Monster Huntress Diamond

Chapters

3. Fighting for Survival
4. The Huntress Appears
5. Home Sweet New Home
6. Quite the Friendly Bunch
7. Give or Take
8. Training the Mind and Body
9. A Case of Mistaken Identity
10. We Are The Champions
11. I'll Drink to That
12. Hammer Time
13. Ice Kitty
14. Bad Habits
16. Well, Hi Again
18. Making Plans
20. Well, That Could Have Gone Better
21. Showdown
22. Time to Unwind
1. Pandemonium
2. Welcome to the Jungle
15. Breakthrough
17. The Final Step?
19. Hope You're Ready...
0. Sir Not Appearing In This Film

3. Fighting for Survival

Rarity woke the next morning with a growling stomach and a crick in her neck. She rose groggily, taking several seconds to remember where she was and what was going on; for a fleeting moment she thought she was at home and had fallen asleep at work in her sewing room. It would not have been the first time it had happened, after all, and slipping out of her chair onto the floor felt quite similar to how she felt now. Unfortunately, she was far from home, and her current surroundings were much less pleasant than her sewing room. She rubbed her neck with a wince, and her stomach rumbled again, reminding her just how displeased it was with her lack of attention.

Yes, yes, I know. It’s not like I have much to go on, you know.

She pulled her saddlebag over and fished out the other greens she had brought, thankfully not kale this time. She held her breath, took an experimental nibble, and then let out a sigh of relief as she realized that it was still palatable. She ate slowly so as to sate her appetite better, though when she finished she found it still largely unfilling.

Argh, what is wrong with these bodies? Do they not run on plants at all or something? It barely felt like I ate anything! That would have been quite substantial back home! Stupid body.

She pulled out the last piece of her fruit and began eating it sulkily, barely enjoying it as she mulled over the unfairness of her new apparent aversion to vegetation.

I had better find some massive source of food, and soon, or I’m going to be in some big trouble. I need to keep exploring, too, if I’m going to have any hope of finding any other ponies? People? Inhabitants? I honestly don’t even know who, if anyone, might live here, to be honest. I just hope somebody does, and that they’re friendly.

She finished her meager breakfast, then packed up her campsite, making sure to bring her fire starting kit with her. She slipped on a fresh set of clothes, ensured her fire was put out, planted one of her flags, and set out upriver, venturing into the jungle’s interior as she went to search out food on the way.

She trekked on, occasionally finding more bushes, most often ones she had already identified, sometimes not, and usually none that contained anything edible. Minutes stretched on into hours, though most time was spent searching rather than traveling; she had managed to put some distance between herself and her starting point, but her gathering satchel remained low; she found that her hunger returned often and in force, resulting in her stores being depleted just as fast as she was able to replenish them. It seemed that her body’s metabolism just wasn’t made to run on nuts and berries, and that fact worried her greatly.

Her stomach grumbled yet again as she pushed her way past some vines and through a thicket. She swore inwardly, glancing down at her abdomen.

For Celestia’s sake, would you stop already? I just fed you a few minutes ago, at least give me an hour of rest before you bother me again with your incessant rumbling, will you? Honestly, I’m trying my best, you know. This isn’t easy.

She looked back up from her inner conflict just before straying into an open glade, and stopped short, her breath hitching as she took in what was in front of her. A group of large birds was grazing on vegetation about fifty yards from her, though they were unlike any birds she had ever seen. These birds were massive, reminiscent of ostriches in size and shape, though more brightly colored in hues of yellows and greens, and had larger heads with a crest on top and a broad, flat duck’s bill. However, these birds were not what had caused her to catch her breath; it was what was behind them.

Creeping up in the tall grasses silently was a pack of what appeared to be massive reptiles, though they looked more like wolves in how they carried themselves. There were three of them, green in color, with blue and red stripes down their sides, and they had frighteningly sharp teeth that she could see glistening from where she stood. She silently thanked Celestia that they weren’t facing directly at her, and she stayed where she was, perfectly still, hoping that she wouldn’t be noticed off to the side.

The predators fanned out slightly, putting their focus on one bird in the back. The only sounds that could be heard were the odd grunts made by the birds as they ate, and the wolf-lizards continued their silent approach. When they were within striking distance, they lunged forward, the rear one striking at its legs, while those flanking it attempted to prevent any attempts at fleeing. However, Rarity was surprised to see that these birds were less docile than they seemed. While the rest of the birds did flee, the bird under attack stood its ground at first and aimed a clawed foot at the head of its attacker. The lizard took the blow hard, falling to the side seemingly dead or unconscious. Another of the lizards hissed, jumping at the bird and raking a claw across its body while the other sprang forward and clamped its jaws around the bird’s leg.

The bird gave out a loud squawk, shaking itself violently and kicking the lizard at its feet in the process. The reptile rolled away limply, but returned to its feet and quickly rejoined the fray. Its companion hissed again, turning quickly to whip its tail around, slashing the legs of the bird with the strong appendage. The bird’s legs buckled for a moment, but with surprising speed it regained itself and ran toward the far edge of the glade, away from Rarity, much to her delight, in a desperate bid for escape. The wolf-lizards followed closely after it, growling and hissing as they ran, though Rarity could see that they were going to have a difficult chase on their claws.

She watched them disappear, then breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Goodness, that was terrifying. I hope I never have to face one of those… beasts, whatever they are, let alone three of them.

She shuddered.

If I can figure out how to keep myself fed, I’m going to have to start looking into ways to defend myself, too, if there are monsters like this prowling around.

She continued staring into the distance, watching the point where the two wolf-lizards had disappeared.

Wait. Two wolf-lizards… What happened to the third one?

The third one, it so happened, had been knocked out by the blow of the bird, and had since regained consciousness, noticed Rarity, and had begun advancing toward her while she had been staring off into space.

Rarity’s attention was snapped back to reality as she found herself looking at a hissing wolf-lizard quickly moving toward her, now only about fifteen yards away. She gave the most terrified scream she had ever uttered in her life, turned one-hundred eighty degrees, and ran as hard as she could, not caring two bits that she dropped her gathering basket behind her or that her stomach was grumbling again.

Branches and leaves whipped her face as she ran, ducking and turning along paths she had taken earlier and still remembered. She heard gallops and hisses behind her, sometimes closer, sometimes getting farther behind, but never disappearing. Her mind raced as fast as her hooves, trying to come up with some plan to avoid being mauled and eaten. She saw a fork in the path and hesitated for a moment, her brain firing a thought at her at the last second. She chose her path, knowing well what she would find along it at some point. She heard gnashing jaws and hissing closing in behind her as she ran. Her hooves pounded the earth, and her legs ached like never before.

Where are you? WHERE ARE YOU?! CELESTIA DAMN IT I KNOW YOU ARE HERE SOMEWHERE! she shrieked inwardly. BWAHAHA! PURPLE!

Coming into view was a familiar bush with eight lobed purple berries; she continued to run, but the moment she saw it, she enveloped the entire bush with her magic aura, pulled a large mass of the berries off, mashed them together into a big lump, made sure they were squished as much as possible, and the turned to face her assailant. The wolf-lizard was close behind, and Rarity had to dive and roll out of the way as she launched her magically held corrosive payload at its head.

Rarity fell hard on the ground, landing amid rocks and branches and twisting her leg against a stump as she rolled. She was entirely out of breath and could barely move. To her side she could hear a shrieking growl along with a sizzling noise, the corrosive berry must have hit the monster like she had planned. She turned her head to look and was horrified by what she saw.

The wolf-lizard was limping her way.

Its head was missing half of its scales, and one of its eyes looked as though it had been burned away; the scales going down its front leg were also burned away and it was limping on that leg, but its teeth were still deadly sharp. It growled and hissed at her as it moved, and it sidled up alongside her body as she lay there, her muscles too weak to move.

This can’t be it, can it? I can’t move a muscle, what can I do?

She would have slapped herself if she could move.

You’re a unicorn, silly filly. You don’t need to move a muscle.

The reptile opened its maw wide above her head, glistening fangs ready to bite, when a large blue glowing branch wedged its way into the beast’s mouth. It struggled, pushing down towards Rarity as hard as it could while she held the branch there with her magic. As it fought with the branch, a large blue enshrouded rock, traveling at a generous speed, made contact with the side of its already injured head. Rarity’s eyes clenched shut as a sickening crack echoed through the jungle, and a spray of a warm fluid hit her across the face, accompanied by a thump and a heavy pressure falling across her. She opened her eyes to see the dead wolf-lizard, half-laying on her, and all-bleeding on her. She gagged, using her magic to push it off of her.

Really, the least you can do is not bleed on me. Bucking rude.

She lay her head back, covered her eyes with her arm, and remained silent and motionless for a minute.

Well, Rarity, you just ran for your life, fought a giant lizard, burned its face off, murdered it right above you by bashing its head in, and then had it fall on you and bleed all over your face. What are you going to do now?

She laughed dryly.

She then rolled onto her side and threw up.

**********

Rarity sat next to the body of the wolf-lizard in the midday heat of the jungle, staring at it in disbelief, wonder, and thought.

I was able to defend myself against this? How? And what should I be doing next?

She looked down at her leg, still injured after her fall.

I’m not going to be moving very quickly like this. I’m going to have to camp here tonight, which means I should start clearing out a bit of the debris from around here and gather up a few supplies.

She set about the task, getting her gear out from her saddlebag, making enough space to start a fire without setting the forest ablaze, gathering stone and wood, and clearing a spot for her to be able to sleep for the night. She then sat down next to the wolf-lizard and contemplated it for a while.

“Well you were a right nasty beast, weren’t you?" she said to it haughtily. “Serves you right, getting what you got." She tilted her head to the side and pondered to it aloud. “Though you do have a lot of useful tools to help you survive out here, don’t you…?" Her eyes roamed over its body, taking in the many traits of the reptile while her mind worked furiously at how they might be beneficial to her. “Strong, lightweight scales,” she murmured to herself, “long, sharp claws…” she inspected its mouth. “Thick serrated teeth." Her stomach growled loudly. She looked down at it, then at the wolf-lizard. Her mouth dried up. She gulped nervously.

“Meat…”

She stared blankly at it for a long time, not moving an inch, and it was as if her brain had completely shut down. She couldn’t fathom that she was even considering eating a part of this creature, but now that the thought had occurred to her, she had to admit that it sounded very tempting. Regardless of what she decided, though, that was a future choice, because it would require fire and tools to make happen, neither of which she had right now. However, she intended to fix that problem right now. She did not have knives, but by Celestia this lizard definitely did. All she had to do was free them from its cold dead body, and she had a fine enough tool for that.

Rocks. Maud would be proud.

Gathering up some large rocks, she moved over to a large claw on the lizard’s hind foot. She positioned one rock underneath the toe, behind where the claw would attach, being careful not to hit the claw itself. She prepared herself and raised her other rock high, making sure she had a pointed end positioned down, then swung it down with a loud and sickening crunch.

It was not a pleasant sight.

It was, however, very effective in liberating the claw from the foot, at least enough that she could pull it free with minimal effort. She gagged slightly at the sight, and may have thrown up again if not for the fact that she had nothing left in her stomach, but given her recent adventure, she was beginning to get used to some of the less pleasant things she might have never tolerated before. With her prize claimed, she moved on to the head of the beast, repeating her trick to free a number of large serrated teeth. Smiling broadly, she turned away, admiring her trophies. It was then that she noticed her hands were smeared with the creature’s blood. She had a reflexive repulsive shudder and wince, but then realized that, for some odd reason, it didn’t really bother her. She looked down, seeing blood splattered across her shirt and pants as well. She shrugged, wiped her hands on her pants, and limped back over to her bag.

At her bag, she gathered up some fabric and thread, then levitated over a bundle of hefty sticks she had gathered. She sorted through them to find some that fit her hand size just right, then used strips of fabric and thread to affix the teeth and the claw to them. They were nothing professional or even extremely functional, but they would suffice for now, and she could reattach her “blades” at any time.

She turned back to her saddlebag, pulled out her fire starting tools, and set her kindling ablaze shortly. Her gaze fell back to the wolf-lizard, and she hesitated again. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

I said I was not going to eat a defenseless animal, and this was not a defenseless animal. This was a hulking brute that attacked me and I am not going to feel guilty at all for eating it.

She nodded resolutely to herself. She gulped.

I hope.

She approached the monster with purpose, makeshift knives in hand, preparing for what was undoubtedly going to be the most difficult task she had ever undertaken.

Celestia, please give me the strength for this.

She knelt next to it, closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, chose a spot far from any vital organs, and began to carve.

It was difficult, to be sure. The monster had a very thick, tough hide, and its scales were extremely strong.

I will definitely need to make use of these later.

Her inexperience with cutting meat made the task even more difficult, compounded further by the inadequacy of her tools, but she pressed on, knowing that this was now her only source of food, especially since her gathering bag had been lost in the attack and strain on her leg was going to keep her from traveling far for the rest of the day. She succeeded in sawing out a large chunk of flesh and set it behind her on a rock she had cleaned off. She stared at the slab, unsure whether she should be hungrily salivating or preparing to retch. She put the thought from her mind and retrieved a long stick, then began to use one of her knives to thin and sharpen it. She cut a modest slice from the slab of meat, slid it onto her skewer, and with little fanfare, moved it out over the fire.

Here you are, cooking your first, what did the humans call it? “Steak”? Probably not how they do it, but eh, what are you to do? Who knows how long I’m supposed to do this for or what I’m supposed to look for to know when it’s done, though. At least I’ve seen enough of Sweetie Belle’s cooking to know what qualifies as burnt. I probably should have spent more of my time listening to mom’s cooking lessons myself, though. I can handle myself in a kitchen, but I was never much of a gourmet chef, either. I…

Her thoughts were interrupted as a smell began to permeate her senses; the meat was beginning to cook, and its aroma was evoking something altogether new in Rarity. Never before had she encountered a scent quite like this one, and she had to admit it smelled absolutely delicious; her mouth began to salivate, her head swam with thoughts of eating, and she wanted nothing more than to explore this newfound foodstuff she had just discovered. Gone were any and all inhibitions she previously had that surrounded her fear and dread of eating meat; that smell had activated a psychological trigger in her mind that said “meat is good”, and she did not care. Her concentration on the delicious smell, however, became her undoing as an acrid aroma soon broke her from her trance.

Oh! Buck! BUCK! NO! DON’T BURN!

She blew on the meat, which had caught fire while she wasn’t paying attention and was now turning black.

Bad steak! I did not tell you that you could burn! Argh! Buck.

She looked at the blackened lump on the end of her stick, pouted sulkily, then removed it and tossed it aside. She cut a new piece and slid it on her skewer.

Lesson learned. Pay attention if you want to eat.

She pushed this piece out over the fire as well, soon being rewarded with the aroma of cooked meat once again. This time, however, she stayed focused, and brought her skewer back frequently to look at it.

I’m not sure what specifically I’m looking for, but if it starts red and black is burnt, then brown is probably good.

She inspected it closely.

It’s really hot, so that means it should be sufficiently cooked, too, and it smells great, so I’m going to count that as done. All that’s left now is to try it.

She brought over one of her knives, cut off a piece, and once it was cooled enough to eat, she popped it in her mouth. She chewed slowly, unsure of what to expect; she had never had anything outside of fruits and vegetables before, so the flavors and textures were completely alien to her. Her eyes widened as she took in the unique taste, feeling the juiciness and tenderness of the steak that provided a lasting and unctuous satisfaction that fruits and vegetables never had. She swallowed the bite with relish, then voraciously devoured the remainder of the piece she had cooked.

Celestia, I am so getting banished to Tartarus for this. I need more.

Her head whipped around; locating the remainder of the meat she had cut, she levitated it over as quickly as she could, skewered as much as she could fit, and began cooking it with rapt attention. Her second course was just as delicious as the first, and disappeared almost as quickly, soon followed by a third helping. For the first time since she had arrived she felt full and satisfied, and she leaned back to ponder her next move in light of this new development.

Well, I think it’s safe to say that I know where I should be getting most of my food from now on. The question now becomes how I should be getting it. Of course, I need to keep searching for some form of settlement, too, I’m not trying to permanently live out here after all. But, I do need to prioritize figuring out how to get my food going forward… What would I be doing? Hunting? I guess that would make me a huntress?

She chuckled.

Alright, “Monster Huntress Rarity”, how are you going to do this? It looks like these things aren’t going to go down without a significant fight, so you’d better get ready to bring the fight to them. And as nice as your magic is, levitating objects at them isn’t going to do the job; you can throw things with a bit of force, maybe lift or nudge them a bit, but that’s about it. You’re not going to be able to do any significant damage to them with magic. With that being the case, you’re going to need some sort of weapons, and some sort of defensive gear, and you’re going to need to practice. And lucky you, you’re not going anywhere today, so you have all day to figure this out. So, first things first: what do you have for materials?

She looked around her campsite. Obviously she still had all the regular wood and stone she had been using, in addition to any other flora she could find. She had any materials she could glean from the wolf-lizard: there were more claws and teeth, but also bones, scales, hide, and sinews. She also couldn’t forget all her sewing materials she had brought from home; of course her fabrics, but she also had scissors, thick and thin pins, needles, rotary knives, and pinking shears, most notably. Most importantly, she had her own experience, ingenuity, and inspiration. While she may never have made weapons or armor before, she certainly knew what they looked like, and that was plenty for her to work off of. She was Rarity, creator of fashion, master of the design, and if she wanted to make a weapon, by Celestia it would slice some monsters open.

With that in mind, she gathered her sketchbook, her pencils, and every material she could get her hands and magic on, and set to work.

**********

Rarity looked around and wiped the sweat from her brow. The light was beginning to fade, but she had made the absolute most of her day, that much was certain. Next to her lay the remains of the wolf-lizard, barely recognizable any more; she had removed as much of the meat as she could, cooked it and wrapped it in large leaves, then stored it in a satchel she made for her food. After removing the meat, she had harvested as much as she could from the remains as she made her gear, which she now looked at with pride.

Several were blades, made with bone; two made up a set of short swords, while a third was a longer sword. Each was made with a wooden hilt, she had heated her thick sewing pins in the fire and used them to burn through the handles and bone to create sturdy physical connections, then wrapped the handles in fabric to make them both comfortable and easier to grip. She sharpened them using her rotary cutter; using her magic to spin the blade allowed it to work similar to a grinder, and was remarkably effective in putting a sharp edge on them without weakening the bone. Next came a shield, intended to be used in conjunction with the longer sword, made from a sturdy but lightweight piece of wood she had found.

To round out her offense, she had also made several bomb bags, as she referred to them, out of the purple berries. She made small sacks, filled each with a generous amount of the caustic devils, tied them off, and kept them slung on a small branch a safe distance away from herself. No sense keeping them and having them go off on her, after all.

Finally, she had made herself a set of scale armor to be proud of, stripping the hide of the wolf-lizard and making a set of clothes that not only protected her, but looked fabulous while doing it. She had a green shirt and pants, both with blue scale accents, with blue scale hoof cover boots, blue scale arm guards, and a green and blue scale cowl. She had even made scale belts for holding her weapons and other items.

She surveyed her gear with a smile. It had been a long time since she had done something that had felt this fulfilling, and she fully enjoyed every minute of it. Turning back to the fire, she tossed a few more pieces of wood on, and prepared to go to sleep for the night, when a brilliant flash lit up the night sky, followed shortly after by an ear splitting boom.

Buck.

She knew it would rain sooner or later. She had just hoped it would be later, after she had figured out a way to make some sort of waterproof shelter. She still had canvas, but it was only going to be resistant at best. Still, it was better than nothing, but she was going to have to work quickly if she wanted to get something up before rain fell. She quickly gathered together fabric for ropes, making several lengths and tying them between some trees above her and the fire at an angle to allow smoke out and water to run off. She then cut off some pieces of canvas, draping them from the ground up over the ropes and back down again, overlapping a couple pieces like shingles in hopes of improving its functionality. She weighed down the edges with stones, and added a perpendicular piece to form somewhat of a door and back wall to help keep out some of the wind when it started to pick up. Then, she sat by her fire and waited.

It wasn’t long before she began to hear the patter of raindrops on the canvas overhead, accompanied by the occasional flash of lightning visible through the makeshift door and the boom of thunder resounding in her already sensitive ears.

If it weren’t a lightning storm, I might be tempted to take a shower out there in the rain, she mused. It would do me good, I’m an absolute mess after all this work I’ve been doing.

She looked down at herself, finally having the full realization of being covered with blood and other questionable substances hit her more like it might have before.

Oh ew, this is disgusting! I know I’m going to get bloody if I’m going to be working on things like this, but really, this is just too much! Ugh, these clothes are completely ruined now; I guess these will have to be my “crafting clothes”, so to speak.

She caught sight of her arms and squealed in dismay.

And now my beautiful fur is all bloody too! And I don’t even have soap to get it out!

She folded her arms and pouted.

I’m going to have to scrub my fur extra hard in that freezing river, and I’m probably going to be all pink for a while! Hmph!

A drop of water hit her on the muzzle. She looked up to see water beginning to slowly seep through the canvas, dripping down on occasion to plonk her on the nose.

Et tu, canvas?

Droplets became more frequent, but the canvas still held the majority of the rain out, providing a serviceable shelter for the time being.

She shivered as the nighttime chill began to creep in and huddled closer to the fire. Her gaze returned to her bloodied clothes and fur, her newly made weapons and armor, her newly acquired store of food, and was struck with a sharp pang of homesickness simply from the stark contrast it all provided. She held no regrets, but she felt acutely aware of just how much change she had been forced to undergo in such a short time, and it was a frightening thought. A tear slipped from her eye and she scooted over to her saddlebag to retrieve her pillow and blanket for the night, ready to turn in and rest her aching muscles, when her hand bumped a small box. A tiny smile played across her muzzle as she held up the music box gifted to her by Sweetie Belle; she switched it on, turned it over to a classical selection and let the soft, lulling tune carry her off to sleep while the lightning flashed around her. She paid the dripping water no mind.

4. The Huntress Appears

The following morning brought with it a hot and humid atmosphere, greeting Rarity with a severely frizzled mane and tail.

Oh, you can not be serious. I don’t even have a brush with me! Jungle, what did I ever do to you to deserve this? Just kick me while I’m down, why don’t you?

She tried her best to straighten her hair, which only improved mildly.

It’ll have to do, I suppose.

She glanced down at her leg.

And how are you feeling this morning, hmm?

She flexed it warily without any twinges of pain, then tried standing with success. She walked back and forth, then gave a sigh of relief.

Oh, thank goodness. I was afraid I might have injured it worse than that. I must have just given it a little strain from my… shall we say, escapades, yesterday. So, that gives me plenty that I can do today. I guess I had better start out by returning to the river, I need to refill my water bottles and I desperately need a bath. Then I should probably start searching for civilization again, and I can hunt along the way.

She packed up her camp, rolling her canvas tent as best she could. The water squished out, leaving a damp and mildly smelly cloth behind, but it was at least light enough to carry if bundled. She took down her ropes and wrapped the canvas, adding to her growing load. Donning her scale gear and picking up her saddlebag, she stowed her weapons, shouldered her canvas, deposited a flag, and set out in the direction of the riverbed.

The hike was unpleasant; her normal paths through the jungle required her to forge through foliage and she had no issues with that other than the occasional scrape or odd tickling feeling, but now every single leaf that touched her was wet or slimy from the previous night’s rain, and they stuck to her body as she squeezed her way past. Her hooves sank into the soft earth, and in places the earth gave way to thick muck that sucked her hooves down and refused to let go. Several times she had to catch herself on trees to keep from falling face first into the mud, and she found herself cursing under her breath much more often than she would have liked.

Eventually the sound of running water reached her ears, though, and she smiled to herself as the river came into view. She had managed to come out slightly downstream of where she had camped a couple nights before, her flight from the wolf-lizard must have taken her farther back than she had realized. She set her belongings down and left her scale mail with them, then made her way to the water, plunging in without removing her regular clothing or even testing the water. It was frigid, but at this point she did not care.

She spent as long as she could in the water, washing both her clothes and herself, trying to clean as much of the blood from her fur as possible; surprisingly she was mostly successful. Only a slight pink tinge remained in a few spots, and it thankfully was not spread over her entire body as she feared it might. Her clothes, on the other hand, did not fare quite so well, and would never be free of the red stains again. She sighed, but a set of clothes was a small price to pay if it meant she was able to eat. She climbed from the water and used some cloth to dry herself, then dressed, filled her water bottles, collected her gear, and set off upstream.

She followed the river as she had a couple days prior, picking her way through familiar rocks and terrain until she reached the campsite she had used previously, noting the remains of her fire pit, when something struck her as being slightly off. She cast her eyes around, not able to put her finger on what exactly was striking her as inconsistent, when she noticed a flurry of faint paw prints in the soft wet earth further ahead and the change became apparent. The flag she had planted was now missing.

Her heart began hammering as she ran up to the prints, inspecting them closely. They were of medium size, but still much smaller than her hoof prints; she guessed whatever had made them were probably about three quarters of her height. She could tell by the prints that whomever had made them was long gone, but she was overjoyed to know that there might be someone looking for her somewhere out there. She tried to keep her emotions in check, however, as she had no guarantee as to who it was that took her flag, or why. With a last look at the tracks, she pressed onward, venturing once again into the interior.

She followed her previous day’s path toward the glade, feeling slight anxiety as she neared given her encounter from the previous day. She happened upon her gathering satchel, still lying on the ground where she had dropped it. She retrieved it with a smile, though it no longer had any of the food she had collected, and she continued forward toward the glade. As the open area came into view she was relieved to see there were no wolf-lizards in sight, though she saw several small creatures that looked like deer in the glade, green in color, occasionally drinking from a waterhole or eating grasses as they wandered. Rarity stared for several long moments as several different trains of thought fought for dominance in her head.

So, how are we going to plan our attack? Are you really going to attack a poor defenseless deer? I doubt it’s defenseless. Fluttershy would never forgive you, you know. We’ve been over this, you need meat to live. You can’t be choosy about where you get it, especially if the source could kill you. So, I’m going to have to kill one. I’m not going to be able to outrun one, maybe keep up, but definitely not outrun. I could probably sneak up to a point, but I’m not going to be able to get up close enough to attack. Using my magic to attack wouldn’t be effective, and I can’t use magic to hold it down or pick it up, I’m not that strong…

A sly smile worked its way across her face.

But I can use my magic to grab legs, trip them, maybe even flip them upside down. I bet they’re not used to that from their usual predators.

With a strategy in mind, she slipped her packs to the ground, donned her scale mail and her dual blades, and crept slowly through the grass behind the closest of the creatures, keeping as quiet as she could while trying to blend in with the greenery. Holding her blades along the insides of her arms for stealth, she neared the deer, which had not seemed to have noticed her yet. Her pulse quickened and her breath slowed, every one of her senses seemed to be in a heightened state, and adrenaline coursed through her veins. She became acutely aware of every movement her prey made. She was close; she took a step. She saw movement; the deer’s head turned just a bit, its ears perked up ever so slightly, it blinked. Its hind legs tensed but did not move. But Rarity already had.

In an instant she dashed forward, holding the deer’s hind legs stationary with her magic momentarily as she flipped her blades forward and plunged them into its lower thighs. The other deer scattered; the one she attacked let out a bleating screech, breaking her concentration and shattering her magical grip. The deer lifted its hindquarters and kicked, catching Rarity in her midsection and sending her and her blades flying backwards, her legs sailing over her head as she flipped over in midair, managing to land on her hooves ten yards behind the beast. She coughed and heaved heavily, catching her breath after such a heavy blow, but the sight of the creature attempting to stumble away was enough to get her back up on her hooves, racing back into the fray.

“No you don’t, you little bastard! Get back here!" she yelled. She ran toward the deer, yanking on its hind leg with her magic to slow it down. She spotted one of her blades on the ground between them, and she scooped it up as she ran without slowing. The deer saw her coming and turned, lowering its head to prepare to attack; its horns pointed directly at her. Rarity narrowed her eyes.

“You want to play it that way, hm?"

She quickened her pace, flipping her blade inward along her arm again as she ran, then as she neared the deer dropped to the ground hooves first, sliding along the wet grass underneath the creature and slicing its leg as she slid past. The beast bellowed and dropped to its knee as she popped up on the other side, stabbing down with her blade through its shoulder and into its heart. It gave a weak bleat, kicking and stumbling under her blade as she withdrew it, before crumpling at her hooves and finally succumbing to its fate.

Rarity stood above it, her chest rising and falling in a strong and steady rhythm as she stared down at her kill, her mind replaying all that had just happened: the exhilaration of the hunt, the surge of raw aggression that she had never felt before in her life, the ability to weave a deadly dance with another creature, a dance in which one would fall and not rise again, and then she emerged the victor - all these thoughts and more flooded her mind, and she found that she loved it. The thrill of the hunt had captured her, and she didn’t care if it never let her go.

She knelt down beside the deer, feeling a twinge of pain in her ribs as she did so. She grimaced. “You probably bruised something, you know,” she said to the carcass in front of her. “Still, I came off better than you in the end, so I’ll take it." She pulled out a bone knife she had made, carving the deer in a much better fashion than she had the wolf-lizard; she had learned quickly, and her knife was of much better quality now. She stored the meat away and picked up her belongings; she was about halfway across the glade when she slowed, and her ears turned, picking up a faint buzzing noise far off to her side.

Are those… bees?

She stopped for a moment in thought.

It would be great if I could get some honey… and the honeycombs…

Her eyes shot open.

Idea!

She squealed girlishly and jumped in place excitedly.

Wax! I can melt wax into my canvas and it will waterproof it! I remember that from crafting with mom when I was a filly!

She turned and headed toward the buzz, which slowly grew in volume until it reached a volume loud enough to make her ears hurt, but there was the hive about fifty yards away. It wasn’t quite hanging from a tree as much as it was coating the tree; it started halfway out on a branch about ten feet off the ground, spanned all the way back to the trunk, and tapered almost all the way to the base of the tree. Rarity gaped at the massive hive, not daring to go any closer to it for fear of being swarmed, and she sat down by a tree to think how she might be able to gather some honey and wax without being in any danger.

An extremely loud grunting snort, punctuated by a snarl, came from somewhere in the distance, and it was all Rarity could do to keep from crying out in surprise. She kept extremely still and quiet as she heard something heavy and large slowly lumbering through the trees to her side, behind the tree she was sitting at. She desperately wanted to peek around the tree to see what it was that was approaching, but she knew that if she gave away her presence it could very well be the last thing she did. Whatever the creature was, it was heading in that direction, and Rarity held her breath as she heard it stop and sniff the air. It gave another large snort, and then moved on past her tree toward the beehive. It was what appeared to be a giant bear, easily twice Rarity’s height, with turquoise fur and what seemed to be almost like a shell on its back. It grunted and aimed its huge red-tipped claws at the hive, ripping the nest open and pouring angry bees out like water. The bear didn’t seem to care. It scooped up a large comb of honey and sat down to eat, seemingly oblivious to the fact that it was being stung thousands of times.

Well, I suppose that is a stroke of luck for me. They won’t notice a chunk of honeycomb floating away by magic.

She gathered as much as she could without being noticed and pulled it away carefully, then stole away quietly while the bear continued to eat. With her honeycomb secured, she made her way out of the glade and continued onward, pressing through into a less dense part of the jungle. She wandered on, enjoying the new feeling of freedom from constant entanglement in vines and bushes, and decided to take advantage of her open surroundings by practicing various skills she may need to make use of in the future - dodging, rolling, using her environment - it appeared that her body was well adapted for these sorts of maneuvers, as she took to them rather easily. She found herself wishing that Rainbow Dash was here, just so she could show off. It was a rather odd feeling.

I guess this must be how she feels all the time. I suppose I can understand why. A little. She’s still a braggart, though.

Her hooves eventually tired as the day wore on, light fading to darkness, and she found herself at a small stream crossing the jungle, only a few yards across and about three feet deep at its deepest point. She stopped to rest, enjoying the quiet babbling of the water and rubbing her aching muscles. She had quite the eventful day, and now it was time to set up her camp before continuing on yet again; though as she looked around at the idyllic scenery, she found that she didn’t really want to leave immediately. She had been on the move constantly ever since she arrived, and she had finally achieved the means to survive without worrying about where her food would come from tomorrow. Yes, she still had a long way to go, but she deserved a bit of a break from travel, and this was a perfect spot to do it. Besides, she reasoned, here she had water, and she would be able to spend more time honing her skills and refining her tools. There were likely more deer around as well, in case she had any need of more food. Her plan having been decided, she set up camp and settled in for an extended stay.

**********

It had been two days since Rarity had settled to camp by the stream, and she had made the most of her stay. She had used the beeswax to waterproof her canvas, which had worked wonderfully; not only had she been able to use it to create a functional tent, but she was able to make a large water skein as well to help supplement her bottles for storage. She had also spent a large amount of her time practicing with her weapons and honing her skills. She was proud of the progress she had made, and deemed herself ready to defend herself against more formidable foes should the need arise. Feeling refreshed and ready enough to continue on her way, she planted a flag, prepared and set out once again, venturing through the woods.

She hiked on for some time; the area she had entered seemed to have officially transitioned from dense jungle to a moderate forest, and she was now enjoying the sights and sounds that accompanied the change to much less oppressive scenery. She saw occasional birds and beasts as she walked, but none were terribly close, and as long as she didn’t approach them, they seemed to pay her no mind. She had seen some of the wolf-lizards, however, and that worried her greatly; thankfully they were far off and appeared to be sleeping, but the fact that they were there reminded her that they, and likely other predators and aggressive monsters, were still around.

