The Great Bridge, Yharnam's main thoroughfare and the largest connector for it's streets. Celestia stood just outside of the gate to the Cathedral Ward, looking down it's length to the main gate that led out of the city through the outer wall. Or she would have, had it been clear. Most of the Bridge had been blocked with carriages of varying sizes, totally obscuring the view she might have had had they not been there.

She sniffed once, confirming that, indeed, what she thought she smelled was what she was smelling. Smoke rose high above the rooftops of Yharnam, carrying with it the scent of burning bodies and the stench of the hunt. "Perhaps I should have insisted Twilight stay behind," she thought, looking at the purple pony.

Twilight was covering her nose with a hoof, a sour look plastered on her face. She looked at Celestia, her expression clearly saying "what is that?"

Celestia just looked away, keeping her face neutral. "You don't want to know," she answered. She had every idea to keep Twilight away from whatever was making that stench, the little pony didn't need to see that.

They both heard the gate that sealed the way into the Cathedral Ward finally slam shut, and turned to see Eustace walking towards them both, an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry to keep you two waiting. After Old Yharnam happened the Church doesn't like the main gate being opened without some paperwork,to explain why" he said, walking to just behind the two Alicorns.

He too smelled the air, scrunching his nose in distaste. "Hate it when they do that, makes the whole city smell like beast," he supplied when Twilight looked at him, anddaxa then moving in front of them and pointing down the Great Bridge. "Down this here bridge is the fastest way out of Yharnam, but we won't be taking that route. Instead, we'll head down some side streets off of Central Street until we reach the outer wall. From there, we'll follow the wall until we find a way through, then we'll slip through there as quietly as possible.

"And before we head out, I'd like to make absolutely certain you both understand a few rules," Eustace said, looking at both ponies with great intensity. "First, don't get hit. Beasts have claws sharper than any sword, and the muscle to push them through just about anything. Second, don't run. Beasts are faster than ponies. Third and last, don't hesitate. Hesitate, and you die. Understand?"

Celestia nodded firmly. She'd long ago learned the last rule, having learned it far before she had ever had to use it. However, she had a suspicion that the type of "hesitance" Eustace meant was different than the hesitance taught to her guard.

Twilight nodded too, although more reluctantly. Celestia had never taught her anything more than the basics of combat, and absolutely nothing of any sort of warrior's code.

"Good, because at this rate," Eustace stopped and looked at the sun, gauging it's decent, "it'll be into the night by the time we get back here. So make any last minute adjustments you need; we're not going to stop for anything once we're out there."

Eustace turned and began to walk, albeit slowly, down the bridge while Celestia adjusted the straps holding the massive metal hammer and the sheathed silver sword, identical to Eustace's in all but size, to her back. Celestia was surprised when the workshop madstallion produced a weapon in her size, but according to him the workshop preferred to "be prepared rather than caught out."

She looked to her side, where Twilight eyed the Piercing Rifle she'd been given cautiously, adjusting it so it would be easier to reach at a moment's notice. She looked up at Celestia and smiled weakly before quickly following after Eustace, cutting off any thoughts Celestia had about offering to leave her behind.

"Perhaps I taught her too well."

-#-#-#-

If the Upper Cathedral Ward demonstrated the sophistication of Yharnam's elite, then the streets of Yharnam showed something completely different.

Celestia stepped over what had to be the hundredth pothole she'd seen so far, following Eustace down one of the many claustrophobic streets of Central Yharnam. On either side tall, imposing buildings crowded the already cramped street, while refuse, disrepair and dim lighting made the street difficult to traverse. So far, every street Eustace had led them down had been the same: cramped, damaged, and, worst of all, labyrinthine.

If it weren't for Eustace guiding them, Celestia wouldn't have had a snowball's chance in Tartarus at navigating the city streets. Almost none of the streets had any special characteristic or landmark, and all of them had irregular intersections, all adding up to a street system utterly unforgiving to anypony but natives. In fact, Celestia had half a mind to assume that there wasn't a system, and that streets were simply made wherever somepony wanted one.

"Right," Eustace called back at them before taking a hard turn down another narrow side street, but this one eventually opened into an open plaza, ringed with the same buildings she'd seen everywhere else. In the center stood a monument, inscribed with the same runes Astral's paperwork had contained, and, unlike the rest of Yharnam thus far, some green space was incorporated into the architecture. High above, the pale amber of the fading sun reflected off the few windows that remained unboarded.

Scurrying around the plaza were the first signs of inhabitation she'd seen, aside from a few lit windows. Ponies wearing coats and hats went about, lighting the lamps that lined the plaza with torches.

Eustace walked to just in front of the monument, stopped, then turned to address his two companions. "All right, we've made good time. Take a breather while I make sure we're where we want to be," he told the two of them.

Despite her enhanced endurance, Celestia was beginning to feel the effects of moving at what amounted to a rapid march with several hundred pounds of steel strapped to her back. She gratefully sat on her haunches, feeling the weight of the Kirkhammer nearly pull her over in the process.

