With Eyes Open

"Looks like she went where we're going, anyways," Eustace said, rounding a staircase corner. A small landing on which a few buildings had their entrances turned into another staircase ahead of them. "Oedon Tomb, which connects to Oedon Chapel, is just up these stairs. If we want to get to the Research Hall in any timely manner, this is where we need to go." He turned to look at the two ponies behind him, face grim. "If I've read the signs correctly, Eileen will be here, and so will Gascoigne. Now, I want you two to stay back, got it? Don't interfere, Gascoigne isn't going to be reasonable, nor is he going to hesitate to kill either you or me."

"He is a pony, isn't he?" Celestia asked, concerned. "Can't I just light him on fire, or electrocute him?"

Eustace shook his head. "If Eileen was right, then he'll certainly be more beast than pony, now." He gave them both a sincere look, using his hoof to tap Twilight on the shoulder and Celestia on her lower leg. "If anything happens to you, it won't be pretty for me. So please, consider self-preservation before anything else."

He began to walk up the stairs, but stopped just before he reached them. "Besides, you two have talent. You'd be quite the replacements should the two of us wind up dead." With that matter-of-fact statement he turned away from them, leaving the two alicorn ponies on the landing.

Twilight waited until Eustace was out of earshot, turning to Celestia with a determined expression. "Princess," she whispered, "we should go up there and help them."

Celestia's heart must have skipped a beat. "Twilight, you heard what he said."

"Yes, I did but..." Twilight said, looking away, "we've spent the last eight hours killing and crawling through grime together, all three of us," Twilight managed a weak smile, "he's had our backs, and we've had his. I'd say that kinda makes us friends, right?"

Friends. Celestia sighed internally, whenever it was for a friend, there were no limits to Twilight's compassion. "I… suppose so, Twilight." She turned to look at her pupil, who looked on with a mixture of hope and apprehension. "Come, let's make sure they're okay."

Twilight nodded, turning around and leading them up the staircase. They didn't see what they were expecting.

Oedon Tomb wasn't just a tomb for a single pony, it was an entire graveyard. Stacks and stacks of gravestones lined almost every free inch of ground, leaving only narrow pathways between one cluster and the next. The only sources of light came from small torches and from above, where a massive overpass of the Cathedral Ward let a few of the midnight Moon's rays down below, landing on the singular monument that stood in the center of the graveyard.

And beside that monument stood a most intimidating figure, and another figure much smaller than it. Even in the dim light, Celestia could make out Eileen's crowfeather cloak as she closed on her prey, a stallion who seemed to be aimlessly burying an oversized axe into something on the ground, perhaps the ground itself.

Who was she kidding, it certainly wasn't just the ground with the way this city worked.

She watched Eileen carefully, experience telling her that the larger pony already knew that the crowfeather was there. She couldn't see Eustace, as he seemed to have hidden himself amongst the gravestones, but she didn't doubt that he would be out there the instant Eileen failed. If she failed.

Said mare took her time, creeping up slowly on what she guessed was Gascoigne. Very suddenly, she lunged.

A brilliant flash of silver accompanied the draw of Eileen's blade in a fluid motion that was hard for even Celestia's eyes to decipher. Eileen threw her full weight behind the strike, practically leaping after her hoof and blade.

True to her instincts, Gascoigne reacted almost instantly. In a blur he whipped around, catching Eileen's strike on his axe. He twisted his weapon and shoved, throwing Eileen back and off balance, before bringing the axe down in an overhead swing.

Eileen dodged out of the way, backing up further as he followed up with more swings and a blast from his hoof-gun. She didn't engage again, instead she kept her distance, far enough away to react but also close enough to bait the stallion on.

Gascoigne growled low. He lunged again, this time dragging the axe on the ground for an uppercut. He missed, of course, as Eileen once again dodged, but this time she darted in during his recovery and delivered a wicked gash to the area just under his shoulder, and to his side.

The hunter didn't even acknowledge the injury, instead chomping his teeth at her and swinging his axe at where she had been standing. He followed up, again, with another flurry of lunges and swings, none of which connected with Eileen, who moved around him with impressive fluidity.

