The Hunter, skilled in multiple forms of combat and beast-hunting, failed to kill Gehrman, the First Hunter. It resulted in his transportation to Equestria, where many ponies will think of him insane. Mostly because of his sense of humor.
The Hunter, a man who had fought tooth and nail to get where he was at, had failed at the very last moment. The fight with Gehrman, the First Hunter didn't go as planned, and resulted in his own beheading.
Not moments later, he arrives in Equestria. Quite the opposite environment from the bloodied city of Yharnam.
Funnily enough, the one thing that made this Hunter special was his sense of humor. He was... different.
The Equines are at odds with his sanity.
Death tag, for obvious reasons, same with the violence tag. Narcotics because blood is considered intoxicating, like a drug. Profanity because, well, obvious reasons, and sex because of mentions of it.
Also, yes, this is supposed to be a funny story, with mixed seriousness.
You fell to your knee's, your arms splayed out onto the ground in front of you. How could you have gotten this far, only to fall at the very last moment? You did everything you could, using every tool in your arsenal to fight against Gehrman. Yet, the old hunter seemed to be more skilled than you in almost every way. You weren't prepared.
You chuckled to yourself, in your final moments. You had defeated many monsters. Ludwig was a great example. The towering beast scared you to death the first time you saw him. You ran out of his little arena as fast as you could, running all the way back to the safety that was the light-purple colored lamp. A shining beacon of this blood-ridden universe.
You sat up on your knee's, staring at Gehrman. You noticed that he wasn't smiling, but in-fact, frowning. Almost sad. You smiled underneath the mask that covered your mouth and nose, knowing that this would be your final moment. Gehrman slowly stepped behind you, each step feeling like it held the weight of the world. Now would be the time for you to reach for your blood vials, but you knew you had reached for them several times in the fight, and you had zero left.
The scythe's blade extended from behind you, the blade gently resting in front of you, on your shoulder.
"Hunter, do you have any parting words?" He asked you.
You smiled further. "You're a weird fucking creep, you know that? I'm pretty sure you fuck that doll of yours every-time I'm out and about, doing whatev-"
The world went dark in an instant. You knew that his movements, despite his age, were extremely fast. You didn't expect for him to cut you off though, and it made you a little mad that your speech about how weird his doll fetish was would never be realized. You shook your... wait, you don't have a head, remember?
What was going to happen?
Everything was still dark. You could feel what felt like eyes, but you didn't feel your body. Also, you couldn't blink. Despite being dead, that dry feeling you get when you kept your eyes open for too long still came. So, even in death, you can't escape life's bullshit. You smiled your non-existent smile, shaking your non-existent head. Life, even in death, would always catch up.
As soon as you were going to sing a song in your non-existent head, you felt the floor again.
Wood. You immediately extended your arms, feeling your small fingers. Your entire body tingled, like the first time you visited the Hunters Dream. You turned yourself over onto your back, staring up at the ceiling. There was a big chandelier, decorated with a blackish blue steel. The walls were covered in dark-purples, blues, and blacks. Several stars dotted the design, along with an incandescent moon in the very middle of it all.
Whoever decorated this did a very good job.
"Gehrman? Gehrman, you fuck, what did you do?" You yelled aloud, rolling onto your stomach and pushing yourself up to your feet. You could feel the all familiar weight of your kirkhammer on your back, something you had forgotten about. You reached your hand up to your back, where a giant, stone hammer was strapped. You grabbed the handle, and pulled hard, pulling a sword out of the hammer.
Now armed with your trusty sword, you took another look around. There was only a little light, coming in from a window nearby. It seemed to be...
Day? It hadn't been day in Yharnam eve-
"I will smite you, assassin, for you have stumbled into the wrong chambers!"
Uh oh.
You looked for the voice, to which a small, dark blue colored horse with... a horn, and wings stepped out of the darkness. Your eyes widened, staring at the figure, who had a levitating sabre next to herself. Your mind shot several images of Ludwig's disfigured form, his melted horse-figure with eyes protruding from every side.
You did what you did in that situation the first time you were met with it.
You ran like a little bitch.
"Come back here you- you evil-doer!" You heard from behind you as you had already bolted from the door of the room you had found yourself in, and began to ran down the long hallway. It was definitely day, you could tell, from the bright-shining, flaming ball in the fucking sky. You were not used to such bright light.
"Fuck off you mini-Ludwig piece of fuck!"
It was all that you could come up with. As you continued your sprint down the hallway, you noticed two other horse figures turning the corner. More?! Things were not looking good. There was only one way out of this predicament, and it was to take the side-door to the left of you.
Barging in with all your might, you found yourself to be in a cafeteria. It was a huge room, consisting of many chandeliers that hung overhead. This might be a perfect place to battle incase you needed to fight back, but the only problem was that... well...
There were currently, what seemed to be, hundreds of those mini-horse fucks sitting on the benches, some in armor. And, the best part about it? They were all currently staring at you. Strangely, the amount of eyes that were currently fixated on you wasn't what made you nervous. You dealt with that while fighting Ludwig. No, the thing that made you nervous was...
You didn't have any blood vials.
You've got to be in a nightmare, right? Micolash had to be up to this or something. The little fucker played around with you for hours on end, so doing this was probably just entertaining him. You thought you had killed him, but you thought wrong, you supposed.
"Micolash you fucking- oh my god I'm going to kill you!" You yelled into the air.
Soft footsteps were heard behind you, to which you turned to investigate. It was the dark-blue horse again, still with a levitating sabre at her side. "You dare threaten any of my subjects?!"
Oh god. If Micolash is her subject, does that mean that she's actually the one hosting the nightmare? All that time, fighting Micolash, was for fucking nothing?! It was her all along? "You wasted me fucking time forcing me to fight that freak with a bird-cage for a helmet. Let me guess, you're even weirder than he is, huh?"
"I know not of what you speak, assassin!"
"Oh really? Anyone would be able to point out that fuck! His weird cries and moans, and his obsession with this fucking nightmare! 'A hunter is a hunter, even in a dream!' God, I've heard that way too many times. I don't doubt that you have something else to say that is even more annoying, hm?!"
Whatever you had said, had seemed to change the horses attitude. Her face went from anger to intrigue and confusion. "Nightmare?"
"Where the fuck do you think we are?! Are you- are you playing dumb with me? Do you think i'm retarded or something? I swear, I'll beat the everloving shit out of you until you-"
"This isn't a nightmare. What are you speaking of?"
"There you go again- acting like a fucking idiot!" You said, raising your sword. You had enough with the talking. You were going to end this nightmare, find the lamp, and get back to Gehrman so I can finish all of this bullshit. God, you ARE more annoying than he is!" You yelled, forcing the sword straight towards her. It was deflected by her sabre, to which you responded with taking a step back.
You knew sooner or later, you'd have to deal with the onslaught of mini-ludwig's in the cafeteria. Your main focus was to eliminate the more persistent foe, that being mini blue-ludwig clone. She didn't seem to be angry, you noticed, but you didn't really care. With a couple of quick slashes in her direction, you managed to score a cut on her leg. It was tiny, barely able to spill blood, but it was a hit.
"Stop! You aren't in a dream, or a nightmare, I can assure yo-"
"Shut the fuck up!" You yelled. With your left hand, you searched your hip for your pistol, something that you had kept very close to yourself at all times. It was a most precious item, definitely. You had even given it a name, though other hunters seemed to laugh at you. You aimed 'Timmy' at the blue-ludwig, your finger on the trigger. You were just about to pull, when all of a sudden-
"Hey- what the fuck, give it!" You yelled, trying to grasp the levitating pistol. Within a matter of moments, it was atleast thirty feet in the air, an impossible height to reach for. With a groan, you slid your sword back into the slit of the hammer, pulling the hammer onto your shoulder. "Fine, I'll squish your ass then. You're not even a hundredth of the size of Ludwig!" You yelled, ready to swing the hammer in her direction, before everything went black.
Hey! Oh, wait, you can't speak.
You were either dead, or knocked out. Both of which would be bad. You hoped for the second, but you knew that there was really no way to tell. Being knocked out in a twisted, weird nightmare was probably not something that anybody would want happening to them. You could agree, but you were forced into the situation.
You shook your non-existent head like you did before. You didn't know how long you were going to be seeing the never-ending darkness, or how long you'd be in this twisted nightmare. It could be a long, long time, just like before. You really only had one regret.
You should've fucked that doll when you had the chance.
You took a deep breath before you shot yourself upright.
You were no longer where you had blacked out at. Instead, you were inside what seemed like a jail-cell. A small, cramped, jail-cell. You hated cramped spaces. You took a quick glance at yourself, seeing that you were still in your clothes. Thank god, the last time you woke up like this you were being stripped nude by...
Well, you'd rather not talk about it.
Standing up, you took a good look around. There were multiple other jail-cells, but all of them were empty. Except for yours, obviously. All there was in your cell was a bed, and a small hole. It wasn't much, if anything at all. The bed didn't even have a pillow or a blanket. It didn't kill to have a little decency, even in a nightmare, would it?
Speaking of the nightmare, this has got to be the worst one yet.
Mini-Ludwigs? Really? You never thought of horses as evil beings until that gigantic monstrosity came up in your life. Hell, you didn't even mean to stumble across the big fuck. It took you what seemed to be months to work up the courage to face him, and you only won because you got lucky when another hunter popped his head in.
That poor man. It was a shame he died in the fishing hamlet.
On top of all that, you had to deal with the real host of the nightmare. Apparently Micolash was a simple subject of that blue horse, which could only mean that she was much more powerful. You only hoped that she wouldn't have disturbing arcane magic as Micolash did. You would definitely enjoy not seeing anymore tentacles protrude from anyone's arm.
"I just want to go back to Yharnam, kill Gehrman, and end this. I worked so hard to end up in this?!" You said angrily, kicking the bars that held you inside the cramped cell.
"Ah, so you're awake?" You heard a female voice speak, one not familiar. Not a moment later, another horse came walking by your cell. She was smaller than the blue one, and was a grey color with red hair. You noticed the tattoo on her, it showing a red shield. "You've been out for quite awhile."
"It's not like time really matters here." You said, shaking your head.
"Luna did say you were quite disturbed. Guess she was right. Say, did drugs do it to you, or were you just born into a cult or something? Usually we get crazy prisoners that are apart of some cult that believes Celestia and Luna are both demons."
"God- of all the nightmares to be put in, I get the one that's filled with nonsense. Atleast you aren't giant." You said, sitting onto the bed. The horse gave you a smirk before looking all over you.
"Interesting clothes. We would've taken them off, but you'd be naked, and we don't have any clothes for your kind."
"And my weapons?" You inquired.
"Armory. I'll tell you, the guards are having a hay-day with that thing. Already broke a tabl-"
You stood up, getting close up to the bars. "Don't you dare fuck with my weapon!"
"Relax, relax!" She said, stepping away from the cell. "We refused to let anyone mess with it after the second table. In fact, Luna herself took it to her own chambers to examine it, along with that strange flint-lock of yours."
"Pistol." You corrected. "And- Luna, is that the blue one's name?"
"You mean the one you attacked? Yeah, that's her name." The guard said, now sitting in front of your cell.
"Doesn't that mean, moon, or somethi-" You stopped when you realized the relation to her name. The moon was always a big symbol in Yharnam, and some even prophesized that there was a god that controlled its mighty power. The signs kept getting worse for you, and you really didn't know how to feel about it. With your hands now on the sides of your head, you took a seat on the bed once again.
"Jeez, you really are crazy. Look, I'd suggest you not act so weird when the Princess' come to talk with you. Since you attacked Princess Luna, you're considered a terrorist. I wouldn't do anything that gets you sent to the desert. There's some legends that sentient cactus' walk around, poking people with their needles. Wouldn't want to be in that situation." The horse said, before getting up, and walking away.
Just before she was out of the room, she looked back at you. "Good luck, weirdo." With that, she disappeared.
This couldn't be happening to you, could it? You had your clothing, but you were defenseless. The last time you used your first to fight, you fought a wolf. And, that didn't turn out so well. You've relied on your Kirkhammer so much that you forgot what life was like without it. Hell, you barely remembered what life was like before the hunt began.
You set your back against the stone wall, staring forward. You needed to come up with a plan to escape this nightmare. The last time you did it, you had to kill Micolash, who you thought was the host of it. If the blue-ludwig is the host, then she needs to be put down.
You could only imagine the horrors that lived beyond your cell.
Canterlot
"He talked of a nightmare, saying that he was in one. I have reason to believe that is why he attacked me. You understand the kinds of things nightmares can produce. It would make sense if that was the reason for his aggression." Luna said. Both her and her sister were in a meeting with the new Royal General, Stonewall.
"That would make sense, but that doesn't fix the problem. How did he enter the castle, and into your bed chambers specifically. Why were there no guards in front of your door? They surely would have seen him enter." Celestia said.
Stonewall was obviously nervous, knowing that the fault of having no guards present would fall onto him. "W-Well.."
Luna shook her head. "He didn't come in from the door, that much I know. There was a purple glow in my room, which had awaken me from my sleep. Not a moment later, he appeared. It was teleportation, but it wasn't a spell that I could identify. He seemed lost, and didn't even know I was in the room until I made myself present."
Stonewall gave a silent sigh of relief. If he didn't enter through the front, he wouldn't have to deal with the repercussion of not having any guards ther-
"General Stonewall, I can see the relief on your face. Do know that you will still be held accountable for this attack on my sister. If there were guards at the door, they would've been able to stop him sooner before he hurt her. We will discuss your punishment later."
And the nervous look was back.
Luna gave a sigh. "His weapon is of unknown origin. I've taken it with me into my own chambers, to examine it closer, and there are strange markings on the hammer. It isn't any language I can identify. The fact that it can transform into a sword is even more strange. Plus, the flint-lock that he had isn't any normal flint-lock. It doesn't hold lead-balls, which is standard ammunition for such a weapon."
"His clothes are also unique." Stonewall said. "We didn't have any clothes that would fit him, so we searched every pocket he had, and let him keep the clothes on. Standard procedure for unknown creatures being held. Though, it's the most strange clothing I've ever encountered."
Celestia sighed. "I've already sent a letter to dear Twilight and her friends. I fear that this attack might have been planned. We must not take this lightly. I'd rather take it more seriously and be right, than to take it too lightly and be wrong. General Stonewall, would you please escort me and my sister to the holding chambers? We're going to start out interrogation."
"A Royal Interrogation. Feel bad for the fella' already." Stonewall said with a smirk to himself.
You
-but if Micolash wasn't the host, why were you able to travel back to the Hunters Dream? Could this be a new nightma-
You heard footsteps, which forced you out of your very intelligent thought. You eye'd the direction they were coming from, before three horses rounded the corner. The blue one you encountered earlier, a white one, much taller, and a black one. The white horse had the same things as the blue one, horns and a wing, while the black one only had a horn.
You weren't liking this already.
"There he is. Lieutenant Aegis reported that he was awake, which has proven to be true." The black one said, to which both the white one and blue one stepped in front of your cell, eyeing you down. The white one more-so than the blue one. You stood up, taking the most menacing pose you could, and pointed at the blue one.
"Luna." You said.
"I take it Miss Aegis told you that." Luna said, her eyes locked with your own. "Is there anything else you know?"
"My name is Celestia." Celestia spoke. "What is your name?"
You smirked underneath your mask. "Why would I tell you? Why the hell do you want to know anyways? Just get this over with and kill me. I'd rather not be tortured for a million years in this fucked up nightmare."
Celestia gave Luna a look. Luna shrugged. "I told you that he was going on about a nightmare."
"Sir." Celestia said, getting as close as she could to the bars. "You aren't in a nightmare. This is all very, very real. Why would you believe you are in a nightmare?"
You laughed. Seriously, are they being serious? "Why the fuck wouldn't it be? There's mini-ludwig children running around, that although look adorable, spark memories I want to forget. I get chased by this mini-blue horse with a sword, and it's daytime. It hasn't been daytime in Yharnam in a long, long time. So, why the hell wouldn't it be a nightmare?"
"Yharnam..?" Celestia inquired. "You aren't in this... Yharnam place, you speak of. You are in Equestria."
"I really, really don't care about what you call this place."
"I'll say this only once. Being rude will only result in your punishment. Do you understand?" Celestia said with a stern voice. You could almost laugh, as she was hardly intimidating. The only thing that really intimidated you was the fact she looked like that beast, except cuter and white.
"I understand." You said, before stepping up to her. "I understand, that you can go fuck yourself. Either you kill me, or you let me get my weapons and we have a real fight. Your choice."
You were forced back against the bed when the door to your cell flew open with a yellow glow. Celestia took a couple steps inside, now right in front of you, while Luna stood behind her. You weren't expecting the sudden confrontation, but you couldn't say you didn't deserve it. You stared up at her, trying to give off a fearsome look.
"Red eyes." Celestia said. "I've not seen red eyes all that much."
"What can I say, I'm special." You said with a smile.
"General Stonewall, please get your cuffs and get them onto our dear friend here. We're going to take a look at that mind of his." Celestia said before exiting the cell, allowing Stonewall to face you with floating cuffs in the air. You stared at him, keeping your hands behind your back.
"Please, don't make this hard." Stonewall said, with a voice that really didn't match his rank.
You knew you didn't have much of a choice here, so you presented your hands angrily to him. With a click, the cuffs were on you. Surprisingly they didn't feel all that tight, but they did feel a little hot. They were glowing a faint gold, but you didn't know why.
With Stonewall, Luna, and Celestia all beginning to walk away, you assumed you were going to be forced to follow. So, you did. You really didn't want to know what 'taking a look at that mind of his' really meant. That might just mean that they're going to split your head open and eat his brains for all you knew. That'd be a hell of a way to go out. Horses eating your brain, huh? You'd expected one of those weird tumor things to do that.
That pistol was your child. You cleaned it, fed it, everything! The Kirkhammer was more like the child that grew up into an adult but refuses to leave home. Not that you mind, it does an excellent job. But Timmy on the other hand, that was the prodigy out of the two. Sure, good ol' Kirk could turn into a hammer. But Timmy could blast someones head off from afar. That earned Timmy the 'Inanimate Child of The Year' award.
You were forced into an all white room. Honestly, everything here was just too bright for you. You had to squint your eyes while you were forced into a chair, your hands being bound to the sides of it with some sort of mechanical device. You really didn't like where this was headed, but you didn't have much of a choice. "Can I atleast dictate who eats my brains first?"
"What?! N-No- We would never do that!" Luna said with a disgusted face, which earned you a smile. Well, maybe they just wanted to dig out your brains and put a candle in it. You could be one of those pumpkin things. You know, the ones that you always loved to make but hated digging the disgusting seeds out of? That's the one.
"Doctor, is the machine compatible with him?" Celestia asked an unknown horse in the room.
"It should work with every species, Princess. Just tap into the machine with your magic, and you should be able to surge through his body and into his thoughts."
"May I do it now?" Celestia asked eagerly, to which the Doctor shook his head.
"In just a minute. It takes a little to fully turn on."
You didn't know what they were talking about. That was, until you got a closer look at the chair you were sitting in. It had all sorts of weird pipes, glowing different colors wrapping around the chair and underneath it. You hadn't seen such a color palette like that in a long time, with the bright blues and reds, oranges and purples. It was actually really exciting to watch the colors surge through the pipes.
"Now you can, Princess."
You looked up to Celestia, who's horn was now glowing yellow. Uh oh.
ZAP!
Aaannd, everything is black again. Are you dead for real this time?
"A strange conscience."
Oh no...
She was in your head, wasn't she?
"Hey, can you like, get the fuck out of my head? Look, you can eat my brains, but don't fuck with my mind."
"As my sister already stated, we would never do such a thing. What makes you believe we would?"
"Is there anything proving that you wouldn't?"
[i}"You really know nothing about me nor my sister, do you?"
"Nope, and I don't really care."
You could feel your body re-materialize. Stretching your fingers out in front of you, you laughed a little. "There's that tingly feeling once again." You said. A moment later, Celestia, the damned Ludwig clone herself appeared in front of you in the darkness.
"I have the same control over your memories as you do now." She said. "Is there anything I should be expecting, that would be incriminating of you?"
You shrugged. "I mean, I did almost fuck a mummy. But, in my defense, I was high on blood-cocktails. So, you can't really judge me."
She gave you a slightly disgusted, yet intrigued look. The same look that you get when someone asks you if you want to see something really disgusting, and you know it is going to be disgusting, but that curiosity just needs to be sated. Celestia's horn began to glow yellow once again, and you appeared in a field of white flowers.
Hey, it's the place Gehrman beheaded you.
The strange thing though, was that you could see yourself fighting Gehrman. You were a spectator to your own fight, which provided quite the unique perspective on things that went down. You looked to Celestia, who was now beside you, who had a questioning look on her face. "What is this?"
"Oh, this is where I was beheaded."
"What?"
Instead of answering, you pointed.
"Hunter, do you have any parting words?"
You could see yourself smile through your mask. "You're a weird fucking creep, you know that? I'm pretty sure you fuck that doll of yours every-time I'm out and about, doing whatev-" Gehrman had pulled the scythe towards himself in a motion so fast, you could hardly see it. Your head, no, not you, the other you, had fallen clean off, to which your body fell forward.
Another moment of tingliness, you found yourself in the same room you appeared in after you were beheaded. Luna's room. Again, you were viewing it as a spectator would. Seeing yourself was quite a strange experience, but man, you really didn't know how badass you looked until now.
Badass, or edgy? You couldn't tell.
"What? How did you appear here... what?" Celestia asked herself. "L-Lets.. rewind." She said, to which you felt another moment of tingliness. Instead of being in Luna's room, as you were a moment before, you were now in the streets of Yharnam. You missed the place already.
"God- I wish I could've been able to do this before. This is way too cool." You said as you watched yourself butcher the insane, monster-like denizens of Yharnam. You remembered this memory, actually. It was the first time you fought a giant. Of course, right now you were massacring the weird men with pitchforks, but in a couple of minutes you'd fight that ugly giant with a brick.
Oh, the joy you had. You could faintly remember when you had hardly any responsibilities. All you had to do, was kill.
"This place is.. vile. It's-"
"Great, I know." You said. "I'd really appreciate it if you'd take me out of that nightmare I was just in, and place me back here. Or, do I have to kill one of you to do it?"
"Wait wait wait-" Celestia said, waving a hoof at me. "So, you're from this place."
"Yes."
"And- you were beheaded... and sent to my sisters room."
"Yes."
"I... have no words." With another flash of her horn, you appeared in a pool of blood along with her. You were facing what seemed to be a stoney hallway, before hearing a loud screech behind you.
Oh no..
Hesitantly you turned around, only to see yourself, holding your Kirkhammer, facing Ludwig. You could see now that the size-difference was immense. Ludwig was easily hundreds of times bigger than you, and you seemed so small and puny. All of that fear you had during the fight resurged.
"Ah- no- switch- switch!" You yelled, shielding your eyes from the sight.
You tried to turn around, but you were back in the chair from before. Whatever had happened, you no longer were in your memories. You thanked the gods abo- actually, the gods were dicks. You swore at the gods above, and looked around the room, making sure that you were truly away from that scary place.
You were getting sweaty.
"Sister? Sister, what did you see?"
Celestia stared at you, before clearing her throat. "I-I... It wasn't... I don't know.."
"You fucking bitch- you made me remember! I really, really didn't want to see that fuckers face again!" You yelled. You had only remembered Ludwigs appearance in general, but not in detail. During the fight, you were too busy trying to kill the damn thing. But, being a spectator, you were able to get a good, long, detailed look at it.
If you were two years younger, you would've pee'd your pants.
Thankfully, you were a big strong boy.
