Dark Souls - Prepare for Poniesby NahBChaptersPrologueC1 - BearingsC2 - GhostsC3 - On Black WingsC4 - EverfreePrologueWARNING - SUPER SPOILERS FOR THE DARK SOULS DLC Karen rolled to the side as the beast in front of her smashed its impossible hand down. Taking advantage of its inability to move, she lunged forward and sliced at its side with her flashing golden sword. That was it, all it could take. The beast, what had to be the bringer of the Abyss here in Oolacile, fell to the ground motionless, and began to dissipate into base souls like all the other enemies she had encountered. She felt a pang of jealousy – she couldn’t die. Not truly. Were she to be “killed”, she would be brought back by the fire as a laughable shadow of a human. She hated being hollow – nothing felt truly real while her humanity was gone. Karen was Undead, and she hated it. Doomed to exist forever, even if her sanity went. Karen watched it dissipate… and then move again. Startled, she raised her shield in case it attacked. But instead of attacking, the beast raised its catalyst, and a terrible, dark sorcery began to form. “No!” She shouted, not caring that there was no one to hear her. She didn’t know what it was doing, but it couldn’t be good. Something like this, at the end of its life, would only lash out at everything around it. And a being of this power could easily destroy Oolacile and the surrounding area with that single lash. The sorcery gathered, and the world became darker and darker. Panicking, Karen brought out her black bow and nocked an arrow. Aiming quickly as the sorcery on the catalyst began to expand, she shot. Nothing happened. Eyes widening, Karen changed her tactic. This time she nocked a moonlight arrow in her bow, and let it fly. When the arrow came in contact with the expanding sorcery, it seemed to wink out of existence. Karen let out a sigh of relief and began to turn. Not a moment later, an unbearably loud noise erupted, originating from the beast’s catalyst, and the world exploded into darkness. C1 - BearingsLESSER EVERFREE Karen opened her eyes. Well, I’ve got eyes. Means I didn’t die. Her surroundings had changed quite a bit. No longer was the Undead in a deep chasm in the abyss – she appeared to be in a dark, uninviting forest. Unmoving, she studied her surroundings. It was a small clearing. Even though trees in this small area were sparse, the height of said trees made it so sunlight only fell through the canopy in small patches. Not twenty feet from her was a Bonfire, already lit. She attempted to rise, and found that her coordination was completely off. Her entire body felt strange – as if she weren’t herself anymore. She could, however, raise her head. She looked down to check herself and did a double take. What? Karen’s body apparently didn’t resemble a human anymore. She had four appendages that extended from her body and ended in a flat, circular shape. In fact, that, accompanied by the fact that her body was fairly elongated and she had a tail, she concluded that she was now a horse. What in the Abyss was that sorcery? How am I going to fix this? Karen slowly got her feet – hooves – under her and stood unsteadily. She took a look around her again, and saw that all her gear was clumped up behind her. She took a step toward it and fell flat on her face. Right. Horse. How do horses walk? Must remember. It took her a minute to remember. She’d been in Lordran quite a long time and hadn’t seen a single horse there, so had to rely on the time before she had become Undead. She took a few hesitant steps – Front right, back left, front left, back right. Repeat. It seemed to work. She made it to her gear, and then suddenly wondered how in the world she was going to put it on with hooves instead of hands. Frowning, Karen swiped aside the pile. There were her weapons, item pouch, cuirass, and hat, but nothing else. No sign of her leggings or gauntlets. Weird… the cuirass seems to have been converted to fit this form. Her cuirass was originally Ornstein’s – bought off of Domhnall for an unreasonable price, but it fit her style. Heavy, but mobile. That was her. Karen scooped it up with one hoof (heavy though it was) and placed it on her back. She grunted with the weight, but moved it around until it seemed like it would fit well. It had straps, but she had no idea how to tie them. She’d just have to move carefully until she found out how to use them. Karen grabbed her hat – a simple thing with a feather sticking out(soon as it fell off of that hollow in Darkroot she’d taken a liking to it) – and stuck it on her head. It felt funny, like her head jutted out a bit, but she ignored it due to it being a horse’s head, unfamiliar in every way. Her weapons presented another problem. How was she to grab her sword, shield, talisman and bow all at the same time? She pondered the situation a moment, and then angrily gave up on it. This is ridiculous! I’m a horse! What happened in that damnable Abyss? Karen stared at her sword and willed it to get itself up. As if that’ll- Her Golden Tracer suddenly flung into the air, a silver aura about its handle. Surprised, Karen fell back onto her backside and let the sword fall to the ground. I can do sorcery? But I’m untrained! But its applications would be invaluable. She concentrated again, and was able to pick up the sword with her newfound sorcery. Still in wonder, she used it to pick up her shield at the same time. By the Flame, this is amazing! But can I… She dropped her items and used that same sorcery to tighten the straps on her armor, securing it against herself. Pleased, she hovered her item pouch over and strapped it to her armor. She placed her bow on her back and her talisman around her leg, picked up her remaining items, and walked carefully to the Bonfire. It was no different than most Bonfires, except that it was fully kindled, which was a surprise. Either there was a happy firekeeper nearby, or the Abyss had fed it. Regardless, Karen sat in front of it and leaned in, letting the flame warm her face. Even when she felt hot and unpleasant, the Flame from a Bonfire soothed her, healing her wounds and easing her aches. She reached a hoof out to attempt to warp back to Firelink, but felt a resistance. Apparently this world, like the Painted World or Seath’s jail, was preventing her from using the warp ability she had taken from the Lordvessel. Then her first order of business would have to be to find a way out of this strange place and back to either Oolacile or Lordran – and get some answers. Karen rose from the bonfire and picked up her weapons with her strange new sorcery. Somehow, it seemed to work without the use of any catalyst or talisman – some new form of magic. Looking around, she found a path snaking through the dark forest. Here goes nothing. CANTERLOT BARRACKS Shining Armor stared at the giant wall of white. Nothing made sense anymore. He looked around his room, but found no way out except for that wall. It was silky to the touch, and seemed to resist him. He had nothing with him. His armor was gone, as well as his fighting pole. He was hesitant to go into that whiteness with nothing to protect him, but it seemed like it was the only way out. So? Nothing to do but the deed itself. He pushed himself through the dense fog, shuddering at its silkiness hovering just away from his coat. On the other side now, he looked around. He found himself in a large chapel-looking building. Well, this isn’t my barracks. UNDEAD BARRACKS He looked around and found a door in the back. However, smack-dab in the middle of the room, he found a sword in a pile of ashes. Curious, he approached it. Upon closer inspection, he found that the ashes were really ashes from bones – but why were they ashes? He put his hoof out and the pile of ashes suddenly burst into flame. Surprised, he fell back. Did I do that? Feeling a little braver, he approached the ashes (Fire, he corrected himself). As he grew closer, he found that the fire gave off a pleasant feeling – not warm, but pleasant. As if the fire wasn’t truly fire. Regardless, he found it comforting, so he sat a moment by it, basking in the pleasant feeling. But he had to move on. Something was happening here, and sitting in one place was going to solve nothing. He moved towards the large door at the other end of the room. He hesitantly put his hoof against it. The door was tough to push open, but he did it. On the other side of the door was another large room, but this time the ceiling was lower. The room had several holes in the side. Before he had time to do anything, a giant snake suddenly slid through one of the said holes. “Gah!” Shining cried, backing away from it. It oriented on him, and before he knew it, it was lashing at him. Shining barely managed to jump to the side and run away from the thing. He ignored the world when he saw an opening in the side of the room. He dove through it, and the gate held up suddenly crashed down behind him. Following that, he heard another crash – turning around revealed that the giant snake had smashed its head into the bars, bending them slightly. “What. The. Hay.” Shining Armor stared a moment, then turned and walked through the new hallway. Sitting around gaping wouldn’t get him to learn anything. Somepony had to still be around, and would explain this. Maybe one of the princesses could tell him. Hopefully he would be able to find his wife in- Shining Armor fell through a hole in the ground, and began to