Celestia wasn't exactly sure what she was hearing, but in the distance Central Street curved away from them, around a corner. In that direction, she could hear many things; singing, chanting, and now a thunderous rumbling.

"Follow me," Eustace whispered as he sped up ahead of them, a certain urgency made clear, "quickly now, that's a horde if I've ever heard one."

She followed him as he ducked into a side street that led into one of Central Street's many auxiliary streets, the buildings once again pressing in. Upon their arrival in the main auxiliary street, they found, to nopony's surprise, a group of huntsponies. Only numbering three, they were dead sooner than a rat in a mousetrap.

Celestia swung her blade dry, sheathing it and going to watch the street they came from with Twilight, curious as to what a "horde" was. From that street, Celestia spotted exactly what Eustace had declared: a horde. Possibly dozens of huntsponies passed by just in what she could see, and undoubtedly many more beyond that.

"See that? Gotta watch out for those, hordes are both beast and hunter's worst nightmare," Eustace said, wiping the blood from his sword on the coat of a dead huntspony. "Get caught by one and you're dead."

"How many ponies are there?" Twilight asked, having backed away from the opening along with Celestia.

"Too many to be holy," Eustace answered. "Let's get out of here, we don't want to be anywhere near them when they disperse."

-#-

The plaza they had emerged into was evidently well-to-do, as far as Yharnamite standards went. A scenic overlook opened out to the gorge, providing the plaza with an iconic overview of Old Yharnam and the Cathedral Ward. As expected, the streets that had led them here were far from empty, but what groups remained in the auxiliary streets were incapable of putting up a decent fight against the three hunters.

The auxiliary streets weren't spared from the carnage elsewhere, however, and what they found in those streets was equally as disturbing as what they'd seen on Central Street. Disemboweled canids hung from rope between buildings or were nailed to walls, while piles of the dead, whether killed by beast or sickness, were simply left to rot or be eaten by carrion. Rats run around their hooves and among the dead, and crows picked at entrails left strewn around the street from the deceased. The scent of blood, rot and viscera hung heavy in the air, choking out whatever other smells one would make out from the inhabited houses.

Despite being a detour, this path hadn't taken too much longer than she'd have thought. The street ran near parallel to Central Street, and, unlike Central Street, had recently been mostly emptied of both canid and pony by the mobs that had gathered in Central Street. Besides the occasional huntspony and the stomach turning scenery, it had been relatively easy progress. Stealth had been discarded and now they moved at a pace that brought them closer to their end goal quicker.

Twilight hadn't taken to the scenery either, having almost emptied her stomach upon seeing the first few "displays", as Celestia had branded them. Her own reaction hadn't been much better, to be honest, but she'd at least managed to maintain an outward facade of calm. Eustace hadn't even acknowledged the carnage, walking past it as though it weren't even there.

Regardless, such horrors weren't present in this plaza, and Celestia was grateful for that. The lamps in the plaza were lit, and the air was placid, mostly escaping even the sounds of the hunt elsewhere in the city. The only thing that made sound were the barren branches of the dead trees that sat at the edge of the overlook, whistling in the wind.

She was almost tempted to call a break, but at the same time she wanted to spend as little time in Yharnam as possible.

"Ladies," Eustace called, getting both of their attentions, "listen up. The aqueduct is only a few hundred meters in that direction –" he pointed towards the ninth building in from the overlook "– and to get there, we go back on to Central Street, which hopefully is nearly or completely empty, and go further in to the city. For quite some time it runs under the city until it opens up to the surface again, pouring out into the Old Yharnam river. We can't get to the last bit, but –"

Celestia cleared her throat loudly, gingerly tapping her horn. "Well, whatever it is stopping us from taking the easier route, I'm sure that a little magic can fix it."

Eustace blinked at her, and beside Celestia, Twilight looked pleadingly at him. "Huh." He flicked an ear. "Almost forgot about those horns of yours, thinking about this like I was dealing with any regular old rookie. That makes things easier, for once." He set off again, this time taking an even smaller side street that barely fit between two houses. Mercifully, it was clean.

"Really, it's only a few locks, a big door, and a gate not even a beast could get through. Right around here is where the ponies with money live, and they like it safe. Relatively, anyways." He continued as the street widened again just beyond the first few houses. Lanterns burning incense hung their fragrance heavily in the air, masking the scent of gore proliferated by the hunt. Few of the windows were unlit, and from outside the houses they heard laughing and what sounded suspiciously like carousing coming from a great deal of the houses up the street.

Celestia could hardly fathom it. Who could party and revel with such death just behind their front door? Did no one in this Maker-forsaken city have any respect for life?

It didn't take long, and soon enough the three stood before their first obstacle. A large metal gate stood in their way as the street beyond bent out of sight around a sharp corner. Celestia quickly melted the lock and proceeded through without delay.

"Eustace, why aren't there any beasts around here?" Twilight asked as they made their way around the corner, and found themselves faced with another gate, much the same as the first.

"Smell all that incense?" Eustace said, taking a deep sniff. "It keeps the beasts away. Heavens knows why, but the things hate the smell, and stay away from it unless there's easy prey for them to grab. Most of the rest of Yharnam can't afford it, see, so that's why the beasts are out there and not around here."

