet encountered a beast, but Eustace had assured them it wouldn't be anything short of a miracle if they hadn't by the time they arrived at the Great Bridge. So they all listened closely to the sounds around them as every breath, step and scrape could mean the presence of a beast.

So when they arrived back in the same plaza they'd left nearly three hours ago without an interruption, Eustace was all too happy to sue for a break, if only a short one. The mob that had been there before was nowhere to be seen, and all the windows looking over the monolith were dark.

"Gods, you can practically cut the tension with a knife," Eustace joked at Celestia, sitting with his back against the monolith. "I'm half expecting a beast to come screaming in here, just to put our luck to an end."

Celestia gave him a faux cross look from where she sat nearby. "Now you've guaranteed we'll have to kill something, well done."

"Ah, damn it, you're right."

All three of them sat in silence for a few moments longer before Eustace stood and stretched his back, signalling the other two to follow his lead.

-#-#-

Another narrow street in the endless maze of narrow streets, and she'd almost forgotten just how much she despised Yharnam's planners. Once again they'd found themselves in the claustrophobic hell of Yharnam's inner streets, and it's characteristic debris, disrepair and waste were on full display.

And Celestia hated every second of it.

In fact, she hated it so much she'd almost prefer the Upper Cathedral Ward. The smell of burning corpses and sulfur certainly didn't help her appraisal, either.

Eustace rounded a corner a dozen paces ahead into another street, but as Twilight made to follow ahead of her, Eustace suddenly backed out, the sounds of claws scraping on stone following him. Before she knew it, she'd been pushed back, and a massive blur of brown and red threw itself by where Eustace had just stood and into the building opposite the side of the corner.

It was then that Celestia got her first look at a real beast.

The massive canid pulled itself up from where it had slammed into the stone, it's ten-inch claws grasping at its snout as it hissed and growled lowly. Fur matted with some liquid, musculature unlike anything Celestia had ever seen and hooves that were anything but certainly showed Celestia that, indeed, Eustace was right.

These were absolutely not ponies anymore.

As quickly as it had appeared, it turned it's whole body towards them, releasing its snout and standing on all fours. It sniffed once and raised itself up on its hind legs, arms extended to either side of the street. 

Eustace shoved Celestia and Twilight to the sides, saying only one word: "Dodge."

The beast threw itself at the three of them, clawed hands extended and snarling viciously. Celestia threw herself into the air with all the magic she could muster in that instant, taking Twilight with her. Below her she saw Eustace bolt beneath its left arm, and watched as the beast twisted itself like an acrobat as it tried to catch him.

It failed, and he emerged behind it standing up from a roll, but he didn't unsheathe his weapon. Instead he stood and waited, while the beast recollected itself and sniffed the air again.

Celestia set the two of them down behind the beast and spared a glance towards Twilight, who'd simply seized at the sight of the creature. She was breathing rapidly, pupils abnormally dilated, but otherwise normal. Perfectly fine for a normal pony who'd nearly died.

For her part, Celestia was unharmed as well, if a little put off by how much she actually need to push to get herself off the ground with the Kirkhammer attached to her.

"Twilight, stay here," she said, drawing the sword and slotting it into the Kirkhammer's handle. With one hoof on the blade handle and another on the ground, she hobbled her way closer to the beast, taking an equidistant position between it and Twilight.

It didn't even acknowledge her, and instead slowly moved closer to Eustace, sniffing the air and letting loose low growls and hisses. Eustace also ignored her, instead watching the beast's movements.

Almost faster than she could register, the beast surged forward again, swiping at Eustace who deftly dodged backwards, and again under its followup bite like he had its first charge. 

This time, though, he didn't get under and behind it. He stopped when he had one side to the wall and his other side to the beast, and simply stood still as the beast stopped as well, sniffing the air and turning its head. Despite his unbelievably close proximity, the beast took a few seconds to figure out where it's prey had gone, but when it had, it growled low, and swung around to deliver a fatal strike.

Celestia hadn't been closing distance up until this point, believing instead in Eustace's capabilities while she stood close to Twilight. It was at that point she remembered what had been said earlier, about how only a single hunter would only make a particularly feisty snack for a beast. Her eyes went wide, and she an incineration spell as quickly as she could, but even she knew it wasn't quick enough.

Faster than she'd ever seen a pony move, Eustace raised his left forehoof and twisted it at the shoulder. A flash and crack issued from the barrel attached to his hoof, the noise ringing in Celestia's ears as she released her spell, watching it engulf the beast before fizling out, ineffective. The beast, quick as it was, was thrown back as Eustace's bullet hit it square in the shoulder and had its balance completely upended. It landed, fast, hard and spread-eagle against the opposite side of the street, head smashing into the opposite wall and dazing it for a few critical seconds.

Using the kick from the firearm, Eustace had thrown himself back and upright, using the wall as support. He drew the silver sword on his back, locked it into the Holy Sword, detached said sword, turned to face the beast and in one of the greatest displays of Earth Pony strength Celestia had ever seen, hoisted the entire blade, point up, over his head.

And then he smashed it straight down into the beast's body.

It screamed for only a few seconds amidst the echoing sound of steel rending stone, clawing uselessly at the blade that had nearly bisected it as blood poured from the wound, forming a veritable lake around Celestia's hooves. Then, it simply stopped, went limp, and it's head lolled to the side. For the first time, Celestia got a good look at it's eyes. They were yellow, like the old workshop pony's, but… exploded. Where normally there would be colour and pupil, there was leaking bursts of blackness from the pupil, almost as if it had expanded and destroyed the iris around it. 

Eustace pulled the sword from the beast's corpse with a sickening shlick, struggling for a moment as the blade had also embedded itself into the street. He then took the sword, re-embedded it tip down into the street, and used it to support his weight as he detached the silver sword, sheathed it and then pressed his back to the sword, reattaching it to the rigging that supported it when not in use.

Dropping back on to all four hooves, he stepped back and examined the carnage, breathing shakily. He nodded once and then turned back to look at Celestia, who had simply been staring, wide-eyed, at the beast and Eustace in turn. At some point Twilight had joined her, staring at the beast with some mixture of disgust and pity, as well.

"Lovely," he said, apathetic, "one down, a couple thousand more to go." He walked back down the street and turned the corner again, calling out behind him for Celestia and Twilight, who, snapping out of their states, turned to follow him.
> 9. Above Our Pay Grade
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What in Tartarus was that!?" Twilight exclaimed as she pulled up just short of Eustace's side, staring at him as they walked. 

"That was a beast," he replied simply, giving her a raised brow but not looking at her.

"Yeah, I figured as much, but that thing looked nothing like a pony!"

"Remember what I said an hour or so ago? Case in point."

Celestia interjected, taking Eustace's other side. "What about my magic? The spell I used should have turned that thing to ash."

"Magic?" Eustace shook his head at her. "Astral didn't–" he gave a slight cringe, "– right, memory loss. Well, nopony knows why, but beasts are invulnerable to magic. A few years back the Research Hall tried to figure it out, but nothing came of it for us hunters, of course. All they passed down was 'no magic'."

Celestia looked stricken, and Twilight didn't look happy either. "No magic?" 

"Well, as long as it doesn't have to make contact with the beast it should work," he added nonchalantly. "Physical weapons are plenty good enough as it is. See what I did to that beast back there?" he asked with a grin. "That, was a perfect example of exactly that. One hit and done, as it should be. Nice and clean."

Twilight gave Celestia a concerned look, before turning back to Eustace. "So, how many…?"

"Oh, plenty! With luck, we won't run into any more on our way back. The mobs tend to be noisy, so it's those canids I'm worried about. They're quiet, and prefer to take their prey by surprise."

He looked over at Twilight. "You're sure you can handle that rifle?"

She gulped. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Good. When your moment comes, don't choke. I'd rather like to see the sunrise."

-#-#-

The noises of battle had grown steadily louder as they passed further and further into the city, until eventually the walls rang with it. Booming, screams and the sounds of beast and pony alike mixed into a viscous cacophony that painted the mind with nightmarish images of teeth, claws and fire.

As it turned out, stealth seemed to be a forté of Eustace's. Contrary to the massive blade attached to his back, he had crept past the mobs patrolling the larger streets like a large cat stalking its prey. Fluid, silent and, most importantly, always keeping to superior positioning. So far, he had avoided confrontation with a mix of instinct and prowess, but even he had said that there were times when even the best laid plans or most advantageous of situations were laid waste by the element of chance.

Where before they had kept well out of the way of the main thoroughfares, now they shadowed those streets, only ever one alley away. The noises coming from that direction had been of roaring fires and celebration, of what was left to the imagination.

Eustace stopped as they neared the end of their current road, which opened up into a view of the butte that the Cathedral Ward sat on, and surveyed the street in either direction from the corner. Soon stepping out into the street proper, Celestia and Twilight followed.

The street wound around the plateau that Central Yharnam was founded on, and which the rest of Yharnam led to, giving a spectacular view of the surrounding land. Forests spread out far to the left of Cathedral Ward; a few windmills poking out of its foliage roof. To it's right the ocean spread out beyond eyesight, and far below were the crumbling and destitute buildings of another section of Yharnam. A cold wind whipped along the sides of the buildings that lined the street, creating a pitiful wailing noise as it split against the metal railings, tree branches and window bars.

It was a beautiful location, all things considered.

Far up the street, Celestia could see the Great Bridge that spanned the gulf between the Cathedral Ward and Central Yharnam. It would take some time to make it to the bridge, but at least now their end goal was in sight.

She just wondered how Astral would take the news they had to give.

-#-#-

Eustace led them through a metal gate, pushed open by a crashed carriage. They had been travelling for a while, long enough that the wind had started to get to even Celestia, but seeing the city once again close in up ahead made her want to stay out on the cliffside road despite the chill. 

To their right a sign nailed to a wooden pole read "Clinic", for some odd reason in standard Equish, and pointed to a building, larger than some of the houses they'd seen, beyond. Eustace gestured for them to follow him inside as he turned into the courtyard in front of the clinic. They both followed him to the door, which, much to their surprise, was left unlocked.

Entering after him, they were met with the strong scent of disinfectant and, perhaps unsurprisingly, blood. The entryway led downwards into a small waiting area, populated by chairs, lighting and a blackboard.

"Take a moment to breathe, I need to go over a few things with you before we go further," he said, opening the door out of the room, "and have a word with the owner of this clinic." He slipped through the doorway, closing it gently behind him.

Celestia examined the room, while Twilight immediately spotted a bookshelf, and promptly started browsing the selection.

It was fairly plain, even beyond the aforementioned seating. Two more doorways led out of the room, east and west if the way they came from was north. A few bookshelves lined the room as well, and candles provided lighting throughout the room. The blackboard was to the left of the door Eustace entered, and had words scribbled on it, though Celestia couldn't make sense of the script. Gauging the layout, however, it looked suspiciously like a list of names. If it were that, all but one under a heading had been either scratched out or erased.

"The owner, perhaps?"

"Princess," Twilight half-whispered at her, "come take a look at this!"

Walking over to Twilight, she looked over the excited pony's shoulder at the book she held.

"Look, look at this letter here," she said, holding up the book for Celestia to see clearly. Using her magic, she highlighted a particular symbol. "Doesn't that look like an early tribal variation of 'luminescence'?"

Celestia hadn't brushed up on her tribal in years, but as she squinted, she could certainly see what Twilight was talking about. The symbol was completely different from any of the other characters on the page, and, even if it wasn't immediately clear what it meant, the style was definitely tribal in origin.

She nodded sagely, draping a wing over Twilight's back. "Well done, Twilight. Memorize that symbol, and I will too. If we can use it to pinpoint our place in time, we may have an easier time leaving this place now than we did before."

Twilight nodded, and the door by the blackboard opened once again to reveal a perturbed looking Eustace. He walked forward slowly, barely even acknowledging their presence.

"Eustace?" Twilight asked, walking up to him. "Hey, you okay? What happened?"

He didn't answer until Celestia had joined Twilight. "The doctor," he said, looking over his shoulder, "Iosefka… she was… different. Cold."

Twilight blinked, but pressed on. "Oh? What's she normally like?"

"The opposite." He breathed in deeply, frown growing deeper.

"Maybe she's just had a bad day?" Twilight offered.

Eustace sighed and shook his head. "I don't think so. Maybe I'll come back, after I've got you two to Lady Astral. See what happened." He breathed in again, this time his face relaxing. "Either way, I need to warn you. The bridge, and Central Yharnam itself are going to be positively crawling with activity from beast and huntspony alike. It's not just likely we'll have to fight, it's guaranteed." He looked at Twilight as he said that. "I can tell you're not one to hurt others, so remember who you've got at home. That's who you're fighting for, that's who you're fighting to get back to. Work as a team, and we all go home in one piece." With that, he moved past them both towards the stairs.

"Is that why you're fighting?" She asked after him.

He stopped just in front of the stairs. "No. I'm fighting because I'm good at it," he stated, and started up the flight of stairs, checking once to ensure they were following.

~#~

Outside, a shrill screech pierced the night air, echoing off the stone walls so that it was difficult to tell where it came from. Eustace cringed, he'd heard that sound once before, and if it was what he remembered… 

Looking to the Cathedral Ward, he saw the last thing he'd ever wanted to see again. A massive, ungainly creature, as tall as a six-story building, lumbered out of the space between the Ward's buildings, massive claw clutching its face. It slowly walked to the plaza that the bridge opened out to, and then jumped onto the bridge itself.

Eustace prayed it would either fall off, or continue on its way.

And of course, it did neither.

It crouched down on the bridge, before sitting backwards against the gate into the Cathedral Ward, both claws now clutching its face and knees pulled up to its chest. Or, as close as it could pull it's knees, that is.

A grimace of indescribable severity painted Eustace's face. "Well, shit."

"What is that?" Celestia asked from beside him, some amount of fear actually breaking through her regal stoicism.

"That…" he spat, sitting down and massaging a temple, "is above our pay grade."
> 10. You Know What to Do
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We're not going to kill that thing, are we?" Twilight asked once they were all back inside.

Eustace shook his head. "No, Cleric Beasts like that warrant far more firepower than what we're carrying." He went to sit in one of the chairs, closing his eyes wearily. "I need to figure out an alternate route. Considering the Cathedral Ward, that won't take long. Don't get comfortable."

Celestia sighed. Beside her Twilight yawned, both of them not at all being accustomed to this kind of sleep-schedule. "Things always have to go wrong, don't they?" She thought humorlessly. She couldn't help but feel disappointed. They'd been this close to being done with this infernal city, and now what? 

Twilight came and sat next to her, sighing as she leaned into her mentor. "How much do you want to bet he'll drag us through the sewers next?"

Celestia scrunched her nose. "And what makes you think he'll do that?"

She shrugged. "Think about it. A city this size has to have sewers, and the Cathedral Ward also has to have sewers, and sewers need a way out. After that it's just deduction."

Celestia didn't want to admit it, but Twilight was right. If the city hadn't had sewers, it would have smelled a lot worse. "Twenty bits says no sewers."

"Easy money," Twilight replied tiredly.

They sat there for a moment, waiting for Eustace to announce his next plan. When he finally did, both girls were less than excited to hear what it would be.

"Right," he said, settling his weapon into place on his back again, "there's two ways into the Cathedral Ward from where we are. We either go down into Old Yharnam and work our way up, or we take the aqueduct. Seeing as the aqueduct is closer and most likely not infested with beasts, we're going to take that route."

Twilight cleared her throat. "Let me guess, the aqueduct is actually a sewer?"

Eustace blinked at her. "Actually, yes. It's more like a confluence, though. All the city's sewers run into it."

Twilight sighed, Celestia cringed. "Looks like you owe me 20 bits."

Eustace looked slightly put off, but continued regardless. "Now, aside from our bets, I've got no idea what could be in that cesspit. I can say, however, that our little tour through Central Yharnam just got longer. Prepare accordingly."

~#~

He paused, noticing the huntspony sitting amongst the boxes and bags that littered the pedestrian bridge. Below was Central Street, ablaze with that special fervor that only gripped Yharnam on nights of the hunt. The carriageway was empty; nopony with the marks to own a carriage would be stupid enough to try and use it tonight. 

"See him? He hasn't seen us yet. Or smelled, rather. Take the shot." He said as soon as he was sure they hadn't been noticed. He'd been purposefully looking for such prey as this to… acclimatize Twilight. Truth being told, he had been quite disappointed with her. She'd shown nothing but apprehension and fear so far, and while fear had its place, apprehension was the dead hunter's quality.

He'd fix this now, before it became more of a liability.

So Eustace pulled the Piercing Rifle from Twilight's back, pushing it into her hooves and guiding her into a firing posture.

"But–"

He sighed, shaking his head. "Twilight, your reluctance is going to get us all killed. Sooner or later you're going to have to do this, and sooner is better than later."

"He might be sane, normal!"

Damn, she was a difficult one.

"Do you want to go up and say 'hi'?" he said, narrowing his eyes at Twilight's widening ones. After a moment, he nodded. "That's what I thought, you're afraid. That's good, fear is what separates us from being like them. Now, I've got a question for you. When you're afraid, do you act, or do you cower?"

Twilight lowered her eyes from his, looking troubled. "I… I act."

"So how would you act if the situation were kill, or be killed?"

She didn't reply.

"You would kill. We all would," he said, his voice filled with conviction. "The instinct to survive is the strongest, no matter your ideals."

Again, she didn't reply.

"You know what to do." He said after a pause, placing her non-dominant hoof in the support and raising the barrel of the rifle.

"You don't know for certain," she said, hooves tightening on the lever and eyes almost pleading as Eustace brought the gun to aim.

"No, but I do know what must be done," he said, squaring her shoulders, "and so do you."

It took her only a moment longer, but she finally pulled the lever.

~#~

She hated this place.

She didn't use that word lightly, but she hated this place, hated it's hunt, hated the beasts, but most importantly, she hated how they were dealt with.

She liked Eustace, but she hated his job, and she hated how now she'd have to do it too.

And to be honest, she felt kinda sick.

She stepped over another carcass, just one of many on the streets of Central Yharnam.

She'd shot the poor pony, or former pony, if you asked Eustace, without so much as a warning, let alone an attempt at communication. She felt horrible about it, but Eustace seemed pleased. She couldn't guess why.

The only words of comfort he'd spared were, well, anything but. "Don't worry, a few more hours out here and you'll swiftly feel right at home."

Celestia had just stayed close and offered Twilight her ear, if she needed it. She'd refused, of course, she didn't like the idea of breaking down out here, with angry killer pony-canids roaming around. She'd just stuff everything she was feeling until they were out of this Celestia-forsaken place.

Then she'd break down.

~#~

She hated Yharnam.

She didn't use that word lightly, either. There were truly very few things she hated in the world, but Yharnam had just won the top spot. First there was the design, then there was the inhabitants, but now this?

She'd tried to keep Twilight away from this sort of thing, but Yharnam had different ideas. It seemed everything in this maker-forsaken hellhole was trying to kill each other, and now them too. If there weren't still decent ponies in the city, she would have seen just how fireproof the beasts really were.

She couldn't blame Eustace, even though he was the one that had convinced her of what she didn't want to believe. For all his indifference he did put this off until he couldn't any longer, for both their sakes, but between the beasts and the huntsponies there was just too much, and Celestia couldn't guarantee Twilight's safety by herself.

She'd offered Twilight her ear, to at least let her get out what was going on inside her head, but she'd refused. She just hoped that, regardless of whatever it was that was going on in her head, that she'd come out the other side okay.

She sighed lightly, eyes scanning the auxiliary street for signs of any enemies.

She felt guilty, too. She'd originally wanted to leave Twilight with Astral, but had acquiesced when Astral had insisted the two go together. If she had remained stalwart, none of this would be happening.

She looked to the pony behind her. Her eyes downcast, the rest of her face in shadow.

Yes, she hated Yharnam.
> 11. Central Yharnam
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Central Street of Central Yharnam was, aside from the Great Bridge, the single largest street in Yharnam. Either side of it was packed, wall to wall, with towering buildings and offshoot streets. Under normal circumstances, the street itself would be clear for carriages and other transportation, but tonight it was clogged with debris of all sorts and burning piles of refuse. Huntsponies prowled along its edges and in its center, their keen smell making up for what they lacked in eyesight as they hunted.

Under normal circumstances, Celestia would have avoided this street like the plague, seeing as it was filled with murderous madponies. However, fate had forced their hand. As Eustace had discovered, Central Street was their best bet for reaching the Great Bridge relatively unscathed. Every other street, auxiliary and otherwise, was filled with the same kind of threats they'd find here, but the difference was that Central Street was wide. They'd have room to maneuver, and, most importantly, room to use firearms.

He'd explained the gist of firearms to the two of them, seeing as they weren't what one could call "commonplace" in Equestria, let alone as advanced as Yharnam's iteration. Just as deadly in the hands of them as they were in the hands of a huntspony, the bullets travelled fast enough to make dodging difficult for all but the most agile, or those with suitable shields.

However, as Eustace had been careful to note, the huntsponies were not nearly as magic resistant as beasts themselves were. Of course, with their partial transformation they still had some resistance, but it was critically less. Regardless, Celestia had decided to keep magic to a minimum, as Eustace had cautioned her against using it frequently lest it attracted true beasts.

"Stick to the shadows, if any come close, kill them as quietly as you please. We don't need them smelling us and calling together all the other ones," Eustace said softly, as he led them into the street and up to the far left bank.

As Celestia had noticed before, bonfires raged in the center of the street. However, what she had not noticed was that they were bonfires of bodies. Mounds of disfigured corpses burned, and it was clear that more were being added constantly. The fire reflected off the ground, drenched in blood and other body fluids as it was.