So they went, back and forth. Every now and then she'd deliver another similar strike to his side or his back, but she never managed to land any deciding blows. Gascoigne was, indeed, a skilled hunter who had mastered his particular weapon. He left few openings, of which Eileen had little opportunity to exploit, and Eileen was no less skilled than him.

He still hadn't managed to land a blow when he finally stopped his pursuit of her. He stood back as she stilled as well, catching her breath.

"Why must you run?" Gascoigne said gently, almost as if he were a father speaking to a foal. "I'm trying to help, trying to clear all these beasts out." He shifted his hoof and a mechanism inside his axe activated, extending the length of the handle by at least a full pony's length. "And you'll be one too, sooner or later." He used the length to help him stand on his hind legs, chuckling as he did so.

Using the axe's shaft he vaulted himself towards her, letting the axe extend from his hoof as he swept it at her, followed up with more sweeps as she tried to maintain her distance. He, however, gave her little room, constantly vaulting and using his blunderbuss to catch her and close openings in his movements.

She deflected what swings of his she could, but Gascoigne's balance was excellent, and his movements were sporadic and hard to predict though limited while standing upright. His increased range and now-free gun arm gave him essentially free reign over the battle, as she lacked both of his advantages. Maybe she understood that, as she continued backstepping and dodging his attacks while he chased after her like a rabid dog. His movements were practiced if nearly frantic, and he never caught his axe on anything, even as she weaved through the gravestones.

Even if Celestia couldn’t see Eileen’s face, she could see in the pony’s movements that she was flagging. Her movements were losing their flawless edge, and if this didn’t end soon Eustace would step in, and then they would too.

Eileen stopped and stood, even as he vaulted towards her once again. This time, she didn’t dodge as the axe swung at her. Instead, she took the strike to her side, moving with it somewhat as the axe head dug into her.

But that was part of her plan.

As fast as lightning she swept forwards, wrenching the axe from herself in the process and throwing Gascoigne’s balance off, if only a little. In a brilliant flash she separated the two halves of the Blade of Mercy, holding one half in her now-maskless mouth and the other in her hoof, as she used her weight and momentum to grapple and swing herself onto his back, holding herself on with her free hoof around his neck.

Gascoigne didn’t get much chance to react, because the next second she had driven the blade half in her hoof deep into the area between his shoulder and neck, and soon the other half followed in the other hoof, driving into the opposite side in the same place.

The stallion roared in a mixture of fear and rage and then fell forward, his forelegs giving out before him. Even as he lay on the ground he continued moving, wrestling with his now dysfunctional limbs and vocalizing his rage.

"How pitiful," thought Celestia, moving out of cover and into the tomb itself. Out of the corner of her eye she also spotted Eustace emerging from a particularly dense cluster of gravestones, a hood over his head. As she drew closer, Gascoigne remained as loud as ever. In fact, there was another sound…

With a grinding of bones and squishing of meat, Gascoigne's body began to warp. In one of the most unfamiliar and distressing sights she'd ever seen, Gascoigne's flesh began to rip and tear from within, a bestial shape overcoming his natural form. His limbs lengthened and became more slender, his back arched, his hooves burst into claws, and his face lengthened and grew vicious teeth. All over where his body changed thick, wiry hair grew, and soon he was nearly the size of Celestia.

The newborn beast slowly rose, Eileen dropping off his back and scrambling away from him as fast as her wound would let her. It clutched at its face with both of its hands as it reached its full height, a low moan, almost a growl, emanating from the creature. It stopped abruptly, until it ripped the blades Eileen had planted into it out with a guttural scream, throwing itself into a frantic search for the injured hunter.

Celestia tried to recollect herself, while Eustace had already prepared his own weapon. He had sheathed the blade within its larger counterpart when he threw a pebble at the beast, catching it square on the back of its head. Just as he'd hoped it whirled around, snarling and spitting, and focussed on him.

An ugly look passed over the beast's face, a look that wouldn't look out of place on a pony's face, either. It startled Celestia, but she too prepared her weapon, remembering the speed of the last beast Eustace had personally killed. "Twilight," she said to the pony still behind her, "go find Eileen and make sure she's okay."