"What does he speak of, sister?"
"I..."
Celestia tried formulating words, but kept failing. Luna groaned in annoyance, and looked to Stonewall. "Release him, and put him back in his cell. I'll be taking my sister into a private meeting, please join us after the escort."
"Yes ma'am." Stonewall said, releasing the binds that held you in the chair. "Come on." He said before slapping cuffs onto your wrists once again. When you didn't move for a good five or so seconds, you were pushed by an invisible force. "I said, come on."
"You sound twelve, trying to act like your thirty. Have you even hit puberty yet?" You joked.
"Hey- my voice may not fit me, but I can prove to be more than intimidating by other means."
"Mhm, like what?"
Stonewall groaned. "Like... Like telling other guards what to do. Commanding others makes them intimidated by you."
You laughed, loudly this time. You could only imagine what he'd sound like, trying to order other horses around. "You- over there, yeah you, get me my milk!" You said, imitating his voice. This earned you an angry look from him, but you didn't really care much.
It only took a couple of minutes before you were at your cell again. "In." He said. You took a step in and turned around, presenting the cuffs to him. With a flash of his horn, and a click of the cuffs, they fell onto the floor. "Now, please, don't force me to punish you. You need to be more respectfu-"
Stonewall fell to the floor not a second after you sent your first flying to his face. He really just stood there, with your cell still open, and your cuffs off. It was a prime opportunity to make an escape. And, an escape, you will make. You immediately got to searching the tiny bag that he carried, in which you found a set of keys.
Alright, you were well on your way to freedom.
You made it to the opposite door from the one you came in from, jamming each of the keys into the lock until it opened. You entered into a hallway, many windows dotting the sides of it. It was still day, the bright shining light passing through the decorated glass.
You knew what room to look for. The only problem was, you didn't know how to get there.
With each minute that passed by with you searching in the lonely hallway, you began to get more and more nervous. Who knew what could possibly happen. A ludwig could come out of nowhere, and surprise attack you. Or, maybe one of those taller ludwigs would come out and punish you.
Whatever, you were to far to give up now!
"It's easier to find a prostitute than this damned armor- oh!" You found the room you were looking for. You looked for any of the keys that were marked with armory, but all of them weren't labeled. Seriously, how did they know what key went to what? With each key you fumbled around with, your nervousness grew threefold.
Also, the footsteps down the hallway about to round the corner didn't help that.
With the final key you tried, you were able to get the door open, and shut behind you. You did it, you were in the armory. Now to find Timm-
"Wow, you escaped?"
Uh oh.
You slowly turned to the left, to which the same horse that met you upon your awakening in the cell, was sitting in a chair. She looked at you casually, chewing what seemed to be gum. "Wow, I didn't think you'd be able to do it. I heard the Princess' were going to interrogate you or somethin'."
"Uh... yeah..? T-They uh, they told me that I was free to go, and to get my weapons. Y-you wouldn't happen to know where they would be, would you?"
She gave you an amused look. "They let you free, huh? And they just gave you a guards set of keys because they trusted you that much."
"Uh.. Yeah?"
She pointed over to a locker in the corner. "Alright then. They're there."
You slowly made your way to the locker, opening it with the large handle, ready to finally meet again with your children. Yet...
There was nothing in it.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot, Luna took it to her room." The horse said with an amused tone. "Dang, that sucks for ya' bud. Her rooms all the way down the other side of the castle. Might be able to make it if you run for it, but I doubt it. But, I'll make ya' a deal."
You turned to her.
"If ya' make it to her room before I can catch ya', I'll walk away. I ain't had a good chase in awhile, so entertain me, would you?"
"Pft." You said. "You have no idea who your messing with. As soon as I'm out that door, i'm flyin' out of here!"
"Who said it started out the door?" She said.
"Oh..."
The horse lunged at you, to which you sidestepped to the left, and ran to the door, busting open onto the other side with immense speed. The once empty hallway was now crawling with other horses, some in armor, others not. Whatever the hell happened, it was now a minefield.
You dodged inbetween horses, trying not to slow your speed down as you could hear the fast footsteps behind you. Damn, that horse was fast! You considered it cheating. They had four legs, you only had two! That's twice the amount of you, that's an unfair advantage!
"Keep runnin' you two legged weirdo! I'm comin'!" You heard from behind you.
Heh, like hell you were stopping. You were going to get to that room, get your weapons, and get the fuck out of this nightmare. Atleast, thats what you were hoping. Usually things didn't pan out for you, no matter how hard you tried. You clasped your hands together.
It felt like you've been running for hours on end.
The worst part about it all? That little horse-fuck wasn't the only one chasing you now. Atleast a dozen more had joined the hunt on you, and one of them had fucking wings! That caused you to duck your head quite a bit, but it wasn't anything you couldn't handle. You've taken down plenty of tougher foes, easily thousands of times bigger and scarier than these little horses.
But, you had your weapons when you fought them. Now, you don't. Big difference.
Oh, and you didn't even know where Luna's room was. You remember the hallway that it's located in, but you don't know how to get to that hallway. You were basically running around headless. While you ran, you searched in your back pocket, feeling all the familiar items you had before. Huh, you thought that they'd search you or something. Why didn't you check sooner?
You searched in your back pocket while running, trying to find anything that might help you in the situation. All you had were a couple of pebbles that were lodged deep in your pocket, and that was pretty much it. You forgot that you had basically used up everything fighting Gehrman. Everything except a couple of Fire-paper and Bolt-paper. Yet, you didn't have a weapon, so it'd be completely useless.
"Oh you fucking- take this!" You yelled, throwing the couple of pebbles behind you. You scored multiple headshots, but all it did was piss off the hunters. Funny, you, a hunter, being hunted. You would laugh at the irony, but you didn't have much time.
You turned the corner, and were met with the same hallway when you first arrived.
Perfect.
You ran down the hallway all the way to the middle, finding Luna's door, and smashing right through it. You were now within reach of your weapons, but you had a couple of ludwigs on your ass. You scanned the room as fast as you could, seeing your Kirkhammer leaning against the wall. You reached for it, setting the hammer on your back and unsheathing the sword.
The horses had made it into the room with you, but stopped when they saw your weapon.
"You better turn around, and fuck off, or I'm killing each and every one of you. I've gotta' say, I've been in dire need of some blood-spilling action." You said, pointing your sword at them. Each of them slowly backed away, before running off into the hallway. Likely, to call backup.
The only one that stayed was the same horse in the armory. "Ya' did it."
You reached over for Timmy before looking at her. "Yeah, I did. You gonna' keep your end of the deal?"
"Obviously. Why do you think I'm out here and you're in there?"
"Dunno'. Never expected an abomination from a nightmare to have enough decency to uphold their side of the deal. Can you really blame me?"
She laughed. "Dude, you're very, very crazy. But, whatever." She began to walk off. "Later, weirdo."
Really..? That was it? She walked off? Isn't she supposed to be a guard? You were expecting her to attack you or something, but she decided to just walk off. Anti-climactic much, but atleast you were re-united with your beautiful children. Well, Timmy was the beautiful one. Kirk was only beautiful unsheathed.
You stared out the doorframe, the door that you had just knocked down was shattered into pieces. You really smashed that thing with all the force you had. It's funny, you never realize how strong you are until you're put into a moment of final desperation. Fight or Flight is an interesting concept.
Now armed, you headed out the door. Taking a look to your right, you could see multiple horses running away from you. To the left, there was nobody. You decided to take the path where nobody was, and began to walk down it. No sense in running anymore if you didn't know where you were running to.
Walking with your sword out made each of the few horses down the hallway run in fear. It was funny. It's like you were this big, giant monster, and they were running away from you while you calmly strode through the hallways. Almost like you were a psychopath. Wait, aren't you one? They're acting like you did when you saw Ludwig for the first time.
Things have certainly switched, haven't they?
You traveled down many hallways, having no real direction. You turned one more corner, before you found yourself in front of seven horses, and a... lizard? Interesting, you thought. You stood still, waiting for them to run away from you before they stopped and stared at you.
They didn't run.
"Uh, Twi... That looks exactly like what Celestia and them others described.." The orange horse said.
"W-What is it doing out? They said they had i-it locked up.."
"It looks so cool!" The flying blue one said.
"S-Scary, more like." The white one said.
Jesus, you were tired of them speaking already. You took a couple steps forward, which they took a couple steps backwards. Yet, they didn't run from you. They were observing you, from head to toe. You shook your head. You needed a display, something to show them that you weren't fucking around.
You holstered Timmy, and reached in the back of your pocket, pulling out a small piece of orange paper. You wrapped it around your sword, and slid it to the tip, striking a fire onto your sword, allowing the entire blade to be engulfed in a fiery flame. You threw the paper to the side of you, pointing the sword in their direction. "Seriously.. Can you just, fuck off? Actually- can you tell me how the hell to get out of here? Maybe if you do that, I won't filet you."
"That won't be happening." You heard behind you. It was white horse! You turned around almost instantly, pointing your sword at her instead. She definitely didn't wear a happy look. "First, you beat my general. Second, you burst into the armory, forcing my guard hostage unless she told you where the weapons were." Wait, that's not what happened! You were going to interject, until she continued. "-you burst my sisters door off, and now you threaten my student and her friends."
"Okay, you came at me first, remember? Your 'sister' or whatever the hell, pulled a sword at me." You defended. "Not my fault, alright?"
"You were an unauthorized person in her bed chambers."
"You saw how I got in there! How the fuck would I have control over that?!"
"...Good point." She said. Luna, the blue one, had rounded the corner, now standing next to her sister.
You had nine horses and a lizard against you now. You turned back to the seven horses, trying to come up with a plan to get away from the place. You didn't see any way of getting out of this until-
You ran towards the seven ponies as fast as you could, to which almost all of them backed off immediately. Sadly, the poor little lizard couldn't run away fast enough. You picked him up, setting the fiery blade next to his neck. "I swear to fuck, if any of you decide to come at me, I'm making gecko steak. Now, I'll ask again, where the hell is the exit? I want to get the hell out of this nightmare!"
Suddenly, you were struck by some sort of purple blast. You didn't move much, but it forced you to drop the lizard from your grasp. Well, there goes your leverage. The only leverage you had. The lizard ran away from you quickly, to which you stared at the perpetrator that blasted you.
The purple bitch.
You pointed your sword at it. "You really want to fuck with me? The guy with a flaming sword?"
"You gave me no other choice." The spite in her voice was immense, and you loved it. Most sane beings you fought were either annoying, or silent. You always wanted a foe that would talk back, provide some sort of banter between you two. She was giving it.
Her friends around her gave her odd, and slightly worried looks.
"T-Twi-" The orange one tried to speak.
"If you dare threaten Spike, or my friends, I'll turn you into stone myself." That spite in her voice was still there, and she seemed extremely angry. You stared at her, keeping your sword pointed at her, before letting it fall to your side while you laughed loudly.
"Oh-Oh my god! You're fucking hilarious!"
"What's so funny?!" She asked.
"YOU!" You practically flew with how fast you thrusted your sword at her. She and her friends, including the lizard, all within a flash had teleported a good twenty feet away. You turned around, knowing that the other two bigger horses would likely attack.
They did.
A sabre, covered in a blue aura was flying towards you. You sidestepped to the right, before bringing your fiery sword up, knocking it into the air. As soon as your sword connected with hers, the aura around it dissipated. You smirked underneath your mask, knowing that things were only going to get more exciting.
"You know, it feels weird not being covered in blood. Wanna' help me fix that?"
You aimed Timmy at the two big horses, firing off multiple silver bullets in their direction. Each of them missed, but it sure scared them enough to run for cover. You turned your attention back to the seven horses, plus the lizard. You shook your head. "God, you guys are just annoying. If you run, you won't have to deal with me. It's literally that simple. But your ego is standing in the way. You're worse than that crow bitch!"
Wait a minute.
You reached into your back pocket, pulling out a piece of paper with a golden design on it. How could you have forgotten?! The hunters mark! You could've teleported the hell out of here, and back to the Hunters Dream way earlier than this! You smiled, focusing on the design before placing it over your head, pressing it onto your face.
You waited for that tingly feeling, waiting for yourself to be teleported to safety.
...
Nothing happened.
You stared at the piece of paper, before attempting it again. Nothing still.
"What? How can it fail?! It never fails!"
Uh oh. You suddenly had a really bad feeling about all of this. There was really only one reason why you couldn't use it, and you remember the words from the poor hunter that died in the fishing-hamlet during a conversation with him. You could still hear it today. "The Mark is always usable, even in the most dangerous of nightmares such as this one. As long as your alive, or not beastly, the Mark will always be at your side in your most dire moments.
Does that mean...
You're really dead, and you aren't in a nightmare?
"Stop!" Luna said, bursting from her cover. "W-We must stop this. We have all got on the wrong hoof, correct? There is no need for more to get hurt. My sister explained to me what happened. Please, don't hurt anypony more."
"Why should I believe you? You came at me with a sword the first time I met you!"
"You have encountered worse, have you not?!"
You actually nodded your head to that. "Yeah, actually."
"Then please, give me, give my sister, give everypony here a chance."
"Get your sister and everybody else in this fucking place to say the same thing, and I might, just might not kill any of you. You're all hostiles to me. You're all evil horse fuckers to me. Until you give me a reason to believe the opposite, I wont!"
Celestia stepped from the corner. "Put down your blade, and we will have a discussion about this. In private, with peace. All will be forgiven on both sides if that happens. Is that to your liking?"
"Nah. None of this is to my liking. I miss the blood on my coat and sword, and I miss Yharnam. But, you know what, out of the fucked situation I'm in, I suppose that's the best option to go with. So, yeah, sure, fine. But I'm not putting my weapons away until I know for sure."
"Understandable."
You turned over to the others. "And you all, if any of you fuck with me, dear god I'll cook that lizard for real. Seriously, do you know how long its been since I've had a nice cut of fucking meat?" They all seemed to shudder in fear, or disgust. You weren't really able to tell.
"Now, I'm going to have to tell you to stop threatening my dear subjects." Celestia said, to which you turned to her.
"Fine- fine. And why do you call them your subjects? Is that some weird fetish or something? You got a power trip?"
"Just... Follow me, please."
"Fine." You said, holstering Timmy, but keeping your sword to your side. The flames had gone out just moments earlier. Like hell you were going to put away your sword, you weren't going to let go of the only thing that was protecting you from these possible abominations.
You sat in an oddly comfortable chair, whilst the rest of the ponies sat across from you. Understandably so, you did threaten each and every one of them that you would kill them at one point. Though, Luna herself attacked first, so you thought you were completely in the right. Yup, you're always right.
"Let's get things a little clearer. What is your name?" Celestia asked politely.
You had every chance to make up a stupid name. Something your own, and completely retarded. You had that choice- you had it, but you decided to go with a real answer. "Nobody calls me by my name much, but its Anon. Though, most just refer to me as Hunter."
"Why do they call you 'Hunter?'" Twilight, the purple horse that had blasted you earlier, asked.
"Because... I hunt. That's literally my job. I walk street to street, slaughtering every beast in my way. It ain't a job everyone can handle, that's for sure. But, I was oddly fond of it. We Hunters are a dying breed though. Yharnam needs more of us, or else the night will last forever."
Applejack looked at you strangely. "This.. Yarn..ham... is your home?"
"Yeah. And, even with those beasts roaming the streets, massacring everybody in their path, even with the streets being stained with blood, I still love it. I don't really know why. Most hate it, but I can't stand to go without killing a few beasts. It's for my own good, after all."
The group of ponies sitting in front of you were a little disturbed, you could tell. You could understand why, you weren't completely dumb. You had guessed that this world was more peaceful than Yharnam, and you guessed right. Casual talk of slaughtering, or killing is considered crazy. That's probably how they think of you. You didn't really disagree, though.
"Twilight has informed me that you look like a human. A species that she has encountered in another world. It mirrors this one, but in a different species, and different ideologies. Do you think that you're from the same place?" Celestia asked, still studying you from head to toe.
"I don't think so. She wouldn't survive a day in Yharnam, and honestly, you all don't seem too informed about what these beasts really are. Or, what I'm even talking about half of the time." You said, reaching for something in your pocket, which gathered you strange looks. You pulled out a white bottle, with strange red markings all over it and a red liquid. You popped the cap open, and sipped it casually, leaning back in the chair.
"What's that?" Luna asked.
"Blood cocktail."
"What?!" The entire group almost said at once, staring at you as if you were mad. You simply shrugged, taking another sip of that oh so delicious blood. It was mainly used as a distraction tool for beasts, but when you didn't have anything to do, it made for a good drink. Too bad it wasn't potent like the last few you used before getting here.
"What? Yharnam produces more blood than alcohol. It's more... how should I put it, intoxicating? Haven't any of you been paying attention? Yharnam runs off of blood production. Hell, that whole world ran off of blood. Everything was related to the red stuff. So what if I want to sip it on my days off? It's good. Don't knock it until you try it."
They gave you a disgusted look while you continued to drink. It was actually quite funny.
"Well..." Celestia started, trying to switch the subject. "As long as you can agree to not hurt anypony, then you'll find yourself in a safer place than the one you were in. No bloody streets, and no ghastly beasts like the ones I witnessed with you."
"Then whats the point of me being here? I'm a hunter, remember? If I ain't got nothing to hunt, I don't got a reason to live." You said flatly. "The feeling of being completely covered in that crimson juice is something else. It's a rush. It makes you feel more powerful, more steady in your shoes, and way more confident in your ability. I live for that feeling."
"Please, stop talking, or I'll have to refer you to the psychiatric ward." Luna said.
You shrugged. "I'm not going to lie to you as long as you don't lie to me. Now, tell me, is there any way you can get me back? The Hunters Mark doesn't work, which gives me hardly any hope. It should work anywhere, even in different realities."
"Hunters Mark?" The white one asked.
You hated explaining yourself, so you summed it up. "I look at it, I place it on my head, boom, I'm home."
"Interesting. A form of teleportation." Celestia said. "Sadly, I must inform you that we wouldn't be able to find a way to get you to your home anytime soon. Let's say it is possible; it'd take a couple of weeks to figure it out. If it isn't possible, you're permanently stuck here. Either way, you're spending some time with me and my subjects. Please, treat them nicely, or I'll have to intervene."
You laughed. "You horses really aren't all that intimidating, I hope you know. Seriously- the whole stern talking thing? Doesn't work, at all. You'd have more luck sticking a sword in my fa-" You were cut short when a sabre was pointed directly in your face. You cracked a half-smile underneath your mask.
"Does this suit your style?" Luna asked with a smug grin, obviously thinking that she had done the job.
"A little better. Still, not as intimidating. Death is only scary when you want to live. Thankfully, I lost that." You said with a light chuckle. The sabre was slowly retracted from your face, and they horses all gave you strange looks once more. You were truthful though. You loved killing beasts in Yharnam, but you'd honestly not care if you died. You had gone on too long in a purgatory-like state of being where all you had was pure carnage consuming the world. It was glorious, but it was getting boring.
That's why you smiled before Gehrman beheaded you. You gave it all you had, and still ended up at the bottom. If that wasn't symbolic, you didn't know what was. It fit the universe you were born into. A bleak, depressing world that did everything it could to put you at your lowest. And, you had to admit, it did a fine job.
"You're dangerous, that much is known. My guards obviously need to be reviewed individually, so I can't rely on them. The only ponies I can rely on are Twilight and her dear friends. Who'm you will be staying with, to keep a close eye on while you're here, until it's proven without a doubt that you won't hurt anypony."
You weren't planning on killing any of them, but the audacity of them to let what they think is a killer bunk with one of their students, and think its a good plan, is beyond you. Even you knew that would've been a stupid idea, and you're you! Atleast you'd get some entertainment out of it. The little lizard you had kidnapped for a mere five seconds seemed to be quite scared of you already. You were going to have fun with that.
"W-What? P-Princess, I don't know if that's a good idea... I have class, and other thin-"
"Take him with you then. I trust you'd be able to handle the situation if it went awry, hm?"
Wow. You seriously couldn't understand what the hell giant white horse was thinking. Seriously, letting you, a mass murderer (in their eyes) bunk with their student, who had classes, and also allow said mass murderer to attend the classes with said student. Holy shit, how had this little kingdom of theirs not fallen yet?
You felt something tug at your right shoulder, to which you turned to it. A flying blue horse was in front of you, who then attempted to pull your mask down. You immediately responded with a slap to her face, sending her to crash on top of the table. In a instant, you turned to the two big horses. "She started it."
"We're aware." Luna said plainly.
"Good. Nobody touches me. I'll take the mask off when I want to."
"Princess- You can't be serious... This isn't a good idea! He'd definitely scare off the students."
"Ah-ah-ah, Twilight. Think of it this way. Think of all the... experiments."
The wording of that sentence didn't strike you to be anything good. Twilight had immediately turned from fear and confusion to a starry-eyed look. As if she was pondering all the wonderful things she could do to you. Wait, it's not as if, she definitely IS! "Hey! I'm not letting you test on me like a lab-rat."
"We won't allow such a thing. We're more interested in your various items you carry with you."
"And that outfit-" The smaller white one said. "It's stylish, yet... disgusting."
"Aren't you naked? Why the hell are you judging what I wear?" You said, gesturing to your clothes. "This is the finest hunter wear in all of Yharnam, thank you very much. It breathes well, it allows good flexibility, and the look you get when all that lovely crimson juice spills onto it-"
"Didn't I tell you before, dear Anon, to not speak of such things?" Luna said, her face unamused. You pointed at her.
"Shut up. You can't tell me what to do. You haven't experienced it. Until you do, you can't say anything! Hell, you won't even drink a little bit of blood-" You said before slipping some more of that juicy red stuff down your throat. It tingled slightly as it made its way down, the pungent taste being left in your mouth. You responded after the sip with an "Aaahh~"
"Now, I urge you all to go and get ready. The train leaves for Ponyville in a mere twenty or so minutes. Please, make haste. I'd rather have him out of here as soon as possible. The nobles, i'm sure, have not liked your presence, Anon."
"Okay...? Please, enlighten me on why I should care."
Celestia stayed silent.
"Alright, you rainbow horses, let's get to that train. The sooner I get to a bed, the better I'll feel."
"Wait-" Applejack interrupted. "-aren't there only enough bedrooms for the seven of us?"
The castle was magnificent. It was missing that glossy red stuff, but you could do without it for now.
You know what was not magnificent? Being forced to bunk with one of those horses. Yeah, as it turns out, there's only seven rooms. And, guess what that means? No room for you, bucko. So Twilight (with heavy encouragement from Celestia) allowed you to bunk with her, while Spike decided to switch rooms and stay with Starlight. He didn't seem pleased that you were essentially taking his place.
Whatever. Why should you care?
"I haven't seen your face yet, you've had that mask on this entire time." Twilight said, as you were examining yourself in her bedroom, using her large standing mirror. You looked to her, shrugging. You had the mask on for so long, you hardly even remembered you still had it on. It was almost apart of you.
"You want to know whats funny? I don't even remember when I put it on."
"Really..? That long?"
You nodded. "I don't even remember when I put these clothes on. I remember the emotions I had on my first hunt, for sure. But the act of donning these clothes, the hunter clothes, I don't remember. I would think that's bad, but honestly, it's so apart of me I hardly care."
You could hear Twilight stepping close to you, before appearing at your side. "I-I know that things aren't really in your favor right now.. They aren't for me either. But, I'd like to attempt something here. I want to know about you. If I'm letting you stay with me, I might as well know you a bit, right...?"
She was obviously nervous, possibly scared of your presence. Though, instead of amusement, you felt a little... odd.
"It's not things you'd like to hear. I'm sure you'd like to live without those thoughts in your head."