She grimaced. "If this is where they bring all the bodies, then that puts us where they all congregate. The center of the hunt." She didn't like the implications of that at all. If this was the center, then they were quite literally in the belly of the beast. Seh sniffed, struck by the lack of smell. "Perhaps I've grown used to it?"

Eustace, true to his advice, kept as close to the edge of the street as he could. For the most part, the huntsponies were content to stay in the center of the street with their corpse piles, but occasionally a straggler would wander away from the group, attracted to some smell or another.

Even though she protested, Twilight had voluntarily offered to pick them off from range. Eustace had let her, keeping a critical eye on her as she performed the task.

Celestia kept a close eye on Twilight as well, if only for a different reason. All Twilight had looked so far was disgusted, whether that was with herself, her kill, or the hunt in general, she couldn't say. She wouldn't have blamed her if it were the last option, however. Celestia herself was disgusted with the hunt, and she loathed to imagine what sort of vile magic had brought this kind of curse upon an entire city.

She furrowed her brows, now that she thought about it… "Eustace, where are all the pegasi and unicorns? I've only seen earth ponies in Yharnam."

"Unicorns? Well, they normally wind up with the Choir, seeing as how precious few of them there are in Yharnam," he said, tilting his head and flicking an ear. "As for 'pegasi', can't say I've ever heard of them. What do they look like?"

Celestia balked. A city of this size? Well, she supposed it was possible, but still, this city was easily the size of a major port and they'd never even heard of pegasi? She collected herself before she continued. "Like earth ponies, but with wings, like mine. Manipulate the weather? Use clouds for building material?"

At each suggestion, Eustace shook his head, his face only growing more skeptical as she progressed. "No, sorry. I'm not sure where you come from, but there's never been anything even remotely like that here. The closest thing are the gryphons, but they're certainly not ponies, and they don't make houses out of clouds."

That raised a million more questions for Celestia, but before she got carried away she went back to her initial train of thought. "Right, sorry. Unicorns, though, you said they all wind up with the Choir?"

"That's correct," he nodded, "almost every unicorn that makes their way into Yharnam is pushed into the Choir. Nopony knows why, of course, but the running guess is that it's because they can use magic."

"Thank you, Eustace," Celestia said, giving him a troubled smile. "You don't think the Choir had anything to do with this beast plague, do you?"

He stopped walking and, to her surprise, chuckled. "Of course they do. It's not common knowledge, but the blood of the Healing Church, of which the Choir is a division, causes beasthood, albeit indirectly." He began to walk again, looking keenly at a particular huntspony. "The more blood you consume, the more blood-drunk you become. The more blood you shed, the more blood-drunk you become. The more blood-drunk you become, the closer to beasthood you get.

"There's a threshold where one begins to lose sense of themselves, and all they begin to live for is the hunt. That's what's happened to those poor huntsponies; they've stopped being sentient. They're more beast than pony, now, and we've got to put them down just as if they were diseased dogs."

Again he chucked mirthlessly. "It's a gruesome task, and not for the faint of heart, but it is a task required, and one I and many others will see through."

Celestia didn't know how to respond, so she didn't. She just nodded, content to process his words.

"You don't think Astral had something to do with this?" Twilight asked from just beside Celestia.

"Not a chance."

"I don't think so."

Celestia looked at Eustace, who also looked at her. She motioned for him to continue, but he motioned back at her with a tilt of his head. She sighed, before continuing. "Astral wouldn't have done something like this, not willingly, anyways. She might have been shrewd, but she wasn't evil," she turned back to look at the bonfires, "and this is evil."

Eustace cleared his throat. "I concur. She is fair, if a bit… eccentric, at times. However, I didn't say she didn't have a hand in this because of her moral compass. Rather, she quite literally couldn't have started this. Lady Astral came here roughly twenty years ago, and the Healing Church was founded nearly one-hundred twenty years ago. The Healing Blood has been in use for a little under ninety of those one-hundred twenty years."

Celestia blinked. "Twenty? Did you say Astral came here Twenty years ago?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, I did," Eustace replied, frowning. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh no," Celestia replied, "it's just I was expecting her to have been here longer, is all."

It was too early to say for certain, but Astral only being in Yharnam for twenty years when she'd been missing for seven hundred was… worrying. She dare not theorize too heavily, because time magic, but she hoped Astral would have an explanation. Or, at least, a way out of this damned place.

-#-

Eustace's untricked blade swept through the throat of a huntspony, sending a cascade of blood over him as the pitiful creature howled through its new slit. It dropped the axe from its hoof, falling backwards amongst the bodies of its comrades.

Beside him, Celestia buried her blade deep in another's side, pulling the blade out in a single, graceful movement. The beast hardly bled before it stumbled and fell, dead.

Twilight had shot the only one amongst the group that had been armed with a firearm long before they had engaged in melee. None of the huntsponies had thought to retrieve the rifle, and none had been prepared for either Celestia or Eustace.

All in all, seven laid dead. An assortment of weapons, all shoddily made and pitiful compared to the Church's weaponry, were scattered amongst their corpses.

Eustace looked to Celestia, clearly impressed. "You know, I'm kind of sad I didn't set you up on the front line with me earlier, we'd have made much better progress if I had."

She smiled at him, solemnly. "I don't relish this, Eustace," she said, looking behind herself to Twilight, who was rejoining them, "but perhaps speed would have been a virtue, in this case."

"Of course," he replied, becoming solemn as well, "I don't relish it either, nopony with any sense would, but I agree. Considering our circumstances, speed would have been appropriate."

Twilight holstered her rifle, giving them both a nod. Over time, she'd grown more accustomed to the use of the rifle. She still looked unhappy, but she didn't look like she wanted to vomit every time she held the thing anymore.

Celestia sighed, of all the ways for her to learn this, Yharnam had to be the worst way possible. She looked to Eustace, who was absolutely covered in blood. She wasn't sure if he tried to get himself coated, or if it was just because of how he fought, but she found it repulsive. A quick surge of magic later and nearly all of the blood not caked on had been swept off of him, leaving his leathers and coat their normal colors once again.

He must have noticed the look she was giving him, because he offered her a wolfish grin. "I swear, I don't try to get it on me, it just happens." With that, he turned towards the staircase that led up to the Great Bridge, and started up them.

The Great Bridge, being raised above the entirety of Yharnam's ground level, was designed to follow the natural curvature of the landscape under Yharnam as it cut through the city. The staircase wasn't large, and soon they were back up on top of the bridge, near where they'd been more than seven hours ago. In that time, the sun had set, the hunt had begun and the city had roared to life, but in a way Celestia had scarcely imagined.

She smelled the air. A constant wind blew in from the gorge between Central Yharnam and the Cathedral Ward, and then down the length of the bridge. By the time it reached them, it was little more than a breeze, but that was refreshing enough for her. 

Contrasting her first view down the bridge seven hours ago, this time there were no carriages in the way. She could see all along the length of Yharnam, with the city easily stretching for miles along the bridge. There were scattered fires on the bridge further down, but nothing like what she saw in Central Street. She looked towards the Cathedral Ward, and there were the carriages she remembered. This time they blocked her view of the Cleric Beast that, in turn, blocked them off from the Cathedral Ward. 

"If we'd been quicker, we could have avoided trudging through a sewer, of all things," Celestia thought to herself, grimacing.

She didn't even want to begin to imagine how filthy the place would be. Instead, she turned to Eustace, her unspoken inquiry already known to the sage green pony.

He cleared his throat before speaking.  "As of now, we're halfway to the aqueduct, or, as you'd eloquently call it," he said, nodding at Celestia, "the sewer. We'll still be following Central Street, seeing as the aqueduct is a fair distance away from the Bridge, and all three of us want to get out of here sooner rather than later. Other than that, maintain the status quo and we'll be there before we know it."
> 12. Central Yharnam - Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia wasn't exactly sure what she was hearing, but in the distance Central Street curved away from them, around a corner. In that direction, she could hear many things; singing, chanting, and now a thunderous rumbling.

"Follow me," Eustace whispered as he sped up ahead of them, a certain urgency made clear, "quickly now, that's a horde if I've ever heard one."

She followed him as he ducked into a side street that led into one of Central Street's many auxiliary streets, the buildings once again pressing in. Upon their arrival in the main auxiliary street, they found, to nopony's surprise, a group of huntsponies. Only numbering three, they were dead sooner than a rat in a mousetrap.

Celestia swung her blade dry, sheathing it and going to watch the street they came from with Twilight, curious as to what a "horde" was. From that street, Celestia spotted exactly what Eustace had declared: a horde. Possibly dozens of huntsponies passed by just in what she could see, and undoubtedly many more beyond that.

"See that? Gotta watch out for those, hordes are both beast and hunter's worst nightmare," Eustace said, wiping the blood from his sword on the coat of a dead huntspony. "Get caught by one and you're dead."

"How many ponies are there?" Twilight asked, having backed away from the opening along with Celestia.

"Too many to be holy," Eustace answered. "Let's get out of here, we don't want to be anywhere near them when they disperse."

-#-

The plaza they had emerged into was evidently well-to-do, as far as Yharnamite standards went. A scenic overlook opened out to the gorge, providing the plaza with an iconic overview of Old Yharnam and the Cathedral Ward. As expected, the streets that had led them here were far from empty, but what groups remained in the auxiliary streets were incapable of putting up a decent fight against the three hunters.

The auxiliary streets weren't spared from the carnage elsewhere, however, and what they found in those streets was equally as disturbing as what they'd seen on Central Street. Disemboweled canids hung from rope between buildings or were nailed to walls, while piles of the dead, whether killed by beast or sickness, were simply left to rot or be eaten by carrion. Rats run around their hooves and among the dead, and crows picked at entrails left strewn around the street from the deceased. The scent of blood, rot and viscera hung heavy in the air, choking out whatever other smells one would make out from the inhabited houses.

Despite being a detour, this path hadn't taken too much longer than she'd have thought. The street ran near parallel to Central Street, and, unlike Central Street, had recently been mostly emptied of both canid and pony by the mobs that had gathered in Central Street. Besides the occasional huntspony and the stomach turning scenery, it had been relatively easy progress. Stealth had been discarded and now they moved at a pace that brought them closer to their end goal quicker.

Twilight hadn't taken to the scenery either, having almost emptied her stomach upon seeing the first few "displays", as Celestia had branded them. Her own reaction hadn't been much better, to be honest, but she'd at least managed to maintain an outward facade of calm. Eustace hadn't even acknowledged the carnage, walking past it as though it weren't even there.

Regardless, such horrors weren't present in this plaza, and Celestia was grateful for that. The lamps in the plaza were lit, and the air was placid, mostly escaping even the sounds of the hunt elsewhere in the city. The only thing that made sound were the barren branches of the dead trees that sat at the edge of the overlook, whistling in the wind.

She was almost tempted to call a break, but at the same time she wanted to spend as little time in Yharnam as possible.

"Ladies," Eustace called, getting both of their attentions, "listen up. The aqueduct is only a few hundred meters in that direction –" he pointed towards the ninth building in from the overlook "– and to get there, we go back on to Central Street, which hopefully is nearly or completely empty, and go further in to the city. For quite some time it runs under the city until it opens up to the surface again, pouring out into the Old Yharnam river. We can't get to the last bit, but –"

Celestia cleared her throat loudly, gingerly tapping her horn. "Well, whatever it is stopping us from taking the easier route, I'm sure that a little magic can fix it."

Eustace blinked at her, and beside Celestia, Twilight looked pleadingly at him. "Huh." He flicked an ear. "Almost forgot about those horns of yours, thinking about this like I was dealing with any regular old rookie. That makes things easier, for once." He set off again, this time taking an even smaller side street that barely fit between two houses. Mercifully, it was clean.

"Really, it's only a few locks, a big door, and a gate not even a beast could get through. Right around here is where the ponies with money live, and they like it safe. Relatively, anyways." He continued as the street widened again just beyond the first few houses. Lanterns burning incense hung their fragrance heavily in the air, masking the scent of gore proliferated by the hunt. Few of the windows were unlit, and from outside the houses they heard laughing and what sounded suspiciously like carousing coming from a great deal of the houses up the street.

Celestia could hardly fathom it. Who could party and revel with such death just behind their front door? Did no one in this Maker-forsaken city have any respect for life? 

It didn't take long, and soon enough the three stood before their first obstacle. A large metal gate stood in their way as the street beyond bent out of sight around a sharp corner. Celestia quickly melted the lock and proceeded through without delay.

"Eustace, why aren't there any beasts around here?" Twilight asked as they made their way around the corner, and found themselves faced with another gate, much the same as the first.

"Smell all that incense?" Eustace said, taking a deep sniff. "It keeps the beasts away. Heavens knows why, but the things hate the smell, and stay away from it unless there's easy prey for them to grab. Most of the rest of Yharnam can't afford it, see, so that's why the beasts are out there and not around here."

Celestia soon melted this lock as well, and they all proceeded through.

The buildings on either side slowly became walls as the residential was replaced with official buildings. Buildings that had sheds attached, or small courtyards became more common as they got closer to the aqueduct, and soon the large door Eustace had mentioned loomed in front of them. Indeed, the door was far larger than any other they'd seen, and Celestia couldn't even see how they would lock the thing.

This city must have really been trying her patience, because she did the last thing she'd expected herself to do. She cast an arc spell, cutting through the gate and leaving a Celestia-sized hole, smouldering at the cut, for her to walk through. Which she did, and waited on the other side for Eustace and Twilight.

Eustace raised an eyebrow at her. "You're not one to dally, are you? Well, either way somepony would have been angry, I guess now it's just a few someponies." He passed her and continued on.

Twilight came up beside her as they fell behind, giving her a worried look. "Pr–" she cut herself off, correcting herself, "Celestia? Are you okay?"

Celestia nodded. She understood her concern, that was rather out of character for her. "Yes Twilight, I'm just... more than eager to be out of this place."

"I get it, I am too," Twilight replied. "If you need to talk or vent or something, I'm here, okay?"

"Okay, Twilight," Celestia smiled, "thank you, but I am alright."

Passed the door, the buildings became even more industrial than they were. Warehouses, no longer made from stone, dominated the streetside. Many smaller avenues split from the main street like the tributary streams of a river, disappearing into the shadows and dimly lit recesses of this warehouse sector. 

It took some time, but eventually they were met with the metal gate Eustace had mentioned. True to his word, it was massive. Bars easily the size of Celestia's hoof were joined by bars twice that, forming a barricade that, indeed, even a beast couldn't break. From its sides came walls topped with razor wire, ensuring that even those with the idea to scale it would pay a price. An exclusion zone of at least 10 hooves stretched from the wall to the nearest building, providing ample view on either side. Beyond, there were few buildings, but when there were, they were plain and unmarked.

Regardless of what she did before, she didn't think she'd be able to cut through a gate that thick, with as many bars as it had in any quick fashion, unless she was willing to simply pour an inordinate amount of magic into an arc spell. With Eustace's earlier warning about magic use, she thought an expenditure of that size unwise. Instead, she thought of a different solution. "Eustace, there would be a mechanism to open this gate, wouldn't there?"

He nodded. "A lever, the old Yharnam favourite. Not sure where it would be, but somewhere nearby. That horn of yours, it wouldn't happen to be able to feel around, would it?"

She shook her head. "Sadly, no. There are some who can feel with solely magic, but I am not one of them. However, this lever would be made of metal, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, why?" He asked, a query in his voice.

Instead of answering, she pulled a few stones from the street beyond the gate using her magic, and began rapidly throwing them from side to side, searching for the clang of stone on metal. Only seconds later, she heard and felt one of the stones collide with metal a small ways out of sight from the gate. Using her magic, she ran the stone along the surface of the metal object, painting it's outline in her mind and confirming that it was, in fact, a lever. With the outline in mind, she transferred her grip from the stones to the lever, giving it a pull.

From below, all of them could feel the rumbling of immense mechanisms as the gate slowly descended into the ground, leaving the way forward unblocked. Eustace looked very impressed, grinning slightly as he walked through the still lowering gate. "Gods in heaven, why don't we all have one of those things?" He said, giving her an appraising smile. "Would make everything damn easy, if we did."

"Everypony has their strengths," Celestia said, "no unicorn could wield a blade that size like you do, if at all." She followed Twilight as she went through the gate as well.

"Eh, fair enough, but couldn't you just levitate it like you did those stones?”

"No, weight still matters for unicorns. Most wouldn't have the skill or training to lift something that heavy, let alone use it to any effect," she said, shaking her head.

Eustace nodded, satisfied. "Hm. Just like earth ponies then. Well, regardless of that, you've just shaved quite a bit of risk and travel time from my original estimates. Thank you for that. Now, there shouldn't be anything else in our way, but if anypony asks, we're Choir, understand?"

Celestia nodded, but Twilight was still looking at the massive gate. "Why such a large gate for a sewer?" she asked.

Eustace beckoned for them to follow, before beginning to walk ahead. "Did you see all that blood around? Lots of it ends up in the sewers, which winds up in the aqueduct. Now imagine what would happen if a blood hungry beast wound up down there." Normally he maintained a stoic face, but at that he cringed. "It'd be hell to clean up."

After that he stayed silent, and soon the three could hear the sound of water pouring into water, and of water rushing otherwise. Though they had long left the scented lanterns behind, neither Celestia nor Twilight were prepared for the smell that assaulted them. Before they could even see the aqueduct, the scent of blood and death returned in overwhelming force, gagging both of them as they processed the smell.

Eustace didn't even acknowledge that he smelled anything. Instead, he opened the last, small gate in a low wall with his forehoof, the aqueduct and the Cathedral Ward beyond.
> 13. Aqueduct
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We're not going right to the bottom, are we?" she asked, leaning over the railing to look down the deep chasm that formed the aqueduct's sewage main. Far below, a rush of dark, murky water flowed through the main, carrying with it a foul stench. Pipes and outlets poured more of the same liquid into the main, before it all disappeared around a corner and poured out into Old Yharnam.

Eustace wrinkled his nose and made an ugly face. "No, thankfully. There's a small bridge that connects the aqueduct in Central Yharnam to the Cathedral Ward, that's our target."

Celestia "mmhmm'd", turning to follow him as he continued along the ridge. The only thing stopping anything from falling over was a short railing, barely reaching even Twilight's chest. At the moment, they were at the uppermost level, left-hoof side of the aqueduct's maintenance structures, looking down an easily thirty-meter drop into the turbid river below. The other levels descended in six-meter intervals, before, presumably, a fifth and final level that lay beneath the aqueduct's water level.

Celestia couldn't help but wonder why it was called an aqueduct, when it was clearly little more than sewer. "Why do you call it an aqueduct if it's little more than a sewer, anyways?" she asked, directing the question at Eustace.

He "hm'd" at her. "Good question. From my understanding, it's because it was an aqueduct at one time. See, Yharnam is an old city. Not just old, but very old. It's been here since long before the church, and even before our earliest records. When it was an aqueduct, nopony knows, but it probably was, at some point."

"Interesting" Celestia said. So it was old? She wondered just how old. Perhaps being teleported to the past had its benefits? "Exactly how old, do you know?"

"Again, good question." He rubbed his neck against the handle of his blade. "Gods, it's been a long time since I last thought about this. I think it was… four-hundred fifty years ago that our first records over trade with the Gryphons show up. Before that, your guess would be as good as mine. I'm sure the Church knows something, but that isn't for a lowly hunter such as myself to know."

Celestia nodded deciding that being so far in the past did, in fact, have it's benefits.

Then another thought occurred to her. If the tribes were still around, then Yharnam was certainly before the Discordian Era. That meant that whatever was left of the city before Discord was likely gone back in modern-day Equestria, along with whatever knowledge the city held of pre-Discordian pony politics and cultures.

Astral wasn't what she'd call an impulsive pony, but the temptation of knowledge from a time before her own birth was hard even for Celestia to resist, Yharnam or not. She had to wonder if Astral would pass up on an opportunity as golden as this, seeing as how unlikely it would be that they'd ever return here. Astral always had been more of the scholarly disposition, and the allure of such forgotten and sought-after knowledge would be even more enticing for her.

Celestia nearly laughed at her next thought.

"What if Astral stayed and became my mother?"

Actually, she did laugh. Preposterous. Utterly preposterous. She might not remember her parents, but she didn't think Astral was her mother. Not at all, absolutely not. It's not like she'd even let her stay after all this hell, right?

Right?

Before she could think herself deeper into a hole, however, they came to the end of their maintenance level. Eustace turned to the side, into a doorway built into the bricks of the aqueduct wall, barely big enough for Celestia. There was no lighting inside, it simply led downwards. The acoustics of the stair amplified the sound of the rushing water below, turning the moderate rushing into a roar while near the stair.

Eustace started down the stairs first. "Watch your step, I'd rather not wind up a mess on the next landing."

"I thought you said we weren't going any lower?" Twilight said, whining a little bit.

"I said we weren't going all the way down, not that we weren't going lower. Now buck up, and let's get going."

The descent wasn't easy, the stairs were uneven, the amplified sound was disorientating, and the only light was provided by Celestia and Twilight's horns. There were a few points where Celestia nearly slipped, saved only by the fact she was nearly as large as the passage itself. Twilight had an easier time, and Eustace had no issue with the stairs whatsoever, as usual.

Soon enough, they emerged on the second level down, the water nearer, louder and just as smelly as before. They were closer to the curve in the aqueduct now, but it was still a fair distance away. Celestia was glad she had brought up magic when she had, otherwise this would have taken far too long. As it stood, she didn't think she'd be able to get the smell of this place out of her nose for a full century.

"Can we expect resistance on this bridge?" Twilight asked from behind, who looked just as discomfited by this sewer as she did.

