Princess Luna wandered across the Dreamscape, searching for the place far away from Equestria's conglomeration of dreams where she encountered the strange creature known as Hunter. The time for Equestrian midnight was approaching slowly as she looked around for anything that could help her find her destination.

'You're here.' A whisper echoed in her mind, making her freeze in mid-step. She whipped her head wildly looking for the one who addressed her, not finding the source of the voice made her feel unsettled. With a huff she said out loud.

"If you are going to talk to me, then you shall better show yourself." She kept checking her surroundings, or lack of them, waiting for the disembodied voices to talk to her once again as she lit up her horn preparing a defensive spell.

'There's no need for hostilities, your Highness, after all we're just doing what you asked us to.' Said the same voice, or voices in this case, it sounded like an amalgamation of several entities talking at unison. They continued, 'If you please, look down upon us, mere servants of the hunter, the last of his kind left with most of his humanity. We just follow orders from those above us.'

And look down she did, giving a small yelp as her hoof shot up to her chest as a result of the startling sight of the messengers speaking to her. Clearing her throat and regaining her not so unfaltering poise, she said to the beings sprouting from the floor.

"I apologise for that, little ones. It was unfit of me to act that way towards you, but you should know that I have to be very cautious in this realm." Changing the topic, she asked. "I guess Hunter is ready to talk, right?"

'That he is, your Highness, we just sent a signal so he could come.' Said the messengers as they spread apart from the center of the small manifestation of burbling quicksilver they were in. A lantern slightly taller than them slowly rose from the ground giving a soft glow, indicating it was ready to fulfill its purpose. 'If we were so bold to ask, what would you wish to know about our master?' They asked, all of them raising their heads to look the princess in the eye with the best hopeful smiles they could make with their disfigured faces.

"My intentions are to know whatever information necesary to determine if he can be trusted. Since my fellow princesses aren't avaliable at the moment, they asked me to get some of their worries to rest in their behalf." Luna responded, enraptured with the lantern glowing a little brighter by the minute.

A little brighter...

A little more brighter...

...

Clearing her throat and turning her eyes to the messengers, she asked "So... how long does he take to get here?"

'It takes a while, actually...' Some of the messengers were looking at the lamp, already knowing of the dreaded loading time it required to link the hunter to the Dreamscape. Other ones were awkwardly rubbing an arm, looking around for something to catch their attention while one of them imitated the recient action Luna did. 'Maybe it's taking longer than usual because he wasn't asleep.'

"Oh well..." Idly pawing the non-existent floor with a hoof, she recalled the priorities of her incoming questioning. The most important thing she had to know was where did he came from and what is his background. If what Twilight said was right, then she probably was facing one of the most advanced creatures in the world in terms of technology and science, and therefore, a very dangerous species far more chaotic than Discord could hope to be.

Slowly, but surely, the silohuette of Hunter appeared in a kneeling position. He raised his head and addressed the princess, not changing his pose.

"Hello again, Princess Luna. I guess I owe you some answers." He rose up and looked at the messengers still watching them with enraptured attention. "It seems like you have met my faithful freinds."

"Well met, human. There's no need for kneeling, you are not under mine nor my sister's jurisdiction. And yes, while I waited for your arrival your servants and I talked for a little bit." said Luna. With her wing she gestured him to start walking towards the equestrian side of the Dreamscape. "As much as I'd like to satisfy my curosity, I still have duties to fulfill. Come, if you will."

"Hm?... Oh, I'm just in this position because teleportation makes me dizzy and I don't want to lose my balance when I arrive." said Hunter, before realizing that the princess was already a few feet away.

"Get moving, my schedule is very tight as it is!" Shouted Luna from the growing gap between them.

Not being one to be left behind, he ran to reach the alicorn and asked "So, do you know what you want to talk about?"

"Indeed." she said, keeping her eyes on the steadily growing expanse of dreams of her subjects. "My fellow princesses and I wish to know basically everything about you."

"...Why?"

"Because you are dangerous. If what I saw the first time we talked was any indication, it was the fact you managed to defeat a basilisk single-handed without much trouble." She let out a sigh, "This is not something we can just shrug off and say it doesn't matter.