"I'm willing to take that chance."
You gave a smile underneath your mask. "You've got some balls. Alright, I'll explain a little about myself. What do you want to know?"
She tilted her head in question. "I suppose... what happened before you got here?"
"Heh. Alright."
You had just finally escaped the Nightmare of Mensis. You had been stuck in it for way too long, refusing to return to the Hunters Dream until you were completely finished with the place. You had to admit though, it did get to you mentally. That twisted hellscape was the worst experience you've ever had, other than Ludwig, or that poor Orphan.
You remember appearing in the Hunters Dream and staring up at the Hunters Workshop. It was in flames. A feint melody played in the back of your mind, putting you at ease, but you knew that something was very wrong. And, oddly enough, you knew what had to be done. When you were told that Gehrman was waiting for you at the foot of the tree in the garden, you knew.
You got everything you could. You stacked yourself full of blood vials, little bottles that kept you alive up until that point. You carried as many quicksilver bullets you could hold, and you brought as many firepapers and boltpapers as you could. You knew it wasn't going to be an easy fight, but with each thing you stocked up on, was a point in your favor. The only problem was, the game was rigged.
You slowly approached Gehrman. You knew that the wheelchair was just an act. Once you were close enough, he explained to you what his intentions were. You were given a choice; to forfeit your life, and to allow Gehrman to kill you, in order to escape from the horrible nightmare that you were stuck in. That being, the hunt. Or, you could alternatively refuse, resulting in a fight between the both of you.
Funnily enough, a fight to save eachother. Whoever lost was the real winner.
You knew you were destined to stop this nightmare, and you knew the only thing standing in your way now was Gehrman. You couldn't allow him to simply kill you, and let the nightmare continue on for longer. You knew you were able to do something about it, to do better than Gehrman. The first step would be to allow the very being that played a role in this nightmare to escape from it.
You remember pointing your sword at him. "Fight me, for the first, and final time." Those words were the most poetic words you had ever spoken since you were born. You had always been the funny type, the edgy, humorous type. The type to make any and all situations as hilarious as they can be, even at the cost of respect. Yet, that day, you knew that you had to give respect to the first hunter.
He stood up, pulling his scythe from his back, and his blunderbuss from his hip.
The fight was fast and brutal. Each hit you took, you had to use a blood vial. He hit harder than anything you encountered before, and you knew this wasn't going to be easy. His moves were faster than light, literally being able to use the wind against you. And, not long into the fight, he had somehow regained a bit of his energy from his days of being in his prime. Once you took your last vial, you knew how this was destined to end.
You hated it. You hated getting this far to fail. You were furious, and you wanted to curse the universe for putting you in such a position. The blood-loving universe had turned you into what it desired. A blood-loving hunter, devoid of what he was originally born to be. That, of a normal human. But, look at you now. A hunter, constantly joking at every turn.
Instead of spending your last moments of being angry, you decided to spend them being amused.
With each hit you sustained, you made an insult. You yelled it at the top of your lungs. You were sure you even saw Gehrman smile at the jokes you were cracking, but he didn't relent his attacks. You knew before long, you'd end up as another grave in that garden.
You couldn't completely forgive Gehrman for his actions though. You knew that he played a big role in the nightmare. And, what he and his colleagues did to that poor Orphan, was inexcusable. You had cried during your fight with the Orphan of Kos. A being, that had just been born from its dead mother. A being, that saw you as it's mothers killer. A being that had everything stripped away from it for the simple fact of experimentation. You had heard the story before, and you wished you didn't have to fight it while knowing it.
All of that, for nothing.
Everything else replayed as it was supposed to. You were on your knee's, in the middle of cracking a joke before suddenly, you were beheaded. It was painless, instant, and anticlimactic. Atleast, anticlimactic compared to what everything else in the universe had.
You didn't explain it exactly as you thought, as you knew there were things that the poor horse didn't need to know. That being, you personal feelings. What did a purple horse even care about? You knew your feeling weren't one of them, and you honestly didn't mind.
"W-Wow... That's... Harsh."
"Nah, not really. Other Hunter's have had it much, much worse. Atleast I was able to fail at the end, instead of the beginning. Atleast I didn't go into it knowing I was a failure. Atleast, I got to see what the end-goal looked like before I tripped. I'd say that's much more... well, better."
"I'm sorry you had to live with that." She said, staring at you from the mirror. "I don't know if I, or even my friends would be able to go through something like that. You know, knowing when your time is up? I don't think I'd be able to live with that."
You smiled. "Yeah, I know. I didn't live with it." You joked. That earned you a glare from the mirror. Instead of answering to her rude looks, you simply pulled your black mask down, showing the rest of your face. It wasn't anything spectacular. You were male, with crimson eyes. You had a burn mark from Laurence on your left cheek, but it was feint. Wow, you hadn't thought about Laurence this entire time.
God, you hated fighting that... thing.
"I'm not special. See?"
She stared at you, a little wide-eyed. "You look so different than the one's I was with..."
"Well, I'm not a weird color like the rest of you. I'm ordinary."
"If that's ordinary, I'm Celestia."
"Ew.. Celestia, really? I prefer Luna already."
Twilight shook her head, a little shocked. "What?! She tried to kill you!"
You were much happier when the night came around. That bright flaming ball in the sky had really blinded you this entire time, and you didn't like it at all. You hadn't seen the day in so long, so it was only natural to feel out of place even more when that shining light is bestowed onto you.
The rest of Twilight's friends were asleep. You had talked to them shortly, each individually on your own time throughout the day. It wasn't exactly exciting, but you weren't worried about them being a threat. You called them mini-ludwigs, but in all reality, Ludwig was just a big, fucked up version of them. Atleast these ones are adorable, without flesh and eyes popping out from every orifice.
Twilight was still awake.
You had made the mistake of telling her the Hunter's secret. It was the one thing that had made you fall to your knee's for the first time during your life in Yharnam. It was the saddest, most despicable thing you had the chance of hearing. The poor villagers in the Fishing Hamlet. The Orphan, and even poor Maria. She wasn't ever supposed to end up the way that she did. Gehrman was to blame for a lot of it.
She was done crying though, and on to other things to question you about.
"Why do you drink blood?" She asked plainly, to which you gave a smile. The both of you were currently sitting on her bed. You were currently holding a blood cocktail in your hand, the best drink a hunter could ever ask for. You held it up, before taking a sip, saying;
"Because it's good. Gone are the days of alcohol. Blood has always been more intoxicating. Atleast, the special way they prepare it makes it that way. The whole story about how we came to be blood-producers is an odd one. Hell, the whole relation of blood to the hunt is confusing in itself. I won't bore you with it."
"I'm sure its interesting! I want to hear."
"That was my way of saying I'm too lazy to tell you." You said with a smirk, finishing the rest of your cocktail. You set it on her nightstand, to which you then stood up from her bed. You took a peek out of her window, the bright shining moon in the sky. It wasn't as yellow as the one back home. This one was more white, and blue. Pure, almost. "I'm gonna' go explore."
"But it's late. Why do you want to go out now?"
"Hunter's gotta' find something to hunt, remember? The night is the best chance for that. It'll take my mind off whats going on right now. Besides, I haven't slept in a long, long time. I'm sure another day won't hurt me." You said truthfully. It had been what seemed like years since you last slept. That might be the reason why your sense of reality was slowly depleting, or it could just be a natural deterioration of your brain from the terrible dream.
"Alright- but I'm coming with you. I can't have you hunting some poor pony, or scaring somepony off. That'd make a bad first impression. Besides, it's almost Nightmare Night, and with you looking a little intimidating, that'll send the wrong message."
"How so?"
"Well, there's always been stories that monsters roam the days before Nightmare Night."
You smirked. "And what is this 'Nightmare Night?'"
"It's.. Well, ponies dress up in costumes of scary monsters, or really whatever they want to dress up as. They also have games out all over town, and Luna comes down to play a role in all of it. It's pretty exciting."
You shrugged. "Didn't care about the costumes. Interested in the monsters. Any of it true?" You asked, already walking towards your pistol, Timmy, and your kirkhammer. You slid Timmy into his little home, also named as, your holster. Heaving the hammer onto your back and strapping it close, and with your sword in your hand, you were ready to go out.
"No, not really. It's never been proven. It's a legend more than anything. It's to get some of the kids interested in it. To get them all excited the days before Nightmare Night hits. It's not unusual to find kids running around, searching for monsters."
"Dangerous for a young one. Guess they gotta' learn young." You said with a smile, lifting your black mask over your face.
Twilight shook her head. "I just told you, none of it is real. It's all a legend."
"A lot of legends get proven to be true. Why not go search with me if you're that confident we won't find anything? If you're right, I'll give you one of these." You said, pulling out a small orange paper. Your firepaper. Twilight's eyes widened, staring at it.
"Is that the thing you used-"
"-to put my sword on fire? Yeah. Yeah, it is."
She gulped, before groaning. "Fine, let's go. But I don't want to be out all the way until morning! I still have to go be headmare of the school."
You wanted to question what she meant, but you didn't really care. You were more interested in these stories of monsters. Who cares if they weren't true, it gave you something to do. And if they were true, it'd give you something to hunt. Something you haven't done in hours now. People might say you're addicted, and honestly, they'd be completely right. You headed out the door with Twilight, slowly making your way to the entrance of the castle.
"T-Twilight?" You heard a sleepy, childlike voice call from behind you both. Both you and Twilight turned around, to find the lizard, Spike, rubbing his sleepy eyes. You smirked underneath your mask, knowing it was the perfect opportunity to scare him. When you were going to say something though, Twilight cut you off;
"Hey, Spike. I'll be back, okay? Me and... Uh.."
"Anon."
"Anon, are going to go do some things. It won't be long."
Spike, somehow didn't realize you were standing next to Twilight. That ended up in his eyes shooting wide open, his mouth slightly agape. "T-Twilight, are you sure that's a good idea? He's a-"
"Mass murderer?" You answered. "Yeah, I am, I suppose. But I don't murder horses."
Well, discounting Ludwig, that is.
"Just, please go back to sleep, Spike. I'll be okay, alright?"
Spike slowly shook his head, giving a light yawn. "Okay..." He said depressingly, before disappearing around the corner. Twilight gave a sigh, and began to walk towards the entrance. You quickly followed her path. How was she able to deal with the little shit-stain? If it were you, you'd beat him to sleep. It's easier, and way more cathartic.
Eh. She's her, and you're you.
You traveled around a town called Ponyville. It was a funny, ironic name. Something you would've come up with stupidly. The only difference is, they named the town that unironically. Which, made it that more funny. There were more ponies than usual, atleast according to Twilight, that were out and about. Preparing games up for this Nightmare Night festival thing, and kids, as Twilight said before, looking for monsters.
You were also looking for monsters. But, you were prepared.
You were running things through your head. What kind of monsters could be in this world? Perhaps a human-pony thing, with gigantic eye's and also a body that could turn anyone's head. Oh, and they're also like, a witch or something. Shit, anything could happen at this point. This was the strangest place you'd been to, so everything was fair game. You wouldn't be surprised to see anything.
"Can you atleast sheath your sword? You're scaring some of the kids.."
"That's a good thing. They'll get the fuck out of the way." You said, looking at the small ponies passing by. They looked terrified of you, some even frozen in fear. Some were okay, as they saw you with Twilight, but most weren't exactly fond of you. Sure, having your sword out wasn't exactly a display of peace. But, who the fuck cares!
Well... they do.
"Aaah~! There's a monster!" A kid screamed off in the distance, to which you responded by running towards the sound. Twilight immediately followed, but when you finally came face to face with the pony that said the words, they had a devious smile on their face. "Hahah- I got you!"
You pointed your sword at them. "The next time you do that, I'll slice your head clean off. Then, i'll drip every single drop of blood into a bottle, and drink it like its milk. You'd love that, wouldn't you? Come here-" You said, extending a hand, to which the small pony ran off in terror.
You smiled.
"Was that really necessary?" Twilight asked angrily, to which you nodded.
"Yes. Yes, it wa-"
"Aaah~! There's a monster!"
You shook your head angrily. "I told that fucking kid to not do it again!" You said, running off in the direction the other scream came from. You were ready to kick the tiny horse in the face, to teach it a lesson. Had it never heard of the story of the Boy who cried Beast?
You turned the corner, ready to tackle him before-
Well, that wasn't what you were expecting, was it?
A Celestial Emissary. Also known as, aliens. They were probably some of the easier beasts you had to deal with during your time in Yharnam and the nightmares, but they, to a new hunter, could be deadly, and scary. They made weird sounds, and the bigger version of them was just the same thing, but larger. Thankfully, you weren't intimidated at all by the thing, as you had dealt with worse.
Twilight's eyes widened at the creature, standing in the alley. "W-What.."
You smiled, turning to her. "Aha! I told you!"
"What is that?!"
"An alien. Don't worry-" You said, pointing your sword at the creature. "-i'll kill it."
You slowly stepped towards the creature, it's arms extended in front of itself, slowly walking towards you as well. You kept your sword pointed at it, ready for it to start running. It never did, simply matching the speed of your slow footsteps. "How in the hell did you get here, you weird, big pimple-head alien?"
It made a weird groaning noise at you.
You shrugged. "What does it matter-" You lunged toward the creature, impaling through its stomach with your sword. Grabbing the blade with your other hand, you ripped the sword up through the creature, slicing from its stomach to it's head in half. Blood splashed onto your clothing, which actually made you happy.
"See, they're not that big of a dea-" You turned around to look at Twilight, who stared at you with wide eyes. "What?"
"A-Another ran away! H-He went-" She pointed a hoof into a direction. Without questioning, you took off into a sprint, leaving slightly bloody shoeprints as you did so. You wanted to question how these creatures got here. It was as much of a mystery as how you were here, but you were happy about one thing.
You had something to hunt.
The forest you were led to was dark, and dense. You hated the cover of the tree's, as it allowed for anything to jump out at you at anytime. The tension was palpable, and you sort of liked it. You needed to feel this again, you had to feel this again. It had been an entire day since you did. You needed to feel like you were on the verge of life and death, ready to venture further towards one or the other.
Are you insane? Possibly.
The only thing that made you nervous was not having any blood vials. That alone was the thing that always made you nervous, no matter where you were. And, unlike the places on the Nightmare, or Yharnam, you weren't able to get any. Or, atleast, you didn't think there was a way to get any more. You were running on empty. One shot was all you had.
You turned the corner of a tree, staring forward, only to see:
It stared at you, not moving. It had a red glow underneath, and around itself. You knew exactly what it was too, knowing you had faced plenty of them before. The well known witch that resided in Hemwick was one of the conjurer's of these things. They were called 'Mad Ones,' signifying that they were made from one's own insanity.
It's sickle dripped with a black sludge, and it's eye's burned into you.
You smiled, pointing your sword in its direction. It knew what you were planning to do, as it readied its sickle in its hand, ready to pounce on you at any given moment. With one footstep that you took, it was already running towards you, pulling its arm back, ready to slash at you.
You pulled your sword back with your right arm, before thrusting it as far as you could. You missed though, the Mad One side-stepping to your left, slashing upwards on your stomach. It connected, the blade digging into you and slicing up your fragile skin. You groaned, but didn't allow the pain to take you. You brought your sword to the left with a slash, allowing it to slice the dark-sludge that oozed from the beast's body.
It shrieked, and stepped back. There was distance between you both now. You reached inside your pocket, bringing a blue paper out, and striking it across your blade. Your sword became electrified, the bolts that emitted from it being lively, and chaotic. Without hesitation, you jumped towards it, slashing in its direction. It didn't connect.
Suddenly, you felt a blade slash against your back. You turned, extending your sword out to slice whatever was behind you. It was another Mad One, but you had sliced its head clean off. With a kick, it's body fell to the floor. You instantly turned around afterwards, ready for the first one to attack. It did, jumping high into the air, bringing its sickle down onto your head.
Atleast, where you head was. You side-stepped to the right, bringing your sword from your hip up into the sky, landing a successful, deadly blow. It shrieked in pain before it fell onto the floor, it's body slowly disappearing into a shadow.
You weren't done yet, as you heard another one behind you. How many were there?
This one was glowing completely red. Mad One's with a red glow were different than regular Mad Ones. Glowing red Mad Ones would always come back within a matter of minutes, with the help of a bell-woman. Somewhere, there was a cultist woman, ringing a bell to awaken the shadows, using her own insanity to conjure them up. You had to dispatch of the Mad One, before finding the woman.
Without hesitation, you ran towards it at full speed. You brought your sword up to its face, the electricity leaving a burn mark on the slash, the Mad One stepping backwards in pain. Before it could bring its sickle up, you sliced towards its arm, allowing your sword to connect straight through, the arm falling to the floor. With one more swift motion, you turned a complete circle, slicing the Mad One's torso into two.
It fell without a sound, seeping into red sludge into the ground. You were on a timer now.
You listened for a feint sound, for the bell to toll. You stood in place, with your eyes closed, ready to run into whichever direction that you heard it from. It took awhile, but you heard it. Within a second after the toll, you were running in its direction, ready to slice whomever tolled it into multiple pieces. Or, alternatively, smash.
You took the latter.
You slid your electrified sword into the slit of the hammer, connecting the two. You brought it onto your shoulder, still running at full speed, ready to pounce on whatever was trying to conjure it. You were getting closer, as you could hear it begin to toll faster and faster, knowing of your presence.
With a turn of the tree, you came face to face with the being.
But, it wasn't a woman. It wasn't man, either. It wasn't anything you'd seen before. It stood tall, it's body that of combined species. The arm of an eagle, the tail of a dragon, and other such body parts. It had a grin on its face, the small bell it held contrast to the large body of the figure.
You aimed your sword at it, but it spoke.
"Oh, am I bothering you? You could've just asked me to put it away."
"What?" You asked, not letting your sword down. "The fuck are you talking abou-"
"Oh, I just found this little old bell. I hope it didn't cause any issues. Did it?"
You didn't care for an answer. You slashed at him, but he disappeared in an instant. The bell fell to the floor, ringing one last time as it did so. Without hesitation, you stomped your foot onto the bell, cracking it into multiple pieces. The threat was gone.
Well, in both senses.
The figure that stood before you had disappeared, as if teleporting. How did he-
You turned around at the sound of footsteps, thrusting your sword in its direction. The tip of your sword stood at the tip of Twilight's nose. It poked it slightly, to which a tiny hole was made, a tiny bit of blood trickling from her nose onto the floor. Instead of causing concern about it, she said one thing:
"And who the fuck is discord?" You asked, retracting your sword. Her nose dripped one small drop of blood, before it already plugged itself up. Twilight looked to where Discord had been standing, to which she gave a loud sigh. That in itself probably wasn't a good sign.
"Discord is... well, he's mischevious. He's the god of chaos, and-"
"Wait wait wait- god of chaos? Huh? That thing is a god..?"
"Uhm... yeah?"
"Alright." You shrugged.
"I thought you might've been a little more... concerned, about that."
You shook your head. "I've fought Amygdala's before. They're pretty close to gods."
Twilight looked as if she wanted to ask what the hell an Amygdala was, but moved on with her words. "He was supposed to be reformed. We thought he'd changed, and he hasn't given any of us reason to doubt that, but..."
You shook your head. "He's evil, alright. And, when I meet him again, I'll slice his head clean off."
"W-What? No, he can be good. He's shown us befo-"
You turned around, pointing a finger at the slice on your back. It looked deep, and bloody, a slight black sludge forming on top of your clothes. "Do you see that? That's because of him. Those things I fought, were because of him. That bell he had summons them. They play off one's insanity, or imagination, and brings them into the living. He hurt me, I hurt him. It's that simple."
"Not everything is that black and white, Ano-"
"Except it is!" You yelled. "It is definitely black and white. You either kill, or be killed. You either live, or die. You either fight back, or sit down. That's all there is to it. I thought you'd be a little more freaked out. If things from my world are appearing here, that doesn't spell good news at all for any of you. Why the hell are you trying to defend him?"
Twilight gave an angry face, though it also seemed to be of confliction. "There is always another side to the story. Things might not be good, or even end good, but that doesn't mean we should go and try to... kill him! He might have reasons for doing what he did, and we need to figure out more about it before charging in on a simple idea."
"I have no intent on becoming friends with that disformed freak."
"I'm not asking you to befriend him, I'm just asking you to give it a chance!"
"Fuck no!" You yelled again, stepping towards her. She seemed to shrink as you got closer. "I got where I am because I didn't give second chances. Those who did were killed in their sleep. I'm not going to tell you what to do, and you shouldn't tell me what to do. I could care less what your morals tell you. In fact, I don't care at all. I literally saved you all the trouble of dealing with those beasts while I could've just let it all happen. You would be massacred. I dare you to fight those things with your words." You gave a smirk. "And i'll watch while they tear you limb from limb. If that's what you want, go ahead, be an idiot. Or are you going to trust the one person that knows what the hell they're talking about?"
The silence took the forest hostage.
It took several moments before Twilight was able to stand fully up, defying your intimidation. "Your right, I won't tell you what to do. I'll try my best not to tell you what to do. But the Princess' won't allow you to hurt him. Even if he is summoning those things, he deserves to give us all an explanation. A reason for what he's done."
"Some people don't have reasons for what they do, Twilight. Sometimes all they know is to kill."
"Like you?"
The comment caught you off guard, and surprisingly, evoked anger out of you. You usually wouldn't let such a comment get under your skin, but considering the recent circumstances, you let it do just that. You took a couple steps back, pointing an angry finger at her as you did so. "You don't fucking know me. You don't know what I've had to do."
"You seem like a blood-thirsty psychopath to me. A blood-thirsty psychopath that I gave a chance. But you've shown me that all you know is how to kill! You drink blood for Celestia's sake! Everything you own is to do with something about killing another creature! Your weapons, your gear, the simple little pieces of paper even! All of i-"
"You think you know what it's like to do what I do?! You think you know what it's like seeing your hometown turn into a blood-ridden hellhole? Yeah, I admit I have problems. Deep problems. But that comes standard with the place I'm from. I had to accept it when I became a hunter. I had to accept that killing was the only way to help my people. I had to accept that I had to learn to love the blood in order to keep moving forward. You don't know what it's like to get so far to the end, to get to your goal, just to fucking fail! To get the one thing that's most precious to you, your life, taken from you."
You continued. "You have it good here, Twilight. I see that. Your town is friendly. The colors of your world are nice and bright, and beautiful to the eyes. Your people never had to understand what it's like to live in a hateful world. But my town is filled with things that want to kill me. The colors of my world are brown, black, and crimson, all colors that tie into death. As much as you've told me how your world runs off of forgiveness, and acceptance, you certainly aren't willing to accept me."
Her eye's widened. "I..."
"Don't even talk. Fuck you. I'll be back at the castle. Unless you want me to stay somewhere else? I'll gladly leave you alone." You said, already walking off into the direction of the town. You heard fast footsteps approaching from behind you. You turned around, only to have Twilight run right up to you, her eye's staring up at you.
"I'm sorry- I didn't... I.."
You stared at her. You didn't want to forgive her, in all honesty. What she had said had really gotten to you, right under your skin. It wasn't anything that you'd had felt before, atleast in that sense. It was attacking you right at your core, right at your very soul. It made your blood boil. Yet, you found yourself feeling sorry as well. For some odd reason, you couldn't force yourself to not accept her apology.
"Look... It's- It's fine.. Just, let's go home, alright? You're not suited for the night time. And, you got a class tomorrow, right? You need your sleep." You said, pointing off into the direction of the town. "Let's go back. I'm sure Spike wouldn't be too happy with you out here all night because of me."
She hesitantly nodded her head. "Y-Yeah.. Yeah, good idea."