She moved quietly through the trees, staying keenly aware of her surroundings, when something caught her eye. Off to her side, on the bark of a tree, was a paw drawn in blue paint. It wasn’t terribly large, and was quite faded as well, but it was unmistakable. She approached it cautiously, inspecting the tree and the area around it. It had a massive trunk, and she saw that the base had a hollow neatly carved out in it, and inside was stored a plethora of… well, what looked like somebody’s trash, for lack of a better term. She saw pot lids, old barrels, random odds and ends… but to her, it meant a great deal. It meant that there was somebody living around here, somebody intelligent enough to have made use of tools like these, and that meant rescue. Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest with adrenaline.

She looked around, searching for any footprints, paw prints, or any more of the marked trees. She was disappointed to find that much of the surrounding area had hard dirt ground, poor for retaining any tracks, but she persevered, widening her search. She wandered the uneven terrain and found a nearby rocky rise, peppered with trees and dotted with crags and crevices. She followed the ridge watching carefully as she walked, when a splash of blue on a rock caught her attention. She raced forward, coming to a stop outside a small cave marked with a blue paw. She excitedly peered into the hollow, finding more stored items, though that was not what had made her heart leap into her throat with shock and joy. The soft floor of the cave was riddled with paw prints, fresh paw prints, and there were many of them around several familiar cloth flags, adorned with blue diamonds, that now leaned in the corner of the cave.

Sweet Celestia, these are the creatures that were looking for me! And they’re close by! If I can find them I’m saved!

A lump formed in her throat and a tear worked its way into her eye, she was so close; all she had to do was find whatever these things were and this would all be over. She wasted no time, and without a second thought, yelled as loud as she could possibly muster.

“HELLO! IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? I’M STRANDED HERE AND NEED YOUR HELP!”

She paused, hoping for a possible answer and preparing to yell again. Suddenly, she received an answer, though not the kind she had been hoping for. A cacophony of loud screeching noises assaulted her ears; looking around she saw a pack of four blue scaled raptors approaching, their thin frames masking their powerful muscles and their needle-sharp teeth protruding frighteningly from their bird-like beaks.

Buck! You idiot! There are other things out here too, you know, and most of them want to eat you! Well, you are well and truly bucked, I hope you are ready to either fight your way out or die trying.

She drew out her sword and shield; if there was a time she would need to be blocking attacks, this was definitely a good time to start. With her back to the ridge, she saw that she was surrounded, with all four raptors spread out around her. Her mind worked furiously to work out a plan of attack, and she launched into action almost immediately. She used her magic to loudly smash some rocks on the far left behind them; they provided enough noise to draw their attention momentarily, allowing her to act. She dashed ahead to the right toward the mid-right raptor, aiming for a moderately sized boulder lodged in the ground between them. Putting on a final burst of speed, she jumped off the rock toward the raptor before it had time to respond, slashing downward as she fell to open a cavity through the raptor’s neck, hacking it through completely as she continued her downward descent. With a punctuated exhale she landed, stabilizing herself with her shielded arm while her sword arm remained outstretched to the carcass in front of her.

“One down. Who’s next?”

She looked to her far left, at the raptor she had sent the rocks smashing behind; it was in the most dangerous position as it would be able to get behind her and attack easily. She needed it disabled, and fast. With a blue aura, she yanked out a berry bomb, crushed it and sent it hurtling directly into the raptor’s face, ensuring that it smothered the creature’s eyes. It screeched and writhed in pain, the hissing of the monster matched only in intensity by that of the acid eating at its scales.

The lapse in her concentration taken by throwing her bomb was not overlooked, however, and another of the raptors took advantage of the pause, leaping at Rarity and slashing at her with its massive clawed toes. She reacted just in time as it reached her, raising her shield to block its strike; the impact knocked Rarity back considerably, her breath knocked from her body as she reeled from the blow. The claw had ripped through the shield, shattering the wood and utterly destroying the shield, and had even cut through her scale mail and left a deep gash in her arm; blood oozed from the wound and her arm hung limply, too pained to move.

“Bucking… monster…” she choked out.

She held her sword out, swinging it back and forth between the remaining two raptors, trying to figure out how she could attack them both without leaving herself open to one of them. Throwing bombs took concentrating on only one, she had no shield and only one arm.

I guess I’m out of good options… I suppose I could just rush one and hope the other doesn’t join?

She braced herself, when a large rumble shook the earth and an immense and ear splitting roar ripped through the air. Rarity fell to the ground, her eyes clenched shut and her ears pinned back against her head; she dropped her sword and held her good arm over her ears in an effort to block out the intensely painful noise. When she opened her eyes, her pupils shrank to pinpricks, and her jaw dropped open. One of the raptors was in the process of running away, and the other was firmly in the jaws of a massive monster before her.

The monster was easily three times her height, pinkish red in color with grayish black fur along its back, and resembled something she had heard of called a tyrannosaur. It violently shook the raptor in its mouth before tossing it upward in the air and catching it with a vicious bite that severed the head from the remainder of the body; the monster gulped the body down while the head flopped to the ground limply. Rarity found herself wondering if it was the raptor that slashed her arm. However, her next thought was much more sobering as the monster turned its gaze toward her.

Buck. I’m going to be the next course, aren’t I?

She stood, backing up step by step, never taking her eyes off the massive creature in front of her as she did so. The monster, in turn, took a step forward.

The monster, however, did not get past making its first step. Faster than Rarity could realize, another creature had arrived in the area. Just as large as the tyrannosaur, this monster appeared to be a hybrid of a sort - it had a white furred squirrel body, scaled claws, and a head resembling a snake, and it had leapt out of a tree and attacked the tyrannosaur with a piercing hiss. Electrical energy sparked from the fur of the squirrely monster as it nimbly sped around the lumbering brute, biting its hulking body with territorial hissing, while the tyrannosaur flared its nostrils and raised two dorsal fins on its back; Rarity went slack-jawed as she saw the tyrannosaur’s maw open to spew a torrent of flame at the snake-squirrel. She was snapped from her daze, however, by an unfamiliar voice yelling behind her.

“Hey! Purr-son with a horn! Follow me! This way!”

She turned, and saw to her amazement a small cat person, slightly smaller than herself, waving frantically at her.

“Hurry! Before the anjanath and tobi kadachi stop fighting and decide to eat you!”

She looked behind her at the monsters still locked in battle and then back at the cat person.

She had never run so hard or fast as she did just now before in her life.

**********

“Really, I can’t thank you enough for coming when you did.” Rarity winced as the felyne wrapped another bandage around her arm. “I would have ended up as a snack for those… what did you call them again?”

The felyne paused. “The red one is an anjanath. The white one is a tobi kadachi. Now, please hold still, Miss Rowrity.”

“It’s Rarity. And I’m sorry, your name was…?”

“That’s what I said.” The felyne cocked an eyebrow at her. “And my name is Cinnamon. I live in this felyne camp.” The tortoiseshell felyne waved her paw, motioning around to the small gathering of huts. Several other felynes were patrolling the perimeter of the camp, holding crude spears or swords made with wood, bone, and stone. A small campfire burned not far off, with a pot held over it and a slightly rotund felyne minding the contents with perhaps a little too much interest. A couple small felyne kits scampered around, playing and mewling as they raced each other around, almost knocking over a barrel in the process of their game. Rarity smiled and turned back to Cinnamon.

“It’s a lovely camp. Thank you for bringing me here. Once again, I really appreciate it.”

“Of course! Besides, You were about to be monster chow, we couldn’t just leave you there.” She looked back at Rarity’s saddlebag again, emblazoned with the trio of blue diamonds. “So all the flags were yours? We scavenge and roam the forest and jungle often and bring what we find back to our camp or storage places. We thought a new hunter must have ventured out further than usual and forgotten them.”

Rarity blinked. “A new hunter? You mean, there are more people around here? And these people intentionally come way out here to hunt deer and birds? I mean, I agree that the meat is rather delicious, but it is incredibly dangerous out here just to come for a hunt, isn’t it?”

The felyne stared at her wordlessly. She eventually found her voice, addressing Rarity’s armor. “You have to know what I’m talking about, I mean the hunters that provide materials like the jagras hide and bones that made your armor and weapons. The smithy that made them did a great job, by the way. You probably would have lost your arm to that velociprey if they had made a poor armguard.”

“Is that what those lizards are called?” Rarity looked thoughtful, then smiled at the compliment. “As for the hunter and the smith that provided my armor and weapons, you’re looking at her.”

Cinnamon openly gaped at her. “You mean to tell me that you killed a jagras by yourself-“

“With some purple berries and a big rock.” Rarity interjected cheerily.

The felyne sputtered momentarily, then regained her voice. “-and then you carved it, and crafted weapons and armor by yourself, all out in the middle of the jungle?”

Rarity nodded. “That sums it up pretty well, yes. I was able to fend off two of those velociprey monsters before they injured my arm, as well. So, your other hunters hunt these jagras and velociprey creatures too, then?”

Her new companion shook her head. “Hunters are in charge of keeping us safe from the large monsters. The really dangerous ones.”

Rarity’s eyes grew wide. “The… large ones? You can’t possibly mean…?”

Cinnamon nodded. “Like the anjanath and the tobi kadachi. They hunt monsters like those regularly. They carve parts from the monsters to bring back to the village, and the smithies there craft armor and weapons from what they bring back. They can even make special decorations, and quite often what they make can enhance the hunters’ abilities. The smithies can also use ores and gems to craft things, though those tend to be less of a focus for most hunters, as tracking down monsters is easier.”

“Oh, those should be easy for me to find,” Rarity said nonchalantly. “I have a special talent for finding gems and ores, after all.”

“That should be extremely useful, then.” The felyne cursed softly as she watched the bandages tied around Rarity’s arm slowly turn red. “We need to get you to Miliesu Village. I don’t think you’re in any immediate danger, but that wound isn’t going to heal without medical treatment, and we don’t have that in our camp. Do you feel strong enough to travel? We should be there by nightfall.”

Rarity nodded. “I don’t think I’ve lost enough blood yet to feel woozy, thanks to you. Any longer, though, and I’d probably be passed out by now.”

“Alright, the path leads out the rear of our camp and through the ridge behind. Just a moment, I’ll help you pick up your gear, it won’t be easy to slip on with only one arm.”

“Oh, don’t you worry,” Rarity reassured her. “That’s so polite of you, but I can manage just fine, thank you.” She levitated her armor over, slipping it on effortlessly with her magic, then doing the same with the rest of her gear, while the felyne stared with bulging eyes and a slack jaw.

“Why, whatever is the matter?” Rarity queried. “You look absolutely terrified!”

“What…” She pointed a quivering paw at Rarity, “what was that?”

“What was what?” Rarity looked puzzled. “You mean my magic?”

“Magic?” the felyne gasped. “You have magic?”

“Well, of course! I am a unicorn, after all.” She tapped her horn. She looked at Cinnamon quizzically. “You mean to tell me you’ve never seen magic before?”

The cat blanched. “No, never! Not even monsters can do things like that! Where on earth are you from? I’ve never seen another person like you before.”

“About that… I’m not from your ‘earth’. I’m from a place called Equestria, another dimension, actually. I was sent here by accident, so I’m actually pretty lost and confused about everything, which means getting to this village of yours sounds like a great idea. Speaking of which, we should probably be going now.”

Cinnamon snapped back to attention. “Right! Sorry, I got a bit distracted there. Let’s get moving before we lose any more time and you get any weaker. Come on, my friend!”

Rarity smiled, following the cheerful little felyne as she exited the camp and started up the ridge, leading on toward civilization.

**********

The bustling village of Miliesu was settled beyond the forest, and was the crucial waypoint to all the major regions on the continent: the desert in the east, the lava caves to the south, the ice peaks to the north, and the forest and jungle to the west. Inside the village, a large manor dominated the landscape, surrounded by more modest homes fanning out as the streets spread through the sprawling town. Businesses began popping up shortly after; the main plaza held stalls for shopkeepers, smiths, trainers for both hunters and their companions, and even a restaurant. On a higher tier, just above the main plaza, sat the Wyverian’s Quarter, though it was only known as such due to the professions housed there. Both the clinic and the researcher’s academy were located in that area, and given the Wyverians penchant for learning, the name of the quarter seemed well earned.

Miliesu was an active village during the day, though night was generally quiet. Regardless, guards did need to keep watch at the entrances to ensure no monsters strayed into the village. Late past nightfall, they were alarmed as someone or something appeared stumbling through the shadows of the trees under the moon, approaching the gates of the village. A weak moan, accompanied by an equally weak meow reached their ears, and they rushed forward as they realized the shapes were not monsters.

Rarity staggered into the village, supported by Cinnamon at her side. Her arm hung by her side, tied tightly with crimson strips and slowly dripping blood from her fingertips. Her eyes were half-lidded, unfocused, and she was barely hanging on to consciousness as she slowly teetered on the brink of collapse. Her horn sparked, pulsing faint blue as her magic ebbed in and out of control. She was quite acquainted with fainting, but fainting from blood loss would be a first for her. Cinnamon held her with great difficulty, supporting the larger frame as best she could while the village guards rushed forward to their aid.

“Someone call Aerylla, fast!” one yelled, breaking the quiet night air as his companion hoisted Rarity from the ground, relieving Cinnamon from her burden. Draping the limp form across his arms, he moved quickly toward the clinic, which had already been lit and was bustling with activity. Rarity’s eyes fluttered closed as she passed in and out of awareness, and she could barely make out any of the blurred images as she was laid in the hospital bed. The only thing she could remember before she faded from consciousness was hearing the concerned voices muttering the words “same energy signature… monsters… aggression… who?” Then her head lolled to the side and everything turned black.

5. Home Sweet New Home

The world blurrily appeared, slightly swimming back and forth as Rarity opened her eyes. For the moment, all she could tell was that she was on her back. Slowly her surroundings came into focus; she raised her head slightly and looked down to see that she was lying in a hospital bed with an IV bag connected to her uninjured arm. She tried to raise her other arm, but found it incredibly difficult to do so; it felt weak, and she could see many stitches where the gash had been. She let her head fall back onto the pillow and looked to the side. The light was dim, but she could see the form of Cinnamon dozing in a small chair in the corner of the room.

She… stayed with me?

She looked farther around the room, seeing a desk with a feminine figure sitting at it with her back toward Rarity . She had long pointed ears and reddish hair, and sat scribbling away at something by the candlelight, obviously preoccupied with her work. Rarity tried to speak, but found her mouth and throat so parched that she couldn’t utter a word. What she did succeed in doing, however, was elicit a barking cough, startling the woman at the desk from her work with a jolt. Rarity gave her a weak yet sheepish smile when she turned around, and she returned the smile warmly.

“And so my patient awakens,” she said quietly so as not to wake Cinnamon, who had somehow slept through Rarity’s cough. Rarity once again tried to speak, but found that she could not. The woman held up a four-fingered hand. “Please, don’t push yourself, just rest. I will explain everything, don’t you worry.” She pulled her chair next to Rarity’s bedside, sat down, and adjusted her spectacles before quietly continuing. “First allow me to introduce myself. My name is Aerylla, and I am the doctor here in Miliesu village. You have been asleep here for a full day now, and Cinnamon has not left your side since you arrived.” She motioned to the sleeping felyne in the corner. “You nearly died from blood loss; if she hadn’t virtually carried you to the village you would not be alive right now.”

Rarity’s eyes widened in horror and she stared at the sleeping felyne, unsure how she could possibly express her gratitude to the small catfolk who had now saved her life twice.

“If I may, I’d like to reassure you that Cinnamon will not feel as though you owe her any debt.”

Rarity looked at Aerylla questioningly.

“Felynes have a tendency to form a strong bond with a single member of another race; usually they form a sort of partnership and work together, and the felyne treats their partner as though they were their closest family. I believe it’s safe to say that Cinnamon has taken that view with you.”

Rarity’s eyes softened, and she looked back to the small catfolk, who had curled up in her chair slightly and was mewling quietly in her sleep. Rarity smiled and felt a tear well up in her eye. She turned back to the doctor.

“Back to your current situation, though.” Doctor Aerylla pushed her spectacles back up her nose and continued. “We were able to replenish your fluids via the IV in your arm, and you should be back on your…” she looked down to the foot of the bed and smiled, “hooves… in no time. We stitched up the gash in your arm easily enough; thankfully we had plenty of sushifish on hand to help with that.”

Rarity’s face contorted in confusion and she mouthed the word “fish?” Doctor Aerylla chuckled. “I see Cinnamon was not exaggerating. You really are not familiar with anything here, are you?” Rarity shook her head, perplexity still plastered across her face. “Sushifish,” Aerylla explained, “have a unique property in that they help staunch bleeding. They are quite useful, especially when there are monsters out there that specialize in causing excessive bleeding. You’d do well to remember that.”

Rarity nodded, wide eyed.

“Now that we’ve covered that, I believe I should apprise you of the current situation in the village surrounding your arrival, if you think you are strong enough to continue talking. Would you like to continue?”

Rarity nodded without hesitation.

Aerylla smiled genuinely. “Very good. Now, first of all, it is important for you to know that we have recently had a surge in aggressive behavior in the monsters around the village. While aggression is not uncommon, these monsters have shown abnormally high aggression, increased strength, and in some cases enhanced abilities beyond what we have seen before. Our researchers have identified some kind of new energy signature present on these monsters when they appear, but we have never been able to study them properly as nobody has been able to track, hunt, or capture one successfully yet. All we know is what the energy signature looks like. Are you following me so far?”

Rarity nodded.

“Then, the other night, Cinnamon came to the gates with you, half dead, looking for medical treatment. And do you know what we saw?”

Rarity shook her head, but fear was written on her face.

“You had the same energy signature as the monsters.”

Rarity didn’t move. Rarity couldn’t move. She was entirely frozen; it was like a fuse had been tripped in her brain and all thoughts had been disabled. She stared ahead blankly as Aerylla waited patiently for her to process the information. Roughly a minute transpired before Rarity blinked and returned to some semblance of conscious thought.

“Are you back with me now?” Aerylla calmly spoke.

Rarity gulped and nodded, unsure where the conversation was going to go from here.

“I do not think you are to blame for this, nor do many others, to start,” she said. “I will warn you that there are a few that think that you may be directly or indirectly responsible for this somehow. While it is completely unfounded, it is also undeniable that you are connected to this in some way - we just do not know how. We will do our best to try to find the answer together, and help you along the way. Does that sound like an acceptable solution?" She gave Rarity a warm look and held her hand lightly. Rarity squeezed her hand back and nodded with a smile.

“Good. Now get some more rest, I dare say in the morning you’ll likely be strong enough to be up and about, and you’ll have plenty of people to meet, places to see, and things to do. Until then, sleep well.”

Rarity lay her head back down, finding her thoughts reeling with the information she had just learned. All her anxiety could not withstand her fatigue, however, and the thick veil of sleep overtook her once again.

**********

Rarity woke to the sounds of a busy town outside the clinic walls. Conversations, laughter, and yells all blended together in a cacophony of voices that could only be achieved if there were a bustling marketplace nearby. She blinked her bleary eyes awake and sat up, evoking an excited mewl from across the room.

“Rowrity! You’re awake!” Cinnamon rushed over to the bed and encompassed her in a tight hug, eliciting a slight squeak from the unicorn.

“Yes, quite, thanks to you.” She gave the felyne a small kiss on the forehead. “That’s twice I owe you my life, you know.”

“I just did what anyone would do.” Cinnamon scuffed the floor with her paw.

“Well, I’m glad you did.” Rarity conceded. “Now, let’s see if I can do more than sit up.” She tentatively lifted her arms without much difficulty, then swung her legs around and off the bed. She looked down with an air of distaste. “Cinnamon, is my bag somewhere nearby? I could do with a change of clothes from this hospital gown.”

Cinnamon chuckled, retrieving the bag from next to her chair in the corner of the room. Rarity’s horn glowed blue, floating the bag from Cinnamon’s paws, earning a startled squeak from her. A sharp inhale could be heard from the doorway behind Rarity.

“Now there’s something I hadn’t expected to see.”

Aerylla was standing there with shock written across her face, staring at the floating bag in front of Rarity. “What… how… exactly are you doing that?”

Rarity blushed sheepishly. “I guess you’re as unfamiliar with me as I am with you.”

Aerylla smirked. “Touché.”

Rarity laughed in response. “It’s magic.” She gestured to her horn. “I’m a unicorn. Where I come from, all unicorns can do magic, we channel it through our horns.”

Aerylla nodded, deep in thought. “I believe I have some introductions to make. Do you think we could meet with some people this morning?”

Rarity’s stomach interjected with a grumble.

Aerylla laughed. “After breakfast it is, then.”

**********

“Good morning, Aerylla!” the small white felyne chirped. “You have purr-fect timing, I’m just firing up the oven for the day.”

“Hello, Zuny, you’re rather chipper this morning,” Aerylla responded. “Allow me to introduce Rarity, she’s the patient that came in the other night. She just woke up this morning, so we were hoping to grab something to eat.”

Zuny hopped up and down, clapping her paws together excitedly. “Purr-fect! Welcome to Miliesu, Rowrity! I promise that you’ll find no better food than what I cook up here!”

Cinnamon sat down at the main counter of the outdoor restaurant, motioning for Rarity to sit beside her. “I can vouch for Zuny. I’ve eaten here be-fur, and her cooking is amazing. I’d recommend the… wait… never mind that.” Cinnamon fidgeted slightly in her seat.

“Never mind what?” Rarity asked.

“I was going to suggest something to eat, but it was something with meat in it… and I’m guessing that you don’t eat meat?”

Rarity laughed heartily. “When I first arrived here, no, I didn’t. But, survival being what it is, I had to try it, and I’ve found that I have quite a taste for it. So, what were you going to recommend?”

Cinnamon looked surprised, as did Aerylla and Zuny. Shaking her head, Aerylla mused, “Will the surprises never cease with you? I had assumed you’d be herbivorous, given your resemblance to other herbivores. I guess I will be learning a lot as long as I stay around you.”

She earned a grin from Rarity. “I suppose you’ll need to get used to expecting the unexpected, yes. Now, Cinnamon, you were saying?”

The felyne nodded. “I’ve had Zuny’s Gargwa egg omelet with diced Rathalos sirloin be-fur, and I think it’s my favorite meal ever.”

Zuny swelled with pride at the compliment, while Rarity nodded at the suggestion. “If that’s what you think is best, then that’s what I’ll have. Though…” she paused, as a thought occurred to her, “I’m not sure how I’ll be able to pay for this; I mean, I just arrived in your world and I have no money…”

“Don’t worry about that,” Aerylla interjected. “Breakfast is on me, and we’ll continue to help you out until you get settled and can find a source of income. We understand what it’s like to be displaced and lose one’s home and possessions, monster attacks result in that frequently enough in neighboring kingdoms.”

Rarity smiled. “Well then, thank you for your generosity. I promise not to impose on it for any longer than absolutely necessary.”

“Good, good, all settled then, were we decided on our order? Yes? And what will you have, Aerylla?” Zuny interrupted.

“Just a couple wyvern eggs over easy and a cup of the strongest black coffee you can make, thank you.”

“Very well! I’ll be back with your orders shortly!” Zuny said brightly. And with that, the energetic, furry little cook was off to her kitchen in a blaze of speed.

**********

The trio sat at the counter, chatting away when two large platters appeared to float from the direction of the kitchen toward them. Rarity watched in shock as they approached; each platter was piled high with a massive amount of food, and she was unsure why that much food was coming toward her. Surely that wasn’t all for her?

Her question was answered quickly as each platter was set down by the felyne waiters underneath that were carrying them; one platter in front of Rarity, and one in front of Cinnamon, who was now practically drooling over the copious amount of food before her. Aerylla merely looked on in amusement as a third waiter brought over a much less impressive, yet still oversized and over-full, platter containing her eggs.

Rarity looked over her breakfast. It was easily the most food anyone had ever put before her in one sitting; there was a gigantic omelet, complete with vegetables and diced steak contained in it, with a full side of the diced steak beside it as well, mixed with a mountain of diced and seasoned roasted potatoes. Merely looking at the food made her mouth water, but then the smell hit her nose. The smell. Sweet Celestia, the smell. It was heavenly. Rarity had never experienced such an aroma before, and she was unable to keep herself from tasting the food immediately.

She had enjoyed her first taste of meat, deciding it was the best thing she had ever eaten. That decision was now overturned. This was now the best thing she had ever eaten. And it would be the best thing she ever could eat. Food, she decided, could not possibly taste better than this. With great enthusiasm, she continued to eat, much to the entertainment of her companions.

“Damn, girl!” The bemused voice came from behind Rarity, causing her to stop eating mid-bite, turning to look awkwardly at the man standing there. He stood in a full suit of light armor, with a heavy bowgun slung over his back; he sauntered over lazily and pulled over a chair, straddling the seat back as he sat down next to the group, facing Rarity more than the others and addressing her again with humor in his voice.

“Haven’t seen a girl eat that much since ever.”

“Sydreol,” Aerylla deadpanned. “Tactless as ever, I see.”

The man stood and bowed with a flourish. “Guilty as charged. And you’re as humorless as ever, Aery,” he responded with a grin.

“I told you not to call me that,” she responded coldly.

He shook with a great laugh, then plopped back into his seat unceremoniously, rocking it back and forth on its legs as though he were a distractible child. Rarity simply swallowed her bite and continued to stare at him,unsure of what was going on. “Hey Zuny!" he called. The felyne poked her head out from the kitchen.

“Oh! Hey Syd! What can I get furrr you today?" she asked.

“I’ll take some barbecued short ribs, and a Ratha whiskey!" he called back.

Aerylla clicked her tongue in disapproval. “Drinking already, Sydreol? It’s still morning!”

He held up his hands defensively. “Hey, gimme a break! I just got back from a hunt! I was up all night, and I took down the Rath that you guys are chowing down on, so I think I deserve a drink or two or five. You should even be buyin’, I think.”

Rarity’s eyes went wide as Aerylla scoffed at Sydreol’s comment. “Wait,” she said. “You hunted the creature that this absolutely delicious meat came from?”

“You got it, lady.”

“And it took you all night to hunt it?”

“Yep. Fucker kept flying away every time I thought I was going to make some progress. Kept hitting me with that fireblight and poison shit, too.”

“They can do all that?” Rarity gasped in shock. “What kind of creatures are these things?”

“Big ass dragons.” He replied simply.

Rarity’s heart stopped for a moment. “D…Dragons?" she stammered.

“Dragons.”

Rarity felt like she might throw up. But she needed more information. She needed to know more, and now.

“So,” she began slowly, “These dragons… attack you?”

“Uh, yeah? Thought that was kinda obvious.”

“And… they do this without any provocation?”

“Well, we’re not exactly running around yelling ‘Hey! Come eat us and burn down our houses!’” Sydreol said sarcastically.

“And… has anybody tried to negotiate or reason with them?” Rarity asked hopefully.

Everyone stared at her, mouths hanging open, and the silence was suffocating.

Sydreol eventually broke his stare, turning to Aerylla and jerking his thumb at Rarity. “Aery, where’d you find this nutjob?”

Rarity huffed indignantly. “Well excuse me, Mister Sydreol, but where I come from, dragons can be very kind hearted, well spoken and reasonable individuals that-“

“Wait, wait, wait!” Sydreol cut her off sharply. “Whaddya mean by ‘well spoken’ and ‘reasonable’? These things are monsters, they don’t speak or reason with anything.” He looked at Rarity hard. “Lady, just where are you from?”

“Ahem,” Aerylla cut in, “I also would like to know exactly where you are from, and what manner of dragons you may have known that could speak, actually. Rest assured, Rarity, whatever dragons you may have known back home, the ones here bear no relation to them. In all truth, I share more of a common ancestor with them than your dragons would, so do not fret, nor let it throw you off your breakfast.” She chuckled slightly as she saw Rarity relax considerably in her seat.

“Well,” Rarity began, “I suppose it’s story time for me. I’m from a land called Equestria, where there are three races of ponies: unicorns like myself, the winged pegasi, and earth ponies. We actually look like ponies, not like I do now; I was sent here by a dimensional portal accident somehow, and… well, I don’t know what went wrong, but it transformed me halfway into a regular person and left the other half as a pony, I guess. In my world, magic, and magical creatures, are abundant, and dragons are one of the types of magical creatures that live there. One of my best friends is a young dragon named Spike, and he is an absolute sweetheart. We all live fairly peaceful lives, though occasionally we seem to have… uh… massive catastrophic attacks? We don’t have daily threats of monsters at our door like you do, but we have had to deal with rampaging demi-gods several times now, and almost had our world destroyed a few times for good measure, too. My friends and I have had to put a stop to it every time, it’s almost become a bit ‘old hat’, so to speak.”

Sydreol suddenly snorted so hard it initiated a coughing fit, and they all had to sit and wait as he recovered. Rarity glared at him menacingly. “And what, may I ask, was that about?”

“Whaddya think it was about? You just told us you and your mates were kicking gods asses and saving the world all the time or some bullshit like that, and you delivered it with such a perfect expression! Gods, you’re damn hilarious!”

Rarity folded her arms across her chest and her ears lay back in annoyance. “I was not joking, you barbaric oaf.”

He just grinned at her and picked up the mug that Zuny had just set in front of him, holding it out to her as a toast. “Well, you’ll just have to show me your world saving prowess, then.”

She glowered back, keeping her arms folded and ears pinned back. “Fine with me.”

“Deal!" he downed a swig of his whiskey, then pointed past her at the counter. “Now sit your ass down and finish your breakfast. That Rath sirloin is too good to waste.”

Her scowl turned into a smirk, and she sat back down. “At least we can agree on something.”

**********

“So, where were we going next?” inquired Rarity, still looking over her shoulder as she hurried away from the restaurant. “Hopefully as far away from here as possible. As quickly as possible.”

Aerylla sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose in annoyance. “I’ll admit, I did not expect Sydreol to begin cheering you on like that when you were close to finishing off that entire platter. Nor did I expect him to be quite so… loud. Or cause such a scene. Or stop passersby to tell them about it."

“I still can’t believe Cinnamon joined in.”

“Yes, well, Sydreol’s energy can be… infectious.”

Rarity cast another glance back. “I suppose it does have some sort of charm, in a twisted sort of way.”

“He’s always been that way. Regardless, back on topic, we need to meet with our village chief, and then we have to go introduce you to our head researcher; I think she’ll be most interested to meet you. After that, I suppose it’s up to you, whether you’d like to discuss your plans, or wander the village, or just sit and gather your thoughts. I’d imagine this is a lot to take in right now.”

Rarity nodded. “I agree, it is quite overwhelming. For now, let’s just see where the day takes us.”

“Very well. Chief Leonys lives in the manor farther up in the village. Shall we?”

The two left the restaurant behind, with Cinnamon and Sydreol still audibly singing Rarity’s praises much to her chagrin, and headed toward the massive building. Rarity marveled at how its presence was so much more regal than the homes surrounding it, and though it was for a chief it still reminded her of a castle in a way.

Rarity stopped for a moment as they neared, and Aerylla stopped a few steps later, turning to face her. “Is something the matter?”

“Aerylla, is there anything I should know before I meet with Leonys?” Rarity asked nervously. “I mean, if I’m to meet the village chief, I should be at least a little prepared, shouldn’t I?”

Aerylla’s face softened somewhat, and she placed a hand on Rarity’s shoulder. “He’s a very understanding man, so I don’t think you have much to worry about. Just be respectful, and keep in mind that he’s protective of his village, so if he comes off as brash don’t take it to heart. I would suggest that you don’t use or mention your magic around him just yet, though. He’s just meeting you now, if you come out and show him everything different about you at once, it may just alienate you even more.”

“Point taken.” Rarity agreed. “Alright, I think I’m ready, then, let’s go.”

They approached the large doors, and, with a deep breath and a decent amount of trepidation, Rarity knocked.

After a long, drawn out wait, a large man opened the door, standing there with an imposing stature and a somber expression on his face. Rarity gulped at his overwhelming aura, but he slowly opened his arms and let a smile adorn his face.

“Welcome to Miliesu, miss,” he boomed. “You must be the newcomer I have heard so much yet so little about. Everyone was talking about how a bedraggled girl almost died on our doorstep, yet nobody knew anything more about her. Doctor Aerylla here was very protective about keeping you hidden away from prying eyes while you were recovering.”

Rarity gave a start. “You were?" she asked Aerylla in shock.

Aerylla merely shrugged. “Everyone deserves some privacy, especially when they’re a new person from a race nobody has ever seen before and they’re unconscious. You probably haven’t noticed, but people have been watching you all morning.”

Rarity suddenly felt extremely exposed and shrank back slightly, suppressing a shiver.

Leonys gave a hearty laugh. “Don’t let it get to you. They’ll get used to you fast enough, and I’m sure you’re not doing anything worth getting worked up over. Now! On to more official-type matters, which is why you’re here. For starters, you are welcome here in Miliesu as long as you earn your keep and don’t cause any trouble.” He turned a steely eye on Rarity and his tone turned serious. “I tolerate no trouble in my village. We get enough of that from the monsters without causing it amongst ourselves. Is that clear?”

“Crystal, sir,” she responded without hesitation.

“Good!" he said, clapping his hands together. “Moving on, then. Were you here for a short while and then moving on, or were you planning on staying for a longer time?”

Rarity considered her answer. “Ultimately, I want to go back home as soon as I can, but realistically I doubt that will be any time soon, so I don’t think I’ll be ‘just passing through’. I think it’s safe to say I’ll be staying here for quite some time, if that’s alright with you.”