Twilight gave a small noise of understanding from behind. "And when I'm done with that, I'll set up with the rifle." With that, she took off towards where they'd last seen Eileen, staying as quiet and unnoticeable as possible.

The beast, meanwhile, hadn't wasted a moment. It had leapt at Eustace, who dodged much the same as Eileen had, but unlike her he remained close. The beast swung and snapped wildly at him, but he kept the pace and outmaneuvered the beast at every turn. Until he didn't.

Finally it got him off guard with a hail-mary strike to the back of his neck, burying its claws and ripping his hood off and leaving a few gashes behind. Eustace responded by firing his hoof-gun, and Celestia moved in as he backed off. The two ponies hardly had a chance to greet one another before the beast was upon them again.

Once more it focussed on Eustace, who had quickly unsheathed his sword from its attachment, using it to block strikes he didn't dodge. This time, even though he tried to keep his distance, it didn't let him. It leapt just as Gascoigne did, but with far more agility and prowess than the hunter could have.

Celestia hefted the massive hammer off her back, attaching it to her blade. The way the beast moved and attacked didn't leave her much room for error in her own attacks, with how close it got to Eustace, but… she did have a plan. She lifted the entire thing in her magic, albeit with quite some effort. Despite her own magical strength the Kirkhammer wasn't a little weapon at all, and levitation spellforms had a reputation for being, by nature, inefficient.

Regardless, all she'd have to do is hit it once, maybe twice. She could do that.

She didn't bother with being stealthy, she was too large for that. Instead, she charged at the beast as it continued its pursuit of Eustace, making as much noise as she could with her hooves as she positioned the hammer to smash the beast. She got its attention, but it seemed to disregard her almost entirely, still pursuing Eustace.

Within moments she was close enough to smell it, which to her was just close enough but too close for comfort. She reared up and raised the Kirkhammer along with her, immediately setting it into motion downwards, ready to flatten the beast.

It wasn't until almost halfway through her downstroke that the beast reacted, fast as lightning dodging to its side and directly away from Celestia, its focus shifting just as fast as it attacked. Just as she landed from rearing up and as the hammer embedded itself into the ground, it jumped at her and latched its claws into her shoulders, trying to find purchase to pull her onto her side to access her neck with its mouth.

Celestia lost control of the Kirkhammer as she struggled with the beast, instincts going wild as it slobbered and growled on top of her, only latching itself in deeper as she shook and tried to dislodge it to gain some kind of advantage. In desperation she even tried magic, thought that of course fizzed and died on the beast's coat. Only faintly did she hear the clang of a metallic mechanism, but she very much felt the weight on top of her move as the workshop's Holy Blade was thrust into the beast's side.

Almost in an instant the beast dislodged itself, howling as it unimpaled itself and released Celestia, who promptly recovered from the beast's assault. Just as the wretched thing recovered to begin again, Celestia regained control over the Kirkhammer with her magic, and whether or not the beast realized soon became irrelevant. It lunged, and Celestia, deeply, instinctually determined to never repeat that experience, threw every ounce of raw power she could into turning the beast into mincemeat.

The Kirkhammer slammed into the beast mid-lunge, connecting with such force as to seem to wrap the beast around itself before flying freely on the follow-through, taking the beast with it as Celestia released the levitation spell. The beast slammed into the obelisk that dominated the center of the tomb before being followed, very shortly, by the hammer. In a fantastic display the interior of the former hunter was painted all over the obelisk, before both beast and hammer fell to the ground in a violent heap.

Celestia simply stood, panting, with more adrenaline coursing through her than she'd had in years. Not even Chrysalis had scared her that bad, and she'd had an army! She stopped thinking for a moment and just breathed in slowly, trying to at least calm herself down somewhat.

Eustace was panting behind her, too. "Hey, you alright? No major wounds?" he asked her, sounding winded.

Celestia shook her head, starting to work on healing them now that she'd been reminded of her own injuries. "No, you? He got you early on."

"I'm fine, just a small strip of flesh came off," he said nonchalantly. "You're sure he didn't get you good?" he asked, coming up from behind and giving Celestia and once over himself.

"I'm sure," she nodded. "He just latched on to me, it scared me more than I'd like to admit."