Twilight sat on her bed whilst you sat on a chair she had in the corner. Your mask was off, and your weapons were laid onto her dresser. Your hat was also off, revealing your dark brown hair. Your arms were folded, while your mind drifted off into unknown territory.
"Anon?" You heard.
"Yeah?"
"I didn't mean it."
You turned your head to her. She was frowning sadly, her eye's a little squinted. "I know you know more things than just... killing. I just wanted to say that."
You shrugged. "You know? It's not far from the truth. I haven't had much of an ordinary life. All I remember is the parts where I kill. I suppose that's why it got to me so much. You get offended by things that you tell yourself, right?" You said with a chuckle. It was fake.
"W-Well, I want to let you have something other than that life of killing. You have an opportunity here. I want to help."
You shrugged once more. "Look, I know you do want to help. I get it, I understand. But a hunter belongs in a place where things are needing to be hunted. Once they find a way to get me back, I'll go back to that life." You could tell that what you had said put Twilight in an even worse mood.
"But..." You continued, "I'll use the time that I have here trying to... live a different way. You'll help, right?" You asked, hoping that what you had said would lift her spirits. It did exactly that, as her ears and head perked up high, a smile donned on her face instead of a frown.
"Of course!"
You smiled back with a nod. "I'm glad. Now, get to sleep."
You didn't sleep at all. In fact, all you did was simply clean your weapons while Twilight slept in her bed. You had a small cloth to do so, making every bit of the weapon shine so bright in the sun, you might just get blinded by it. You didn't care though. They protected your life and were the sole reasons for why you were still alive. You were going to repay that by making sure they looked the best they could.
You didn't even get bored of it.
For nine hours, you sat and cleaned your weapons, fixating on each tiny part of it. For nine hours, you cleaned your clothes, and each little empty vial you kept with you. For nine hours, you made sure everything you had was damn near perfect. You never had time to do such a thing back home, and even if you did have the time, it would be a waste not to do something else. But right now? You had all the time to do whatever you wanted.
There wasn't an over-arching objective that you needed to complete. It was just life, as pure and simple as it could get. And you kind of didn't like it. There was nothing to aim for, so what were you to do with the time you had? If you didn't have a goal that was set for you, what were you doing with your life? Make your own goals...?
How do you do that?
You cringed at the thoughts in your head. You didn't even know what it was like being normal anymore. What being human was anymore. All you knew, as Twilight had said, was to kill. You knew she said it out of anger, but it wasn't far from the truth. It was all you knew how to do. It was all you've ever known for so long. The night, the cold, the blood, and the killing.
Twilight awoke from her bed with a quiet yawn, slowly pushing herself up so she was sitting up. She took a glance at you, her eye's widening before she seemed to realize who you were. You flashed a smile at her, before continuing to look at your blade, shining it still. It was almost as reflective as the crystals inside the castle.
"Goo-" Twilight started before she yawned, "-ood morning."
"Good morning." You said. The words felt odd in your mouth. You hadn't seen the morning in so long. "How did you sleep? I hope I didn't wake you up. I accidentally dropped the hammer on the floor in the middle of the night. I'm going to miss that toe-" You said, looking down at your foot. It was truly a sad day already.
"No, you didn't wake me. You really didn't sleep at all?" She asked, surprised. "Isn't that unhealthy?"
"I don't need to sleep." You said blankly. "I haven't slept in ages, so why would a day matter?"
"That just... doesn't seem possible. Even Discord sleeps."
You shrugged. "Not from around here, remember? Believe me, things here are as weird as I am to you. I mean, I'm still trying to get used to the fact that this many colors actually exist. Do you know how long it's been since I've actually seen what pink looks like?"
This earned you a laugh from her. "I've noticed your weird looks sometimes. You're like a child, gawking at everything you walk past."
"I'm pretty sure I'm older than you."
She shrugged. "Would there be a way to tell?"
"No. I don't know how old I am, but it's felt like hundreds of years already. I swear, being stuck in purgatory isn't fun. It's just the same god damn thing over and over, until you get so sick of it you give in to the blood. And even then, in your insane state, you still are stuck."
Twilight didn't seem to hear what you said, which slightly peeved you. She jumped off of her bed, heading straight for her mirror. "I've got a school that I run as headmare. I don't exactly teach the classes, but I run the place. I don't know what else to do with you, and even as irresponsible as this might seem, I'm bringing you along. Just.. tone it down with the cussing and killing and all that?"
You chuckled. "I'll try, but I cant promise nothing." You said, standing up. You strapped the hammer to your back as you had done hundreds of times before, and slid the sword into the hammer, holstering it efficiently into place. You had standards, of course. You weren't going to flash your blade around in the school.
No, flashing a hammer would be cooler.
"So, what am I going to do? Look at you while you tell other teachers what to do?"
"Actually-" She said, "I was thinking of letting you attend some of the classes, or atleast be an assistant. You'd be helping the teachers, and learning a thing or two. Celestia knows you need it."
"Celestia don't know shit." You said, before coughing. "I mean- Celestia doesn't know... poop."
"Really?"
"You asked me to stop. That's what you get." You said, folding your arms. Twilight sighed, finishing her hair before turning to you.
"Alright. Let's go before I change my mind. Oh- and please, don't break anything. And- don't kill any of my students." She said with pleading eyes, though you knew she was being sarcastic. You pointed a finger at her and chuckled lightly once more.
"Fine, fine. That's if you don't kill your students with the dumb shit you probably teach. They're probably so bored out of their minds, they're braindead. Putting a sword through their heads wouldn't do anything."
"Oh hush."
You sat in Twilight's office next to her, while in front of the both of you were all of her friends. All of them gave you a worrisome look, except for the flying one. Seriously, a fucking rainbow was what her hair was made out of. The bright colors that she donned was extremely... Nauseating.
"N-No offense, mister, but I don't think this is a good idea. He's got a weapon, Twilight." Applejack said, trying to win over Twilight. It didn't work though, as Twilight vigorously shook her head.
"No. He needs to learn some things, and he can provide help. Celestia knows leaving him alone to do what he wishes might end up worse for him, and us in the long-run."
"Hey!" You said. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just... nevermind. This is happening, girls. He'll attend a class with each of you for one period. You can tell him what to do, and he'll do it. If that's to sit and do nothing all period, that's to sit and do nothing. If it's to help around and organize files, then he'll organize files. Consider him an assistant."
Rarity shook her head. "I'd rather have Spike..."
"Rude." You said, standing up. "Look, I'm not all bad. I'll do what Twilight said I'll do. Whatever you say goes, alright? I won't try to do anything crazy."
"Twilight?" Starlight spoke up. "I don't know if having him during my counseling sessions would be a good idea. You've heard what he said at the castle, right?"
"I'm well aware. But maybe his experiences might help you. He knows more about the rough side of life than most of us. Maybe in a different sense, with more violence, but the point still stands. He'll be with you to start with, actually. Please, just give it a chance."
Starlight gave a worried look before looking up at you. "Whatever happened yesterday must've changed her opinion of you. If she trusts you, I'll trust you. Just... don't give me a reason not to."
You gave her a thumbs up. "I won't. Lead the way to the office, Miss..."
I mean, atleast she had hot coco, or coffee. Yet, you didn't really feel like having any of that. For the majority of the time, you simply stared at eachother, not knowing what to say. You had a feeling that she didn't really like you all that much, or at the very least, didn't trust you. You summed that up to your 'crazy' talking, but you knew that she was willing to give you a chance, despite her fears.
Nobody had come in yet. Starlight being a counselor was no joke, as she was meant to take care of the individual problems of each student that needed help. You knew that it was a serious job, because she had told you about five times on your way over to the office.
A knock came at the door.
Starlight immediately sat up in her chair. "Come in!" She yelled. You had been on the small couch that was laid against the side of the room. She had told you not to interfere with anything she did, so I guess all you could do for whatever session that might occur in front of you, is to simply watch.
In came a... bird? It was blue and yellow.
"Gallus?" Starlight asked. He was about to greet her before he saw you sitting on the couch. He gave a strange look to you, about to ask who you were before Starlight took that chance away. "Don't worry, he's simply an observer." She said, gesturing with her hoof over to the seat in front of her.
"I... alright." He said, going over and taking a seat.
"Do you want anything? Hot Coco? Coffee, maybe?" Starlight asked, levitating two cups over to him. He quickly shook his head, waving a claw to dismiss her. She nodded, letting the two cups go back to where they sat before. He seemed to move around in the chair slightly. You could tell he was nervous about something.
"I.." He looked back at you.
"If you don't want him in here during this, I can send him awa-"
"No, no.. It's fine, really."
Starlight gave him a strange look. "Alright. But, I'll say that you aren't really acting like yourself, Gallus."
You didn't know the bird to begin with, so you didn't know if this was out of the ordinary for him. He looked a little timid, shy, and nervous. Though his voice definitely fit the type of 'confidence is key.' Sadly, his confidence was wavering. You felt the tension in the room increase, and you couldn't wait for what he had to say. It was keeping you on the tips of your toes!
"Grandpa.."
Uh oh.
"..Grandpa Gruff died."
"Oh."
Jesus, if the tension couldn't kill you before, it sure could now. It was basically solid matter now. You leaned back in the chair, watching his posture change as he said what he said. One claw laid on the desk, while the other laid at his side, crunched up in a fist. You could tell he was obviously upset.
"It happened a week or so ago. It took awhile for anyone to send a letter, and... He wasn't really nice to me. He wasn't really nice to anyone, actually. But, he was.. the only one there for me for awhile, you know?"
Starlight nodded her head. She shifted a little in her chair. You knew she was uncomfortable.
"Is it hitting me harder than it should..? I know plenty of griffs that have loved ones that passed on, and they're fine. Grandpa Gruff wasn't even really a... loved one, nobody really loved him that much. But, I just feel.."
"Hopeless." You blurted out.
Both Starlight and Gallus turned to you. Starlight looked at you with an 'are you insane' look, while Gallus simply nodded to you. "Yeah, hopeless. He was the only one I had for awhile. I just don't... feel like... I don't know how to explain it. It's like I'm stuck in limbo or something. Like I can't keep going forward, or something. That something is pulling me, keeping me from moving."
Starlight stayed silent, so you decided to stand.
"Nothing is keeping you from moving. Only your emotions are. And that's okay. Just don't let your emotions control who you are. If you do, you'll find yourself in worse trouble than you want. You've gotta' keep moving forward, no matter what the price might be. No matter if the price seems unfair."
He shook his head. "How can I just move on from this? That feels almost.. disrespectful!"
His tone had changed to a slight anger. You shook your head. "It's not disrespectful. It's called focusing on yourself. Everyone understands that they need to look after themselves a bit. If this 'Grandpa Gruff' really meant anything to you, you wouldn't let him drag you down."
"What? Why would you say that?!"
"It's true, ain't it? I got where I am by doing just that. I loved a lot of people, but I never let them drag me down. Not in the sense of them planning to be my downfall, but that I can't focus on them or else I'll end up like them. It's a vicious cycle. You have to keep the wheels turning."
Gallus got up from his chair, facing you. "I don't know who-"
"I'm Anon. And, before you finish that sentence, I know exactly what you're going through. Worse, even. Multiple times. I'm not trying to one-up your situation here, but I'm telling you I know this from experience. I know what it feels like to be in your shoes... er, claws? Either way, I know."
"Starlight, wha-"
"Stop raising your damn voice." You said, your voice reaching deep. "If you want to cry, go do it somewhere else. You want help, right? Stop being a little bitch and complaining about what the doctor is prescribing. Think about it, kid, what the hell would your grandpa want you to do? Would he tell you to 'Keep mourning over my dead body' or 'grow the fuck up, and stop complaining'? Which one sounds like him?"
He seemed to stop after you said that. Almost as if he was playing his words in his own head, trying to hear what it might sound like. He stood in silence for awhile, before looking up at you once again. "I don't want to move on..."
"None of us do, kid. But we're forced to. We have things to do, people to help. We have a life to live. Never forget them, but don't let them drag you down into the dirt with them. I've seen and known too many people that have done just that. I'd tell you the tale of each one, but they all have the same ending."
Starlight simply stared at the both of you, her mouth agape.
"Y-Your.. uh.. You're right. I.. should remember him, but not focus on him. I don't know who you are-"
"Anon."
"-but you're... Thank you."
With that, the big blue bird disappeared from the room.
Starlight stared at you. "What the buck was that?! What kind of advice was that? That was some of the worst, and I mean, WORST advice I have ever heard someone give when it comes to losing a loved one! What were you thinking, budging into my session like that?!"
"You didn't do anything. And sometimes they need to get put down into their place a bit before they understand. Sometimes a couple of rude words and a stern tone could change their entire life. You never know. Besides, the kid is fine, right?"
"No!" Starlight yelled, "I would've thought of something more methodical! You know, talking about it, letting out the feelings, letting it progress naturally and at the pace it needs to! Not 'shut the buck up and get over it!' That's so... Ugh! I can't believe you!"
You nodded your head.
"I know! It's my first time as a counselor, and I've already helped one case!"
After a stern conversation from Starlight, you headed off to the objective. Or, class, in this case.
Oh, and by the way, apparently this was called the school of friendship. You really had no words for it, and you wanted to laugh so hard at it. Though, you knew that would probably anger everybody around you. Best to not make any enemies, right? Actually, scratch that, make all the enemies.
What next? Oh, yeah, butter horse. Also known as Fluttershy, but you prefer butter horse.
You walked inside the classroom, and were immediately greeted with all eyes on you. Apparently you were late. You should've guessed that, considering there was nobody in the halls at the moment. You looked up across the room to butter horse, who gave you a sympathetic look before speaking.
"T-This is Anon. He'll be attending and helping us with class today."
I scanned the room. There were a lot of strange creatures and colors. Oh, and that big bird from earlier? He was there too. You gave him a nod, to which he nodded back to you confidently. Your words worked on him, but Starlight insisted otherwise. Only time would tell.
"What would you like me to do?" You asked butter horse.
"Uhm.. Just, sit for now. I'm in a lecture."
You found the nearest empty desk, and sat in it. You didn't like the placement though, as a weird orange... lizard? Dragon? Whatever, was staring at you intensely. It was eyeing you up and down, and you were beginning to get creeped out. Intimidated? No. But weirded out? For sure.
You felt a poke to your shoulder, to which you responded with a glare. The orange dragon whispered.
"What are you?"
You shrugged. "What am I?"
"What?"
"Huh?"
...
"Huh?"
"Don't worry about it, and pay attention." You said, pointing up to butter horse. Actually, butter gal would work better. Butter gal was in the middle of lecturing about god knows what. Something about animals, tree's, and wildlife. You hardly cared for any of it. Plus, she went on and on about how kindness was so important in a society, that almost all cultures rely on it in order to function properly. Each culture has a different way of showing said kindness, and a society without it simply falls upon the idea of rule, though that seems to be subjective with each person in that society. One person may believe somebody is in charge, while they are simply putting on a mas-
Okay, you are paying attention now. You shook your head, trying to get those thoughts out of your head. You didn't care about any of this stuff- you're a hunter! There would be no point in knowing about any of this stuff. It's pointless, and doesn't make any sense. Atleast, in the more realistic standpoint of things.
"Anon..? Can-can you hand these out for me?" Butter gal forced you out of thought. You looked at her. She was holding a stack of papers, to which she had instructed you to hand out. You shrugged, getting up and taking the papers. You were going to go to each desk and hand it out before an idea struck you.
Frisbee it.
What?
You began to Frisbee the papers across the room, sometimes missing completely. Though, the students seemed to love it. Each student that the paper went zooming across the room for tried to grab it before it hit the thing behind them. It was a match of catch, essentially. Butter gal wanted to say something, but stopped as soon as she heard the laughing from the students.
You had one paper left.
The bird was left.
You nodded to him, to which he nodded back. You pointed to the back of the room, to which he went. You spun around over and over in circles, before throwing the paper at max speed. It zoomed across the room at a deadly speed, spinning across the room in circles, as if deciding where to go, before finally picking Gallus as the target.
Gallus grasped it with his claw before it hit him.
The class cheered.
He gave me a smile, to which I nodded to him, and he sat back down in his seat. The small down-time of play seemed to up the kids' spirits, and improve your reputation already. You were the strange creature with clothes on, and a giant hammer strapped to your back. You had to get your reputation good first, so you could ruin it later. What's the point of ruining a reputation that doesn't exist?
"That was... fun to watch.." Butter gal said behind you. You turned to her, only to see her beaming at you. She closed her eyes, giving you a small giggle. "You're good with kids. M-Maybe you could stick around my classes more often? O-Only if you want to, that is."
You shrugged. "It was only a good five minutes of playtime. I'm not all that impressive when it comes to kids, I promise you. It was just an idea I had, and I went with it. They could've gotten bad papercuts from that-"
"But they didn't."
You nodded your head. "They didn't."
The class was talking to eachother, describing how they caught their own respective papers. How some dived for it, and others jumped for it. And, some, completely failed to catch it, and it hit the person behind them. Butter gal shook her head, looking across the class. "This is supposed to be quiet time.. it's a test."
You shrugged. "Tell them."
"I-... can't? Everytime I do I just... fade out."
You shrugged. "Then I'll do it-"
"Anon wai-"
"Hey!" You yelled. "That was all fun and games just earlier, and believe me, it was funny to watch some of you absolutely fuck up the catch. But, right now, it's test time. Y'know what that means, right? It means shut the fuck up time. Don't worry, you'll all get to do that again. You all understand right?"
They all stared at you, their eye's wide.
"What?"
"That was... a lot of cursing." A random student said.
You continued down the hallway until you got to the exit door, before stepping outside and seeing the familiar blue rainbow-vomit girl. This was apparently a, as you said, gym class. Some of the creature's were in athletic clothing, and some were just.. well, naked.
You smirked, pulling a blood cocktail from your pocket. (Which, seems to be infinite?)
You walked over to the group, sipping on the bottle. They spotted you, especially the rainbow-vomit girl, who had seemed excited for your arrival, though a little skeptical. She didn't stop her little lecture just because you came into the picture, but the students sure did look at you weird. You assumed that your presence must've been passed around the school by now. You had to be popular!
Or a loser. Which one makes you feel better?
"And everyone, this is Anon! He'll be attending class with us today. Won't you?" She asked, giving you a cheeky smile. You couldn't help but smile back and nod to the many creatures standing in front of you.
"I don't know if any of you can.. keep up~"
A certain big... yak? Seemed to scoff at that.
"Alright everyone. We'll be starting off with two miles. We'd do one today, but since you all decided to be a little rowdy, consider this as motivation!" Rainbow said, to which you nodded to. You actually agree'd with that. Were the student's being dickwads the week before?
Without a moment to think after that, she blew her whistle. Each creature was already running on the track. You smirked, and decided to join in. Sure, you weren't fitted for the job. You had a giant hammer/sword on your back, and wearing clothing that would only make it harder for you to run.
But run you did.
You eventually passed almost every single one of them at an extreme pace. You never really knew just how fast you could run if you tried it, as each time you had to you really weren't taking notion of it. Being chased by beasts really doesn't make for a... concentrated experience.
You continued to sprint, still drinking from your cocktail as you did so. It was quite the hard task to achieve, but you found a way that didn't cause the bottle to crash upon your teeth. That wasn't so pleasant the first time. With the bottle eventually turning up empty, you were half tempted to throw it onto the ground. That'd only get you in trouble, huh?
You (unfortunately) put it back into your pocket, continuing your sprint even faster now.
Those suckers couldn't catch up to you at all. I mean, look at them! They're practically... wait.
One's gaining on you.
That big fucking fur-yak thing was charging straight for you. You knew it was coming to take first place, and you weren't having none of that. Nuh uh, not on your watch! You were destined to be a winner, you were destined to be first place! You would be damned to let some weird fucking creature from another world take that away from you! You needed this- you-
This is a school race. Why are you so pumped?
Well, for the first time in what felt like forever, you were just running for fun. You weren't running to catch a beast, you weren't running from a beast, you weren't running to or from a hunter. You were just running, with no goal in mind except to get to the two mile mark. And that felt pretty good. You had forgotten what it was like to not have a target painted on your back almost every second, having to turn corners with caution in case an ugly beast came throwing its cleaver in your face.
God, you still remember that. All those idiots by that burning cross, and right before that a fucker spooked you. You swore that you almost shit your pants. I mean, it was one of your first days on the job, so of course you weren't prepared! You weren't the badass that you are now! Gah, you missed old pussy-boy you.
Life was so pure.
"Uh, Anon.. The race is over-"
You stopped running, taking a look at your surroundings. You looked to Rainbow, who happened to be next to you. She shook her head. You shrugged. "What? How long was I running for?"
"You did four miles."
"Damn."
"What do you mean damn?! That's insane! You're so... cool! Jeez, maybe you should be the coach!"
You laughed at that. "If I was the coach, I'd be handing out blood cocktails and be yelling at them about how bitchy they are. I mean, come on, they were so slow!" That comment earned you an ugly look from the group of creatures, heaving on the side of the pavement. You gave them a smile. "Oh lighten up, it was a damn joke. I could insult you though, if you want to. Just, don't come crying with your parents saying that you weren't warned."
"Anon, I know you're cool, but chill with the... harassment."
"Harassment?"
"Yeah. You're talking down to them, and the cursing is kind of, not allowed in the school."
You chuckled. "That ain't harassment. If it was, then everybody should be imprisoned. It's intimidation. That shit can be used to get you off your ass and do something you never thought you could do. That shit will make you cry and shit your pants, and want to die. But it'll make you stop acting like a little bitch eventually. Maybe some of you need to learn that-" You said, slowly stepping over to the many children that were, sadly, still heaving on the side of the pavement. The run must've taken a lot out of them.
"Cry all you want, but until you get off your asses and start moving with purpose, you won't get anywhere. If I could tell you one thing, it'd be this."
Ah, apparently Twilight wanted to see you. What for? You could only imagine! Surely it couldn't have anything to do with your antics these few hours that you were in the school. Surely it wasn't your consistent cursing and slight harassment of the students! If that was harassment, then they're weak. Or, just a better person. Probably the latter.
You popped into Twilight's office, to which you were met with extremely angry lavender eyes. "Anon."
"That's me."
"You've caused some trouble."
You made yourself comfortable in the seat in front of her desk, about to prop up your feet onto the desk before you were forced by a purple magical aura from Twilight. You groaned, shaking your head. "How? I've done nothing but attend these classes, and help when needed."
"Consistent cursing in a school environment, constant harassment towards the students, and apparently drinking on school premises. That doesn't sound like 'just attending classes' to me. You know what that sounds like to me? An idiot. Are you an idiot, Anon?"
You shrugged. "Depends on who you ask." You said with a smirk, which was rewarded with a glare.
"Anon. This is not funny. The only reason that you're here is because Celestia forced you onto me for some reason. A reason, i'm sure, that makes absolutely no sense."
You leaned forward towards her. "You know what doesn't make sense? The fact that whatever the weird fucking thing was back in that forest is running of free without consequence. We've just ignored that, and you know what, I'll let it slide for now. But not only did I get injured, that thing also held the bell that made creatures that could possibly hurt your people. Now, tell me, if you're this high princess royal bullshit, why am I the one bringing this to light?"
You could see that her wings flared slightly. "You think that its just easy to do things like that? It's a diplomatic issue, Anon. Discord is such a big deal, that it has to go through multiple steps before anything can be done about it. It's the legal system. How the buck did you fix things in your world?"
You chuckled. "I would go after the fucker myself and slice him into pieces."
"Exactly. Your place has no knowledge of such complex matters. So, unless you want a lecture on how the legal system here in Equestria works, you're going to shut up, and just follow orders."