"Now for the first question, how come we didn't know about your existence until a couple of days ago?"

With a bit of hesitation he answered. "Well Princess, to answer that question I'll have to tell you where I'm currently residing." He carefully chose his words, he exactly didn't know how his existence has been unnoticed by the bystanders and the travellers who went to and fro in Ashen Nest.

But he had a few speculations of his own.

"During the past couple of years I've been living in a town far away from Equestria, near Griffonstone. I am currently a local warden to ensure the safety of the people from some of the creatures lurking in the near forest, so-"

"So you mean you work as a cop and animal control?" The princess interrupted.

A little displeased with the rude interruption of the royal, Hunter continued, "Yes, you could say that. And sometimes I do more than the usual things any other guard does in town." He paused, letting his statement sink in. "I suppose the lack of knowledge of my presence is because I patrol the areas near said forest."

"That still does not answer my question" Observed Luna, still looking ahead at their destination.

"What I'm saying is that ever since I arrived, I've been hearing some of the locals not calling me by my name, or even species. It's possible they just think I'm just part of the local fauna." He said with a shrug, hoping his guess was convincing enough for Luna.

"HA!, I don't think somepo-one might think of you as a mere animal." She said amused with the speculation of his companion. "But do go on, some of the rumors my ponies tell are quite imaginative. One time in Ponyville they though a zebra was evil just because of her looks. I mean, zebras are not very distinct from ponies, they just have a different culture and color scheme."

"That they do," responded Hunter in kind. "Anyway, ever since I started working there, some rumors began to run among the place. Something they call the 'Monster of Ashen Nest' or a 'Freak' as they eloquently put it. Honestly, I don't think I'm that hideous..." '...am I?' He mentally added.

"Hmm... That title does ring a bell, I do believe I have heard that before." Said Luna, stroking her chin with a hoof as she tried to remember whether or not she recognized the nickname. Not wanting to waste much time, she settled with asking her sister if she knew of a simmiliar gossip regarding the matter.

Getting back at the matter at hand/hoof, Princess Luna decided to resume the questioning with one of Celestia's biggest concerns.

"Are you sure you are the only human in Equis?"

Taking a deep breath, he looked away from the dreams. So peaceful, so pure, untouched by the Old Blood, the scourge of the beasts. "I'm as sure as hopeful I'm the only one." He let out a shaky sigh. "I can't even begin to fathom what can happen if another yharnamite, or any kind of their incluence for that matter, were to contact this lands."

"So low you think of your species you wish to be alone forever?" She inquired, intrigued by his statement.

'Might as well stop beating around the bush.' He considered. It was time to reveal the facts behind his arrival to Equis.

"No, Princess..." He recalled his awakening at Iosefka's clinic, his journey through Yharman and the weakening logic of reality. His last fight and his biggest failure, Gherman's body dissipating and his mind awakening, freed from the dream and...

IT.

Realizing he had zoned out in mid-answer, he shook his head, clearing the fog from his thoughts. He sighed again, softer this time. He turned to the alicorn who was still waiting his response, still watching over the light irratiated from the dreams.

"I have a feeling you want to know how I got here, right?"

"You are correct. That topic has been lingering in my mind."

"Then let me give you some insight on my situation with a question of my own. What happens to your physical body when you dreamwalk?" He asked while he reached to his bag, the sound of an impossibly big ammount of items clinking and knocking into each other filled the air as he waited for his response.

"That's an easy question, I use a spell that allows my consciousness to roam outside my body, leaving it in the real world in the safety of my cahmbers." She said, proud of the spell she had made so many centuries ago. "That also lets my body rest so I can stay awake during some time of the day."

The human stopped rummaging through the items of his bag, then he pulled out a small skull, a human skull, not bigger than the palm of his hand. Luna could feel something coming from it, a soft glow flickering from the eye sockets emiting whispers of dozens of voices speaking all at once making it impossible to understand their meaning.

"So you are not exactly here." He muttered to himself. "I, on the other hand, am here in blood, flesh and bone. So I can do things here that you cannot, no matter how powerful nor skilled you are."