yell incoherently as he sped uncontrollably toward the forest below. C2 - GhostsLESSER EVERFREE Karen walked forward slowly, shield ready to repel any attack that came at her. Nothing had appeared for a few moments since she’d started down the path, but no chances could be taken. From Lordran to Oolacile, no place had been good to her since leaving the Asylum. She saw sparsely placed ruins along the way. Her eyes were wide open to anything that would harm her – or help her, as laughable as the thought was. Help in Lordran was sparse, and even that help eventually came back to haunt her. Solaire… Karen thought about the knight once again. He had been one of the few undead that hadn’t been depressed out of their mind – one of the few warriors that could be undead and still pursue the dream. And then those damnable insects in that damnable hell had torn that knight from her. She had admired the incredible knight, even to the moment she had put her sword through his throat. Enough. Karen didn’t know exactly what made the undead go Hollow, but idle thoughts like that certainly wouldn’t help. Besides, the landscape had changed. The path in front of her had turned into a fork, and it was a fork she had to think on. To the right stood a ruined coliseum with the white fog in its entrance. That way led to some incredible beast that could likely kill her. To the left led a bridge over a huge gorge. Karen thought a moment. The bonfire wasn’t that far back, and if need be she could fight the thing again if she failed the first time. It was decided. She turned toward the white fog and had her weapons at the ready. Whatever was across that fog was about to die, and didn’t know it. She pushed through, feeling its strange silkiness on her… coat. It tingled, like always. On the other side, the sight of a humanoid with a bloated head awaited her. The familiar sight made her go cold. No. Not again. It noticed her. She stared back, frozen. Suddenly, a knight in silver armor fell on the thing, its sword piercing the thing’s head. “No.” The knight waited a moment, then shoved the blade deeper. “I killed you already. I had your soul in my hand.” The knight looked at her, and stood up. “I killed you, Artorias. I saw you die with my blade in your chest.” But instead of attacking her, he walked forward and fell to a knee in front of her. Karen stared. “And I thank you for doing so, warrior. Manus defeated me. I fell. But you killed me before I could destroy my honor. You saved my companion. Good warrior, I thank you, and for some reason, I have the ability to do so.” “I… didn’t want to.” Karen trembled. “I am dead – I know this. But for some reason, the abyss spread, and its memory of me brought me back for a fleeting moment. And-“ But before the knight could continue, a giant version of the enemy Artorias had felled crashed into the ground behind the warrior. “Artorias!” Karen yelled. The knight rolled to the side just as an oversized fist fell to the ground where he had just been. “To arms!” The knight yelled. At the sound of that, Karen rushed forward, and swung her sword at the beast’s leg. It bit, but didn’t seem to cause it pain. It turned, focusing on her, and swung a giant fist at her. Karen snapped her shield up to block the attack, but it was swept aside and the fist connected with her side. With a yelp, she was sent flying. Artorias snuck forward, taking advantage of the enemy’s distraction. He sunk his blade into its side, causing it to scream in pain. Its other giant fist fell toward the warrior, but he had retrieved his sword and fell back out of reach. The thing ran at Artorias, arms swinging wildly. Karen, having gotten up by now, dropped her sword and brought her bow in front of her. She nocked an arrow (not bothering to figure out how she knew what to do with this new sorcery) and let it fly. Being an incredible shot with her bow had its benefits. The arrow flew true and struck the bloated head right in the back. It lunged forward, and arched its back backwards and screamed again. Instead of turning towards Karen, it began to swing its arms wildly. “Get back,” Artorias yelled to Karen. Karen complied, but when Artorias refused to do the same, Karen cried out. “No! Don’t you dare!” Over the din of the screaming enemy, Artorias raised his helmet’s faceplate, revealing only darkness within, and spoke in a clear voice. “Good Warrior, I did not lie when I said a fleeting moment – I am dead. I will use this moment to do a favor to the one who set me free from the Abyss.” With those words, Artorias charged forward. The beast looked at the knight charging it, and stopped its wild movements. It raised its fist. Artorias plunged his blade through the thing’s chest with a great jump. As soon as the blade had sunk in fully, the beast’s fist came down. With frightening speed, it pushed the knight into the ground with a final *thunk*. Karen screamed unintelligibly and nocked another arrow. With rage in her eyes, she let it loose. The arrow hit the screaming beast in the head again, and with this shot, the corrupted human fell to the ground, motionless, its screams dying away. Karen panted a moment, looking around. Artorias’ armor was nowhere in sight. He’d been right – the smallest of threads had kept him around, and now his time was truly up. It meant the world to her that the corrupted knight had had a few last moments free of the Abyss, free to return a favor he could never have expected to return. She had to find the one who had spread the Abyss – this Manus, the beast she had thought she’d defeated. The coliseum was silent around her. The beast they’d killed leaked blood on the ground, refusing to die away into pure souls like many of her enemies. Karen felt the souls from the beast enter her, but its corpse still existed, perhaps mocking the memory of the proud knight. She’d heard so much about the knights of Gwyn, and she realized that she’d felled nearly every one of them. She was glad to have truly met one. Her side hurt. She drank some estus, gasping as the pain in her side subsided and filled with a pleasant burn. Her wounds healed, she- “aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!” Above her, falling from the sky, seemed to be another horse. Frowning, Karen wondered at its origin. She then realized that it was falling and might die. Without thinking, she used the mysterious sorcery she had developed to try and catch the thing – to her surprise, it worked. She gently lifted the horse, another weird looking horse! thing down to the ground. The horse’s eyes were shut tightly. Karen took the opportunity to study it. She noted the horn almost immediately. Unicorn? Interesting. The abyss must have had some strange things in it. It was almost completely white, with a bluish mane and tail. It opened its eyes and stared at her. “Hello,” Karen ventured, wondering if it could speak like her. “I… I’m not dead.” It COULD talk. Good news. “No, you’re not. You’re welcome. Where did you fall from?” Karen was used to meeting others in strange circumstances, so was easily adapting to the situation. “I fell from Canterlot Castle… wait, where am I?” “How should I know? You’re in some strange coliseum in some strange forest. That’s all I know.” The unicorn got to its feet and looked around. “Everfree? But Canterlot is… I don’t even know anymore.” He looked up and seemed unsurprised to find nothing but sky above him. “Name’s Shining Armor. I’m captain of the guard up in Canterlot.” “Canter… lot. Hm. Well. I’m Karen, nice to meet you.” Shining Armor looked at her, wondering at her armor and gear. “Why are you in full armor?” Karen laughed, confusing him even more. “Why aren’t you? Why am I a horse? Countless questions, unnecessary answers. We all just go on and do our duty. Learned that from a smug bastard I had to kill.” Karen started walking out of the coliseum, ignoring him. She made her way back to the bonfire. Shining Armor, confused, followed her. “What’s going on here?” he asked. “I don’t know. Why are we horses?” “Horses?” Shining was confused. “We’re ponies. But why don’t you know that?” “I’m human,” Karen said, not bothering to look behind her. “On that note, why can I use sorcery?” Shining, still confused, shook his head. “I don’t know what you mean. You’re a unicorn. Magic is natural.” She looked back at him sharply. “Magic? We can’t do magic anymore. Just Sorcery, Pyromancy and Miracles.” The confused stallion just shook his head. “What in the world are you talking about?” The two broke into the clearing that held the bonfire. Karen simply walked to the bonfire and sat down, letting it calm her. Shining Armor walked over as well and sat on the other side. “You know nothing of Lordran? Of the Undead curse?” Shining Armor shook his head. “Well then. I’ll relate what I know…” Karen ended up saying everything she knew about her curse, and then followed up by relating the events that had followed her journey to Lordran. Shining Armor sat at attention the entire time. When she had finished relating her tale, Shining Armor spoke up. “So. You can’t die.” Karen nodded. “When I die, I lose my humanity and souls. If I don’t find them before I die again, they disappear.” “I don’t see why that’s so terrible.” “That’s the thing. I can’t die. Even if I wanted to, I can’t. I think that’s why so many of us go hollow.” The stallion pondered those words. “Then you have no idea what’s going on here?” Karen shook her head. “None at all.” Shining Armor in