"Not likely, but I suppose it's possible. Take it slow and we'll be just fine." Eustace said, keeping pace as they continued on.

When they finally reached the accursed bend, Celestia could hardly keep herself from galloping to get away from the horrid smell of the sewer. Not so far off, she could see the gate that led on to the bridge, and the walls of the Cathedral Ward beyond. "Why is there a bridge here?" Celestia asked, genuinely curious.

Eustace flicked an ear. "Don't know. Maybe they just wanted another way out that didn't go through Old Yharnam?"

"Seems like an unnecessary security risk to me," she said, raising an eyebrow at Eustace's back.

"You and me both," he scoffed, "but times change, I guess."

Celestia left it at that, and let her mind wander to the past. Or, well, now, she supposed. She had to wonder just how far back they actually were. As she'd decided before, they were definitely before Discord, but if ponies outside of Yharnam were still referred to as being in "tribes", then it was possible that Equestria had yet to form as a nation. In fact, it was entirely within possibility that the Long Winter hadn't occurred yet, and that they were further into the past than most historians could dream of.

What little they had in the modern era that revealed the politics and culture of the time before Discord came almost exclusively in the form of oral history, traditions, gryphonic records or scattered texts in primitive Equestrian. Even that was limited, as the traditions and oral records were prone to both fabrication and corruption, the Gryphons had suffered similarly under Discord, and what Equestrian text survived from that period formed only the most fragmented idea of what society at that time was like.

Hearth's Warming was the most popular of those traditions, and interestingly also formed the basis of the modern view on the pre-Equestrian age. Very little else remained of that particular era, so to find a pre-Equestrian character in common literature here…

Indeed, it was very tempting to stay.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she felt the wind from the valley between the Ward and Yharnam on her coat, blowing much of the wretched smell away from her. To her right the railing peeled away from her, joining up with the other side of the aqueduct's maintenance level in a small platform that was suspended over the sewer.

Directly in front of them was a double door gate, about twice as high as Celestia. Producing a thin key from his leathers, he pressed the key into the gate, turning it sharply, and pulled one of the sets of doors open, allowing all three through. As soon as Twilight had passed him he closed the gate, and it locked automatically behind him.
> 14. Crowfeather
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"There," Eustace said, heaving a huge sigh of relief. "I hate that city at night, don't you?" He shook his head and stretched a bit. "Smooth sailing from here on out, I suppose. Come on, let's get back to the Research Hall and wait for morning."

He continued down the bridge which, true to his assumption, was empty, or nearly at least. A few dead bodies littered the path, marked with precise and wicked gashes and stabs. Some coffins, sacks and boxes also laid on the bridge, but otherwise it was entirely devoid of activity. Eustace stopped to take a closer look at a body, prodding it in a rather exaggerated manner. Apparently satisfied with what he found, he continued on, relaxed.

Lanterns hung, unlit, on poles along the length of the bridge, making the only source of light the moon. Above and to the left, she could see the Great Bridge and the Cleric Beast that had taken residence there. It hadn't moved since they had last seen it, and Celestia had to wonder if the thing had actually died there.

Not that she was eager to find out.

There was no gate on the other side of the bridge, it simply led into a set of stairs that slowly ascended into the rest of Cathedral Ward. While both Twilight and Eustace took those steps easily, Celestia remained tense. Even though Cathedral Ward was patrolled by the Doctors, she didn't trust them to have a flawless record, and after learning about the Church's involvement with the Beast plague, she certainly didn't trust Cathedral Ward to not have beasts in it at all.

As they ascended the steps, the buildings closed in around them once more, slowly leading them upwards. Despite its status as part of Cathedral Ward, Celestia couldn't not see the near identical resemblance to the deepest streets of Yharnam proper. Narrow streets, unlit windows and towering construction once again loomed over them, cutting off sight from all but a narrow sliver of sky. 

Mere minutes later, they entered a small courtyard. Eustace stopped in the middle, clearing his throat. "Come out, crowfeather, I know you're there. Come on out, and let's talk."

If Eustace hadn't been completely relaxed, Celestia would have drawn her blade, and beside her Twilight had also stiffened. Instead, she waited to see exactly what he thought he was doing.

A door to their right opened, warm light from inside spilling out. A metal mask, eerily reminiscent of a bird's skull, peeked out from behind the door. It stared at them for a moment before disappearing from the doorway, leaving it open.

Eustace, against all of Celestia's instincts, went to enter the door and gestured the other two inside as well with a smile.

As Celestia entered, she took note of the room. It was plain, hardly furnished, but what was there was fairly opulent. Delicate carvings in wall panels and furniture alike gave the room a stately if cramped feeling, and, unlike the exceptionally few other houses they'd been in, everything was completely intact. 

The three went through another doorway in the entry corridor, entering into a living room where an earth pony, engulfed in a cloak of black feathers, sat next to a window. The bird mask remained on and, unlike Eustace, this pony was covered head to hoof in cloths and leathers so that one couldn't even tell what color coat they had.

"Eustace."

"Eileen."

That's all that was said before he went and sat opposite from her, next to the window. The two alicorns let themselves in further, finding themselves under the gaze of this "Eileen", even if only for a moment before she refocused on Eustace.

The black feather clad pony leaned towards the stallion, taking an audible sniff. "You smell like shit."

"Oh really? I hadn't noticed," he replied in a perfect deadpan.

"Mm. You look like shit, too."

That earned the mare a disparaging look.

"Sorry," she chuckled, "low hanging fruit."

Eustace sighed wearily, and Eileen quieted while the two earth ponies looked out the window. The two alicorns, meanwhile, simply sat on what furnishings would seat them and let their tension slowly bleed away, content to listen to the two hunters.

"So, what brings you down here?" Eileen asked blandly, fidgeting with something underneath her cloak.

"Oh, many things," Eustace replied just as blandly, "but chief among them, a Cleric Beast on the Great Bridge."

"Is that right?" she said, drawing out the silence. "I can't blame you, Cleric Beasts aren't to be toyed with." She tilted her head towards the two alicorns, still facing Eustace. "They new?"

Eustace nodded. "Brand."

Eileen hummed, giving them a thorough look over. "Figures, sticking the recruits with you. Putting 'em through their paces?" If she noticed their wings, she hadn't bothered mentioning them.

"I wish," Eustace scoffed, "we've spent the last seven, eight hours slogging through the city, crawling through gutters and alleyways like rats, avoiding the damned hunt." He shook his head, cradling it in his forehoof. "Skulking in shadows… it makes me feel like I'm a beast. It doesn't suit me."

"You're right, it doesn't," Eileen agreed, "but remember Eustace, without fear–"

"–we are no better than beasts," Eustace finished with her. "I know, trust me, I've heard it enough from you to never be able to forget it. It's not that I'm not afraid," he began, looking at her straight on, "it's that it'd have been damn quicker if we'd just gone through the mobs, rather than skirting around them. Then we'd have been through this mess long before now. Feels inefficient, I guess," he finished with a shrug.

Eileen simply hummed in response.

"And besides, if I ever went that far over, you'd take care of me. I know it."

"What purpose were you lot going through the entire city for?" Eileen said quickly, almost talking over Eustace.

"Not a clue," Eustace said, flicking an ear. "All I knew was that I was to get these two as far from Yharnam as I could, and then return to the Research Hall after they were satisfied."

Eileen didn't reply immediately, but remained silent for a minute. "Research Hall? So, Choir business then. I'm not going to ask, because I don't want to know. I've said it plenty already, but you should keep distance from those ponies. They're not right, I'll tell you, they're all missing something very important."

Eustace shook his head and gave a weak laugh. "After tonight? I think I will."

Eileen gave a low chuckle as well. "If I had something to calm, I'd offer you some. Sadly, I'm out hunting tonight, so I haven't got any."

"Is that so?" Eustace's face turned grim. "And what prey are you after?"

Again, Eileen fidgeted with something beneath her cloak. "Gascoigne."

"Gascoigne? He was going," he sighed sadly, "I'm sure it has to be done."

Eileen nodded solemnly. "Indeed. He's killed Henryk, and you know how they were. Inseparable."

Eustace nodded and sighed again. He sat there, looking out the window.

They remained like that for another few minutes, idly watching the street outside. Finally, Eileen stood up, the crowfeather cloak wrapping around her form and mostly covering her legs from the fetlock up. "Well, I should be going. Ponies don't hunt themselves."

"Do you want us to come along?" Eustace said, watching her leave.

"No. Leave the hunting of hunters to me, Eustace, and I'll leave the hunting of beasts to you. All the same, I wish you luck." With that, the hunter Eileen left, leaving behind Eustace, Celestia and Twilight.

Eustace turned again to look out the window. "Likewise," he muttered, more to himself than anypony else.

Celestia stood, followed by Twilight, and moved to sit across from him, where Eileen had been sitting, while Twilight sat facing the two.

"You know her well?" Celestia asked, partially curious and partially to soothe the somewhat agitated looking Eustace.

"Yes," he said, rubbing his chin, "quite well. I've known her since I was a recruit, and she was still hunting beasts."

Celestia nodded. Get him talking, and he'll say what's bothering him. "You two seemed like good friends."

"I suppose you could call us that, yes."

"Did you know Gascoigne?"

"No, but I do know that he is a damn, damn good hunter. Eileen should be able to take him…" he said, brow furrowing, "but, she is getting up there in age. I'm worried he might be too much for her."

"He's gone blood-drunk, hasn't he?" Twilight interjected.

Eustace nodded. "That's right, and blood-drunk hunters are the most dangerous hunters. Eileen is truly much more skilled than I am, but…" he stood, moving to the door, "perhaps we should check on her."

Celestia and Twilight got up to follow, but one question remained for Celestia. "How will we find her?"

Eustace chuckled. "If you know the signs, you can find anypony, anywhere, and I've known Eileen plenty long enough to know her signs. We won't have any trouble finding her."
> 15. The Hunter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Looks like she went where we're going, anyways," Eustace said, rounding a staircase corner. A small landing on which a few buildings had their entrances turned into another staircase ahead of them. "Oedon Tomb, which connects to Oedon Chapel, is just up these stairs. If we want to get to the Research Hall in any timely manner, this is where we need to go." He turned to look at the two ponies behind him, face grim. "If I've read the signs correctly, Eileen will be here, and so will Gascoigne. Now, I want you two to stay back, got it? Don't interfere, Gascoigne isn't going to be reasonable, nor is he going to hesitate to kill either you or me."

"He is a pony, isn't he?" Celestia asked, concerned. "Can't I just light him on fire, or electrocute him?"

Eustace shook his head. "If Eileen was right, then he'll certainly be more beast than pony, now." He gave them both a sincere look, using his hoof to tap Twilight on the shoulder and Celestia on her lower leg. "If anything happens to you, it won't be pretty for me. So please, consider self-preservation before anything else."

He began to walk up the stairs, but stopped just before he reached them. "Besides, you two have talent. You'd be quite the replacements should the two of us wind up dead." With that matter-of-fact statement he turned away from them, leaving the two alicorn ponies on the landing.

Twilight waited until Eustace was out of earshot, turning to Celestia with a determined expression. "Princess," she whispered, "we should go up there and help them."

Celestia's heart must have skipped a beat. "Twilight, you heard what he said."

"Yes, I did but..." Twilight said, looking away, "we've spent the last eight hours killing and crawling through grime together, all three of us," Twilight managed a weak smile, "he's had our backs, and we've had his. I'd say that kinda makes us friends, right?"

Friends. Celestia sighed internally, whenever it was for a friend, there were no limits to Twilight's compassion. "I… suppose so, Twilight." She turned to look at her pupil, who looked on with a mixture of hope and apprehension. "Come, let's make sure they're okay."

Twilight nodded, turning around and leading them up the staircase. They didn't see what they were expecting.

Oedon Tomb wasn't just a tomb for a single pony, it was an entire graveyard. Stacks and stacks of gravestones lined almost every free inch of ground, leaving only narrow pathways between one cluster and the next. The only sources of light came from small torches and from above, where a massive overpass of the Cathedral Ward let a few of the midnight Moon's rays down below, landing on the singular monument that stood in the center of the graveyard.

And beside that monument stood a most intimidating figure, and another figure much smaller than it. Even in the dim light, Celestia could make out Eileen's crowfeather cloak as she closed on her prey, a stallion who seemed to be aimlessly burying an oversized axe into something on the ground, perhaps the ground itself.

Who was she kidding, it certainly wasn't just the ground with the way this city worked.

She watched Eileen carefully, experience telling her that the larger pony already knew that the crowfeather was there. She couldn't see Eustace, as he seemed to have hidden himself amongst the gravestones, but she didn't doubt that he would be out there the instant Eileen failed. If she failed.

Said mare took her time, creeping up slowly on what she guessed was Gascoigne. Very suddenly, she lunged.

A brilliant flash of silver accompanied the draw of Eileen's blade in a fluid motion that was hard for even Celestia's eyes to decipher. Eileen threw her full weight behind the strike, practically leaping after her hoof and blade.

True to her instincts, Gascoigne reacted almost instantly. In a blur he whipped around, catching Eileen's strike on his axe. He twisted his weapon and shoved, throwing Eileen back and off balance, before bringing the axe down in an overhead swing.

Eileen dodged out of the way, backing up further as he followed up with more swings and a blast from his hoof-gun. She didn't engage again, instead she kept her distance, far enough away to react but also close enough to bait the stallion on.

Gascoigne growled low. He lunged again, this time dragging the axe on the ground for an uppercut. He missed, of course, as Eileen once again dodged, but this time she darted in during his recovery and delivered a wicked gash to the area just under his shoulder, and to his side.

The hunter didn't even acknowledge the injury, instead chomping his teeth at her and swinging his axe at where she had been standing. He followed up, again, with another flurry of lunges and swings, none of which connected with Eileen, who moved around him with impressive fluidity.

So they went, back and forth. Every now and then she'd deliver another similar strike to his side or his back, but she never managed to land any deciding blows. Gascoigne was, indeed, a skilled hunter who had mastered his particular weapon. He left few openings, of which Eileen had little opportunity to exploit, and Eileen was no less skilled than him.

He still hadn't managed to land a blow when he finally stopped his pursuit of her. He stood back as she stilled as well, catching her breath.

"Why must you run?" Gascoigne said gently, almost as if he were a father speaking to a foal. "I'm trying to help, trying to clear all these beasts out." He shifted his hoof and a mechanism inside his axe activated, extending the length of the handle by at least a full pony's length. "And you'll be one too, sooner or later." He used the length to help him stand on his hind legs, chuckling as he did so.

Using the axe's shaft he vaulted himself towards her, letting the axe extend from his hoof as he swept it at her, followed up with more sweeps as she tried to maintain her distance. He, however, gave her little room, constantly vaulting and using his blunderbuss to catch her and close openings in his movements.

She deflected what swings of his she could, but Gascoigne's balance was excellent, and his movements were sporadic and hard to predict though limited while standing upright. His increased range and now-free gun arm gave him essentially free reign over the battle, as she lacked both of his advantages. Maybe she understood that, as she continued backstepping and dodging his attacks while he chased after her like a rabid dog. His movements were practiced if nearly frantic, and he never caught his axe on anything, even as she weaved through the gravestones.  

Even if Celestia couldn’t see Eileen’s face, she could see in the pony’s movements that she was flagging. Her movements were losing their flawless edge, and if this didn’t end soon Eustace would step in, and then they would too.

Eileen stopped and stood, even as he vaulted towards her once again. This time, she didn’t dodge as the axe swung at her. Instead, she took the strike to her side, moving with it somewhat as the axe head dug into her.

But that was part of her plan.

As fast as lightning she swept forwards, wrenching the axe from herself in the process and throwing Gascoigne’s balance off, if only a little. In a brilliant flash she separated the two halves of the Blade of Mercy, holding one half in her now-maskless mouth and the other in her hoof, as she used her weight and momentum to grapple and swing herself onto his back, holding herself on with her free hoof around his neck.

Gascoigne didn’t get much chance to react, because the next second she had driven the blade half in her hoof deep into the area between his shoulder and neck, and soon the other half followed in the other hoof, driving into the opposite side in the same place.

The stallion roared in a mixture of fear and rage and then fell forward, his forelegs giving out before him. Even as he lay on the ground he continued moving, wrestling with his now dysfunctional limbs and vocalizing his rage.

"How pitiful," thought Celestia, moving out of cover and into the tomb itself. Out of the corner of her eye she also spotted Eustace emerging from a particularly dense cluster of gravestones, a hood over his head. As she drew closer, Gascoigne remained as loud as ever. In fact, there was another sound…

With a grinding of bones and squishing of meat, Gascoigne's body began to warp. In one of the most unfamiliar and distressing sights she'd ever seen, Gascoigne's flesh began to rip and tear from within, a bestial shape overcoming his natural form. His limbs lengthened and became more slender, his back arched, his hooves burst into claws, and his face lengthened and grew vicious teeth. All over where his body changed thick, wiry hair grew, and soon he was nearly the size of Celestia.

The newborn beast slowly rose, Eileen dropping off his back and scrambling away from him as fast as her wound would let her. It clutched at its face with both of its hands as it reached its full height, a low moan, almost a growl, emanating from the creature. It stopped abruptly, until it ripped the blades Eileen had planted into it out with a guttural scream, throwing itself into a frantic search for the injured hunter.

Celestia tried to recollect herself, while Eustace had already prepared his own weapon. He had sheathed the blade within its larger counterpart when he threw a pebble at the beast, catching it square on the back of its head. Just as he'd hoped it whirled around, snarling and spitting, and focussed on him.

An ugly look passed over the beast's face, a look that wouldn't look out of place on a pony's face, either. It startled Celestia, but she too prepared her weapon, remembering the speed of the last beast Eustace had personally killed. "Twilight," she said to the pony still behind her, "go find Eileen and make sure she's okay."

Twilight gave a small noise of understanding from behind. "And when I'm done with that, I'll set up with the rifle." With that, she took off towards where they'd last seen Eileen, staying as quiet and unnoticeable as possible.

The beast, meanwhile, hadn't wasted a moment. It had leapt at Eustace, who dodged much the same as Eileen had, but unlike her he remained close. The beast swung and snapped wildly at him, but he kept the pace and outmaneuvered the beast at every turn. Until he didn't.

Finally it got him off guard with a hail-mary strike to the back of his neck, burying its claws and ripping his hood off and leaving a few gashes behind. Eustace responded by firing his hoof-gun, and Celestia moved in as he backed off. The two ponies hardly had a chance to greet one another before the beast was upon them again. 

Once more it focussed on Eustace, who had quickly unsheathed his sword from its attachment, using it to block strikes he didn't dodge. This time, even though he tried to keep his distance, it didn't let him. It leapt just as Gascoigne did, but with far more agility and prowess than the hunter could have.

Celestia hefted the massive hammer off her back, attaching it to her blade. The way the beast moved and attacked didn't leave her much room for error in her own attacks, with how close it got to Eustace, but… she did have a plan. She lifted the entire thing in her magic, albeit with quite some effort. Despite her own magical strength the Kirkhammer wasn't a little weapon at all, and levitation spellforms had a reputation for being, by nature, inefficient.

Regardless, all she'd have to do is hit it once, maybe twice. She could do that.

She didn't bother with being stealthy, she was too large for that. Instead, she charged at the beast as it continued its pursuit of Eustace, making as much noise as she could with her hooves as she positioned the hammer to smash the beast. She got its attention, but it seemed to disregard her almost entirely, still pursuing Eustace. 

Within moments she was close enough to smell it, which to her was just close enough but too close for comfort. She reared up and raised the Kirkhammer along with her, immediately setting it into motion downwards, ready to flatten the beast. 

It wasn't until almost halfway through her downstroke that the beast reacted, fast as lightning dodging to its side and directly away from Celestia, its focus shifting just as fast as it attacked. Just as she landed from rearing up and as the hammer embedded itself into the ground, it jumped at her and latched its claws into her shoulders, trying to find purchase to pull her onto her side to access her neck with its mouth.

Celestia lost control of the Kirkhammer as she struggled with the beast, instincts going wild as it slobbered and growled on top of her, only latching itself in deeper as she shook and tried to dislodge it to gain some kind of advantage. In desperation she even tried magic, thought that of course fizzed and died on the beast's coat. Only faintly did she hear the clang of a metallic mechanism, but she very much felt the weight on top of her move as the workshop's Holy Blade was thrust into the beast's side.

Almost in an instant the beast dislodged itself, howling as it unimpaled itself and released Celestia, who promptly recovered from the beast's assault. Just as the wretched thing recovered to begin again, Celestia regained control over the Kirkhammer with her magic, and whether or not the beast realized soon became irrelevant. It lunged, and Celestia, deeply, instinctually determined to never repeat that experience, threw every ounce of raw power she could into turning the beast into mincemeat.

The Kirkhammer slammed into the beast mid-lunge, connecting with such force as to seem to wrap the beast around itself before flying freely on the follow-through, taking the beast with it as Celestia released the levitation spell. The beast slammed into the obelisk that dominated the center of the tomb before being followed, very shortly, by the hammer. In a fantastic display the interior of the former hunter was painted all over the obelisk, before both beast and hammer fell to the ground in a violent heap.

Celestia simply stood, panting, with more adrenaline coursing through her than she'd had in years. Not even Chrysalis had scared her that bad, and she'd had an army! She stopped thinking for a moment and just breathed in slowly, trying to at least calm herself down somewhat.

Eustace was panting behind her, too. "Hey, you alright? No major wounds?" he asked her, sounding winded.

Celestia shook her head, starting to work on healing them now that she'd been reminded of her own injuries. "No, you? He got you early on."