"You get pissed off at school."
If looks could kill, you'd be dead already. "Yeah, I do get a little upset when I bring somebody in that not only held my assistant at knife-point, forgave, and gave another chance here at the school, and ultimately get disrespected at the end of it all. You can't follow a simple order, can you?"
"The only difference between you and me, is that you walk on four legs, and I walk on two. We're the same pieces of garbage. Just because you got that title in front of your name don't mean shit to me. I could care less. I could go back on the run against your little bullshit town and government. I could simply continue being an asshole to everyone, but instead of just using my words, I could use my sword. Is that what you want?"
You tempted to far.
"Are you threatening my students and friends?" Twilight asked, her wings now fully out, and her horn sparking with a purple glow that could only mean bad things. You were already at this point, there's no point in backing down right now, is there? Keep it going.
"No. What I am saying, is that you're a hypocrite. I got my problems but you think you 'aint got yours? I didn't drink during class. It was a blood cocktail. Yeah, I can get drunk off of them, but I had one. Even so, I can handle my blood, and I doubt any of your kind can even get drunk off of it."
"And the harassment?"
"Harassment? That was hardly harassment. I told them to get off their asses and continue working hard. That seems like a push if anything to me. A push to keep going no matter the fuck happens to you."
Twilight stood up. "You have little to no training on how to teach students, nor motivate them. I've had to do plenty of research to understand how to teach properly, and how motivation and confidence play in a school environment. You know nothing about motivation. You know nothing about confidence. All you know is ego."
That hit you. You stood up, slamming a fist onto her desk. "You don't know me, Twilight, and you remember how this conversation ended the last time. Don't fuck this up, again."
"The difference is that you're in my school, and I don't tolerate any bucking harassment, or threats to my students."
"Your students? Seems like your friends are doing your job. What do you do? Sit in here, all bored and shit? Read papers all day and worry about how the statistics of the school will impact funding or whatever the hell? You aren't out there. Your friends certainly are the ones on the front-line, while you're the general sitting in the back, who gets a medal for 'being brave' when you didn't do SHIT!"
Twilight's eyes widened, and she stared off into space, before a smile creeped up on her face. "Anon, you're a genius!"
"W-What?"
The sudden switch from anger to compliment was.. well, like whiplash. She instantly floated a pen over to her desk and began signing off a bunch of papers randomly, stacking them up and setting them into the 'please file' bin in the back corner of her room. "This is what I need!"
"Twilight, you can't teach and also be the headmaster. That's... That's retarded."
Twilight scowled at you. "I can do what I want with my school. And, just because you've given me this genius idea doesn't mean you are going to go without punishment. You've harassed my students, insulted them and my friends, and have brought shame to my school. I'm going to ask you to leave."
"Fine then. I really didn't want to come to begin with, but whatever. Have fun with your shitty school. You're teaching them common sense, by the way. Friendship lessons are dumb when it's not that hard to begin with."
Twilight stared at you, smirking. "Oh really? And what friends do you have?"
You put your hand on the hilt of your hammer. "This is the only friend I need. It's done more than what you, or any other person in this damn planet can do for me. It's my lifeline, my savior, and the one thing that doesn't spout shit 24/7. You wouldn't understand the bond between a hunter and his weapon without experiencing the troubles."
Twilight slowly walked around her desk, now standing in front of you. "My method of teaching teaches students that there are other ways to friendship. That friendship is magic, despite that being in either relative terms, or in other terms. Your way of 'friendship' is hardly existent. You preach violence, Anon. Why?"
You shrugged. "You'd never understand."
"How would you know?"
"Because you will never understand. Gascoigne, Laurence, Ludwig, Maria, Mergo, Micolash, you'd lose to all of them. Even with your magic, even with your friends, and even with your damned friendship. You think you've met adversity? You think you've stared defeat in the face and flipped it off? I have, and each time I was scared. Your world is weak, soft, and runs of a philosophy that kills more than it saves."
Twilight shook her head. "There you go again, preaching violence."
"I'd rather be a pessimist in a world of peace, than an optimist in a world of death." You said, before turning around and bashing the door open. It was passing period for the students, and before Twilight could follow you, you merged along with the students, even shoving some of them out of the way. She wanted you gone, right? You'd find something else to occupy your day with. Something that interested you more than this dumb school.
You exited the school and made your way down the stone path that led to town. You were going to explore a little bit, and gather what you could about any sighting of beasts in the surrounding area's. Perhaps they knew things, perhaps they didn't, but either way knowing the layout of the town would prove useful for a multitude of reasons.
While you slowly walked, you pulled out a small book. It was your journal, and inside it detailed every beast you encountered, with information on what it looked like, it's weaknesses, it's strengths, and if to avoid it or not. Beside each page of information laid a picture of the beast, or a drawing of it. It proved useful incase you ever forgot what a beast did, or what it was capable of. After all, seeing so many on a daily basis, you begin to merge them on accident.
You opened it to a random page.
You closed the journal. That was certainly the one thing you didn't want to see, or remember. You shook your head as you slipped it into your back pocket. If you were ever to encounter a 'Winter Lantern' in this world, you'd certainly end yourself before it could.
After all, looking at that horrid thing always scared you.
Canterlot Castle
"Was it really okay to send that unknown creature with dear Twilight?" Luna asked Celestia as the both of them sat in the dining hall. They both were discussing the matter of the letter that Twilight had sent to them the day prior, detailing an event about Discord, and the encounter with him in the woods, as she was accompanied by the new creature, Anon.
"Think of it as a test."
"Come on Sister. Don't let your emotions get in the middle of something as serious as this."
"What do you expect, hm?" Celestia asked, looking up at her Sister. "Twilight and her friends have repeatedly stated about how they do most of the work in Equestria, and how all we do is 'laze about.' She even accidentally sent me a letter that was meant for her friend, Rainbow Dash, which said that she agree'd about how they are truly 'Equestria's Leaders.' Well, if she's such a leader, why doesn't she handle the mess by herself?"
"I've got to admit, it is quite funny. But, I'm a little timid on laughing at the matter. You've sent a copy of the letter to the officials, correct? Discord being involved is certainly an order that should be taken seriously. She detailed that this new creature was hurt in the process."
Celestia nodded. "Discord is the spirit of chaos, but I've never heard anything about him hurting somepony. It's quite strange. Plus, with him being the only one of his species in our world, he's considered endangered. If we were to let this slide by, we'd be in a heap of trouble. Not only with our own nation, but with the surrounding nations."
Luna nodded, peering off to a nearby window. In it, was stained glass, depicting of both her and her sister, reigning in the sky with the sun and moon side by side in the sky. "I'm sure that we won't have to worry about that. We'll just talk with Discord, and see what happened. Twilight and her new 'friend' might have been a little blindsided by him potentially, causing the witness of events to become... muddled."
You looked at the town ahead of you. Despite it's small size, it had quite a bit of activity. Creatures walked about, making purchases from one stand to the next, giving their small little gold coins to the other. When you walked into the thick of it though, most eyes landed onto you. You expected it. You were the alien of this world, and are carrying around a big weapon, which probably intimidated those around you. It didn't help either that you were seen with Twilight, one of the few important figures of this nation.
You were pretty much the talk of the town. Something that you were definitely not used to in the slightest. As much as you want to believe that you might just be the best damned hunter out there, save for probably Gehrman, you definitely lacked social skills. Life in Yharnam wasn't exactly a place meant for conversation, but instead the slaughtering of horrid beasts, and getting drunk on blood. It's not like you hadn't tried to make friends with anyone before, you certainly tried partnering up with a few hunters, but it usually ended up in the hunter dying by a beast, or by you.
Hunters were all really egotistical, and selfish, after all.
It was something you grew used to. Looking out for number one, that being yourself, was something that wasn't just instilled into you, but every hunter. Sure, some of them did partner up with eachother. Sure, some did help eachother out, but all of it was for selfish gains in the end. You only helped someone if you got something out of it. Perhaps it was more vials, a new weapon, or perhaps you just needed to get through an area and you couldn't do it by yourself. No one in Yharnam worked for the good of the community. They worked for themselves.
Those who aren't hunters always see hunters as the ones who work for them. That you and the others are in their debt, and in order to repay that debt you clean up the streets, but that isn't the case whatsoever. You might be helping Yharnam by slaughtering those nasty beasts, but you always do it for gains.
Did this make you a bad person? You questioned that millions of times, and not once did you ever find an answer.
It certainly seemed like this world knew the answer though. Twilight, and even her two precious mentors considering him to be 'too violent' and 'too childish.' What did they expect? For you to change your ways on a whim? Something that's been instilled into you for years on end, just gone at the push of a button?
You sighed.
You had more pressing things to worry about. It was already confirmed that beasts from your world are appearing in this one, and you've got to find out where they're originating from. Finding a good source of the bastards would get you some much needed vials, and also possibly a good fill-up on your cocktails. You've ran out already. Scanning the market-place, ignoring the eyes glued onto you, you search for anyone that might be of useful information.
There was a certain pony who was in control of what seemed to be a flower stand, and she was one of the few that didn't notice you. You began to make your way towards her, ponies moving out of your way without hesitation. The poor little thing was more than likely going to be terrified of your sudden presence, which was going to make for a slightly funny encounter.
"You have a good day too ma'am!" She told the customer that had just finished ordering flowers. She then turned to her flowers behind her, and set a new set of them onto the stand. She sighed, shook her head, and brought her eyes up, ready to greet the next customer before realizing it was you.
The wide-eyed, deer in headlights expression she gave you was priceless. "I-i-uh-"
You put both hands on the front of her stand, a move which caused her to shake slightly. "I was hoping that you'd be able to answer a few questions for me. Unless, you're too busy." You said, motioning to her flowers and her stand, to which she responded with a gulp. She seemed afraid that she would answer wrongly.
"N-Nope.. I-I-i'm all clo-closed up for the... the day."
"Good." You said, pulling out your journal. "What's your name?"
"I-uh-"
"Hm?"
She closed her eyes, slightly shaking still, and gave out a deep breath. "R-Roseluck."
You nodded. "Okay, Roseluck, I've got a couple of questions regarding some things in this town, or in that nearby forest. I'm going to show you a few pictures, and all you need to tell me is if you've seen them, or perhaps have heard rumors of them. Okay?"
She nodded.
You showed her the journal.
She stared at the drawn picture of the Mad One, and shook a little more than before. She then shook her head, looking up to you as if weighing if she answered wrongly, that you might get mad if she didn't know. You sighed, pulling the journal down. You flipped a couple pages. "This next one is a photograph. What about this?"
She squinted her eyes at the picture, trying to identify what it was, before shaking her head once again. You looked up to the sky, questioning whatever gods that were up there to atleast give you some sort of hand. Sure, you weren't exactly the most faithful, but damnit you deserved something atleast!
You set your journal away. "Alright. If you see any of those things, or hear about them, try to come find me. They're dangerous, and I'm trying to help with that. Hence why I carry around this big fucking thing-" You said, patting the hammer strapped to your back. Roseluck nodded slowly, as if now understanding you a little better.
"W-Well.. I'll try to be on a lookout. B-But, if I-I do happen to see one.. A-and no one's around, what do I do?"
You shrugged. "Go on the floor and play dead. It might not seem like it'll work, but it will."
She nodded. "A-Alright. Thank you."
You nodded, smiling under your mask despite giving her such an obvious lie. Of course playing dead would never work on a Mad One, or a Celestial. They'd tear you apart limb-to-limb, but they take more interest in playing with an enemy. One of those ways, is providing a goose-chase into a dead-end. It wasn't necessarily a lie to get her killed, but more of a lie to stop her from suffering such a helpless fate.
You swear it's actually a good thing.
"Now where to..." You questioned to yourself, looking around, about to take another step forward before feeling your foot hit against something. Something solid, and in your way. You looked down, eyeing the three considerably smaller ponies that were in your way. You stared at them, trying to remember where you might've seen them before.
The school, right?
"Can I help you?" You asked, a little annoyed about being blocked. Sure, you could just step over them, or around them, but you weren't going to submit to such bullies. You eye'd them still, as they seemed to teeter from side to side, almost excited.
"Well Mister, you seem a bit lost!" The small yellow one spoke up first, wearing a cute little bow. You also noticed that all three of them seemed to have a variation of the same butt tattoo, something that you hadn't seen in your recent stay in this world.
You shook your head lightly. "Not really lost, just don't know who to look for."
"Well, perhaps we could help?" The white one now spoke up.
"Sure. Know anyone who can help me find deadly monsters who want to eat or rip you all apart? If so, i'd be very grateful for you to point me in the direction of said person. If not, i'd be very thankful if you just moved out of the fucking way."
The three of them seemed to only hear a part of what you said, and ignored the rest.
"I'm Applebloom-" The yellow one said.
"Sweetie Belle-" The white one spoke after.
"Scootaloo!" The last, orange one yelled.
"Aaanndd~" Applebloom continued, "-we just might know who to talk to for that!"
You put your hands on your hips. Did three, presumably children or teenage ponies really know anyone who could help with such a thing? Sure, the surrounding adult populace would be the best bet to get any information, but banking on children giving you solid information?
You shrugged. What the hell else were you going to do?
"Alright then. Where?"
"Hope you're not too scared of the Everfree forest~! Luckily we've been in there a whole lot, so you won't have to worry about getting lost or nothin'!" The orange one boasted. She was definitely the egotistical type. The same exact type that you were. The type that you hated.
The location they were leading you to was right where you had encountered that Mad One earlier. You can still feel the cut on your back from its sickle, and without any more blood vials to patch you up, you're quite cautious, more-so than you normally would be. You have no safety net, after all, and you hardly have any idea on what they hell to expect now.
The deeper in the forest you got, the more scared the three small ponies in front of you got. Their cheerful attitude was gone quickly, and despite them saying they've been in this forest countless times, they were more than obviously scared of it still. You couldn't blame them, honestly. After encountering that Mad One, you were on edge just as much as they were, if not more. They had talked amongst themselves, talking to you without you even responding.
They had told you stories of them being in here, and what dangers there were. None of them had mentioned anything that could've been considered deadly, so you assumed without your presence this forest was usually calm, yet scary. So, basically all of Yharnam.
God, you miss that bloody hellscape.
Non-hunters wouldn't get it. Of course they wouldn't- how could they understand the warmth of being coated in that thick crimson juice? The steam coming off of a beast during a cold night when your sword slices right through their arm. It was a perfect world- sure it was fucked in every way possible, but it really was perfect.
For you, atleast.
Other's didn't see the wonderful world that you saw. You hated it, yet loved it. It was perfect. Ideally the middle ground of life. Sure, you had to spend all of eternity killing beasts, but it was for your own good. It was all you knew how to do, it was-
"We're here!" Scootaloo exclaimed, giving out a heavy sigh. She was obviously glad that the trek through the forest was over with. You were standing in front of some sort of wooden hut, with what seemed to be a zebra that you could see through the windows.
She spotted the four of you through the window, giving a smile, yet a look of concern before going to open the door. She took a quick gaze at the three ponies in front of you, before staring at you. Her eye's studied you, and you oddly felt nude. As if you were being stripped of everything you had before her very eyes. She was honestly creeping you out.
She deserves a medal!
"I have not seen any of your kind, what do you need other than my time?"
Holy shit- if you could kill yourself you would. Actually, you could-
Wait, no! No killing yourself today. You've got things to do! You wouldn't want to upset Twilight or anything. You weren't done annoying her yet, with her dumb way of teaching and her stupid school. God, imagine if you had made a school for hunters. You could legitimately make a business out of it!
Wait, that's already a thing...
Let's get this thing done and over with, you suppose. You reach behind into your back pocket and pull out your journal, presenting it in front of her, opening the page to the desired beast that you were inquiring about earlier. It was the picture of the Mad One and the alien Celestial Emissary. "Do you know what these things are, and if so, have you seen any of them?"
She stared at your journal, giving a confused look before shaking her head. "I have not seen any of these, but this does not mean that I do not believe."
Huh? The fuck did 'I do not believe' mean? Does that mean she thinks they could be out here? Just fucking speak normally, woman! Or, zebra. Zebra woman? Doesn't matter. What matters is that there is a chance that those things could still be out here. That meant a couple of things.
One: It gave you something to do while Twilight was still pissed off at you.
Two: You could finally put your kirkhammer to use again, and;
Three: You might get a few vials from them, securing your safety net once again.
"Well, if you find any, let me know-" Your words were cut short by a shriek somewhere deep in the woods, and what seemed to be electricity that flowed through the floor and the nearby tree's, though not harming any of you in any way. You stared at the direction of the shriek, your mind wandering to what you just heard, before digging into your journal.
You found a page that matched the description. Shrieks. Electricity. You were dreading what you were going to have to do. You looked up from the journal again, looking in the same direction the shriek came from, before back down at your journal. Instead of a photograph, it was a drawn picture from you.
The Darkbeast Paarl.
A terrifying creature. Coated in electricity, and with each shriek, dispersed the electricity into its surroundings. You still remember the stinging pain you got every-time that happened. And here you are; about to go face it once again. You were dreading the fight.
Without saying a word, you pulled your sword from its hammer-sheath and ran towards the sounds.
Facing the Darkbeast the first time was extremely difficult, and you had a bit of help that time too. Let's not forget that you also had blood vials when you did it, the only healing source available to you. And right now, you don't have any capable help, nor blood vials that would be able to heal you incase you got injured. The only thing you had with you was the advanced experience you've gained since fighting it the first time.
While you were running towards the direction of the screams, you pulled out a blood cocktail, popping the cap off with one hand and chugging it as you ran. If you were going to possibly die, you might as well do it while feeling good. The screams were getting louder with each step you took, and eventually you came into an open clearing within the dark forest. Standing tall in the middle of the clearing, was the Darkbeast Paarl.
You stepped into the clearing, locking eyes with the beast. You kept your sword at your hip, slowly walking sideways, observing the darkbeast. For the most part it looked the same as you remember it, but there was something definitely off. There was a bright purple glow that surrounded its body, pulsing like a heartbeat. The darkbeast opened it's mouth, giving out a lowly hum as it walked sideways with you.
It was observing you as well.
Were you really ready to die? Sure, you had done it plenty of times here, but you had no guarantee of coming back this time. Yet, you didn't seem nervous about that part of the fight. You felt calm, and prepared for the fight, even though you had no reason to feel so. You smiled underneath your mask.
"A hunter must hunt, after all."
The darkbeast lunged in your direction, it's electric claws high in the air, ready to slice down on top of you. You pushed yourself forward, narrowly dodging the deadly claws, and with one swoop upwards your sword made it's first slice into the creature. You wildly swung your sword underneath it, sprays of blood covering your outfit. It shrieked in pain, backing up so you were out in the open once again.
It started to swing its claws at the floor, digging towards you. You stepped to the right when its left claw came forward, and vice versa, dodging each hit just barely before pushing your sword forward and digging into its claws with it. "I've killed you once you fucker- i'll do it again!"
It shrieked at hearing that, the blue electricity that formed around it's body glowing brighter.
Uh oh.
A second later, it shrieked as loud as it could, sending a wave of electricity throughout the floor and, right into you. You were flung back, making contact with a tree. It didn't give you time to rest as it then lunged forward, its claws making a dive right for you. You barely managed to get enough strength to push your feet up and dive out from its attack. The tree that you had just laid against was now toppled over, ripped from its roots.
You knew you didn't have time to rest. You ran right back into the open clearing, knowing that if you were to get stuck inside the forest you'd be at a major disadvantage. It was pissed, as far as you could tell, since it was now charging faster than you had ever seen it charge at you before.
You ran towards it as well, sliding underneath its belly with your sword aimed up high, stabbing right into its twisted bones. You began to stab it, getting hilt-deep into it. "Die- die- die- die!"
It jumped up and grabbed you with its claw, flinging you away from itself. Instead of hitting a tree though, you managed to angle yourself just perfect for a roll, your sword slicing a bit of your hand as you did so. As you looked back at the creature, it's eyes were now glowing purple.
"Great... Phase two."
A split second later beams of light protruded from its eyes right towards you, to which you dove underneath them. The beams of light sliced through the tree's behind you, leaving them burnt and destroyed. "Holy shit-" You managed to say, before pulling yourself up with your sword in hand. The beams had disappeared, and you knew that if you didn't act fast enough they would end up coming back.
You sprinted forward, putting your sword into the tube of the hammer, and pulling it onto your shoulder. The darkbeast didn't seem to be paying attention to you, it's head hanging just low enough to hit. You smiled to yourself, mustering all the strength you had, and pulled the hammer off your shoulder into a swing right into its head.
Yet, instead of connecting with its head you were enveloped in a purple glow. A second later, you were at the market in Ponyville, your hammer at your side. "What in the..."
The darkbeast roared loudly behind you, to which you turned. It was now twice as large, and in the center of Ponyville with you. Screams of ponies surrounded you and the beast, yet it was only focused on you. Electricity was flowing through the floor and through the many houses in the town, and its shrieks were no longer high pitched screams of terror. They were roars of low humming anger.
You let your hammer slide onto your back, pulling the sword out once more. There was nothing preparing you for what was about to happen. In your notes you had every detail of the beast, yet this was unknown territory. The worst kind of territory for hunters.
The both of you stood there, focused on eachother and eachother alone. The screams of terrified ponies were drowned out, and you were its only target. It was a good thing, since there wasn't going to be any collateral damage. Yet, it also slightly terrified you, knowing that it wasn't going to stop at anything to kill you.
And then, you smiled.
"I'm going to make sure you're nothing but a pool of blood." You growled underneath your breath. It responded with another roar of anger, to which you began to chuckle. This was going to be one hell of a fight. And it was a fight that you were planning to win. Your feet began to move by themself, throwing you towards the creature. The creature slammed it's claws deep into the dirt beneath the both of you, pushing itself towards you.
You jumped to the right as its left claw came forward, slamming to where you just were. You brought your sword down onto its claw, using it as a saw and slicing a single finger off. A low hum was sent through the floor, it's right claw coming towards you and slamming you into the house behind you. You slid off the wall, diving away from it's next attack.
It jumped forward to where you were, using it's entire body to crush the house beneath itself. You were hoping no one was inside, but knew that it wasn't priority. Killing the damn beast was the priority.
"God damn you- you fucking- GAH!" You screamed as it dug a sharp claw into your leg, dragging you across the floor and flinging you high into the air. Time seemed to slow down as you were what seemed to be hundreds of feet in the air now, with the beast below you, mouth gaping.
It was going to eat you.
You swung your sword back, letting it slide into the tube of the hammer before bringing it forward. You didn't have time to think about your attack, you just had to do it. Instead of falling right into its mouth, your hammer came into contact with its head, forcing the beast to look down. You hit the floor right aftwards, staring up at the beast.
It was dazed.
You pulled the sword out of its hammer-sheath and ran up to the beast, plunging the tip of your sword deep into its eye. It shrieked, but didn't move. You continued to pull your sword out and stab it again, all over its face, making sure that each stab was almost hilt-deep.
It's low roars slowly died out with each stab.
Eventually, you pulled your sword out of it and took a few steps back, observing the beast. It looked dead, but that didn't mean it was. Either way, you needed a break. Taking a few more steps backwards so that you were in the middle of the market, you sat down, the blood that was on you now pooling below you.
You didn't know how weak you really felt until you sat down. Your body ached. You looked down at your leg, seeing the giant, gaping hole in your leg. It was bleeding profusely, but to you it was nothing more than a flesh wound. Nothing that was going to kill you, atleast.
You bolted into the upright position, your eyes wide, burning from the light. You didn't care. You looked all around you, scanning the environment quickly. You were in an almost all-white room, with white and black checkered tiles on the floor, and another bed opposite from you. It looked like some sort of medical wing. Your Kirkhammer was nowhere to be found, same with your pistol.