return related what he knew of Equestria to her, so she would understand her form and why she could do what she could. He was silent a moment after, then looked sharply at her. “Well, my wife is somewhere in this mess that used to be Equestria. I’m going to do what I can to fix this.” Karen looked at him, then nodded. “Then let’s go defeat the Abyss together.” C3 - On Black WingsLESSER EVERFREE “You need equipment.” Karen said this as a fact. “Okay. Where do I get this said equipment?” Karen looked around a moment, and sat again in front of the bonfire. She stuck her hoof in the fire, causing a gasp to come from her companion. She pulled out a box that seemed to appear out of nowhere. She opened the box and looked inside. Shining Armor only looked on with a gaping mouth. This Undead pony was unfamiliar with the most basic magic, yet could do such feats as this? He opened his mouth to speak when he saw her push her hoof in… farther than was possible. His eyes widened. “It’s… bigger on the inside?” “Bottomless box. Some people hate ‘em, but for me, it’s essential. Alright. You look like a heavyweight, so I think we’ll go with this.” She pulled out a large cuirass, gray and bulky. She tossed it to him and it hit the ground with an unpleasant “thunk.” Shining Armor walked over to it and levitated it with his magic. “Seems heavy.” Karen nodded, still rooting around. “Got it in Anor Londo. Came from a guy named Havel the Rock. Bastard gave me some trouble, but he got an arrow in the eye for his effort.” Shining Armor glanced at the armor distastefully. “Um…” She looked over to him. “Oh, don’t worry. That wasn’t him truly wearing it. He was a hollow outside of his time. He was actually dead long before I killed him, but I was the one that killed him. Make sense?” Without waiting for an answer, she went back to rooting around in the box. Shining opened his mouth to say “no,” but figured out that she didn’t care if he understood or not. Her story didn’t make sense anyway, but here she was and here the messed-up world was. He just accepted it and placed the armor on himself. “What. The. Buck.” Shining found himself severely restricted by the extremely heavy armor. “Strongest I have. Heaviest, too. You won’t find better protection, though. Here,” she said, pulling out a giant club and tossing it to him. “Fully reinforced fire club. Heavy thing, but deals more damage than you ever could on your own. Also, I don’t know what you have a penchant for, so take these.” She tossed him a little stick and a ball of… something tied up in a cloth. He looked at her and found her staring at her hoof. His eyes widened when the smallest ball of fire rose from it, then separated into two balls. She walked over to him, and deposited one into his upturned hoof. It sank into his body. “Catalyst, Talisman, and Pyromancy flame. That flame came from a good friend of mine, and now from me to you. Take care of it,” she said, and approached the bonfire again. “Use whatever form of magic that feels natural. I doubt you’ll be able to do the things you normally would.” Frowning, Shining tried to teleport to the other side of the clearing in order to test this. He closed his eyes, and heard a “pop”. He opened his eyes and found himself staring… at the exact same location. He shook his head. “You’re right. Something about this place is damping my ability.” Karen kept rooting around. “You ever worn a helmet, or would you prefer a hat of some kind?” He frowned, and then thought a moment. “Neither. I need to see.” Karen laughed. “Not like you’ll be needing it. He was Havel ‘The Rock’ for a reason. Also,” she said, tossing him something small, “this. It’s a ring, but I don’t know what to do with it. Normally, I wear a pair of them but dunno how to wear them now.” Shining smiled, happy to be even the smallest bit useful. “Stick them on your horn. What’s this do?” Karen nodded, pulled out a pair of rings, and settled them on her horn. She gasped, and her posture seemed to get a little better. “Just put it on.” He slid it on his horn and gasped as well. Suddenly, the overbearing armor seemed lighter. “Havel’s too. It helps with weight,” Karen explained. “What are you wearing?” “I’ve got the Ring of Favor and Protection, something I took from a backstabbing knight. Helps with weight and weariness. Also, I’ve got the Hawk ring. It makes my arrows fly further.” Shining Armor nodded and looked again at the club she had tossed him. “Fire reinforcement?” “Mmhmm. Look at the etchings of metal throughout it. It’s Titanite. When it comes in contact with a foe, it’ll burst into flame momentarily, hurting the enemy but doing no harm to the holder and the weapon itself. Pretty useful.” He gave it a few swings(almost staggering at first, but getting used to the huge weight of the weapon), testing its mettle. “Heavy,” he grunted, “even my magic seems to have trouble with it.” Karen gave a laugh. “I actually carried that stupid thing around for a while. Dunno why, seemed like a good idea at the time.” Shining laughed with her. She finally got up though, and shook her head. “We best get moving. We’re not going to get anything done sitting around here forever.” Shining would have shrugged, but the damn armor was too restricting. “Lead on,” he said, letting the mare go ahead. “I may be captain of the guard, but you obviously have far more real combat experience.” She turned back to him and gave a thin-lipped smile that obviously held no joy. “Yep,” was all she said in reply. She sauntered ahead, not bothering to see if he followed. Of course, she didn’t really need to – all the clinking his armor was making told her that he in fact was. The pair slowly moved forward, eyes open for anything dangerous, and finally came to the crossroads from before. Shining Armor nodded towards the coliseum. “That’s where I fell?” He asked. Karen nodded the affirmative. “Yep.” He looked at the light-colored mare, eyes narrowed. “Why were you in there, anyway?” She frowned. “Well, I figured since the bonfire was relatively close, I could afford to fight a tough enemy.” “That big biped? How did you know it was there?” “I didn’t know exactly what was there,” she began, stopping and turning towards him completely, setting her bow down. “I just saw the white fog.” Shining Armor started, and looked at her strangely. “So… white fog signifies that there’s something tough behind it? That explains my encounter…” he trailed off. Karen nodded. “Yes, or a bonfire.” He looked at her, brows furrowed. “Bonfire? But there wasn’t one back in the clearing.” She grimaced. “There would have been were we to have been invaded.” “Invaded?” Shining asked, confused. Karen sighed and sat down, realizing she’d forgotten an important part of her lecture on Lordran. “Occasionally, undead from alternate worlds would break through the barrier between us and invade my world as a ghostly, red spirit. Their arrival would signify a fight to the death between us, without access to a bonfire. It’s also there if I have summoned a friendly spirit into my world to help me defeat a tough enemy.” Shining Armor tried to grasp it. “So what you’re saying is that there are alternate worlds where there are undead like you, but not nearly so nice?” “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” she said. “They can’t speak to me, but I can tell that if you had met one of them instead of me here, you could have easily had your throat slit instead of being given armor.” The stallion shuddered at the violent nature of Karen’s world, and the fact that it was actually here in Equestria. “Time to go,” Karen announced, again rising to her feet and grasping her bow with her sorcery. “We shouldn’t stay in one place.” With that, the mare walked to the bridge and began crossing the gorge, unaware of the huge depths below her. With a frown, Shining armor followed, glad it was a large stone bridge, instead of a rickety wooden one. However, halfway across the bridge, Karen halted her movement. “Stop,” she ordered him. She pointed a hoof out. “See that? At the end of the bridge?” Shining squinted, but finally picked a dark shape out, different from the dark forest behind it. It was bipedal, and seemed to be wearing ragged pieces of armor haphazardly placed on it. “That’s a hollow,” Karen said, concern in her voice. “I wondered if they’d been turned into ponies like me, but apparently not. Maybe it’s good – I’d rather your world not be affected by the undead curse.” Following her speech, she raised her bow and nocked an arrow. Shining watched as she squinted her eyes a moment, and the arrow was let loose. The stallion watched in amazement as the arrow flew straight into the hollow’s head, and it crumpled down. “Never fight up close what you can bring down from afar,” she said, probably quoting a mantra she held dear to herself. “Nice shot,” Shining said, impressed. She turned to him and gave a quick, toothy grin, and resumed movement. Within a few moments, they had crossed the entirety of the bridge, and the vast Everfree forest stretched ahead of them. GREATER EVERFREE “Well?” he asked, concerned. “Left. Skirt the edge of the forest as much as possible, I think I see some ruins,” Karen said, moving forward. “Keep your eyes open, not sure what kind of foes are going to be lurking here.” Surprisingly, there was no presence there to stop them. Glancing around constantly was wearing, but kept Shining fresh, knowing that a moment’s distraction might lead to his