"I'm fine, just a small strip of flesh came off," he said nonchalantly. "You're sure he didn't get you good?" he asked, coming up from behind and giving Celestia and once over himself.

"I'm sure," she nodded. "He just latched on to me, it scared me more than I'd like to admit."

Eustace chuckled in response to her admission, shaking his head. "That's the beast putting fear in your heart. I saw how you charged, no fear!" His demeanor changed, and now he gave her a very serious look. "You're very lucky you're so big, you know. Many other outsiders have made the same mistake as you, but they were my size," he said, pausing to reattach his Holy Blade to his back, "very few of them live, and the rest wind up quite horribly maimed."

It only happened once in a blue moon, but Celestia felt… foolish. "I... understand," she said, trying to at least find some justification for her behavior. "I understand," she said again, ears flattened slightly, thinking.

Eustace sighed. "But do you?" he said, shaking his head. "Do you now give the beast it's due respect, or are you just as brazen?" he asked her, tilting his head at her like he was examining something. "Because if you don't, the next beast might be your last."

She nodded, letting his words sink in. She'd charged because all she'd seen was a beast, incoherent and bloodthirsty, and she'd made an assumption that Gascoigne was wild, and she didn't fear wild beasts. She'd stopped fearing them long ago, to her they were non-factors, irrelevant, especially in battle. What she'd learned to fear were skilled warriors and tacticians, usurpers and evil demigods.

Perhaps it was time to reevaluate that lack of fear.

Finally done with his cleaning and maintenance, he addressed Celestia again. "Make sure he's dead," he said, tilting his head at the mess she'd made before taking off towards where Twilight and Eileen were. 

Celestia sighed and, while still standing where she had been, used her magic to again levitate the Kirkhammer. It seemed a bit overkill to slam it into a corpse, but…

Fear. Fear the beast.

She quickly slammed the hammer into its head, pulverizing it into the dirt, and praying to whatever cruel god ruled here that a beast with no head stayed dead. She returned the Kirkhammer to her back, cleaning it with magic on it's way over, and then took off after Eustace, quickly finding the three huddled together.

As she approached, she got a good look at Eileen underneath the cloak. Twilight had stripped it off her, garnering a plethora of new names from the hunter, in order to treat the wound. She was crimson, with cinnamon brown hair nearly completely turned white. Her face was wrinkled with silver eyes, and even through her coat deep scars were visible, including the large gash now being tended to by both Twilight and Eustace.

He sat beside her, wrapping the wound with what little cloth he had, shaking his head and thinning his lips, all the while earning the same names Twilight had. "Stupid mare."

"Oh, bold!" she ground out through clenched teeth, squeezing her eyes against his treatment. "Didn't want to do that, he left me –" she hissed as he squeezed the sides of the wound together as best he could – it was quite a nasty injury –"no saints damned openings!"

"I saw," he said, shaking his head again, "and if you'd just carry a damn gun –"

Eileen cut him off with a petulant groan, thumping her hoof for added emphasis. "I know, I…" she deflated, losing the fire she had just a moment earlier. "... know. You've told me plenty, but I – I don't know, maybe I'm just getting too old for this. For hunting, for beasts, for everything."

Eustace remained silent as he finished, only muttering a quick "thank you" to Twilight for the work she did with her magic on the wound. Finally, he produced a red vial from inside Eileen's crowfeather cloak, administering the dose to her near the wound. Eileen heaved a sigh of relief as she finally relaxed, Eustace and Twilight gathering her belongings. 

While Twilight accounted for what she'd been wearing, Celestia followed next to Eustace as he began searching for her discarded blades, finding one firmly embedded in a gravestone. "So, what now?" she asked him as he strained to pull it out of the stone with his mouth. 

"Now? Now we find somewhere nice and safe for her while she recovers from that wound," he said, releasing the handle. "That dose won't have her walking til morning, earliest." He motioned towards the blade handle, moving aside for Celestia.

She obliged, giving the handle a tug like Eustace had. Then harder, then harder. "That's really quite stuck, isn't it," she thought with no small amount of humor. Giving the blade an impressed look. She placed her horn against the blade and pointed at the insertion point, putting a small pulse of magic into the stone until it cracked! and split, the blade tumbling out of the gravestone and into Eustace's hooves.

He shook his head again, giving her an awed look. "I have to get one of those." He turned, and scanned again for the other half of the blade. It was found shortly, and soon all four ponies were ready to ascend into the Cathedral Ward proper.
> 16. Closed Gate
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable!" Eustace ground out, his face mixed exasperation and anger. "They saw us on our way out, it's not like they're a different shift!" He spat, stomping in the direction of the Upper Cathedral Ward's only entrance.

Where once the gate had been open and permitting entry to the Upper Cathedral Ward, now the gates were sealed tight and guarded by particularly mean looking Church Doctors. Their only communication had been to Eustace, repeating the same growls any time he'd tried to argue with them. So now the three sat in the small courtyard directly before the gate, some fuming and others worried.

They'd left Eileen behind at Oedon Chapel, under the care of a seemingly benign creature that called itself the Chapel Dweller. Though ugly, it had promised to take care of the injured hunter and despite its unsettling appearance, both Eustace and a barely conscious Eileen had vouched for it as a caring individual. The three remaining ponies had, themselves, taken another of Eustace's colorful shortcuts to reach the gateway within the hour.

"Madness, bloody madness!" Eustace said, more to himself than anything else. He gave the Doctors a loathing glare, before shaking his head. "Well, so much for getting in that way," he said with a sigh. "Either of you have a plan?"

Celestia shrugged her shoulders. "You know the city better than us, Eustace. If anypony can solve this, it's you." For whatever reason, the Doctors had locked everypony out of the Upper Cathedral Ward, including them. No reasoning had been given, and that worried her. What if something had happened up there? Another Cleric Beast?

"You're right, I do know the city," he said, sitting and shaking his head. "I know that there isn't a single other way into the Upper Ward short of flying, and I'm sure I've told you how wise that is during the hunt." He sighed again, cursing gods unknown beneath his breath.

"Um, hello?" Twilight interjected, giving them both an incredulous look. "Ever thought about asking for permission?" she stated, very matter-of-fact.

Celestia blinked. So did Eustace. "Any ideas now, Eustace?" prompted the alicorn, giving Twilight an appreciative smile and a wink. Truth told, she was slightly embarrassed that she hadn't thought of that.

Eustace sighed again, rubbing his head with a hoof. "Who's there to ask? The Clergy's a mess to the point nopony knows who does what anymore, Lady Astral is probably asleep, and the Choir's virtually gone. That leaves the Vic…"

Realization dawned on Eustace as he brightened, before he began chuckling. "The Vicar! Of course, why didn't I think of her?" he said, noticing both alicorn's questioning looks. "She's the Church's top official and tonight, quite unusually, she's to offer prayer in the Grand Cathedral. If anybody can get us into the Upper Ward, it's her." Eustace stood, and quickly went to return the way they came.

-#-#-

The return to the main level of the Cathedral Ward was uneventful, seeing that they'd cleared the way of anything the Doctors had missed on their way up. A few relatively short paths and streets of considerable quality later, and soon they stood once again in Oedon Chapel, with its opulent carvings and thick, scented air. The Dweller was nowhere to be seen, likely in the small library beneath the Chapel that he'd had them bring Eileen into. 

Eustace had them wait while he went down to check on her, before returning with a rather grim face. "Good news and bad news, I'll start with the good," he said sitting down. "Eileen will recover, though this will likely be her last hunt. Gascoigne did a number to her side, and she's not the young hunter she used to be." He gave them both a squint-eyed look. "Bad news is I figure you should both stay here."

Celestia balked. "Stay?" she said incredulously, "and what gives you the idea we should stay?" Celestia stopped herself from outright denying staying behind, being more interested in finding out why and convincing him otherwise.

"Well…" Eustace began, rubbing the back of his head, "the Vicar isn't known to be, ah, welcoming of outsiders, especially when they want anything to do with either the Choir or the Upper Ward. Unless they're destined for the Research Hall, of course." He gave them both a sincere look. "It's nothing personal, it's just that she'll probably give us an easier time if you two stay here until she gives us access."

Twilight was looking at him cynically. "Yeah, but aren't we already working for Lady Astral? You know, a Choirpony?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

Eustace creased his brow. "Well, yes, but –"

"And haven't we already been through the better part of the hunt? Taken part in it, too?"

"That is, uh, true…"

"And didn't you already tell us what causes ponies to become beasts?" she said, topping off her argument with a 'hmm?' "Can't imagine that's common knowledge, is it?"

"I – um, no, it's not, but…" he stopped, took a deep breath, and stopped himself from arguing. "Well, you certainly guessed why she dislikes outsiders. You're right, that isn't common knowledge, or at least it isn't supposed to be. Seeing as how you already know, though," he said, looking at them both critically, "we might be able to persuade her. Emphasis on might, I've got no clue how she'll act."

Celestia nodded at Eustace and gave Twilight another wink. Looks like she did learn something from all those times she'd wound up arguing with some hard-headed pony.

"Still, I'd rather you stay here," Eustace said hesitantly. Upon seeing both of their reactions, however, he sighed. "Though, I don't suppose you'd let me go alone, would you?"

"Not a chance," they both replied in unison.

"Perhaps it's for the better, then. You never know what's lurking behind the nearest corner, do you?" Eustace said, chuckling as he waved them towards the entrance of Oedon Chapel, and the rest of the Cathedral Ward.
> 17. The Vicar
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

He held up a small white bundle of cloth, an emblem as he had called it, towards the gate the led to the inner section of the Cathedral Ward. Whether through magic or another mechanism the gate responded, a solitary click sounding before the gate slowly opened, screeching on its hinges all the way. He then stowed the emblem away, leading his company towards the Grand Cathedral.

Celestia made sure to take in her surroundings, it being as awe inspiring as it was had made her unwilling to tear her eyes away from it all. Before her the largest plaza she'd yet seen stretched wide, clearing the urban development of Yharnam like a bald patch of woodland that had recently been logged. Buildings cramped themselves along the edges, but within the plaza itself stood only one massive monument and an array of tombs arranged concentrically around it.

Then, on the far side of the plaza and up a rather copious amount of stairs rose the Grand Cathedral, a majestic and imposing figure that dominated the skyline of the Cathedral Ward. The Research Hall sat at its head, its massive clock watching over the whole of Yharnam. In front of it and to its side sat the platforms and terraces of the Upper Cathedral Ward, carefully tucked away from sight.

"It's a lot more intimidating down here than it was from the Upper Ward," Celestia said to herself. Neither being as close up as she was at the start of the night, nor as far away as half-way through the city had lent her much of an idea of scale, but now?

Now she felt like an ant.

"It's designed that way," Eustace said, looking up towards the building as well. "Pretty sure, at least. Why should the ponies who run the show be intimidated by themselves, right?"

They continued through the plaza, passing by two monstrous creatures of colossal size that bore, quite disturbingly, quite a few pony-like features. What they were, Celestia didn't ask. She wasn't sure she wanted to know, and she wasn't sure how she'd react if she got a bad answer, either. Regardless, the giants slept and they passed through the plaza unhindered.

On the other side of the plaza rose another gate, much like the last. This one, however, was operated by a Doctor, and not by an automated mechanism. Eustace displayed the emblem to the Doctor through the gate, and only then did the silent being open their way.

A grand set of stairs led upwards, passing underneath the great overhang that held the Clocktower. All along these stairs stood Doctors, each as silent and unmoving as the last, and each staring out over the plaza and Yharnam beyond. Many leaned on canes, doubling their height, while some leaned on scythes and others held lanterns that glowed a pale blue. Some had heavy metal tubes strapped to their forelegs, but the very last two they saw on the stairs had none of these. Instead, they leaned on, for lack of better words, solid logs painted red. They stood on either side of the stairs just before the entrance to the Grand Cathedral: a gigantic set of brass doors.

Oddly, these two did not watch away from the doors like the rest of their brethren, but towards it. They did not move an inch as they leaned against their wooden poles, completely still, yet absolutely awake. Eustace passed them, giving only the briefest of curious glances before he pushed one half of the Grand Cathedral's main doors open. He walked in, followed slowly by both Twilight and Celestia.

Immediately upon entering, Celestia was struck with unease. Great statues of many-limbed creatures lined the wide staircase that led to the Cathedral's nave, each with a many-holed, almond shaped head and carrying a long pointed spear. They may have only been statues, but they struck an unnatural air of caution into Celestia. The stairs were stained with long-dried smatterings of blood, and the voice of the Vicar echoed down from up above.

Celestia wasn't naive. Something in the voice of the mare also set her alarm bells off. Despite its seeming utter placidity, a certain edge existed underneath the smooth recitations of the Vicar, an edge that sounded out of place. Still, she followed Eustace as he ascended the staircase and said nothing. The Vicar was the single most powerful individual in Yharnam at the moment, and it wouldn't do to be overheard warning Eustace about something that may or may not matter, especially if that warning could offend...

Finally, the three reached the end of the stairs, and the Cathedral itself was as gorgeous on the inside as it was intimidating from outside. Great silken drapes hung from the ceiling, gently blowing in an unfelt breeze, tall windows of stained glass cast their subdued colors upon the stone floor, and towering statues depicting the same scenes from the Upper Cathedral Ward imposed from alcoves and pillars.

Then there was the Vicar, a singular voice in amidst all of it. A small, almost frail looking individual, hunched over in front of the altar that dominated the dias at the head of the Cathedral. Whether she noticed their entry, she lent no clues, and her recitations remained in the same tone as before.

Celestia noticed another anomaly as Eustace led them through the nave: their hoofsteps were silenced. Whether by magic or some other trickery Celestia couldn't tell, but that fact alone made the Vicar's voice all the more powerful.

"Probably intentional," she thought.

Eustace stopped moving suddenly and said nothing, but motioned for both alicorns to sit beside him. He then watched the Vicar.

She did not cease in her recitations. "... But beware the frailty of ponies. Their wills are weak, minds young. The foul beasts will dangle nectar and lure the meek into the depths." She stopped for a single second, saying nothing but taking a solitary sniff.

In an instant her voice broke and strained, the very act of speaking seeming to cause the Vicar pain, as her body shook before the altar.
"Remain wary of the frailty of..."

Eustace was about to move forward to help her before, for the second time in as many hours, Celestia witnessed a beast birth, only this time it was no simple hunter. Before her the Vicar seemed to explode outward as all three of them recoiled. The Vicar followed the same mutation patterns as Gascoigne did, developing limbs and bone structures before their eyes, but also growing many times her original size in a short period of time. She shrieked and wailed all the while, writhing in pain even in her beastial form as the changes occurred.

The sound was horrific, and everywhere.

Eustace shoved them back behind him, and gestured towards the entry. "Get out while you can, I'll keep her busy for a bit," he said, face exceptionally calm if grim.

Celestia didn't lie to herself. She took one good look at the Vicar's new set of teeth and increasingly massive stature and had every instinct in her go off at once, telling her to take his offer and put as much distance as she could between herself and the beast. She didn't, though. She looked to her side, where Twilight stood slackjawed looking at the Cleric Beast, and made a decision. As a Princess it was her duty to protect her ponies, and while Eustace might not be one of her ponies from her time, he was still a pony, and what kind of Princess would she be to leave him to certain death?

Besides, she was a Princess. She'd fought soul-eating demi-gods and won, what was one magic proof life support system for a set of teeth compared to that?

The Vicar screeched as its transformation ended. Claws the length of a pony protruded from the same odd claw-like hands Gascoigne had developed, and teeth fitted a jaw easily large enough to swallow Celestia whole, all on a body the size of a building. The Beast righted itself, and turned around, sniffing them out. its right claw clutched something to its chest.

"Too late," Celestia said. "Looks like we're in this together, hunter." She lifted the Kirkhammer from her back as he lifted his Holy Blade, both coming up with the same plan. "Twilight, run, would you?" Celestia said, before shoving the smaller alicorn with her magic towards the exit.

Perhaps more out of fear than anything Twilight bolted, her hoofsteps silenced by the odd floor. At that moment the beast lunged, thankfully not for Twilight, but for where Eustace and herself were. Each dodged deftly to the side, Celestia doing her best to copy his movements from earlier.

The beast however did not swipe, but smashed the floor with its hands where they had been, leaving behind a crater as it whirled around to follow Celestia, who promptly used telekinesis to hammer the Kirkhammer into the beast's face.

Her hit connected, slamming the beast in an uppercut on the chin. The beast however seemed to barely register the hit, stunning for only a moment before regaining its trajectory and moving after Celestia steadily. It moved forward on two legs, supplemented occasionally by its left foreclaw while it clutched its right claw to its chest. It batted and blocked the Kirkhammer away from itself with its left claw, whenever it heard the weapon approaching and the claw wasn't otherwise occupied.

Celestia kept backing up, just out of the beasts reach as she threw the Kirkhammer from range with everything she had. Within a few dozen seconds, though, the beast had pressed her against the altar and dias with nowhere left to run. It snarled, and for an instant seemed to grin, before lunging forward with wide mouth and grasping claw.

Celestia cast the quickest teleport spell she knew, sending her behind the beast as it flew forward to where she had been just an instant earlier. She retreated as it stood, empty handed and empty mouthed. its screech of frustration was nearly deafening.

"Well done," Eustace said as he realized she'd teleported next to him, "keep going like that and soon I'll have an opening to do some real damage." With that he bolted away from her, letting the beast fixate on Celestia again.

Celestia's ears drooped. "Jee, thanks," she said, before quickly dodging again as it lunged with far more vigor than before. Maybe she'd pissed it off?

She dodged again as another powerful swing came her way, but only narrowly escaped the follow up fisted slam and swipe. It kept at her, unwilling to give her any room to breathe.

Likewise, Celestia was unwilling to give it a single hair off her mane. She ducked, dodged and weaved her way around its unceasing volleys of teeth, claw and fist, which came far too close far too often for her own liking. She might have been unwilling to give it a single hair, but that didn't mean it couldn't take far more than that in an instant if she got sloppy. Not that she was planning on getting sloppy, the Vicar was keeping her on her toes already as it was.

As she remained evasive, she snuck in hits with the Kirkhammer wherever she could which, she could tell, was pissing it off more and more, and maybe disorienting it a bit too. Small rivulets of blood flowed from the beasts nostrils and between its teeth, painting an ugly picture of what its face must look like under its fur. Regardless, the longer she dragged this out, the more erratic the beast behaved. Celestia soon wasn't just dodging, but practically leaping away from the beasts attacks as they grew in intensity and desperation, showing no signs of slowing down. She couldn't keep this up forever, she was already starting to feel the exercise, but somehow she thought the beast just might.

Something had to give.

An idea formed in her mind to bait and expose it for Eustace, letting him deal a crippling blow and trust him to keep its focus enough to let her get out alive. She didn't like that idea, not one bit, but the alternative was to wait for a perfect opening on time she might not have.

"Better to do the dangerous-" she dodged another swipe "-things when you're mostly fresh," she thought, rationalizing the incredibly dangerous and probably stupid thing she was just about to do.

She didn't have many options to execute her plan, though. The beast was huge, and a single screw up would mean death. She'd need the perfect opening...

Before she even really understood what it was she was going to do, she saw her chance. She'd just narrowly avoided another lunge from the beast, and the area behind her was entirely open. The Vicar had neither tensed to lunge a second time, nor had it left its left foreclaw unoccupied. It had given up immediate pursuit of Celestia, instead aiming to start a fresh assault.

A, perhaps fatal, mistake.

Celestia darted forward as gracefully as she could, swinging the Kirkhammer with her magic down on the beasts exposed hand. She didn't watch the hammer, instead focusing on the cursed thing's jaw. As the hammer crunched into the bony hand, Celestia saw the half-scream-half-bite coming her way and dashed to the side, getting as close as she could while the beast was prone. She got so close, she was practically immersed in its white, stringy fur, and all around her was this pungent smell she could only describe as rancid meat. It couldn't bite her, nor could it reach her unless it dropped whatever it was holding.

Hopefully Eustace had picked up on her diversion, and any second now...

An eternity seemed to pass in a mere second to Celestia. Had this been stupid? Was she about to die? Her, a near immortal being to some mangy dog?

Then she felt it. The beast shuddered deep, a rolling wave of thunderous rage and screaming as it writhed and scrambled to get away from something. With no other choice, Celestia got out of the Vicar's proximity as it started to flail and screech, cratering much of the stone floor near it with fists and elbows and knees. Away on the far side of the Cathedral Celestia spotted Eustace stalking the beast like a predator observing injured prey, his blade a suspect crimson.

He neither said anything nor did he close in again while the beast less calmed and more controlled its fury, snarling and whipping around as it looked for something to lash out at. Immediately, it spotted Celestia again, and started to move towards her.

It didn't make a single step.

its leg buckled underneath the beast and hung limply, Eustace having delivered an almighty cleave to its knee, severing much of the important parts for the limb's function. The Vicar fell forward, left forearm stretched out after Celestia. It wailed and cried out, and Celestia could practically feel the rage pouring out of the creature. It stopped and got to its knees, almost in a praying position.

Eustace had already made his way over next to her. "Nice trick, could've gotten you killed."

Celestia nodded. "Something had to give," she said, giving him a solid look.

He nodded looking back at her for a moment. "Yeah, that's how it tends to be, I suppose. Still, for a fi-"

They both saw it at the same time. A soft golden light enveloped the Vicar as it held what was now obviously a golden pendant aloft, its long chain dangling from between its intertwined hands. Celestia's eyes widened in horror. She recognized that magic, she'd used that magic thousands of times to fix bones and knit flesh –

"Healing magic," she whispered, barely audible over Eustace's tense "shit!" as he flew forward like a bolt of lightning, readying his blade for a major attack.