“That’s just fine. You’ll need a place to stay; we have several vacant houses we keep open for hunters and you can use one of those for as long as you’re here. I’m not going to require you to pay rent until you are able to find steady work and earn a living-“ Rarity began to protest, but he cut her off before she could say a word. “Provided that you are still making a contribution of some kind to our village in the meantime. I expect you to be a productive member of society here.”

“That, I can do.” Rarity assured him. “If I may be so bold, I dare say that I am quite skilled.”

“So I have heard,” he said, raising an eyebrow with a smile. “That brings me to my next question: have you thought about what you want to do while you are here? Might you be interested in becoming a huntress for us?" he asked hopefully.

Rarity seemed taken aback at the suggestion. “I’ll be honest, I hadn’t even considered that as a possibility! I think you might have the wrong idea about me, I really don’t think I’m quite huntress material.”

Leonys looked disappointed. “A pity,” he sighed. “We only have two skilled hunters in our village right now, and Cinnamon had informed us that you had seemed a natural, given your exploits and survival skills right after arriving in the middle of the jungle.”

“Ehehehe,” Rarity nervously tittered, “Aerylla, back me up here, I’m hardly in any shape to be a huntress, right? I mean, I’m small and petite and wouldn’t be able to hunt anything, right?”

Aerylla flushed with embarrassment. “Actually, to be honest Rarity, I was quite impressed while I was examining you when you first got here. You have a very lithe, agile and muscular physique, one that would be perfectly suited for hunting actually. I’m truthfully a bit jealous, your body is nearly perfect.” She flushed even more. “If trained properly, you could be an absolute wrecking machine in terms of monster hunting capability.”

“O…Oh…” Rarity stammered. “Well then… I suppose I shall have to give it at least a little thought. But I think I’d much rather look elsewhere first.”

Leonys nodded. “That’s fair enough; I can’t force it on you, and if you don’t outright dismiss it that’s good enough for me. As for available jobs, you can check around town, but I’d suggest starting with our smith Reneris, our shopkeeper Faan, and our cook Zuny. Also, if you’d like to check into the idea of training yourself, Jorahn is our hunter trainer; I’m sure he’d love to give you some lessons. He’s always looking for someone to throw lessons at.”

Rarity gave a polite bow. “Thank you very much, I think I will have to pay them all visits; even if I’m not going to work for them, I’ll definitely be working with them for the foreseeable future.”

“That’s the spirit! You seem to get the idea of the community already!" he smiled broadly, then suddenly his face adopted a somber expression once again. “That leaves me with one final thing to discuss,” he stated gravely.

“O-oh? And that would be?” Rarity asked nervously. Her anxiety levels skyrocketed, and she began to sweat profusely.

“I heard how you have some link to the aggressive monsters that have cropped up.” He watched her closely as he talked, possibly looking for any hints of guilt, but for now all he saw was fear. “I’m not saying you caused it, but we know that there’s some new energy signature that these monsters have, and that you have it, too. All that we know is that it means that somehow you have something to do with these new types of aggressive monsters. I want you to know this: if you stay here in our village, I expect you to help us with these monsters, should we discover that you are the necessary link to dealing with them. Is that understood?”

Rarity gulped and nodded wordlessly.

“And do you agree to those terms?”

“Yes, sir,” she answered breathlessly.

He smiled broadly once again. “Then allow me to officially welcome you to your new home!”

6. Quite the Friendly Bunch

“I seriously thought I was going to have a heart attack, Aerylla,” Rarity said as they walked toward the researcher’s academy.

“Well, at the very least, I would have been here to revive you,” Aerylla joked, poking Rarity in the side. “For what it’s worth, I think it went rather well.”

“I thought so too, until he started talking about me and the monsters having something to do with each other! Now I’ve promised to help fight the most aggressive kind there are and I don’t even know what they look like, let alone how to fight them! What am I going to do?”

Aerylla put a hand on Rarity’s shoulder and gently pulled her to a stop. “What you’re going to do is take a deep breath, relax, and remember that we’re here to help you out. You’re not alone, and if you have to fight monsters - mind you, that’s an if - you’re not going to be doing it by yourself. You have a village full of people who have been trained to fight monsters in one way or another their entire lives to back you up, we just need you to lend us your strength as well. Does that make it seem a little less overwhelming?”

“Quite a bit, actually…” Rarity admitted. She laughed sardonically. “You would think after all I’ve faced, this would be the least of my worries… but somehow this is so much more frightening than any of the monstrosities I’ve faced in the past.”

“Oh?” Aerylla queried. “How so?”

“How do I put it?” Rarity pondered for a moment. “All of the foes I’ve faced in the past have made wide range threats against a large populace… worldwide threats… the I’m going to shroud the world in eternal night or I’m going to steal all the magic from everypony in Equestria. This is just so much more…”

“Personal?” Suggested Aerylla.

“Yeah…” Rarity conceded. “Here I’m facing the very real possibility of being eaten alive or ripped limb from limb by some massive creature…” she trailed off with a shudder, staring off into space as she seemed to just disconnect from reality for a moment. Aerylla shook her shoulder gently.

“And we’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Rarity smiled genuinely. “Thanks. I needed that.”

“Anytime.”

They resumed walking, with the academy fast approaching, and Rarity was struck by the similarity of the feelings the building gave compared to universities back home. It exuded an air of both sophistication and stuffiness; in a way, it reminded her of high class social events back home. For a moment she expected a sense of longing, one of emptiness, one of being out of her element and missing from where she belonged. To her surprise, what she felt was freedom. With a slight amount of anxiety, she approached the academy door and followed Aerylla inside.

She was immediately assaulted by a permeating aroma of musty paper, stale coffee, and various laboratory chemicals, and she suppressed a gag at the overwhelming smell. Ahead of her, she noticed that Aerylla had stopped abruptly. I wonder if she feels alright? Perhaps the smell is making her feel ill?

“Aerylla, are you feeling-“

Rarity’s concern was cut off as Aerylla stretched her arms wide and inhaled deeply, then exhaled loudly with a nostalgic sigh.

“Ah, this smell always takes me back to my school days! Doesn’t matter how often I come here, I can always count on this to put me at ease.” She turned around, a large grin adorning her face, only to see Rarity looking at her very oddly. “Uh, is everything alright?”

“Oh, yes, everything is perfectly normal! Fine!” Rarity said a little too quickly. “Ehehehe, I was just thinking… how my friend Twilight would be right at home here as well! She absolutely adores books and research, you see, and I’m sure she would share your sentiments exactly!” Rarity grinned rather lopsidedly, hoping that her excuse didn’t sound too forced. Not that it was a lie anyway, Twilight would have been thrilled to be here, after all.

“Okay! Sorry to get a little nostalgic there, anyway. Cyradel’s lab is farther in, just follow me.” She started down a main corridor, passing by multiple windowed doors. Rarity glanced in as they passed, seeing various setups of laboratory equipment, often involving the remains of dead monsters and some entire bodies of what she hoped were dead ones; if they were dead, they were extremely well preserved. But then, why would that last one have been shackled… a shiver ran down her spine as a realization hit her, and she stopped cold. “Aerylla?”

“Hmm?” Aerylla stopped and turned, seeing Rarity looking back at the last door with a terrified look on her face.

“Do they keep… live monsters in here?”

Aerylla nodded. “Occasionally. At times, they have hunters trap monsters for study. When they do, they bring them here, keep them tranquilized and heavily tethered, study them, then either release them or kill them, depending on how much of a threat they were beforehand. I wouldn’t worry about the ones you see in here; they keep them heavily sedated, so they won’t wake up as long as they’re here, and in the unlikely event they do, they’re still restrained. In addition, most captured monsters flagged are lesser threats. Not all monsters are major threats, you know, otherwise we’d just be out there killing them left and right like evil barbarians. We only cull the ones that are a direct threat to us and leave the rest alone.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Nothing good would come from wanton violence and needless bloodshed, I’m sure. That being said, I’m sure there are a lot of threats out there.”

“Mhm,” Aerylla agreed. “Cyradel’s lab is just ahead, let’s go.”

They continued on, reaching a large solid door that was plastered with signs, inscribed with multiple variants of Keep Out!, No Entry!, Restricted Access!, No Visitors: This Means YOU!, and many more. Rarity eyed the signs warily. “Do you really think we should be going in? It really seems like she’s busy and doesn’t want to be disturbed.”

Aerylla laughed heartily. “Cyradel? That’s her every minute of every day. Doesn’t this seem like a little overkill for just a simple do not disturb notice? Does it make you think of how any other person might act?”

Rarity thought for a moment, then giggled uncontrollably. “This is just like my little sister’s door!”

Aerylla smirked in satisfaction and pumped her fist in the air. “Hah! I knew it! It’s not just me that thought that! Nobody else knew what I meant, but maybe they just didn’t have siblings growing up. Well, shall we disrupt the moody teenager?”

Rarity grinned widely. “I think we shall.”

Aerylla opened the door wide and walked in, calling out loudly and in an overly cheerful voice, “Good morning, Cyradel!”

A young wyverian was standing over a long counter at the far end of the room, working with multiple vials of liquids of varying colors and viscosities. She did not look away from her work, and barely moved an inch at Aerylla’s entry. She sighed heavily. “Morning, Aery,” she drolled unenthusiastically. She waved a hand behind her without moving from her work. “Newest medical research is in the usual place. If you want some coffee there should be some left on the desk over there. Unless I drank it all, then there’s not. I forget. Feel free to make more. Wonderful weather we’re having, isn’t it? At least, it was when I went outside last. I think that was last week Thursday, sometime. I think it was sunny. Well, it’s been lovely chatting with you, but I really must be getting back to work, busy busy. Take care, won’t you? Yes, well, best of health and all stuff.” With that, she fell silent and went back to work.

Rarity leaned close to Aerylla. “I thought you didn’t like being called Aery,” she whispered.

“Only by Sydreol,” she whispered back. “All my friends call me that. You can, too.” She winked, then turned back to Cyradel.

“Love you too, Cyr! I take it you don’t want to meet my patient, who woke up this morning? I brought her with me, you know.”

There was a clinking of glass, and several vials fell on the ground and shattered, unnoticed by Cyradel as she scrambled around. She made a quick move forward, but clumsily fell to the ground, discovering that she must have temporarily lost feeling in her legs from inactivity due to standing in one place for so long. Cursing as she stood up, she limped slowly to the pair.

“That was dirty, Aery. You should have said right away that you brought your patient with you! You know I’ve been dying to meet her!" She turned to Rarity. “I’ve been dying to meet you!”

“Uh, so I heard.” Rarity said awkwardly. She held out her hand. “My name is Rarity.”

Cyradel grabbed it readily and shook it violently. “Cyradel, the pleasure is all mine! So, where are you from? What are you? Why do you share a link with the monsters? Did you cause them to go crazy? Can you control them?”

Rarity held up her hands defensively. “Hold on now! One question at a time! First off, I’m a unicorn from a place called Equestria; it’s in another dimension-“

“Another dimension? You came from another dimension?” Cyradel exclaimed excitedly.

“Yes, we had a… rather unfortunate mishap somehow with a portal and it sent me here. I would love to go home, but I have no idea how to do so. If you have any idea how to send me home, please, let me know.”

“No idea! But I’ll definitely look into it, and if I can figure anything out, you’ll be the first to know.”

“I appreciate that, thank you. Anyway, as I was saying, I was sent here in an accident, so I have no idea why I have any sort of link with any monsters, or what this link might even be. No, I didn’t make them go crazy, and no, I can’t control them. I just randomly showed up here and had no idea about any connection until Aery told me about it when I woke up.”

“Rarity,” Aerylla said, “maybe you should show Cyr about that thing that you can do.”

“The thi- oh. Right.” Rarity nodded, while Cyradel looked at them both with a mixture of apprehension, confusion, and childish excitement.

Without any effort whatsoever, Rarity’s horn glowed blue, and the coffee pot, along with three mugs, the cup of sugar cubes, the dish of creamer packets, and for good measure, a package of likely stale donuts all floated over in a blue aura. With her magic, she poured them each a cup of coffee, then simultaneously floated donuts to each one of them, enjoying the flabbergasted look on Cyradel’s face as she did so. “Sugar or cream in your coffee, Cyr?" she asked sweetly.

“Buh.” Cyradel responded eloquently.

“I’ll take that as a maybe. Aery?”

“Two sugars, please.”

She floated two cubes into the cup, then floated it over to Aerylla. She then turned back to Cyradel. “Cyr, this is called magic. All unicorns can do it.”

Cyradel recovered from her stupor. “It’s damned amazing! And what’s more, that’s what’s making the energy signature.”

“What?” Aerylla and Rarity exclaimed simultaneously.

“Can’t you feel it, Aery?” Cyradel questioned. “The signature emits a quite distinct field into the atmosphere surrounding it if it’s strong enough; usually we need special instruments to detect it, but pure enough or strong enough sources can be detected without them as long as you are sensitive enough and know what to look for. I’d figured you’d be able to tell it right away. She’s positively radiating it! Not even the monsters give off this much of the energy! I think it’s safe to say we know exactly what kind of energy they have now!" she clapped her hands excitedly. “Our first breakthrough, and you just got here! I mean, I have no idea how the monsters may have come in contact with your magic, but still!”

Rarity stood dumbfounded. “That’s impossible,” she whispered.

“I’m sorry?” Cyradel looked at her curiously.

“That just… can’t be possible,” Rarity explained. “Equestrian magic doesn’t work like that… not with living things… You’re sure these monsters were actually giving off the signature, right? Not reflecting it, or getting exposed and letting it off, but actually giving it off?”

“Right,” Cyradel confirmed. “No doubt about it. There is no change in strength, no fluctuation in field, it follows them where they go. The ones that give off the signal are their own source.”

Rarity shook her head. “Then it couldn’t possibly be magic like mine. Hmm…” She spied a chair by the desk and had an idea. “Aery, bear with me a moment, ok? Just relax, this is going to be really weird, but I’m going to be really careful. Ok?”

“Uh, o…k?” Aerylla said, with a very confused and somewhat frightened tremor in her voice. “What are you-?”

Her words were cut short as Rarity concentrated extremely hard, enveloping Aerylla in a strong blue glow and lifting her completely from the ground with a startled high pitched squeak. Rarity could hear Cyradel laughing hysterically as she floated Aerylla across the room to the chair, where she let her down gently and released her from her magical grasp. Three women gasped for air, one from mental exhaustion , one from holding her breath throughout the ordeal, and one from laughing so hard she had run out of air and collapsed on the ground. They regained their breath, and Aerylla glared at Rarity.

“What on earth was that for?" she demanded.

“A demonstration,” Rarity said. “Cyradel, can you detect any magic on Aery at all? Anything?”

Both Wyverians' faces showed a moment of understanding, and Cyradel inspected Aerylla. “I can’t, honestly.”

Rarity nodded. “I just exposed her to a huge amount of magic and it didn’t leave a trace. That’s how Equestrian magic works with living creatures. It acts on them, but it doesn’t stay in them. It takes very specially cast spells for magic to stay with a creature, and that only lasts a short time; other than that, the only times I’ve seen magic transferred to a living creature have been when it has been literally siphoned from one creature to another directly, in close proximity, either by a special device or by a creature specifically made to do just that.” She shuddered thinking about their encounters with Tirek in the past.

“Well, shit. That puts a wrinkle in my theory. But it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible, it only means that we don’t know how it may have happened.”

“Fair enough,” Rarity conceded. “So, what else would you like to know?”

Cyradel pulled over several chairs and grabbed a large notebook and pen.

“Everything.”

**********

Rarity and Aerylla stretched as they left the academy hours later.

“Well, she’s very… thorough.” Rarity said at length.

“Yeah, sorry, she’s always very excitable when there’s something new for her to learn,” Aerylla apologized. “She’s still very much a curious child in some ways.”

“Hah, it’s not a problem,” Rarity laughed, “I just didn’t think I was that interesting. I mean, I’ve always been one to talk about myself, maybe a little too much, but I didn’t expect anyone to be that interested in me. Well, at least it wasn’t just about me, I was able to tell her a lot about Equestria, too.”

“I learned quite a bit as well,” Aerylla admitted. “Your world must be practically overflowing with magic if the sun and moon are both moved individually by your leaders.”

“It is,” Rarity agreed. “It permeates virtually every aspect of life. It’s surprising to me that it doesn’t even exist here.” They reached a home at the far end of the main pavilion and stopped. An awkward silence followed, and Rarity looked at Aerylla somewhat uncomfortably. “So, this is where we part ways?”

“For now, yes. This is the house that you’ll be staying at; I suggest that you get settled, then check around town and meet some of the people that Leonys had mentioned. If you have any questions feel free to come and ask, as I’ll be catching up on some work back at the clinic. Lastly, try not to push yourself too hard, ok? You did just recover from a major injury, you know. Oh, and try not to do too much magic at once and freak people out. Best to introduce it slowly.”

“I’ll bear that in mind. Thanks, Aery. For everything.” Rarity gave a heartfelt smile and hugged Aerylla, who seemed caught off guard at first, but welcomed the gesture after a moment. Aerylla smiled back, then waved as she made her way back toward her clinic.

Rarity watched her new friend leave, then turned and entered her new home. It was what she would describe as rustic, or possibly in other terms messily decorated, and she knew that she would have her work cut out for her in making it work in her style. But in terms of livability, it was very comfortable looking. There were a couple of beds, a suitable bathroom, a small kitchen area, plenty of shelving, a large storage chest, and weapon and armor racks as well. Rarity walked through the house, taking in her surroundings and stopping to appreciate the generosity that Leonys was showing her in allowing her to stay here free of charge while she found a way to earn money. With this thought in mind, she made her way back out to the street and set out to begin searching for work.

So, of all the options, which would be the most likely to suit me? It sounds like I could possibly help at the smithy, the shop, the restaurant, or… be a hunter. I know I can cook things ok, and I’m a decent salespony, but I’m a craftswoman at heart, so… I guess I should start at the smithy? I mean, it’s definitely different from sewing, much more physical, but I was able to make weapons and armor already, right?

With that in mind, she made her way toward the sound of clanking metal and the orange glow of the forge. As she neared, she saw a wyverian woman at the anvil, blacksmith goggles pushed up on her forehead, her face smudged with soot and hammer in hand, engaged in what appeared to be a vehement discussion with a human man. On occasion she shook her hammer at him menacingly as she spoke, and Rarity’s ears pinned back as multiple obscenities were uttered as she waited patiently for them to finish.

Finally, Rarity saw the man wander away and heard him mutter, “Gods damn it, Reneris. Yer stubborn as all hell, you know that?”

“FUCK YES, I DO!" she shouted after him. She snorted loudly and spit in his direction, then went back to hammering on her anvil.

Rarity blinked for a moment at the display, then plucked up her courage and approached the anvil. “Uh, pardon me, ma’am?”

Reneris looked up, looking extremely angry at being disturbed. “The fuck do you want?" she demanded.

“U-Um,” Rarity stammered, “My name is Rarity.” She bowed politely. “I’m new in the area, and I was told that I may be able to find work here helping you out at your-“

“Hell no!” Reneris spat out, cutting Rarity off mid-sentence. “I ain’t got time to sit here babysitting some prissy-ass bitch who just wandered in here from fuck knows where cranking out some shit gear that a two year old could hammer out, then shell out my hard earned cash to reward her privileged ass for it!" she spit on the ground. “Leonys likes tellin’ everyone to come ask me for work, whether they can make shit or not. Fuck off.” She then went back to hammering, acting as though Rarity wasn’t even there.

Rarity stood motionless for several long seconds as her brain caught up with what just happened, then she abruptly turned one hundred eighty degrees and walked away briskly, her cheeks burning red as she fumed in anger and embarrassment. It wasn’t for about thirty seconds that she heard the laughter to her side.

Looking around, she spied Sydreol, leaning on a post watching her every move. She walked over stiffly. “And what do you think is so funny?" she demanded.

“As if you didn’t know,” Sydreol cackled. “Watching Reneris rip someone a new asshole is always hilarious, especially when they have no idea it’s coming. And you,” he pointed at Rarity comically, “had no clue.”

“Well,” she folded her arms and pouted, looking in Reneris’ direction, “you’re right about that. What a mean-spirited woman.”

“Nah, that’s just what she wants you to think.” Sydreol said.

Rarity looked at him in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”

“What I mean, my little unicorn lady,” he said, “is that if you know how to approach her at first, she’s just fine to deal with. Once she gets to know you, you’re fine. Just don’t approach her the wrong way.”

“How did I approach her the wrong way?” Rarity exclaimed. “I was perfectly patient and polite!”

Sydreol deadpanned. “You were perfectly patient and polite.”

“Sydreol, I don’t follow.”

“Please, just Syd. And listen, with Renny, you can’t be pleasant and polite. You have to be foul-mouthed and rude just like she is. Get in her face. Shove other people aside. Show no manners. It’s all about you. If she wants to be nasty to you, be nasty right back. That’s how you get in her good books. Show her you’re not a pushover, that you can stand your ground. If you want her respect, you have to earn it. That’s how she sees it.”

“Ugh,” Rarity sighed, “I don’t think I’m going to get far then. I don’t think I have a foul-mouthed or nasty bone in my body. I don’t recall any times that I’ve gotten so upset that I’ve sworn at somebody…”

“Oh, I bet you have. You just don’t remember it because it was in the heat of the moment,” Sydreol prodded.

“I doubt it.”

Sydreol grinned devilishly.

“That look is very unbecoming, you know. What is going on in that twisted little mind of yours?”

Sydreol held up his hands. “Hey now! I just have an experiment in mind. Something simple, ok? Just close your eyes for a minute.”

“That’s all? Ok, you better not pull any funny-“

Sydreol reached down with one hand and very matter-of-factly squeezed Rarity’s butt.

Her eyes shot open in an instant.

“YOU LECHEROUS LITTLE PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT!” Rarity pulled back her fist and punched him straight in the face. “I trusted you for a goddamned second and what do you do? You grab my ass! Some fucking experiment that was! Try another experiment and I’ll rip your nuts off and shove them down your throat!”

Sydreol held his bleeding nose with one hand and gave Rarity a thumbs up with the other. “Experiment successful!’ He gasped in pain. “You do have foul-mouthed and nasty bones in your body! Many, many of them! Especially in your fist!”

Rarity’s posture relaxed and she lowered her fists as she realized exactly what Sydreol’s intent had been. “Oh. Oh I see.” She helped him stand up straight, looking at his nose. “I’m so sorry, Syd, I didn’t realize what you were trying to do.”

“That’s kinda the point. If you had, it wouldn’t have worked.”

“I hope I didn’t break anything… Are you ok?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, this is nothing compared to what the monsters do when I’m hunting. Besides,” he grinned, “it was worth it, you’ve got a nice ass.”

Rarity leveled a deadly glare at him. “Don’t press your luck or I’ll follow through on that threat.”

“Hah! There you go! Last bit of advice, bring the gear you made to show Renny. She loves seeing stuff other people made. Even if it’s not the best quality, regardless of what she says, she loves seeing people putting effort into making their own equipment. And from what I’ve heard, yours is really good quality. That should really seal the deal for you.”

Rarity smiled. “Thanks Syd. Aside from grabbing my ass, I guess you’re not so bad.”

He gave her a thumbs up. “Hey, I’ll take it!”

**********

Rarity approached the forge with her bag slung over her back, kitted out in her jagras armor and equipped with her bone weapons, with a grim and determined expression on her face. Reneris was sitting beside her forge with a cup of coffee and chatting with someone as Rarity neared, and she took notice of Rarity almost immediately, and not with fondness. She stopped her conversation and scowled.

“Hey, looks like ya found someone else’s shit to wear! Even fits ya! Good for you! Yer ma would be proud for the first time in her life, I’m sure. Now piss off, I’m busy.” She made to turn away, but Rarity didn’t give her the time.

“Oh, get over yourself, bitch. I tried being nice and polite, but apparently that doesn’t work around here, so we’ll do it your way. You want me to be rude? Fine. See the shit I’m wearing? I made it. In the middle of the Celestia fucking jungle, after I melted a jagras’ face off with acid berries and then beat its head in with a fucking rock. Then I cut its skin off with its own fucking claws. You ever do that before? No? Just sit here with your little hammer and hit shit, I bet. Do you know what I did before I got here? What my job was? I was a fashionista. Sorry, you probably don’t even know what that is. I was a fashion designer. A seamstress. And then I got stranded out here.

And I made these,” she pulled out her blades, holding them for Reneris to see, “out of that same Celestia damned jagras! And I used my wimpy-ass prissy little seamstress’ tools to make them! And you know what?" she held her dual blades with her magic and shook them, not caring that Reneris’ eyes went wide with surprise at the floating blades as she continued her tirade, “These killed a deer just fine, and this,” she said, shaking her sword similarly, “cut a velociprey almost in half, right before another of the four that were attacking me almost slashed my arm off!” For added effect, she held up her gashed armguard, with her stitched up wound still visible below. Reneris looked at her arm and blanched, then back up at Rarity with wide eyes. Rarity continued with vigor. “So, miss full-of-piss-and-vinegar, I will not ‘fuck off’, I just want to talk about trying to make a Celestia damned living here!”

Rarity finished, taking a deep breath as her adrenaline was now flowing freely and her heart was beating unbelievably fast. Reneris was openly gaping at her, the friend she had been talking to was slowly clapping, and far behind she could hear Sydreol’s voice yell That was epic! amidst hysterical laughter.

Reneris’ mouth soon closed, and her lips turned up into a shrewd grin as her eyes leveled with Rarity’s. “Looks like someone’s got a spine after all,” she said at length. Rarity relaxed considerably, but Reneris continued. “Don’t let it get to your fucking head, lady. I’ll help ya out, don’t mean you’re my best buddy now. Still, that’s some impressive shit ya got there, especially if that’s the first gear ya made, and ya made it out in the middle of nowhere. Actually using it to take out monsters ain’t no easy feat either. So, what is it you wanted from me then?”

Rarity motioned toward the forge. “I was hoping to find some work. I need some way to earn money now that I’m going to live here, and since I’ve always been a crafter by trade, and I was able to make these, I thought this might be a good start.”

Reneris shook her head. “Yes and no.”

Rarity looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“You’re welcome to use my forge. Well, scratch that. Don’t you dare touch my forge. There’s a smaller forge next to it for scraps and stuff; you can use that one. You have skill, I’ll give you that, and I’d love to see that skill grow. But, I’d die of old age before you could make any weapons or armor that would be worth selling comparable to what I make. Don’t take it too hard, wyverian blacksmithing is an art centuries old, you’re not getting close to it.”

Rarity bit her lip. “So, basically if I make anything, I’d be doing it for my own use or for practice.”

Reneris nodded. “I doubt you’d be able to sell any of it, though you could always try to see if Faan would be interested in anything. Oh, there is one downside though. I’d say you should try to use machalite ore to train with. It’s malleable, easy to work with, and durable enough to make quality weapons and armor. But it’s also in short supply at the moment. With all the problems with the crazed monsters, nobody wants to bother gathering it. I’d check with Faan if she’s seen any around, but your best bet is trying to gather some yourself. You can head around outside the village and see what you can find; quite often gathering materials can be more profitable than you would realize, and it should be safe enough if you stay close by the village.”

Rarity nodded. “That does make sense, honestly, and gathering materials would be a lot more practical for me short term while I don’t really have any other options. Reneris, do you happen to have a small sample of machalite ore? I should be able to find it easier if I know what I’m looking for.”

“Sure,” Reneris said, rummaging around in a scrap pile. Shortly she produced a small chunk of greenish ore. “Barely anything there, but that’s the stuff you’re looking for. One more thing. Or a lot more things, I guess you could say. We got a lot of gear here, like newbie training stuff that we keep on hand. Leonys tells me to keep sets to give to hunters that come through, ‘get them started on their way’ or some bullshit like that. Whatever, I don’t care, but if you’re going outside the village, that’s close enough to hunter territory to want protection. So you’re takin’ a hunter set. And a pickaxe, can’t mine shit without that. That’s on the house, since you’re gonna be helping out anyway.”

“Really, there’s no need for me to take a full set of hunting-“

“Shut your fucking face. You’re taking it and that’s that. You should already know how dangerous shit is out there, you really want to walk out those gates without something to protect yourself? Hunter or not, you need weapons and armor. Period. Now take your shit and get out of here.” She looked past Rarity, back at Sydreol, who was still watching with interest at a distance. “And get laughing boy back there to help you carry it all, there’s a lot of shit.” She leaned over and yelled at Sydreol, “HEY FUCKWAD, GET OVER HERE! WE NEED YOUR BRAWN, IT’S THE ONLY THING YOU’RE GOOD FOR!" She leaned back and grinned at Rarity. “There, help is on the way.”

“You know, Reneris,” Rarity said with a shrewd smile of her own, “I think I rather like your style.”

“Of course you do,” Reneris said, puffing out her chest slightly. “I’m just that fucking awesome.”

7. Give or Take

Rarity and Sydreol finished loading all her new gear into her house, placing them into her weapon and armor racks. Rarity stared at the display, still not believing what she had just received: fourteen different weapons and two sets of armor; there were enough choices to allow her complete freedom in how she would fight, should she decide to do so. Light armor for fast movement, or heavy armor for strong defense. Large powerful weapons, small fast ones, ranged ones… she would have a difficult time choosing.

“Yeah, the decisions can be overwhelming,” Sydreol said, as though he was reading her mind. “You just gotta give it a try, spend a little time with Jorahn in the training arena, and you’ll see what feels right for you. It sounds kinda funny, but you’ll probably have three or four weapons that will just click with you.”

“Thanks,” Rarity said, still staring at the display. “I’ll have to do that soon, after I pay a visit to Faan.”

“Right then. See you around, good luck with your training and all your other stuff.”

**********

Rarity strolled back up the pavilion, enjoying the late afternoon breeze moving through the looser clothing she had changed to; it felt so much better than the restricting armor she had been in. While practical and comfortable enough, it was still a far cry from the comfort of her handmade clothes. Her bag hung from her shoulder, and she looked as though she was heading toward the shop to spend her savings away rather than search for work. She spied the market stall ahead, stocked with materials and items of all kinds, with things she had never seen before. A young human woman sat at the till, staring off into the sky.

Rarity approached her with interest, noting that the girl seemed to take no notice of her as she neared. “Excuse me?" she said, with little effect. “Excuse me, miss? Ma’am?" she began raising her voice louder, but she still gained no response; the girl continued staring off into space. Rarity tapped her lightly on the shoulder, and the girl jerked in her seat violently as she was yanked back to reality.

“AH!" she yelled. “HI! I mean, hi. Hi, sorry. Were you here long?” She looked embarrassed as she tried to regain her balance on her chair after nearly falling off.

“Not long, thank you. I had just gotten here, I just had a little difficulty getting your attention.” Rarity explained.

The girl rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, sorry about that. I tend to get that way sometimes.”

“Think nothing of it. You must be Faan,” Rarity asked pleasantly.

“That’s me!” the girl cheerfully replied. “Nice to meet you! Did you need help with something?”

“I do, actually. I was talking with Reneris earlier-“ Rarity started.

“That was you?” Faan asked fearfully, cutting her off. “My goodness, you sounded so angry! I’ll help you as much as I can, just please don’t get angry with me like that!” The girl cringed away at the thought, and Rarity’s heart nearly broke.

“Goodness no, I would never get angry with you,” Rarity spoke soothingly to Faan, trying to calm her down. “I was only acting that way in order to talk to Reneris. I normally don’t act like that. Ever. So, don’t worry about that, ok?”

A small smile graced Faan’s face, and she regained her composure. “Alright then. So, what is it that you needed?”

“Well, I was hoping you might be able to tell me if you have any ways in which I can help in order to earn money, whether it would be physical help, or selling you items of any kind. I was also interested to know if you’ve had much machalite ore in stock.”

Faan’s face brightened considerably. “That’s wonderful! I can always use more suppliers, especially since hunters usually don’t focus on bringing back materials that aren’t monster parts. I’ve been having supply issues on several items, including machalite ore, sadly, so I don’t have any at the moment.” She grimaced. “Sorry about that!”

“It’s not a problem, honestly,” Rarity responded. “I was asking more out of curiosity than anything. I should be able to find some without any difficulty.”

Faan looked at her with surprise. “Really? Usually hunters curse the stuff for being a pain to find. Well, if you think you can find it, I’d love to see it!”

“Oh, don’t you worry,” Rarity winked, “I have my ways.”

“Oo, mysterious, I like it!” Faan clapped. “I can also use slashberries, blastnuts, and parashrooms, if you happen across them.”

“I’ll keep an eye out,” Rarity said, “though I don’t know what they look like… do you have any that I could see?”

“Sure, hold on, I’ll grab a few!” Faan disappeared into her stockroom for a few minutes, then returned holding several items. “Here you go, fresh from the shelves!" she said, presenting them with a flourish.

“Lovely, thank you!” Rarity said, producing her notebook and a pencil from her bag. She flipped it open and began sketching the items in great detail, making as many notes as she could while Faan looked on in fascination.

“What are you doing?" she asked as Rarity turned a page to begin her next sketch.

“Oh, just drawing what they look like, and making reminders to myself about their characteristics so I know what to look for. It’ll make it a lot easier to remember when I’m out gathering things to have a reference guide.”

“Smart!” Faan praised. “I don’t think I’ve seen any other hunters do that before.” She put a finger to her lips in thought. “Maybe that’s why they never bring me materials, maybe they all have crappy memories and don’t remember what anything looks like. Huh. Never thought about it before.” She shrugged. “Well, maybe you’ll be my number one supplier now! More money for you!" she said cheerfully. She returned to looking at Rarity’s notebook. “You’re really good at drawing, by the way.”