Eustace chuckled in response to her admission, shaking his head. "That's the beast putting fear in your heart. I saw how you charged, no fear!" His demeanor changed, and now he gave her a very serious look. "You're very lucky you're so big, you know. Many other outsiders have made the same mistake as you, but they were my size," he said, pausing to reattach his Holy Blade to his back, "very few of them live, and the rest wind up quite horribly maimed."

It only happened once in a blue moon, but Celestia felt… foolish. "I... understand," she said, trying to at least find some justification for her behavior. "I understand," she said again, ears flattened slightly, thinking.

Eustace sighed. "But do you?" he said, shaking his head. "Do you now give the beast it's due respect, or are you just as brazen?" he asked her, tilting his head at her like he was examining something. "Because if you don't, the next beast might be your last."

She nodded, letting his words sink in. She'd charged because all she'd seen was a beast, incoherent and bloodthirsty, and she'd made an assumption that Gascoigne was wild, and she didn't fear wild beasts. She'd stopped fearing them long ago, to her they were non-factors, irrelevant, especially in battle. What she'd learned to fear were skilled warriors and tacticians, usurpers and evil demigods.

Perhaps it was time to reevaluate that lack of fear.

Finally done with his cleaning and maintenance, he addressed Celestia again. "Make sure he's dead," he said, tilting his head at the mess she'd made before taking off towards where Twilight and Eileen were.

Celestia sighed and, while still standing where she had been, used her magic to again levitate the Kirkhammer. It seemed a bit overkill to slam it into a corpse, but…

Fear. Fear the beast.

She quickly slammed the hammer into its head, pulverizing it into the dirt, and praying to whatever cruel god ruled here that a beast with no head stayed dead. She returned the Kirkhammer to her back, cleaning it with magic on it's way over, and then took off after Eustace, quickly finding the three huddled together.

As she approached, she got a good look at Eileen underneath the cloak. Twilight had stripped it off her, garnering a plethora of new names from the hunter, in order to treat the wound. She was crimson, with cinnamon brown hair nearly completely turned white. Her face was wrinkled with silver eyes, and even through her coat deep scars were visible, including the large gash now being tended to by both Twilight and Eustace.

He sat beside her, wrapping the wound with what little cloth he had, shaking his head and thinning his lips, all the while earning the same names Twilight had. "Stupid mare."

"Oh, bold!" she ground out through clenched teeth, squeezing her eyes against his treatment. "Didn't want to do that, he left me –" she hissed as he squeezed the sides of the wound together as best he could – it was quite a nasty injury –"no saints damned openings!"

"I saw," he said, shaking his head again, "and if you'd just carry a damn gun –"

Eileen cut him off with a petulant groan, thumping her hoof for added emphasis. "I know, I…" she deflated, losing the fire she had just a moment earlier. "... know. You've told me plenty, but I – I don't know, maybe I'm just getting too old for this. For hunting, for beasts, for everything."

Eustace remained silent as he finished, only muttering a quick "thank you" to Twilight for the work she did with her magic on the wound. Finally, he produced a red vial from inside Eileen's crowfeather cloak, administering the dose to her near the wound. Eileen heaved a sigh of relief as she finally relaxed, Eustace and Twilight gathering her belongings.

While Twilight accounted for what she'd been wearing, Celestia followed next to Eustace as he began searching for her discarded blades, finding one firmly embedded in a gravestone. "So, what now?" she asked him as he strained to pull it out of the stone with his mouth.

"Now? Now we find somewhere nice and safe for her while she recovers from that wound," he said, releasing the handle. "That dose won't have her walking til morning, earliest." He motioned towards the blade handle, moving aside for Celestia.

She obliged, giving the handle a tug like Eustace had. Then harder, then harder. "That's really quite stuck, isn't it," she thought with no small amount of humor. Giving the blade an impressed look. She placed her horn against the blade and pointed at the insertion point, putting a small pulse of magic into the stone until it cracked! and split, the blade tumbling out of the gravestone and into Eustace's hooves.

He shook his head again, giving her an awed look. "I have to get one of those." He turned, and scanned again for the other half of the blade. It was found shortly, and soon all four ponies were ready to ascend into the Cathedral Ward proper.