By the Blood

When you arrived back in the dream, the Doll was not standing in her usual spot. This was not unusual, as you've caught her tending to some of the nearby graves or flowers before. Plus, you had a pretty good idea where she would be right now.

Sure enough, the Doll was inside the workshop, watching over the sleeping form of the horse who asked you do help. You now notice that she has an image of a crescent moon on her flank, though you're unsure of the significance.

The Doll nods at your arrival. "She was incredibly weakened by sending you to her world, but she will survive." As she passes a jointed hand over her mane, you notice that she's almost entirely transparent now, like a ghost.

You ask the Doll if she said anything else before your arrival.

The Doll shakes her head. "She simply appeared, and asked if there were any Hunters around. I told her that you would be here shortly, and she came inside to wait for you, good Hunter."

You give another look to the horse before going over to your work table. While you were a bit worried about their current state, there was little you could do. And the least you could do was carry out her request, after all.

After repairing and fine tuning your weapons, as well as refilling your stock of blood vials and quicksilver bullets, you exit the workshop, heading over to a new tombstone near the back corner of the yard. Messengers sprouted up from it, and you kneeled before it, channeling your thoughts into your destination.

And just like that, you were gone, back to the waking world.

When you awoke, you were once again in the decrepit castle, at the top of the staircase. Getting a firm grip on your weapons, you descend the steps, watchful for any more beasts.

Sure enough, once you got to the bottom, you saw more disfigured horse creatures shamble out from the shadows to greet you. One of them lets out a roar, and then they started to advance towards you.

You were ready, and you wasted no time before striking at the one in the front of the group. It recoiled from your blows, but you quickly stepped backwards to avoid a strike from the creature behind it, which snarled at your face. You responded with a quick shot from your pistol, making it step back while crying out in pain.

By now, you counted three beasts, one heavily wounded, one lightly wounded, and the last still untouched. It seemed that they were a bit smarter than they looked, as they began to slowly spread out, all keeping their distance from you.

You moved just as slowly, trying to keep all of them in front of you, while also being mindful of any surprises from behind.

The greatly wounded beast is the first to act, and charges you while flailing its claws. You were quick to react, however, and dodged aside before responding with your own attack, cleanly cutting its throat and finishing it off.

Before the blood could even finish hitting the ground, you followed through and swung again, this time at the next attacking beast. The third attacked after just a few hits, so you leaped backwards before unfolding your spear and swinging it in an arc in front of you, managing to slice both beasts at the same time. While one was slain, the other just got angry, and charged you once more.

You were too off balance from your swing to dodge out of the way in time, so you instead brought your gun up and fired. The bullet hit its mark, causing the beast to stumble onto the ground. You wasted no time, and plunged your spear down into it, before lifting it off the ground and kicking it off your blade.

With both the floor and yourself completely caked in blood, you survey your surroundings. When no other movement occurred, you sighed before moving on. However, your foot stumbled into something one of the creatures was carrying, and you pick it up, curious. It looked a lot like one of your blood vials, but it was filled with a strange blue liquid, instead.

Seeing no reason to leave it behind, you go ahead and pocket the strange vial, before moving on through the large hallway. It was hard to tell from the rubble, but if you had to guess, you'd say that you were close to the front entrance of the castle, at least.

While the halls above were almost entirely silent, down here you could hear faint noises constantly from behind the walls. Most of it sounded like wind, but you could hear the odd growl or creaking wood.

After turning a corner into another, smaller hall, you thought you heard a voice, which was confirmed as you stopped and listened again. It wasn't anything coherent, but you could tell that it was what sounded like a male human voice, crying out for some indefinite reason. Whatever it was, it didn't sound like they were being torn apart.

Now with a sort of goal in mind, you follow the sound of the voice down the halls, moving probably a bit faster than caution would dictate. As the voice gets louder, you also hear the unmistakable sounds of combat, particularly of a blade being used on flesh. This causes you to quicken your pace, before you track the voice into what looks like a dining room.

The tables were all either upended or smashed to pieces, along with the chairs, and in the middle you could see one of the horse creatures, only this one wasn't disfigured like the others. It was currently fighting one of those beasts, while also surrounded by the bodies of other such beasts.

It had neither wings nor horn, and it was wearing the same armor as some of the corpses you've seen lying around. It was holding a simple short sword in its mouth, which it was currently swinging at the beast. The blade made its mark, and the creature fell to the ground, now headless.

With the only live things in the room now you and them, you slowly approach, doing your best to appear non-hostile.

Your footsteps attract its attention, and it turns to you while spitting the sword into its hoof. "So, what kind of monster are you?" it spat, the voice both male and tinged with anger.

Spotting a potential ally, you state that you are a Hunter.

You see recognition in his eyes. "So... they were right, then..." He looks right at you, almost looking through you. "Well, if you're a Hunter..."

Suddenly, the sword is in his mouth again, and you're barely able to roll out of the way as he swings at you, shouting a muffled "DIE!"

You return the favor with swings of your own, but he's fast, and is able to hop out of the way each time, before he slashes when you're open, carving a deep cut into your midsection. You quickly back away, groaning in pain as your blood starts dripping onto the floor, mixing with the blood of the slain beasts around you.

You ignore the pain, however, as you charge forward again. However, this time you wait for him to make the first move, and the moment he swings his sword, you dodge around to his back before following up with swings of your folded spear.

He recoils from the hits, but after only a couple of strikes his back hooves fly out and buck you right in the stomach, knocking the breath out of you and sending you to the ground. Your senses return just in time to see him attempting to jump on you with his sword, and you quickly roll backwards onto your feet, adapting another fighting stance.

As you use a pair of blood vials, he laughs. "Ain't had a pony ever fight me this well, before! Not even these Celestia-damn beasts put up this much of a fight!"

Despite the two bloody gashes on his backside, he was grinning wildly, and you were then certain that he was far beyond any sort of reasoning.

Not that you were much for diplomacy yourself, anyway.

Suddenly, he uses his front hoof to fling a fallen knife at you, which you're barely able to sidestep in time. He gives you no time to rest, as he's immediately in your face again, swinging his sword with wild abandon. You're barely able to avoid it, the blade passing within less than an inch of you with every swing.

You wait until he's off balance, then hit him with your own blade, sending him to the ground. He quickly gets back to his hooves, though, still smiling despite the deep cut on his forehead.

He charges again, but you're ready for him. He overextends his swing, and you respond by dodging not to either side or away, but straight at him.

For the first time, his smile drops, and you holster your pistol just in time to catch him by the throat, strangling him and forcing him to drop the sword. Still holding him, you quickly flip out your spear and swing the sharp end around in front of you, throwing him in the opposite direction.

The result is immediate. Blood cakes the both of you as his back half is separated from his front, each end landing on either side of you. He reflexively tries to get back on his hooves, but realizes quickly after that he's down a pair.

Even though he was bisected and bleeding to death, he laughed.

"Just... Just like they said, huh...?"

With that, he falls over, the life leaving his eyes for good.

As you feel the echoes resonate within you, you spot a lump within the growing pool of his blood, and you pick it up to see that it's a simple golden key, likely dislodged from within its armor by your decisive attack.

Pocketing the key, you wade through the blood back out of the dining area, now looking for a door to match the key, your steps leaving bloody prints on the carpet.