Rarity smiled. “Thanks, I’ve had a lot of practice.” She opened her notebook to a page containing a dress design she had drawn some weeks earlier for the school’s formal, earning an admiring gasp from Faan. “I’m a designer, you know. Well, used to be, at least, before I came here. I can’t really design much now.”

Faan tilted her head. “Why not?”

“Well, I don’t really have much left for materials, as most of my cloth was used up in the jungle trying to survive, making survival gear and supplies. I still have some left, but not enough to make any large amounts of anything. My available tools are extremely limited as well; I was only able to bring along portable tools, and a lot of those I had to use in the jungle, rendering them useless for their intended functions now. I mean, I honestly could still make some things, but not enough and too slowly to make a business out of it.”

Faan’s face fell. “That’s too bad, that dress was gorgeous, I would have loved to have seen you make something like that. Did you make the clothes you’re wearing, too? They’re absolutely beautiful, I’ve never seen anything like them…”

Rarity looked down. “What, these? Yes, I made them, though I didn’t think they were anything that special.”

Faan looked shocked. “Are you kidding? Have you looked around? You have the most fancy, colorful clothes of anyone else here! I’d buy them from you in a heartbeat if I could!”

Rarity beamed, when an idea suddenly hit her. “Faan, could you stand close to me for a moment?”

Faan looked confused, but complied. “I suppose, what for?”

Rarity inspected her. “Aha! I thought as much.” She giggled to herself with excitement. “I’ll be right back! You stay right here!”

She practically raced back to her house, leaving a speechless Faan behind her. Once there, she laid out her clothes, making sure she had them all clean and folded neatly, then packed them away in her bag, giddy with the feeling of being able to provide someone with beautiful new clothes when they had never had anything like them before. She never grew tired of that feeling, and it had given her the best idea now.

With a light feeling in her chest, she ran back to the shop, stopping right in front of Faan with a wide grin spread on her face.

“Am I allowed to ask what that was about?” Faan asked warily.

“No need to ask,” Rarity chirped, producing her bag. “I brought a little something back with me.”

“Oo, do tell!” Faan leaned over in interest.

Rarity pulled her clothes out from her bag and laid them across Faan’s checkout counter, causing the girl’s jaw to drop in amazement.

“Rarity, those are gorgeous! Those are your clothes?”

“Yes, and you appear to be about the same size as me. Go ahead,” Rarity urged, “pick an outfit out.”

Faan squealed in delight. “Can I buy this yellow and pink one? It’s so pretty!”

Rarity frowned slightly. “Buy? Oh, no, no, no! I’m giving this to you. No charge.”

“What?” Faan was beyond confused now. “I thought you needed money?”

“Oh, I do,” Rarity reassured her, “but I can earn that by gathering things. Helping my friends attain fashion fabulosity is a life goal, not one I try to make money from. Besides, I’ve been helped so much by everyone here, I want to give back.”

“Well, in that case, thank you so much!” Faan cheered, then hopped forward to give Rarity a hug. “This is seriously so adorable! I’ve never had anything like this before!”

“You’re very much welcome!” Rarity grinned back. “And thank you so much for giving me the absolutely best idea ever! I know exactly what I’ll be doing for the rest of my day!”

“I thought you were going to go gather things?” Faan asked, once again perplexed.

“Oh, that can wait until tomorrow,” Rarity waved it off. “This is much more urgent. Now, first things first, have you seen Cinnamon? Last I saw her, she was at Zuny’s restaurant.”

“Yeah, I saw her leave the Canteen just a little while ago,” Faan replied. “She was headed toward the clinic.”

“Perfect!” Rarity clapped her hands with a giggle. “I can get to both of them at once then!”

“I’m sorry, what?” Faan said, lost once again.

“Nothing, nothing! I’ve got to go before Cinnamon leaves! I’ll see you later, thanks again!” Rarity gave a parting wave behind her as she raced off in the direction of the clinic, leaving a bewildered shopkeeper behind her.

“Ok… thank you, come again…”

**********

My tools may be limited, and I may not have much fabric left, but by Celestia, I will make this work. I have to make this work. I can make simple alterations for the others to account for size differences; the girls were all roughly my size, give or take… but Cinnamon, I’m going to have to make something completely new. And damn it, it’s going to be amazing. I don’t care what it takes.

She reached the clinic and nearly burst through the doors in excitement, but restrained herself, merely opening them with more force than was necessary but not ripping them off their hinges. Aerylla and Cinnamon both jerked their heads toward the door in shock, and Aerylla nearly dropped the bottle she was holding.

“Sorry, sorry!” Rarity apologized, “I didn’t mean to scare you, I guess I was just a little… excited, that’s all.”

“That’s fine,” Aerylla smiled, “just a little startled, that’s all. What can I do for you?”

“I’m actually here for both of you, and it’s what I can do for you.” Rarity corrected. Both Aerylla’s and Cinnamon’s eyes widened at the announcement, and Rarity explained. “I brought some of the clothes I’ve made along with me. Aery, I want you to pick out an outfit to have; if it doesn’t quite fit, I can make adjustments for you, but it should be pretty close already.” Aerylla’s eyebrows climbed at hearing Rarity’s words, but Rarity continued. “Cinnamon, I don’t have anything that would fit you right now.” She could see that Cinnamon already looked disappointed, so she continued immediately. “But, I have fabric and my tools. And, if you didn’t know before, I am a fashion designer. So, you and I,” she dramatically motioned to the two of them, “are going to head back to my house and design some clothes for you. Whatever you want, with whatever material you want - at least, from what I have available.”

Cinnamon cheered and bounced in place giddily. “Thanks Rowrity! I’ve never had anyone do anything like that for me before!”

“This is a very kind gesture, to be sure,” Aerylla agreed. “Thank you very much for the offer.” She set her bottle down and walked over to look at what Rarity had brought, and her breath momentarily left her when her eyes fell on the garments that were put on display. “These… are beyond anything I’ve ever seen before! What brought this on, might I ask?”

“Well,” Rarity admitted, “I was speaking with Faan, and she was complimenting me on what I was wearing, and mentioned how nobody around here had clothes that were colorful or showy like these were, and how she wished she could have some like mine. And, I don’t know, I just… fashion and clothing have always been my passion, and I want to share that with everyone that I can, especially people that might not have had the chance to express themselves through their clothing before. Given Faan’s reaction, that seemed pretty likely here. So, I want to at least share what I can with you girls, you’ve done so much for me already.”

“Well, you’re right about not being able to express ourselves, that’s for sure,” Cinnamon piped up. “The clothes around here tend to be super drab. Well, unless it’s armor made from colorful monsters. But that doesn’t count.”

Aerylla laughed. “No, I suppose not.” She looked through Rarity’s outfits and pointed at one. “Would you mind if I took this one?”

Rarity smiled warmly. “Not at all, I believe it would suit you beautifully.”

Aerylla picked it up, gasping as she did so. “Gods, it feels so wonderful! What on earth is this made of?”

“That would be silk, my friend. Mulberry silk, to be exact. Trust me, if you think it feels good now, wait until you’re wearing it.” She winked. “And Cinnamon, just let me know when you’re ready, and we can work on yours.”

“All right, just let me finish up here first. Aery, do you have that bug repellent?” Cinnamon asked.

“Huh?” Aerylla was pulled back into reality abruptly, interrupted from absentmindedly running her fingers through the silken fabric in her hands. “Oh, yes, sorry!" she hurried over and picked up the bottle, then brought it back to Cinnamon.

“Perfect! Ready to go when you are Rowrity!” Cinnamon announced.

“See you around tomorrow, Aery! Have a great night!” Rarity called behind her.

“Night and thank you!” came the reply, already half lost in the contentment of silken comfort.

**********

“So, you got ol’ sourpuss Reneris to help you out?” Cinnamon asked as Rarity was taking her measurements. “That’s some feat, alright! She’s one tough lady to get along with!”

“Ugh, tell me about it,” Rarity lamented. “I practically had to give myself a mental meltdown just to converse with her. But, in a way, I’m glad I did. It felt… liberating, I suppose. I think, deep down, part of me just, I don’t know, kind of liked letting go like that.” She paused and thought about it deeper. “Maybe on occasion I need to step back from being so polite and proper, and be a little racy and raunchy and swear up a storm instead. Sometimes. Rarely. Probably when nobody is looking and listening.”

Cinnamon laughed. “Maybe you just need some racy, raunchy, swearing friends you can hang out with that don’t care. I think that Renny, Syd and I fit that bill pretty well. We should all go drinking sometime soon.”

“Drinking?” Rarity looked scandalized. “As in alcohol? Getting drunk, causing a scene, passing out, and regretting everything in the morning?" her tone gave away the fact that never before had she even considered it, let alone done it, but looking at Cinnamon, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. “Hmm,” she murmured to the felyne. “You know, I think I might like that.” She nodded, then grinned widely. “I mean, hell yes, we should totally get together sometime and get drunk off our asses!” Cinnamon cheered for her, and she giggled simply hearing the words coming out of her mouth; somehow it seemed freeing, empowering, like she was able to show a side of herself she had kept hidden away for so long that even she didn’t know it existed.

“So you’re a designer, then?” Cinnamon looked through the fabrics that were laid out while Rarity put away her measuring tape. “That explains how you made that jagras armor like you did.” She cocked her head. “Maybe?" she looked at Rarity. “Have you designed armor before?”

“Well… no.” Rarity admitted.

“But… then… how the hell did you know how to make armor?” Cinnamon demanded. “You just show up here making nothing but clothes, need weapons and armor, and go Hm, guess I’ll make some weapons and armor then, and poof, you do?”

Rarity looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged. “Hm, yes, I suppose that sums it up rather succinctly.”

Cinnamon looked at her rather crossly. “What the hell, really?”

“Oh come now, my best friend is one of the princesses and her brother is the captain of the royal guard. I do know what weapons and armor look like. Just because I’ve never specifically designed them doesn’t mean I don’t know anything about them. I just have enough experience to be able to apply what I know to make things outside my normal comfort zone, that’s all. Which is why I am going to have no issues making something for a felyne such as yourself, even though I’ve never done so before.” She poked Cinnamon in the fluff of her chest.

“Ok, ok, point taken!” Cinnamon mewled with a laugh, tickled by the poke. She returned to the fabrics. “Could I have this one, please?" she pointed to a rather unremarkable piece, beige in color, that Rarity would not have normally used for regular clothing for a fairly normal reason.

“Are you… quite sure that’s the one you want?” Rarity asked hesitantly.

“Is there something wrong with it?” Cinnamon asked innocently.

“No, nothing wrong - if that’s what you want, I’ll use it! I only ask because that’s muslin; it’s normally used for making test patterns and designs, not for actual finished products. It’s just a very plain and cheap material; it’s actually what I’ve been using for bandages and such so far as well, it’s just that disposable. Like I said, if it’s what you want, I’ll gladly make you something, but I do want to give you the best I can offer after all you’ve done for me.”

“Oh, I see…” Cinnamon said quietly. “To be honest that was kind of why I picked it.”

Rarity was dumbfounded. “Why on earth would you ever do that, though?”

“I live in the forest, Rowrity, anything super nice that you make me would get ruined super fast. Colors would get dirty and muddy, delicate cloth would rip and tear, smooth feeling cloth would quickly become rough and ragged, and I don’t want to see a beautiful outfit you made get ruined like that.”

Rarity grimaced. “I see your point.” She thought for a moment. “Hold on, though, for living in the forest, you seem to know everyone here like family. Do you spend a lot of time in this village?”

Cinnamon laughed. “As much time as I can! I love it here! Can’t stay here forever though, sadly.”

“Why not?”

Cinnamon shrugged. “There’s a housing shortage right now, especially for felynes, since we have larger families. I was staying at the clinic while you were out cold, but now that you’re awake I’ll have to head home.”

“Wait, I’m confused,” Rarity said. “Chief Leonys said I could move into this house because it was vacant. How could this be a vacant house just sitting here if there’s a housing shortage?”

Cinnamon nodded. “This was a hunter house. They keep houses available in case a hunter comes into town, that way they can offer them a place to stay in hopes of keeping them around. A way to sweeten the deal, so to speak.”

“Oh… I see…” Rarity glanced at the rack of weapons lining her wall, then down at her toned muscles, and felt a pang of extreme guilt.

“So, I’ve been waiting for them to build more houses, but so far… nothing.” Cinnamon finished morosely.

“Well, I have some news for you, then,” Rarity said sternly. “I have a home here that was generously provided to me to stay in for as long as I’m here, and I plan to earn my keep. And that means I have the right to get a roomie if I damn well please, and guess what, I want a roomie.” Cinnamon’s mouth began spreading into a smile wider than it ever had before, and Rarity grinned at her. “So what do you think? Wanna be my roomie?”

“HELL YES!” Cinnamon flung herself at Rarity in a flurry of furry hugs, laughing at the wonderful turn of events the day had taken.

“Did you want to change your mind about what material you wanted?” Rarity teased.

“Absolutely!” Cinnamon bounded over to the fabrics with the energy of a kitten and pawed through them enthusiastically, eliciting a laugh from Rarity. She held up a bolt victoriously. “This one!" she announced loudly.

Rarity inspected it before nodding in approval. “That’s satin, it’s much more suited to making clothes for you. Not only is it much more soft and lustrous, but it won’t stick to your fur, so it’s even more ‘purr-fect’, as you might say.” She giggled at the pun.

“I noticed,” Cinnamon said. “I’ve never had clothes that didn’t cling to my fur before. This’ll be a weird feeling.”

“And how about style?” Rarity pressed, getting her sketch pad ready while Cinnamon hopped over next to her, jumped onto the nearby bed and bounced up and down happily. “Celestia help me, you have some energy to work out!”

“Yep!” Cinnamon beamed. “And it’s all your fault! Ya can’t blame me for being so happy, this is seriously the best night ever!”

Rarity smiled warmly at the words.

“So, how about something that’s loose and flowing, to go with the fact that it’s going to be the first set of clothes that’s not going to be sticking to me?” Cinnamon continued.

“I think we can manage that,” Rarity said, jotting down some notes and lines.

“Nothing too fancy, I like to stay a bit more down to earth than most felynes.”

“Of course,” Rarity said, and the corner of her mouth turned up slightly as her memory played back some amusing times. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it’s twenty percent cooler, too.”

Cinnamon stopped bouncing and looked at her. “You will? Awesome! I like the sound of that!”

Rarity broke down into a fit of laughter, leaving a very confused felyne staring back.

“Sorry,” Rarity wiped a tear from her eye as her laughs subsided, “that was very much a thing my friend back home would have said.”

“What’s that friend like?” Cinnamon asked.

“Brash and egotistical, and loyal to a fault.” Rarity smiled. “She describes everything as cool and awesome, herself most of all.”

“Sounds like she’d be fun to mess with.” Cinnamon grinned maliciously.

“Now you sound even more like her,” Rarity laughed again, throwing a pillow at Cinnamon and catching her full in the face.

“Oh, now you’ve gone and done it. The fight is on!” Cinnamon hissed.

For the remainder of the night, laughter and muffled yells could be heard coming from the house as the two exchanged blows of a pillowy kind late into the moonlit hours.

**********

The early hours of the following day saw Cinnamon in the kitchen before Rarity had woken. She bustled about, familiarizing herself with the layout of the house as she prepared a fairly ordinary breakfast of steak and eggs for the two of them. The smell permeated the rooms, rousing Rarity from sleep and setting her stomach grumbling.

“…morning?" she said groggily. “How… food be? There.”

“Um, was that supposed to be a language of some kind?” Cinnamon stared at her. Rarity just stared at the wall for a few moments before shaking her head to clear her thoughts.

“Shut up,” she grumbled, “some people take a minute to wake up completely.”

Cinnamon just laughed as she watched Rarity rub the sleep from her eyes. “Can’t say I’ve seen someone wake up like that before.”

“First time for everything, then.” Rarity said. She brightened considerably, now much more awake. “Anyway, as I tried to say, were you making food? I can smell something cooking…”

Cinnamon nodded. “It’s not much, I went out and bought a few eggs from Faan this morning already, and I’m cooking some of the steaks that you had in your bag. They’re still ok, but they’re not going to last forever. I put the rest in the icebox we have in the kitchen, it’ll help keep them for longer, but they still won’t last too much longer. I’d recommend hunting another monster. You could buy meat, but really, might as well just get it yourself. Up to you, really. Regardless, we’ll need more soon.”

“You’re right,” Rarity agreed. “And I can’t really buy food with money I don’t have yet.” She sat at the table and eyed the stovetop. “Thanks for buying eggs, by the way, you really didn’t need to.”

“It’s ok,” Cinnamon shrugged. “I’m not broke. Not made of money, but not broke. I have enough to at least help get us through for some basic groceries, but not enough for a fully stocked kitchen. Usually we forage for most of our food.”

“Well, I think that today I’ll need to pay a visit to the weapon trainer to see if I can figure out which weapons would suit me best, then head out for a gathering session. Maybe while I’m out I can try to hunt a deer for practice.”

Cinnamon tossed Rarity a fork. “Well, best to go out on a full stomach then, eat up!”

**********

“You know, you have one hell of an appetite for such a lean figure.” Cinnamon poked Rarity in the side as they walked up the center of the main pavilion. Rarity laughed as she brushed the paw away.

“That tickles! I can’t help it if steak tastes good! What, do you want me to just let it go to waste?”

“Of course not!” Cinnamon retorted. “You just need to make sure you- OH SHIT!" her eyes went wide and she grabbed Rarity’s arm, frantically trying to pull her out of the center of the walkway.

Rarity stood unmoved by the smaller figure, looking down in confusion while Cinnamon struggled in vain. “What on earth are you trying-“

“OI!” a hostile voice yelled out across the village, and a large woman wearing a huge suit of armor and a greatsword slung over her back stormed toward the pair.

“Shit.” Cinnamon swore.

“Finally woke up, didja?" she demanded. “Pals did a right number on ya, didn’t they? Lose control over ‘em? Or did they ya piss ‘em off?”

Rarity looked at the woman, then at Cinnamon, then back to the woman in utter bafflement. “I’m sorry, I don’t quite follow… What are you talking about? And who are you?”

“Where are my manners?” the woman said in mock-politeness. She bowed with an exaggerated effect. “Lycadran, Miliesu’s only serious monster hunter, just returned from an extended hunt. And you,” she pointed a finger at Rarity, “are the reason I’m out here puttin’ my life on the line, chasing these god forsaken monsters all over, nearly getting killed by these aberrant monsters, only to have them flee and be unable to track them since they’re faster and more cunning than usual!”

“Wha- My fault?” Rarity gasped, scandalized. “How is it my fault?”

“Don’t give me the innocent act, I was here when they dragged you in! You have the same signature as the monsters do!”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Rarity cried.

“Everything!” Lycadran accused. “You probably control them, or train them or something.”

“That makes absolutely no sense!” Rarity protested. “Why would I ever do something like that?”

“Why would you have your own personal super powerful army?” Lycadran said scornfully. “I don’t know, sounds pretty handy to me. Fuck if I know what you’d do with it, but I’m sure you could think up a thing or two.”

“B-But… That’s not true!” Rarity stammered, “And I’m here right now! Why would I be here if I were raising a monster army?”

“You got injured, didn’t you? Obviously some monsters got fed up with you for something and attacked ya and ya needed help, so ya came crawling to us. Pretty ballsy, if you ask me.”

“I… I just… not training… can’t even…”

“So what species do you favor, witch? Nargacuga? Odogaron? Mizutsune? Barioth?”

“I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT ANY OF THOSE ARE!” Rarity yelled, close to tears.

“LYCADRAN!” a stern voice roared above the others, and all of them cowered back in response while Leonys stormed into sight. “You know I do not tolerate this sort of behavior here! There is no proof that Rarity has done anything wrong, nor do you have any basis to make accusations.” He leveled an eye at her. “We both know that I can’t force you to leave her alone.”

Lycadran smirked at him.

“But, what I can do is impose a fine on you for disturbing the peace and inciting disorder. And I can even make the beneficiary of that fine Rarity, if I so desire.” Lycadran’s smirk quickly morphed into a scowl. “I see we’re on the same page, then. See that you keep your opinions and accusations to yourself from now on. I don’t expect you to be civil toward Rarity, but I expect you to leave her alone. Am I understood?” Lycadran mumbled something under her breath that may have been an agreement, but it may have also been several curses. Leonys didn’t seem to care which it was. “Good enough. Be on your way then.” She turned and trudged off, still muttering under her breath.

Leonys turned to Rarity, who was now a shivering wreck. “Sorry about her. She’s always been a bit on the suspicious side even at the best of times. Can’t say I know what got up her ass about you, but something obviously did.”

Cinnamon pawed at Rarity’s side. “I should have warned you before, I’m sorry. I knew she blamed you, I just forgot about her completely until I saw her just now.”

Rarity shook her head, slowly regaining some of her composure. “It’s not your fault. Aery mentioned some people blamed me, I guess this is who she meant. It just… took me by surprise. I… I think I need to change my plans for today a bit, though.”

Cinnamon blinked. “What for?”

Rarity sighed. “I need to go talk to Cyr, I think. I can catch up with you later, but I need to learn about these monsters. Everyone keeps saying names of monsters and I have no idea what these things are. If I’m going to live here, I need to know what all these massive creatures are. Whether it’s to know them as threats or as prey, I need to know what they are.”

Leonys clapped her on the back. “Well said. I think that’s a smart idea, and it’s best to get it done sooner rather than later. Best of luck to you.”

“Thanks,” Rarity said. “And… Thanks for coming to my rescue. I… really, and I mean really, appreciate that.”

“Heh, just keeping the peace. It’s what I do. Now get going, Cyradel will keep you all day otherwise.”

8. Training the Mind and Body

The doors to the academy opened and Rarity was blasted once again by the overwhelming smell of a dorm room the night before a final exam. Once she grew accustomed to the nauseating odor, she made her way back down the hallways, watching the windows for any creatures and stopping to stare any time she saw something. She found that the creatures gave her a mixture of terror and fascination, and in an odd way many of them struck her as having a strange sort of beauty. More than once she found herself wishing that she had her sketch pad, as the tranquil forms seemed to strike at her sense of inspiration, leaving ideas just out of reach. However, she was on a mission, and she had no time to dawdle.

She reached the door of Cyradel’s room, gave a small chuckle at the signs that still plastered its surface, knocked twice, and entered.

“Cyr? Are you here?” Rarity asked tentatively, peering around the quiet and seemingly empty room. A crash answered her, and Cyradel appeared at her desk from behind a stack of falling books and files. Her eyes were bleary and her hair disheveled, and it was obvious that she had just woken after falling asleep at her desk. Rarity laughed softly as she approached the still waking researcher.

“You know, I have a friend back home who falls asleep working just like you. It’s quite the endearing trait, I must say. Seeing you wake with words imprinted on your cheeks just… has a way of making me smile.” She grinned mischievously.

Cyradel wiped her face with her sleeve and looked at Rarity with a cross expression. “Very funny. Wake me up and make fun of me. Good morning to you, too.” She stuck her tongue out at Rarity and made a rude face, then her expression lighted considerably and she smiled brightly. “Unpleasant awakenings aside, I assume there was something you needed from me this morning?”

Rarity nodded. “There is, if you don’t mind. I was hoping you could help me learn about the monsters that inhabit the area. I know nothing about them, even what they look like, and I’d prefer not to learn while standing in front of them about to be eaten.”

“That’s… understandable.” Cyradel confirmed. “Well, I suppose the easiest way would be to provide you with one of our hunter’s guide books. They’re written as a log of knowledge collected about monsters, and are specifically intended to teach… well, pretty much exactly what you want to know. That information is crucial to hunters, so we keep detailed records of everything we find. Of course, there are basic summary pages, so I’d recommend starting with that; you don’t need to know all the in depth physiology - unless you want to, of course.”

“I’m fine without that, thank you very much,” Rarity answered quickly, taking the tome that Cyradel had retrieved and was now offering to her. “Do you mind if I take a seat and read through it a bit?”

“Knock yourself out, Rares.”

Rarity’s head jerked up at the nickname, and she saw Cyradel grinning at her widely.

“You know, some of my friends back home call me the exact same thing,” she said with a warm smile. “I’m feeling more at home here every minute.” She turned and made her way to the chair, then began to read.

A Hunter’s Guide to the Monsters of Miliesu and Its Surrounding Environments

Cyradel Alloria

Miliesu Academy

CLASSIFICATION OF LARGE MONSTERS

Bird Wyvern

Aknosom: Approx Height - 750cmAvg Length - 998cm

A crane-like wyvern with a gold/red collar around its head, in addition to a head crest. It is covered in white scales, some of which become feathered. It has a hook-like tail and is capable of breathing fire.

Pukei-Pukei: Approx Height- 230cmAvg Length - 1102cm

A wyvern resembling a winged two-legged chameleon with the eyes of a frog and green feathered scales. Uses its sharp talons and long tongue to attack as well as its wings and tail. It can spit poison from its mouth and also spew it from its tail.

Velocidrome: Approx Height- 250cmAvg Length - 738cm

A raptor wyvern, this is an alpha velociprey. It has a large red crest on its head and is much larger than regular velociprey.

Brute Wyvern

Anjanath: Approx Height- 350cmAvg Length - 1646cm

A massive wyvern resembling a tyrannosaur with pink/red scales and black and gray fur on its back. It has dorsal sails that it can flare out, and can breathe fire. Very aggressive, it will chase anything relentlessly once provoked.

Barroth: Approx Height- 290cmAvg Length - 1383cm

A desert wyvern that walks on two legs and has a large flat crown on its head. It is also an insectivore. Usually not aggressive, but is fiercely territorial. They occasionally roll in the dirt and mud to cool off.

Glavenus: Approx Height- 290cmAvg Length - 2461cm

A wyvern similar to a tyrannosaurus with a large sword-like tail and two large ridges running down its back. It is able to sharpen its tail in its mouth and use it as a blade, and its tail will also heat to incredible temperatures as it uses it to attack. It will also store soot generated from its tail in its mouth when it sharpens it and use it to create explosive substances it can spit out.

Fanged Beast

Arzuros: Approx Height- 300cm Avg Length - 558cm

A bear-like monster covered with turquoise fur and a tough hide along its back. It also has extremely large claws and a wide tail. It is omnivorous and often seeks out honey and fish.

Volvidon: Approx Height- 350cmAvg Length - 687cm

A beast covered in large red armored plates. An insectivore, but can be aggressive. It will curl into a ball and roll at hunters, attack using its long, sticky tongue, and can both paralyze prey and emit odorous clouds of gas that turn stomachs.

Fanged Wyvern

Great Jagras: Approx Height- 230cmAvg Length - 1110cm

An alpha Jagras with amazing stomach capacity, it can swallow prey whole and its stomach will distend to accommodate the size of its meal. They are often passive toward hunters unless attacked.

Odogaron: Approx Height- 260cmAvg Length - 1388cm

A four-legged wyvern that is extremely fast, it is covered in red, bony scales. Highly aggressive, it has extremely sharp claws that can cause deep wounds, and they are known for their bleeding danger.

Tobi Kadachi: Approx Height- 200cmAvg Length - 1300cm

A squirrel-like wyvern with a snake-like head, it is covered in gray-blue scales and white fur. It is extremely agile, and has a membrane between its legs that allows it to glide through the air by stretching out its legs like a flying squirrel. It is adept at climbing, and can store static electricity to enhance its elemental strength.

Flying Wyvern

Astalos: Approx Height- 500cmAvg Length - 2176cm

A dragon-like wyvern with large green scales that are more like plating. It has a single horn, has wings that are more insect-like than dragon, and its tail is long and thin with a pincer at the tip. It attacks using electricity, as well as swiping with its wings or physically charging hunters. It is extremely aggressive. -CAUTION- Of note is that its wings, when electrically charged, can flash prismatically. Be cautious not to be distracted by their beauty. An astalos will not stop attacking while you admire it.

Barioth: Approx Height- 350cmAvg Length - 2098cm

A four-legged wyvern resembling a saber-toothed cat with winged front legs. It is covered in white plates and has spikes along its neck, back and tail. Both territorial and aggressive, it will use its tail as a club and can create strong winds and tornados.

Diablos: Approx Height- 320cmAvg Length - 2096cm

A two-legged winged wyvern with large curved horns and a large tail that ends like a heavy club. They are herbivores, but are fiercely territorial and aggressive. They are able to burrow through the ground and use this to their advantage to surprise their targets.

Nargacuga: Approx Height- 290cmAvg Length - 1914cm

A four-legged wyvern resembling a panther with winged front legs. It is covered in black fur and scales, and has a long, flexible, and muscular tail. The end of the tail is covered in spines that lay flat at rest, but can be erected to be used as a spiked club, or flung from the end of the tail as projectiles. These monsters are prone to entering a rage, during which their eyes glow a fierce red.

Rathalos: Approx Height- 290cmAvg Length - 1704cm

A red and black dragon wyvern. It is capable of breathing fire, has poisonous talons, and also has a clubbed tail. Rathalos tend to hunt and attack while airborne, so that must be taken into consideration when hunting them. It is also a very territorial monster. The male counterpart to Rathian.

Rathian: Approx Height- 290cmAvg Length - 1754cm

A green dragon wyvern. It is capable of breathing fire, and has a clubbed and poison-spiked tail. More prone to breathing fire than Rathalos, and usually keeps to the ground while their mates keep to the air. The female counterpart to Rathalos.

Leviathan

Almudron: Approx Height- 450cmAvg Length - 2694cm

A long, serpentine wyvern. It has a gray shell running along the top of its body, lined by ridges, while the rest of its body is covered in scales ranging in color from red to gray to yellow. It has an extremely long tail that is roughly half its body length, which it can use to throw waves of mud at hunters.

Mizutsune: Approx Height- 400cmAvg Length - 1885cm

A long, serpentine wyvern, covered with pearly white scales, but also has purple fur covering its chest and underbelly. It has a long thin snout, and its body and head have yellow and pink fin-like protrusions. It is able to produce bubbles with its scales which can hinder the movement of hunters, and can also fire pressurized jets of water from its mouth. This is not normally an aggressive species, but Mizutsune can fly into a rage during mating season, so care must be taken.

ELDER DRAGONS

Teostra: Approx Height- 350cmAvg Length - 1790cm

A large red dragon with a lion-like head, mane, large fangs, and two curved horns. It has furred wings and a furred tail. In addition to its dangerous claws and fangs, it can breath torrents of fire and can generate auras of flame. Its most devastating attack is known as its supernova, in which it produces explosive powder that surrounds it, then triggers a mass explosion. This monster is extremely aggressive and will attack anything to assert dominance.

Ibushi: Approx Height - 700cmAvg Length - 3068cm

A male of an elder dragon species, this is a blue colored leviathan-like dragon. It has a hard carapace, several horns on its head, and two sets of jaws, an outer set and another set inside its mouth. It has paddle-like hind legs and more regular shaped front legs, and a very long tail that it uses to whip and slam at enemies. It has wind sacs located all over its body that inflate to help it fly, as well as create wind turbulence. The ibushi also possesses immense amounts of dragon element energy, which it can send into the ground and surrounding areas, causing turbulence that can uproot trees, cause massive distortions, and destroy landscapes.

Rarity put the book down slowly, closing its pages in silence. Her eyes were wide, and she gaped at Cyradel in horror.

“These are the things you have around here? And this is normal?”

Cyradel crossed her arms and nodded solemnly. “You see our problem, then. The aberrant monsters are even more formidable, and they were frighteningly deadly to begin with.”

Rarity looked at the numbers next to the monsters.

“Cyr, these numbers say ‘cm.’ What’s a ‘cm’?”

“You don’t know what a… ah shit, I guess you probably wouldn’t, would you? Not from this world and all. That stands for centimeter, it’s a unit of measurement. It’s to give you an idea of how large these things are.”

“Oh, ok. And… how many ‘centimeters’ tall do you think I am?”

Cyradel looked at her in thought. “Oh, I’d probably say… a hundred and fifty? If I’m being generous.”

Rarity stared at her. “One hundred and fifty.”

She looked at the book.

“So this ibushi thing… is over four and a half times as tall as me.”

“Yep. And over twenty times as long as you are tall.”

“And they thought I could actually take on creatures like this? What were they thinking?” Rarity cried, rising suddenly. “And I agreed to help! Cyr, that’s a suicide mission!”

Cyradel held up her hands defensively. “It’s not impossible, Rares. We wouldn’t be sending you out there wearing a sheet and holding a toothpick, you know. Reneris makes amazing armor that can withstand a lot of attacks from monsters, and her weapons can deal more damage than you might think. We also have significantly effective medicines that can treat and heal even severe wounds quickly with a simple drink, making it a much safer task.”

“Where were those medicines when I came here, then?” Rarity argued. “I was out for over a day, wasn’t I? If it’s so simple to heal wounds from these things, why did it take so long for me to heal?”

“Because you had been traveling all day with an untreated, heavily bleeding wound and had almost bled to death,” Cyradel explained patiently. “ Our medicine is very effective, but it can’t immediately replace liters of lost blood and reverse the effects of severe blood loss instantly. Had you used it immediately, your bleeding would have stopped, your wound would have closed, you would have been fine, and you probably would have taken out whatever you were fighting at the time.”

“Velociprey.” Rarity said bitterly.

“Ah. Nasty little buggers.” Cyradel agreed. “That aside, I really believe you would do fine. You would surprise yourself if you tried; really, you would. At the very least, though, now you know what you’d be up against. That counts for something.”

“I suppose so…” Rarity said hesitantly as she turned to leave. “Thanks, Cyr. I guess… I’ll keep that in mind.”