You also then realized that you were naked, except for a loose piece of clothing that covered your entire chest and some of your waist. Some sort of hospital gown, you figured. You stood up, looking around once more before making your way right for the door. As soon as you made your first step, a pony walked in.
She stared at you, slowly closing the door behind herself. She opened her mouth to speak, but you cut her off.
"Where is it."
"W-where is what?" She asked, caught off guard from the question.
"The darkbeast. Where is it."
"Oh, that." The nurse said, clearing her throat and using a hoof to push her hat in its proper place. She was a pure-white pony with a pink mane, her 'tattoo' that of a red cross. Typical nurse, you figured. "After they recovered you from the site, they took the creature to a secure location. It doesn't seem like it's going to wake up anytime soon, but it is recovering."
That instantly alarmed you. You took a few steps towards the door before she blocked your path. "Where are you going?"
"To finish the job."
The nurse shook her head. "I can't let you do that. You were severely injured- it's almost a miracle that your body has recovered so quickly. You're still not in the best shape to be going anywhere right now, let alone to fight anything." You made another step, to which she stepped towards you. "Plus, both the Princess' wouldn't be happy with that."
"Fuck the Princess'. They aren't Hunters, now are they? It's my job. It's my kill. It's my fucking duty."
The nurse shook her head. "This place is crawling with guards, and in your shape, you're not getting anywhere. Especially without any tools to help you. You're stuck here with me."
You looked down at yourself. It was true. All you had was this hospital gown. You had no weapons, no armaments and no way in hell to fight anything. You sighed defeatedly, turning around towards your bed before sitting down on it, letting your feet dangle from the side. "Where am I?"
"Canterlot. Ponyville was evacuated after the incident. And as to why I'm here, every other nurse was terrified of treating you. After the news broke out to what you and that creature did, I can't blame them."
"And you aren't scared?" You asked.
"No, not really. I've seen crazier, and a lot worse. Nurse Redheart, by the way."
"Anon." You said, before shaking your head. "Just... call me Hunter, or something along those lines. I'm not used to people using my real name. Weirds me out."
"Alright." Nurse Redheart said with a nod, slowly walking over to you. She stood in front of you, before taking a seat on the bed opposite of you. "I didn't know how to treat you that well since you're not a pony, nor any creature we have records of. When Princess Celestia informed me of who you were, I'm not surprised. But, I'd like to know more about your health so I could help treat you better."
You waved a hand in the air dismissively. "You won't need to do any of that. With my weapons back in my hands and a couple of beasts to hunt, I'll be as good as new."
"What do you mean?"
"Blood vials." You said. "They're vials, filled with blood, as the name would suggest. Plenty of beasts in Yharnam carried them or had blood that could be used to make one. They heal Hunters like me. A couple of those and I'd be as good as new."
"These blood vials... Can they heal anything? Any injury? Can they heal anypony?"
You shrugged. "The anyone part, no idea. Anyone that's not a hunter hasn't really tried the ones we carry, so I'm not sure. And as for the healing part, it can heal you as long as you're not dead. You could have all your limbs missing, and as long as you're still breathing and you take a sip, you'll be as good as new. Might take more than one but it'll still work."
"Amazing. If we could find out a way to use that-"
"NO!" You yelled instinctively, causing Nurse Redheart's ears to flatten and for herself to tense up, backing away from you slightly. You shook your head, raising a hand. "Sorry, sorry, that's not the reaction I meant to give, but I can't let you do that. Blood is the entire reason the beasts in Yharnam were created. Widespread use of the stuff might just turn your world into what mine is. For me that wouldn't be so bad but for you?" You sighed. "You'd be long gone."
"How can you use it then?" She asked, her ears back to their normal position.
"Hunters have contracts written in blood- it's all very complicated. Point is, normal people can't use it without some sort of terrible effect. Humans, atleast. Yet all it took was one human to get infected with the stuff and the entire world was screwed. Hunters have a saying for this: Fear the Old Blood."
Nurse Redheart nodded. "I understand. If I knew more about it, I wouldn't have made such an idea up."
"I know- and that 'aint your fault. I'm just not used to people not knowing these things. You all know nothing about Yharnam or the blood or- hell even the Vicar's. It's terrifying because the people in my world knew about these things and were hurt badly from it. Your world is being infiltrated by these things and you all know nothing about it. Nothing to keep yourselves safe." You then put a hand to your heart. "Except me."
"That beast- i'm not supposed to ask but... what happened?" Redheart asked, her voice lowering.
"That thing is the Darkbeast Paarl or, atleast was. It's almost cat-like in it's nature from what I've seen, but it's a monstrosity hell bent on killing. It'll rip anything it see's to shreds just because it thinks its fun. Yet if you piss it off, it'll send you flying with electric shocks up your ass. It has to die."
Redheart's ears flattened slightly from those last words. You shrugged. "It's true. I know you ponies aren't familiar with the concept but I am, and so is that thing. You can't hope to use your philosophy on a creature that is from my world. It won't work and it'll only get you all killed. If I wasn't there, that Ponyville town would be a mess, and mostly everyone in it dead. I'd rather me be hurt than anyone else."
"Sounds... noble."
"Yeah well, it 'aint. I get something out of it myself."
"Like what?"
You sighed, knowing this wasn't a topic to get into with a nurse. Or, anyone from this world. The knowledge of Blood Echo's was sacred to the Hunter's themselves, and it was supposed to stay that way. Whether he was in a different world or not, he couldn't tell them.
To think, that he was profiting off of killing things. That'd only make his outlook worse.
While he was lost in thought, a coughing noise came from where the doorway was. You turned to look, only to see Luna and Celestia standing in the doorway, looking at you both awkwardly. You chuckled, looking up to the ceiling. "Oh great- I hope you don't end up sucking my brain out for real this time."
Celestia shook her head a few moments later, giving out a heavy sigh. "No, we don't plan on doing anything of the sort. We've come to apologize."
Apologize?
"Why?" You asked skeptically.
Celestia walked forward a few steps. "You are from another realm entirely, and we do not understand what your realm is like. You're strange to us- psychotic in nature compared to us ponies, but you've proven something. We didn't understand the true extent of your worlds capabilities, and underestimated it severely. Even after seeing your memories, I did not grasp the concept well until we recovered the beast you fought."
Luna nodded, taking a few steps to stand beside her sister. "With how you fought, we assumed you've fought such a thing before. It's deadly in nature, and even with its severe wounds it managed to survive. It's resistant to our magic as well- nothing we tried worked on it. We had to resort to physically hauling the beast to a discrete location."
Celestia sighed, shaking her head. "I'm sorry for not understanding. Twilight came to see you recently but we thought it would be best to keep her away for now. She's in a bit of a... well-"
"Twilight is being Twilight." Nurse Redheart clarified.
Celestia nodded. "Yes. After she explained the incident of what happened at the school- in a very quick and not at all descriptive way- she insisted that she come check on you. That it was her fault for this happening. We assured her that to not be the case."
You leaned your back against the wall, your right foot still dangling off the edge of the bed. You stared at the two Alicorn's for a little while, reviewing every word they said carefully. You eventually spoke. "I'm glad that you both have come to apologize. That's not a common occurrence where I'm from. Yet it still doesn't make me fully happy."
"May I ask what is stopping you from being happy?" Celestia asked cautiously.
"Why the fuck are you keeping that thing alive?"
Both Celestia and Luna looked shocked at your words. You certainly said it with a sharp tone, but you weren't going to sugarcoat things just because they're suddenly apologizing. When they didn't speak, you decided to again. "Keeping that thing alive is a terrible idea. I don't know why you want it alive, but it's not worth it. Experimentation? You'll get yourself killed. Trying to reason with it? You can't reason with a beast formed by the blood. Perhaps you were trying to give it a nice home to live in without bothering anybody? You'll get a restless monster on your hands that will eventually tear through every defense you've got."
"I've fought that thing once before, and it almost killed me. I'm surprised I even got away alive this time. None of you are equipped to fight that thing in case it breaks loose, and I can't help when I'm already struggling with it. You want your world to keep the nice lush colors you've got, right? Then kill the fucking thing."
Luna looked to the floor, whilst Celestia stared at you, her face showing almost no emotion now. She then nodded. "If that's what you think is best, then it will be done. I don't know if I'll ever be able to understand your reasoning for the things you say or the things you do, but I do know they come from experience."
You sighed, shaking your head. "I know I'm a little harsh. I know I'm a little crazy and a little... whatever the hell. But I've been beaten down, again and again, stuck in an endless cycle of nightmares. I then get my head chopped off, and sucked into your world filled with colors I didn't even know existed. And, honestly, one of the first things I thought to myself after experiencing what that town was like was, 'It would be a shame if what happened to my world happened to this one'. Your world is peaceful. It's filled with lightheartedness and caring people. My world is watched over by eldritch gods who plan to make all mortals suffer. I'm not a good person by any means, and I know it may not seem like it but I'm trying to help."
Celestia nodded. "I'm glad. With your fighting skill I would even be hesitant to face you in combat. You battled a creature ten times over your size, without help, and you're looking completely fine. May I ask how that might be?"
You shrugged. "Hunters introduced into Yharnam by blood were always known to heal faster. It's a slow process, but can be accelerated exponentially with blood vials, something I currently lack. We've got all sorts of weird properties, and most of us don't even know why that is. To us, it's just how life is and always has been. There's no reason questioning it if it benefits us."
Nurse Redheart seemed to be paying attention to your words while Luna and Celestia both simply nodded. Celestia turned back to the door, along with her sister. "I would like to continue this conversation at a later date, but I believe it's time for another Princess to visit. Nurse Redheart, would you kindly join me and my sister?"
"Y-Yes, of course!"
Not a moment later, they were gone.
The room fell silent and empty, your head lightly banging against the wall. Not hard enough to hurt yourself of course, but just a light tapping. You looked down at your body. You were naked underneath that makeshift gown you were wearing, but you also hadn't seen your own body like this in what felt like millions of years. Or, what possibly could've even been millions of years. You've always worn that Hunter getup, and you felt odd without it.
Normal, even. A feeling you didn't like.
The world you were surrounded by was filled with color, with light, and with people loving life itself. Nobody here resented it, as far as you could tell. Nobody here wanted to escape to a different world because why would they? The few that do resent this world are the few that don't understand how good they've got it. You wish you could live here- you wish you could simply put down your Kirkhammer and rest for awhile.
But that's not what you are meant to do. It's not what you're meant to be.
You're a Hunter. Nothing more, nothing less. You will always, until your demise someday, a Hunter.
You shook your head. What if you could choose? You had the chance to choose right now, right? Don't retrieve your weapons. Don't retrieve your clothing. Don't retrieve your items. Leave all of that behind and start anew! It's perfectly within reach for you to do. You felt a warmth in your chest thinking about a life like that. A life where happiness wasn't channeling the screams of the damned into strength.
Yet, that warmth turned ice cold a moment later. This world was being invaded by your world. Enemies ranging from a simple Emissary or even a beast like the Darkbeast Paarl. You were a Hunter in a perfect time for Hunting. You wished you didn't have to do it- but you knew you had to. It was your job. It was your duty.
It was your destiny.
"Stuck, no matter where I go."
Your depressive thoughts exploded into a mess when a certain purple alicorn burst through the side-door.
The bleak, dark atmosphere of Yharnam was something I grew accustom to. I didn't see a problem with how the world was cascaded in night time forever, or how the streets were covered in blood. I didn't care much that there were eldritch beings beyond my imagination plaguing that world with evils I knew nothing about. I didn't care about the monsters, most of them once human, that I slaughtered, or the other Hunters driven mad by their nightmares that I had put down.
I thought I was doing what I was born to do. I thought I had to do these things in order to succeed. Gherman, a mentor to Hunters, always instilled that into my head. I went through nightmarish realms with only my weapons and clothes, and a mind made of steel, blocking out the nightmares I would have if I ever were to sleep. The only thing that separated me from the other Hunters was my attitude. Comedy, the main thing that made me different from the others.
Am I okay?
No, I don't think so.
You watched Twilight as she scrambled from the doorway over to you, bound to tackle you before you brought your hands up defiantly. You weren't bleeding anymore, but you were still plenty bruised and your bones ached. She looked like she had been crying for hours, and you knew it was probably true.
She started to speak but it was a jumbled mess of half-said words, trying to formulate a sentence. You shook your head, speaking instead. "Before you say anything, yes, I'm fine. Yes, I did get hurt, and yes, I almost died. And from the very very small amount of time I've spent with your neurotic self, you probably think that you had some fault in that. But you don't. What happened was for the best- if I didn't find that thing, someone else would have."
She shook her head. "That doesn't mean I get to disrespect you-"
You cut her off, raising your hand. "-Yeah, it doesn't mean you get to disrespect me. But that was an environment that I wasn't comfortable with, so it put me on edge. You were worried about me being there and it was a spur of the moment reaction from the both of us. It's not something I'm going to hate you over. I've almost been killed by some Hunters and still forgave them, so do you think I'd care if there was one argument between us?"
She sat there in silence, shaking her head after a few seconds.
"I'm glad your worried about me- It's still not normal for me, and weirds me out a little bit, but I think if I was going to be thankful for anything that'd be one of them. I'm fine though- really. I recover pretty fast from injuries- and that wasn't the worst I've had."
Memories of your fight with the Orphan of Kos stung your brain.
You were waiting for Twilight to say something, but she didn't. She was instead observing you, eyeing every little detail. No, not that detail you moron! You were still covered up down there. You tilted your head slightly in question. "Twilight? You alright? Did I break you or some shit?"
Twilight, as if she was caught in the act of something bad, shook her head violently and sputtered. "N-No! I just... I haven't seen you. Like, you. You've been wearing that outfit since you've got here, and I only saw your full face a few times. You look so... normal."
You smirked. "And the red eyes?"
"Suit you, surprisingly. I'd say they work well with your abrasive nature." She said, hopping on the bed opposite of you. "Which isn't a bad thing all the time. What you said to me had clicked a few minutes after you left, and I realized you weren't trying to be rude."
"Oh well, that time I was. But I meant what I said. I'm not always good, but I'm always honest."
The room fell into silence, both of you not sure what to say. You stared off into space, your minds racing to the battle that felt like happened only twenty minutes ago, and the thoughts of what might happen next. You felt a shiver go down your spine, a feeling you haven't had in a long long time.
"Anon?" Twilight asked, her face full of sympathy. "Is there something wrong?"
You smiled at her, shaking your head. "Nope."
...
"Yeah, actually, there is." You spoke a few minutes afterwards, your voice wavering slightly. Twilight looked at you, her ears perked up and her attention fully on you. You tried rambling through your brain to figure out how to say things but instead of that, you just started to speak.
"This world is beautiful. It's clean, it's bright even if the sun hurts my eyes, and it's cheerful. And now... now things from my curse-ridden world are popping up here, and you all won't be able to fight back against that easily. The only thing stopping you all from getting hurt is me. I know the monsters- I've fought them before and Celestia recently told me that the Darkbeast was resistant to your magic. Which, from what I've seen, is almost a building block for your society."
"I look at what happened today and I... I feel strange. I had no way to repair my injuries in the fight like I usually am able to do, I had no help, and I wasn't prepared. I'm from that world and I'm struggling with it. What the hell will happen when I'm not there? I'm alone here, Twilight. Even if I'm bunking in your room, even if I'm surrounded by you pony-folk, I'm an alien in your world. Utterly alone, against beasts in this bright world."
"I don't know how to put my feelings into words but I think... I think I'm..."
"I think I'm scared, Twilight. I think I'm just... absolutely terrified."
This world is so different from the one I know of. This world breathes kindness, yet that's what'll get it killed. Kindness does not fix hatred always, and in fact, hatred corrupts kindness. I've seen this too many times in Yharnam, but it seems like these ponies don't get it completely.
It's alright though. I can keep this façade of being strong just for a little longer. I have a plan, but I'm not sure if it will work. Messengers might not be applicable in this realm, but they're certainly a start. Nothing they make here will help me, so I need to find a way to bridge the gap between this world and mine. It might cause more problems, but it will be the only way to make sure they're safe.
I'm scared of going mad in this place. As beautiful as it is, I'm not sure if I can carry everyone upon my scarred back.
I'll try anyways.
"So... Your plan is to try to get one of these... 'messengers' to our world from yours?"
You sighed. "Yeah, or atleast try to. I don't know if it's going to work, but it just might. Messengers appear at death-spots of other Hunters and at points of interest. Yet I know an unknown way of contacting them. All I need is a paper, and quill. Or pencil. Whatever you have that I can write with. It's been awhile since I've done this, and I'm not so sure it'll work but if it does, I can get them to bring me items from my world."
Twilight nodded. "Well, since you're all suited back up and ready to go, why don't we head home?"
You shook your head. "I'm not really ready to be going home. Still on edge from the battle, and I'd rather not go anywhere near that place for now. Where could we get some paper though?" You asked, to which Twilight smiled.
"The library, of course!"
"Right... I'll go to the cafeteria while you go fetch me some paper and something to write with."
"But- Come on, it's just the Library-"
"Is the Library really a place where you want me to be?"
Twilight paused and then slowly nodded her head. "Right, I see what you mean."
"Exactly. Now off with you! Wait- where's the Cafeteria?"
Twilight facehoofed. "Once you exit this door, turn to your left and take the first door on your right. You'll know when you're there because it will say in very, very big letters; Cafeteria. You literally can't miss it."
"You obviously haven't met me. Now go! I just got some things to look at real quick and I'll head over to the Cafeteria."
Twilight exited the door without another world, leaving you to look through the small pouch you carried with you. With some random enchantment or curse, this pouch was able to hold an infinite number of things inside of it. How it worked, you didn't care. All you cared was that it was able to hold everything you needed. And what you were currently needing was another Hunter's mark.
You pulled the small paper symbol out of your pouch and looked at it. You had almost forgotten that you could contact the messengers, but it didn't prove to have any use in your world. Why would you need it? You could always return back to the dream, or contact them by the blood-stains of other Hunters. Yet now you were glad that you had this small trick up your sleeve, because if it worked you'd have your hands on a nearly infinite amount of material. Plus, with enough convincing, they'd probably be able to heft over some Blood gems to help you modify your weapons to be even stronger.
Though the conversation with Twilight and the other two Princess' that was bound to happen didn't make you feel very happy. Their world was already one of love and peace, and for them to eventually be told that you gain strength off of the blood and death of your enemies would probably freak them out. Or not. Either way, you knew it was going to have some sort of effect, and you weren't going to be able to dodge the questions either.
For in order to pay for something in Blood Echoes, or to strengthen yourself with Blood Echoes, you needed to transfer them into a physical form, which was a disturbing process for anyone who hasn't seen it happen already. In which a blood-stain forms on the users chest, and they have to reach inside and pull a solidified blood crystal filled with the amount of Blood Echoes they wanted to extract.
If you dodged their questions when they did that, they weren't going to be happy.
Yet either way they weren't going to be happy.
There was so much they didn't understand and not enough to explain it all. Most Hunters never discussed these things because they learned off of intuition, and didn't need things to be explained. Only the ones that really sought answers dove deep enough into the mold, but they were the ones that usually went insane first. Seeking answers usually didn't give you what you wanted and only gave you pain.
You knew that as much as anyone else. After the incidents in the Clocktower and the Fishing Hamlet, you swore to yourself that sometimes things are better left alone, as you now hold forever in your mind a scar. A scar so deep that it will never go away, no matter how many times you may die. It will be the last thing you remember before your inevitable and final death.
How do you tell them that you're built off of the blood of Eldritch-beings that were created after a failed religion sought out to create a 'fantastical all healing device' from the blood of gods? How do you explain to them that you're a killer, and not one who just does it because they have to? They probably already know that one, though. How do you tell them that you ate umbilical cords of a dead god turned infant, in order to summon the Eldritch God that disguised itself as the holy moon and kill it to stop what is essentially a never-ending nightmare? You didn't even get that far, though. You failed when Gehrman put you out of your misery.
Atleast, that's what he considered it. This in itself was a fate worse than death.
Some might not see it now, but you do. You would've been content at believing yourself to be nothing but a failure, and you were already nearing that point of acceptance. Yet forcing you to see a beautifully bright world get turned upside down by creatures from an Eldritch-ruined society ruin the lives of those here? That was torture. Especially knowing that you were only one man, and only capable of so much.
If this were a fairytale story, you'd be able to slay all of the monsters and save the day.
Yet you were on the brink of suicide before you fought Gehrman. You think of yourself as a failure, you hate that you can't save everyone, and you feel weak. Despite your accomplishments you knew that it was hardly because of your own hard work, but instead because you were afforded so many tries and the help of those around you. You were on the brink of being consumed by the Nightmare itself.
Which reminded you of the tiny voice you've heard ever since your battle with the Darkbeast.
A small, very quiet voice that nagged at the back of your head. You also sensed some sort of disturbance any time Luna would get close to you. Why would that happen? You didn't know. But you chalked it up to it being insanity, and insanity alone. You knew you weren't okay in the head, but you never really gave it some thought. The mindless killing of the beasts around you afforded you no time to think about these deep questions.
Is that why those that were considered Scholars in your world were the most dangerous creatures of all after they turned? They had time to look deep into themselves and found nothing but empty black holes piercing through what others may claim to be a 'soul', while some might claim to be 'essence of life'? You considered them the same.
You held the Hunter's Mark in your hand and left the room, heading straight for the Cafeteria and opening the door to it, ignoring everyone inside and taking a seat, staring down at the Hunter's mark. You were so deep in thought that you weren't paying attention to reality around you.
You found yourself caring about those around you, a concept most unfamiliar. You didn't know why; considering you got into arguments with Twilight already, had some sort of unknown disdain against Luna despite your initial liking towards her, and Celestia proving to be unknowing and thinking herself as someone who knows all knowledge and can do no wrong. Despite the things going on with Starlight and everybody else around you, you felt bad.
That's what you were in the end, wasn't it? You weren't the first to fight Gehrman, and you certainly weren't going to be the last. You weren't the first to see the perils of the Fishing Hamlet, nor the last to fall to its terrible inhabitants. You weren't the first to revel at the sight of blood, and you weren't the last to take pride in killing another Hunter. You were the same as everybody else in your world.
Yet here you stood out!
Not in a good way.
You were an alien to everyone here, and a dangerous one at that. One with severe mental problems, and social disdain. You were born in the blood and molded by the blood, and yet the only thing you were sure of that everyone around you could see, was that you were a psychopath who was dedicated to killing things.
While that wasn't far from the truth, it wasn't the full truth.
You sighed, still staring at the Mark.
It helped you escaped many battles that you weren't prepared for. Whether it was against Hunters, regular beasts, or gigantic monstrosities that rivaled the Eldritch gods. Yet, funnily enough, it couldn't let you escape the one place that you might not want to escape from. Sure, you told yourself you didn't belong here but you certainly wanted to. You could adapt to this place, right?
No. You knew you wouldn't be able to. And this noble, idiotic, and naïve crusade to help the ponies here was going to get you killed, or something worse. You knew it was the fate you were going to be sealed with. Despite what Twilight might say, or despite what the Princess' may say, you know your road ends here. You just don't know when.
Focus! You've got no time to be dwelling on these matters.
What's the game plan?
Right. You know what you need to do. Contact the messengers and bridge both the worlds, even if it's only through them. That will give you valuable materials and supplies needed to take down any stronger beasts that make their way into this new world. After that, you need to find a way if there's a way to stop this. Perhaps the only way to stop this is to simply leave, but there's go guarantee. Thirdly, you need to get-
Pain.
