Trail advances slowly towards the hollows, blocking the occasional crossbow bolt. The barricades near the ledge smashes down, revealing three more Hollows.

"Shit..." Trail Breeze realizes he is hopelessly outnumbered, he turns around to see five Hollowed Soldiers approaching from where he came.

"Damn that crestfallen pony..."

Trail begins his shielded advance when he realizes that there is no escape, after all what's gonna happen? Death? He swings at the first hollow that comes within his range, blood sprays across his face as the hollow falls dead. Trail realizes he got a lucky strike, decapitating the soulless husk. He feels a sharp pain in his side, and he already knows the pain sensation, a bolt has pierced his armor and his coat. He pulls it out and tosses it aside, just in time to parry an attack from a spear wielding husk. After a quick riposte that didn't kill the soldier, only wounding him, The former officer turns his attention to the cross-archer, keeping his shield in front of him while dodging attacks from all over, he makes his way to the bastard, each bolt that hits the weak shield sends Trail staggering. A quick slash and chop and the little shite falls dead with little resistance. Trail Breeze feels his side for his wound, more blood is pouring out more than ever, weariness begins to take over as he attacks another hollow, this begins to prove fatal as the warrior outsmarts him somehow and bashes his muzzle in with his shield, he falls to the ground. As he begins to lose more and more blood, his vision begins to fade, a figure with shiny metal armor falls from the sky with a shiny curved blade, riddled with spikes that were meant to flay skin and bone. It doesn't take long for the figure to slay the remaining husks.

After its all over, Trail looks over to his savior, darkness begins to cloud his vision, afore long he passes out for lack of blood before he can make out the facial features of his masked friend.

<><><>

Waking up in a daze, he finds out that he has a blanket draped over him. As he tries to get up, a sword against his gullet keeps him down.

"Sit down, don't make any movements, or ill slice you." She says, the sword is different then the other one.

"Ok, lets not do anything we might regret... I don't mean you any harm." Trail spits out nervously. The sharp end of the sword against his throat pressed harder.

"And how do I know your not a Dark Wraith? Sent to kill me by that dark-sucking snakebitch? I only saved you because I wanted answers. And answers....im gonna get. After this is all over im going to decide whether to release you. Or cut your head off and let you awaken some place else and die again. If we have a problem with that then you have a problem with that. Understood?" She says, using her magic to levitate her flayer-o-skin, sharp end point at Trail Breeze.

"Listen you have wrong idea, im not who you think I am. Let no-"

"BULLSHIT! Tell me who you are! NOW! Before I-" Her screaming is cut short by a dagger running across her neck, not killing her, just showing she will die if she isn't careful. A thick Spanish voice pipes up.

"Baje sus espadas, mejillas dulces. Let the stallion go before WE have problems." The swords clang to the floor.

Trail Breeze gets up to see his second rescuer, this is starting to piss him off, first she saves him, then almost kills him, then a another stallion appears who might betray him aswell. He looks at the stallion, and he cant believe his eyes. Its Anvil!

"Anvil?"

"Ahhh Trail Breeze, short time no see eh?" Anvil says, still holding the razor sharp dagger to the mares neck.

"How did you find me this bucking town is.....confusing."

"Crestfallen asshole told me where you would be. He said you needed help."

"Well im glad your here and not..... dead I guess." Trail Breeze said. Picking up the flayer-o-skin. It looks very much like a flamberge.

"Well what do we do with miss lovely face over here?"

"Screw you." She said.

"I don't know.... I.... She saved me only to try and kill me. What is your name?" He asks, putting down the flamberge and strolling over to a nearby bonfire, rubbing his throat.

"What do you care? Dark Wraith. I-"

"Im not a Dark Wraith, for Celestias sake I don't know what hell that is." Trail said... This caused both the hostaged mare and the Spanish stallion to look at him.

"Show me your hoof." She said.

"What?" Trail retorted.

"Show me your hoof.... Darkwraiths have a thing, it.... is imbued in their hooves.... I can tell when somepony has it... Show me your hoof and ill might calm down...." She said, knife beginning to dig into her throat.