death. Suddenly, Karen stopped again. “Wha-“ Shining began, only to be stopped by a massive roar. “Drake!” Karen yelled, running ahead. Not a moment later, a giant dragon swooped in, belching out gouts of great black flames. Shining skirted them, staying close to Karen. After a moment, the drake swooped ahead of them and landed, staring at the duo. Karen gritted her teeth. “Kalameet. I killed you.” The dragon raised its muzzle and laughed, a strange and very scary sound. It wasn’t like anything the dragons Shining Armor had seen – it exuded dangerous from its very looks. Karen nocked another arrow and prepared to fire, but the dragon suddenly flared its wings and the two ponies were knocked back. “Undead from the future. I will be waiting at the citadel. It is only there that I will grant you your death.” The dragon swooped into the air, banking away from the forest. They got up slowly, examining the burnt trees around them. They stared at each other, frightened by the dragon’s appearance. “Since when do dead drakes talk?” Karen asked Shining, obviously rattled. C4 - Everfree GREATER EVERFREE “Dragons are a common occurrence in this world?” Shining Armor nodded in response. “Yes. They live mostly at peace with ponies, though it’s mostly because there’s a mutual respect there. We don’t want a pointless, bloody war, and they don’t either.” “Are many of them like Kalameet?” “That black dragon? No. For the most part, they’re more sleek and less straightforward built-for-combat. How are you familiar with dragons, yet this is the only one you’ve seen?” Karen shook her head. “No, actually, it’s not the only one I’ve seen. Though they’re only loosely dragons, I’ve fought several drakes in a valley between places, two Undead dragons, a drake on a bridge, and met an Everlasting Dragon down in a lake of ash.” “Everlasting dragon?” Shining was confused. “Aren’t dragons already practically immortal?” “I suppose so, but these were supposed to be different. Stone scales that could only be peeled apart by great blasts of lightning bolts. They used to rule the world, so I hear.” “Your world is a dangerous, deadly place, Karen.” She nodded, and rose to her hooves. “Yes, yes it is. Now, we should get moving towards that citadel Kalameet mentioned.” “What!” Shining exclaimed, jumping up. “You want to go fight that thing now?” “It’s the only way. We know where he is, and I really don’t want to have to search him out. He’d be a menace otherwise.” She started moving towards the ruins, keeping her eyes open wide to find any dangers. “It seems like an unnecessary risk, though. It-“ “Down!” Karen jumped back and shoved Shining to the ground, who heard something whiz by his head. “Shining, hollows, coming up fast! Look right!” Shining Armor did so, and found an army of dirt-covered shambling bipeds moving towards them in various states of fighting ability. Several had bows, and all of them that did were lining up shots on the duo. “Smack the ones that get close. I’ll shoot all of the bowmen I can.” The unicorn stallion braced himself before the oncoming hollows. He saw several shots go by from his side, thunking into several enemies’ heads. Before long, several of the faster bipeds had reached the duo. Shining, gathering his resolve, raised his club. Then, he got a good look at his foe. Its face was hideous. Even he could tell that it barely resembled what it had been at one time. Its cheeks were sunken, the eyes were missing, and there were no teeth in its mouth. It had a mad look to it, and it chilled him to the very core of his being. He was shocked out of his reverie when a flash of gold swished by his face, lopping that horrid head off its body. “Snap out of it, man!” Shining watched a moment as Karen waded into the opponents, sword flashing with every swing. As a hollow shambled up behind her, Shining finally gathered the courage to strike. With a great swing, the club smashed into the hollow, sending it flying in a burst of flame. Instead of regret, sadness, and guilt, he only felt one thing: Elation. He soon found himself swinging the club with wild abandon, every thwak and crash giving him a sensation of euphoria. He no longer cared that he was in the forest. Shining found himself at one last foe, and swung his club. “Shining!” Karen brought her shield up and knocked the club away. She rushed forward and put her sword to his neck, panting heavily. “Shining, can you hear me?” He stared at her for a shocked moment, then swallowed, wincing slightly when he felt the sword bite a little into his neck. “Yes. Yes I can hear you.” Karen took the sword away from him and turned away for a moment. Shining dropped to the ground, letting his weaponry fall with him. “What… what was that?” “That…” Karen began, “that was what every Undead feels when he or she gathers souls.” “Souls?” Shining was horrified, but Karen simply nodded. “Souls. When you kill something stricken by the undead curse, or something that is truly immortal, you absorb its essence, or in other words, its soul. The feeling you get is so fantastic the first time that you lose yourself.” Shining was quiet a moment. “Do you… did… did you go through this too?” She nodded. “In the asylum. There were some hollows that just sat there. Right after my escape, I attacked the first hollow I found, thinking it would attack me.” She shook her head. “They were helpless, and I didn’t care. It wasn’t until I found my first Bonfire that I settled down. I’m not proud of what I did, but it’s in the past now.” Shining Armor was speechless, the two ponies just staring at each other for a moment. “Whatever. We need to move, Kalameet isn’t going to wait forever. I don’t relish this, he seems to be at full capacity this time.” “You mean last time you fought it he was injured?” “Yep. Giant arrow through one of his wings, making him unable to fly at all. Let’s go.” Karen walked off towards the citadel without another word. Shining reclaimed his club and followed, still shaken. Absorbing the souls had been euphoric, just like Karen had said. “Keep an eye out. We’ll not likely see a group like that again, but it could likely-“ “Changeling!” Shining Armor jumped ahead and slapped the thing away just as it pounced at Karen. Undeterred, it rose to its hooves and stared him down. It no longer looked normal – it had red, evil-looking eyes, its horn was jagged and broken, and its wings seemed nonfunctional. Shining swung his club, but the agile insectoid pony dodged and made a jump for him. Just as it was about to connect, jaws open wide, it found itself sporting an arrow through an eye and was knocked away. “Thanks for the warning.” Karen walked forward and patted the adrenaline-filled captain of the guard on the back. “Let’s keep going.” They had slowed to a snail’s pace, ready to be attacked at anymoment. “As I was saying, it could likely be that there are a ton of single enemies in here. What was that thing? A changeling?” “There are these things, changelings – they can use magic to make themselves look like any pony. They feed on positive emotions, especially love.” “Why would there be one here? No food.” “That one looked feral. Usually, their eyes are a soft blue, and they use magical attacks. That one’s eyes were an angry red, and it just flung itself at us.” Karen glanced back at him. “Strange. But not so much in the big picture – why wouldn’t they be affected too? Let’s just hope we don’t meet any of your bigger, stronger creatures.” “I think we already are,” Shining said, stopping. He pointed forward, causing Karen to check their path. They had exited the forest, finally coming to the citadel. Unfortunately, blocking their way was a gigantic minotaur, sporting an oversized greatsword that was even taller than the beast itself. “Minotaur,” Shining Armor breathed, nearly the same time that Karen mouthed ‘Taurus Demon.’ Regardless, the beast charged them, crossing a short stone bridge on the way. Karen reacted quickly, whipping out her bow and firing arrows at it. Shining moved to flank it, readying his club. The demon swung its huge sword at Karen, forcing the unicorn to quickly bring her shield to bear. The blow nearly knocked her off into the valley below, the force transferring through her telekinetic grasp. Shining took advantage of the choice and slammed his club into the beast’s leg. Unfortunately, it only seemed to aggravate it. It turned and did an overhead swing, forcing Shining to block it with his club unsuccessfully, earning his armor a few dents and him a few dings. Still one great beast is inferior to two powerful warriors. Karen darted forward and slashed at its already wounded leg with her tracer, its sharp, curved edge making blood pour out of the wounds she inflicted. Within just a few short moments the beast staggered, and fell on its back. Karen leapt on top of it and stabbed her sword into its throat, severing its spine and ceasing its struggles. Shining moved towards the corpse and kicked it. “Stay dead.” Karen just looked at him with a small grin. “Easy stuff. Now comes the hard part.” She turned back at the citadel, and the white fog that obscured the doorway. “To kill a dragon.” Author's Note Picture the minotaur to be about the size of a Taurus demon, and then take into account how ponies are about half the height of humans. Yeah. Still working on fighting scenes, my weakest bit of writing ability, but I'm tryin'. Flow is hard there. Also, yeah, this is alive. I'm back in the game, if you didn't see the update to my other story, "The Open Sea". Love you.