Your mind stops thinking and you look around. There's no one around you. That was in your head. It's the same tone of the last voice, yet it's gotten louder now. What did it say? Pain? Why would it say that? And what the hell does it mean?! You shake your head, telling yourself you'll go see Celestia, Twilight or some professional about this-
I can feel your pain.
and- "STOP!" You yell out loud, causing those in the cafeteria to look over at you with confused faces. You shake your head, waving a dismissive hand at them and letting your head rest on the table, your eyes closing. There's something in your brain and it's making you go crazy. Maybe you have too much Insight? There were always stories about knowing too much of the blood-born beasts in your world would cause one to go insane. Maybe it's that?
I can help you.
"No, you can't, you insane fuck. You can't help yourself worth a damn."
All you need to do is accept my help. Luna did, and she was so close to her end goal.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" You question.
Let me in, Anon. Let me see the world through your eyes, and I shall let you see it through mine.
"Stop."
You don't want these ponies so close to you to get injured. You want the creatures from your world gone. I can help with that. I come from this world, a world filled with magic. I can devise something to... aid you.
Your mind paused, shaking it once again. "You're from this world? How do I know you're not some part of my fucked conscious?"
Could your conscious do this?
Suddenly the piece of paper on the table moved, causing you to open your eyes and look at it. It was floating lazily before it slowly fell back onto the table. You looked around to see if anyone noticed, and they hadn't. "What... the fuck. How? I don't understand..."
I am weak without a hos-... Without someone to connect to me. This, is as much as I can do right now.
"Okay, then what about all the shit about Luna?"
She and I were very close. We spent a long time together, and she was a very good pony. Yet before she could reach her goal she folded like a simple chair. You are not so simple. You understand that you are not the same as everypony else. You understand what you're born to do, and that, I can certainly use to help you.
Suddenly, Twilight walked into the cafeteria. As soon as she walked in you could feel something in your chest heat up, and you could feel anger coursing through your veins for only a quick moment before it dissipated. You stared at her, confused at yourself at what just happened.
Consider my proposal. It would be beneficial to both of us if you let me help.
A moment later it disappeared, and Twilight sat in front of you, her eyebrows raised. "Are... you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm just peachy." You lied, shaking your head. "You got me some paper? Took you awhile."
"It was pretty hard to convince the Librarian to hand me some of her quality paper, but it was done."
"Really?" You asked. "You, a princess, had to convince a librarian?"
"Librarians are harsh." Twilight said with a shrug, using her magic to give me the paper. "It's in our blood."
You shook your head and placed the Hunters mark onto the paper, pressing down onto the Hunters mark. The bottom of the Mark began to sizzle, and you then took it off the paper. It had seared its print onto the paper, and with a pen that Twilight passed you a moment after, you began to write words on it.
Nuntiorum suorum complens; qui vocat vos sicut est luna, lux ex hoc mundo lucet, et suus 'significatur in nostro mundo.
"Alright, it's set."
Twilight looked at the words you wrote and gave you a confused look. "What language is this?"
"Pthumerian, or Latin. Same language. Specifics doesn't matter, but I can't drop this paper until we're somewhere that we want to summon the messengers. We need it to be somewhere where we can access it occasionally, but nowhere too in public."
Twilight nodded, thinking of a place. "We can... Oh! The back of the garden! It's sealed off from visitors and only a select few ponies can get inside. Come on, I'll show you." She says, trotting off and out of the cafeteria.
You make sure to not drop the paper. If you were to do so, it would summon the messengers wherever the paper landed, and likely permanently. That's if it were to work. You make your way outside of the cafeteria and you follow Twilight in silence as she loops around a hallway and enters a gated door that led into the inner courtyard/garden. You were now in the back of the garden, where she had just said.
"Right here. Nopony is ever going to come here without something tempting them."
"Like disgusting-looking messengers?"
Twilight shook her head. "They can't be that bad, can they?"
You chuckled. "Oh they're horrid, and don't you ever let them catch you saying that. Creepy fuckers will crawl out of their little puddle and chase on after you. Well, I guess here goes nothing?" You question before letting the paper drop to the floor. You both stared at the paper, resting on the green grass.
"Well?" She asked.
"Well, shit."
"What?"
You shrug. "Didn't work, I guess-"
Suddenly a flash of light appears from the paper and it's sucked into the ground, where a massive blood puddle began to form and a disgusting little creature popped its head out from underneath. Then, another, and then another, until there were five heads popping out of the little blood-puddle, all making weird groaning sounds.
"Oh..." Twilight said, before shaking her head, reminding herself of what you said. "Oh- they're just.. wonderful! So... adorable..."
"Easy princess, don't need to pander to them. Hey guys, what the hell happened to the hat I gave you all?"
They groaned in response to you.
"What did they say?" Twilight asked.
"What, you can't understand them?"
"They just groaned."
"First off, rude, second off, they said they lost it. What, you can't understand them, for real?"
Twilight shook her head.
"Huh... Well, I'm just glad the fuckin' thing worked. Listen here boys, we've got a problem. This isn't the world you're used to-"
The groaned again.
"You... already know? Well, shit, saves me the speech. Look, I need some things done that I can't do myself. Transposing my Echoes, getting blood gems, stuff like that. Think you little guys can do any of that for me?"
They all nodded in unison to your question.
"Great! I'm glad we've got a deal. I need a full restock on Blood Vials, as much fire and electricity paper you can get me, a full restock on bullets, eight bags of Ash, and as many antidotes as you can get me. How much will that cost me?"
They groaned once again, causing Twilight to just sit there, confused as all hell.
"That's... a lot, but I can do it. I've got a shit ton at the moment that I've been stocking up, but there's no reason to really save them. Oh- shit, Twilight, I forgot you were here." You said, looking over at her. "Look I uh... I've got to explain a few things. You see, these things that I'm buying cost a certain type of currency but one you're not familiar with."
"What do you mean?" She asked, more curious than disturbed.
"They're called Blood Echoes... I get them from, well, when I kill something. It's the life-force and the screams of their souls turned into blood shards that I can basically inhale and turn into currency. I... advise you to look away for this part, because I'm going to have to extract the Blood Echoes from myself."
"No- no this is interesting!" She said, causing you to shake your head in confusion. You thought she was going to be completely weirded out by this, but it turned out you were wrong. "You only get to see this stuff every once in awhile, and despite me wanting to research blood magic, Celestia has-"
"DO NOT DO ANYTHING WITH BLOOD MAGIC!" You yell at her, causing her to back up significantly. "You aren't an expert with it like I am. It's only dangerous if you fuck with it! Hell, it's the entire reason my world is nearly extinct and filled with fuck-all monsters! Fear the blood, fear the old blood damnit!"
She certainly looked fearful, to which you sighed. "Look, I don't mean to scare you... It's just that- you don't know what you're doing. And research never ends well. You'll only end up worse of a monster by the end of it all. Leave it buried forever, or pay the consequences. Now, I need to pay for this stuff so if you'll excuse me-"
You reached into your own chest, where a blood-hole formed, and you slowly pulled out a shard of solidified blood. Strings of skin and other innards warped around your hand as you pulled it out, and once it was fully out the hole closed. You looked at Twilight who looked absolutely mortified.
"Twilight, I tried to warn you-"
She screamed.
You sighed, cradling Twilight in your arms. "I warned you, okay? I'm sorry- I know.. It's gross- but look at the bright side! I've got all that I've need for the time being so you don't have to worry about seeing me do that again for like.. awhile!"
Twilight sighed. "I know- I know... It's my fault. I haven't seen something so disturbing like that before. Reaching into your own chest and pulling out a blood shard while your entire innards just... moved around you like liquid? It was disgusting! Super, super disgusting!"
"Well jeez- fine, I'll just sleep on the couch!"
"Noooo!"
You shook your head, reaching into your pouch to feel all the supplies you had gotten giving it some weight. "I'm just glad that I got the things I need. This will make putting those abominations to sleep much easier. And hey, to hopefully get you to forgive me for self-mutilating myself for a few seconds, take this." You say, taking out a small piece of blue paper.
"What's that?"
"Electric paper. Same thing as fire paper but it'll make the end of anything you wipe it on burst with electricity for several minutes. It's handy when killing things and- well, you'd probably be able to find some sort of other use for it than I could ever think of. My old battle-ridden mind isn't exactly on the same level as that researcher brain of yours. But if I ever tell you to leave something alone, you leave it alone, got it?"
She nodded, but you continued. "Believe me, that's how my people ended. We decided to fuck with Pthumerian knowledge we knew nothing about and tried to extract blood of things we didn't understand. Built a society upon the very basis of the blood, and the blood ended up fucking us in the ass without lube. Now my entire world is fucked, and hurting from the absolute ass-ramming that the blood gave us. The damn scholars were a bunch of idiots. And not just because of the blood.
"They fucked with another Eldritch got after that, beating it to death, only to have it's only fucking child crawl out of the still-steaming womb of its mother and fight me to the death. I killed a baby god, and it's because of some college students who didn't know what they were fucking with. I'll tell you, scholars are usually idiots. Wanting to fuck with things they don't understand and forgetting that their pursuit of knowledge could hurt everyone and everything around them. Don't end up like that Twilight, please. It won't end well for you or anyone around you.
"It will only cause you pain and suffering, and ruin everything you built up. You career, you credibility, and probably your life. If something tells you to leave it alone, you do exactly that and you leave it alone. If someone knows more than you, trust them on that specific subject instead of pursuing it. Okay?"
She carefully nodded.
"Sorry, I just... The more I think about my home, the more I realize what a tragedy it all really was. How it could've been prevented, and how there's nothing I can do to reverse the outcome anymore..."
I feel my mind slipping each second that I spend in this world. I feel myself getting more and more anxious at what I am going to have to do, the pain that I'm going to endure and the trouble that will come with it. This voice in the back of my head beckons to allow me to ask for it's help, yet how can I really trust it?
Am I going insane? Or is this a genuine creature, giving me its gracious hand in order to pull myself and everyone around me up with it?
Maybe I should accept it. Maybe I should allow it to see the world through my eyes and allow me to see it through theirs.
We'll see. If I get desperate enough, I just might.
You were currently on a train back to Ponyville, despite what you had wanted to do earlier. It was only going to be a quick trip down there and then right back up. You needed to look at the damage, to see it for yourself and to see if anything of value was left there. Any clues. Anything! Anything at all to describe why the Darkbeast looked different and was much more vicious, and as to why these creatures were appearing.
Then, that creature from before popped in your head. The one in the forest, holding the bell. A spirit of chaos Twilight said he was. You didn't understand exactly what that meant or entailed, but you assumed it wasn't going to be good. She acted as if it was just another fucking wednesday, but you knew more than she did. He was summoning those things, intentionally or not. Perhaps he really didn't know what he was doing, but you were sure that he most likely did.
You look outside the window that you were currently sat next to, Twilight on the opposite side of the traincar, currently reading her own book. You admired the bright colored world, and you were growing fond of it already. Though sometimes, very rarely, a flashing image popped in your head of the bloody streets of Yharnam, the corpses that littered that world and the screams and howls of beasts and men.
Those memories chilled you down to your core, which brought you to be even more confused. Why were you suddenly feeling... scared from these memories? You were living them only a little while ago. Perhaps it was because you never had time to think about it.
That seemed to be a pattern with everything lately.
You hated your brain. You hated your wandering mind. You hated it all! Fuck everything! You're done with this shit!
You look over to Twilight, and you shake your head. You certainly aren't done. If you were you'd be leaving her and everybody else here in the dust. You sigh quietly as to not attract attention from her, and look back out the window, letting your arm sit on the small ledge of the window, your chin resting on top of it.
"Hunter, do you have any parting words?" He asked you.
You closed your eyes, a myriad of voices flowing through your head.
"Oh, a hunter, are ya? And an outsider? What a mess you've been caught up in. And tonight, of all nights."
"Just go out and kill a few beasts. It's for your own good. You know, it's just what hunters do! You'll get used to it..."
"Thank you kindly. Now I may sleep in peace. Even in this darkest of nights, I see... the moonlight..."
"Now I'm waking up, I'll forget everything..."
"Please, do not abandon me... I promise to do good..."
"Yes, I see... I can wait. I won't be afraid. I know, I do. The morning always comes."
"Never ends, does it?" You whisper to yourself. With each voice you remember a face, and with each face you remember a terrible fate that befell them. There wasn't happy endings in Yharnam. There wasn't happiness in the faces of those still left unchanged by the blood, and there was certainly no path they could walk except understanding their fate of turning into a beast.
You think back to when you first arrived here. You were humorous, and you were certainly willing to keep that little façade up for quite awhile. But as time went on, even just for a little bit, you felt yourself feeling the weight of the situation. You weren't able to joke like this. You weren't able to think of yourself as just another comedian, warped into another realm of happy go lucky unicorns and rainbows huzzah!
You couldn't do that.
Oh-ho, whacky hunter with another joke about drinking blood! Woaahh~!
You couldn't do that either.
Your tone was different. You felt yourself changed to the very core, and you could tell it wasn't a good thing either. You knew something bad was going to happen, you just didn't know when or who it was going to happen to. Perhaps yourself? You hadn't really had any catastrophic failures of your own, except for befriending Gehrman, the damn bastard.
"That piece of shit deserves to be put down like the nasty dog he is for what he's done..."
"Hm?" You turned around to see Twilight looking at you. You wave her a hand.
"Bah, don't worry about it. It's nothing you should concern yourself with. How long until we're there do you think?"
Twilight tilted her head to the side in thought. "Well... I wouldn't say that long. Maybe another ten minutes or so. This train is quite slow compared to the others, that's why it's much cheaper to ride. Not like bits particularly mattered to a Princess, but it was the only train that was there when we were willing to leave. Why do you ask?"
You shake your head before giving her a false smile. "Just wanted to know. The peace and quiet on here is soothing."
The peace and quiet were anything but soothing.
"I know, right? It's one of the few things I love about libraries. Peace, quiet, and books."
You falsely chuckled. "Yeah. It's nice to just let go. I could get used to this."
You could never get used to this. You could never let go.
"Well, get used to it for another ten minutes. I'm going to get back to reading."
"And i'll get back to thinking."
You set yourself back up to the windows tiny ledge once again, burying your face into the crease of your arm and closing your eyes as tightly as possible, the feeling of tears welling up inside them. You weren't able to stop thinking about it. You couldn't stop- nothing you did stopped it. The quietness of the train didn't help, and even keeping your eyes open didn't stop the flashing images from appearing in your mind.
You couldn't let Twilight know this though. You needed to be strong. You can't show weakness.
Weakness is cowardice. You are no coward.
You are no coward.
You are strong. You are something to fear.
You are strong. People always feared you.
Give me a chance and I will help you.
You think about giving it a chanc-
"No!" You whispered to yourself, banging your head into your arm. You weren't going to fall for that! It was tricking you.
The voice beckons me louder to go to it, to allow it to take control and to help me win this almost unwinnable fight. I feel myself drifting more and more to it's call, feeling as if this might be the only way to stop everything once and for all. Perhaps that's what I need. If I don't do this soon, I won't even have enough time to actually make a decision. It'll already be too late.
If I want to do something about this, I have to do it soon.
I think I'll give into it's calls. Maybe then everything will be okay. I have to accept that I'm not strong enough to take on these monsters on my own, and to carry everyone on my back. I was born a killer, not a saint. I don't know how to be the good guy. I don't know how to be the savior. I don't know what it's like to kill for a greater good.
I have to accept that.
Celestia and Luna sat in a room together, contemplating what they should do regarding the recent situation that had happened with the monster and the Hunter. They sat in silence, looking over some pictures of the monster and the Hunter during their battle, causing Luna to sigh. "We should do as he says. He knows more about his world than we do, and we must understand that."
"That might be so, Sister," Celestia said, pulling a photo closer to herself. "Yet we can't simply kill a creature based on hypotheticals alone. I understand what it did, how it destroyed plenty homes, but perhaps that's because it was antagonized? We must look deeper into this, and then we will make a decision."
Luna sighed, about to open her mouth before she shrieked in pain, her head hitting the table in front of her hard. Celestia stood up instantly, two guards present in the room making their way to Luna. "Sister- Sister are you okay? What happened, are you in pain?"
Luna shook her head. "I... A-Anon... Where is Anon..."
"Anon and Twilight just left for Ponyville, something about wanting to see the damage."
Luna took a deep breath. "Get... the guards... Anon is conversing with a nightmare of his own."
You were standing in a dimension of pure white. Everything seeming like a dream, as if you had fallen asleep during the train ride. A figure appeared in the distance, making it's way slowly towards you. It looked almost exactly like you- actually, it was identical to you. You walked towards it. "Hey."
It opened its mouth, it's voice the same as the thing in your head. "You've requested my help."
You nodded. "Yeah... Yeah, I have."
"Give me your hands." It said, grasping your arms and pulling them out in front of yourself, putting it's hands on top of yours, a feint red glow forming between the both of you. "Ah. As expected, you are not an ordinary host. Luna had a blue aura, and when I had conversed with Celestia all those years ago, she had a pure white Aura."
"What do those mean?" You asked.
"Blue is sadness. It means that the person I am helping is filled with regret, sadness, or grief of some sort. A malleable emotion that one could use to their advantage to succeed in their path. I utilized her sadness and used it as a way to help her get where she needed to be, but in the end she revolted and refused my help."
You weren't understanding that well, but you simply nodded anyways. "And white?"
"White means contentment, showing happiness and resolve in oneself. Confidence in how they do things and their beliefs. That is not a malleable emotion, since it's something that is built within one's core, and will be impossible to manipulate. I was unable to help Celestia."
You swallowed. "And Red?"
"Squeeze hard."
You nodded and squeezed your hands as hard as you could, before you felt something crawl inside of you. You back up a few steps, reaching onto your chest and gasping. "W-What... What is that? What the hell did you just do to me? Something- Something is inside of me.."
It stared back at you, smiling. "Some believe Red means hatred, one of the strongest emotions to ever exist, yet you are not plagued by an emotion. You are plagued by your own self. You have a red aura, showing that you've done gruesome things, reflective of the world you resided in. You hurt, killed, scammed, and reveled in the bloodshed. You are a terrible person by all accounts, Anon. That is the most malleable of all."
"The fuck are you talking about?!" You yelled back, a pain soaring through your chest, causing you to fall to your knees.
"You've fallen for the same trap that Luna did, except I didn't even have to fight you. I am a nightmare host, Anon, and your life is over. You will live in the background as I once did."
You fell onto your back, keeping your eyes on the nightmare. "Nightmare..? W-what..."
"Each of my nightmares carry a name depending on their strengths. Luna's nightmare was called Misery, a nightmare specializing in sadness and depression, being able to use those to keep someone compliant."
You tried to back up as far as you could, as if that would make a difference.
"Yet, I think I have a fitting name for your nightmare, the strongest one of them all."
It smiled at you.
"I will call it, Genocide."
"Guards have already been mobilized. What are we expecting, Princess?" A guard asked Luna, who was currently en-route to Ponyville by chariot. She stared out the side window, sighing to herself, her eyes closed. How did this happen? So suddenly? How did it get free? She had thought that nightmares formed from one's fears or failures, and their treatment of themselves.
Unless Anon hated himself.
"Anon is not a pony, and he does not possess magic. However, he does possess a taste for blood and a likeliness for violence. He was able to outrun most of my guards for minutes on end, without weapons. Caution is to be advised. If he could not fight the Nightmare, then it is no longer Anon within that body. It will be a monster."
Anon opened his eyes wide, realizing that he was standing. In front of him stood Gehrman, leaning on his scythe and giving Anon a smug grin. Anon looked around for a few moments, his breathing slowing when he realized where he was. He looked at Gehrman and sighed. "What the hell is going on?"
"A hunter asking questions never ends well. It's better to simply exist in the world that's already created."
Anon shook his head, turning away from Gehrman. They both stood in the flower-fields, the exact place that Anon had lost his life before re-appearing in Equestria. "You don't know anything, old man. Your one of the reasons everything is like this. You're an idiot, just like Laurence and the others. Your the reason Maria killed herself, you know."
Anon could hear an audible sigh from behind, and a few steps coming up to the right side. Gehrman stared off into nothingness beside him. "I know. No matter what I do, it will always be with me. It will always pain me. I sat in a wheelchair, trying to think of myself as helpless, when I've made myself that way to begin with."
Anon chuckled. "A killer with a conscience?"
"Your one to talk." Gehrman said with a chuckle himself.
Anon shook his head, still staring into the abyss of mist in the distance, with tall, lanky pillars shooting up so high into the sky you weren't able to tell where they stopped. "I never thought about my killings. I understand them- I know why I did them. I'm not sad about why I've killed, I'm sad that I had to."
Gehrman gave him a glance before returning his gaze. "Nobody ever forced you to pick up that hammer, or that sword."
"Maybe not. But what would I be if I didn't?"
Gehrman laughed this time, giving a smile. "Nothing but a bloodstain on the floor, that's for sure. So you picked the better option. It might've not been good, but why regret it? You were forced to either die or live."
Anon slowly lowered himself to the ground, sitting with his legs crossed. "Because I saw what's on the other side. I know what life could be like, but I know that this world fucked itself over. But we're human, aren't we? We always find a way to mess something up, one way or another. Even if we're trying to make it better."
Gehrman lowered himself, shakily, to the ground as well, his legs splayed out. "The blood was meant to heal us."
"And look how that turned out. Not very fucking great, huh?"
Gehrman sighed, shaking his head. "No. Not great at all."
Anon stayed silent for a few minutes, his mind racing. Why was he here? Is this some sort of dream, as his body was being possessed by that demon? Is this his consciousness trying to give him some closure before death? Either way, he didn't care. As much as he hated the world he came from, it was home. It was soothing. It was what he knew. Even if it was filled with bloodstarved beasts, it was always going to feel more real than anything else.
"Anon."
"Yeah?"
"I didn't want to kill you."
Anon smirked, looking at him. "That right?"
"It's true. Your young. You've experienced the night like no one before. You deserved to wake up. If you let me-"
"Kill me? Isn't that what you didn't want to do?"
Gehrman shook his head. "You don't understand. If you had let me kill you then, it would have woken you up. Taken you to a world where the night did not exist, where you were a real person. But once you refused my offer, it was known to the Old Ones that you were unwilling, or the next host. You failed in killing me, so that is how that ended."
Anon shrugged. "You have to admit, it's hard for me to believe that me allowing you to kill me would just fix all of my problems. Even to an insane person that would seem stupid."
Gehrman smiled. "It is stupid. But I really am too old to question these things."
Anon sighed. "I have no more control over my body, Gehrman. I'm sentenced to death. A permanent kind, if it's not resolved. I'm afraid that I'll hurt the people I've grown to care for, even if it has been for only a few days. It's scary, Gehrman. Really, really scary."
Gehrman looked over at me and nodded. "It's okay to be scared. Hunters are not always as fearless as we claim them to be. The reason why we push that fearlessness so hard into our Hunters is simply because we want the world to see them as just that. Heroes of some sort. They yell and complain, they tell us to go away and do our job when we knock on their door, but after the night? After the blood moon? They praise us."
"I was never looking for praise, Gehrman. You know that."
"I know that. Most Hunters don't take the job to be paid in respect and praise. They get paid by keeping their conscious busy. Most of us Hunters are depressed beings, and if we were to even stop for a second to question what we were doing or even the very nature of ourselves, we would find our trusty pistols aimed at ourselves."
Anon nodded. "I remember when I saw my first suicide. I told myself I was never going to get that deep, that I would be fine no matter the circumstance. And yet, here I am. I've contemplated it multiple times, and now..? I feel weak, Gehrman. Weak to the point of no return. It isn't my physical form that defies me, it's my mental capacity."