In hindsight, Celestia would realize that she really should have stopped him. The beast saw Eustace coming, but he didn't notice. Just as fast as he'd rushed forward he was sent flying off to the side, slamming into the Cathedral's wall with a sickly crunch. The beast had backhanded him, and Celestia could see from where she was that he wasn't in good shape. His sword had nearly been split in two, bent and broken, and Eustace himself had a large gash from his shoulder to his haunch from where the back of one of its claws had missed the sword and found him instead.

She didn't have time to tend to him, as the beast instantly zeroed in on his body. It snarled mightily, and went to lunge for him.

Or, it would have, had Celestia not sent a full tilt Kirkhammer into its face. The force from her throw, combined with its relative inertia and lack of positional strength led the impact of the Kirkhammer to completely bull the beast over, sending it wildly off course despite the staggering size difference between the weapon and the beast.

It tumbled a few times before coming to a rest against the same wall as Eustace, dazed for a moment. Celestia recalled the Kirkhammer to her side, then sent the Kirkhammer back at its head, and then again, and again, and again. The beast got more agitated each time she hit it, but that's precisely what she wanted. She did not want it focusing on Eustace, no, she wanted it focused on her.

Eventually it finally managed to bat away the Kirkhammer, but it did not lunge. Instead it sat on its haunches and stared at Celestia, its now revealed eyes a disturbing mass of black and white, spread in nonsensical ways across the cornea. Those eyes might not have been able to see much, but they looked straight at her, and Celestia could feel the hunger and hatred of the beast boring through her, through those eyes, a thousand times what she'd ever felt before.

Then it wrapped its great claws around itself, and shredded its own flesh. Blood poured from its self-inflicted wounds, covering its hands and fur and spattering on the floor. Whatever it had cut within itself, it was evidently fairly major.

Celestia braced herself for some sort of attack, but instead felt a powerful wave of nausea come over her, not wholly unlike the nausea that one felt when powerful dark magic was at work. She nearly heaved under its influence, but she kept her composure enough to see something that horrified her even more than healing magic.

In the space of a few mere seconds the pools of blood that had formed began to crawl up the beasts legs, as what blood was on its fur and hands receded to its skin. The blood formed thick, pulsing veins that grew into a network that fed from each wound down the beasts arms and ending at each claw.

Then it lunged at her. 

In haste Celestia threw up a powerful magical barrier and threw herself out of the beasts trajectory, but even that wasn't enough. She felt a sharp pain as not the beasts claw, but its blood cut into her flesh, slicing her barrier apart as well. She stumbled as the pain momentarily distracted her from landing from her jump, only in time to dodge another swipe from the beast and another blade of blood that extended from its claw.

"Blood Magic," she thought miserably, landing from her dodge with another new wound. 

In a hurry she tried to recall everything she knew about Blood Magic, but nearly nothing came to mind. Indeed, the dark art was entirely extinct, and had been even before she was born. All that remained of its legacy were stories and myths of terrifying power and extreme cruelty, all at the cost of one's soul or sanity.

She dodged again, and again she received another lash from the beast, even through her barrier. Three new cuts now oozed blood, and soon it'd be many more, unless she did something, and fast.

She didn't get much of a chance to do anything, though. The beast dogged her every move, always ready to cut her off, or try and trap her. It was a game of cat and mouse, and she was the mouse. Every dodge left another slash on her, and every second meant she lost a little more blood. She soon had somewhere over a dozen sizable slashes, and they were only getting more and more numerous. Eventually, she'd start to lose concentration. Then, she'd slip up and get caught. Then she'd die.

Celestia pushed herself to look for openings, starting to get desperate, but try as she might both the relentlessness of the beast and the range of its attacks left her completely out of options. If she tried to run, it'd likely catch her. If she tried to get to Eustace and teleport, the range of its attacks would likely end her attempt before she managed to teleport away. If she tried to get close, it'd just have an easier time slicing her up, Blood Magic or not.

That left her with either a suicide plan, or a battle of attrition in which she hoped she could stay lucid longer than it could swing.

Either way, she realized halfway through slipping and falling that she probably should've kept a closer eye on where she put her hooves.

+#+#+

Twilight paced.

She stopped, looked up at the giant brass doors, and tried to muster up the courage to go back in. It didn't come.

Truth told, she was terrified. When she'd ran, she hadn't even thought twice about staying. Seeing Gascoigne transform had been terrible and disgusting in and of itself, but the Vicar? That had been downright mind-numbingly horrific, and her numb mind had kicked into instinct mode.

She sighed, giving the two Church Doctors that watched the door a death glare, and of course neither of them acknowledged her. She'd tried to convince them, somehow, to go and help her Princess and Eustace, but no matter what she did, and she'd made a long list of the things she'd tried, nothing worked. They continued to stand and stare, utterly vacant and utterly infuriating.

So she went back to pacing, and trying to figure something out to help, preferably from somewhere she wouldn't get eaten alive, or get in the way. Seeing as how the beast was gigantic, fast and probably very angry made her doubt very much that her rifle would be enough to do any good, let alone any real damage.

She had her magic, and that was it. Only problem was that, you guessed it, beasts are nearly immune to magic!

Twilight groaned and stomped, tired of going around in mental circles. No matter what she did, though, the only strength she seemed to have was magic. Every avenue of thought eventually led her back here, to the reminder that she was really, really good at magic, and that magic also just so happened to be really, really useless against the giant, hungry murder machine.

She almost started pacing again, but instead she just whacked her head against the brass door a few times. "Come on Twilight, think! Something you can do that won't get you eaten, you can do it," she said, half grinding her words and half pleading with herself.

She could try throwing something at it, but no, unless it was something really big or really sharp it probably wouldn't do anything. She could… maybe, bring the roof down on it?

"Wow, Twilight, good one. Get yourself and everypony else killed in one spectacular display of idiocy," she said, deadpanning herself. She took her head and rested it against the door, rubbing her head wearily. "One good idea, Twilight, they're counting on you!"

She didn't get a chance at another idea.

A wave of nausea passed over her, strong and visceral. She nearly heaved but something in her registered, recognized the sensation she was feeling.

"Oh, oh no," she said, eyes very wide. The last time she'd felt anything like that nausea was when she'd faced down King Sombra, tormentor and evil immortal overlord of the Crystal Empire. Whether she wanted them or not, the memories of that fight came back in full force. She closed her eyes, and forced herself to think about this logically. What were the chances he was here? Basically zero. Okay, so what were the chances that somepony else was using dark magic? Zer– wait, no, this is Yharnam, number one hellhole circa pre-Discord. Make that a ten percent chance, conservative guess.

And what were the chances it was something different? Maybe not an evil immortal being, maybe something less evil? No, probably something equally evil as Sombra, had to be for nausea that powerful. Probably something gross, unnatural, beastly. Maybe discorda–

Twilight stopped thinking, repeating one thought in her mind, over and over, with each repetition sounding worse and yet more plausible than the repetition before.

"Beastly. Unnatural, beastly. Beastly. Beastly."

"Oh no," she said, and without a second thought she darted into the brass doors, hesitating once at the sight of the huge spikes held by the weird mushroom-head spider creatures before bolting up the stairs anyways, spurred on by an unholy screech from the Vicar. At the top she stopped, and pressed herself against the stairs as much as she could to stay out of sight. It couldn't be, could it?

Then, she saw exactly what she didn't want to see: the Vicar lunging after the Princess, with massive blades of red – liquid? – flying from each claw tip as it made swings at her. While Princess Celestia was using barriers, they weren't blocking everything. Red slashes arced across Celestia's back and side, and while the snow-white alicorn was certainly a veteran, even Twilight knew that her Princess could only take so much.

Indeed, between the slowly increasing red-over-white and the grimace on the Princess's face, "too much" could be any minute now. She had to do something, and fast. She looked around herself, but nothing presented easily. Stairs, walls, curtains? Maybe she could strangle the thing?

Then Twilight's worst nightmare came true: the Princess slipped.

Maybe she'd gotten sloppy, or maybe the cuts on her were deeper than they looked, but the Princess had dashed right into one of the many patches of wet blood that had been created by the beast on Cathedral's polished floor. In an instant she was on her side, trying to scramble to her hooves while her horn glowed, a barrier appearing around herself. For a brief moment the beast seemed to stop to gloat. 

That was all Twilight needed. She knew if nothing happened, then both the Princess and Eustace would be dead, and she'd probably be next. Her mind flashed back to just a minute or so earlier, and one idea stood out to her.

"Really heavy or really sharp."

She looked up.

Without a second's hesitation and more adrenaline than she'd had since Sombra, she shot the second most powerful cutting spell she knew straight at the statue's spear, shearing it off from the rest of the statue. Using telekinesis she lifted the great stone spear like a toy, preventing it from shattering on the floor.
She quickly rotated it to point at the beast, of which was tensing to lunge for the kill on her friend and Princess.

She flung her makeshift weapon forward with such force that, despite its inordinate size and weight, it crossed the majority of the Cathedral's length in a mere second, probably breaking a few records along the way.

Twilight didn't give a damn about any records though, and in fact, she almost thought she missed the Vicar until it blinked, and tried to howl. Only a wet gurgle sounded before it started grasping at the sizable hole the spear had left behind, falling over on its side, gurgling and writhing. Its Blood Magic failed as its focus faded into frenzy, and soon all that remained of the once horrible creature was a stilling corpse surrounded by a sea of blood.

Twilight blinked once and took off towards the Princess, not even a single thought spared for how much magic she just used.

+#+#+

Celestia watched as, almost in slow motion, the beast prepared to lunge.

Blood pounded in her ears, drowning out everything else.

It sharpened its claws against the stone, a quick swipe.

Her heart beat spiked.

It tensed.

Her vision tunneled.

The beast... paused?

Celestia took her chance and got up with more fear than she'd had in ages, backing up faster than she'd ever backed up before. She barely even registered when the beast's neck burst into a torrent of red, her mind overloaded with images of impending death in the form of vicious claws and teeth.

But she did notice when it keeled over, and finally stilled.

She stopped, having pressed herself up against the wall, and simply collapsed there. She could feel the gashes on her body bleeding, but she didn't care. She needed a second. A very long second.

She breathed in deeply, then out. In, and out. In, and out. She immersed herself in this calming ritual, completely oblivious to Twilight's approach, or her magic repairing some of the damage she'd taken.

She thought of many things, like trees, flowers, and ponies she'd known. She might've been nearly two-and-a-half thousand years old, but she wasn't ready to join them. Images flashed through her head of the Vicar, of the dead throughout the city. How many of them hadn't been ready, either, like her?

Something shuddered inside her. Grief? Sympathy? Anger? Maybe all three, but she came out of her meditation with tears in her eyes all the same. She did not cry, but she did let them fall.

"Princess, are you alright?" said a voice, very familiar, and very welcome.

"Yes, I am fine," Celestia replied, conjuring up a smile for her faithful, and heroic, student. "Eustace is injured, he needs help more than I do."

Twilight nodded, but her gaze lingered on Celestia longer than usual before she went to Eustace. She couldn't remember if Twilight had ever seen her cry before, but she didn't think she had. Though, Twilight had also never seen her almost die.

She supposed tonight was a night for many horrible things. 

She sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes. She couldn't help the dead now, but that shuddering inside didn't go away. She looked at the beast, a sudden vehement desire to stomp on its head nearly overcoming her. It's kind had killed hundreds, likely thousands of innocent ponies, her ponies. Good ponies who'd probably never hurt anything other than a plant.

She felt a snarl building up on her face. She looked away.

She got up, the slashes mostly healed now. Twilight might not have been a certified medic, but damn was she good at fixing wounds. Idly she used the same magic to heal them the rest of the way as she slowly walked back to Eustace, the shuddering remaining all the way.

"Did you see her?" Eustace said as she approached, a grin on his face. "Did you see what she did?"

Twilight groaned, but continued working on his wound like she had for Celestia. "It was nothing, really! Just a little cutting spell, some telekinesis and good aim, that's all."

Eustace snorted, coughing a little when he disturbed his gash, which was quite a bit deeper than any of Celestia's cuts. "Like hell, Twilight. Here, lemme tell her," he said, turning his head to look at Celestia excitedly. "So, anyways. Here I am, sitting back and trying to be inconspicuous, right? I'm watching you dance with that thing, and it isn't looking pretty. It's cut itself wide open, using blood as a damn weapon and fighting smart. I'm pretty sure we're both finished.

"Well, you slip, and I think 'this is it', but guess what? Right before it's got a chance to jump you, Twilight here hurls a giant goddamn spear at our friend over there, ripping out every artery in its damn neck!" He finished his story with a laugh, a clap, and another cough.

Celestia was taken aback, but she quickly realized just who Eustace was talking about. "Really?" she said simply, looking at Twilight questioningly.

Eustace laughed again at Twilight's visible blush. "Don't believe me? Look at the damn altar!"

So she did, and what she saw was quite impressive. A giant stone spear, taken from one of the statues at the stairway, was embedded into a metal statue of a headless mare pouring a pitcher that dominated the center of the altar. She was no amateur. She knew just what kind of force it would take to send something that large that deep into metal, clean through the neck of a beast…

"Wow," was all she could manage for a few moments.

"Yeah, right?" He said, nodding. "That's all I could say, too." He paused for a moment to appreciate Twilight's addition to the altar, before turning back to Celestia. "You did well too, Celestia," he said, giving the older alicorn a grin, "even if you're just as stubborn as Eileen."

"Hey," she said, leveling him with as playful a look she could while as tired and drained as she felt, "it was that stubbornness that kept you from being beast food."

Eustace chuckled. "It almost made you beast food too, though, didn't it?"

"There, that's as good as I can get him without some rest or better equipment, or both." Twilight interjected and stood up wearily, her movements slightly sluggish. Her handwork was, of course, exemplary, but not as complete as her work on Celestia had been.

"Oh, don't worry about me. A bit of good old Yharnam blood and a night of rest and I'll be back to normal, I'm sure. Can't say the same about the old sword, though…" he said, looking mournfully at the bent and cracked form of his former weapon. "Old girl went out saving my hindquarters, as good an end as any other, I suppose," he said, shooing Twilight away from him as he tried to stand.

He didn't make it far up. He stood shakily for a moment before his hind legs let out from under him, a bit of blood oozing from the now not-so-nasty gash that cut through his leathers and flesh. "Gah! Damn," he growled as Twilight and Celestia both helped him up.

Celestia knew a crippled pony when she  saw one, but she'd afford him the dignity of at least admitting it himself. "Can you walk?"

"I…" he said, trying once again to stand on his own and, once again, nearly collapsing. "No, no I don't think so. Something's broken, I think," he said with a sigh. "Help me up?"

Celestia used her magic to lift him up and settled him on her back, which was now largely clear of injuries, thanks to both alicorn's magic. Without the sword on him, he was considerably lighter than before and she could bear both his weight and the Kirkhammer's.

"Not the most dignified," Eustace mumbled grumpily, "but thanks, I guess."

Twilight came up next to them both. "I guess the Upper Cathedral Ward's a bust, huh?"

He nodded. "Without a Vicar to give the word, I doubt the Upper Ward will be open until Lady Astral opens it herself." He said, sighing.

Twilight nodded, looking at them both sheepishly. "I shouldn't have mentioned asking for permission," she said, head lowered.

Eustace chuckled. "And then what would we have done? You did good, Twilight, it's just a shame and a bad coincidence that a good solution to a big problem wound up an even bigger mess. Was nice that we got to kill big game, though," he added, eyes half lidded.

"Yeah, I guess," she said, not looking much happier. "Where do we go now, then?"

Eustace didn't even hesitate. "Oedon Chapel. The incense in that place will keep beasts away for the next century, at least. We'll be plenty safe in there until the morning." He said, yawning. "Gods, speaking of which, I'm beat."

"You can sleep while you ride, if you want," Celestia offered.

Eustace shrugged. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't. We'll see."

With little else to discuss and even less to do now in the Cathedral, Celestia took one final look at the form of the former Vicar and turned to leave.
> Part 1: Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia sat and waited, Twilight by her side.

Oedon Chapel was indeed a safe place. Even in the nightmare that was Yharnam the Chapel felt safe and warm, an inviting refuge away from the grime and grandeur of the city outside.

Eustace had been led down the stairs by the Chapel Dweller, and it looked like he was right about healing in one day. Despite what Celestia had determined to be broken bones and extensive tissue damage he was walking, albeit slowly, by the time they'd gotten to the Chapel. Either he was too prideful to admit how bad it hurt, or his bones had actually healed that quickly.

If it was the latter, then she could definitely see how the ponies of Yharnam got sucked into using the Healing Blood.

Celestia sighed. The more she thought about it, the more she couldn't believe she hadn't seen it earlier. Blood Magic ran through Yharnam like telekinesis was used in Canterlot, it was normal, accepted, but it also came with a price. The Hunt, the beasts, and all the carnage and destruction both wreaked on civilization were the price of that power, regardless of whether it was used for the benefit of everypony or not.

At first, she'd felt little pity for the inhabitants of Yharnam. They were greedy and xenophobic, unwilling to lend a hoof to an outsider unless threats were made. For all the world she didn't care, but now? Now she felt sorry for them. The citizenry had been coaxed into blood magic, of course they'd embody many of the things Celestia herself worked hard to exterminate in her kingdom. One did not simply utilize magic as foul as that without repercussions on both mind and body, after all.

Her brow furrowed. But was feeling sympathy healthy? She knew the outcome of all of this, she knew what Yharnam would become, she knew that it was unlikely any of these ponies that she'd met would survive, let alone their children. She knew that she didn't belong here, and she knew the repercussions of major intervention.

And she knew she definitely didn't want apes ruling the planet.

So she sighed again and shook her head. She looked at Twilight, who looked much like she did. She was sitting like her and looking thoughtful, undoubtedly lost in her own thoughts about the hunt, blood magic and the state of Yharnam.

She wouldn't get in the way of that, so she returned to her own thoughts. Thoughts about things other than the inevitable.

One primary thought rose to the foreground. Where was Astral? The pale pink alicorn had assured them she'd be there, waiting for them back at the Clocktower office, and yet had been nowhere to be seen.

Eustace had assumed that she must have been asleep, but Celestia knew Astral well. In fact, after two hundred and fifty years she'd been the only pony that Celestia had trusted with the title of Vicereine, which essentially dumped all of Luna's old responsibilities on whoever held the title. Astral had officially relinquished the title after thirty years of holding it, but true to her integrity had still carried out some of the functions for Celestia as a friend.

She'd been stringent in her conduct, and had demanded the same from everyone around her. If she'd had a choice, Celestia was certain those gates would have been open. The only way she would've not had a choice was if she was incapacitated, or outside the Upper Ward, and Astral wouldn't have left the Upper Ward without at least one contingency in place for them.

That made her worried, even scared. Astral's contingencies were usually rock solid.

Those thoughts were brushed to the side, though, as the Dweller dragged itself from the small library below the Chapel. "Oh, good! You're still here!" he called, looking towards them both with a wide smile. "I've just finished with our friend, and he'll be all better by the morning, if everything goes to plan that is."

Celestia nodded, grateful for the distraction. "That's good, thank you," she said, offering the withered looking pony a smile of her own. She couldn't see much of him beneath his blood-red robes, but it was clear at least that he was either terribly old or the victim of terrible genetics. His front hooves were cracked and shriveled, his skin was withered, gray and hairless, and he was evidently a double amputee, if the lack of back legs was anything to go by.

"Oh don't mention it," he said with a wave of his hoof, "that's what I'm here for! Just a good Samaritan, looking out for you hunters and anyone else who happens by."

Celestia nodded. "Of course, as we should all do for one another, right?"

"Right! Though, some ponies don't think so, if you get my meaning," he said with a sad tone. "Say, you two are heading out again, am I right?"

Celestia and Twilight shared a look. "Well, we were planning on calling it a night, I think," the white alicorn said, giving the Dweller an apologetic look.

"Oh," the Dweller said, sounding even more sad than before, "nevermind, then. If another hunter happens by I'll ask them."

As he went to drag himself away from them, Twilight let out a small sigh, her sympathetic side getting to her. "No, it's okay, we'd like to hear it anyways," she said with a weary smile.

"Oh, well…" the Dweller began, a hopeful lilt in his voice, "I was hoping that you'd keep your eyes and ears peeled for anypony with their wits about them while out and about, so to tell them about this here Oedon Chapel! Since folks aren't always safe indoors anymore, I figured it'd be a nice safe spot in the middle of all this madness, right?" he said, a smile appearing on his face. "But I understand if you two are worn out. The hunt's long and dangerous work, and everypony needs to rest at some point. So, feel free to stay here for as long as you wish!" The Dweller finished with a smile and a wave, gesturing at the floor. He then turned around, dragging himself to a corner where he remained still and worked with something between his hooves.

Twilight nodded, grabbing Celestia by some of her mane, which had been solid since they'd arrived in Yharnam, and brought her over to a far corner. "Princess," she whispered at Celestia. She didn't even need to say anything more, and Celestia already knew her question.

"Twilight," Celestia whispered back, caution in her tone.

Twilight paused for a beat, but continued on. "I know why you're worried, but we can't just leave innocent ponies to die, can we? What kind of Princesses would we be?"

Celestia sighed. She agreed, a thousand percent, but she had a good reason to hesitate. "What about time, Twilight?" she said, meaning the question to be rhetorical.

"I know," Twilight admitted, "I've been thinking the same thing, but look at all this" – she gestured subtly to the floor, the ceiling, even the Dweller, – "all of it's gone by the time written history starts again, after Discord. Nothing's left, and I doubt a few ponies who didn't deserve anything being told about a safe haven will change that." Despite her argument, Celestia could tell that she was put off by the fact that she was right, that there really wasn't anything of Yharnam left in the future.