“See that you do. Someday I’m sure you’ll run into one of them out there, and you’re going to need to remember that you can take them. Stand your ground, because if you falter you’re going to get yourself killed.”

**********

The training grounds were huge. The campus, hidden behind buildings, sprawled expansively out from a small entrance near Faan’s shop, and Rarity curiously poked her head through the gate of the compound.

“Uh, hello? Is there anyone around?”

“Hullo!” a loud voice called from above her, startling her and almost making her fall backward in shock. A laugh reverberated through the open fields of the grounds. “Didn’t mean to scare ya! Well… no, that’s not true. I kinda did.”

A large man jumped down from a stack of boxes near the gate and walked over to her. “Name’s Jorahn. I’m the weapons trainer around here, but I assume if you’re here, you already know that. Lookin’ to learn, are ya?”

Rarity straightened up. “Yes, if you’ve got the time, I’d appreciate it greatly. I need to figure out what I’m most suited to, and how to use it.”

Jorahn reached around her back with one arm and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her uncomfortably close. “Of course I’ve got time!" he guffawed loudly. “Nothing gets the old blood pumping like teaching a newbie the ropes! Let’s getcha started! What do ya want to try first?”

“Uh, I hadn’t really thought about it…” Rarity admitted.

“Well, come on in and take a look!” Jorahn led her inside to a weapon rack, sweeping his arm wide to show her the selection. “Take your pick uh…”

“Rarity.”

“Right, thanks. Take your pick, Rarity.”

She inspected the array, finally settling on a long, thin blade.

“A long sword! A great weapon, effective and easy to wield, it can be deadly in the hands of a skilled hunter.”

Rarity swung it awkwardly several times, nearly tipping over as the length threw her off balance.

“It may be easy to wield for you, but I’m afraid it’s a bit too long for my tastes. And I’ll thank you to keep your mind out of the gutter,” she finished with a smirk.

“Hah! You’ve been around Syd too much already!” Jorahn clapped her on the back with a laugh.

Rarity chuckled back. “You’re probably right. Regardless, I don’t think this one’s for me. What’s next?”

“How about this one?" he picked up a familiar looking weapon and offered it to her.

“Is… isn’t that the same kind of weapon that Lycadran uses?”

“Sure is, a great sword.”

Rarity took a step backward and shook her head. “No, thank you,” she said sternly. “I’m sure it’s a wonderful weapon, but I’m not interested in using anything that she uses. The less I have to do with her, the better.”

“Fair enough. Can’t say I blame ya, she can be a right bitch. Alright, no great swords. Guess that rules out insect glaives, hunting horns, and bows, too. Those are all weapons she favors.”

“Then those are all weapons I’m avoiding.” Rarity said adamantly. “What else have you got?”

“Try this.” He picked up a large hammer and held it out.

She scoffed in disbelief as she approached. “You think I can even hold that?”

“You’d be surprised. It’s not as heavy as it looks. I mean, yeah, it’s heavy, but it’s definitely a manageable weight. You’ll see what I mean.”

“If you say so.” Rarity walked over and grabbed the weapon, feeling its heft as it left Jorahn’s hands. As he said, it wasn’t quite as difficult to hold as she expected. She pulled it up, feeling its weight in her grip. “It… feels… right somehow.” She gave it a practice swing while Jorahn looked on with a wide grin.

“Keep going, kid. One swing ain’t enough. Over there we got some barrels. Have at ‘em.”

Rarity’s eyes trained over to the barrels Jorahn was pointing to, and her face brightened. “You know, I think I will,” she said aggressively.

Hauling the hammer up, she moved toward the barrels, imagining a monster bearing down on her. With surprising focus, she swung the hammer from her right, catching the barrel, then used the momentum to continue around, smashing it once again with an upward swipe as she leapt off the ground, finally coming down with a final smash attack, leaving the barrel in shattered pieces on the ground.

“Holy shit!” Jorahn stood behind her, watching as she demolished the barrel. “You’ve never touched one of these before?”

“No, why?”

“Because that was a decent combo move you just pulled on that barrel, kid. For just picking up a weapon, I’d say you need to keep that one in your arsenal. Ok, hammers are a good match for you.” Rarity beamed at that. “Let’s try another. What do you want next?”

Rarity pointed at a pair of blades. “I know that I like these; I already made a pair just like them!”

“Dual blades!” Jorahn nodded in approval. “Good! Well then, we have two now. Next up?”

“How about one of those?” Rarity pointed at a large contraption toward the end of the rack.

“That, my girl, would be a heavy bowgun, one of Sydreol’s favorites. Here, give it a try.” He passed it over to her, and she fumbled the gun under its weight. Hoisting it back up, she attempted to shoulder it, only to lose grip on it once again as it pulled her forward.

“How the hell does Syd hold this thing?” Rarity complained, battling the bowgun as it threw her off balance once again, preventing her from even holding it correctly, let alone using it.

“Lots of upper body strength, not to mention more upper body, period.” Jorahn laughed. “He’s a lot bigger than you are. How about we try a light bowgun instead?”

“Yes, let’s,” Rarity panted, pushing back the heavy bowgun.

“Here ya go, one light bowgun, courtesy o’ Jorahn the trainer.” Jorahn announced, handing over the weapon.

Rarity accepted it, feeling a much better balance than before with the heavier gun. She was able to shoulder this version, and aimed it around the field experimentally.

“Those come with variable clips, depending on the gun you have,” Jorahn explained. “You can have many different kinds of ammo, from ammo that pierce, to some that slice, shrapnel, sticky bombs, cluster bombs, elemental, ammo that causes ailments like paralysis or poison, you name it.”

Rarity’s eyes went wide, then she grinned devilishly. “And what, may I ask, is loaded in this gun right now?”

“Uh, sticky bombs.” Jorahn faltered slightly at her grin. “They’ll obviously, uh, stick to, uh, anything you shoot. Then blow up after a few seconds. The extra rounds are on the gun’s stock, right next to where you would reload it.”

A manic glint could be seen in Rarity’s eyes. “Perfect.”

She turned her attention to the barrels, aimed the bowgun and shot two shells, felt the gun barrel empty, instinctively reloaded, and shot twice more. Seconds went by, and a massive explosion shattered the otherwise quiet arena.

“I didn’t show you how to reload the gun…” Jorahn said slowly.

“I suppose you didn’t,” Rarity admitted. “Oh well, I guess you didn’t need to?”

Jorahn stared at her for several long seconds before breaking out in a hearty laugh. “I guess I don’t, do I? Damn kid, you’re a natural at this! Shit, not even Syd knew how to use things this well when he started! Alright! Next up! How about the sword and shield?”

Rarity balked.

“Um, I honestly would rather not…”

“Is there a reason? I mean, they’re effective and useful. No reason to avoid ‘em, kid.”

“Well,” Rarity explained, “after I had my run-in with the velociprey, they broke my shield with one hit and slashed my arm open… I’m not sure I can look at them the same after that…”

“But… I’m not sure what your first shield was made from, but trust me, these won’t break after one hit.”

“I know, and it’s silly, but… after that, it just makes me think of that. I’m not sure I can fully trust using a shield after I had mine fail instantly…”

“All right. Well, if there’s any doubt, better to not use it at all. You can’t be having second thoughts or distrusting your gear while you have a massive wyvern trying to bite your face off. That will rule out the charge blade, lance and gunlance too, though, as those all use a shield in one form or another. That leaves the switch axe. Here, give it a shot.” He handed her a large axe, which she took without difficulty.

“It feels comfortable to hold, that’s a good start,” she said approvingly. She swung it a bit. “I think I rather like this one as well.”

“Ah, you like it now, but it’s called a switch axe for a reason,” Jorahn smiled. “It’s a more technical weapon than the others.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Just you watch.” Jorahn grinned widely. “Ok, I want you to broaden your stance. You want to brace yourself, the weight of the weapon is going to shift. Hold it pointed away from you, like you’re in a prepared stance before attacking something.” Rarity followed his directions with growing curiosity. “Now, you’ll notice on the handle there are several switches and buttons.” Rarity looked down, noticing for the first time that there were indeed a number of them present, placed just above and below where the regular grip on the handle would rest. She returned her gaze to Jorahn. “Slide your bottom hand down and press the button that your palm rests on. All you should need to do is grip it. That releases the safety catch on the second button. Slide your top hand up slightly until it reaches a button under your palm. Press that by gripping it. Watch your weapon and brace yourself while you do it.”

“Alright, here goes.” Rarity shuffled her hands, feeling the buttons slide comfortably into place, then tightened her hands and felt them click in sequence. The weapon vibrated a moment, the buttons both popped back out and locked, and that’s when she saw and felt it move.

The blades of the axe shifted; the bottom blade shifted down the shaft toward her hands, while the top blade shifted up the shaft and rotated one hundred and eighty degrees as it did, placing it in direct line with the bottom blade. The two large sections connected with a satisfying mechanical thunk, then locked themselves together with a gaseous hiss. The resultant weapon was an impressive thick-bladed sword, and it left Rarity breathless.

“That, to borrow a phrase, was awesome!" she squealed in amazement.

“Ya got that right, kid!” Jorahn laughed. “That’s not all there is to that thing, though.”

“There’s more?” Rarity gasped.

“Yep. Those things have elemental charges on ‘em. You build up the charge by attacking with it in sword mode. When the weapon is fully charged, you can discharge the energy to deal additional damage to the monster. However, using the weapon is a balancing act; you have to build energy in axe mode to keep it in sword mode, and sword mode will slowly drain that energy away until it reverts back to an axe. You can also manually switch it back to an axe by pressing the same buttons you pressed before. Questions?”

“A lot…” Rarity said in confusion. “That’s complicated as hell.”

“Sure is! Which means that spending a lot of time training by beating the shit out of barrels and dummies is important! Want to get to it?”

Rarity pressed the buttons, reverting her weapon to an axe, brandished it menacingly, then grinned wickedly.

“Hell yes, I do.”

**********

Rarity’s chest heaved. Her sides ached. Sweat dripped down her brow, her arms, her legs, even from the tip of her horn. Her hair and her tail were matted and drooped, and she felt like she was about ready to pass out.

“Can I come back tomorrow?" she managed to ask between gasps.

“Of course! Come back every day! You’re the best student I’ve seen yet, kid! Seriously, you’re picking up on stuff faster than I’ve ever seen anyone do before! And I tell ya what, that stuff you were doing with your weird glowy blue thing to make targets come to ya and help propel ya off stuff and all was crazy awesome. Just, if you have any more tricks like that up your sleeve, tell me first. Kinda freaked me out a bit just seeing it happen out of nowhere.”

“Yeah,” Rarity rubbed the back of her neck. “Sorry about that.”

“Hey, I told ya, no prob! It was cool after I calmed down. No harm done! And it’s not like the people around here haven’t heard me yelling and screaming in here before.”

“Alright then, I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“I’ll be here! You’d better be ready for another hard session though, I’m not taking it easy on you just because you worked so hard today.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Rarity gingerly walked out of the gate, wincing as her muscles screamed at her for the work she had put them through.

“Rarity!” a friendly voice called out from nearby, and Rarity saw Faan waving at her frantically, a large smile playing across her face as she called out from her shop. To Rarity’s delight, she noticed that Faan was wearing the outfit that she had given her, and not only did it look great, it looked spectacular.

“Hi Faan! Oh, you look absolutely stunning in that!” Rarity gushed, noticing how pleased the shopkeeper looked as she approached. “That fits you perfectly, if I do say so myself.”

“Thanks,” Faan said with a blush, “I’ll admit this is the prettiest I’ve ever felt. I actually turned heads this morning. I mean, literally.”

“As well you should have.” Rarity confirmed.

Faan blushed harder. “Anyway, I called you over because I had been thinking to myself how I could pay you back for your gift-“

“You don’t pay people back for gifts!” Rarity exclaimed in exasperation.

“Ok, let me rephrase that, then,” Faan said, rolling her eyes. “I want to express my gratitude to you by giving you a gift as well. Is that acceptable?”

“I suppose so,” Rarity mock-grumbled with a smile. “You and your loopholes.”

Faan laughed. “So, since I run a shop and you plan on going out gathering and stuff, I thought a medicine and tool pack would come in handy for you. So, I prepared one for you!" She handed Rarity a large bundle almost overflowing with vials and various items. “There’s just about everything you could need in there to start out, from potions and antidotes to trap kits and whetstones, various bombs and even an assortment of bowgun ammo.”

Rarity’s eye glinted. “Even sticky ammo?”

Faan looked slightly startled. “Uh, yes?”

The grin that had been on Rarity’s face widened ever so slightly. “You definitely didn’t have to go through all this trouble, and didn’t need to give me anything at all, but thank you so much for the gift! This makes me a lot less worried about going out gathering; to be honest, after I read about some of the monsters around here this morning, I was getting a bit frightened to set foot outside ever again.”

“Nah, I think you’d be fine. You’re tougher than you think,” Faan encouraged. “You’ll see.”

“I hope I won’t have to see.” Rarity said. “But today I’ll be going out for the first time, so I guess we’ll see what the forest has in store for me.” She looked down at herself. “But for the moment, I think I need to take a stop at home for a shower. The training center was not kind to me today.”
Faan chuckled. “The training center usually isn’t kind to people any day.”

9. A Case of Mistaken Identity

It was still mid-afternoon when Rarity finished cleaning up and resting enough to be able to move comfortably, and she stood in her home staring at the weapon racks, though her mind was a jumble of thoughts, none of which were about the weapons she was looking at.

“Rowrity, are you almost done deciding? You’ve been staring at them for ten minutes now.”

“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry Cinnamon, I was just… thinking.”

“About…? Not weapons, apparently.”

“No, about how everyone keeps telling me that I should be a hunter, or that I’d be a good one. Why do they all say that? I would think I would know, wouldn’t you?”

“No, no I don’t.” Cinnamon denied.

“What? Why not?” Rarity demanded. “I think I’m a fairly good judge of my own abilities, thank you very much!”

“Usually yes, but think about it Rowrity,” Cinnamon explained, “you said this is a new form for you, right? You’ve never been in a situation where you’ve been adequately armed and protected and had to fight in a human form, right?”

“Right… I mean, the velociprey count, but that wasn’t really great gear, so it’s difficult to know how it could have gone with proper preparation…” Rarity admitted.

“And you’ve also never seen a monster in real life aside from the anjanath and tobi kadachi, and have no idea what it’s like to fight one.”

“Yeah…”

“So I would say it’s safe to say that you have no way to judge what your body is capable of or how it would fare in combat with a monster because you have virtually no experience with either.”

“I guess that’s fair…”

“And,” Cinnamon continued, “the people here have lived with these monsters not only their entire lives, but for generations. They know them. They know what it takes to fight them, they know how to identify people who have the capability to hunt them or not. It’s just a part of their lives, some people seem born to be hunters, and it’s almost as if people can see it on them.”

Sounds almost like a cutie mark to me. So did I get an invisible hunter cutie mark, then?

“I guess… when you put it that way, it makes a bit more sense. I guess I need to take this more seriously than I originally thought.”

Damn.

“Well then, Cinnamon, would you like to accompany me on a venture out to gather some materials?”

“I thought you’d never ask! Did you decide on what to take with you yet?”

“I think I’ll take my light bow gun with me, along with the light armor. I don’t think the heavy armor will be necessary, nor will it be very helpful if I’m just gathering.”

“Just be sure to take appropriate ammo,” Cinnamon reminded. “Not every gun can use all the ammo types, you know.”

“Oh.” Rarity’s ears drooped. “No, I did not know that, actually. That’s kind of important information.”

“Yes. Yes it is.” Cinnamon chided. “Hunter one-oh-one. Know your weapon. You will have specific clips available for your gun, and each clip will only hold so many rounds. I’m surprised you didn’t notice the difference in training.”

“I just figured that was normal.”

“Hm, I suppose without any frame of reference, that wouldn’t really seem obvious… ok, I’ll let it slide.” Cinnamon sighed. “Just, take a look at what clips your gun has, grab the right ammo, the potion and tool kit that Faan gave you, your hunting and utility knives, and a gathering bag, and let’s go!”

Rarity pawed through the clips. “Shit. No sticky.”

“Pardon?” Cinnamon gave her a weird look.

“No clip for sticky ammo.” Rarity pouted. “I like sticky ammo.”

Cinnamon rolled her eyes. “You’d just blow up the deer anyway. Exploded meat isn’t good meat.”

“It’d be tender,” Rarity pointed out.

Cinnamon stared at her for a long few seconds. “I’m leaving now,” she said slowly, not breaking eye contact. “You can join me when you’re feeling a little less… murdery.”

“Oh come on, I was joking,” Rarity said, pulling on her armor and grabbing her things. “Kind of.” She giggled as Cinnamon shot her a glance. “Okay, okay. I’m ready, let’s go.”

They exited town, walking the path through the mountain pass and eventually reaching the forest, then wandered deeper, where foliage and trees began to grow thicker, while the rock precipice was still somewhat closeby on one side.

Rarity removed her sketchbook from her bag, reviewing her drawings in order to remember what it was that she was looking for. “Ok, Faan said she could use slashberries, blastnuts, and parashrooms, so we need to keep an eye out for those.”

“Can do, I know what those look like,” Cinnamon confirmed.

“First, though, I want to know if there’s any machalite ore around here, no sense in passing up easy money first.”

“Easy… what do you mean easy money?” Cinnamon looked at her like she was crazy. “Machalite’s a pain in the ass to find! It’s usually covered in moss and stuff so you can’t even see it!”

“Eh, we’ll see about that.” Rarity pulled out the small shard Reneris had given her. Her horn lit up, and she encompassed the shard in a blue glow, turning it around several ways as though she was inspecting it. After a few moments, she released it from her magic and put it back in her pack. “Ok, I think I’m set. Let’s see now.” Her horn lit up again, and she concentrated for only a few moments before chuckling.

“Come on, we’ll see how big of a pain in the ass it is.” She strode off toward the mountainous rise, with Cinnamon tailing her closely. She wove through trees and picked her way around difficult terrain, stopping every now and then to pick the odd berry or mushroom as they saw them, but kept a steady line to the same spot she had initially identified. Cinnamon looked around as they walked, seeing nothing of note, until she noticed that Rarity had stopped at a small rocky outcrop. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to her; she saw a simple jumble of craggy rocks.

“Did you lose your way or something?" she asked.

“What? No, we’re here.” Rarity reached behind her and retrieved the pickaxe hanging off her back. “It’s just hidden under those rocks.”

Cinnamon stared at her. “You’re full of shit.”

“Fine. Don’t believe me then.” She walked over to the rock cluster, raised the pickaxe, and swung as hard as she could. The cluster broke apart and sent several cracks up the side of the rock face to which it had been attached; the former base of the cluster was now the center of the cracks, and Rarity raised her pickaxe once again. Aiming straight for that center, she hit it with as much force as she could muster. The cracks that had formed widened, lengthened, or split, and she could tell that in some places the rock face was about to fall off. She found one of the weakest looking spots, where the rock was almost detached from the rest of the formation; with a massive swing, she hit it and the shard was completely removed. What was left behind underneath was a vein of machalite ore, sizable enough to mine a good amount from.

Cinnamon turned to Rarity, who now wore a smug expression on her face. “How the hell did you do that?”

She tapped her horn. “I told you. I have a talent at finding ores and gems. Now let’s get to work, finding it is the easy part.”

The two of them toiled away, mining the small ore vein for the better part of an hour until it was depleted, then sat for a short break.

“That wasn’t so bad,” remarked Rarity. “I figured it would be a lot worse, but for some reason it just felt like a light workout.”

“What did I tell you, you’re not quite familiar with what you can and can’t do,” Cinnamon reminded her, taking her turn looking smug.

“Shush, you.” Rarity hit her playfully on the shoulder. “We can go find the next one now.”

“Next? There’s more?”

“Of course there is!” Rarity said, her horn lighting up momentarily, then going out. “I just have to find it.”

Cinnamon rolled her eyes. “You don’t see any?”

“Not right this second, no.” Rarity sounded affronted. “My range for finding it obviously has a limit, but how easy it is to find is affected by its proximity, size, concentration, density, purity, and how much focus I put into finding it. So, if I don’t see any, I just need to concentrate harder until I get something, or we move.”

Cinnamon shook her head in disbelief. “That’s just insane.”

Rarity shrugged. “Rather handy, if you ask me. Now please be a little quieter so I can concentrate on finding the next one.”

She focused her magic again, closing her eyes as her horn lit more intensely, before her eyes opened again and she smiled widely. “Found one, and it’s a doozy. It’s further into the forest, and it’s quite large. Not pure or concentrated at all, mind you, but seems to be a large area at least. It’s worth checking out.”

They set off once again, traversing the forest with minimal difficulty and only a few stops, with Rarity making frequent directional checks until she was able to get an easy focus on the ore node. She judged them to be within a few hundred yards when she stopped cold, with Cinnamon almost running into her backside.

“What gives?” the felyne grumbled in annoyance, swatting Rarity’s tail away from her.

“Something’s… off…” Rarity replied nervously.

“What do you mean off?” Cinnamon asked, alarmed.

“The ore is moving.”

“Ore doesn’t move.” Cinnamon said flatly.

“I’m well aware of that, thank you very much. But this ore is definitely moving.” She took a step back and her expression turned to fear. “And it just turned our way.”

Cinnamon moved close behind Rarity. “I hear something coming!" she whispered hoarsely. “It sounds huge!”

The two of them stood frozen, unsure what was coming and too afraid to move for fear of making a sound, but both staring straight ahead at the source of the now steadily growing noise. Branches and brush on the forest floor snapped and rustled loudly, trees jostled, and in an instant all other sounds were blotted out by an ear splitting shriek as something huge and green came into view.

It was not ore.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?” Screeched Rarity, whipping around to Cinnamon in a panic.

“It’s a pukei pukei!” Cinnamon yelled in horror as the creature started toward them. “Run!”

“Why the hell did a pukei pukei register as machalite ore while I was searching for it?” Rarity demanded furiously from no one in particular.

“Wait, what?” Cinnamon’s head spun around so quickly she almost tripped. “You mean you LED US STRAIGHT TO THAT THING?”

Rarity looked behind her and screamed. “Shut up and run, it’s gaining on us fast! That thing is what was- IS- giving off the ore reading! I don’t know why!”

Suddenly the sound of snapping and rustling and stomping behind them abruptly stopped, and Rarity almost stopped running to look until she noticed the dark shadow that appeared above her. The shadow that was now growing. With a moment of dawning comprehension of what was coming, she flung herself to the side, rolling to the ground in time to see the talons of the pukei pukei slam into the ground beside her and wrenching a mass of earth back out. She gulped as she saw the damage she had narrowly avoided, but barely had time to think as the monster turned to face her, just feet away.

Stand my ground, huh, Cyr?

Rarity shook her head; something almost seemed to have just snapped. The thoughts were coming lightning fast, multiple ones processing simultaneously as she tried to piece them together to determine what was going on collectively in her mind.

I didn’t want to be a hunter. Or did I? What should I be doing first? Should I still be running? I don’t think I want to. Cyr said don’t. How do I make myself a hunter? If I don’t think I am, I won’t be… I just… can’t think of myself as a hunter… I’m not hunter material…

Her mind flashed back to training.

You’re the best student I’ve seen yet, kid!

Her mind flashed back to Syd teaching her that she had a nasty side. She smiled.

Damn pervert. Well, if he can trick me into swearing and finding out I like it, I can trick myself into being a bloodthirsty monster killer. All I need is some extra motivation to hate these things. Aside from them wanting to kill me, of course. Any and all ways to piss me off are good. And guess what? You just ticked the box of a big one.

She got up slowly. The pukei pukei was eyeing her, watching her movements closely as it attempted to dislodge the earth chunks from its talons.

“Rowrity! What are you doing?” Cinnamon yelled.

Rarity slowly reached behind her back, unhooking the bowgun. “Chase me all over the forest, give me a splitting headache with your stupid caw, and then you have the balls to get me knocked into a mud puddle.” She leaned forward and narrowed her eyes. “I’m filthy because of you, asshole.” She then pulled the bowgun out in a swift motion and pulled the trigger, lodging a shell in the creature’s face.

The pukei pukei reared back with a screech while Rarity turned to punch the air, then laughed gleefully and cheered. “I did it! I did it! Woooo!”

“Um, Rowrity?” Cinnamon called nervously.

“Yes?" she responded, turning back around. As she did, she came face to face with a very not-happy-looking pukei pukei with a modest injury on its face.

“These monsters can take a huge beating.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

The pukei pukei screeched again, and Rarity leapt to the side as it swiped at her. “Well, I’m not leaving this job unfinished!" she yelled. “I doubt it’s going to just let us run, anyway.”

Cinnamon’s eyes twinkled as she drew out her own small sword. “Hell yes!" she cried. “About time you figured it out! Let’s do this!”

Rarity rolled onto her knee, firing several more rounds at the monster while it recovered from its missed attack. “Shut it with the I told you so’s and start hacking!” Rarity yelled.

The monster quickly spun, catching Rarity off guard and hitting her hard with its tail; she flew several yards before striking a tree and falling to the ground.

“Rowrity!” Cinnamon called in fear, “you okay?”

“Yeah… ow!” Rarity rose shakily and gripped her side. “Nothing bleeding or broken… yet. This thing is getting on my nerves!”

The pukei pukei had turned to head toward Cinnamon, who was slashing at it; while it was distracted, Rarity ran back toward it, firing more rounds until her clip emptied, installed a fresh clip without stopping, and resumed firing. The monster turned quickly again, only now it sent out a long chameleon-like tongue to strike her in the chest as she ran, knocking her backward painfully.

She lay for a moment before attempting to get up, noticing sharp pains in her torso every time she moved. Multiple pains. She pressed gingerly on her chest, wincing as she did so. “Ribs… broken…” she whispered. She looked up; the pukei pukei was still coming her way. She didn’t have time to sit and lament the pain. Reaching to her bag despite the jabbing agony, she grabbed one of the potion vials Faan had given her, popped the top off, and drank as fast as she could.

It was an odd idea for a unicorn to want to describe something as magical, but that was the only word she could come up with. She felt a tingling warmth spreading throughout her, and the pain she felt ebbed away in seconds. Pressing on her chest, she felt no pain at all, as though nothing had happened. With a smirk, she climbed back to her hooves and leveled her bowgun at the monster. She shot several times before diving out of the way as it barreled past where she had been, leaving a flurry of talon swipes in its wake.

“Rowrity!” Cinnamon yelled. Rarity looked over to see the felyne, muddied but so far unhurt. “What ammo are you using to attack this thing?" she asked.

“Uh…” Rarity looked at her gun.

“YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW?” Cinnamon screamed.

“DON’T JUDGE ME! I’M NEW AT THIS!" she screamed back. “Rank one normal ammo, ok? Fine! What should I be using?”

“Gods, anything but that! Rank three something! Thunder if you have it, they’re weak to that! Spread ammo if it’s close to you! Pierce ammo! I don’t care as long as it’s not rank one normal!”

“Fine! Got it! I’m a dumbass! Thanks for sharing!”

The pukei pukei had now regained its footing after its charge, and had turned back toward Rarity. Oddly, though, it was not advancing, but only looking at her while making odd head movements. Rarity watched it carefully, taking the opportunity to quickly review and switch her ammo.

“Thunder it is.”

She looked back up, the pukei pukei was opening its mouth. Something about that action didn’t seem right… she tried to remember what she had read about them, and her eyes shot open. “Oh fuck.”

She immediately ran from where she was standing and jumped as far clear of the area as she could; a moment later a noxiously purple glob of slime was vomited up onto the spot where she had been standing, doubtless the poison which she had read about.

“Try to shoot the toxin sac under its head!” Cinnamon yelled.

“Right!” Rarity took to her knee and fired electrically charged ammo, striking the pukei pukei in the neck, right where the discolored sac hung.

The monster reeled from the shots, howling in fury.

“Yes! Nice shot! Now it can only spew it from the tail, and they only do that backward in an arc, so as long as you stay out of that area, you should be safe from poison!” Cinnamon cheered.

Rarity stared at the creature, which was now stomping and shrieking in anger.

“Uh, what does it mean when it raises its tail above it like a scorpion?”

Cinnamon looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean? They don’t do that…”

“AND IT’S GLOWING RED. WHY IS IT GLOWING RED?”

Cinnamon’s head snapped forward so fast that Rarity could practically hear the crack it made.

“SHIT! IT’S AN ABERRANT! RARITY, YOU LED US TO A FUCKING ABERRANT!”

The wyvern screeched again, and its tail pulsed violently, spewing out a large cloud of huge purple poison droplets. However, instead of spraying out or falling, these droplets hung in the air in a haze of red. Both Rarity and Cinnamon stared at them for a moment, confused as to what was happening. Confused, at least, until the droplets separated and began heading directly for each of them.

“Run!” Cinnamon yelled.

“Like you need to tell me!” Rarity snapped.

They both scrambled madly, trying to move out of the way of the incoming poison, but regardless of where they turned, it followed and gained quickly. Within a short matter of seconds Rarity felt a burning hot wetness sizzle into her skin, followed by a sickening nausea that seemed to eat at her body from the inside. A pained mewl from nearby told her that she was not alone.

“Faan… gave you antidotes, right?” Cinnamon asked in a pained voice.

Rarity’s head swam, and she could feel her muscles weakening and spasming as the poison seeped through her system. “Yeah, she did…” she said in a wavering voice. She rummaged through her pack, finding two of the bottles. She gave a small smile. With difficulty, she removed a stopper and drank the contents of one.

As with the potion, she was shocked to find how immediate and complete the effects were. She was left feeling no worse for wear, completely refreshed and as though she could start an entire battle all over again. This must be how those hunters do it, I guess. Magic in a bottle, a little energy drink, I guess. She raced over to where Cinnamon lay writhing and pressed the other bottle to the felyne’s lips, rejuvenating her instantaneously.

Their momentary break was already over, though, as the glowing monster was already upon them. They broke apart to either side of the pukei pukei, leaving it between them as it charged.

“Rowrity! Do you have slicing ammo?” Cinnamon called.

Rarity thought back. “Yeah, actually, I do!”

“Awesome! Shoot its tail with that! Until your ammo or its tail is gone, whichever is first! I’ll pull its attention to get its back toward you!”

“Got it!”

Rarity pulled out and swapped the clip, then unloaded several shells on the pukei pukei’s tail as soon as Cinnamon had it turned. The shells, however, just thudded into the tail with a dull thunk, and Rarity stared quizzically for a moment.

“I don’t think I understand how these are supposed to work, Cinnamon…” she called.

Suddenly a blast rang out from the shells, and multiple large blades of shrapnel ripped through the wyvern’s tail from each shell, causing it to momentarily collapse to the ground and making Rarity shriek in alarm.

“No,” laughed Cinnamon, “I don’t think you do.”

A devilish smile played across Rarity’s face. “Sticky ammo just lost its place as my favorite.” She reloaded her clip and fired several more rounds with a manic laugh before the pukei pukei had a chance to recover. The monster flailed its glowing tail, catching Rarity in the legs as one of the shells exploded. One piece of the resulting shrapnel caught her leg; it was a glancing hit, but it was enough to cause a deep gash, and blood spilled quickly.

“SHIT! FUCK!” Rarity gasped in pain, crawling away from the writhing monster and digging in her bag, looking for anything she had that could help staunch the wound. She grabbed a potion, unstoppered it and drank it down, watching as the wound shrank and began to heal… and then stopped healing. It was mostly healed, but there was still a small gash, and that was still bleeding profusely. What was more, the area around it seemed to be bruising at an alarming rate.

“Cinnamon!" she screamed in near hysteria, “the potion isn’t working! Why isn’t it working?”

“They can only do so much!” Cinnamon called back. “You don’t have anything else that can help?”

Rarity’s mind raced, then she dug frantically through the bag. Fishfishfishfishfish. With a triumphant cry she grabbed a small packet labeled “Sushifish-dried”, ripped it open, and ate it as fast as she could. It was dry, it was salty, it tasted horrible, and it immediately stopped her bleeding, bruising, and caused the last of the gash to close. She stood, shouldering her bowgun, and unloaded another clip into the pukei pueki’s tail as it regained its footing. Several large blasts rang out followed by a deafening shriek and a heavy thump; the tail of the beast fell severed to the forest floor and its noxious poison seeped slowly away. The pukei pukei let out a furious yet piteous growl and wheeled away; it glowed an even brighter red than before and began to limp away at an incredible speed.

“Shit! It’s running!” Cinnamon cursed.

“We can’t let it get away!” Rarity shouted. “If we can kill it, it would be the first aberrant successfully hunted, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, but we’re never going to find it!” Cinnamon lamented.

Rarity’s horn lit up brightly. “I found it once, I’ll find it again! Come on!”

They raced through the forest, making twists and turns; more than once they had to scale rock faces that the wyvern had evidently flown up past.

“It’s close by,” Rarity whispered. She pointed to a large cavern in a nearby mountainous rise. “It’s in there, and it’s not moving around.”

“It’s probably sleeping, then.” Cinnamon responded. “Monsters tend to sleep to recover when wounded.”

“Then let’s make sure it doesn’t wake up.” Rarity said grimly.

They crept closer, peering into the cave to see the luminescent form of the pukei pukei in the center of the floor, sleeping quietly. Rarity paused for a moment, halting Cinnamon with an outstretched arm.

“Hold on. I just remembered something Jorahn taught me about these bowguns.” She mouthed. “Wyvernblasts.”

Cinnamon’s expression registered surprise, then she grinned wickedly and nodded.