PrologueWARNING - SUPER SPOILERS FOR THE DARK SOULS DLC Karen rolled to the side as the beast in front of her smashed its impossible hand down. Taking advantage of its inability to move, she lunged forward and sliced at its side with her flashing golden sword. That was it, all it could take. The beast, what had to be the bringer of the Abyss here in Oolacile, fell to the ground motionless, and began to dissipate into base souls like all the other enemies she had encountered. She felt a pang of jealousy – she couldn’t die. Not truly. Were she to be “killed”, she would be brought back by the fire as a laughable shadow of a human. She hated being hollow – nothing felt truly real while her humanity was gone. Karen was Undead, and she hated it. Doomed to exist forever, even if her sanity went. Karen watched it dissipate… and then move again. Startled, she raised her shield in case it attacked. But instead of attacking, the beast raised its catalyst, and a terrible, dark sorcery began to form. “No!” She shouted, not caring that there was no one to hear her. She didn’t know what it was doing, but it couldn’t be good. Something like this, at the end of its life, would only lash out at everything around it. And a being of this power could easily destroy Oolacile and the surrounding area with that single lash. The sorcery gathered, and the world became darker and darker. Panicking, Karen brought out her black bow and nocked an arrow. Aiming quickly as the sorcery on the catalyst began to expand, she shot. Nothing happened. Eyes widening, Karen changed her tactic. This time she nocked a moonlight arrow in her bow, and let it fly. When the arrow came in contact with the expanding sorcery, it seemed to wink out of existence. Karen let out a sigh of relief and began to turn. Not a moment later, an unbearably loud noise erupted, originating from the beast’s catalyst, and the world exploded into darkness.
C1 - BearingsLESSER EVERFREE Karen opened her eyes. Well, I’ve got eyes. Means I didn’t die. Her surroundings had changed quite a bit. No longer was the Undead in a deep chasm in the abyss – she appeared to be in a dark, uninviting forest. Unmoving, she studied her surroundings. It was a small clearing. Even though trees in this small area were sparse, the height of said trees made it so sunlight only fell through the canopy in small patches. Not twenty feet from her was a Bonfire, already lit. She attempted to rise, and found that her coordination was completely off. Her entire body felt strange – as if she weren’t herself anymore. She could, however, raise her head. She looked down to check herself and did a double take. What? Karen’s body apparently didn’t resemble a human anymore. She had four appendages that extended from her body and ended in a flat, circular shape. In fact, that, accompanied by the fact that her body was fairly elongated and she had a tail, she concluded that she was now a horse. What in the Abyss was that sorcery? How am I going to fix this? Karen slowly got her feet – hooves – under her and stood unsteadily. She took a look around her again, and saw that all her gear was clumped up behind her. She took a step toward it and fell flat on her face. Right. Horse. How do horses walk? Must remember. It took her a minute to remember. She’d been in Lordran quite a long time and hadn’t seen a single horse there, so had to rely on the time before she had become Undead. She took a few hesitant steps – Front right, back left, front left, back right. Repeat. It seemed to work. She made it to her gear, and then suddenly wondered how in the world she was going to put it on with hooves instead of hands. Frowning, Karen swiped aside the pile. There were her weapons, item pouch, cuirass, and hat, but nothing else. No sign of her leggings or gauntlets. Weird… the cuirass seems to have been converted to fit this form. Her cuirass was originally Ornstein’s – bought off of Domhnall for an unreasonable price, but it fit her style. Heavy, but mobile. That was her. Karen scooped it up with one hoof (heavy though it was) and placed it on her back. She grunted with the weight, but moved it around until it seemed like it would fit well. It had straps, but she had no idea how to tie them. She’d just have to move carefully until she found out how to use them. Karen grabbed her hat – a simple thing with a feather sticking out(soon as it fell off of that hollow in Darkroot she’d taken a liking to it) – and stuck it on her head. It felt funny, like her head jutted out a bit, but she ignored it due to it being a horse’s head, unfamiliar in every way. Her weapons presented another problem. How was she to grab her sword, shield, talisman and bow all at the same time? She pondered the situation a moment, and then angrily gave up on it. This is ridiculous! I’m a horse! What happened in that damnable Abyss? Karen stared at her sword and willed it to get itself up. As if that’ll- Her Golden Tracer suddenly flung into the air, a silver aura about its handle. Surprised, Karen fell back onto her backside and let the sword fall to the ground. I can do sorcery? But I’m untrained! But its applications would be invaluable. She concentrated again, and was able to pick up the sword with her newfound sorcery. Still in wonder, she used it to pick up her shield at the same time. By the Flame, this is amazing! But can I… She dropped her items and used that same sorcery to tighten the straps on her armor, securing it against herself. Pleased, she hovered her item pouch over and strapped it to her armor. She placed her bow on her back and her talisman around her leg, picked up her remaining items, and walked carefully to the Bonfire. It was no different than most Bonfires, except that it was fully kindled, which was a surprise. Either there was a happy firekeeper nearby, or the Abyss had fed it. Regardless, Karen sat in front of it and leaned in, letting the flame warm her face. Even when she felt hot and unpleasant, the Flame from a Bonfire soothed her, healing her wounds and easing her aches. She reached a hoof out to attempt to warp back to Firelink, but felt a resistance. Apparently this world, like the Painted World or Seath’s jail, was preventing her from using the warp ability she had taken from the Lordvessel. Then her first order of business would have to be to find a way out of this strange place and back to either Oolacile or Lordran – and get some answers. Karen rose from the bonfire and picked up her weapons with her strange new sorcery. Somehow, it seemed to work without the use of any catalyst or talisman – some new form of magic. Looking around, she found a path snaking through the dark forest. Here goes nothing. CANTERLOT BARRACKS Shining Armor stared at the giant wall of white. Nothing made sense anymore. He looked around his room, but found no way out except for that wall. It was silky to the touch, and seemed to resist him. He had nothing with him. His armor was gone, as well as his fighting pole. He was hesitant to go into that whiteness with nothing to protect him, but it seemed like it was the only way out. So? Nothing to do but the deed itself. He pushed himself through the dense fog, shuddering at its silkiness hovering just away from his coat. On the other side now, he looked around. He found himself in a large chapel-looking building. Well, this isn’t my barracks. UNDEAD BARRACKS He looked around and found a door in the back. However, smack-dab in the middle of the room, he found a sword in a pile of ashes. Curious, he approached it. Upon closer inspection, he found that the ashes were really ashes from bones – but why were they ashes? He put his hoof out and the pile of ashes suddenly burst into flame. Surprised, he fell back. Did I do that? Feeling a little braver, he approached the ashes (Fire, he corrected himself). As he grew closer, he found that the fire gave off a pleasant feeling – not warm, but pleasant. As if the fire wasn’t truly fire. Regardless, he found it comforting, so he sat a moment by it, basking in the pleasant feeling. But he had to move on. Something was happening here, and sitting in one place was going to solve nothing. He moved towards the large door at the other end of the room. He hesitantly put his hoof against it. The door was tough to push open, but he did it. On the other side of the door was another large room, but this time the ceiling was lower. The room had several holes in the side. Before he had time to do anything, a giant snake suddenly slid through one of the said holes. “Gah!” Shining cried, backing away from it. It oriented on him, and before he knew it, it was lashing at him. Shining barely managed to jump to the side and run away from the thing. He ignored the world when he saw an opening in the side of the room. He dove through it, and the gate held up suddenly crashed down behind him. Following that, he heard another crash – turning around revealed that the giant snake had smashed its head into the bars, bending them slightly. “What. The. Hay.” Shining Armor stared a moment, then turned and walked through the new hallway. Sitting around gaping wouldn’t get him to learn anything. Somepony had to still be around, and would explain this. Maybe one of the princesses could tell him. Hopefully he would be able to find his wife in- Shining Armor fell through a hole in the ground, and began to yell incoherently as he sped uncontrollably toward the forest below.