To be honest, it seemed off to Celestia too. Maybe Discord just had a grudge against Yharnam? Not that she'd blame him, but she'd have to ask him the next time she saw him all the same.

She sighed. As much as she was terrified of altering the timestream, was saving a few ponies from a doomed city really going to change anything? Then again, the further one went back in time, the more dire the consequences of their interference tended to be…

All those arguments became moot, though, when she looked at Twilight again and saw an expression that said that she'd already made up her mind.

She closed her eyes, resigning herself to whatever the city had in store for her. "Alright, Twilight," she said, her tone weary, "but we're going to be careful. Getting eaten, shot or otherwise killed is low on my to-do, and so is upsetting time."

Twilight nodded. "We'll be careful, Princess." With that, she turned to talk to Dweller one last time before she led the two of them out once again.

Celestia didn't know how to feel. On one hoof, the shuddering inside felt… better, now that she'd agreed to Twilight's plan. On the other, they were going out into what essentially amounted to a warzone.

She sighed again, adjusting the Kirkhammer and loosening its fastenings just a bit, for quick drawing if needed. If she was going to wind up killing some more, by the Maker the least she would do was kill efficiently. Soon, both of them were outside again wondering where to begin, aided in part by a new acquisition - a map.

Regardless of where their hunt took them, Celestia was sure there'd be plenty of beasts between them and their destination.

Their thoughts were interrupted, however, by the screeching of what could only be a Cleric Beast coming from the direction of the Great Bridge, with its horrid voice rising above the drone of the rest of Yharnam. If somepony was fighting it…

Perhaps they'd start there.
> Part 2: Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turns out, the Healing Church did have a library. It was built off the back of the Cathedral, inhabiting only a single floor of a fairly large tower-like structure.

When Astral had entered a mere few hours earlier, she'd been struck by just how small the area dedicated to the cumulative knowledge of the Church was, and then she'd realized just how full they'd crammed their library. Shelves covered every spare inch of ground space, each one filled to bursting with books, parchments and scrolls so as to leave only a small route between them. At the back of the library sat two desks; one for a reader and one for the librarian, Mary, who had left and gone home for the evening after an hour or two. Candles lit the space, although Astral found the combination of cramped library and open flame quite stressful.

Currently, she sat at the reader's desk, which was without coincidence the larger of the two, skimming books she'd selected from the many shelves for references and clues to her situation or evidence of her hypothesis. At the moment she was reading a book that dealt with the history of the Healing Church and, in fact, had been reading quite a few such books recently.

That also happened to not be a coincidence.

Yvonne, the servant from the Research Hall, had insisted on coming with her as a guide while she regained her memory of Yharnam and her time there. She'd already answered quite a few questions, such as her purpose and rank within the Church, both answers coming as quite the surprise. Apparently, she was the acting Director of the Research Hall, and had taken over some seventy years prior from the last Director, Maria, who had died in office. According to Yvonne, the last Director had shunned the use of her office as an honorific, instead favoring the title 'Lady' Maria, a trend Astral had followed.

The Director, according to Yvonne, held the second highest bureaucratic office in the Healing Church, below Vicar. They organized and made final decisions on the Research Hall's operations, as well as occasionally getting personally involved with certain important experiments. What those 'operations' or 'experiments' tended to be or entail, Yvonne wouldn't or couldn't say. 

Naturally, she'd been skeptical and slightly wary of that knowledge. Originally she'd planned to read up on the Healing Church just to, hopefully, have a quick answer to the "where" and "when" parts of the puzzle of her situation by placing either the Church or Yharnam somewhere within her understanding of the historical timeline. However, Yvonne's information had also added another goal to her choice of reading material: confirm Yvonne's statements.

So far, things were checking out, an unhappy occurrence for Astral.

While having political clout was useful, especially in as hierocratic of an organisation as the Healing Church seemed to be, it also meant that she'd likely already modified the timestream, which meant that time just got a whole lot more problematic. Either her existence in Yharnam was now required in the future for the presence of any number of prerequisites needed for the existence of Celestia and therefore herself and Twilight, or her existence in Yharnam wasn't required by the future because she left with them now, so that she wouldn't be in the future, or past of the future, when anything important happened that affected the existence of Celestia or herself or Twilight. If she made a wrong decision...

Astral gently closed her current book, cradling her head while her anxiety spiked.

And this was why she hated time magic.

She managed to quell her anxiety after a moment, levitating the book on top of her ever increasing stack of 'empty' books that had, unfortunately, turned into more of a mountain at some point. Nearly the entire table, which was big enough to seat a half dozen ponies, was covered in discarded books that she'd, mostly, only given cursory glances. To be fair, many of them were exceedingly insipid texts that dragged out her mission more than helped it, so she felt little about discarding them.

Many of the books were, indeed, history regarding the Healing Church. Much of it was useless, being only fluff – dates, deeds, places and ponies that mattered little and told her even less, but from amongst the tedious recollections and worthless trivia came a few highly interesting keywords, one in particular catching her eye more than all the others.

Byrgenwerth.

Everywhere she'd looked, there were references to Byrgenwerth College and its influence on the Healing Church. The Old Blood supposedly was first studied at Byrgenwerth, alongside the study of the arcane, and Vicar Laurence and his followers were apparently all scholars at Byrgenwerth, each of them deeply involved with blood science and the arcane. Quite upsetting, though, was the fact that no matter where she looked, be it dusty tome, new book or faded scroll she could find nothing substantial about Byrgenwerth or its experiments. History, location, even contributions beyond blood science were completely elusive. The arcane was mentioned nowhere but in insubstantial snippets, blood science was described only as a 'holy medium' or sacred art, and information about the first Vicar and his followers was also lacking, save in the typical reverent way one talked of gods, or saints. 

Astral considered herself a scholar above all else, and to her this sudden, utter lack of information where before the life of a 'particularly pious Cleric' had been noted in excruciating detail reeked of whitewash, especially when every scrap of knowledge about Byrgenwerth she could find was mindless drivel or utterly uninformative, most likely designed to confuse rather than inform.

It had all the makings of a good mystery, and Astral was terrible at leaving mysteries alone.

She lifted her head from between her hooves, having left it there while she mulled everything over. She looked outside the only window in the room, seeing sunlight still, if barely, shining on the mountains that reached up into the sky far behind the Cathedral. Eustace had promised her that he'd return them around sunset, but that, she'd later realized, would only be under the best of circumstances. A map she'd discovered had told her just how big Yharnam actually was, and that map had been two decades old. She didn't know how severe Yharnam's hunts were, but she hoped 'Tia and her student would return soon, and safe.

She couldn't help them now, as much as she might want to. What she could do, though, was sate her curiosity about the mysterious Byrgenwerth College using whatever material she could get her hooves on here…
> 20. The Vicar
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Astral paced in the Clocktower room, sunlight still just barely painting the wall in reds and yellows.

She'd left the library half an hour earlier, having read the rest of the Church's historical literature and other, similar topics. Unfortunately, the Church's library was quite limited in its selection within and beyond her interests, and there was nothing but what she'd already found: scattered references to Byrgenwerth and a whole lot of bunkum. The mystery remained.

And much to her chagrin, she'd also had no luck recovering any memories regardless of her attempts or methods. Whenever she tried forcing herself to remember anyways, she endured terrible waves of nausea and disorientation. She did, however, learn that she had apparently only been within Yharnamite society as Director for the past seventy years, causing her concerns about time to feel even more justified than before. That wasn't all that occupied her thoughts, though. 

Slowly building in the quiet spaces of her mind rumbled a vague suggestion. Byrgenwerth, it said.

At first she'd written off Byrgenwerth. Not only did she not know where it was, but she already had obligations to remain in Yharnam, and she wasn't about to leave Celestia out in a foreign city at night. But, and this was a big but, she couldn't shake the feeling that all of her questions could be answered by Byrgenwerth. 

No matter what, she wouldn't abandon Celestia without some way to ensure that her absence wouldn't affect her friend in any way. But, if she could arrange something and uncover the College's location, she wouldn't hesitate to pursue her intuition. Not that she could remember any methods to those ends anyways, though. Her mind was as blank as a freshly wiped slate when it came to her time in Yharnam, or any of the last seven hundred years for that matter. A matter she found rather disconcerting.

She sighed, ceasing her pacing for the first time in thirty minutes. She could re-evaluate the situation all she wanted, but that wouldn't change it; she needed to design a course of action. In the spirit of doing so she took a brief look at Yvonne, who sat in a chair drinking something warm (she'd declined a cup herself) and weighed her options.

"Pursue the College, or no?" Her primary courses. Remain in Yharnam, or pursue a potential goldmine of information. On one hoof, she would ensure the safe arrival of Celestia, but on the other hoof was knowledge, potentially knowledge that could save them time and save her from making a bad decision. She sat down, coming to a consensus within herself with ease.

"I shall pursue the College." She considered herself a scholar, and the opportunity Byrgenwerth presented was too good to pass up. Though, that left her with a number of issues, the most prominent of which was how to get there and how to failsafe for Celestia. Two issues she couldn't rectify without help, at the moment.

She disliked having to rely on other pony's good nature for matters as important as this, especially when she didn't know them well. For exactly that reason, she once again looked at Yvonne, this time with cynicism and apprehension rather than ponderance.

"I don't know her," she thought, carefully scrutinizing her interaction with the pony thus far. "She's been helpful so far, but I don't know her." She continued looking, essentially staring at the dusky red pony.

Said pony either didn't notice or didn't care. She sipped her coffee, or tea, or whatever it was slowly and continued to relax into her chair.

"I might not trust her, but she's the only pony aside from that librarian I've seen so far," she thought, carefully examining her options again. "Either I fumble around in the dark, forget Byrgenwerth altogether, or I ask her and trust that she's loyal enough to be honest to me." She didn't like any of those options, but she could feel that her interest in Byrgenwerth was getting the best of her.

"Eh, she probably doesn't know anything anyways, but, worth a shot at least."

"Yvonne," Astral began, not bothering to hide the curiosity on her face, "you haven't heard of Byrgenwerth, have you?"
 
Yvonne nodded, lowering her teacup from her face. "Honestly, my Lady, I was wondering when you were going to ask." She gave a little smile, setting her teacup down completely. "I figured it'd catch your attention. You've always been able to sniff out a good secret, and never been able to leave them alone, either."

Astral nodded, slightly taken aback. "So she does know about Byrgenwerth? Unexpected, but welcome, if she is truthful…" Another thing she noted was that for Yvonne to speak so plainly despite the difference between their stations, they must have been quite familiar with one another. A potentially useful point of leverage, should the need arise.

"So, what do you know about this Byrgenwerth?" she asked, trying her best to not turn the silence awkward.

"Not much," the lavender haired pony conceded, "but I know where it is. My former boss, your former servant, told me, though I cannot fathom why. You'd have known where to go, should you have ever wanted to return there."

Return there? Intrigued, her ears raised and she gave Yvonne an inquisitive look that brokered little argument.

Yvonne understood. "You went once, a few decades ago. Brought a few ponies with you, along with my predecessor. Apparently you weren't happy with what you found, and threatened to burn the place down." She adjusted her position where she sat. "Not that it mattered much. According to him, the place looked halfway to falling apart on its own."

Astral nodded, but resumed her pacing. 'Halfway to falling apart' put a serious damper on her curiosity, but she knew that amongst even decades old ruins there might still be something of value left, and she just didn't know what that thing might be.

Of course, that could be what she thought decades ago. She couldn't remember back to then, either way.

She battled off another wave of nausea. "You know where it is?"

"Yes," Yvonne replied, raising her teacup again. "I also know who runs the place; an old stallion named Willem. He's the provost of the college, though the title doesn't mean much these days," she said, taking another sip. "He's also the one you threatened."

"Oh, figures," she sighed, nearly driving a hoof into her forehead, but successfully restraining her urge. "Do you think he's been succeeded yet?"

Yvonne shook her head. "Byrgenwerth College is forbidden, to get anywhere near it from Yharnam you'd need the password to the old door that guards the entrance. If anyone's still there at all, it'll probably just be him."

"A password to get anywhere even near it?" Astral thought, suddenly feeling much more inclined to find it. "Do you know the password? Why a password?" she asked, the damper from earlier gone.

"The forbidden forest is thick, and nearly impenetrable without serious effort, effort that only the Church is able to fund. If I remember right, the only route inside starts here in the Cathedral Ward, guarded by an enchanted door." Yvonne said, shaking her head. "I don't know the password to it, though I'd imagine only the higher ranking individuals within the Church would know. After all, the College is kept secret, and is forbidden even for those aware of it," she said, refilling her cup. "The Vicar, and probably a few of the more privy Choirponies would know. You did before, as well."

Astral nodded, continuing to pace. She had to wonder, again, if this was even worth her consideration? According to Yvonne, Byrgenwerth was old, and apparently was dilapidated even some decades ago. With no regular maintenance, she had to wonder if anything interesting was left at all…

Yet her curiosity wouldn't let the subject die. Same as before, a feeling of waiting answers to important questions niggled at her, reinforcing her already strong desire to seek out the forbidden birthplace of the Healing Church.

"Even if I find little of special interest there, I might find something to help me, 'Tia and Twilight, though I cannot deny. A forbidden college! What a tantalizing prospect! Who knows what's been buried with that place? Maker willing, much of it will be intact…"

She was almost drooling already, daydreaming about forgotten magics and dead schools.

"Snap out of it, Astral," she chided herself after a moment, "you don't even know if anything special is still there, or was, and fantasizing certainly won't get you there faster."

She stopped again and sat this time. If she trusted Yvonne, which she supposed she did, then she had the first of her two major issues figured out. "Now, just to failsafe for Celestia…"

She once again turned to Yvonne, who was now looking at her with an expectant look. "Yes, my Lady?" prompted the pony.

"My friends, you remember them, yes? I wish to go to Byrgenwerth, but I don't want my absence to affect them." She gave Yvonne a certain look, trying to look both detached and concerned at the same time. "I need them unharmed, here, in the Clocktower. They are retrieving important information for me, and having either one stuck outside of this room would be problematic for me."

Yvonne nodded. "I see, and because of your memory you can't see any way to ensure their return to this room yourself?"

"Right. In other words, I need your help." She kept herself as neutral but encouraging as she could, keeping her own distaste at needing to rely on Yvonne to herself for now.

Again, Yvonne nodded. "I'm not sure how much help I'll be, I'm just a humble servant after all, but I'll do my best, my Lady." The Earth pony stood, setting her drink aside for the moment and moving to sit closer.

"You have your memory, so you start," she said to Yvonne, not at all surprised when the pony immediately launched into suggestions.

+#+#+

It took a half-hour, but she'd finally settled on a suggestion of Yvonne's.

According to her, Vicar Amelia would be praying in the Grand Cathedral directly below the Research Hall. If the Church's literature was accurate, then the Vicar would be the only pony that Astral, as Director, would answer to and would likely also be the best pony to guarantee her request.

It certainly also helped that Amelia and herself were apparently on good terms. Though, that didn't change her current situation.

They both currently stood on a bridge that spanned the gap between the Research Hall and the Clocktower. Somehow Yvonne had almost convinced her to try using her wings while she could, since it was unlikely anything with a 'gun' would shoot at them here.

Behind her stood the red pony, and behind Yvonne was the weirdest garden Astral had ever seen. A giant, wilting sunflower with a stem thicker than many trees she'd seen barely held its head aloft, drooping rather dramatically as it's oversized petals covered its face. All around its base grew grass, brown and dead while flowers of an odd extremely pale blue wilted, much like the sunflower tree, amongst the grass. A few torches lit the garden, as the sun's light had finally abandoned the city of Yharnam altogether.

"Come on, its muscle memory, right? Wings are like legs, aren't they?" Yvonne said, looking over the edge with her. "Besides, can't you just teleport if you screw up?"

She scoffed in response. "Sure, if I wanted to wind up a gory mess," she said, giving Yvonne a raised eyebrow. "An inertia spell would work better; teleportation just moves you through space, it doesn't actually stop things in motion."

Yvonne just smiled at her.

She just blinked at the mare before briefly looking over the edge again. It was a long way down, but Yvonne was right. If she knew a good inertia spell and kept her cool she probably wouldn't be in any danger. "You're sure I won't get hit by this 'gun', right?"

"More like a bullet than the gun itself," Yvonne said, nodding, "but yes, we should be fine."

She sighed, resigning herself to a moment of– wait, we? "Yvonne, what do you mean by 'we'?"

"You're not going to make me walk all the way down, are you? That'll take ages!" She looked up at Astral with big, innocent eyes.

Astral groaned internally. "Fine, but if you slip off and wind up dead it's your fault."

If she was going to do something as stupid as throwing herself into the frying pan, or flying pan in this case, she'd make damn sure her fallback was sound. She tested her memory, or, more accurately, her reflexive memory and found that she could recall the inertia spell's form and formula with relative ease, much like she had already with simpler illumination spells and telekinesis, but could not recall any memory of ever using or learning it.

She jumped into the air as far as she could without using her wings, and cast the inertia spell on herself. For a brief moment she was suspended in mid-air as the spell exacted it's effects on her, before she fell to the ground. She repeated this test another six times, to ensure she wasn't simply lucky.

She wasn't just lucky, thankfully. She'd have to go through her entire vocabulary and see what could remember by reflex.

Either way, with that done she stepped up to the ledge and let Yvonne on to her back. With little left to do except actually test Yvonne's guess, she jumped off the side of the bridge.

She plummeted straight down, Yvonne gripping her middle tightly as both of their manes and tails whipped in the sudden  onslaught of air. Suddenly, she found herself thinking of the ground, and as she watched it get closer she –

– spread her wings.

Apparently, she did have muscle memory. On instinct she'd spread her wings, and far more expertly than she'd ever considered herself capable of she angled her wings correctly to bring them into a gentle glide. On either wing she could feel the rush of air between the feathers, and, perhaps more surprisingly, the gentle pulse of magic, not unlike when she used her horn.

She tore her attention away from the fact that wings channeled magic and her shock at having actually managed stable flight back to their current situation. They were gliding away from the lower garden and the Cathedral fairly leisurely considering her previous downwards velocity, but if she wasn't a complete idiot she'd be able to bring them back around fairly easily. With a slight adjustment to the angling of her wings, she brought them into a fairly wide turn, judging her deceleration and descent as she did so to try and at least land somewhat gracefully.

With imminent danger past, she took a moment to enjoy flight, or enjoy it as much as she could. She'd never flown before, not even in any pegasus-drawn carriages, so for her the sensation of flight, let alone personal flight, was quite surreal. Wind in wings, freedom to move in three dimensions without the need for solid ground or spells… it was rather exciting, perhaps even intoxicating.

On her back the earth pony mare gripped her sides like a vice, barely moving a muscle as she brought them both back to solid ground. She was probably having a different experience.

All too soon the lower garden's patio was nearly beneath her hooves. Lucky for her, she wasn't coming in very fast. Unlucky for her, she had no clue how to land, so when she actually landed on the patio above the garden she stumbled, throwing the mare on her back off as she bit the cold, hard stone.

"Let's never do that again," said a breathless voice, lying on the pavement much like her.

"Hm," Astral vocalized, "Not so excited to try flying now, are you?" She peeled herself off the ground, taking a bit of a jawache with her. She'd fallen forward after stumbling, her jaw and chin hitting the paving first before the rest of her. Thankfully, whether by luck or her new form she couldn't detect anything aside from soreness.

Standing, she took a brief look around. The garden was a small square, with an odd U shaped section of patio surrounding it, they'd landed on the bottom of the U, and immediately behind her a large stained glass window looked into the Cathedral. Flowers, much like the sunflower tree above, grew from the dirt in the garden. They wilted as well.

"Not at all, that was terrifying!" Yvonne said, standing up as well and looking back up at the bridge. "I don't know how you do it, but flying isn't for me. No, ma'am."

"Well, I quite enjoyed it, bad landing aside." She extended a wing, the motion coming unexpectedly naturally. "I think I'll like having these…"

"Right, well, before you get any ideas," Yvonne said, quickly trotting towards the window, "here's the Vicar." She opened the window, using a small latch to swing a significant portion of the window on a hinge. It must have been used frequently; it made no sound as it opened.

Yvonne stepped through first, followed by Astral as she finally observed, for the first time, the inside of the Church's Grand Cathedral.

She stood on an odd balcony-landing-walkway that ran the length of the Cathedral, high above the main floor. Moonlight shone through a few windows nearly horizontally, catching and colorfully painting flowing drapes that hung from the ceiling in various locations.

At the very head of the Cathedral was a massive altar, mostly carved with stone but with a few large metal statues, the largest of which poured a pitcher. Before it knelt a small figure, clad entirely in white. It's soft voice clearly identified it as a mare, though she could not make out it's words from where she was.

Details she noted as she scanned the room for an easy way down. Surprised, but not disappointed, she saw none. Apparently, Yvonne had chosen a path that required flight almost exclusively…

How ironic.

Astral smiled. "Not your thing, huh?" she said, scooping up the despondent mare in her magic and depositing her on her back. She looked over the edge, calculating the distance, velocity and trajectory she'd need to pull off to get down without looking like an absolute fool. While she didn't have any experience, she did at least know flight theory, and, if earlier had been any indication, so did her reflexes.

"Well then, you should've picked a slower path." She hoisted herself over the edge and dropped again, spreading her wings and using her magic to supplement her relative inexperience. With some slight adjustments to her wing positions and a few magical thrusts to keep herself from either slowing down or speeding up too much, she gently guided herself down to the floor, her hooves soundlessly meeting the marble as she landed half decently, only stumbling a little as she folded her wings and pried the mare off her back.