Rarity pulled out her ammo clips and pawed through them again, then silently cheered as she found what she was looking for. She pointed to the clip: rank three shrapnel. She loaded the clip and snuck up to the sleeping monster; stealthily, she planted the barrel of the bowgun into the floor lightly and fired a secondary trigger. A much larger shell dislodged and stuck in the ground, staying behind and blinking an angry red as she lifted her bowgun away.

One down, two to go.

She moved a short way away and repeated the process, once again right next to the sleeping monster, then again a little further along its body, then snuck back to Cinnamon. She took a moment to inspect her handiwork: a sleeping, glowing pukei pukei surrounded by three blinking, highly explosive shells that she was about to shoot with several blasts of shrapnel. Life was good. Well, hers was. The pukei pukei’s wasn’t. Not for much longer.

She grinned, savoring the moment, then lifted her bowgun.

“Rise and shine!" she yelled, shooting the wyvernblast charges, which exploded immediately. She emptied the clip while the fire from the blasts faded to see the form of the pukei pukei standing, but only just barely. It stumbled toward her, lurching in her direction; she jumped as it did, landing on its neck and clinging to its feathery scales. She pulled herself around while it shook itself violently, trying to rid itself of its new rider, but she held fast, grasping its long skinny neck with her legs as she reached into her belt and retrieved her large hunting knife, then plunged it deep into the beast’s neck at the base of its skull. It shook uncontrollably, and she lifted the knife and drove it in again, and again. Repeatedly, she stabbed the monster in varying places in the neck and head until it finally gave a massive shudder and listed to one side slowly. Rarity loosened her grip and jumped off just as the wyvern toppled, hitting the earth with a heavy thud.

Rarity stood over the body of the pukei pukei, watching as its red glow slowly began to fade. Her breathing was long and labored, but she had a large grin and looked every bit like the triumphant hunter she was.

Cinnamon stood behind her, cheering silently as her friend made her official transition to hunter, whether she had intended to or not. Not only had she succeeded in a hunt, but she had accomplished the previously impossible; she had successfully hunted, and possibly more importantly, tracked, an aberrant. The implications were more than significant. A thought occurred to her.

“Can you still sense it, now that it’s dead?”

“I have no idea, actually,” Rarity said. “Hold on.” Her horn brightened momentarily, then dimmed. She nodded. “Clear as day. This is beyond odd.”

“I’d recommend carving off some materials, both for crafting and for proof.” Cinnamon offered. “We should also make markers on our way back so they can find where the monster is. They’re going to want to study it once they find out about it.”

“Right. Let’s try to find our way back to its tail, too. I could probably get a few materials out of that as well, gross as it may be.” Rarity pulled a disgusted face, but still smirked afterward. She walked over to the creature’s corpse, produced her carving knife and went to work, cutting off sections of hide and wing membranes, moved to the pukei pukei’s head and removed what she could of the toxin sac under its head, then stood.

“I think that’s the best of the useful stuff I can get that’s not damaged,” she announced. “I think I’m going to count today as a successful outing. Now let’s go home, I’m absolutely exhausted.”

**********

Rarity and Cinnamon trudged into town in the late evening, looking worn and beaten. Their hunt had taken more energy out of them than they had realized, and it only became more apparent once the adrenaline surge of the kill wore off. Rarity’s hair and tail drooped low, her hooves were caked with mud, her armor was askew in places, and she let her arms hang limply from overexertion. Cinnamon’s appearance could best be summed up as haggard.

“Oi! You two look a mess! I thought you were just going out to gather shit! What, did a bush jump out and bite you?” Sydreol called from the canteen, putting down his drink and taking his time to wander over. Once he got near enough to get a proper look, his laughter changed to awed fascination. “Holy shit! The fuck happened to you guys? You look like you got put through a meat grinder!”

“Ran into an aberrant.” Cinnamon said flatly.

“Shit…” Sydreol drawled. “You’re lucky you got away with your lives.”

“Killed an aberrant.” Rarity said grimly.

Sydreol stared at her wordlessly, then slowly turned to Cinnamon. Both of them stared back at him with stony, expressionless faces. He smiled nervously. “Ha ha, guys, good one. Almost had me there. That’s one hell of a poker face, by the way, remind me not to play cards with you.”

Rarity reached in her bag, then tossed the toxin sac and a large piece of hide on the ground at Sydreol’s feet.

“It was a pukei pukei.” She said apathetically.

“Holy fuck!” Sydreol blanched. “You’re not shitting me, are you?”

“Apparently I could track it, too. No idea if it would work with others, but I was trying to find ore and it led us to the pukei pukei instead.” Rarity deadpanned.

“This is messed up. We gotta get Leonys and Cyr right away. They both need to know, and now. Do you think you could go get-“

His sentence was cut short as Rarity collapsed on the ground in front of him, lightly breathing as she slept.

“Maybe that can wait for a minute,” he said quietly. “How about we get you home, first?" he put the pukei pukei parts back in her bag and scooped her up, walked her back home, placed her in bed, and went with Cinnamon to inform the others.

10. We Are The Champions

Rarity woke the next morning to extremely sore muscles and a lot of noise outside her door. Pulling herself out of bed, she made her way across the floor, cringing with each step. After a quick shower and change of clothes, she made her way toward her door, but she was not prepared for the sight that awaited her outside. A large crowd had gathered, and Cyradel was directing a large cart hauling the body of the pukei pukei they had slain the night before.

Leonys was talking with several people at the edge of the crowd, and he stopped abruptly and waved her over the moment he saw her.

“There’s our star hunter! Come on over here!" he laughed heartily. “Cinnamon filled us in on the what and where of yesterday, so we were able to find the pukei pukei you guys took down. And bloody hell, you took it down hard.” He whistled. “From the damage done to that thing, it must have put up one hell of a fight. Normal ones wouldn’t have lasted through anywhere close to the beating you gave that one.” He eyed her seriously. “Told you that you’ve got what it takes. Now you know I wasn’t blowing smoke out of my ass.”

Rarity smiled. “I didn’t think you were, but I didn’t quite have that high of an opinion of my abilities. I guess I didn’t quite know what I was capable of just yet.”

“Speaking of capabilities…” Leonys said, “Cinnamon mentioned that you somehow tracked the monster. Any idea how you did that? Or if you could do it again?”

“I really don’t know…” Rarity said. “I was just looking for machalite ore, and for some reason my magic thought that the monster was machalite. I have absolutely no explanation for it, and I don’t know if it would work again without finding another monster and trying it.”

“Well, I guess that, as long as you’re willing, that should be our next goal,” Leonys said. “Would you be up to helping us try to track and hunt more? Everyone will feel much safer with you helping us hunt, and I’m sure that Cyradel is going to need more to research if we’re going to solve what’s going on here. That’s not to mention the hunting rewards, as well, which I need to discuss with you as well.”

“Hunting rewards?” Rarity repeated.

“Of course!” Leonys emphasized. “You didn’t think we’d just let you put your life on the line for us and not compensate you for it, did you? We’re paying you for that monster. Hell of a lot, too, as you took down an aberrant. I’ll have it sent to your house later, so you don’t have to worry about coming to claim it. If I were you, I’d have Reneris work your materials into some new gear, and hit the canteen up for the most expensive meal and drinks you can. You’ve earned it.” He smiled broadly.

“That sounds lovely, thank you,” Rarity smiled genuinely. “And I think I can help out with your research now. I don’t think I’m quite as fragile as I once thought.”

“Great! Thank you, we really appreciate your help with this. When you’ve got the time, go see Cyradel and I’m sure she can tell you what the next best step would be.”

“Cyradel? Why Cyr?” Rarity looked at him quizzically. “I figured you’d be in charge of it.”

Leonys shook his head. “Cyradel is the one researching them, so she’s going to know what she needs from where. You’d be much better off getting your orders straight from her.”

“Makes sense,” Rarity agreed. “Alright, I’ll make sure that I stop by and see her, then.”

“You might want to give her a little time though,” Leonys laughed. “I think she’ll have her hands full for a little while.” He clapped her on the back, then walked off into the crowd, chatting loudly with others as he went. Rarity watched him leave, then turned toward the canteen for some much needed breakfast.

“Rarity!” Zuny greeted enthusiastically. “Welcome! What can I get for you this morning?”

“I have no idea, Zuny,” Rarity admitted. “Give me a moment.” She inspected the menu when a familiar voice called from behind her, “She’ll have a wyvern filet, barbecued short ribs, and a star brandy, and I’ll have the same. On me, of course.”

Zuny wagged a claw at Sydreol. “Syd, you know that Aerylla would yell at you for drinking this early in the morning.”

Rarity chuckled. “Well, she’s not here, and I think that I’d appreciate it this morning; I could use a bit of loosening up after yesterday.”

“Hear, hear!” Sydreol cheered. “Drinking buddies! Huzzah!”

Rarity stared at him seriously. “Drinking in the morning is not a habit I intend to adopt, Syd.” His expression fell. “However…” she continued, “drinking buddies does sound nice. Maybe you, me, Ren, and Cinnamon could have a bit of a celebratory drink tonight? Assuming they’re both free, of course.”

“Hell yes! The booze shall flow freely!”

Rarity laughed. “I don’t quite know about that, but I look forward to it.”

Sydreol smirked at her. “I dunno, something tells me you’ll be shitfaced before long.”

Rarity gasped in indignation. “I’d never! I’ll be keeping you all in check, I’m sure! A lady never overindulges, after all.”

“A lady never swears, punches a guy in the face, and threatens to shove his nuts down his throat, either.”

“Touché.”

They sat in silence for a minute, which Rarity thought must be a record for Syd, before he turned to her.

“Hey, about last night; sorry to have doubted you there. You must have gone through hell fighting that aberrant, I probably shouldn’t have outright dismissed the thought you could have done it.”

“It’s ok,” Rarity affirmed. “I wouldn’t have believed me, either. I’d have been even harder to convince, actually, even with proof right there.”

“So… does this mean you’re going to actually be a hunter with us, then?" he asked hopefully. “We could really use the help, and if you can take that kind of monster down, you’re definitely more than capable.

Rarity considered for a moment. “Well, I am pretty much duty bound to hunt these things at this point, and aside from being nearly dead several times, I came back without a scratch, so I suppose there’s no reason to not help.”

Sydreol pumped his fist in the air. “Yes! Kickass! Rarity the aberrant hunter joins the squad!”

“I suppose so,” she laughed, though her laughter was silenced as she caught sight of the food that Zuny was bringing out. “Sweet Celestia, that’s huge… and smells so good…”

“Damn right. Nice thing about being a hunter is you get to eat here all the time. Pretty much a requirement, actually.”

Rarity paused just before taking a large bite and looked at him questioningly. “What do you mean by that?”

“I guess you wouldn’t really know about the added benefits of Zuny’s food. Her cooking actually gives you an added boost to your physical, mental, or other capabilities. I don’t know how she manages, but it does. It might boost your physical strength, or make you just a little more agile than normal, or maybe just give you a little ol’ boost of flat out luck, but it’s indispensable to eat here before heading out on a hunt. Come to think of it, you might want to talk with Renny about some decorations and armor abilities. You’d be surprised what they can do for you on hunts.”

“Interesting…” Rarity mused, tucking into her meal and noticing a subtle strength filling her as she ate.

“You said you nearly died several times…” Sydreol continued. “You took some damage out there, huh?”

“You could say that,” Rarity said with a wince. “I think the first serious injury I got was when it hit me with its tongue.”

“Really? I know they can hit hard, but usually they use their tongue to just knock you down; they more just leave bruises than much else.”

“It broke my ribs.”

“The fuck? It hit you that hard? What kind of demondrug was that thing taking?”

“I know, I really do owe Faan my life. She gave me a bunch of items before I left; if she hadn’t, I wouldn’t have had anything to heal me when we ran into that monster.”

“Shit…”

“Yeah. I know.” Rarity sighed. “It’s a scary thought. And that wasn’t all. It also poisoned both Cinnamon and me; I thought I was going to dissolve and burn from the inside out. The other was, well, more my stupidity than anything else. I shot it with slicing ammo in the tail, and then it tail swiped me right when it went off and I got hit with some of it.”

Sydreol inhaled sharply and winced at that. “Oh, that is one nasty wound to get! Those things are meant to make gashes that don’t close! How the hell did you get out of that? Potions don’t work! Not even a hi-potion would fix that!”

“Faan had packed sushifish in my item kit,” Rarity said. “I had to dig to find it, but I found some.”

“Shit…” Sydreol smacked himself in the forehead. “I hadn’t even thought of that, and I’m just sitting here. You knew sushifish cured bleeding? And then you were able to think of it in the middle of a high pressure situation like that? Damn, girl. You’re even more of a hunter than I thought. Honestly, once you get more actual experience, you’re going to be an unstoppable force.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, you know,” Rarity teased.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m serious, though. You have the ability, all you need to do is hone the skill and learn the tricks of the trade that might not be quite as obvious.”

“Such as?”

“Hmm. Of course you would put me on the spot like that. Ass.” Sydreol rubbed his chin while Rarity stuck her tongue out at him.

“How about this? Were you aware that each monster species has innate types of weaknesses?”

“Weaknesses like what? Like, their wings are weaker than the rest of them?”

“Not really, though that definitely could be the case,” Sydreol said. “What I’m talking about is in terms of weapons and elements. A sword attacks differently than a hammer does, and those differently than a bow. Some monsters you’re better off attacking with slashing weapons like swords, some with smashing weapons like hammers, some with shooting weapons like bowguns.”

Rarity nodded. “That makes sense, though how would I know what to bring?”

“You would have to know what you’re hunting, for starters. Usually you know ahead of time what you’re looking for. You were unlucky that you randomly wandered into something. Usually when we go on a hunt, we’ve been requested to go deal with something specific that’s been spotted. Even the aberrant monsters usually have at least a hint of what we’re looking for and where. As for what would be most effective, Cyr has a hunter’s guide in her lab. That has a section with physiological data that tells about their weaknesses in greater detail.”

“Oh yeah! I’ve seen that guide! I only read the really brief summaries, though.”

Sydreol shrugged. “That’s fine. Until you know what you’re hunting, there’s no point in reading all the extra stuff.” He paused. “I guess… unless you run into random monsters like you did… huh. Maybe I’ve been really lucky my lazy ass didn’t run into shit like you did.” He shook his head and continued. “Anyway! Like I was saying! Monsters can have elemental weaknesses, too! Some weapons or bowgun ammo even have elemental properties like fire, ice, water, thunder, or even dragon elements. They can also be empowered with status effects like paralysis or poison. Some things are weak to those. Or, they might be strong to them.Like, you don’t want to bring a weapon that has a fire element imbued into it against a monster that lives in a volcano. You probably wouldn’t fare too well. In fact, you’d be a dumbass if you did that. It’d be like trying to drown a fish.”

Rarity giggled. “You speak as though you know from experience.”

“Only three times. But the last time doesn’t count, the fish totally looked like it was drowning, so I count it as a win.”

Rarity burst out laughing. “Ok, so pick the right weapon, and pick the right element. Eat here before. Bring all the items. Anything else?”

“Nah, I’m all tapped out for wisdom. Ask again later. It’s food time,” Sydreol said with a smile. He held up a knife to Rarity and she returned the gesture, crossing knives before digging in to eat.

**********

Making her way from the canteen, Rarity headed toward the forge, spying Reneris hammering away. She approached, garnering the smith’s attention immediately.

“Well, if it ain’t our new little celebrity. Way to go, kid. Wouldn’ta thought you’d have had it in ya, to be honest. Takin’ down an aberrant, and with newbie gear, to boot. I bet nobody else is even considering that part. That shit I gave ya was just that - shit. Could take down basic stuff, that’s about it. It would take someone skilled to actually take down something big with it. You got me pullin for ya, kid, that’s for damn sure. If you can make that good of use of shit weapons, I want to see what you can do with my good stuff. You’ll need it, too, ‘cause pukei pukei are small fry compared to the other monsters out there. Not to scare ya, just… you need to be prepared.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Rarity responded. “Anyway, I wanted to let you know that Syd and I were thinking of getting together tonight for some celebratory drinks; you’re welcome to join us if you want.”

Reneris’ mouth turned up slightly into a smirk. “I’m always up for tossin’ back some booze with that asshat. Count me in.”

“Also, I was just talking with that asshat over breakfast and he mentioned decorations and armor and abilities, and that I should ask you about them. Could you let me know what that’s all about?”

“Sure, though I’m not gonna explain it to ya like your a fuckin’ baby. Long story short, all wyverian armor and weapons empower ya when you equip em. You just need to know what and how to make use of ‘em. Same with decorations; they’re basically gems you can add to your gear that gives you more capabilities. They’re not easy to come by, but if you can, they’re worth your while.”

Rarity thought about what Reneris had said. “If they’re on all Wyverian equipment, are there enchantments on my current gear?”

“Yeah, but trust me, they suck. Won’t help ya for shit.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow.

“Hey! Don’t look at me! I don’t set the fuckin’ abilities on this shit! I just hammer ‘em together! See this?" she pointed at the sign above her. “Says blacksmith! Not magic ability maker! You don’t like the special enchantments on your gear, go dig up some thousand year old graves and yell at the people that made the blueprints, not me. I do my best to make alterations to the existing blueprints, and I do alright, but a lot of ‘em still suck. Tough shit.”

“Fair enough,” Rarity conceded. Her voice adopted a tone as silky as she could muster. “I found no flaws in your work, it performed beautifully for me. Took down an aberrant, remember? And it brought me home safe and sound.”

“Fuck yes, it did.” Reneris said proudly.

Rarity internally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Since we’re talking about gear, do you think you could craft me some new stuff? I brought back materials from the pukei pukei, as well as some machalite ore.”

“Oh, I’ll do that and more,” Reneris confirmed. “Your mats will make great gear I’m sure; that aberrant is sure to have better properties than regular materials. I’ll do you better than the machalite, though. Go ahead and sell that to Faan. I’m makin’ you a piece of gear from my own stuff, pick what you want.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary!” Rarity protested. “I can earn-“

“Shut yer fuckin’ face!” Reneris snapped. “You can fuck shit up like nobody else can, and I want to see my stuff doin’ it. So think it over. It’s not like I’m givin’ ya a whole damn arsenal, ya know. Just pick one weapon. Make it count.”

“Ok.” Rarity nodded resolutely. “I can do that. Thanks, then.”

“Don’t mention it. As in seriously, don’t. I don’t want those other two knowing that I did this, I’d never hear the end of it.”

“My lips are sealed,” Rarity promised. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Reneris glared at her. “Why the fuck did you say some stupid shit like that?”

“O-oh,” Rarity stammered, “force of habit, from a friend back home.”

“Never say that in front of me again.”

“Duly noted.” Rarity nodded nervously. “I’m… gonna go visit Faan now.”

“Yeah. Go do that.” Reneris waved her off. “Fuckin’ weird,” she mumbled under her breath.

**********

“Faan! Are you there?” Rarity called to the seemingly empty shop. A loud crack and a shuddering countertop answered her, followed by Faan appearing from beneath, rubbing her head gingerly. “I’m so sorry!” Rarity apologized, running over. “I didn’t mean to startle you!”

Faan smiled with one eye closed, still rubbing her aching head. “It’s no problem, I’ve always been jumpy. I’m used to it.” Her entire demeanor shifted instantaneously. “Enough about that, though, I heard the news! You took out an aberrant! I told you! How was it? Was it scary? Was it super easy for you? I bet it was, wasn’t it? You probably were like, sneezing on it and it died, right?”

“Actually, about that…” Rarity began, “that’s why I’m here right now. I’m here to say thanks. Because without your gift, I would have died. Several times, actually.” Rarity rubbed her elbow uncomfortably. “Potions, antidotes, sushifish, I needed them all. Usually I don’t accept gifts like that; at home I’m known more for giving than receiving, so it was a bit… odd feeling for me. But, if you hadn’t made me take it…” Her eyes were starting to tear up a bit. “Just… thanks. For thinking of my safety.”

Faan looked at her thoughtfully. “You know what you need right now more?”

Rarity blinked blearily several times. “What?”

“Hugs. C’mon. You know you need ‘em.”

Rarity sniffed loudly and smiled, gratefully accepting a hug from Faan. “Dammit, you guys are all too good to me.”

“Just be glad Reneris isn’t around to see or she’d be flipping out. And we’re not being too good to you, we’re just looking out for you. And considering how you’ve just killed a dangerous monster for us, I’d say it’s mutually beneficial. So, don’t think of it as us giving you special treatment if that makes you feel uncomfortable.”

“Fair enough.” Rarity conceded. “I suppose I should ask while I’m here, do you have anything that can help with sore muscles? I’m a bit… worn from yesterday. Actually, I should probably take a closer look at everything you’ve got, now that I think of it. Are there other items I might need out there?”

Faan put on her best saleswoman face. “I’m glad you asked!" she chuckled. “Actually, there’s quite a bit of stuff you could find useful. For starters, dash juice should significantly help your muscles feel better; it’s great for restoring energy when you’re feeling tired, too - and I don’t mean sleepy tired, I mean exhausted-from-running-your-ass-off-from-a-monster tired. There are nulberries that cure elemental blights, cleansers that remove foam, deodorant to remove stench…”

“Beg your pardon?” Rarity gasped, daring a sniff at herself. “I do shower regularly, you know.”

Faan waved her off. “No! I don’t mean like that, sorry! You don’t smell bad! There are monsters out there that emit clouds of gas that are so foul they are virtually disabling. If you get the odor of the fumes on you, you literally can’t stomach potions until it’s gone. We call that stench. Trust me, you don’t want to be stuck with that. There are demondrugs and armorskins, which boost your natural strength and defenses, respectively. If you’re so inclined, I even sell books that teach you how to create these items from raw, gatherable ingredients to help you while you’re out in the field.”

Rarity looked shocked. “Wouldn’t that hurt your sales, though?”

Faan shrugged. “Not really. It’s still a lot more convenient to buy them pre-made, I also sell some of the components, and besides, people can only carry so much with them. Once you’re out there, when you’re out, you’re out. I’d rather you forage some materials and make your own and survive. I like you guys too much to put money first. If that’s too mushy for you, though, and you’d rather I give you a merchant’s answer, dead hunters spend less than live ones.”

“Uh,” Rarity chewed her lip nervously. “That’s… a good point, and well made.”

“I know, right?” Faan said cheerily.

“I guess I’m going to need to come back in a while and do some proper shopping. I brought back some materials I can sell you, and Leonys said he was going to send a reward over for the pukei pukei, so I should have some money soon. Oh!” Rarity suddenly gave a start. “I just realized that I have no idea what anything is even worth around here! Can you tell me how much a standard potion costs, just for reference? I’d hate to come with enough money to buy only two things or something.”

Faan giggled. “Sure, but I doubt that’d be a problem. I don’t think you realize just how much Leonys will be paying you for hunting that monster.” She grinned. “Anyway, regular potions are sixty zenny. For more reference, Zuny generally charges around two hundred zenny for meals at the canteen, and drinks usually run thirty or forty. And if you wanted some dash juice for your sore muscles, that’d set you back fifty zenny.”

“Got it. I’ll go see if Leonys has sent anything over then; if I want to shop, I’m going to need the money, and I’m going to need some of that dash juice if I want to have any chance of keeping my training session with Jorahn today.”

Faan stared at her in disbelief. “You still want to go to the training grounds after yesterday? I heard you literally collapsed last night!”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Rarity admitted. “But what can I say, it’s… well, it’s fun.”

“Attacking stuff… is fun.” Faan repeated, deadpan. “Yep. You’re a hunter, through and through.”

Rarity stood motionless in thought for a long moment, then smiled. “You know, I guess I am.”

**********

A large envelope was waiting on Rarity’s counter when she arrived home; Cinnamon was already inside, sitting on her bed and holding an envelope of her own, with a wide grin stretched across her muzzle. She spared a glance toward Rarity, then motioned toward the counter. “You’ll want to open that. Now.”

Rarity approached it curiously and opened the missive. A letter fell out, along with a large number of bundled bills.

“That would be your payment.” Cinnamon said, pointing out the obvious. “And before you notice and comment, yes, it’s more than mine, and yes, I’m fine with that. Felynes are known as support for hunters; you did the most work, you got the most reward. Don’t worry, I still got plenty.”

Rarity opened her mouth to respond, thought for a moment, then closed her mouth and smiled, nodding. “I think I can live with that.”

“Good. Now read what they sent you and count your money. I want to know how much they paid you.”

“Right.” Rarity unfolded the letter, reading over the contents.

Rarity,

On behalf of the citizens of Miliesu Village, I would like to thank you for your service in slaying an aberrant pukei pukei and agreeing to assist in further hunts to both protect the village and progress research on the aberrant phenomenon. While you continue to assist us in these endeavors, we will extend the terms on your home lease - you may continue to stay rent free until such time as our research needs into the aberrant problems have been satisfied and your assistance is no longer considered a requirement.

Enclosed you will find your payment for your hunting of the aberrant pukei pukei. A summary of payment is as follows:

Standard fee for pukei pukei: 15000z

Aberrant variant bonus: 10000z

Contribution to research: 10000z

Total compensation: 35000z

Rarity looked up from the letter. “I can’t believe they’re letting me stay here for free even longer!”

Cinnamon was sitting agape in shock. “Thirty five thousand zenny? Holy shit! Rowrity, that’s more than twice as much as normal! I guess having your horn lead us to that thing paid off after all; minus the whole almost dying part, you know. That sucked. We should pass on that next time.”

“Agreed,” Rarity laughed. “I’d prefer not to almost die next time, too. Speaking of which, I have a shopping spree to go on. After that, I think I’m going to spend a while in the training area if I can. Also, Syd, Reneris and I are going drinking tonight, so you had better be showing up, too.”

“Oh, hell yeah! I’m all for that! Canteen, here we come!”

“I don’t think Zuny will be able to handle the three of you together,” Rarity laughed. “I’d better be ready to be the peacekeeper tonight.” Cinnamon made a rude gesture at her and snickered, but Rarity just waved it off, laughing. She grabbed her bag of materials and several stacks of zenny, heading out the door. “See you tonight at the canteen!" she called as she turned with a smile.

Her smile vanished quickly.

Lycadran was walking her way, and it didn’t appear to be coincidental.

Shit.

“Well hello, my little monster whisperer,” she greeted with venom in her voice. “I see you went and found one of your friends, killed it, and became the hero of the town for it.”

Rarity stared at her for a moment, her cheeks burning with fury. “I risked my life to kill that… thing… and you have the gall to accuse me of faking it?”

“Please, I’ve been a hunter for my entire life, and I haven’t been able to even track one of those things yet, let alone kill one, and then you traipse in here, not knowing your ass from a hole in the ground, and you just so happen to find one, track it down, and kill it. I’m not stupid, you know.”

“I beg to differ.” Rarity said hotly. “I have something you don’t have.” She pointed to her horn. “See this? It’s called a horn. Because I’m a unicorn. U-N-I-C-O-R-N. And this horn lets me do magic. And my magic can find ores and gems and apparently for some weird reason aberrant monsters. I don’t know why, I didn’t ask for it, and it almost got me killed yesterday. But what I do know is that your worthless ass wasn’t there to help, so don’t give me shit about it.”

“Worthless- listen here you stupid bitch-“

“You know…” Rarity mused, “you’re getting rather loud, and it’s starting to attract some attention.” She glanced around at several people who had stopped nearby to curiously see what the commotion was. “I’d hate for Leonys to think that you were… I don’t know… DISTURBING THE PEACE.” She finished loudly.

Lycadran’s expression soured immensely as she looked around; even more people had stopped by now, and soon it would look like a crowd had gathered around them. Lycadran spat on the ground at Rarity’s hooves.

“I’m keeping my eyes on you, you fucking bitch.” With that she stormed off, breaking through the lines of people before Leonys could show up.

Rarity sighed. “I really owe him for making that rule.” She shook her head as she watched Lycadran’s form vanish around a corner. “Conspiracy theory, much? Sheesh.”

**********

The day passed quickly; Rarity spent a good deal of time, not to mention zenny, at Faan’s shop, and she had left with a large assortment of healing items and survival tools, as well as the book that Faan had mentioned. Whatever was going to happen out there, Rarity was going to be prepared. She was thankful for her enchanted bag and its increased capacity, that was for sure.

After shopping, she tried out a dash juice, and she was glad that she did; her aches vanished, and she felt more energetic than she had in weeks. The remainder of her afternoon and evening had been spent with Jorahn in the training grounds, honing her skills and venting the building frustrations from her encounters with Lycadran. A trip home for a little rest and a shower brought her to nightfall, and she headed out the door to the canteen for what she assumed would be a couple celebratory drinks with her new friends. She smirked. It was going to be rough work keeping them in check all night, she was sure.

11. I'll Drink to That

“Zoooooooony! I… I’ma have another Frostpeak Fizz. With extra fizzzzzzz.” Rarity trailed off dramatically on the ‘z’, arching her arm through the air as she did so. Zuny buried her face in her paw before passing over the drink.

“I wish you could see how you’re acting in the morning.”

“Me too,” Rarity agreed. “I bet it would be hilarious.” She grabbed the drink with her magic, shakily bringing it to her lips and drinking without the use of her hands.

“Damn, I can’t get used to seeing you do that.” Reneris tilted back her mug and took a large swig. “Glowing shit floating around just weirds me out.”

Rarity pointed her hand at Reneris drunkenly. “You’d be really uncomfy if you visited where I’m from, then,” she slurred. “No hands there, just hooves, so unicorns use magic for eeeeverrything. Shit floating around everywhere.” She paused. “Well, not literal shit. That’d be gross.”

“So what was it like where you’re from? Floating shit aside?” Sydreol pressed, leaning back in his seat. He sipped his drink slowly, watching Rarity with amusement.

Rarity drained the rest of her glass in one gulp, setting it down loudly. “Zoooooooony!" she called, unaware that the felyne was standing right next to her, “Howzabout… a glacial vodka?” Zuny gave her a side eye and cautiously handed over the mixed drink, which Rarity picked up with her magic and took a large sip of before turning back to Sydreol.

“Ish quiet an’ colorful. Lotsh of ponies there, earth ponies, they’re the ones that don’t have horns or wingsh…”

“Wings?” Interrupted Cinnamon. “There are ponies with wings?”

“Ahm getting to that!” Rarity poked Cinnamon in the chest with her glass, spilling some of it. “There’sh ush unicornsh, an’ then there’sh the pegashushushesh. They got the wingsh. They do shtuff with weather an’ move cloudsh and shtuff.”

“They… make weather?” Sydreol looked confused, sitting forward in his chair. “How the hell does that work?”

“How the fuck should I know?” Rarity slurred. “I’m not a pegashushush. They just do. Their cutie marksh ushually give ‘em a good idea what they’re besht at.”

Reneris almost snorted her ale, coughing as she set her mug down. “The fuck is a cutie mark?" she demanded. "That sounds like the most pathetic thing I’ve ever heard of!”

“Hey!” Rarity glared at her. “Those are part of our identitiesh! Don’tchu be mockin’ em!”

Reneris scoffed. “What, you’ve got one, too? What are they, anyway? Some happy little trinket you carry with you?”

“Ish not a thing, dumbash.” Rarity stood up, wobbling much more than slightly. “Ish a mark that appears by itshelf when we dishcover what we’re meant to do with our livesh.” She pulled down the side of her pants, exposing the mark on her thigh, and probably a little more than she intended, causing all present to freeze in place. “Shee? Minesh three diamondsh because I can find jewelsh and I’m shuper good at making thingsh with them. It meant my deshtiny wash being a fashion sheziner.”

Cinnamon tilted her head. “So how is it that you’re such a great hunter? Did you change talents when you came here or something?”

Rarity paused.

“Whashu mean?”

“Well, since coming here, you haven’t been doing fashion stuff, you’ve been stomping monsters and learning weapon skills like crazy. Jorahn says he’d swear you’ve been using the switch axe for years with how well you do.”

Sydreol leaned forward. “She’s right. If I had to pin a destiny on you from what I’ve seen, it sure as hell wouldn’t be fashion. Nice ass, by the way.”

Rarity ignored the comment, staring down at her thigh.

“Fuck.” Her eyes teared up. “Did my talent acshly change? Ish not shupposhed to change. My life… my meaning… my calling… ish it different now? What if I go back home? Can I go back home? Will I need to find shtuff to kill? Am I going to have the urge to hunt shtuff forever?" she buried her head in her hands. “Zuny…” she mumbled, “can I get the strongest drink you have? Whatever it is, I don’t care.”

“Are you sure?” Zuny hesitated. “You’ve had a lot already…”

“Right now I don’t care if they carry me out of here unconscious,” she lamented.

“I’m not letting you get that far.” Zuny scolded.

“I’m not that far gone yet, Zuny,” Rarity said. “Keep ‘em comin’.”

Zuny sighed and handed over a tall glass, which Rarity took and greedily gulped, shivering as the alcohol assaulted her senses. “Thanksh. I needed that.”

“So those things just show up on their own, then?” Reneris interjected.

Rarity nodded. “I def… defnit… for sure didn’t put it there.”

“That’s some crazy ass shit.” Reneris waved Zuny over. “Zuny! ‘Nother dragon ale!”

Zuny slid the drink across the bar toward Reneris and Sydreol reached out and grabbed it, quickly guzzling half the mug, then laughing like a madman while Reneris fumed.

“You fucking ass! You can pay for my next drink for that one!”

“Nah,” Rarity waved them off. “Tonight’sh on me, guysh.”

They all stared at her for a moment, then Sydreol spoke up. “Nice of ya, but that’s the booze talking. Not going to let you make decisions like that drunk.”

“Nuh uh. Not making that decision drunk, I planned that earlier. Tell ‘em, Zuny.”

