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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Easy money," Twilight replied tiredly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

~#~

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

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

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

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

"But–"

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

"He might be sane, normal!"

Damn, she was a difficult one.

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

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

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

She didn't reply.

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

Again, she didn't reply.

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

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

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

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

~#~

She hated this place.

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

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

And to be honest, she felt kinda sick.

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

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

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

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

Then she'd break down.

~#~

She hated Yharnam.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yes, she hated Yharnam.

Author's Note

Tell me, and be honest what you thought of Twilight... acclimatizing. Pacing is off? Weight wonky? I haven't written anything like this chapter before, and if I'm going to get better I need criticism. Even vague criticism like "bad" or "good" is okay. Seriously, just tell me anything you felt about this chapter.

Also, I'm sorry, but did I just do four PoV switches? Yes, yes I did, and I'm not sure I'm entirely satisfied with the results. I like it, it feels like it works to me, but yeah. Probably too many. Again, tell me what you think.

As usual, comments and critique are always welcome. If you notice spelling or grammatical errors, please PM them to me. I'll get right on it.