C2 - GhostsLESSER EVERFREE Karen walked forward slowly, shield ready to repel any attack that came at her. Nothing had appeared for a few moments since she’d started down the path, but no chances could be taken. From Lordran to Oolacile, no place had been good to her since leaving the Asylum. She saw sparsely placed ruins along the way. Her eyes were wide open to anything that would harm her – or help her, as laughable as the thought was. Help in Lordran was sparse, and even that help eventually came back to haunt her. Solaire… Karen thought about the knight once again. He had been one of the few undead that hadn’t been depressed out of their mind – one of the few warriors that could be undead and still pursue the dream. And then those damnable insects in that damnable hell had torn that knight from her. She had admired the incredible knight, even to the moment she had put her sword through his throat. Enough. Karen didn’t know exactly what made the undead go Hollow, but idle thoughts like that certainly wouldn’t help. Besides, the landscape had changed. The path in front of her had turned into a fork, and it was a fork she had to think on. To the right stood a ruined coliseum with the white fog in its entrance. That way led to some incredible beast that could likely kill her. To the left led a bridge over a huge gorge. Karen thought a moment. The bonfire wasn’t that far back, and if need be she could fight the thing again if she failed the first time. It was decided. She turned toward the white fog and had her weapons at the ready. Whatever was across that fog was about to die, and didn’t know it. She pushed through, feeling its strange silkiness on her… coat. It tingled, like always. On the other side, the sight of a humanoid with a bloated head awaited her. The familiar sight made her go cold. No. Not again. It noticed her. She stared back, frozen. Suddenly, a knight in silver armor fell on the thing, its sword piercing the thing’s head. “No.” The knight waited a moment, then shoved the blade deeper. “I killed you already. I had your soul in my hand.” The knight looked at her, and stood up. “I killed you, Artorias. I saw you die with my blade in your chest.” But instead of attacking her, he walked forward and fell to a knee in front of her. Karen stared. “And I thank you for doing so, warrior. Manus defeated me. I fell. But you killed me before I could destroy my honor. You saved my companion. Good warrior, I thank you, and for some reason, I have the ability to do so.” “I… didn’t want to.” Karen trembled. “I am dead – I know this. But for some reason, the abyss spread, and its memory of me brought me back for a fleeting moment. And-“ But before the knight could continue, a giant version of the enemy Artorias had felled crashed into the ground behind the warrior. “Artorias!” Karen yelled. The knight rolled to the side just as an oversized fist fell to the ground where he had just been. “To arms!” The knight yelled. At the sound of that, Karen rushed forward, and swung her sword at the beast’s leg. It bit, but didn’t seem to cause it pain. It turned, focusing on her, and swung a giant fist at her. Karen snapped her shield up to block the attack, but it was swept aside and the fist connected with her side. With a yelp, she was sent flying. Artorias snuck forward, taking advantage of the enemy’s distraction. He sunk his blade into its side, causing it to scream in pain. Its other giant fist fell toward the warrior, but he had retrieved his sword and fell back out of reach. The thing ran at Artorias, arms swinging wildly. Karen, having gotten up by now, dropped her sword and brought her bow in front of her. She nocked an arrow (not bothering to figure out how she knew what to do with this new sorcery) and let it fly. Being an incredible shot with her bow had its benefits. The arrow flew true and struck the bloated head right in the back. It lunged forward, and arched its back backwards and screamed again. Instead of turning towards Karen, it began to swing its arms wildly. “Get back,” Artorias yelled to Karen. Karen complied, but when Artorias refused to do the same, Karen cried out. “No! Don’t you dare!” Over the din of the screaming enemy, Artorias raised his helmet’s faceplate, revealing only darkness within, and spoke in a clear voice. “Good Warrior, I did not lie when I said a fleeting moment – I am dead. I will use this moment to do a favor to the one who set me free from the Abyss.” With those words, Artorias charged forward. The beast looked at the knight charging it, and stopped its wild movements. It raised its fist. Artorias plunged his blade through the thing’s chest with a great jump. As soon as the blade had sunk in fully, the beast’s fist came down. With frightening speed, it pushed the knight into the ground with a final *thunk*. Karen screamed unintelligibly and nocked another arrow. With rage in her eyes, she let it loose. The arrow hit the screaming beast in the head again, and with this shot, the corrupted human fell to the ground, motionless, its screams dying away. Karen panted a moment, looking around. Artorias’ armor was nowhere in sight. He’d been right – the smallest of threads had kept him around, and now his time was truly up. It meant the world to her that the corrupted knight had had a few last moments free of the Abyss, free to return a favor he could never have expected to return. She had to find the one who had spread the Abyss – this Manus, the beast she had thought she’d defeated. The coliseum was silent around her. The beast they’d killed leaked blood on the ground, refusing to die away into pure souls like many of her enemies. Karen felt the souls from the beast enter her, but its corpse still existed, perhaps mocking the memory of the proud knight. She’d heard so much about the knights of Gwyn, and she realized that she’d felled nearly every one of them. She was glad to have truly met one. Her side hurt. She drank some estus, gasping as the pain in her side subsided and filled with a pleasant burn. Her wounds healed, she- “aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!” Above her, falling from the sky, seemed to be another horse. Frowning, Karen wondered at its origin. She then realized that it was falling and might die. Without thinking, she used the mysterious sorcery she had developed to try and catch the thing – to her surprise, it worked. She gently lifted the horse, another weird looking horse! thing down to the ground. The horse’s eyes were shut tightly. Karen took the opportunity to study it. She noted the horn almost immediately. Unicorn? Interesting. The abyss must have had some strange things in it. It was almost completely white, with a bluish mane and tail. It opened its eyes and stared at her. “Hello,” Karen ventured, wondering if it could speak like her. “I… I’m not dead.” It COULD talk. Good news. “No, you’re not. You’re welcome. Where did you fall from?” Karen was used to meeting others in strange circumstances, so was easily adapting to the situation. “I fell from Canterlot Castle… wait, where am I?” “How should I know? You’re in some strange coliseum in some strange forest. That’s all I know.” The unicorn got to its feet and looked around. “Everfree? But Canterlot is… I don’t even know anymore.” He looked up and seemed unsurprised to find nothing but sky above him. “Name’s Shining Armor. I’m captain of the guard up in Canterlot.” “Canter… lot. Hm. Well. I’m Karen, nice to meet you.” Shining Armor looked at her, wondering at her armor and gear. “Why are you in full armor?” Karen laughed, confusing him even more. “Why aren’t you? Why am I a horse? Countless questions, unnecessary answers. We all just go on and do our duty. Learned that from a smug bastard I had to kill.” Karen started walking out of the coliseum, ignoring him. She made her way back to the bonfire. Shining Armor, confused, followed her. “What’s going on here?” he asked. “I don’t know. Why are we horses?” “Horses?” Shining was confused. “We’re ponies. But why don’t you know that?” “I’m human,” Karen said, not bothering to look behind her. “On that note, why can I use sorcery?” Shining, still confused, shook his head. “I don’t know what you mean. You’re a unicorn. Magic is natural.” She looked back at him sharply. “Magic? We can’t do magic anymore. Just Sorcery, Pyromancy and Miracles.” The confused stallion just shook his head. “What in the world are you talking about?” The two broke into the clearing that held the bonfire. Karen simply walked to the bonfire and sat down, letting it calm her. Shining Armor walked over as well and sat on the other side. “You know nothing of Lordran? Of the Undead curse?” Shining Armor shook his head. “Well then. I’ll relate what I know…” Karen ended up saying everything she knew about her curse, and then followed up by relating the events that had followed her journey to Lordran. Shining Armor sat at attention the entire time. When she had finished relating her tale, Shining Armor spoke up. “So. You can’t die.” Karen nodded. “When I die, I lose my humanity and souls. If I don’t find them before I die again, they disappear.” “I don’t see why that’s so terrible.” “That’s the thing. I can’t die. Even if I wanted to, I can’t. I think that’s why so many of us go hollow.” The stallion pondered those words. “Then you have no idea what’s going on here?” Karen shook her head. “None at all.” Shining Armor in return related what he knew of Equestria to her, so she would understand her form and why she could do what she could. He was silent a moment after, then looked sharply at her. “Well, my wife is somewhere in this mess that used to be Equestria. I’m going to do what I can to fix this.” Karen looked at him, then nodded. “Then let’s go defeat the Abyss together.”