Trail, reluctantly, held out his hoof.... Moments pass as the mare looks it over, before sighing a relief.....

"Happy now?" Trail asked.

"Very... Would you be kind in letting me go? If your not a Darkwraith, then I pose no threat to you." She asked kindly. As if this never happened. Trail nods at Anvil, who reluctantly lets her go with a push. She clangs to the ground in her shiny armor.

"Oof.... *Ahem* Thank you, Anvil, was it?" She says.

"Whats your name?" Trail asks, still eyeing her flamberge.

"Dame Glimmering Sunset. Knight of nothing, prey of the Darkwraiths, and doomed mare, at your service." She says, as gleefully as possible. Like any of it is a good thing. Oblivious to the confrontation that just passed.

"Alright then good. Now tell me, what is a Darkwraith?" Trail asks, Sunset looks at him. Anvil, knowing Trail is new here, just sighs. Sunset walks over to the doorway that leads outside, the corpses the hollows she slaughtered when Trail fainted were visible down the stairs. And the bridge with hollows overlooking it stands quiet.

"The Darkwraiths...... They are monsters.... Evil..... They steal your Equinanity, and leave you a hollow shell of your former self...." She says.

"Si, they are... The bane of Ponies, and the bane to light. Those bastardos aim to usher in the Age of Dark, and destroy us all..." Anvil adds. Trail looks down... His wounds mended from the Estus she gave him. Dry blood stains his coat though, might as well be a crimson coat now. He looks back up at Sunset. She is staring at something.

"When a Darkwraith invades you, you had better hope.... You live to tell the tale, all it takes is to be slain once by them to go hollow. Upon death, you lose everything. Your Equinanity, your thoughts, your dreams, you hope... Your sanity." She says, still eyeing something... Trail finally speaks up.

"You.... though I was one of those things?" He asks..

"Paranoia is a common thing in Lordran.... IF your smart, you'll try develop it too. It can save your life." She says. Anvil looks at her, an eyebrow raised.

"You said you were prey of the Darkwraiths.... Why is that, chica?" He asked. Trail looked at her too.

"Somethings can only be shared by friends... Close friends..... Lets just say something happened that involved me and I killed a high ranking wraith. Now, im doomed. Leave it at that." She says.

"But-" Trail pipes up, she is quick to shut him up.

"I SAID DROP IT!" She yelled. Trail is taken back at this.... Anvil, startled, looks at Trail nervously. He returns the gaze...

"Well.... Uhh, lets get some rest? Has been a long day. For all of us.... Rest would be nice." He says...

"Agreed. Ill keep on watch for now, Anvil, we will rotate shifts for now, Trail doesnt look competent enough for simple combat." Sunset says, earning a glare from Trail.

Trail knocks over a nearby sack, plenty of them in the room, as it is quiet big. Filled with crates and barrels and sacks and bucket... He rests his head on it, slumber is quick to fall upon him.

And soon, snoring fills the room.

<><><>

Trail awakes, fully refreshed. Anvil is nowhere in sight. And GIimmer is over at the doorway. Eyes focuses on something out of his sight.

"Morning." She said. Not even looking at him.

"*yawn* Morning..... Where is Anvil?" He asks, drowsily. Eyes bloodshot.

"He is off scouting. Seems to be his knack. He said he will meet up with us later." She said. The stare is starting to bug Trail.

"Ok, what the tartarus. What are you staring at?!" Trail asks, frustrated.

"Hollows are up on a platform overlooking the bridge. They have piles of firebombs up there, and the bridge is the only way to go. We will be engulfed." She said. Trail looks at the stairs, observing... A thought for an alternate route comes to mind.... But then he sees the crumbled part. That pretty much ushers away the thought.

"We are burning precious daylight, lets move." She said, grabbing her flamberge, which was propped up against the wall. She lowers he helmets faceplate. Trail follows, his weapon already at his side.

They move towards the bridge, Trail takes a step forward onto it, but Sunset grabs hims and yanks him back, a firebomb exploding where he once was. He stands back up and looks at the Hollows.... Staring back at him with their soulless eyes. An idea comes to his mind....