Zuny looked up from washing some glasses. “She’s telling the truth. She told me before you all started that she was paying for everything. Even paid way too much up front and told me to just give her change at the end.” She filled another mug with ale and handed it straight to Reneris this time.

“Well, thanks a lot, then. That’s incredibly generous of you.” Sydreol commented sincerely. He considered Rarity for a moment. “So… you prefer switch axes?”

“I guesso? I mean yeah, I really do likem.” Rarity confirmed. “I’m not sure why, just… you get an axshe, and a shord, and get to asplode shtuff when you dishcharge the shord.”

“Crazy,” he muttered. “I could never get the hang of those things.”

“Wha?” Rarity gaped in puzzlement. “You dunno how?”

“Nope. I usually use heavy bowguns, long swords, great swords, and hammers. For some reason, switch axes always gave me problems. I’m not the only one, Lycadran hates them. She can’t use ‘em for shit.”

Rarity’s face scrunched in distaste. “She’sh a bish.”

Reneris raised her mug. “I’ll drink to that!”

Cinnamon cheered. “To Lycadran being a bitch!”

Sydreol laughed, raising his own stolen mug of ale. “May she have a dung bomb misfire in her pack!”

Rarity’s glass joined theirs, “An she‘sh a shtupid bish, too!" she added, forgetting that’s what they were toasting in the first place.

They returned to their seats, grinning into their drinks, though Sydreol soon adopted a more thoughtful expression. “Rarity.”

She was busy trying to use her magic to drunkenly stack cups on the table with Cinnamon, both of them giggling like children when the cups inevitably fell over.

“Rarity!”

“Hmm?" she looked over slowly, blinking several times in an effort to focus.

“Holy shit, you’re wasted. I’m not sure why I’m bothering to bring this up since you probably won’t remember it, but in case you do, I might as well. About Lycadran.”

“You mean bishface.” Rarity corrected.

“No, I mean Lycadran,” Sydreol said. Rarity pouted and stuck her tongue out at him. “Look, I know you hate her, and she hates you. And yes, she’s a bitch. But she’s also one of our hunters, and she works to keep us all safe, too. And, like it or not, chances are you’ll need to work with her at some point. I guess what I’m saying is that you’re not going to stop her from being a bitch, you’re not even going to necessarily get along, but you are going to have to find a way to at least coexist without ripping each others’ throats out. Keep that in mind.”

Rarity gave Sydreol a dirty look before going cross-eyed after several seconds. She blinked, then turned to Reneris. “Renny! Syd’sh making my boosh tashte bad with hish shitty convershation.”

“Yer glass has been empty for the last five minutes, kid,” Reneris replied in amusement.

“Oh.” Rarity stared into her empty glass for close to a full minute silently. “Zooooony…” she began.

“No.” Zuny said firmly.

“Shit,” Rarity whined. “Celestia dammit, I’m a grown mare, I can handle it.”

“You keep saying ‘Celestia’ all the time,” Cinnamon pointed out. “Is that the name of a god or something?”

“Nah,” Rarity shook her head around floppily, making her mane go askew. “She’sh one of our prinshesheshesh. She movesh the shun. Our other main one movesh the moon.”

There was a poignant silence that followed that statement, then Sydreol put a palm to his face. “I can’t honestly tell if she’s serious or if she’s so drunk that she’s talking out of her ass and making up random shit. I doubt we’re going to learn any new, interesting, reliable information about our new friend here any more tonight, other than her alcohol tolerance, and I think that’s about at its limit.” He stood, wobbling slightly himself, but still well within his senses. “C’mon Rares. Let’s get you home.”

“Hey! Cyr called me the shame thing! That’sh.. that’sh my nickname back home, too. Hehe, ‘sfunny how evrybody callsh me that.” She stood with extreme difficulty, then pitched forward into Sydreol, nearly knocking him over. “‘Mshorry…” she mumbled into his chest, her muzzle pressed completely into him.

“Don’t worry about it.” He helped her up, bending low to try putting her arm over his neck.

“Ok, shit, that ain’t gonna work. You’re way too short for me to do that to ya. Gonna throw out my back walking you home like that.” He looked her over, then sighed. “Alright, just bear with me on this. I’m gonna just have to carry you, I think.”

Rarity looked at him incredulously. “You can’t be sherioush.”

He stared down at her in his arms. “I’m going to let you go. If you can stand by yourself and walk two steps, I’ll say you’re ok to walk next to me. If you can’t even walk two steps, I’m just carrying you and saving myself the trouble.”

Rarity narrowed her eyes. “Fine. I’m not ash think ash you drunk I am. I can walk jusht fine.”

“Ok. Prove me wrong.” Sydreol let her go, and she promptly collapsed on the ground. Cinnamon and Reneris erupted in a chorus of laughter, and Sydreol just stood there with his arms folded. “I’m waiting.”

Rarity floundered about, attempting to find some semblance of balance, until she finally was able to decide where gravity was pulling her hooves and that the surface under her was indeed the ground, and she managed to shakily place her hooves under her and stand. She looked smugly at Sydreol. “Told you sho, ashhole.” She confidently picked one hoof up, placed it in front of her, and fell forward spectacularly, meeting the floor in a cataclysmic crash that she would definitely be feeling in the morning.

“Medic…” came the pitiful voice from the floor.

“Done fooling around, now?” Sydreol asked impatiently.

“Yesh…” she groaned.

“Good. Now just hold still.” He scooped her up, cradling under her rear on one arm and her back on the other, while she held onto him for added stability. “Now for the most awkward walk ever. Just try not to move too much, ok?" he looked down at Rarity, only to find that she had completely passed out in his arms and was now sleeping peacefully. “Well, I guess that makes it much less awkward. Alright guys, I’ll be back later after I drop her off, don’t drive her tab too much higher while I’m away. I want to at least see it if you’re going to do it.”

Reneris and Cinnamon laughed and toasted him as he disappeared into the night, carrying Rarity with him.

**********

“Ugh, Cyr. Seriously, the coffee and paper smell is seriously not helping this morning,” Rarity grumbled. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead miserably as she sat in Cyradel’s laboratory, waiting to find out why the scientist had called her so soon that morning.

“Hm. I would’ve thought some coffee would be welcome in the morning,” Cyradel mused.

“Any morning but this one,” Rarity groused. “Tell me, Cyr, ever had a hangover before?”

“Um, yes?”

“No, you haven’t.”

“Oh. That bad of one, huh?”

“I will never do that again,” Rarity swore.

Cyradel laughed. “Until next time. You had fun, I’m sure.”

Rarity’s ears folded back and she winced. “Don’t laugh. It hurts. Now, why did you want me here?”

“Oh, right. Yes, I suppose I should get to the point. I called you out early in case you wanted to get started today, assuming you were willing to help. I inspected the pukei pukei you hunted, and, though it was remarkable, I wasn’t able to discern any specific characteristics setting it apart from a regular specimen. So, I was hoping we could send you out on a series of hunts in varying environments to gather aberrant specimens that we’ve received word of in order to see if we can find some link between them that will shed some light on what’s causing the issue. Is that something you think you could do?”

“That… that’s a tall order…” Rarity admitted.

“I know it is, and I hate to ask it of you, but there is literally nobody else we can ask it of. You obviously don’t have to, but if you don’t, we won’t be making any progress until some other solution presents itself.”

Rarity considered the proposition for a time while Cyradel watched her with bated breath. After an agonizing wait, she finally nodded. “I’ll do it. Who knows how long it may take for another solution to come along? It could be years, and Celestia only knows what damage these things could do in the meantime.”

Cyradel squealed in joy and jumped forward, giving Rarity a large hug, much to Rarity’s chagrin.

“Ugh, Cyr, stop right now unless you want me to puke on you! Get off me!" she pushed the overenthusiastic scholar away quickly and clutched her stomach uncomfortably for a moment, before settling down considerably. “Ugh. Close. Too close.”

“Sorry about that. And the noise, that probably hurt, too.”

“Yes. Yes it did.” Rarity said, nonplussed. “So, you said you’ve already had reports on the monsters you want me to look into?”

“Mhm!” Cyradel skipped over to her desk and retrieved a set of papers to review. “There’s been a sighting of a barioth in the mountainous areas, a diablos in the desert, an odogaron in the caverns, and a tobi kadachi in the forest.”

“Wow, that’s… um… quite the list,” Rarity said nervously. “And you want me to hunt all of them?”

“Ideally, yes.” Cyradel confirmed. “One other thing I’d like to request: I’d like you to take Lycadran on a hunt with you.”

Rarity scowled. “You really are trying to make me throw up, aren’t you?”

“No, it’s because we need all our hunters in top form and working together, and as long as she suspects you of being evil, she’s going to be pretty ineffective as a team player. And the only way for her to stop suspecting you is to have her come with you and see you’re not up to anything.”

“I suppose you’re right about that.” Rarity sighed. “Ok, but don’t expect her to go along willingly, either.”

“I don’t; Leonys is having a similar talk with her already.”

“Oh joy.” Rarity took the papers that Cyradel was offering her. “Can I borrow your hunter’s guide so I can read up on them before I go?”

“Sure thing. A little heavy reading for the road.”

**********

“Alright, Reneris, would you be able to make a hammer for me out of the pukei pukei materials I brought back?” Rarity requested.

“Sure could, kinda surprised though. After last night I figured you’d want a switch axe.”

“Last night? A switch axe? Why would I want…?” Rarity’s expression registered pure confusion.

“You don’t remember, do you? You were that plastered?”

Rarity held her head as she tried desperately to remember - what had they been talking about that involved a switch axe? Her eyes clenched shut in concentration, then opened slowly. “I remember talking about hunting being my new talent, and switch axes being my favorite. I also remember being really upset.”

“Bingo. You were blubberin’ on about destiny and shit, but if you ask me, just do what you enjoy and what you’re good at, no matter what your ass looks like. Now, did ya still want a hammer?”

Rarity steeled herself, took a deep breath, then got back to her task at hand. “Yes, please. I think I’m going to tackle the diablos first, so I think a hammer would be the best way to go.”

Reneris nodded. “They’ve got some thick skin and hard horns. Plenty for you to pulverize.”

“Is there any way you can incorporate any ice elements into it?” Rarity asked.

Reneris gave her an appraising eye. “You really did your homework, didn’t you?”

“Well, I’d prefer to not die, if it’s all the same to you.”

“Yeah, I’d prefer that, too. I need to make sure I keep you around, you’re more entertaining than Syd when you’re drunk. Plus, he never pays my tab. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Think nothing of it, I wanted to go out and have a good time without worrying about watching our pocketbooks, and Leonys was more than generous with paying me, so I just passed it along.”

“Mhm. Alright then, that sounds… stupid enough to me, but I ain’t complaining.”

“Back to topic, I was going to ask if you could make any armor or decorations that could enhance abilities that would be beneficial when wielding hammers. Are there any that come to mind?”

“For fighting a diablos?” Reneris rubbed her chin. “I could make you some stuff that makes you more likely to stun it if you land blows to its head.”

“That sounds amazing, could you do that?” Rarity said in amazement.

“I ain’t fuckin’ finished yet! Shit!” Reneris shook her head. “Just thinkin’ out loud! There’s also just all around strength enhancing, or some that can cause your attacks to cause the monsters to tire faster. Others can increase the likelihood of breaking parts like horns or fangs. Don’t get yer hopes set too high, though. You can’t get everything at once.”

“Aww,” Rarity whined. “Still, it’s incredible that you can do any of that.”

“Yeah, I’m amazing and all that shit,” Reneris said impatiently. “What do ya want me to focus on? I can probably get two sets squeezed into what I make for ya.”

“I think stunning things and improving strength would be the most beneficial, if you could prioritize those, please,” Rarity requested.

“Got it. Give me an hour or so, I’ll have ‘em done.”

“An hour?” Rarity gasped in shock. “You can make them that fast?”

“When I don’t have unicorns hanging over my shoulder asking me stupid questions, yes,” Reneris said grumpily.

“Gotcha. Hint taken,” Rarity confirmed.

“Yep. Go get yer shit together, grab a bite to eat, I’ll be done by the time you’re ready.”

“All right, thanks. I’ll need to find Lycadran, anyway. I need to team up with her for this hunt, apparently.” A sour expression flashed over her. “At least this will give me the chance to get her off my back.”

“Hey, there’s some positive thinking. Good for you. Now let me get to work. The longer you stand here yapping the longer it takes me to make your stuff.”

“Right. Leaving now.”

**********

A large assortment of items lay spread throughout Rarity’s home, and she reviewed them carefully. This isn’t a camping trip or a short excursion you’re packing for. You’re planning for a life or death encounter. There are no second chances. Make sure you have everything you need. If there ever was a time for you to channel your inner Twilight and become obsessive-compulsive about checking and rechecking lists, now is the time.

An upbeat tune played throughout the house from the music box perched on Rarity’s bed stand as she reviewed her stock. The vast array covered her entire table, a good portion of her counter, and her entire bed: potions, antidotes, nulberries for curing blights, dried sushifish, demondrugs and armorskins, various traps, dash juice, dried rations, a large assortment of utility tools and knives, whetstones, her book on how to craft items, and a variety of raw materials in case she needed them.

Thank Celestia for Twilight’s enchantment on my bag. I dare say it gives me a leg up on the other hunters, having the ability to pack such a huge amount with me in such a small space, while keeping it light enough to carry. She never would have guessed it would have been used like this, though. She looked at all the knives and tools she needed to pack. Good thing she made it virtually indestructible, too. She smiled slightly. I’ll have to thank Sweetie Belle for blowing up the first one Twilight made me when she was trying to get that nuclear chemistry cutie mark. If I ever get home, that is.

A slam of the door announced that Cinnamon had returned home, and Rarity wheeled around at the sudden noise to see the felyne staring agape at the piles of medicine and tools around the house.

“What the hell is all this? You do realize that we’re going on a hunt, right? We don’t get to take a bunch of suitcases with us. You could probably fit, I don’t know, maybe like a tenth of this into a bag, if you’re lucky.”

“That’s funny,” Rarity mused. “I already had this all packed in my bag. I just took it out to make sure I had everything, and I was just about to put it back.”

Cinnamon looked at her flatly. “What.”

“Oh, nothing. Don’t worry about it,” Rarity trilled with a coy smile. “You just wait right there, I’ll finish packing back up and we can get going.” She began depositing items in her bag, making sure Cinnamon noticed that she was putting things in that by no means should have fit. “Are all your things together?" she asked sweetly.

“Uh, y-yeah…” Cinnamon stammered as she watched Rarity push a large hunting knife that was twice the size of the bag inside, only to have it vanish without a trace. “H-how…?”

“Good!” Rarity cut her off before she could ask any questions. “We’ll have to make sure we stop for some food before we leave, too.” By now over half the items in the room had disappeared into the bag.

Cinnamon scratched her head. “I don’t…”

“You know,” Rarity interrupted, “I have Reneris making me some new gear. Maybe she could make you something, too!” Three quarters of the items were gone.

“I’ve already gotten some new stuff,” Cinnamon said with a slightly panicked whine in her voice, “but seriously, how…”

“Did you hear that they’re making us go with Lycadran?” The last of the items went into the bag. “Ugh, of all the things they could do, I think that is the most awful…”

“FOR FUCK’S SAKE ROWRITY, HOW IN THE HELL DID YOU GET ALL THAT IN THAT STUPID LITTLE BAG?”

“What? Oh, this?" she smiled innocently, holding up the bag with one finger. “My friend cast some magic spells on it. It can hold a lot more, makes it very light, and it’s super durable. Really, though, no need to yell. You just need to ask.”

“Argh!” Cinnamon threw her paws in the air in frustration. “You’re a pain in the ass!”

“Maybe,” Rarity smirked, “but at least I’m a fun one.”

**********

A steely stare and an impatient growl were all that Rarity and Cinnamon received when they approached the canteen after they finished their preparations. Lycadran sat at the counter, an empty plate in front of her, fully armored, a hunting horn and her gear slung over her back. It appeared as though she was ready to leave, and had been for quite some time.

“Taking your sweet time, I see,” she huffed. “Bad enough they’re forcing me to go with you, but it’s obvious you’ve barely ever hunted before. You have absolutely no self discipline like a normal hunter would.”

“And you have absolutely no civility like a normal human would, so I guess we’re even with having to put up with each other.” Rarity countered, sitting down and turning to the menu. She scanned it momentarily, finally having begun to learn its contents.

“Zuny, could I get a wyvern tail and diced steak with cudgel onion?”

“Sure thing, coming up!”

Lycadran made a scoffing noise, causing Rarity to turn back to face her.

“So you don’t even have your gear together yet?”

“Not yet, Reneris is making me a new weapon and armor right now, actually. She should be done shortly.”

“Hmph,” Lycadran harrumphed. “At least it’ll be better than the shit you had before. I don’t know what you have up your sleeve for when we get there, but I’d prefer not to get killed because you can’t handle yourself. I would assume that even if you’re controlling or in charge of these things, once you start fighting them, all bets are off, so you’re going to need good gear.”

Rarity had to bite her tongue to avoid starting a yelling match at the mention of Lycadran’s conspiracy theory again, but luckily for her, her food was delivered at that moment and she had an easy distraction from the remark.

“Well, as soon as you get your equipment from Reneris, we can head over to the wingdrake posts and set off.”

“Wingdrake?” Rarity stopped eating to offer a puzzled glance at Lycadran. “What’s that?”

“Fuck, you’ve never even heard of those?" she shook her head. “How clueless can you be?”

“You know, I’m still kinda new around here,” Rarity said defensively. “Still kinda learning the ropes, here. Of course I’m clueless about some stuff.”

“Fine. Allow me to educate your stupid ass. Wingdrakes are a way for us to travel to places that are just too far to walk or are less accessible. They’re flying wyverns that we grab onto using grappling lines, then hang onto as they carry us to our destination.”

“We just dangle off flying monsters on ropes?” Rarity gasped.

“If you want to put it in overly simplistic terms like a moron, yes,” Lycadran said derisively. “In reality, it’s more like we harness them and ride a hanging saddle.”

“Oh.” Rarity quietly went back to eating, avoiding any and all further eye contact.

Lycadran continued, “All I can say is you try to pull any shit, and I’m taking you down. I told Leonys as much, too.”

“You know, for a person that hates me so much, you certainly seem to want to talk to me a lot,” Rarity snapped. “Do me a favor. Hate me properly by not talking to me.” She then turned back to her meal and resumed eating.

Lycadran eyed her with contempt. “Fine. Take your time stuffing your face, then get your equipment. When you’re done, I’ll meet you by the posts. Your cat will know where they are.”

“I’m a felyne, not someone’s pet, bitch,” Cinnamon growled. “I don’t know why you feel the need to be disrespectful to everybody, but it gets really old, really quick.”

“Just meet me there soon. Don’t keep me waiting too long.” Lycadran turned on her heel and strode off, leaving the pair fuming behind her.

“Can we please let the diablos gore her?” Cinnamon pleaded. “Just a little bit?”

“We can’t just stand by and let it happen, Cinnamon,” Rarity scolded. “Now, if it happens on its own, then it’s just a happy accident. But no, we can’t just let it happen.”

“I’m not sharing my potions or healing items with her crusty old ass, either.” Cinnamon huffed.

Rarity laughed as she finished off the last of her meal. “No, I doubt I will, either.”

**********

The sounds of hammer blows ringing across the town had died out while they ate, and Rarity and Cinnamon made their way to Reneris’ forge shortly after finishing to see if Rarity’s equipment was ready.

The smith was resting beside her anvil, and as they approached she hailed them both with a single finger.

“Oh great, it’s you two. Can’t give me a moment’s peace, can you? I get finished and you’re here within minutes. What were you doing, waiting around the corner? Fucking impatient asshats. You’re lucky I like you guys or I’d smash your shit out of pure spite.”

“I wasn’t waiting impatiently for my gear, I came by because I missed seeing your radiant face, Reneris,” Rarity said in her best flatteringly placating voice.

Reneris stared at her for a moment, then picked up her hammer and held it dangerously close over the armor. “Try me,” she said viciously.

“Ok, ok,” Rarity conceded quickly, holding up her hands defensively. “We just finished eating and came over to see how it was going! Is that better?”

Reneris lowered her hammer. “Fine. Smartass. Here ya go, just finished it all, try it on. Make sure it all fits and stuff.”

Rarity picked up the hammer Reneris was offering, admired it fondly, then gave it a couple practice swings. “I approve. I approve very, very much.” She grinned wickedly, then smiled at Reneris. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Now try on the armor, make sure it’s the right size and all.”

Rarity picked up the various pieces, eyeing them suspiciously as she did so.

“Something wrong?” Reneris questioned as she watched Rarity’s hesitation with the armor set.

“No… I mean, it’s just that… well…” Rarity shuffled uncomfortably.

“Out with it already.”

“You’ll be mad.”

“No I won’t.”

“You will.”

Reneris stared at her hard, then she smirked. “I promise with flying cupcakes or some shit.”

Rarity laughed. “Ok, I can’t argue with you on that.” She sighed. “It’s just that it’s extremely mismatched, and some pieces are… well, just plain out ugly. I know that they’re made from monster parts, but it’s just… painful to wear something that I know looks horrible.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake. Well, good thing that you’re getting used to pain. When I’m making armor based on abilities, I have to focus on the monster parts involved, not the look of the finished piece. So, if it takes something from a different monster entirely, that’s what you get, and you deal with it. So, sorry, but not really.”

“I know. I’m sorry I brought it up, and thanks for making these for me. I just wish they looked a little better together, is all.”

“Don’t worry about it. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the monster’s die laughin’ at you.”

“Oh, shut the hell up.”

Reneris and Cinnamon both broke out laughing as Rarity turned red at the comment, standing there wearing her armor and wishing she could hit them both with her hammer and get away with it.

12. Hammer Time

“Well, you certainly look… interesting.” Lycadran commented as Rarity neared.

“Not another word,” Rarity growled.

Lycadran shrugged. “Whatever. I don’t give a shit how stupid you look. As long as you don’t get in my way and don’t get us killed, that’s all that matters.” She spared a glance at the bag hanging at Rarity’s side and sneered. I hope you packed enough supplies in your little bag,” she hefted her own large pack in comparison, “because I’m not sharing any of mine.”

Rarity and Cinnamon exchanged significant looks, then Rarity smiled broadly at Lycadran.

“Don’t worry,” Rarity replied sweetly. “I think I’ll manage.”

“Fine. If you’re ready to go then, these are the wingdrake harnesses for the ones trained to go to the desert. All you do is slip your feet into the footholds, make sure the supports are behind your back and butt, give the rope a firm yank, and hold on tight. It’s so easy, even you could do it. Got it?”

“I guess so…” Rarity said hesitantly.

“Good.” Without another word Lycadran stepped into a harness, gave a yank on the rope and took flight, leaving Rarity behind.

“Rude,” Rarity complained.

“Don’t worry, it really isn’t difficult,” Cinnamon assured her. “Go ahead and step in, I’ll make sure you’re in correctly.”

Rarity stepped up to the footholds and looked down. “Uh…” she paused. “Slight problem.”

Cinnamon looked at her in confusion. “How could you have a problem? It’s about as simple as it gets!”

“I have hooves.”

“Well, shit.”

Rarity bent over to inspect the footholds, which normally would have only covered the front half of a human foot.

“It’s closed toe, at least, so I think I can slide my hoof into it at an angle and stand in it that way,” she said. “It’s not likely to be comfortable, but it should at least work to get me there.”

“Sorry about that,” Cinnamon apologized. “I’d let you use the felyne one - it’s made for paws, which are at least a little closer than feet are - but you’re much too big for it.”

“No worries. We’d better get going.” Rarity stepped into the harness uncomfortably and pulled the rope, and gave out a startled yelp as the wingdrake lurched into the sky. She clutched the rope tightly and clenched her eyes shut as she swayed back and forth like a pendulum beneath the wyvern flapping above her. Celestia, I think I’m going to be sick. Pegasi can keep their flying, I’d rather walk.

They soared for hours; Rarity’s stomach finally calmed, and she no longer felt physically ill, nor was she dreadfully afraid, but she did find that she preferred to keep her eyes closed. The combination of the dizzying height, the stinging wind, and the monotonously endless expanse beneath them took its toll, and she found that she’d rather just relax with her thoughts.

It was for this reason that she didn’t hear the frantic voice of Cinnamon shouting across the expanse at her.

“Rarity! You need to jump off the harness to get off the wingdrake! They don’t have a good way to let you off, they just land! Rarity! Can you hear me? Jump off! FOR FUCK’S SAKE JUMP OFF THE HARNESS!”

The wingdrake slowly descended over the sands of the desert, lowering Rarity’s harness to the ground at high speeds while she remained blissfully unaware of the incoming disaster.

The tip of her foothold touched the sand, and within an instant she pitched forward with a scream, eyes wide open and arms outstretched. She impacted the dune forcefully, creating a large divot before bouncing and skidding across the sand for a moment before rolling down a hill.

“Rowrity!” Cinnamon jumped from her own harness and raced down the dune, where she pulled her battered friend up from the sand.

Rarity spit out a mouthful of sand and sat up, then gingerly moved her limbs with a wince. She sucked in a sharp breath as she moved her arm, and turned carefully to Cinnamon.

“Could you…” she gravelly spoke, paused in pain, then coughed roughly, spitting more sand out. “Could you grab me a potion from my bag? I think I broke my arm.”

“Sure, just a second,” Cinnamon assured. She scampered back to the bag, which lay several yards back up the dune.

A shadow fell over Rarity as she sat, and to her dismay Lycadran appeared towering over her, slowly clapping and wearing a severely unimpressed expression.

“That was the most pathetic display I have ever seen, you’re going to get yourself killed without even seeing a monster. And what took you so long? I don’t know how the concept of the harness could be difficult for anyone, but from how much longer it took you to get here, apparently it took you a while to figure out.”

“Shut up, hag,” Rarity coughed. “I don’t have feet, I have hooves. It took a few minutes to figure out how to stand in the harness. And you could have warned me that you have to jump off these things.”

“You know, I think letting you find out on your own was much more fun,” Lycadran grinned evilly. She motioned to Cinnamon, who handed Rarity a potion. “Now pull yourself together. We have a monster to find, and apparently that’s your job.”

Rarity downed the potion and stood, then retrieved and shouldered her pack and made sure all her gear was in place. She rejoined the others, and with a silent glare at Lycadran, lit her horn and concentrated.

She pulsed her horn lightly for a moment, then sighed and brightened her horn and pulsed it again. Lycadran groaned loudly.

“What the hell are you doing?

“I’m trying to find a trace of something, if you don’t mind,” Rarity snapped. “It takes a fair amount of concentration to search far away, and your cawing, grating voice definitely doesn’t help. So, if you would kindly shut up, I can get back to looking!”

“Fine. Search away, freak.”

Rarity closed her eyes once again, brightening her horn even more and sending out yet another pulse. She waited, considering and thinking for several long seconds, before opening her eyes.

“That way.” She pointed beyond a dune toward a relatively nearby rocky mountain line. “I could sense a large mass in that direction, not terribly dense, but spread out over a decently large area. It wasn’t moving, but neither was the last one. It could be sleeping, eating, or just plain standing still.”

“Alright then, move out,” Lycadran ordered.

They headed in the direction that Rarity indicated, and with her rechecking every so often, traveled several miles toward the rocks.

After about an hour of traveling over large dunes under the oppressive heat of the sun, they reached a recess in a craggy wall, where Rarity stopped to reassess her bearings. Her horn lit briefly, and she looked at the stony wall beside them.

“The signal I’m getting is coming from right there,” she said, pointing to a cave in the rock face. Cinnamon ran over to inspect the cave, while Lycadran simply buried her face in her hands.

“Diablos bury themselves in the sand, not in rocks, you stupid shit. You led us all the way out here for nothing?" she growled with aggression. “You’re just making this shit up, aren’t you? Pretend you know where they’re at, throw on a light show, and hope to stumble on something?”

“Oh stuff it, bitch,” Cinnamon yelled from behind her. “She’s not full of shit, there’s machalite ore lining the cave here. Lots of it, along with some crystally stuff, though a lot of it is just broken down nodes now. If you paid attention to anything she said when she was explaining how she found the pukei pukei in the first place, it was when she was trying to find machalite. Well, she just found a bunch.”

“Seriously? You led us to a bunch of worthless ore?”

“I said shut up, asshat!” Cinnamon yelled. “I wasn’t finished! There’s a monster nest here!”

Lycadran immediately stopped talking and moved toward the cave, looking around carefully and taking note of every print and marking there was around. She returned shortly thereafter, and spoke curtly. “Diablos nest. Check the surrounding area, see if you can locate it.”

“Hmph, not even a ‘sorry’? Well, can’t say I’m surprised,” Rarity commented. She lit and pulsed her horn again, concentrating on the results. She pulsed her horn several more times, turning slightly each time. She opened her eyes and nodded towards the dunes.

“There’s something in that direction. And it’s moving.”

Lycadran glared at Rarity, then silently started walking in the direction she indicated with single-minded determination, and Rarity and Cinnamon followed behind shortly after.

They passed over the arid terrain, which had transitioned to a rocky plain bordering the sandy dunes, and Rarity took note of the various flora and fauna surrounding them; contrary to what she would have expected of a desert, it was quite full of life. Cacti were abundant, as were various herbs and other foliage. Large black insects skittered in the distance, and for a fleeting moment she was reminded of changelings. With a shudder, she moved on, passing over a ridge only to see a sandy expanse open in front of them.

She stopped short.

“Hold on,” She said quietly, grabbing Lycadran by the shoulder.

Lycadran wrenched her shoulder away from Rarity’s grip. “You don’t get to give me orders.”

“No, seriously, you ass. I just felt whatever it was. It moved under the sand to that dune in front of us, and now it’s just sitting there.”

Lycadran openly gaped at Rarity. “So the diablos we’re hunting is just sitting under the sand waiting there.” She scoffed. “I’ve hunted diablos plenty of times, you know. They’re not predators, so they’re not going to just sit there and lie in wait. If they attack, it’s to defend their territory, and they usually start by roaring to initially try to frighten off their intruders. When they do go underground, they actively burrow toward you and then burst out of the ground at you to attack and surprise you. The idea that one is sitting there is ridiculous.”

“I’m serious,” Rarity insisted.

“Fine, here.” Lycadran picked up several large rocks and threw them where Rarity had indicated the diablos would be. They fell harmlessly into the sand with muffled thuds, and nothing else happened. “Happy?” Lycadran rolled her eyes and stepped forward, intent on continuing. “I’m done wasting time here. I’m going.”

“I said DON’T!” Rarity yelled. She ran forward as Lycadran reached the rocks she had thrown, leaping forward to catch Lycadran around the shoulders.

As Lycadran’s foot touched the sand near the rock, the ground beneath shifted, becoming more fluid. Her knee buckled, causing her to lose her balance; in the confusion she looked to her side and saw a form in the swirling sands, one that took shape as it emerged from the growing pit it was leaving behind. Traveling toward her quickly were two small black eyes and two massive horns; however, Rarity was already there. She hit Lycadran hard, tackling her with as much force as she could muster and pulling her away from the now exposed diablos which stood above them. Sand trails ran off the beast at all points, and it turned to them and roared horrendously.

“What the hell?” Lycadran yelled, quickly pulling herself up from the ground and pushing Rarity away.

“I told you, you moron!” Rarity shouted. “Of course it’s not like you’re used to! It’s an aberrant, it’s not going to behave like normal!”

Lycadran readied her hunting horn. “Shut up! Don’t lecture me about monsters like you know more about them!”

“Salvage your pride some other time when we’re not about to get killed!” Rarity screamed as she got to her hooves.

“Would you two stop fighting? We’ve got bigger problems on our paws!” Cinnamon yelled. She ran forward, sword drawn, and delivered a slash to the diablos’ hind leg, drawing its attention away from Rarity and Lycadran long enough for them to regain their ground and prepare to fight.

Rarity drew her hammer, choosing to ignore Lycadran for the moment, and ran forward, raising it high and smashing it down heavily on the lowered wing of the diablos, gaining a roar from the beast in return. She flinched away in response, ears folded back in pain from the excruciating noise. Shaking off the headache, she returned to her attack, bringing her hammer back in an upward swing to connect with the wing again, then letting the momentum carry her around and upward to smash down on it from above. The ice elements embedded in her hammer sparkled as they froze portions of the wing with each contact, and the wing crunched satisfyingly under her hammer as it came down.

She landed in the sand under the wing heavily, needing to take a moment to recover her balance and grip in order to attack again, when the monster turned and used its heavy legs and claws to kick her away. With a pained grunt she rolled to the side, her hammer knocked from her hands. The diablos turned more, sweeping its tail and brutally hitting Rarity as she was getting up from the ground, throwing her through the air into a dune, where she crumpled onto the sand.

She painfully pulled herself up, spitting a large mouthful of blood onto the sand. “Shit…” she gasped. She tried to stand, but found she couldn’t manage to find the strength. She grabbed a potion from one of the pockets inside her armor and drank it, feeling some strength return, though she still didn’t feel quite at full strength. Damn, that thing hits hard, if one’s not enough. She downed a second, finally feeling strong enough to continue, before retrieving her hammer and returning to the fray.

“Ok, monster girl, call this thing off NOW!” Lycadran yelled.

“WHAT PART OF THAT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS MY FRIEND, YOU FUCKING PSYCHO?” Rarity screamed.

**********

Lycadran took advantage of the opening that Cinnamon bought her, dashing forward quickly toward the diablos’ head. The beast turned toward her as she approached, and she wasted no time in jumping with her weapon drawn, smashing her hunting horn down on the monster’s own horn. She heard a cracking noise from the fierce blow she dealt it, and gave herself a mental cheer. Landing, she swiped the beast across the snout with another attack, then dashed away before it could retaliate.