C3 - On Black WingsLESSER EVERFREE “You need equipment.” Karen said this as a fact. “Okay. Where do I get this said equipment?” Karen looked around a moment, and sat again in front of the bonfire. She stuck her hoof in the fire, causing a gasp to come from her companion. She pulled out a box that seemed to appear out of nowhere. She opened the box and looked inside. Shining Armor only looked on with a gaping mouth. This Undead pony was unfamiliar with the most basic magic, yet could do such feats as this? He opened his mouth to speak when he saw her push her hoof in… farther than was possible. His eyes widened. “It’s… bigger on the inside?” “Bottomless box. Some people hate ‘em, but for me, it’s essential. Alright. You look like a heavyweight, so I think we’ll go with this.” She pulled out a large cuirass, gray and bulky. She tossed it to him and it hit the ground with an unpleasant “thunk.” Shining Armor walked over to it and levitated it with his magic. “Seems heavy.” Karen nodded, still rooting around. “Got it in Anor Londo. Came from a guy named Havel the Rock. Bastard gave me some trouble, but he got an arrow in the eye for his effort.” Shining Armor glanced at the armor distastefully. “Um…” She looked over to him. “Oh, don’t worry. That wasn’t him truly wearing it. He was a hollow outside of his time. He was actually dead long before I killed him, but I was the one that killed him. Make sense?” Without waiting for an answer, she went back to rooting around in the box. Shining opened his mouth to say “no,” but figured out that she didn’t care if he understood or not. Her story didn’t make sense anyway, but here she was and here the messed-up world was. He just accepted it and placed the armor on himself. “What. The. Buck.” Shining found himself severely restricted by the extremely heavy armor. “Strongest I have. Heaviest, too. You won’t find better protection, though. Here,” she said, pulling out a giant club and tossing it to him. “Fully reinforced fire club. Heavy thing, but deals more damage than you ever could on your own. Also, I don’t know what you have a penchant for, so take these.” She tossed him a little stick and a ball of… something tied up in a cloth. He looked at her and found her staring at her hoof. His eyes widened when the smallest ball of fire rose from it, then separated into two balls. She walked over to him, and deposited one into his upturned hoof. It sank into his body. “Catalyst, Talisman, and Pyromancy flame. That flame came from a good friend of mine, and now from me to you. Take care of it,” she said, and approached the bonfire again. “Use whatever form of magic that feels natural. I doubt you’ll be able to do the things you normally would.” Frowning, Shining tried to teleport to the other side of the clearing in order to test this. He closed his eyes, and heard a “pop”. He opened his eyes and found himself staring… at the exact same location. He shook his head. “You’re right. Something about this place is damping my ability.” Karen kept rooting around. “You ever worn a helmet, or would you prefer a hat of some kind?” He frowned, and then thought a moment. “Neither. I need to see.” Karen laughed. “Not like you’ll be needing it. He was Havel ‘The Rock’ for a reason. Also,” she said, tossing him something small, “this. It’s a ring, but I don’t know what to do with it. Normally, I wear a pair of them but dunno how to wear them now.” Shining smiled, happy to be even the smallest bit useful. “Stick them on your horn. What’s this do?” Karen nodded, pulled out a pair of rings, and settled them on her horn. She gasped, and her posture seemed to get a little better. “Just put it on.” He slid it on his horn and gasped as well. Suddenly, the overbearing armor seemed lighter. “Havel’s too. It helps with weight,” Karen explained. “What are you wearing?” “I’ve got the Ring of Favor and Protection, something I took from a backstabbing knight. Helps with weight and weariness. Also, I’ve got the Hawk ring. It makes my arrows fly further.” Shining Armor nodded and looked again at the club she had tossed him. “Fire reinforcement?” “Mmhmm. Look at the etchings of metal throughout it. It’s Titanite. When it comes in contact with a foe, it’ll burst into flame momentarily, hurting the enemy but doing no harm to the holder and the weapon itself. Pretty useful.” He gave it a few swings(almost staggering at first, but getting used to the huge weight of the weapon), testing its mettle. “Heavy,” he grunted, “even my magic seems to have trouble with it.” Karen gave a laugh. “I actually carried that stupid thing around for a while. Dunno why, seemed like a good idea at the time.” Shining laughed with her. She finally got up though, and shook her head. “We best get moving. We’re not going to get anything done sitting around here forever.” Shining would have shrugged, but the damn armor was too restricting. “Lead on,” he said, letting the mare go ahead. “I may be captain of the guard, but you obviously have far more real combat experience.” She turned back to him and gave a thin-lipped smile that obviously held no joy. “Yep,” was all she said in reply. She sauntered ahead, not bothering to see if he followed. Of course, she didn’t really need to – all the clinking his armor was making told her that he in fact was. The pair slowly moved forward, eyes open for anything dangerous, and finally came to the crossroads from before. Shining Armor nodded towards the coliseum. “That’s where I fell?” He asked. Karen nodded the affirmative. “Yep.” He looked at the light-colored mare, eyes narrowed. “Why were you in there, anyway?” She frowned. “Well, I figured since the bonfire was relatively close, I could afford to fight a tough enemy.” “That big biped? How did you know it was there?” “I didn’t know exactly what was there,” she began, stopping and turning towards him completely, setting her bow down. “I just saw the white fog.” Shining Armor started, and looked at her strangely. “So… white fog signifies that there’s something tough behind it? That explains my encounter…” he trailed off. Karen nodded. “Yes, or a bonfire.” He looked at her, brows furrowed. “Bonfire? But there wasn’t one back in the clearing.” She grimaced. “There would have been were we to have been invaded.” “Invaded?” Shining asked, confused. Karen sighed and sat down, realizing she’d forgotten an important part of her lecture on Lordran. “Occasionally, undead from alternate worlds would break through the barrier between us and invade my world as a ghostly, red spirit. Their arrival would signify a fight to the death between us, without access to a bonfire. It’s also there if I have summoned a friendly spirit into my world to help me defeat a tough enemy.” Shining Armor tried to grasp it. “So what you’re saying is that there are alternate worlds where there are undead like you, but not nearly so nice?” “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” she said. “They can’t speak to me, but I can tell that if you had met one of them instead of me here, you could have easily had your throat slit instead of being given armor.” The stallion shuddered at the violent nature of Karen’s world, and the fact that it was actually here in Equestria. “Time to go,” Karen announced, again rising to her feet and grasping her bow with her sorcery. “We shouldn’t stay in one place.” With that, the mare walked to the bridge and began crossing the gorge, unaware of the huge depths below her. With a frown, Shining armor followed, glad it was a large stone bridge, instead of a rickety wooden one. However, halfway across the bridge, Karen halted her movement. “Stop,” she ordered him. She pointed a hoof out. “See that? At the end of the bridge?” Shining squinted, but finally picked a dark shape out, different from the dark forest behind it. It was bipedal, and seemed to be wearing ragged pieces of armor haphazardly placed on it. “That’s a hollow,” Karen said, concern in her voice. “I wondered if they’d been turned into ponies like me, but apparently not. Maybe it’s good – I’d rather your world not be affected by the undead curse.” Following her speech, she raised her bow and nocked an arrow. Shining watched as she squinted her eyes a moment, and the arrow was let loose. The stallion watched in amazement as the arrow flew straight into the hollow’s head, and it crumpled down. “Never fight up close what you can bring down from afar,” she said, probably quoting a mantra she held dear to herself. “Nice shot,” Shining said, impressed. She turned to him and gave a quick, toothy grin, and resumed movement. Within a few moments, they had crossed the entirety of the bridge, and the vast Everfree forest stretched ahead of them. GREATER EVERFREE “Well?” he asked, concerned. “Left. Skirt the edge of the forest as much as possible, I think I see some ruins,” Karen said, moving forward. “Keep your eyes open, not sure what kind of foes are going to be lurking here.” Surprisingly, there was no presence there to stop them. Glancing around constantly was wearing, but kept Shining fresh, knowing that a moment’s distraction might lead to his death. Suddenly, Karen stopped again. “Wha-“ Shining began, only to be stopped by a massive roar. “Drake!” Karen yelled, running ahead. Not a moment later, a giant dragon swooped in, belching out gouts of great black flames. Shining skirted them, staying close to Karen. After a moment, the drake swooped ahead of them and landed, staring at the duo. Karen gritted her teeth. “Kalameet. I killed you.” The dragon raised its muzzle and laughed, a strange and very scary sound. It wasn’t like anything the dragons Shining Armor had seen – it exuded dangerous from its very looks. Karen nocked another arrow and prepared to fire, but the dragon suddenly flared its wings and the two ponies were knocked back. “Undead from the future. I will be waiting at the citadel. It is only there that I will grant you your death.” The dragon swooped into the air, banking away from the forest. They got up slowly, examining the burnt trees around them. They stared at each other, frightened by the dragon’s appearance. “Since when do dead drakes talk?” Karen asked Shining, obviously rattled.