Not amused wit his implication, she asked with a raised eyebrow. "Mind giving me an example?"

"With pleasure your Highness." He motioned at his hand containing the little skull. "I can bring material objects from the real world. I never know when I might need my weapons and tools. Also I found out that the enviomental magic of this world has affected how some of my items work." He balled up his hand into a fist, crushing the bone as easily as if it was an egg and making it to release a hazy blue mist. "This thing, for example, is a madman's knowledge, normally it would just let me see what lies beyond the limits of the common eye. Yet here, let's say it will give you a little insight on my situation."

"What do you mean?" Asked the puzzled princess, looking with awe as the mist began to swirl in front of them, creating a small window-like hole in the ground. She gasped at what she saw.

Within the misty borders of the window she saw a medical ward. A very old, filthy and dark medical ward.

As far as she could see in the dimly lit room, she spotted the wooden planks that made up the floor were starting to rot under the numerous bloodstains of previous treatments. Shards of broken glasses lay scattered across the room, reflecting the light of the lamps hagnging from the walls. Said walls fared a little better, except for a few chips on them, the stone supporting the weight of the building held strong. Some bookshleves were filled with books, some of them were almost empty, their contents were either piled on top of each other or were littering the floor with broken spines and discarded pages. The medical equipment appeared to be old, outdated by at least a century or so compared to the equestrian one. Lastly, in front of a lonely chair and a small table, there were a few beds lying along the wall opposite to the bookshelves with a correspondent I.V. pole next to each one of them.

Then she saw the human strapped onto one of the beds, an I.V. line connected his arm to a sizable bottle of coagulating blood hanging from a pole. He was wearing a hood to cover his face, a white shirt, black trousers held in place with an odd-looking belt and black shoes. The being squirmed in his binds trying to free himself to no avail with a panicked determitation.

"Is that you?" Gasping, the princess said. "This is a memory isn't it? Normally to show one the caster has to be very skilled and have hours of preparation before casting this kind of spell."

"That's right, and only very trained and skilled unicorns can cast spells while asleep." He pointed at the remants of bone scattered on the ground, "But I am not asleep and this item I brought with me can let me explain some of the things happening over there" he then ponited at the projection. His past self now struggling even harder at the sight of a scourge beast coming out of a pool of blood in front of him, attempting to reach him with a wickedly long claw. "Luckily for you, I will answer any doubts you may have during this exposition. Instead of trying to figure out while fighting for your life, like I did."

"I imagine being thrust in a world with little to no knowledge of anything must be very disorienting." Concluded Luna, keeping her attention as the wolf-looking beast suddenly caught on fire and was reduced to ashes by some invisible force.

Once the threat was somehow dealt with, the messengers appeared from beneath the panicking patient's bed and crawled to his sides. He reacted as any other sane person would if they were unfortunate enough to end up in the same ciscumstances. He yelled in a not very manly manner and passed out. Making the whole scene turn black due to the lack of stored information in the memory.

Meanwhile in the Dreamscape, a human was glaring by the corner of his eye at the alicorn as the corner of her mouth tried to curl up into a slimmer of a smile.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. It wasn't my proudest moment, and to be fair, I was still green at the concept of fucked up shit happening for no reason." Crossing his arms he looked straight at his memory, then his eyes widened as he took notice of the fact he just swore in front of a princess, one that was assesing his demeanor.

"Uhh... sorry for the language, your Highness."

With her laughing fit under control, she merrilly said, "Worry not, Hunter. One does not lives for thousands of years without hearing the occasional slip of the tongue. Please, feel free to speak your mind."

"Fine." He cleared his throat. "Moving on to the first thing I learned: I knew how to read any document I could find. I don't know why, but I understood the doodles and scribbles I found even before I knew what language it was."

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The memory now showed the human freed from the binds of his resting place, he walked up to the chair in the room. A yellowed piece of paper caught his attention. Its contents revealing a contract.

Iosefka's Old Blood treatment clinic.

The present document will hereby bind the existence of the outsider to seek and slaughter Paleblood and trascend the hunt. In exchange of his/her involvement in Yharnam's holy quest, the Blood treatment will be applied in order to cure his/her: Tuberculosis.