Now on the ground, she could hear the words the Vicar spoke.
"Remain wary of the frailty of ponies. Their wills are weak, minds young. Were it not for fear, death would go unlamented. Seek the old blood." 

Let us pray, let us wish to partake in communion. Let us partake in communion, and feast upon the old blood. Our thirst for blood satiates us, soothes our fears. Seek the old blood."

She let the Vicar finish, both perturbed and intrigued by her prayer. She spoke of many things Astral was unfamiliar with, but the talk of feasting on blood set her red flags up straight. She didn't have much personal experience with cults, but that sounded really cult-y.

What had she gotten herself into?

Either way, she didn't wish to dally. "Ahem," she vocalized, gently clearing her throat to gain the Vicar's attention. True to the acoustics of the room, Astral's voice reverberated through the Cathedral, amplifying significantly before dying out. She couldn't help but feel like there was some magical help in those acoustics, as well.

Sure enough, the Vicar heard her. She turned, shuffling in her spot to get a better look at Astral. Or, maybe, Astral noted, simply to be polite. The Vicar was a unicorn, all white, without wrinkles despite features that denoted a somewhat advanced age. Her eyes as well as most of her body was covered in white bandages and white robes, and if she wasn't blind she wouldn't have been able to see anyways.

"Ah, Director. To what do I owe the pleasure?" she said, her voice gentle and sweet for a mare previously speaking of feasting on blood.

"A few reasons, Vicar," Astral replied, dipping her head slightly in a show of deference despite the Vicar's blindness.

"Ah," she said, smiling, "then do feel free to give me your reasons."

Astral nodded, calculating her angle of attack. Her primary mission was to secure the password and the Vicar's cooperation with keeping Celestia safe, but she knew this could be her best opportunity to get knowledge straight from the horse's mouth.

"I've had a bit of an accident," she began warily, watching the Vicar's face carefully. For her part, she looked concerned at Astral, questioning her nonverbally.

"I'm sorry to hear that. You are not hurt? It will not affect your ability to conduct the Research Hall?"

Astral nodded and hummed affirmatively at her first question, but hesitated on the second. "See, that is the problem. Something went awry, and now I have come into a rather concerning state of amnesia," she said, seeing all the right tells on the Vicar's face that she needed to see to proceed.

For once in her life, she was glad that she'd taken the Viceroyalty and had had to deal with deceitful nobles and craven backstabbers. That made this so much easier.

"I'm afraid that I cannot remember any of the last seventy years, and seldom little beyond that either. I have exhausted the library, and now I come to you for what I may have missed," she continued, careful to leave out her suspicions of the Church's infidelity to truthfulness.

The Vicar nodded, her concern vanishing beneath a layer of contemplation. "I see, I will answer your questions as well as I can. Ask away."

She nodded in response, the first question coming naturally. "What is the purpose of the Healing Church?"

"Truly, or what is known?"

"Truly. I have read much of what is known," Astral replied, keeping her voice serious.

"Truly, the Healing Church seeks the Old Blood," the Vicar said, deadly serious as well, "we seek the Old Blood, and the comfort it provides. We seek enlightenment and salvation, through which the Old Blood is our holy medium. It is our water of life, our path to success, our prophet, our messiah."

"I see," Astral said, slightly put off by the zeal and passion that came through the Vicar's voice. "This Old Blood, is it…?"

"Yes," the Vicar said, understanding her question, "it is a holy gift from deep below, a glimpse into what awaits us through devotion. It is the blood of God, it is our holy medium."

Astral nodded, shaken. She did not show it, but… she was both disgusted and frightened. Never, ever had she come across anypony, in history or in life, that had glorified blood so far as to ingest it as a ritual pastime, even if they had regarded the blood as holy or coming from a godlike figure. It was unnatural, and quite horrifying to her.

"And the Old Blood, it is shared?" she said, pacing her words carefully to not seem upset.

"Yes," the Vicar said, beaming spectacularly, "it is shared between all the faithful who partake in communion. Through the saints of our Church, the Old Blood is born anew and spread to those who would partake in communion, who would partake of our holy medium."

Astral did not close her eyes or breathe in deeply, though she sorely wanted to. A whole society, built on worshipping blood? Worse, worshipping blood as a means of ascendance? And she sent Celestia out into that?

She felt like a terrible fool, but still, she had faith in Celestia's capabilities.

"Right, and so what is my explicit purpose within the Church?" she asked. She hoped to the Maker that she wasn't some blood-worshipping nutjob, too.

"You operate the Research Hall. There are some, like yourself, who abstain from the Old Blood. I do not see why, it brings us comfort," she said, giving a wide and cheerful smile to Astral, "but you seek enlightenment in other places. We too, seek enlightenment. Even though our methods differ, our goals are the same. While you do not partake in communion you offer invaluable research and information, and perhaps one day, through our combined efforts, we both can achieve our holy goal."

Internally Astral released a huge ball of tension. She did not partake in communion… what a relief! "Ah, that is good to know. So then, what are my capabilities and rights as Director?"

The Vicar hummed, appearing to think. "For the most part, your capabilities and rights are not so dissimilar from my own. Our relationship is symbiotic, after all. However, my word is final in almost all aspects, though never have I had to levy my authority against you."

If she inferred correctly, that meant that she inhabited essentially the same power sphere as the Vicar. Convenient, if disturbing considering the company she kept. "Is that so? I'm glad to hear that, symbiosis would be important if we were to attain such a lofty goal," she said, hoping to butter up the mare before her before she asked what were bound to be more difficult questions.

"Yes, yes indeed," replied the Vicar, "I am glad you see it that way. Our goal is beyond the spectrum of the ordinary, it is quite holy. You have always been wise, Astral. I am glad to see no amnesia could take that from you," she said fondly.

"Thank you, Vicar. I am honored." She breathed in now, preparing herself and the Vicar subtly. "I have another question, if I may."

"Of course, I will answer as best I can."

"You know of Byrgenwerth College?" she asked, watching the Vicar carefully.

The Vicar's face turned slightly sour, but there was a hint of wistfulness mixed in too. "Yes, it was the birthplace of the Healing Church. It was from that place that Vicar Laurence first learned of the Old Blood, and from which he learned its holy power. It strayed from our path long ago, and is now forbidden."

Astral nodded. "Yes, I desire to visit it," she stated bluntly. "I wish to observe the place where this all began." Of course, her real motive for visiting Byrgenwerth was different from what she said.

The Vicar nodded. "Yes, I understand. It is a blasphemous place, filled with lies and falsehood against the Old Blood, but it is also a place of great wisdom. Although, its time has long since past." The Vicar said, carefully picking her words now. "As I said earlier, you have always been wise, Astral. I believe you to be honest and true, and so, even though I am hesitant, I will grant you passage into the forbidden forest that shields the world from that place. However, I warn you, remember what I have said. Byrgenwerth is not to be trusted, and especially the Provost, Willem, should he still live." The Vicar stood, her robes draping around her quite magnificently.

"Vicar, if I may," Yvonne spoke up, taking a deep bow before the white mare, "I know the way to Byrgenwerth. You need not venture all the way there with us," she said, not rising from her bow.

"Oh, is that so?" The Vicar looked over Yvonne skeptically, cautiously. "How would you know something we've been so careful to hide?"

"My predecessor, Lady Astral's former servant whom I have now replaced, journeyed to that place with her many decades ago," she said, speaking calmly and fluidly, "he described the route, its landmarks and the College itself to me, based upon his travel there alongside my Lady."

"Hmm," the Vicar said, falling silent as she contemplated this. "I see. I trusted Wellis, perhaps that was wrong. Very well, if Lady Astral trusts you so shall I, for now. The password is a phrase, a rather blasphemous phrase. 'Fear the Old Blood,'" she said, not hiding the disdain on her face. "I implored Laurence to change it, but he always said that it was secure."

Astral nodded, giving Yvonne, who remained bowed, a bemused look. "Ah,  then there is one other matter."

"Oh?" said the Vicar, clearly curious. She sat once again, facing Astral still.

"Two winged unicorns, alicorns as they are called, visited me recently. They look much like I do, though one is a pure white with a sun shaped cutie mark and the other is purple, with many stars for her mark." She watched the Vicar, who nodded as she listened to her descriptions. "The purple one is smaller than I am, and the white one is slightly larger. Their names are Twilight and Celestia, and I have sent them out tonight to retrieve information for me. I would appreciate it if you could ensure their safety."

The Vicar raised her eyebrows. "Tonight? Tonight was a bad night to send anypony out. How would you have me guarantee their safety?"

Astral swallowed quietly. She didn't like the Vicar's statement at all, but she had faith in Celestia's capabilities. "I directed them to return to the Research Hall, to my office in the Clocktower. I would appreciate it if you would ensure they arrived in that room when they returned."

The Vicar hummed in response. "I expect you know them well?" she asked, and upon receiving an affirmative nod from Astral, she nodded herself. "Very well then. So long as I am here, as Vicar, I will ensure their access to your office and the Upper Cathedral Ward." She smiled at Astral, a silent question in her expression.

She understood. "Thank you, Vicar. You've answered everything I needed, I will not take up any more of your time."

"No, thank you," said the Vicar, "you have been a great ally to the Church, and we are all grateful for your aid in our quest. Go in peace, and may the good blood guide your way."

As Astral and Yvonne left, she turned back to the altar and began her recitations anew.

"But beware the frailty of ponies. Their wills are weak, minds young. The foul beasts will dangle nectar and lure the meek into the depths. Remain wary of the frailty of ponies..."
> 21. Upper Forest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It'd taken them a little while, but Yvonne had managed to get them to the sealed door into the Forest. It loomed large before them, big enough to admit a pony like Celestia. Or, well, herself. She'd had second thoughts, reservations about the soundness of her arrangements, but as she stood before the door she realized that this was the way forward, whether she wanted it to be or not. Her arrangements would have to suffice for now, the course was set.

Based on everything she'd read and heard, Byrgenwerth was significantly past its prime and likely little more than ruins now. That was why when she heard a voice, faintly at first but louder as they drew nearer to the door, she was surprised. The Healing Church had clearly wanted to keep the place under wraps, but to supply actual guards? It seemed like a pointless frivolity to her.

Though she had to wonder how frivolous after she began to make out some of what it said. In hushed whispers and manic garble it spoke gibberish, insane and unintelligible, and despite herself she was unnerved by its seemingly ceaseless barrage of… whatever it was saying.

She looked back at Yvonne, who had a similar expression of unease on her face. Regardless, she was unwilling to let the madpony beyond waste her time, so she spoke the password.

"Fear the Old Blood." 

The voice stopped as the runed door swung open, revealing the mummified corpse of a pony just beyond the threshold. Luminescent fungus grew from its head.

Astral recoiled sharply, and so did Yvonne. "What in –!?" she said, cutting herself off as she preemptively brought a leg up to her nose to block out any smell, though none manifested. It took her a moment, but she recovered and slowly proceeded through the door, carefully scanning the room for the source of the voice.

She found nothing, no one, no where. The room was cylindrical and completely empty, save for the corpse. Yvonne did the same, carefully watching in the dark areas. A single candle dimly lit the space immediately in front of the body, and provided the only light in the otherwise darkened room aside throm the fungus.

"If this corpse was the only thing in here," Astral said, sharing another uneasy look with Yvonne, "then who was just talking?" the smaller mare finished for her. Astral nodded, turning back to the corpse. It was dry and absolutely, positively dead. As if to emphasize that fact, luminescent mushrooms grew from where the brain would normally be.

"I wonder what they taste like," she found herself contemplating.

"Gah, gross! Why would I want to know that?" She mentally gagged, surprised at her own thought, and quickly removed herself from their vicinity; decidedly against the idea of trying glowing brain fungi. Though, as she walked away, she couldn't help but look back at them. She couldn't tell why, but something about those fungi seemed… wrong. She turned back around and kept going, and she didn't look back again.

Yvonne was waiting at the stairs. "Nothing?" she said, starting down the stairs as Astral came up to her.

"No, but I don't like those fungi," Astral replied as she neared, "they're… weird."

Yvonne gave her a slightly exasperated look, but nodded. "Just the mushrooms? Not, you know, the whole disembodied voice and a corpse thing too?"

"Yeah, those too I guess," she said, chuckling awkwardly as she followed behind Yvonne. "But who knows? There could be a rational explanation. Magic, for instance, or something else. Those fungi are just weird. That's all."

Yvonne hummed as they met the landing, once again in another unlit cylindrical room. A single doorway led out of the building, and as soon as they'd crossed it's threshold they found themselves practically swimming in darkness. Trees loomed over them, and only a few paces ahead the trees fell away into a great cliff. From where they were they could see the canopy of the forbidden forest stretching out in all directions away from Yharnam, as far as the mountains many leagues away. Yharnam's outline cast a great shadow over the forest, many of the trees within sight from the cliff being deprived of the moonlight ones further from them were enjoying.

Try as she might, Astral couldn't make out anything below the canopy, though she could see that a path continued to her left, then back around to her right, down the cliff face and along the Cathedral Ward's foundation. She mentally shrugged. "Let's get on, then. No use standing around here." She stepped into the path and began to follow it, Yvonne stepping in behind her. It wound down the cliff face in a nearly straight line, eventually branching into two separate paths: one that led around the back of the Cathedral Ward, and one that led deeper into the forest. She took the latter.

-#-

They'd followed the path further into the forest, Astral eventually lighting her horn as they found themselves underneath the same thick canopy they'd seen from the cliff. Trees pressed in on all sides, creating a thick and seemingly impenetrable veil around them. Astral didn't like admitting it, but she found it intimidating.

They'd been travelling along a ravine that chopped through the forest, along the edge of which their path followed. At the moment they'd stopped on top of a small rock outcrop, looking out on the only way across the ravine, other than her wings. She'd been travelling by hoof rather than wing mostly for Yvonne's sake, the smaller pony having made her discomfort with being in flight quite clear.

Only a few dozen meters away was a bridge, dodgy and poorly constructed by all accounts. A few old articles of clothing hung off the wooden poles built into the cobble structure, but if their state of sun bleachedness and rot was any indication, they hadn't been touched for easily a year. The bridge was surrounded by a clear area on their side, but the path they followed disappeared back amongst the trees as soon as it left the bridge on the opposite side.

"We're going the right way?" She asked Yvonne, wanting the smaller mare to confirm their direction.

Yvonne nodded, narrowing her eyes at the structure. "Wellis didn't mention a bridge, but he said there was only one way through the forest, and that it led directly to Byrgenwerth." She turned and gave Astral a slightly worried, questioning look. "Besides, wouldn't the Vicar tell us if anything changed?"

Astral shrugged in response. "How should I know? Actually, how would she know? The Church likes to keep this place secret, so why maintain a path? Guarding the door with something already felt overkill for a place they want to forget, to me."

Yvonne just looked more worried now. "Yes, but she needs you, right? You're the Director," she said, sounding slightly scared. "She wouldn't just throw us to the dogs, would she?" she finished, nervously looking around at the trees.

Astral just shrugged, again. "I've got wings, Yvonne. She probably figured I'd be flying there anyways. Worst happens is that we fly back to Yharnam, it can't be that hard to see a giant stone city, can it?"

She stopped for a moment, visibly calming down. "I– I guess not?" She gave the surrounding area another glance. "As long as we don't run into anything big and hungry, at least." With that, she set off again ahead of Astral, going for the bridge with a tinge of urgency in her gait.

-#-

Yvonne still led the way as Astral followed. The path had long ago diverged from the ravine, and the further they went the more the forest had closed in around them, until it was less like a forest and more like a living wall.

Astral stepped in another viscous, muddy patch on the steadily degrading road, coating her already mud-covered fetlocks. She wasn't a fan of these conditions. "How much longer?" she asked the pony ahead of her, trying her best to not sound like a petulant foal, and probably failing miserably.

"Ages, maybe," Yvonne replied, keeping her eyes forward. "It's a big forest and, big surprise, not really visited much!" She grumbled something about proper roads, then fell silent.

"Right, well, rethinking your stance on wings yet?" Astral asked, half hopeful and plenty more than half tempted to just grab Yvonne and go, whether she liked it or not.

"Pshh, please, I'm not that desperate yet."

Astral sighed, eyeing up the mare before her. She had to wonder just how aerodynamic a flailing earth pony would be…

"Hold on, what's this?" Yvonne said as she stopped and peered through the darkness. Astral didn't stop until she was ahead of her, but did as soon as she made out what gave Yvonne pause 

From where they were on the road she could see a small wall, and what must have amounted to a small village beyond that wall. The place was, if her eyesight wasn't failing her, in a terrible state of disrepair. The "wall" was little more than a long pile of rocks and the houses beyond were full of holes and damage, to the point where most of the buildings didn't even have a distinguishable entrance. Not a single thing but the wind moved, and not a single light was lit within the village. It was clear the place was long abandoned.

While the rest of the forest and path was covered by a dense canopy, no trees grew within the boundary of the village. Moonlight streamed down from above, illuminating the buildings with a soft, silvery light, bright enough that Astral could extinguish her horn. A single large hill, almost a cliff, rose up to the left of the village, a lone building at its peak and a snaking path it's only defining features. It was quite rugged.

"Well?" she whispered questioningly at Yvonne as the smaller pony had come up next to her. She took a brief moment while Yvonne thought to look around. The clearing wasn't massive, but it did make the treeline, dense as it was, feel far more intimidating and "forbidden" than it did when they were in the middle of it.

The red pony looked dumbfounded. "Nopony ever mentioned a village, only that there was one path…" she said, trailing off as she craned her neck to try and get a better look at the village and what was immediately within eyesight. "Maybe skirt the edge of the village, or get on top of that hill? If the path picks up anywhere, we'll find it either way."

Astral nodded, unable to think up anything much better herself, though she found the hill more of an easy option. She immediately set off to her left, to the hill, with Yvonne in tow. They kept to the middle of the clearing, as far from either the village of the treeline as they could and watched both for signs of movement. There was nothing, not even a single insect, to disturb the placidity of the abandoned village.

They eventually made their way to the path on the hill, and then, slowly, to its crest. The hilltop path wound around the base at first, disappearing beneath the canopy at the hill's backside before going up in nearly a straight line to the top. They found a house there that was just as decrepit as the rest of the village below, and for the most part simply a pile of moulding planks. However, from up above she could see the entire village and could tell that it was, indeed, in horrible disrepair. The ground within its boundaries was barren and dead, and it was clear it had been so for many years, if not decades.

From where she was, she could make out a fairly significant portion of the landscape around them. While the canopy remained thick, their height seemed to remain constant and low enough to give her decent visibility. Though a fair distance away from the village she could see a windmill and the trees disappearing suddenly. If she had to hazard a guess, the windmill was on the side of a cliff, and that was also why the trees disappeared so quickly. Behind, she could see the canopy and landscape gently sloping down towards her, and a few other cliffs and hills amongst the trees. Further back and higher up she could see the gargantuan silhouette of Yharnam, still blocking much of the first from the moon. Even further away, nearly at the feet of the mountains and far below their current elevation was a great lake. The moonlight scattered on its surface, a small amount of it reflecting towards them.

None of those things were what she was looking for, though. She searched the surrounding treeline for any sign of the path continuing, seeing as the village had little in the way of discernable roads. It took her a moment, but she did find a small path that led off in the direction of the windmill, and nothing more.

"That can't be right…" she looked again, and found nothing new. "Yvonne, you're checking for the path, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, all I've seen is that path that goes to the windmill," she said, instead pointing to something much further off, and something Astral had neglected to really notice. "But do you see that? That's where we're going," she said, lowering her hoof as Astral looked herself.

"Byrgenwerth?" she asked, quinting as hard as she could. Try as she might, she couldn't make out any structures, though.

"That's right," said Yvonne. "Apparently the place was founded beside a huge lake, and I only see one huge lake, so that's probably where we're going."

She nodded in response, giving up looking at the lake. She couldn't make out any structures anyways. "So, think the windmill is where we have to go, assuming that's even the right path?" she asked, now squinting at the canopy, trying to figure out where the path led. Futile, but she tried regardless.

Yvonne shrugged. "I guess, nowhere else to go." She looked at Astral, giving her a friendly smile. "Whenever you're ready, my Lady."

Astral smiled back and nodded. When she'd set out with Yvonne she hadn't really trusted the smaller mare, but over time she'd grown to at least like her demeanor. When they were around other ponies she'd been cold and professional, but once they were alone she was much more warm, if a bit sarcastic.

She still didn't really trust her, and she wouldn't stick her neck out for her, but she wouldn't let anything unnecessary happen to her companion.

"Very well, let's see where this thing goes," she said, leading the way off the hill and down to the only other way out of the clearing, once again entering the consuming darkness that laid beneath the canopy.
> 22. Windmill
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The windmill was just as dilapidated as the rest of the village. 

Large sections of wall, all the way up to the top of the structure had fallen away, either into the inside or outside of the windmill itself. It's central mechanism had long ago rusted and fallen apart, the wooden floors were rotting away, and flora had grown over a considerable portion of the rest of the building that was left.

"Dilapidated might have been too kind," she noted as she carefully stepped onto the first floor, the plank creaking painfully beneath her weight. She cringed, taking a second look around herself.

Aside from the wind that howled through the gaps and damage, nothing seemed noteworthy.

Yvonne stepped up from behind her as soon as she'd cleared the doorway, being the lighter of the two, and took the lead from Astral. She did the same as she'd done, and looked around as she walked out further towards the edge of their platform.

Astral kept herself close to the wall as she circled around the platform, going towards a set of stairs that led down towards the foundation level. Yvonne peered over the edge, but quickly recoiled, backing away from the edge.