Eustace had gone over the basics of combat with such weapons and how they were meant to be used. Celestia and Eustace's weapons were dual purpose: a blade for cutting down swift, small foes, and a massive, heavy attachment to kill larger prey. Unlike weapons Celestia was used to, the "transformed" version of her weapon was meant to be used while standing upright, in order to maximize its destructive potential.

While standing upright was, by nature, awkward and graceless for ponies, Yharnamite hunters had perfected a methodical, rapid "burst of action" strategy, where they would wait for an opportune moment to strike in a flurry of blows, or, in the case of Eustace and herself, one absolutely devastating blow to cripple prey and secure an easy kill. In the case of the Kirkhammer, momentum from one movement or another would be swung into the Kirkhammer's detachment from its wielder's back, allowing the pony to assume a partially upright stance while they took position and prepared for their counterattack. According to both Eustace and Arthur, the Kirkhammer was by far the hardest to use, but also the hardest hitting of all of the Church's tools, requiring an adept and exceedingly strong pony to wield even its regular sized variant.

It was primarily for this reason that the Kirkhammer wasn't often used, and why when it was used it was used by highly experienced hunters travelling in groups. Eustace had explained that most hunters travelled in groups of 3 or more as it was, since one pony often wasn't anything more than a particularly feisty snack for a large beast.

Eustace had also mentioned a method of combat where a pony could remain entirely on their hind hooves, but had said such a method was beyond both him and Celestia, at the moment.

Celestia was roused from her impromptu meditations by the sound of a loud, shrill "Freak!" coming from the opposite side of the monument. Jumping to her hooves, she quickly rounded the base of the stone monolith, looking for the source of the commotion.

What she saw was an angry Twilight Sparkle seemingly arguing with one of the cloaked ponies, while an increasingly agitated Eustace tried to intervene. Celestia, deciding it was best if she herself intervened as well, moved closer to the three ponies, not failing to notice the other cloaked ponies also taking notice of the argument.

As she got nearer, she caught Twilight's response to the cloaked mare's outburst. "And what gives you the right to say that about him?" she said, jabbing a hoof towards the mare, a highly disapproving look in her eye.

The mare in question bared her teeth and practically growled out her response, switching focus from Eustace to Twilight. "Oh, looksie 'ere, an outsider. Come to tell me what to do, have ya? I might as well grind up your 'ead along with the Freak's! Two birds, one stone!" The mare finished shrilly and advanced a step, prompting Twilight to take a step back into Eustace, who calmly pushed her behind himself, shooting Celestia a very intense, very brief "stay out of this" look.

"Tonight's going to be a big night, won't it?" Eustace interjected calmly, but she could see his muscles tense as he spoke to the madmare.

She looked up at Eustace for the first time, finally letting Celestia get a clear look at her face. She was an incredibly pale blue, and she had numerous scars all over her snout. She wore a bandage over her eyes, either limiting her eyesight or covering a wound. "Yeah, what of it, Freak?" she ground out, venom dripping from every word.

"Well, you're going to need to get ready, aren't you? Sun's going down, not much time left now," he said in the same type of monotone she'd heard Yvonne speak in.

The mare once again let out a guttural noise, grinding her teeth as she wobbled a bit on the spot. Finally, she spat a heavy gob at Eustace's hooves and turned away, muttering beneath her breath about beasts and the hunt.

Celestia had been keeping a careful watch on the crowd that had formed, and while their sizes and builds varied widely, they all had borne the same vitriolic, almost murderous look beneath their hats. As the mare left, the rest of the crowd dispersed as well, returning to their previous actions.

Eustace practically shoved Twilight towards Celestia as he rapidly closed the distance. She narrowed her eyes at him, looking between him and the rest of the now visibly agitated mob. "Eustace, what the –"

"We've got to go, now," Eustace said as soon as he was in whisper range, "I'll explain later." Without waiting for a reply, he took off at an even faster pace than at which he had led the three of them to the plaza, and with Twilight, still recovering from the hostility even Celestia could feel, following close behind him.

Celestia made a mental note to dig what just happened out of the stallion even if it was the last thing she'd do.

Author's Note

So I've thought up at least a dozen different ways for combat to work now, but this is what I've rolled with for the time being. Tell me what you think about it, if it sucks or not, or if it's good etc.

Writing in atmosphere through architecture can be difficult. I hope I realized the feeling of stark oppression I was going for.

I wrote the second half of this chapter in one night. I also proofread it that same night. Apologies if I missed anything, please PM me if I did.

Detail: most of the streets in this Yharnam are based on the only real depiction we receive of them in game, which is in the Lower Cathedral Ward, down the Church Workshop drop, even further below the Old Abandoned Workshop. Central Yharnam doesn't count, since it's got no real streets aside from Central Street and a few cul-de-sacs.

In fact, in learning how Yharnamite streets are designed, I learned that there doesn't seem to be any sensible way out of Central Yharnam by street. There are literally zero connections from Central Yharnam's Street to other streets aside from the Great Bridge, and that leads only to Cathedral Ward, seeing as how the other end of the Great Bridge is a solid brick wall blocked by an oversized carriage.

Edit: 16/09/19: added literally two words because they improved the quality of a paragraph immensely.