In the case he/she succeeds in the established task, or were to fall to the curse of beasthood, the present document shall be considered as fulfilled, releasing the patient from the hunt for the rest of their days.

"I wonder who is the poor gu-" The human in the memory said as he reached the end of the document, reading:

This contract is for the waste of skin in the bed number 2.

--The execution of the blood transfusion was made under the supervision of the local Blood Minister.

He looked back at the beds, surely enough, he was the number 2.

"Damn it."

Electing to not stay there for more time than it was necessary, he went to a door placed in the right side of the room. After twisting the knob and trying to push it only for it to not budge. Then he tried to open another door in the opposite end of the habitation, lit with a lamp perched in the wall. Thankfully, the door opened revealing a flight of stairs going down to the first floor, apparently he has been in some sort of attic this entire time.

As he went downstairs, he heard the sounds of growling, scratching of something hard against wood, and more puzzlingly so, the sound of something wet splattering on a surface. Dread filled his entire being as each step seemed to last longer than the previous one as he neared the source of the noises.

The entrance of the next floor made known his new surroundings, not too different from the second floor. The only differences he could find were the more numerous sets of medical equipment, research material and furniture in, the apparent, living room.

That and the fact that the same beast from before was now eating from the corpse of an old man, the clothes now unrecognizable leaving only a few bandages covering the dead body's eyes. Strangely enough, the sight of the odd wrappings was something familiar to him, as if he had seen it before.

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"The second thing I've learned; If somebody is eating somebody else, you might be the next in the menu." Said Hunter, while he deadpanned with his arms crossed as they kept watching the memory play out.

Ignoring his sad excuse of a joke, Luna pondered over how can a blood transfusion cure a sickness in such a manner. She voiced her concern, "Is that why you got there? You were sick?"

"Yes, from what I gathered in my journey, Yharnam was a forgotten town that harbored the secrets of a cure-all method. The blood of Yharnam was miracle of medicine, not a lot of people knew were it came from, but it was a succesful enough way to heal any ailments that rumors spread out to the surrounding citites and towns where I probably came from."

"If it was that effective, then why-"

"I'll tell you about it in a little bit, now something important is happening." Pouting, Luna reluctantly redirected her gaze to the memory.

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Fear destroyed any resemblance of his resolve to go on as he saw the beast feasting on the dead body, possibly the Blood Minister,oblivious to the new potential meal who just walked in during its feeding.

Desperate, he searched for a way out. Going back to the second floor meant no chances of survival as he remembered the locked door he tried to open a few minutes ago. A stroke of luck rewarded him as he saw a set of stairs going upwards to a door that lead outside the building. But there was a little detail that complicated his escape.

The beast was between him and safety.

Painstakingly slow steps made the broken floorboards creak as he moved by the side of the room, his back tightly pressed against the bookshelves covering the walls. He was trying his earnest to avoid getting the attention of the eating animal.

Sadly it was not enough as his foot accidentally crushed a small empty vial, its sound ringing all over the habitation.

Ears perked up. A snout was lifted and took a deep whiff in the air. A growl rumbled the walls. A chunk of half chewed flesh fell to the ground with a wet splat.

He only had time to jump to the side, safely rolling to a stop as the lupine creature lunged at his position. He didn't dare to look back when he heard claws tearing apart the unfortunate wood and paper behind him.

He did a mad dash to his way to freedom, he could feel the heavy, damp stench of the beast's raggedy breathing trying to catch up on him.

"Don't look back, don't look back, don'tlookbackdon'tlookback!" He repeated as his salvation was almost at hands reach.

"FUCK!" He yelled when his cloak was being yanked back, making him trip and fall to the ground and pulled him away from his objective. As he was dragged on the floor he flailed his legs in an attempt to kick his assaulter to no avail. Realizing he didn't stand a chance, he resigned himself to accept his end was near.

Razor-sharp teeth pierced his clothes and skin, his flesh and bones. A fresh coating of blood now adorned the proximities the moment the outsider expired.

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"YOUD DIED?!" Exclaimed the princess, no completely comprehending how a person who died, for some time ago at that, was standing right beside her in he same moment and realm of reality.