Celestia soon melted this lock as well, and they all proceeded through.

The buildings on either side slowly became walls as the residential was replaced with official buildings. Buildings that had sheds attached, or small courtyards became more common as they got closer to the aqueduct, and soon the large door Eustace had mentioned loomed in front of them. Indeed, the door was far larger than any other they'd seen, and Celestia couldn't even see how they would lock the thing.

This city must have really been trying her patience, because she did the last thing she'd expected herself to do. She cast an arc spell, cutting through the gate and leaving a Celestia-sized hole, smouldering at the cut, for her to walk through. Which she did, and waited on the other side for Eustace and Twilight.

Eustace raised an eyebrow at her. "You're not one to dally, are you? Well, either way somepony would have been angry, I guess now it's just a few someponies." He passed her and continued on.

Twilight came up beside her as they fell behind, giving her a worried look. "Pr–" she cut herself off, correcting herself, "Celestia? Are you okay?"

Celestia nodded. She understood her concern, that was rather out of character for her. "Yes Twilight, I'm just... more than eager to be out of this place."

"I get it, I am too," Twilight replied. "If you need to talk or vent or something, I'm here, okay?"

"Okay, Twilight," Celestia smiled, "thank you, but I am alright."

Passed the door, the buildings became even more industrial than they were. Warehouses, no longer made from stone, dominated the streetside. Many smaller avenues split from the main street like the tributary streams of a river, disappearing into the shadows and dimly lit recesses of this warehouse sector.

It took some time, but eventually they were met with the metal gate Eustace had mentioned. True to his word, it was massive. Bars easily the size of Celestia's hoof were joined by bars twice that, forming a barricade that, indeed, even a beast couldn't break. From its sides came walls topped with razor wire, ensuring that even those with the idea to scale it would pay a price. An exclusion zone of at least 10 hooves stretched from the wall to the nearest building, providing ample view on either side. Beyond, there were few buildings, but when there were, they were plain and unmarked.

Regardless of what she did before, she didn't think she'd be able to cut through a gate that thick, with as many bars as it had in any quick fashion, unless she was willing to simply pour an inordinate amount of magic into an arc spell. With Eustace's earlier warning about magic use, she thought an expenditure of that size unwise. Instead, she thought of a different solution. "Eustace, there would be a mechanism to open this gate, wouldn't there?"

He nodded. "A lever, the old Yharnam favourite. Not sure where it would be, but somewhere nearby. That horn of yours, it wouldn't happen to be able to feel around, would it?"

She shook her head. "Sadly, no. There are some who can feel with solely magic, but I am not one of them. However, this lever would be made of metal, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, why?" He asked, a query in his voice.

Instead of answering, she pulled a few stones from the street beyond the gate using her magic, and began rapidly throwing them from side to side, searching for the clang of stone on metal. Only seconds later, she heard and felt one of the stones collide with metal a small ways out of sight from the gate. Using her magic, she ran the stone along the surface of the metal object, painting it's outline in her mind and confirming that it was, in fact, a lever. With the outline in mind, she transferred her grip from the stones to the lever, giving it a pull.

From below, all of them could feel the rumbling of immense mechanisms as the gate slowly descended into the ground, leaving the way forward unblocked. Eustace looked very impressed, grinning slightly as he walked through the still lowering gate. "Gods in heaven, why don't we all have one of those things?" He said, giving her an appraising smile. "Would make everything damn easy, if we did."

"Everypony has their strengths," Celestia said, "no unicorn could wield a blade that size like you do, if at all." She followed Twilight as she went through the gate as well.

"Eh, fair enough, but couldn't you just levitate it like you did those stones?”

"No, weight still matters for unicorns. Most wouldn't have the skill or training to lift something that heavy, let alone use it to any effect," she said, shaking her head.

Eustace nodded, satisfied. "Hm. Just like earth ponies then. Well, regardless of that, you've just shaved quite a bit of risk and travel time from my original estimates. Thank you for that. Now, there shouldn't be anything else in our way, but if anypony asks, we're Choir, understand?"

Celestia nodded, but Twilight was still looking at the massive gate. "Why such a large gate for a sewer?" she asked.

Eustace beckoned for them to follow, before beginning to walk ahead. "Did you see all that blood around? Lots of it ends up in the sewers, which winds up in the aqueduct. Now imagine what would happen if a blood hungry beast wound up down there." Normally he maintained a stoic face, but at that he cringed. "It'd be hell to clean up."

After that he stayed silent, and soon the three could hear the sound of water pouring into water, and of water rushing otherwise. Though they had long left the scented lanterns behind, neither Celestia nor Twilight were prepared for the smell that assaulted them. Before they could even see the aqueduct, the scent of blood and death returned in overwhelming force, gagging both of them as they processed the smell.

Eustace didn't even acknowledge that he smelled anything. Instead, he opened the last, small gate in a low wall with his forehoof, the aqueduct and the Cathedral Ward beyond.

Author's Note

AN: take a guess as to what we'll find down there. Oh, and guess where the aqueduct in the game leads?