"You are not weak, Anon. You're simply human."
"Hmph. At this point, that almost feels like a lie. Humanity seems like it's the beast in this situation, not the actual blood-starved creatures that roam our streets. Considering the horrors we've both seen, I would say we aren't human at all. Not anymore atleast. We're... something worse. Something darker- something bloodier. I think the gods are afraid of us."
"The gods are afraid of us, they've been afraid of us for a long time Anon. Even in the world that you've visited, do you think the gods haven't reached that far yet? Who do you think that amalgamation of animal parts is? Discord? An eldritch being forgotten by the other gods, before his true consciousness was awoken. It was not you who plagued that world- it was simply you that woke his conscious."
Anon whipped his head to look at Gehrman. "What? That thing- the thing that summoned the Mad Ones?"
Gehrman nodded. "Even in a world as beautiful as that one, it seems the gods always find a way to plague it. The only difference between our world and theirs, is that Discord is not invincible. He can be killed, and should he die, so will the nightmares that plague that world. Perhaps you and the world can still be saved."
Anon shook his head, his fists balling up. "I don't think so. If I'm not there, who else is going to save them? I'm the only one that knows about these things- they don't."
Gehrman sighed, shaking his head. "The messengers are capable of sending their unique and cryptic messages across time and space, into other universes, other timelines. They've notified a certain person that the Hunter's secret has been told, and now someone is on the way."
"But... The only person-"
"Lady Maria will make her entrance into that new world soon to cut you down, Anon. Should she fail, that world will likely fall. In order for you to be saved, you must give up your life and accept that this is the only way to save something so beautiful."
Anon got up, shaking his head angrily. "No! I've died once- to you! I'm not going to die again!"
"Anon!" Gehrman said, wobbling up to the standing position. "That is not you who is in control of your body! You are a demonic version of who you once were, and the only thing you can do now is to sit and accept it! The lamps cannot save you- your knowledge cannot save you- you can only save yourself by accepting it. You can try your best to defy the phantom that plagues your mind but that is all."
Anon shook his head again, looking off into the infinite fog.
The seemingly infinitely rising tree's going further and further into the unknown above, Anon felt like he was floating. He had experienced death before, but not in a way like this. He knew of a better world- one that could be peaceful if done right! Yet in order for it to persist, he would have to give up his chance of living it. To accept death.
Lady Maria was not a woman that was known for holding back, especially on other Hunters. When Anon had fought her, she was only a shamble of what she once was. Yet with the messengers sending out their call to her, any version of her could respond. She could be the same shamble he once fought all that time ago, or she could be in her prime.
She was a hyperfocused person, doing all she could to hone in onto one specific thing. And when that thing was something that needed to be killed, she did it easily. Being her target like that, Anon knew that it would be a difficult fight between her and his possessed self.
Gehrman was now standing beside him, looking off into the infinity, his hand on Anon's shoulder. "Don't be scared."
"I'm not scared. Well, I'm not scared that I'm going to die. I'm scared that I'm rooting for myself to die."
Celestia and Luna stood at the foot of the crashed train, some guards hauling the bodies of a few of the poor ponies caught up in the disaster. General Stonewall was seen running towards the Princess', stopping just in front of them. "Twilight Sparkle is not in the wreckage, and we have more sightings of him near Ponyville. What do you want us to do?"
Luna looked down at Ponyville, the small town becoming known for its controversies and non-stop attacks. "Rally the guards and send them down to Ponyville. Search the castle, and round up all of the elements and bring them to a secure location. Evacuate citizens of the town. If you find him, do not fight him if you can help it. Leave that to me and my sister." Luna said, looking at Celestia. Celestia nodded, reassuring her plan.
"Yes Princess'..." Stonewall said, running off to tell the guards what to do. Celestia looked down at the tracks, blood lining the metal rails.
"If Twilight is not within the wreckage, she might have survived and escaped." Celestia said.
"Or, she was foalnapped." Luna said, looking out towards Ponyville still. "Either way, we must not worry about that right now. There are dire things that require our attention, such as the murderer on the loose in one of our towns. Will you accompany me on the flight down, sister?"
"Yes, sister. Of course." Celestia said with a nod before leaping off the tracks and into the air with one powerful flap of her wings. Both sisters were airborne, rapidly approaching the small town before seeing the destruction that was already being caused. It seemed that in the small amount of time that the monster had gotten out of the train was just enough time to take out a few souls.
Both of them landed in the middle of the town, the surrounding buildings being lit on fire and some of them crumbling. The guards were already there, having evacuated most of the populace, or what was left of the living populace. A scream could be heard in the distance, causing both of the sisters to run in the direction of it. Turning the corner into a wide lane of the town, stood Anon.
Anon held his blade out, which was currently slicing through a poor mare's throat. He slowly let her body slide off the blade, before turning around to look at both the Princess'. His red eyes were gone, and replaced with dark purple eyes instead. His clothing was coated in a thick layer of blood, a few entrails being wrapped around him in disgusting patterns. His mask was up, but the sisters could tell he was smiling. He slowly lifted his sword and sheathed it into the hammer, bringing both of his arms out.
"I'd say I did a pretty good job decorating the place." He said.
"You vile creature... You're-"
"-not what? Anon? I still am Anon, Celestia. Let's just say I'm a... Mixture, of a lot of things right now. But that doesn't matter right now- no, what matters is that you're probably here to stop me, and I don't really feel like stopping. I know that you're here to fight. You want to cut me down- to purge the nightmare from my soul and to hopefully save who I am underneath, that right?"
Both sisters simply stared.
"Well- I don't think you're going to get that far."
"Where is Twilight." Luna asked, her voice monotone. Anon smirked, turning around.
"Where is Twilight?!" He asked, to which a few footsteps were heard behind the sisters. They both turned around to be met with Discord, holding Twilight in a bubble of magic.
"Discord?!" Celestia asked in disbelief whilst her sister took a fighting stance.
"Oh come now, you had to have known. What's chaos without a little bloodshed? I'm not here to fight you two- oh no no no, that's beneath me. That's his job. I'm simply a spectator~" Discord said before snapping his fingers, disappearing into nothingness along with Twilight. Both sisters turned their attention to Anon, who was pointing and laughing.
"Oh- oh you two look pissed! You guys look funny when your angry."
"I should've killed you in my chambers when I had the chance!" Luna yelled angrily.
Anon nodded. "Your right, you should've. And because of another failure of yours, hundreds are dead, but let's be real here Luna. It doesn't matter if they live or die- you've probably seen hundreds of generations in your time! All of them passing and living- what difference does it make to you? It doesn't affect how long you'll live. Let me turn this place into Yharnam, a Yharnam away from home, and you'll be able to rule over it as you desire."
Celestia took a step forward. "With blood-starved beasts roaming the streets, as you described your home before?"
Anon chuckled. "Mhm. No place like home, is there?"
"You MANIAC!" Luna yelled whilst sprinting towards him, her horn glowing a bright blue, summoning a spear of magic next to her that sliced at Anon. Anon jumped backwards, unsheathing his sword and swiping up, clashing with the spear of magic. Whilst they held both blades against eachother, Celestia took to the air, firing a barrage of fire-magic at him. With only a second to spare, he pushed against Luna's spear and fell to the floor, pushing himself underneath her. Yet before he could slash her stomach, she jumped into the air with a flap of her wings.
He looked at them with a smile underneath his mask, the both of them now on the floor, Luna's spear hovering next to her. "Weak. Pathetic. A shitty excuse for rulers and a waste of immortality. Your parents should've snuffed you in your cribs, saved you the trouble of real pain. You've never felt what that is, have you?"
Luna nodded her head. "Despite the colorful world we live in, we have fought many battles side by side. You undermine us, thinking we are weak. That will be your downfall."
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. I understand what I can change and what I cannot, Luna. Your life is one thing I can take away, no matter what you might try to do." Pulling his pistol from his holster, which had Timmy inscribed on the side of it, he chuckled once more. "I will be the judge of your life."
Luna sent the spear flying towards him, causing him to jump to the side. Celestia was already in the air by the time Luna had thrown the spear, and sent a beam of light-magic at his chest. He wasn't able to react in time and was hit by the laser, throwing him back a couple of feet with his clothing burning. Luna conjured up more spears, sending them flying at will, causing Anon to dodge them erratically.
He dove behind a crushed building, making both sisters lose line of sight, before Celestia felt a hot burning sensation in her wing. A moment later, she was tumbling to the floor, only to be caught by her sisters magic. Looking at her right wing, there was a hole in it, with blood pouring from it.
"You're not the only one with range!" Anon yelled from above. Luna looked up, spotting him on top of the building he dove behind, standing on rubble. Luna sent another spear at him, causing him to jump off the building and run off into the distance. She stared down at her sister, who was staring at her wing.
"Sister- how painful is it?"
"I-I can manage. It's nothing we haven't dealt with before. I'll just- I'll put a stasis on it for now. That should stop the bleeding for awhile." Celestia said, channeling energy into the wound. A magical seal was placed over it acting as a bandage, and she stood up, Luna's magic around her dissipating. "We need to find him."
That was when she noticed that Luna was no longer looking at her sister. "Luna? What's wrong?"
"Look, sister."
Celestia turned around to spot a whirling pool of blood appearing on the floor, and a woman dragging herself out. Once she was fully out, she stood up, making sure that all of her things were secure. She held a twin-blade in her hand, and she looked around for a moment before spotting the two sisters.
Luna got into a battle stance. "Who are you?!"
The woman brought her foot back, readying her blades. "I am Lady Maria, protégée of Gehrman, Relative of Annalise. I am here to kill Anon for betraying the Hunters Secret! Who are you?!"
Celestia and Luna looked at eachother.
Luna chuckled out of the madness that was occuring. "We are... on your side?"
Failure was only a small part of my existence. Funnily enough, succeeding in my mission was what brought me to this terrible end. To this dilemma I now face. It was succeeding that brought me to Gehrman, only to lose. It was success that brought me to slaughter even more of my fellow hunters who were maddened by their insight. It was success that brought me to this very situation.
Failure, despite being something I'm not very used to, I now find myself yearning for. Thinking back, to maybe if I didn't stumble upon the Hunters Secret. Perhaps if I didn't fight Ludwig I wouldn't have been terrified by his monstrous figure every night. Death to us Hunters is not swift, but a long, agonizing act of torture. Can I endure?
I hope so.
Maria approached Celestia and Luna, her face showing no emotion. Celestia and Luna stared at her with curiosity. Maria looked at Celestia's injured wing, and pulled out a small vial filled with blood. "Drink. It will make you feel better."
"I don't think-"
"DRINK!" Maria yelled, forcing it further into her face, causing Luna to flare her wings slightly. Celestia hesitantly grasped it in her magic and sipped it, immediately feeling the burning sensation on her wing. Small bits of it began to grow back already, though in a much more diluted white color than before. "I sense his presence nearby."
Luna wanted to ask many questions; but knew she would be unable to at the moment. The immediate problem was Anon, and defeating him. "My sister and I have had a run-in with him, possessed by a Nightmare demon. He is no longer himself."
"Whether or not he is possessed, his fate will remain the same." Maria said, holding both of her blades at her sides, looking up. "He's hiding nearby. He is not moving. He is waiting for us."
"How can you sense him?" Celestia asked.
"It's not that I can sense him, but I can smell his blood. A stale, burnt smell. That of a traitor."
Celestia and Luna shared a look before Maria whipped around the corner and began to run down the street, forcing both Princess' to follow. Maria was halfway down the street before she stopped suddenly, readying her blades. Celestia and Luna stopped just behind her. Celestia opened her mouth to speak before Maria immediately shushed her.
"Traitor! Where are you?!" Maria yelled, before a blood-stained Anon appeared at the end of the street, slowing walking towards them.
"Traitor? That's no way to greet an old friend, Lady Maria."
"You spoke." Maria said, pointing one of her blades in a confident stance. "You spoke about the Hunters secret. Your traitorous words emanated throughout time itself. What normally should be a job for your worlds Guardian of the clocktower, is delegated upon me. Why is that, Anon?"
Anon held his sword in his right hand, blood dripping off of the tip, his pistol in his left hand. He stopped, scratching his chin with his pistol. "Well, killing you the first time was decently easy. I mean- you were a corpse at the time. I'm sure you wouldn't be that hard to kill now. The two bitches in the back are just a minor inconvenience at this point."
Celestia growled underneath her breath. "To think we didn't kill you when we had the chance..."
"That's what this world has done to you Celestia." Anon said, twirling his sword before pointing it at Celestia. "You've become too trusting of people. Too... kind. Filled with 'friendship' and what-not. You've become naïve. Your world could do with some bloodshed."
Luna shook her head. "We've had generations upon generations of war. We made sure to end that!"
Anon chuckled. "Why? It would've taught your young ponies so much more. They're ignorant. The first thing they did when I came here was to run! Why?! They would've died anyways, why didn't they just try to fight? Instead they begged for their pathetic lives because they were taught you were going to save them! Which you CANT! You're not perfect."
Maria took a step closer. "Nobody is perfect, Anon."
"I am."
Anon aimed his pistol in one straight swift movement, firing off two bullets towards Maria, to which she reacted by rolling underneath the bullets. Celestia had managed to pull up a shield just in time to protect herself and her sister. Maria ran towards Anon, both blades at the ready. Anon stood there, waiting for her.
As soon as she was within thrusting distance, Anon lunged at her, causing her to shift off balance and fall to the floor. As soon as he was on top of her, he forced his pistol to her head, and his sword to her throat. Luna and Celestia, for whatever reason, stared at the two.
"You see Maria, you are still in training. You're not even a fraction as good as you were when I fought your corpse. Your nothing. Pathetic. You'll end up killing yourself because of your poor master, your poor mentor. He'll later use your body as inspiration for a doll that will serve his every need!"
"YOUR WRONG!" Maria yelled, trying to move underneath him, yet was unable to. Luna could not stare at the two any longer and began to run at them, before being stopped in her tracks as soon as Discord appeared in front of her. Discord licked his lips, staring at the two sisters.
"I'm not, dear Maria. You're a tragic case. A case of suicide. Depression. What it's like to be an imperfect woman in an imperfect world. To the point where the only thing you were useful for was sexual pleasure by your own MENTOR!"
Maria stared at him, searching for any hint of lying in his eyes, yet saw nothing, sensed nothing. "Y-Your lying! Your possessed- you're a damn traitor! Traitors lie!"
"DO THEY?!" Anon yelled as he knee'd her in the stomach, causing the air within her to push out. "I am nothing but a truth-giver. I speak what nobody else wants to hear. Your going to die like every other version of yourself. Your going to suffer the same fate- unless you help me."
"...W-...what?" Maria asked, her eyes turning from rage and sadness to confusion.
"Help me kill these two. Help me reap this world of happiness and show them the bloodiness that places like Yharnam have endured. If you do this- you will learn so much. The ability to finally surpass your mentor and stop that bastard Gherman from ruining your life. Let me help you."
"Your a traitor!" Maria repeated.
Luna and Celestia were still locking eyes with Discord, who smiled down at them. "Two little cockroaches scared of the shoe." Discord said to them, knowing that his presence alone was enough to scare both Princess', especially noting his now violent attitude.
"I might be a traitor- but your a coward. We can cure both of our problems right here, right now." Anon said, stepping off of her, and holstering his pistol. He offered her a hand to which she stared at, looking towards the two sisters before pulling herself up with Anon's help. Anon, with Maria now standing beside him, looked at the two sisters. He chuckled, taking a few steps towards them. "Funny how all it took was a bit of pushing to topple your world. I didn't even rampage cities- just one town. When your both in the ground, i'll salt the land that your corpse will be buried under, so not even the precious plants this world has can use you for fuel. I want you dead. I want you dead to the point that you will never be remembered. I want your history to be wiped. I want people to forget you exist. You won't be some child's nightmare fuel, you wont be some sort of story. You'll be GONE."
Luna glared at Anon whilst Celestia seemed taken aback, fear hidden behind her features. She was unlike her sister who hadn't lost her ways of war. Luna stepped forward, snarling towards Anon and Discord. "You both are going to die by my spear. You'll fade into nothingness like the pests you are! Nightmares are fueled by emotion, but they can only manipulate it. They can't generate more. My anger will match my will- and with that, I will make sure all of you never come back to destroy this world!"
Anon looked to the right, the sky showing hundreds of Pegasi in armor, whilst a wave of Royal Guard's stampeded into the town. It seemed that backup had arrived after evacuation efforts were finished, and Discord and Anon, along with Maria, were completely surrounded. The Guards kept their distance, not meaning to get in the way of the Princess'.
Anon smirked. "You think a couple hundred of your weaklings will stop anything? Their fear will destroy them alone. After I'm finished here, I'll find each and every schoolyard with your precious children playing about, and pluck them from their families to grieve over. You don't understand my motive, Luna. You never will. I'm beyond your comprehension. You are weak, and I..."
Anon looked into the sky, directly towards the sun with a smile underneath his mask. "I am a god."
Anon looked at Gehrman, his face sagging of depression. "What the fuck happens now?"
Gehrman sighed. "Fate is played out by the gods, in a roll of the dice sort of way. They dictate what will happen to you now depending on how they feel, unless they are persuaded. Persuasion is rather difficult, but I think I can find a way that might work."
"Anything! Please!"
"Our fight." Gehrman said, a spectral image of the both of them fighting played in front of them. "It was a battle of not only salvation, but persuasion. If you had won, you would've taken your place as the next of kin for the Eldritch's truth. Since you lost, you were... dealt with differently. I have the power to persuade them, but it must be fair. So-"
"If we want to win this, we have to fight again." Anon finished. "Sort of like a... Coma? They say if you die your dreams, you'll die in the real world. Is that how this will play out?"
Gehrman nodded, lifting up a finger. "Yes, but it must be fair. If they sense any holding back, or an unfair fight, it wont do anything. If we wish to hopefully save you, we must follow the rules. We first much decide what each of us winning would entail."
"Well- if I win I get to just... keep living, right?"
Gehrman shook his head. "No. It must keep within the boundaries of your current self- your possessed self. You aren't in a position where everything ends nicely."
Anon sighed, shaking his head. "So what, I just... In order for my current self to stop going on a murder spree, I have to lose this fight? To die?"
Gehrman shook his head. "Maybe you don't need to die. We can make that my wish."
Anon nodded. "So, if I kill you, I die..."
"Yes."
"And if you kill me, I survive."
"Yes."
"FUCK!" Anon yelled, shaking his head. "This- this is literal torture! This isn't a question anyone should answer!"
Gehrman nodded. "It is the gods final wish upon you. To enact a sort of... torture. They are dirty creatures, designed to make life unbearable. It does not surprise me that this is something they would force upon you in your, or my, final moments. A sad ending either way."
Anon looked out into the open nothingness for what felt like the thousandth time, and watched the clouds move slowly. He knew what must be done, and turned towards Gehrman with a nod. "Then we'll play by their shitty rules. We don't have a choice, do we?"
"Often times, we do not." Gehrman said, his scythe appearing in his hands, whilst Anon's hand suddenly gripped upon a sword. "That is simply the universe we live in. We are the true winners for bearing it for so long. They are the losers in their own game."
Anon pointed his sword at Gehrman. "Then let's be the best winners possible. Let's rewrite history."
God may you look upon my soul, gaze into my life with eternal damnation, know that I was born to be this way, end the hellish reign of blood.
Discord felt something within himself, a sharp pain of sorts. With a gasp, he fell to the floor, a flash appearing next to him with an unconscious Twilight now on the floor. He looked back, staring at Anon, his mouth open with shock. Anon, whilst staring at the sky, was stabbed through the chest by Maria, her sword leaking blood.
Playing by the rules was not an option; and Maria took on the act of being an ally, even if it meant acting like she was forced into compliance. Playing off of her own 'fear' to sate the Nightmare worked wonderfully, and Anon looked down at the blade that currently impaled him. She pushed it deeper once he looked at her. "I don't remember gods being able to bleed!"
With a weak groan, Anon's legs began to falter, and he dropped to his knee's, forcing Maria's sword out of himself as he did so. Discord groaned, trying to pull himself up, but couldn't. He snapped his fingers, trying to do something with them, but nothing happened. He looked down at his chest, a wound mimicking the same as Anon's had appeared, and black, hot blood began to pour out of him.
Luna and Celestia looked at the scene unfolding in front of them, confused. Celestia had gone to aid Twilight, whilst Luna simply stared at what was happening. The feeling of the Nightmare possessing Anon dissipated. Now, it was Anon who was suffering from the stab wound.
Anon groaned, looking around with hazy eyes, before his eyes landed upon Maria. She looked at him with disdain, but he simply smiled. "You... you look just... as good as I remember..!" He said with a weak laugh, blood spilling from his mouth as he fell onto his back. Luna slowly approached Anon, stepping over Discords body.
"Anon, you are... You are free from the nightmare but-"
"I'm dying." Anon said plainly, looking at the hole in his chest. "Yeah... that usually happens when... your stabbed through the chest."
"Making jokes on your deathbed?"
"I may be dying, Luna." Anon said, his eyes focusing on the sky above. "But I righted... one last wrong... one last failure. Beating him was... was the last thing I wanted to do. I achieved it, even at the expense of myself dying."
Luna shook her head. "You are speaking strangely, Anon. Is... there any way we can dull the pain?"
Maria looked at the princess. "You are on his side? After that?"
Luna shook her head again. "You misunderstand. Anon here was possessed by a nightmare- a demon of sorts. That is what caused him to say those things. I have had it happen to myself before."
Maria looked down at Anon, before shaking her head. "You still spoke the secret."
Anon chuckled, blood spitting outwards. "You won't care about the secret for much longer... I have a word of advice for you, Maria. Abandon your mentor. He'll just-" Anon coughed again, resulting in even more blood spilling from his mouth. "-he'll just be your downfall. Rise taller than he did. Fuck the church- and fuck the hamlet."
"You as a hunter swore to never speak of it!"
"I don't even remember becoming a hunter Maria. I just always... was. I don't remember much before that. As if... I'm cursed to never remember. To live the nightmare's of Yharnam to hopefully gain back some sort of peace..."
Maria kneeled down next to him. "And have you found peace, Anon?"
"Not in Yharnam... but here. I can die looking at the bright sky, instead of the bleak clouds. I can be free."
Luna stared down at what now was Anon's corpse, his eyes staring at the sky, his body limp. For someone so interesting, yet violent in their world, his end was rather... simple. A play on his life, perhaps. The opposite of his actions. Luna turned around, seeing Celestia talking to Twilight.
Two guards began to bag Discords corpse. Luna turned to Maria. "I do not know who you are, but I am glad you helped us. It is appreciated, and you will have full support of anything you may need help with. I assume you come from the same place as he?" Luna said, casually referring to Anon, even when dead.
"Yes." Maria answered. "Not the same exact place, but very much similar. I must get back- this will have been one of my first few ventures out into the wilderness that the messengers call home, and I must report to Gehrman." She said, before pulling out a sheet of paper.
It had strange designs on them, and she placed it to her forehead. Yet, it didn't work. She looked down at it and tried again, yet to no avail. "Something is wrong. These never fail."
When she looked back up, there was nobody around. The entire village had disappeared, and she was alone in a grassy field. She looked around for a few seconds, utterly confused. "W-What... What the..."
She turned around, only to see a jolly fellow in medieval-looking armor. His helmet made of steel, his chestplate showing a burning sun with a strange face on it, and his demeanor showing peace. He practically resonated peace. "Now this is certainly something. Who would've known that I would find another human in such a place! Say; you look like a friend of mine. Chester I think his name was."
He reached his hand out, Maria still trying to process everything that was happening. "What is your name, dear woman?"