"It was the first time of many," he sighed, "it is still a thing I can do whenever I hunt in the Dreamscape. If I fall in battle, I'll be expulsed from the dream to start all over again until I manage to defeat whatever is cursing it.

"Apparently death was the entrance ticket to get in the hunter's dream, Gehrman's to be specific." He pulled out a small badge with a symbol in it and showed it to Luna.

"Who is this Gehrman you're speaking of?" She said as she analized the item.

"... A friend..." He sounded crestfallen, the sense of guilt growing in his gut as he recalled the end of the old hunter. "I'm sorry, but I don't feel like talking about him until I show you who he was."

"I shall respect your wishes." She responded in kind, focusing back in the memory.

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"Ugh... Where am I?" A voice said, coming from the body laying prone on the cobblestone path under the white sky. His limbs stirred as he struggled to get up. Apparently, coming back to life wasn't very comfortable as he regained his senses, pain and soreness being the only feedback on his nervous system.

Whe he regained his senses, he took in his surroundings. Everything from the graves beside the cobblestone path leading up to, what he supposed it was, a house on top of a small hill. To his left a slumped humanoid form sitting on a small stone wall caught his attention.

At first glance, it appeared to be some sort of mannequin. Upon further inspection, the item was revealed to be a doll in the shape of a woman with silvery hair and carefully carved features. The limbs, while limp at the moment, showed an accurate range of movement as the articulations seemed to be crafted with the utmost knowledge of human anatomy. The doll wore a plain black and red dress and a hood that covered the top of its head, leaving the face free for all to see.

"Why is this here?" He pondered. "Who would make something like this to just leave it out of their home?"

Once finished his brief observation on the strange doll, he went up to the house to see if someone could help him figure out what was going on. On his first steps, he noticed something shiny and, like a moth to a flame, he walked up to watch it closely. He backstepped once he found out who were holding the shiny object, that up close now resembled a small white ball of fire.

"You!" He shouted, pointing down at them with a trembling hand. "What are you doing?"

The one of the small creatures beckoned him with a frail limb to come closer and touch the item. With nothing to lose, he obeyed. Now in front of him, three objects lay on the ground. A cane, a saw and an axe. They were giving him something to defend himself.

"Oh... thanks, but... I don't know how to use them."

A few more gestures of the mysterious beings finnally convinced him to pick one, the cane.

"Ok, I'll try this one first. If I don't like it, I'll get to the next one." The top of the cane was made of a white wood, smooth and polished to prevent the user's hand from chaffing, followed with a thin blade full with odd segmentations crossing the steel ending with a sharp tip.

He swung left and right testing the small range of the cane, when suddenly, the handle twisted and the cane became something akin of a whip. The new form took him by surprise as the range of his swings doubled in length and required skill to not hit himself until his arm tired out.

"Is this supposed to happen?" He asked, fearful from the thought of breaking a gift so soon. After recieving a lot of nods of confirmation, he let out a sight of relief and placed the threaded cane on its former spot on the ground.

Next up was the axe, it measured roughly two feet from bottom to top where a heavy iron blade prouted to a side. The weight was not uncomfortable and the swings he made had good momentum and surely would deal good damaged from brute force alone.

Testing if this weapon had a simmilar transformation as the previous one, he pushed a small button at the height where his thumb was holding it and, with his left hand, he pulled hard. Sparks went flying as the axe doubled in lenght and now needed support form both his hands in order to wield it without upsetting his balance. Slow but powerful motions left him winded very soon as he made a mental note to keeping this axe as a possible choice.

Finnally he grabed the oddest of the three, a slab of dented steel held together to, what it seemed to be, a curved wooden rod. The union made the whole thing look as if it was folded by the middle making the whole thing look as a cleaver. The weirdest part were the bloodied bandages wrapping around the blade, while they looked well estetically, he didn't recognized any way or form for them to be of an actual use.

It was very fast, albeit its shorter range than the axe, it bested the cane. He stopped and noticed the mechanism that unlocked the hinge keeping the weapon folded. Knowing what to do, the weapon revealed itself with a wide semicircular motion, barely missing the user's face. The sudden shift in weight almost made him stumble forcing him to change his footing.