C4 - Everfree GREATER EVERFREE “Dragons are a common occurrence in this world?” Shining Armor nodded in response. “Yes. They live mostly at peace with ponies, though it’s mostly because there’s a mutual respect there. We don’t want a pointless, bloody war, and they don’t either.” “Are many of them like Kalameet?” “That black dragon? No. For the most part, they’re more sleek and less straightforward built-for-combat. How are you familiar with dragons, yet this is the only one you’ve seen?” Karen shook her head. “No, actually, it’s not the only one I’ve seen. Though they’re only loosely dragons, I’ve fought several drakes in a valley between places, two Undead dragons, a drake on a bridge, and met an Everlasting Dragon down in a lake of ash.” “Everlasting dragon?” Shining was confused. “Aren’t dragons already practically immortal?” “I suppose so, but these were supposed to be different. Stone scales that could only be peeled apart by great blasts of lightning bolts. They used to rule the world, so I hear.” “Your world is a dangerous, deadly place, Karen.” She nodded, and rose to her hooves. “Yes, yes it is. Now, we should get moving towards that citadel Kalameet mentioned.” “What!” Shining exclaimed, jumping up. “You want to go fight that thing now?” “It’s the only way. We know where he is, and I really don’t want to have to search him out. He’d be a menace otherwise.” She started moving towards the ruins, keeping her eyes open wide to find any dangers. “It seems like an unnecessary risk, though. It-“ “Down!” Karen jumped back and shoved Shining to the ground, who heard something whiz by his head. “Shining, hollows, coming up fast! Look right!” Shining Armor did so, and found an army of dirt-covered shambling bipeds moving towards them in various states of fighting ability. Several had bows, and all of them that did were lining up shots on the duo. “Smack the ones that get close. I’ll shoot all of the bowmen I can.” The unicorn stallion braced himself before the oncoming hollows. He saw several shots go by from his side, thunking into several enemies’ heads. Before long, several of the faster bipeds had reached the duo. Shining, gathering his resolve, raised his club. Then, he got a good look at his foe. Its face was hideous. Even he could tell that it barely resembled what it had been at one time. Its cheeks were sunken, the eyes were missing, and there were no teeth in its mouth. It had a mad look to it, and it chilled him to the very core of his being. He was shocked out of his reverie when a flash of gold swished by his face, lopping that horrid head off its body. “Snap out of it, man!” Shining watched a moment as Karen waded into the opponents, sword flashing with every swing. As a hollow shambled up behind her, Shining finally gathered the courage to strike. With a great swing, the club smashed into the hollow, sending it flying in a burst of flame. Instead of regret, sadness, and guilt, he only felt one thing: Elation. He soon found himself swinging the club with wild abandon, every thwak and crash giving him a sensation of euphoria. He no longer cared that he was in the forest. Shining found himself at one last foe, and swung his club. “Shining!” Karen brought her shield up and knocked the club away. She rushed forward and put her sword to his neck, panting heavily. “Shining, can you hear me?” He stared at her for a shocked moment, then swallowed, wincing slightly when he felt the sword bite a little into his neck. “Yes. Yes I can hear you.” Karen took the sword away from him and turned away for a moment. Shining dropped to the ground, letting his weaponry fall with him. “What… what was that?” “That…” Karen began, “that was what every Undead feels when he or she gathers souls.” “Souls?” Shining was horrified, but Karen simply nodded. “Souls. When you kill something stricken by the undead curse, or something that is truly immortal, you absorb its essence, or in other words, its soul. The feeling you get is so fantastic the first time that you lose yourself.” Shining was quiet a moment. “Do you… did… did you go through this too?” She nodded. “In the asylum. There were some hollows that just sat there. Right after my escape, I attacked the first hollow I found, thinking it would attack me.” She shook her head. “They were helpless, and I didn’t care. It wasn’t until I found my first Bonfire that I settled down. I’m not proud of what I did, but it’s in the past now.” Shining Armor was speechless, the two ponies just staring at each other for a moment. “Whatever. We need to move, Kalameet isn’t going to wait forever. I don’t relish this, he seems to be at full capacity this time.” “You mean last time you fought it he was injured?” “Yep. Giant arrow through one of his wings, making him unable to fly at all. Let’s go.” Karen walked off towards the citadel without another word. Shining reclaimed his club and followed, still shaken. Absorbing the souls had been euphoric, just like Karen had said. “Keep an eye out. We’ll not likely see a group like that again, but it could likely-“ “Changeling!” Shining Armor jumped ahead and slapped the thing away just as it pounced at Karen. Undeterred, it rose to its hooves and stared him down. It no longer looked normal – it had red, evil-looking eyes, its horn was jagged and broken, and its wings seemed nonfunctional. Shining swung his club, but the agile insectoid pony dodged and made a jump for him. Just as it was about to connect, jaws open wide, it found itself sporting an arrow through an eye and was knocked away. “Thanks for the warning.” Karen walked forward and patted the adrenaline-filled captain of the guard on the back. “Let’s keep going.” They had slowed to a snail’s pace, ready to be attacked at anymoment. “As I was saying, it could likely be that there are a ton of single enemies in here. What was that thing? A changeling?” “There are these things, changelings – they can use magic to make themselves look like any pony. They feed on positive emotions, especially love.” “Why would there be one here? No food.” “That one looked feral. Usually, their eyes are a soft blue, and they use magical attacks. That one’s eyes were an angry red, and it just flung itself at us.” Karen glanced back at him. “Strange. But not so much in the big picture – why wouldn’t they be affected too? Let’s just hope we don’t meet any of your bigger, stronger creatures.” “I think we already are,” Shining said, stopping. He pointed forward, causing Karen to check their path. They had exited the forest, finally coming to the citadel. Unfortunately, blocking their way was a gigantic minotaur, sporting an oversized greatsword that was even taller than the beast itself. “Minotaur,” Shining Armor breathed, nearly the same time that Karen mouthed ‘Taurus Demon.’ Regardless, the beast charged them, crossing a short stone bridge on the way. Karen reacted quickly, whipping out her bow and firing arrows at it. Shining moved to flank it, readying his club. The demon swung its huge sword at Karen, forcing the unicorn to quickly bring her shield to bear. The blow nearly knocked her off into the valley below, the force transferring through her telekinetic grasp. Shining took advantage of the choice and slammed his club into the beast’s leg. Unfortunately, it only seemed to aggravate it. It turned and did an overhead swing, forcing Shining to block it with his club unsuccessfully, earning his armor a few dents and him a few dings. Still one great beast is inferior to two powerful warriors. Karen darted forward and slashed at its already wounded leg with her tracer, its sharp, curved edge making blood pour out of the wounds she inflicted. Within just a few short moments the beast staggered, and fell on its back. Karen leapt on top of it and stabbed her sword into its throat, severing its spine and ceasing its struggles. Shining moved towards the corpse and kicked it. “Stay dead.” Karen just looked at him with a small grin. “Easy stuff. Now comes the hard part.” She turned back at the citadel, and the white fog that obscured the doorway. “To kill a dragon.” Author's Note Picture the minotaur to be about the size of a Taurus demon, and then take into account how ponies are about half the height of humans. Yeah. Still working on fighting scenes, my weakest bit of writing ability, but I'm tryin'. Flow is hard there. Also, yeah, this is alive. I'm back in the game, if you didn't see the update to my other story, "The Open Sea". Love you.