"Move! Dont be slow!" He yells, and dashes across the bridge. Firebombs exploding all around him. Soon enough, the bridge is engulfed by the fire... Sunset watches for any signs of life... Swearing under her breath. Then, the smoke dissipates, revealing a figure. Its Trail, he made it to the other side. He waves her over, but she shakes her head.

"Take care of those things! My armor would slow me down, Id be cooked alive!" She said, pointing at the Hollows on the vantage point. Trail nods. 'Time for the training to pay off.' He thought. He unsheathes his sword and spins around, spotting a cell door leading to some stairs.... He slowly advances to it and attempts to open it. It wont budge. 'Great.' A noise sends Trail into defensive mode, he turns to face it. A heavily armored hollow kicked an unseen door in, and shambles in with a spear. He charges Trail, spear at the ready, and left foreleg holding a shield. Trail, thinking quickly, strafes right and avoids being impaled. His eyes widened quickly when the Hollow turns to meet Trail. 'This one isn't as slow as the others...' He thought.

Trail raises his sword and slashes at the Hollow, but it lifted its shield and repelled the attack, then responded with a thrust of its spear. Trail, acting too slow, takes a stab for his troubles.... 'Damn armor! This shit doesnt help at all!' Trails thoughts screamed. The Hollow reared up for a second assault, which was to bring the spear down on Trails skull, but Trail was ready this time, and lifted his sword, and was locked in a stalemate as his sword kept the spear from piercing his skull. The Hollow glared into Trails eyes, and Trails eyes narrowed. He brought up his hoof and slammed it into the Hollows jaw, a sickening snap was heard. It slumped to the ground, and did not make a move. 'At least it was still as fragile.' Trail thought. He looked at the shield and grabbed it. Pain wracking his body as he reached for it. Though he wasnt bleeding, the pain was great. He walked over the body and headed towards the door. He could see Sunset, out of reach, but not out of sight. She was polishing her flamberge, faceplate still down. He looked up, he could see the Hollows up there, with the firebombs, they were staring at her.

Finding some stairs, he ascended them and at the top, he found a group of Hollows, one armed with a battleaxe, one with a Sword, and one had a pouch of firebombs. 'Shit.' The battleaxe Hollow charges him, Trail raises his shield to meet the axe. They met with a crash, and Trail felt a shockwave reverberate through his bones. Trail thrusts his sword into the Hollows exposed stomach. It falls over, dead. A firebomb explodes on the shield, burning Trails hooves. He refuses to let go of the shield as the sword brandishing Hollow rushes him. Trail levels his shield and crashes into the Hollow, knocking him down, Trail finishes it off by plunging his sword into the Hollows skull. He hears something fall over, Trail looks over at the source. The firebomb hollow fell over. A knife in its neck. Anvil is standing behind.

"Mi Amigo, where is Sunset? Why are you alone?" He asked. Was he seriously worried about her?

"She is ok, those firebomb Hollows have her pinned, so she asked to take care of them." Trail said.

"Those bastards? Right. Uhhhhh." He says, as he looks around.

"Theres a ladder over there, the Hollows up there. Come one lets go." Trail said, starting towards the ladder.

They both climb the ladder, and the four Hollows, ignorant of the stallions behind them, stare down at the mare. Anvil takes out a knife and starts slowly to the nearest Hollow. Trails hook his shield onto his armor and takes out his sword, then he follows Anvils lead. He grabs the Hollow and holds his mouth shut, then slits its throat. He falls off the ledge and a sickening splat is heard. Then Anvil throws the knife and it lands in the head of the second Hollow. This alerts the other two, who turn to face us, but not fast enough as Trail charges them, knocking one off the ledge, and staggering the other, who throws a punch at the faster Trail. Trail thrusts his sword into the throat of the Hollow. It then joins its brothers off the ledge.

Author's Note

Two fucking years.... What the hell have I been doing?
Time to get back to this. More combat oriented mumbo jumbo is gonna start happening.

EDIT: 6/24/2016, found some bullshit typos and fixed em. I need to pay more attention.