This was it.

"I think I have made my choice. Thank you very much." The little beings made dissapear the rejected weapons at his confirmation. Only to make appear a set of firearms. "Oh, well..."

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Another methodical selection later...

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Feeling bored out of her mind after looking his companion's past-self delaying himself with examinating every nook and cranny of the new equipment he was getting form the messengers, Luna kept her attention on Hunter's voice speaking of the items descriptions while she remained her watch over her charges.

As far as she looked, neither nightmares nor alien entities showed up under her gaze. She closed her eyes and let her senses drift back to the real world in an attempt to know how much time she had left before she had to lower the moon. Fortunately, she had a few hours before sunrise and the so awaited hour when she could tell her sister about the deadly creations the human was carrying.

Speaking of which...

"Do all your tools work the same way?" Her curiosity peaked at the concept of transforming weapons, never in her old days she imagined at such concept. Surely this development could have helped her on her campaings during those old wars before she was banished.

"Uhh, which way? sticking the pointy end on the thing you want dead?" He quipped. Seeing the glare he was recieving he continued, "in all seriousness though, yes. Only my melee weaponry has a second form, my sidearms an other tools just have a single purpose."

"Most interesting..." She muttered. "But now I must request you to hasten your story, morning is coming soon and I can't keep letting my sister do my responsibilities." She added.

"As you wish, your Highness."

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After waking up again in the same bed in the same room, he followed the same path that led him to his earlier doom. With a new determination burning in his eyes, he knew that a civilized dialogue was out of question when it came down on dealing with something that already killed him once. All he could do as he aproached once again to the beast was to pray so he would come out as the victor.

Stealth was proven to be useless in this situation, the only way to confront this problem was meeting it head-on.

"Come at me, beast!" He bellowed, raising his hands to the air. His display beckoned the attention of the creature as is bared its fangs and lurched at the would-be hunter recklessly. The rematch was on.

He nimbly skipped to the side dodging the furious swipes of the beast, only to stumble against a bookshelf behind him. The brittle wood turned into pieces under his weight. Moving on the offensive, he lunged and slashed back against his opponent.

Two deep gashes now marked the hide of the beast, bright crimson blood flowed freely from the flesh. The animal slumped on the floor, no longer responsive to the freshly accomplished hunter. Suddenly, the human saw the blood let out a fine steam as it changed its color to a deep brown puddle on the floor, no longer distinguishable from the blotches decorating the room. Said vapor searched for the nearest living being and gently flew to its new host.

Hunter's breath caught in his throat as the event transpired. He felt his blood get warmer for a second and then return to normal as he let out a sigh of relief at the possibility of getting over with this ordeal soon.

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"I couldn't be more wrong..."

"How so?"

"Yharnam was a forgotten city for a reason. There was a disease spreading among the citizens, a plague of some sort, that turned some of them into beasts and those who didn't transformed grew bloodthirtsy and, as I experienced first-hand, very aggressive.

"Luckily, the very same blood that cured my affliction was my edge over those who opposed me. I was faster, more skilled, stronger and most perceptive than the Yharnamites and some beasts that I hunted down. But everything comes at a cost, hunters like me who had the same treatment as me were few and far between, but most of them fell to bloodlust or started protecting the beasts, even so some of them became the very same thing they loathed so much. As the next memory will show you."

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The rippling image of the memory displayed the remains of a great hall, bloodied were the walls and floor as a result of the hundreds of corpses littered around the sides of the room in such a manner as if they were thrown aside with great force against the walls. The floor was barely visible under the three-inches deep pool of stale blood, making it difficult to walk on the sticky surface.

In it, a moving silhouette gave way to the human running around in the acrid liquid, his clothes were slightly torn from his fights with the monsters outside the arena and bloodied form his own injuries and his surroundings. He was panting heavily as he slowly ran out of stamina during his mad dash from seemingly nothing, the only thing following him was a trail of blood falling from the ceiling. With a desperate roll he barely escaped from the gargantuan creature dropping from above.