She turned and gave Astral a vigorous head shake, jerking her head towards the edge.

Astral nodded, motioning for Yvonne to come and join her again. Instead, though, she got another head shake as she sat down and mimed out walking down stairs at her.

She rolled her eyes. Of course, she'd be the one lumped with exploring the creepy, abandoned mill.

She carefully walked towards the stairs, the planks creaking despite her as she moved. Eventually she came to the top of said stairs, and perplexingly, she could see just the dying glow from a light somewhere below her.

"So someone's here?" she thought, becoming simultaneously more wary and curious. She put her first hoof on the stair, immediately regretting it as the wooden plank screamed under her weight. She pulled her hoof back, before putting it back again. Instead, she used a little spell to partially suspend her weight, almost like a telekinesis spell but not quite.

It was a crude spell, and one very seldom used, but it served her needs. As she stepped down the first stair it still creaked, but at least it didn't sound like the voices of the damned. She went as quickly as she dared, and heaved a silent sigh of relief as soon as she'd cleared the stairs.

She looked back up, seeing Yvonne at the top of the stairs as she herself had been before. She stepped away from the stairs and dispelled her weight reducing spell, feeling herself fully settle into the board beneath her. She was tempted to ignite her horn due to the greater darkness of the lower level, but refrained. Instead, she focussed on the light that she had seen.

She walked around the grindstone in the  center of the structure using what little light she had, hearing Yvonne come down the stairs behind her. As soon as she came out on the opposite side of the grindstone that she'd been on when she'd descended the stairs, she got her first clear view of their light source.

A figure, not quite as tall as she was, stood in a hallway that led off to the side, back underneath their entrance. It stood on two legs, unlike anything she could think of. This particular figure wore a long robe, but it was evident that it's build was lanky and unnatural.

But that wasn't all that was evident.

She stopped after she drew within speaking distance of the thing; it hissed, low and quiet. It did not move, staring at the same spot it was before.

She blanked mentally for a moment. "That's not what I was expecting," she thought, inching herself even further behind the thing and out if it's peripherals. She looked back over her shoulder and pointed her hoof at Yvonne, who'd followed her steps almost to a T. The mare stopped, giving a small nod and a poorly hidden smile.

Astral didn't care. She approached only a few more hoofs before she spoke out.

"Hello?" she said, audible and clear. Her voice echoed slightly, before being lost to the wind in the upper levels of the windmill. The creature stirred, the hissing growing louder as the thing turned to face her.

She had been expecting something, but it certainly wasn't the face of a corpse. A pony's face with hollow eyes and slack jaw faced her. She didn't consider herself squeamish, but Astral jumped backwards as she fully registered what she was seeing.

It took it only slightly longer than her reaction before it began to shake violently, it's back hooves barely keeping it standing. The hissing grew quieter as it's shaking intensified, before it resurged alongside the 'crack!' of its skull bone splintering as dozens of snakes burst from every orifice and every spare inch of its skull.

Astral didn't give it much chance beyond that.

On instinct, she threw the first spell that she'd had drilled into her head by her combat instructor - a thunderbolt. Except, this time, she wasn't just a little unicorn, she was a full size, startled and thoroughly disgusted Alicorn, and she threw everything she could into the spellform without it blowing up in her face.

The spell issued with a tremendous thrak, blinding all of them for just a second, but that's all it took. By the time either of the mares had blinked away the flash, all that was left of their enemy was a smouldering heap of cooked snakes and flesh.

"By the Blood, what in Tartarus was that!?" Yvonne said, slowly making her way up to Astral. "Is it dead?"

Astral blinked once and didn't say anything. Truth being told, she didn't care what it was, where it came from, or how it came to be. Why? She hated snakes. With a passion. They made her anxious and nervous and sweaty, but this?

This was nightmare fuel. 

But, despite herself and her own intense revulsion, she couldn't keep her now awakening curiosity down. She hated snakes, but had she ever seen a corpse controlled by snakes? Had anyone ever seen a corpse controlled by snakes? She was pretty sure about the answer...

She took one tentative step forward, trying her best to stow her emotions and instead assume some kind of scientific impartiality. She took another as her eyes narrowed at the thing, watching the body carefully for movement. She took another, and another and another, until she was right next to the smouldering corpse.

She leaned forward over the charred remains, watching as more snakes emerged from the corpse's head, writhing around and dying after escaping from their host. Soon, they stopped coming, and the bodies of the dead snakes piled high around and on the dead pony's head. She could hear Yvonne shifting anxiously behind her.

Astral wasn't much better. She shifted nervously, unsure of why she was even still here. As much as she wanted to just move on, she just felt... unsatisfied. Her curiosity hadn't been sated, and as she looked at the body she couldn't help the questions of "why?" and "how?" from forming every time she took in a new detail.

She sighed internally, resigning herself to fulfilling her new compulsion.

With little regard to the stomach of the only other pony around she arced a powerful slicing spell through the corpse from head to haunch, splitting it in two bilaterally. She gently removed one side from the other, careful to keep whatever was inside as close to "natural" as she could. What she found rather shocked her.

The "pony" was more snake than pony. Laced throughout the entirety of its musculature were dozens, maybe even hundreds of tiny serpents, and where there were supposed to be bones were instead large, thick snakes, attached to one another by way of biting their tails. Where there were normally brains she instead saw an empty cavity that connected by way of another cavity to the chest and abdomen, where yet more snakes remained, flash cooked by Astral's spell. Behind her, Yvonne took one look before gagging and excusing herself from the sight. 

"So, it is a colony of parasitic snakes?" she thought, disgusted but almost laughing at the sheer absurdity of what she was seeing. She kept poking around it with her magic before yanking one of the smaller snakes from amongst the muscle tissue. Spines lined its side, probably to keep it in place, and its mouth was little more than a sucking apparatus. "How terrifying. Must be a horrible way to go…" She tossed the specimen aside and gave one pitying glance at the corpse before she turned around and left, her curiosity finally fulfilled but her stomach certainly feeling the opposite.

 "Ugh," she groaned, feeling the other nasty feelings come flooding in as she lost her nerve. She didn't know why she had to do it, but she certainly wasn't about to introspect about it now. For the time being she just stored what she'd learned about the accursed snake-thing, she was sure it'd come in useful. Probably.

She looked around for Yvonne, who was tapping her hooves by the grindstone and very pointedly avoiding her general direction. 

"Sorry about that. How are you holding up?" she said as she approached the earth pony.

Yvonne glowered at her. "Oh, great! Just, next time, tell me when you're about to do something horrible and gross?"

She didn't reply immediately, but she did look away. Even she had been grossed out, snakes aside, and she was known for being made of sterner stuff than most of her contemporaries. She could imagine how she'd made Yvonne feel. "Sorry, Yvonne," She said, scuffing her hoof against the stone floor, "I'll try to, but it was hard to resist."

Yvonne sighed. "Yeah, I guess - I mean, you've always been like that. I shouldn't have expected any different, right?" She gave a small laugh. "Looks like memories won't stop you from nearly making me puke. Anyways, where do we go now?"

Astral nodded, glad to focus on something else. "Further in I guess?" She looked behind the grindstone, seeing another doorway that both of them had apparently missed.

"And looks like I know which direction to take, come on," she told Yvonne, who fell into step behind her.
> 23. Forest – Byrgenwerth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This forest might have been nice, you know, if it weren't so bloody dark." Yvonne said, sounding unabashedly dissatisfied.

Astral looked out over the edge of the bridge. Mists had begun to rise from amongst the trees below them, blanketing the rest of the forest in an ever-thickening fog.

Astral grimaced in silent agreement, sighing as she resigned herself to more dark forest trails. "Maybe. I just hope we don't run into any more of those -" she flicked her head back to the windmill "- or anything remotely similar."

Yvonne pulled a face, turning back onto the bridge. "Agreed, wholeheartedly." She took the lead, walking ahead while Astral took one last look over it all.

She couldn't help but agree with Yvonne. It might've been nice during a bright, sunny day, but tonight certainly wasn't that. She shook her head, looking away from the vista and following behind Yvonne instead. "Might as well get this over with," she thought, though her companion stopped.

And then she saw why.

She pulled to the side as a gob of something flew past her, Yvonne narrowly dodging the same projectile. Within an instant another flash and thrak sounded through the night, and then there lied another of the abominable things that she'd killed just a few moments ago, twitching uncontrollably.

She blinked once. Then twice. Then her ears flattened. She turned around, looking for the gob and instead finding a smoking hole where part of the windmill used to be. "Typical," she couldn't help but think. Her mood quickly swung south.

"Reconsidered that decision to not fly?" Astral said, giving Yvonne a tense smile and a look that brokered no arguments.

Yvonne gulped, but nodded. "Y-yeah, I think I have," she said, giving the dead snakes a very hostile look. "I think I'll take death by falling over death by body snatching, acid spitting snakes any day."

Astral nodded in response. "That's good," she replied tensely, looking over the edge of the bridge and judging her distances, "because you would have been staying here otherwise."

Yvonne nodded back, gulping again. "Yeah, figured as much." She came up beside Astral just as the alicorn finished her pre-flight calculations. She looked over briefly, then wished she hadn't, giving Astral a particularly suffering smile. "Heh, long way down, isn't it?"

-#-#-

Honestly? Astral loved wings. Freedom, wind, and best of all? No snakes.

She breathed in deeply, the cold night air whipping past her ears and throwing her mane around. She felt better than she had since… well, since she could remember. She looked below herself, watching as the trees went by faster than she could have ever imagined them going on foot. Then, she looked over her shoulder.

Yvonne rode on her back, a pitiful sight, really. Her eyes were clamped shut and her grip was like a Blacksmith's vice, hard enough to hurt her, an alicorn.

"Note to self: never underestimate an earth pony," she thought, wincing as Yvonne gripped even tighter during a bit of turbulence. She sighed, turning her attention back to the front. Before her rose up the huge mountains she'd seen from so far away before, and now, closer than ever, was the lake that Yvonne had pointed out to her earlier in the night. Even now she couldn't see much, it was at least four-hundred hooves below her and easily many thousands away still, but she was approaching quickly.

She would keep an eye on it, but for now she would rather think about other things. Or nothing, depending on what popped into her head within the next few seconds. And sure enough, nothing really did.

She adjusted her glide slightly more to the right, then summoned a small updraft to give her some more altitude before settling in for at least a few dozen more minutes of snakeless peace and quiet.

-#-#-

From amidst the ever-thick canopy far below, Astral spotted the first few glimmers of artificial light she'd seen since taking to the air. Indistinct and barely recognizable, the only reason she'd noticed was because a cloud had dimmed the moon for a brief moment as she'd approached the western lake edge. Now, as she approached she was unequivocally certain of its origin.

"Byrgenwerth," she realized, excitement dimmed by seriousness and determination. After all, she came here to learn, not to act like a foal.

By all accounts, Byrgenwerth was the only place inhabited so near to the mountains, so by no great leap of logic it would also likely be the only place that would be lighted. That is, unless it was abandoned. In which case, Astral was descending into a place possibly quite dangerous, something she was beginning to feel would be par for the course tonight.

At first she could see little beyond the treeline at the lake's edge save the steadily growing light, but soon she could just barely make out the dilapidated walls and railings of a terrace just at the water's edge, and to the right of that an odd balcony extended over the shoreline. The trees virtually encased the rest of what might have been there, the foliage and trunks obscuring everything more than a few meters in. Though, she could still see the, what she assumed was, lamp light shining from further beneath the trees.

As she pulled into the terrace, she measured herself but landed a fair bit harder than she'd intended. Yvonne essentially slid off of her after she'd figured out they weren't flying anymore.

"Guh," was all she said, shivering as she silently hugged the ground.

Astral paid her little mind. She hadn't forgotten the snake creatures from before; she kept a wary eye on her surroundings. The terrace was horribly overgrown, weeds and grass, dirt and mosses had encroached on the paving and turned much of it into more of a lawn than a terrace. The walls were crumbling, in some cases more held up by the railing and natural growths on them rather than by their structure.

The trees were unreasonably thick. She had a hard time believing they were able to grow with roots so close together, or as thick as they must have been to sustain their size. The foliage was equally as thick, though now that she'd alighted she could see within a lit lamppost, and beyond that another overgrown wall that reached up beyond the measly light the lamppost provided.

She wasted no time, striding forward and leaving Yvonne behind with little concern. Within seconds she was engulfed in a most consuming darkness, the lamppost the only source of light she could see in front of her. Undeterred, she continued on towards the wall she could see, quickly finding it, and finding that it was indeed part of a larger structure. She ignited her horn, pleased to see that it was an entire building in front of her.

From behind she heard the hoofsteps of Yvonne, accompanied by the customary groaning and resentful muttering. She sidled up next to Astral, swaying but keeping her balance. “I hate you. I hate flying. Why did I come?” she grumbled, partly to herself and partly to her companion.

Astral didn’t pay much more attention to her than that. Instead she focussed on what was important: finding a door. She looked to either side of the wall, but it was solid and without even a window. The path she’d followed petered out only a small distance from where she stood, but the wall led on, further into the thick. Naturally, she followed the wall, for lack of other guidance.

At first, very little presented itself. More trees pressed in on the building and vines crawled up its alabaster walls - surprising considering its age. But soon enough the remnants of a courtyard emerged from the oppression; more crumbling walls and sections of land separated, and now wild roses and flowers of all kinds of odd and foreign description growing in the segregations.

She came out into the middle of it all, and despite her own drive to find an entrance to the old College, she found herself marveling at the garden and what once must have been quite the achievement in horticulture.

She shook her head, however. While the garden was certainly enjoyable, it wasn't her goal. She made on, finding an entrance where the largest path of the garden met with the wall of the College.

She still hadn't gotten an idea of the true size of Byrgenwerth, but she quickly learned that what she'd expected – an average sized building with perhaps a few tertiary buildings – was anything but.

Both mares were silent as they took in, likely, the grand hall of the College of Byrgenwerth, ancient and all but forgotten by modern Yharnam.

Lit chandeliers of gold and silver hung from ceilings six times Astral's height, while balconies and walkways, stairs and elevated boulevards were adorned with intricate and lavish railings interwoven with depictions of scholars and researchers of societies and history long gone. Lamps of exquisite make and candelabras of unmatched beauty sat on tables and stands of solid rosewood, illuminating the hall with a soft yellow glow.

Neither of the two could speak, and indeed Astral was absolutely awestruck. For everything she'd been told she'd expected a desolate ruin, abandoned and left to crumble by a society that had embraced a most damned faith. And instead she'd found… this.

"Maker…" was all she could bring herself to say.

She walked in, half expecting to be accosted by some guard or another form of security, but much to her surprise and delight, none emerged from the shadows that swallowed the unlit corners of the hall. Instead she walked straight, right down the center of the grand hall, and imagined instead what it must have been like to have lived and worked with what minds must have once called the College home.

Her walk took her directly to the opposite side of the room, and there she found a second set of doors. She didn't open them, but the colourfully stained windows on either side showed her an overgrown overlook of the lake Byrgenwerth was founded on.

Astral frowned. She'd seen neither a map nor a single sign that provided guidance within the building. Clearly it wasn't designed with casual visitors in mind… "Yvonne," she said politely, "I'm afraid I'm… at a loss, with this place."

"Me as well, my Lady," came the still awestruck sounding response.

Astral frowned again. Not having a guide would make things painful, but if that was what was necessary, then so be it. "Follow me, then. We've got some exploring to do."

The smaller mare nodded absentmindedly, simply turning with Astral and following her as they went off into a corridor, chosen at random.
> 24. Byrgenwerth – Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

She walked down corridors of rich wood and immaculate construction, filled with the soft yellow light of candles that never melted. She walked past doors of heavy and yet soundless quality, barely making a noise as they opened. She walked past rooms, empty and barren of the secrets that she sought. With each step she took, she went slightly more mad.

For all its grandeur and supposed promise, Byrgenwerth was a shell, pretty and intriguing on the outside yet empty and disappointing on the inside. She came to wonder exactly why anyone bothered protecting the place.

"We're lost, aren't we?" Yvonne broke the heavy silence. She wandered behind Astral as they swept from corridor to corridor, hardly making a peep as she did so. She looked sheepish for even speaking.

"No, I know where we are," Astral replied. She was lying, of course, she'd lost track of where they'd come from quite a few turns ago, but she wasn't about to admit that. Besides, she was an Alicorn. If this place turned out to be as much of a waste of time as it was so far acting like, she'd just blast a hole through the wall.

Not that she knew where that hole would lead. In fact, she was beginning to become painfully aware of the size of Byrgenwerth's interior. 

Indeed, she was within a hair's breadth of calling her venture off in favour of returning to Yharnam, when she opened the first furnished room she'd seen.

Plush velvet chairs and sofas sat around a table of a most exquisite quality, a single golden ornament adorning its surface. The same candles and fixtures illuminated the room, and in addition a single window displayed the lake outside Byrgenwerth, the moonlight now painting the waters a cold blue.

It might not have been the archive or library she'd hoped for, but the room gave her hope and a sense of space, certainly more than she'd had in far too long. Still in the back of her mind doubts gnawed, but they would lay still at least for a while longer.

She left the door open, turning down the hallway and opened the next door on her left, and inside found nothing. Then the next door on her right, and found a similar room, but differently furnished. The next door on her left held arcane implements, tools and equipment even she couldn't identify, and the next on her right held a mostly empty room, save a few similar tools resting on some cupboarded counters.

It continued much like this for every room that followed. None changed the pattern, and each was dreadfully boring. Astral didn't let it dampen her, however; a sign of life was a sign she would take! So, despite the devouring quiet, save their hoofsteps and the gentle creak of the floorboards, she soldiered onwards.

And very soon indeed did that endurance paid off.

Up a flight of stairs she went, and on the first doors on her left she tried the handle. Much to her surprise and excitement, it didn't open. The room faced the lake, so it wouldn't have been a very large one, but locked doors often held secrets…

Before she could fiddle with the lock under her magic however, it clicked open, the door opening only wide enough for one to glimpse only the slightest slivers of what laid beyond, a single chain holding it there. And from behind that door came a feeble and old voice, though the sound bore much prestige even to her.

"Speak, so that I might know who disturbs my College."

Astral heart both sank and soared. "Astral Blossom, sir," she bowed her head in deference despite the lack of vision, "you must be the Provost…?"

There was no reply as the door shut again, but much to her elation the door did not lock again. Instead she heard the faint scratch and clink of a chain being removed, and, after waiting the bare minimum for politeness, she opened the door once again, and this time widely.

Within she saw a most magnificent study. A single great desk faced a window easily twice her height and three times as long, the reflected moonlight from outside painting the interior a pale blue. Bookcases lined the walls, packed with books that bore no name nor mark upon their exterior while a lavish array of seats and tables provided all the room a potential visitor or colleague could want.

And in the center, at the desk, sat a most weathered and odd looking earth pony. Pale as the moon outside and arrayed in white linens embroidered with gold, he sat veritably dripping in ornaments of various precious metals and minerals. To his left stood a staff of unequalled intricacy; baubles that suspiciously reminisced of the planets and constellations far away tinkled on their wires and mountings as they settled.

And yet, despite the beauty of his ornaments and possessions, this pony wore a blind over his eyes. Made of simple steel yet engraved with many swirls and flowery designs. Astral grappled with comprehension for only a short moment, but shrugged off such thoughts under the insistence of both curiosity and excitement.

And dread. If he was the Provost, then she very well may not be welcome. 

"It is a surprise seeing you here, Director," spoke the Provost, his weathered face inscrutable behind its blindfold and wrinkles.

Astral cringed. She expected this, but that didn't make it any easier. "Well  I–" she sighed, "I imagine so, Provost. I've been told I was… displeased with my last visit."

"Yes, yes, I do remember. You threatened to turn this establishment into firewood, if memory serves," he said frankly, still as inscrutable as before. "Just as well, you said to me on that evening that you, I quote, 'would never set foot within this loathsome institution ever again'. You were quite vehement about it."

She didn't reply. She could mentally hear Yvonne cringe and start inching towards the door. 

"Ordinarily, I would remove you from my College without a second thought. I do not take threats to Byrgenwerth kindly." He shifted slightly, leaning forward and turning his head slightly to the left, angling his ear up at her carefully. "But I must admit, I'm intrigued. Tell me, why are you here?"

Astral did not speak at first; she needed to be careful. For all she knew, this stallion worked for the being that had taken control of her, and she didn't want to alert them. Though, if she was honest with herself, just being here likely already would have. She made a decision, she simply hoped it was the right one.

"Yvonne, please leave the room."

She only hesitated for a moment before leaving, the door clicking quietly behind her.

Astral leaned forward in her chair, her eyes and thoughts narrowing to the pony before her. A million ways to say what she needed to raced through her mind, along with the necessary self-argument and second-guessing, but she knew she needed his help. Anxiety and fear bubbled to the surface of her mind.

Well hidden, a practiced feat taught to her and many a courtier within the Princess's court over the years, she spoke with her voice uncolored by emotion in spite of her inner turmoil. "I need help, Provost." A very simple phrase, but the meaning and desire behind it was clear. 

She didn't see it, her eyes downcast in second thoughts and self argument, but the Provost visibly reacted. He leaned in further, head tilting, but he didn't get a chance to say anything before she began again.

"We think we're all time displaced, but… it's just a hypothesis right now, even if I am inclined to believe it." She said, raising her eyes to his covered ones and gazing at him with intent, her affect cold if bearing the slightest tinge of worry. "When I woke up here, the first thing I saw was my closest friend with her horn to my neck. The next was a body I didn't recognize, and then a city that doesn't exist." 

Her next words practically rang in his ears. How sweet they were!

"I need answers, Provost."