Turning back, he looked at the beast before him. A twisted amalgamation between a man and a horse loomed over him on four hooves, leaving two legs akin of those a human would have hanging on its backside. Of the two arms it had, one was gripping the floor supporting the weight of the beast while the other one was outstretched trying to grab the human. The head belonged to a human heavily morfed with equine features with a long ratty mane, near it a second neck sprouted from where a shoulder would be as it gaped open letting all to see the countless eyes hidden within. The rest of his body was covvered in rags and tattered clothes that lost their original colors long ago, settling on the ghastly browns and reds of the countless bloodstains permeating the leper skin of the beast. And on top of it all was an old sword in its scabbard that once belonged to a proud hunter.

But in the eyes of the human all those features resulted in the remnants of a legendary hunter of the Healing Church: Ludwig, the Holy Blade, now cursed to be what he despised the most, a beast.

Gripping tightly his longsword and putting away his blunderbuss, he jumped backwards avoiding a series of wild swipes from the beast, in a quick motion he sheathed his sword with great force and with two hands he swung the now transformed greatsword down on the head of his prey, who barely flinched at the hit.

In response the beast leapt at Hunter, who rolled forwards avoiding the impact, turned back at him and opened the eye-filled maw firing a stream of white energy ath the human. He ran and managed to land a few hits at the hoofed legs before his foe turned around and charged at him at full speed, efectively catching him off guard and dragging him a few feet before he dislodged himself of the abomination and rolled on the bloodied floor.

Battered and dizzy from the brutal impact he seized the opportunity to heal himself while the beast was near a corner. He pulled a blood vial from his bag and he jabbed it on his leg, he felt bones and tissue knitting back together as the pain of his previous injury faded away.

Realizing that the fight wasn't over yet, he ran towards the creature and just as he was about to swing his greatsword, it jumped to the roof trying to repeat the same attack as before. Once again he was runnig for his life attempting to outrun the falling trail of blood, and once again he managed to succed as the beast dropped from the ceiling for the second time. Another leap from the monster was met with another aggresive roll and missed swing from the human.

In an attemp at intimidating him the beast roared-screeched adopting a threatening, giving him a perfect chance to get some free hits at the monster and finally knocking out of balance, making it the beast tumble and expose the skinless torso of the creature. Wasting no time he positioned himself right in front of the downed creature, in a fast motion he hung his sword on his back and pulled his right arm back, and punched right through the exposed torso of his prey. Grabbing a handful of tumorous flesh he pulled and tore it out of the screeching body as it fell down , seemingly without any strenght to keep fighting.

'Seemingly', being the key word.

"I'm glad this is over." Said Hunter, trying to catch his breath. He began to walk toward the stairs near the en of the great hall and after a few steps a green light coming from behind him caught his attention.

"Aahh, you were at my side, all along..." Said the voice, not from the beast. It was Ludwig talking, as he grasped the blade strapped that has fallen from the scabbard on his back.

"My true mentor..." The blade seemed to glow in a deep green light, containing some sort of astral energy.

"My guiding moonlight..." No longer standing as a beast, was Ludwig now wielding his sword, which was in itself as legendary as the once proud hunter himself.

The only witness to this change had his jaw hanging in awe and fear. He cleared his throat and spoke, determined. "Very well, Ludwig. I'll grant you death not as the beast you are, but as the hunter you once were."

No other words were needed, tonight their weapons would do the talking.

Ludwig's blade began to shine with moonlight and sliced the air before him thrice, sending waves of energy at Hunte. Not expecting this kind of attack, he managed to avoid the first wave, the second one nicked him in the leg and made him stumble and fall, leaving him exposed to the third blast.

Not waiting for his opponent to rise, Ludwig rushed towards the human and slammed down his greatsword. Hunter got up and managed to move out of the way a second before blood and stone went flying from the impact of the blade with the piece of floor he was in a second ago.

Gaining some distance, he used a couple more of blood vials to get rid of the pain on his everything. Going after a more defensive stance, he avoided another barrage of energy blasts as he circled around his foe, looking for an opportunity to strike. One of the very few advantages he got from fighting with a racional opponent was that he could look for attack patterns and coherent movements rather than constantly dodging wild trashings and furious charges.

Then, accumulating more energy into the great blade, Ludwig raised it pointing upwards and slammed it on the ground sending a great blast of moonlight in a straight line in Hunter's direction. Luckily for him, he was already out of the blast-zone and was close enough to jump and plunge his own blade on the side of the ex-hunter. A second was all it took for him to start slashing with heavy swings before his objective responded in kind. Hunter was forced to duck under a backhanded swipe from Ludwig while still trying to keep his position behind him.

Ludwig charged his sword once more, this time pointing downwards and remaining firmly in place for his next strike. With a grunt, he embeded his blade in the ground, generating a blast around him that expelled the human from his comfort zone.

Skidding to a halt, the hunter got up again and treated hi wounds with another vial. He knew he was close to killing Ludwing, he only needed a little more damage. Searching a pocket in his garb, he pulled out a piece of orange parchment and swiped it along the lenght of his weapon. Instantly, his blade was set ablaze with a deadly fire.

Once again the duel between hunters began, the two of them pacing themselves in a clash of raw arcane power and brute force against agility and, admidetly, amateurish skills. Soon enough, the opponents slowly tired and their attack patterns grew more desperate up to the point where the newest hunter was too aggressive and was rewarded with a buck that sent him stumbling across the arena, again.

"This is my last vial" He said to himself as he healed once more, the dose not managing to completely deal with his injuries. Switching his sword for his cleaver, the fire already died out some minutes ago, he transformed it to get a greater range and avoided another volley of arcane blasts as he approached his objective.

Ludwig was in a bad shape too. A lot of cuts addorned the flesh and some pieces were hanging from thin threads of skin and muscle, some of them were charred and blackened or peppered in crimson holes of missing tissue. From his heavy panting and slackened stance it was clear to see that this fight was soon to be over.

And over it was when the human swung once, twice, three times his weapon at Ludwig's torso, meeting little resistance as the beast -- no, the old hunter could only try to swat him away with a claw to no avail.

Defeated, Ludwig howled for the last time as his body was engulfed with light and blood echoes searched their new host to strenghten his blood in the form of an explosion of ichor and gore. Leaving in place a lantern for the victor to go back to the workshop and rest.

"May you rest in peace, old hunter."

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As the scene reached its end, the mirror-like cloud began shifting and wobbling until it dissipated. The espectators of the recent fight were both sitting on the floor, one enraptured by the spectacle and the other frowning at the reminder of his past and future. Breaking the silence, he spoke.

"This is why I don't want to go back to my world. This is why I don't want it to come here either. I am destined to become one of them sooner of later if I don't control myself." Hunter said, the calm he once had was replaced somewhere during the memory with worry. He got up and offered a hand to the alicorn next to him to do so as well.

"Is there a way to help you?" She asked, as she mulled over his words. "I do not know if you are aware of the reasons of my banishment a thousand years ago. But I too was tainted with darkness and hatred mostly out of jealousy and was cleansed with the power of the Elements of Harmony."

He took a moment to contemplate the idea while he stretched his back. "I know what are you talking about. I might give it a shot someday, but until then I have things to do." He picked up his bag and collected his things. "If I still had my bell I could give it to you so we could talk anytime. Sadly that is not the case, if you have any other questions you can always ask the messengers to set a meeting."

With a nod, the lunar princess said. "I shall keep it in mind. Fare you well, friend." It was not much later when his figure disapeared in the vast inky darkness of the void between dreams, with that, she turned to walk around some more and felt something bumping her hooves. "How odd, he forgot something." Picking it up, she saw it was a leatherbound book, its cover saying "How to pick up fair maidens"

A single question popped up in her mind.

"What?"

With no more time to spare, she decided to wake up and reprt her findings to her sister.

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None of the dreamwalkers noticed the teal eyes watching form the darkness.

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Author's Note

It's been quite a while, hasn't it?
Well, I am the only one to blame for that, I was feeling a little blocked with the whole fight scene as I was trying to make it look interesting. Please give me some insight so I can make any corrections.
Next chapter, the reason why I added the mane six tag...