“Cat!" she called, “Where’d monster girl go?”

“I am a felyne!” Cinnamon growled. “And Rarity was just off puking blood over there a second ago, but last I saw she looked like she was drinking a potion and getting back up.”

Lycadran shielded her eyes from the sun for a moment. “She looks fine to me. Ok, monster girl! Call this thing off, NOW!”

**********

Rarity ground her teeth and ran back toward the diablos; the monster swung its tail at her again as she neared, but she rolled under it and continued on. With Lycadran and Cinnamon keeping its head busy, her eyes were on its other wing. She pulled her hammer back in preparation, focusing energy into it as Jorahn had shown her with weapon techniques, and as an added bonus channeled some of her own magical force into the hammer as well.

The focus was a risk; it took a long time to charge, and her movement was severely hindered while she did it. If the diablos realized she was there and attacked, or moved too far or too suddenly, then her efforts would have been completely wasted and she would be totally off guard. However, if successful, the gambit was extremely powerful.

The seconds ticked by, and slowly her power grew, until she felt the energy flow reach a maximum. With a feeling of adrenaline, she whipped the hammer upward, the sizzling power surging her along with it far above the wing, until she reached the apex of her jump. She began falling back toward the ground, and as she approached the diablos’ wing, brought the hammer crashing down on it with an immense amount of crippling force, shattering the wing and toppling the diablos to the side. The diablos roared, but Rarity was too busy laughing maniacally to hear.

She ran to the head of the diablos to see Lycadran and Cinnamon still attacking; Lycadran had succeeded in breaking off one of the beasts’ horns, and they were currently taking advantage of its immobility to attack its claws. Rarity joined them as quickly as she could, her hammer and its icy touch helping to break the claws faster than the diablos could recover.

“The hell did you do?” Lycadran demanded.

“Charge attack.” Rarity answered simply. “Took out its wing. Kill now, questions later.”

Lycadran stared at her hard, searching her face as if looking for some sort of deception. Finally she nodded. “Right.”

Rarity smiled slightly and nodded back.

Cinnamon shook her head. “Great, warm fuzzies, it’s getting back up. Get your asses away from it.”

“Shut up, cat.”

“Fuck you.”

The three of them gained some space from it as it rose, then prepared to resume their attack when the monster began digging its way into the sand.

“Shit! Ugh, I hate it when they do this!” Lycadran swore. “It’s like a shitty game of hide and seek where nobody wins and the loser gets a horn in their asshole.”

Rarity lit up her horn immediately. “Just follow me and you won’t get a horn in your ass. Unless you’re into that sort of thing. I won’t hold it against you.” She smirked. She then focused on where the diablos had disappeared, and followed its movements, heading to where they were.

“Ok, run!"

She took off running, then watched as the diablos predictably changed its course to intercept where she was headed. She changed her direction, and the diablos did, too. Every time she changed direction, the diablos moved to cut her off in an endless game.

“Ugh, shit!” Rarity panted, slowing to take a breath. She grabbed a dash juice from a pocket and drank it. “Ok, you guys are going to have to stay back from me. I’m going to have to fake it out to get it to come up.”

“Why do you think it has to be you? I’m plenty capable, you know, and my reflexes are much faster than yours!” Lycadran boasted.

“Because I can see where it is, jackass!” Rarity snapped.

“Oh.”

She resumed her course toward the diablos, which was still lying in wait for her; she picked up speed as she neared the spot, and just as she was about to hit the area she dug her hooves in and threw all her weight into pushing herself back in the opposite direction. In that moment she felt the ground just beyond her pushing against her hooves as the diablos erupted from the sand, its lone horn jutting out like a javelin to spear any hunters foolish enough to run past. Far more frightening than the diablos, its horn, or its sudden appearance, though, was its unearthly purple glow.

Yep. It’s an aberrant.

“Rowrity! Get away from it!” Cinnamon yelled.

“Yeah, I kinda figured that out, thanks!” Rarity yelled back, scrabbling through the sand. The diablos behind her was emerging from the sand quickly, and her time to escape was rapidly dwindling. She gained traction in the sand, running as fast as she could without looking behind her when she heard a loud cracking slap. The only thing she knew for sure was that the expressions on Lycadran’s and Cinnamon’s faces dropped into beleaguered disbelief.

“…the fucking hell?” Lycadran murmured, dumbfoundedly staring ahead.

Then reality seemed to set in.

“GET OUT OF THE WAY!" she yelled. “ GET TO THE SIDE!”

She and Cinnamon both dove to the left and right of Rarity’s intended path, but Rarity was still completely confused and had virtually no time to react to their last second warning. Within moments, Rarity was struck by a fiercely fast and large wave of purple enshrouded sand, violently throwing her nearly twenty feet forward. She impacted the sand roughly, skidding along the surface before coming to a stop another ten feet from where she had originally landed.

Cinnamon ran to her immediately, with Lycadran trailing behind keeping an eye on the diablos, which appeared to be gathering more energy as they moved.

“Rowrity!” Cinnamon tapped her face lightly. She remained unresponsive. Blood trickled from her nose and mouth, and it was obvious she had a broken leg.

“Shit, this is bad…” Lycadran mumbled to herself. “I’ve never seen a diablos summon sand waves by slapping their tails before…” she looked at Rarity. “We can’t lose her. She’s the only one that can track them.”

“Finally figured it out, did you, bitch?”

“SHUT IT, YOU STUPID CAT!” Lycadran snapped. “I get it! She’s almost dead! If it almost killed her then she’s not doing it!" she pulled a small yellow vial from her chest pocket.

“An ancient potion? Those things are super hard to come by…”

“Yeah, don’t remind me,” Lycadran shoved the vial to Rarity’s lips and forced her mouth shut. “Now drink the potion like a good little weirdo, wake up, and help us kill this abomination so we can go home.”

Seconds ticked by as the potion took effect, and Lycadran nervously glanced back and forth between Rarity and the diablos, watching for it to make sure it wasn’t about to unleash another wave at them. It appeared to be biding its time as long as they stayed their distance, likely due to a semblance of its territorial nature staying in check, for which Lycadran was thankful. She turned her attention back to Rarity, who was now beginning to regain consciousness. Her leg was mending, and her bleeding had stopped, all that remained was for her to rebuild her strength over the next few minutes. She gazed around in confusion.

“What happened?”

“You almost died, that’s what.” Lycadran said. “Big ugly over there hit you with a purple sand wave that nearly blew you to pieces. You owe me an ancient potion, by the way.”

“You… saved me?” Rarity said, puzzled.

“Yeah, don’t think about it too much.” Lycadran said.

Rarity smiled slightly, then nodded.

“For fuck’s sake you two, warm fuzzies later, let’s go!” Cinnamon huffed.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, CAT!”

“Fuck you.”

Rarity laughed. “Ok, I could probably get used to you two doing this.” She shouldered her hammer. “Let’s beat down a big ugly.”

The group advanced on the diablos, which roared the moment it saw them invading its territory again. The purple aura around it intensified, and it raised its tail menacingly.

“Get ready!” Lycadran shouted. “You know what’s coming!”

The tail slammed down into the earth, and for the first time Rarity saw what had stolen the breath from Lycadran and Cinnamon when she had been running.

The impact from the diablos’ tail, coupled with whatever unholy energy it had from its purple aura, caused the sand to rupture wildly, spreading instantly into a five foot wide purple wave of sand that steadily grew in height as it sped along the ground toward them. They dodged the wave as it rolled by, then continued their advance, dodging even more waves sent their way as they neared.

“Alright, you take its head. Try to land some solid hits, maybe break its other horn. I’ll take what I can get anywhere else. Cat, keep me company.”

“I hate you.”

“Good. Consistency is good.” Lycadran hauled her hunting horn up and charged toward the front of the diablos’ crippled wing. “Time to introduce you to a bonus of hunting horns!” Lycadran yelled. She swung her weapon several times, generating some odd, unearthly tones as she did so. The notes reverberated around the desert, and Rarity could feel them pulsing through her body, somehow infusing her with a rush of adrenaline and suffusing her with a sense of strength she hadn’t had moments before.

With a grin, she dashed toward the diablos’ head, swinging her hammer overhead in a downward strike as she ran in and catching it right above its eye at the base of its horn. The hammer crackled with frost, and the horn froze at the base and snapped off immediately with the force of the blow. The diablos reeled from the impact, falling to the side heavily and temporarily stunned from the concussive force Rarity had delivered.

Seizing the opportunity, she quickly moved above the beast’s head and began gathering her strength for a charged attack like she had before. She felt her energy coalescing into the hammer, and pressed as much of her magic into it as she could; then, as she thought she was at the limit of the power she could attain, she heard the notes of Lycadran’s horn and felt them penetrating her core, strengthening her past limits she thought were possible.

With a guttural yell, she heaved her hammer skyward, jumping high with it, and came back down, delivering a massively powerful crushing strike directly onto the head of the stunned diablos. The near-impenetrable skull cracked open under the blow, and the purple glow the diablos held faded away.

Rarity stood above the body, breathing hard, and let the hammer fall from her hands.

“That… sweet Celestia, what did we just do?”

“That,” Lycadran walked up to her, clapping her on the shoulder, “was a serious hunt. And you did good - aside from the whole almost dying thing. But, considering you kinda used yourself as bait, I’m not holding that one against ya.”

Rarity took in the entire scene, slowly processing the entire ordeal. The pukei pukei had of course been dangerous, and had been life threatening several times, but this was on an entirely separate level. Not only that, but the diablos was more than twice the size of the pukei pukei; that alone added an intimidation factor that, had she not begun the fight with it submerged in the sand, would have made it much worse. She breathed a deep sigh of relief.

“Alright,” Lycadran broke into Rarity’s silence, “you get the carving rights on this, so go ahead whenever you’re ready, then we can head back.”

“What?” Rarity wheeled around in shock.

Lycadran nodded. “This one’s yours, monster girl. You tracked it, you kept it from immediately spearing my ass, you baited it out, and you landed the killing blow. It’s yours. Did a fucking amazing job beating its ass in, by the way.”

“You’re… giving me the credit… and complimenting me?”

“Weird shit, ain’t it?” Lycadran turned and squatted down, placing her elbows on her knees. “You did good too, Cinnamon.”

“You… what?” Cinnamon replied. “You’re actually going to use my name?”

Lycadran stood up and shrugged. “Well, I don’t need to keep your adrenaline flowing, so…” She burst out laughing, then flipped both her middle fingers at Cinnamon. “Can’t believe you fell for that. C’mon, help me find this thing’s other horn for monster girl, cat.”

Cinnamon narrowed her eyes. “I fucking hate you.”

“Good. Consistency is good.” Lycadran said, already turning away to head where they had fought earlier. “Stay here, then.”

Rarity laughed, then thought for a moment.

“You know, you can just call me Rarity!" she called after Lycadran.

“Nah! You’re monster girl! Just like your sidekick will always be cat!” Lycadran yelled back with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“I’M NOT HER FUCKING SIDEKICK! AND I HAVE A DAMNED NAME YOU ASSHOLE!” Cinnamon yelled.

“C’mon, Cinnamon, help me carve this thing up, I’m gonna need a lot of help. It’s huge.” Rarity said. She was extremely glad Cinnamon didn’t see her grinning.

13. Ice Kitty

An upbeat tune streamed through the air of Rarity’s home, floating out of the music box stationed on the table by her bed. Cinnamon lay on her back nearby, staring upside-down absentmindedly at the multifaceted box. She smacked it over onto another side, changing the music with amusement.

“This thing is pretty cool,” she observed lazily, whacking it over onto another of its facets, once again changing the tune.

“I’m glad you appreciate it,” Rarity commented without looking up, her gaze steady on the cloth she was sewing. “It was a gift from my sister; she’s very much musically inclined, so it’s the perfect thing to remind me of her.”

Cinnamon regarded it for several moments more before pawing it onto another side, earning a cross growl from Rarity.

“Would you please stop that? Goodness, I am trying to retain some semblance of my sewing skills here and that makes it extremely difficult to concentrate. Not to mention that sewing with hands is definitely different from what I’m used to.”

“So, what are you making?” Cinnamon scooted over on the bed toward the table where Rarity sat so she could see better.

“Super comfy pajamas.”

“Sounds nice! So is this your favorite color, then?”

“Oh, no, these aren’t for me,” Rarity shook her head. “I’m making them for Syd.”

“Uh, why?”

“No reason, really, I just have material to use, I need to keep my skills sharp, and I figure I may as well make things for our friends from time to time. That would probably be the best way for me to keep my talents from wasting away over time, and I also tend to go a little crazy if I can’t give people gifts every once in a while.”

“I can’t wait to see what pajamas and clothes you come up with for Renny.”

Rarity paused and bit her lip.

“I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to make anything for Renny… she’s a bit… volatile. I don’t know, I just get the feeling that if I tried to give her any clothes, they would get thrown back at me with curse words.”

“You’re probably right,” Cinnamon agreed. “I think you’d be better off just buying her drinks when we go out if you want to give her something.”

“Booze for Renny, clothes for everyone else,” Rarity said.

“And dung bombs for Lycadran,” Cinnamon added.

Rarity snorted.

“Shut up! You’re going to make me screw up this stitching and Syd’s gonna end up with a third leg hole in his pajamas or something!”

“Make sure it’s super small so it fits right,” Cinnamon snickered.

“Dammit, you gross little cat!” Rarity threw a nearby wad of cloth at Cinnamon and hit her in the face. “You know what I meant!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Cinnamon laughed, calming down somewhat. “I couldn’t help myself, you just made it too easy. Speaking of Syd, though, do you think we’ll go on another hunt sometime soon? It’s been weeks since we took out the diablos.”

Rarity inspected her handiwork. “I think I’ll be ready to go out again soon. I’m sorry you all are waiting on me like this, really, I am. I just want to be better prepared after that last hunt; I almost got killed twice.”

“You did fine, really. What happened was because we were fighting an aberrant, we didn’t know what to expect, either. Seriously, you’ve been training your ass off every day since that hunt, I honestly think you’re more than ready for the next one.”

“If you think so, I guess I can let Cyr know that I’m ready to take on another one.”

“I definitely think so, so get on that. I want some action again. Fighting alongside you is the most exciting thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

“Well, thank you; I’ll admit it’s rather exhilarating for me as well.”

Neither of them spoke for several moments, and the music continued to flow around them.

Cinnamon hit the music box with her paw, changing the music once again. She grinned.

“Can you emboss ‘King of the Asses’ on Syd’s pajamas?”

She received another wad of cloth to the face.

**********

The early morning air was crisp as Rarity, Cinnamon, and Sydreol made their way to the mountain-bound wingdrakes, all three of them wearing thermally protective gear in addition to their armor.

“Remember to be cautious of ice and winds,” Sydreol warned. “Barioths use them to their advantage, and can create vicious winds of their own. Who knows what an aberrant is capable of.”

“Got it,” Rarity confirmed. She repositioned her switch axe and adjusted her armor. “I wish this armor looked a little nicer, though. It’s absolutely atrocious looking.”

Sydreol laughed. “It’s the cost of gearing up appropriately, I’m afraid. If you want to be powerful, you must look ridiculous to do it. I think it’s a rule that Renny has, probably just to spite us. Wouldn’t put it past her, honestly. At least your weapon looks absolutely kickass. How in the hell did you get it, anyway? I mean, I know some parts came from the diablos, but I know some parts in there are way more rare than that. How in the hell did you manage to get Renny to make that for you?”

Rarity’s eyes darted back and forth nervously. “Oh, I, uh, guess she… must have had some extra parts? And she wanted to make sure that we took down the aberrant, so she said I could use up what was left.” Sydreol looked at her skeptically. Rarity began to sweat, and she grinned a little too widely. “But… she swore at me nonstop for making her use up her stash, even though it was her idea.”

“That sounds like Renny. Offer something and then bitch about somebody taking her up on it.” Sydreol turned back to the wingdrakes, not seeing Rarity heaving a sigh of relief that she didn’t give away the secret of Reneris’ gift of a custom weapon; the blacksmith would have never forgiven her if Sydreol had figured it out. He adjusted his own hammer and stepped into the footholds. “You had them make you your own hoofholds, right?”

“Yeah, I’d prefer not to repeat what happened last time. Falling was mostly because I shut my eyes and didn’t know what was happening. Coming back, though, was still a pain in the ass getting out of those things.”

“You about ready too, Cinnamon?”

The felyne stepped into her own pawholds and threw a look over her shoulder. “I’m ready as soon as you two are done talking. So, who knows when that will be since you never shut up.”

“Funny stuff, furball,” Sydreol quipped. “Fine, let’s get going, then. See you all there!" he gave his rope a tug and was airborne within seconds and quickly disappeared from sight.

“That’s our cue, then, Rowrity. See you at the mountain camp.”

Cinnamon’s wingdrake took flight, followed shortly after by Rarity’s; they soared from the platform, shrinking in the sky rapidly before vanishing into the clouds.

**********

Snow crunched under Rarity’s hooves. Or, rather, under Rarity’s entirely functional yet horrifically ugly hoofwear. Reneris had made her special hoofwear for the mountain climate; intended to give her proper traction on the ice and snow, and with the proper abilities to keep her from sinking in the deeper snow banks. She was extremely thankful, and she was sure it was absolutely necessary, but… Celestia dammit, they were beyond hideous. She sighed. Just like Syd said. The price of gearing up appropriately.

“Holding up ok over there, Rares?” Syd called, yelling to be heard over the howling of the wind. The mountain climate was inhospitable at best, and the blowing snow was not helping make the hunt any more pleasant for them at the moment.

“Oh, I’m fine!” Rarity lied, inwardly cursing the cold. “I would prefer that we didn’t have to keep backtracking to find different routes to get to this damned barioth, though.”

“Well, teach your horn how to tell if there are cliffs and mountains and shit between us and the aberrant, then,” Syd yelled back.

“Kiss my ass.”

“You wouldn’t let me, anyway,” he joked.

“Rowrity, are we getting any closer to it, at least?” Cinnamon asked.

Rarity’s horn pulsed again, and her eyes widened in alarm, her head jerking upward.

“I’d say so, it’s coming our way! It’s above us! I think it heard us yelling and is on the offensive!”

The group pulled out their weapons, peering into the swirling flurry of the peaks above and trying to discern any moving shapes. Rarity kept her horn pulsing, following the movement back and forth, but was unable to see any visible sign of the monster yet. A single roar echoed through the mountain peaks, chilling their blood more effectively than the cold and snow had already done. They exchanged anxious glances with each other before returning their gazes upward, when a sudden burst of activity entered their view.

The massive saber toothed monster pounced into their midst with blinding speed, giving them little time to react; Rarity was able to roll away just in time to dodge a swipe from its claws as it landed, though Cinnamon was knocked away by its wing, and Sydreol was battered by its tail as it landed.

It rapidly rushed forward to attack, slashing at her with its claws; she nimbly avoided the swipes and countered with a quick attack of her own, her swing connecting with its paw and leaving a vicious gash.

The beast recoiled from the pain; it prepared to attack again, but before it could its attention suddenly was drawn to its rear. Sydreol and Cinnamon were attacking its tail, attempting to break off and nullify some of its spiny arsenal. The barioth whipped its tail around, yanking it out of their reach and sending it crashing down at them; they scattered, dodging the flail-like appendage as it struck the ground with amazing force.

This, however, provided Rarity with a perfect distraction. As the barioth was focused on the hunters by its tail, she was afforded the brief opportunity to attack uninhibited, and she intended to capitalize on that opportunity.

Hauling her switch axe up, she rushed up to the barioth’s head, using her momentum to swing fiercely. The axe severed one of the monster’s saber teeth and cut deeply into its jaw, and on her it sliced along the side of the monster’s face, leaving a long wound on its cheek.

Her opening over, she leaped backward as the barioth’s attention was ripped back to her. It roared furiously, blood dripping down its face, and lunged at her with its claws bared. She dodged a swipe by inches, but a second claw followed swiftly after, catching her in the side and sending her rolling through the snow before colliding with a wall of rock.

She groaned in pain and looked up to see the barioth continuing its advance, swinging its winged paw down at her from above; without a moment to spare she rolled away, narrowly avoiding its strike. She pushed herself to her hooves and took stock of her surroundings; she had little room in which to maneuver, the barioth had trapped her against the large rock face she had crashed into.

“Rowrity! Cover your eyes!”

“ARE YOU INSANE?" she screamed.

“DO IT RIGHT NOW, DAMMIT!”

Rarity quickly shut her eyes and pressed her arm over them, and moments later a small sphere bounced in between her and the barioth’s face; mere seconds passed, and then the sphere burst into a blindingly brilliant flash of light. The barioth reared back in dazed confusion, shaking its head violently in its temporary blindness.

“I blinded it, get out of there while it can’t see you!” Cinnamon shouted before running back in to resume her attacks.

Rarity ran past the flailing monster, rejoining her companions.

“Thanks, I owe you one,” she gasped, out of breath.

“Save the thanks for later,” Sydreol hollered.

“Killjoy!” Cinnamon shouted back.

“What a stupid name to give a monster! I’ll happily kill it, though!” he yelled back jokingly.

“When this thing’s dead, you’re next, dumbass!” Rarity threatened.

He shook his head. “I swear, everyone’s a critic.” He stared at the floundering beast; the barioth was starting to regain its senses, and he decided to take his chance while he still had it. “I’m going up! Make sure to take advantage of any openings you get!”

Rarity paused mid-attack on the barioth’s winged front leg.

“Going up? What do you mean, going up?”

Her question was answered as she watched him take a running leap at the barioth, grasping at its scales and fur tightly, and climbing up until he was atop the monster.

It roared in anger, shaking back and forth in a vain attempt to dislodge the human from its back, but he held fast. He grabbed a long hunting knife from his belt, stabbing multiple times between its shoulder blades, all the while keeping a firm grip with his other hand. With practiced experience he rode the monster, biding his time as it tired itself out from thrashing about; as soon as he felt it show signs of exhaustion, he made his move.

Releasing his grip and stowing his knife, he grabbed his hammer and stood tall, balancing expertly. Quickly channeling his strength, he let loose with a mighty overhead smash above its shoulder blades and right at the base of its neck. The barioth crashed down, stunned heavily for the moment.

“Now! Give it hell!" he yelled.

Rarity nodded with a grin, running toward the hind paw that she had ended up closest to when it collapsed. She took several swings with her axe, then as her swing was coming around she triggered it to morph into its sword form; with the blade rotating forward as she swung, it added an additional component to her attack before she continued with faster sword slashes, charging up her weapon.

Her grin was short lived, though, as she noticed the blue glow beginning to encompass the barioth as she swung.

“Shit! Guys! It’s powering up! We need to retreat, we have no idea what this thing can do!" she looked over to see Sydreol, still attacking with full focus. Either he hadn’t heard her, or hadn’t cared, but regardless which it was, he wasn’t moving. “Syd! Cinnamon! We’ve got to get back!

She saw Cinnamon give her a nod and start running, though Syd still apparently hadn’t heard her.

“SYD!" she screamed.

Startled, he looked her way.

Beginning to run back, she yelled, “Get your ass out of there! It’s preparing something big!”

Comprehension gripped his features as the barioth’s glow intensified and he backpedaled fearfully, already lagging far behind Rarity and Cinnamon. Snapping out of his daze, however, he wheeled around to flee, sprinting as quickly away from the enraged monster as he could.

Before Syd could get far, though, the barioth roared and took flight; with its powerful winged forelegs it propelled a ferocious gust of wind before it landed back on the ground. Though most barioths would have stopped at sending blasts of wind like that, it appeared the aberrant was far from finished. The beast’s glow intensified, causing the gales it created to warp into a tornado centered around it, churning inwardly. Snow surrounding the area rose in response to the barioth’s aura, forming itself into densely packed icicle-like projectiles before joining the swirling vortex, creating a truly terrifying storm.

Rarity watched horror stricken as Syd struggled just beyond the reach of the tornado, slowly losing ground, until he was sucked into the raging winds with a strangled yell. Tense seconds passed as Rarity and Cinnamon watched the raging winds, unsure of what to do next, when they suddenly abated; confused, they strained to see why the winds may have stopped. What Rarity saw caused her heart to stop as well.

Syd had made his way to the eye of the tornado, and the barioth had turned its attention to him. It was no longer channeling the storm; instead it was now approaching his motionless body lying a short way away. Rarity had no idea if he was still alive, but if she didn’t act now, it was guaranteed he wouldn’t be.

She threw her pack at the felyne next to her.

“Cinnamon! Take my bag, give him any potions he needs! You know I’ve got virtually everything in there, keep him alive no matter what! I’m taking that fucker down.”

Cinnamon grabbed the bag and nodded, then they both ran toward the barioth, Cinnamon breaking slowly to the side to make for Syd, and Rarity making a beeline straight for the monster.

The barioth quickly noticed her running and turned its attention to her, baring its teeth and letting loose a massive roar. The wound Rarity gave it earlier still oozed blood, and she intended to add another several wounds if she could help it. With her switch axe still in sword form and a fair amount of elemental energy charged, she stormed at the barioth fearlessly. It raked at her with a claw, but she dove under it as it swung, rolling back into a standing position before it could recover, she let loose with a volley of swings, slashing deeply into the barioth’s side.

It rounded on her, quickly spinning in an attempt to smash her with its tail, but she jumped backward, flipping out of the way before it could connect its hit. She noticed she was close to a bare rock face; she had room to run, the barioth was approaching, and she had just charged her sword to full capacity. She grinned.

As the barioth neared, she took off running toward the rock face and leaped at the slanted surface at high speed. Granted traction thanks to both her hooves and her hoofwear, she ran up the wall, gaining height until she finally pushed off hard, jumping back toward the barioth from far above. With her sword pointed down, she landed on the barioth, stabbing it in the back; it shook violently, but she held on until the shaking slowed. With her weapon firmly planted in the barioth, she activated its elemental discharge. The sword unleashed its charge, causing multiple explosions to rip across the blade and into the barioth. Rarity repeatedly unleashed charges until all were spent, leaving her switch axe humming with elemental energy.

With the switch axe emptied it reverted to axe form, pushing itself from the barioth as the blade rolled back. The barioth shuddered underneath her, trying to limp away, but there was no way she was going to let that happen. She jumped down at its head, evoking a vicious snarl from the injured creature. Before it had any chance to do anything else, she struck as hard as she could. All the elemental energy that had accumulated from the sword discharging converged onto her blade for the single strike, and with a fiery blast it cleaved through the barioth’s growling maw, finally bringing it down for good.

“Well, that was fuckin’ sweet,” a weak voice offered from behind her.

She whipped around to see Syd sitting up with Cinnamon beside him, the felyne still rummaging through Rarity’s satchel for more appropriate healing items to use.

“How do you find anything in here?" she complained. “Yeah, you can hold a lot, but finding it is another thing.”

“It’s organized chaos,” Rarity said haughtily. “I have a system, I’ll have you know. You just don’t know it.”

“Whatever. You can find him stuff, then.”

Sydreol laughed as she made her way over to Cinnamon and retrieved her bag. He motioned to the barioth. “You just going to leave your switch axe embedded in that thing’s face?”

Rarity looked back and shrugged. “It looks good there for the moment. Savor the view while I fix up your stupid ass. Next time listen the first time when I tell you to move.”

He saluted and winced from the pain of the sudden movement.

“Lesson learned.”

**********

Aerylla sipped her coffee slowly.

“So, Syd still had some sort of injury, then?” Rarity asked, absentmindedly poking at her food with her fork.

“Mhm.” Aerylla confirmed. “Barioth winds can usually send projectiles pretty fast, if hunters get hit they can get seriously wounded. The tornado created by the aberrant was strong enough to embed shrapnel into various places on his body. He’s lucky nothing hit any vital organs or blood vessels.”

“Shit.” Rarity stared at her food and continued poking it.

“Don’t worry about it, Rarity. You guys got him back here, I got everything out, and he’s fine. This is all par for the course in the life of a hunter. Sometimes you really get hurt out there, and there’s a very real chance of dying. He knows that, Lycadran knows that, and I’m sure you do, too.”

“I know, this just… drives it home? Like, you don’t really realize the danger fully until someone doesn’t come home safely? Does that make sense?”

Aerylla nodded. “It gives it more of a real feeling when the consequences follow you home. There’s a reason we don’t send all three of you on hunts together, you know.”

Rarity perked up slightly. “I was kind of wondering about that, actually. It would make sense for all of us to take out an aberrant together, considering the danger.”

“It certainly would make it easier for you,” Aerylla agreed. “But, if a monster happened to come into the village while you were all away…”

“Oh.” Rarity’s eyes widened. “Oh my. I hadn’t really thought about that.”

“Those monsters aren’t just dangerous out there. They’re dangerous everywhere, and they can go anywhere they please. Quite often they cross paths with our trade routes, or main roads to other villages, or people have just encountered them doing whatever it is they were doing out where they were. That makes the danger real everywhere.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“I know you didn’t, and I’m not mad at you or anything,” Aerylla calmly sipped her coffee again. “I just figured you might not have considered that perspective, and it’s a good one for a hunter to know.”

Rarity quietly nodded in contemplation.

“Finally! Glad I found you!” a voice shouted, breaking the calm silence.

“Cyradel? What’s got you so excited?” Aerylla queried.

“Rarity!" she said spastically. “I need Rarity!”

“Well, you’ve got her,” Rarity said crossly. “So what is it?”

“I found a connection!”

“You did?” Aerylla and Rarity gasped in unison.

“Yeah!” Cyradel could barely contain her excitement. “And it explains why you can find them, too!”

“Well, out with it, Cyr!” Rarity exclaimed impatiently.

“So, I noticed that all of the monsters we brought back had extensive scarring in random places on their hides. It seemed odd, but at first glance nothing seemed out of the ordinary about the scars, other than the fact that it was a big coincidence they all had them. But then I took tissue samples from them. I had to look really closely, it was almost impossible to tell, but under magnification I found tiny fragments of machalite ore embedded in their tissue. Like, everywhere. All of them, wherever the scarring was, they had tiny machalite fragments peppered everywhere. So, you’ve been able to track the aberrants because they’ve literally had machalite tracking signals on them.” Cyradel beamed proudly at her discovery.

Both Rarity and Aerylla stared at her agape.

“That’s amazing!” Rarity applauded giddily. ”So, what does that mean?”

“Huh?” Cyradel looked confused.

“Does that explain how they’re so powerful?” Rarity asked.

“Uh… No…” Cyradel admitted.

“How did the machalite get there? Any idea?” Aerylla looked hopeful.

“Um… N-Not yet…” Cyradel stammered. “I’m still working on that. But I wanted to make sure you guys knew that I made progress!" She looked slightly deflated.

Rarity quickly picked up on her response. “And you did a great job, Cyr! I’m sure we’ll figure something out soon, just keep researching, and we’ll keep hunting, and something will turn up!”

Cyradel brightened. “Thanks! I know that I’m going to-“

“Rarity! We need you fast!” Faan ran up, clearly out of breath.

“What’s going on?” Rarity asked in alarm.

“We’ve had reports of an odogaron attacking people along a main road that goes close to the caverns. From how aggressive it is, it’s probably an aberrant, and it’s currently got some people stuck off the road. They’re not being actively attacked, but they can’t move from where they are without getting too close to where the monster patrols. If they try to leave, they have a good chance of running into it.”

Rarity nodded. “Alright, I can take it on.”

Aerylla sucked in a breath of air. “Rarity, you need to be really careful. odogarons are extremely dangerous. They can give people wounds that bleed extensively, and they’re insanely fast and agile. I can only imagine what an aberrant one would be like.”

“We can’t just leave the people stranded, though,” Rarity sympathized. “They can’t hold out there forever, and if they leave whatever hiding place they found, that thing will rip them to shreds. We can take it out.”

Aerylla eyed her warily. “You guys had better stay safe.”

“Of course.” Rarity replied matter-of-factly. “Has anyone seen Syd?”

“I saw him talking with Leonis on my way over here, actually,” Faan said. “They looked kinda agitated. No idea why, but I was in a bit of a hurry, for obvious reasons.”

“Right, well, where were they?” Rarity asked. “I’d better go find-“

“Rarity!” Sydreol shouted, running up to the now very crowded canteen.

“DAMMIT! DOES ANYBODY NOT NEED ME TODAY?” Rarity yelled.

“I don’t need you, fuckwad!” Reneris shouted from her smithy down the road.

“Thank you Renny, I needed that!” Rarity shouted back.

“Anytime! Go fuck yourself!” Reneris shouted merrily, waving her hammer before going back to work without another word.

Rarity breathed deeply. “At least it’s you, Syd, I needed to find you anyway. What’s up?”

“Bad news, and we need your help.” Sydreol explained. “There’s a glavenus that’s been spotted along a trade route outside the village, and there’s a caravan due to be coming any day now. It doesn’t seem to be an aberrant, at least, from what they can tell, but those things are nothing to be trifled with. They’re damn vicious.” He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. “To be honest, Lycadran is probably going to be taking it on, but you know how she is, like hell if she’s going to come and ask you for help.”

Rarity exchanged a serious look with Aerylla.

“Shit.”

“Um, did I miss something?” Sydreol looked back and forth at all the faces now staring at him.

Rarity rubbed her forehead. “You came at the worst possible time, Syd. We now have two monsters that need to be dealt with immediately.”

“Oh.” Sydreol stood speechless for a moment. “Shit.”

“Yes, quite the ‘oh shit’ moment.” Cyradel agreed. “So, what are you guys going to do?”

“You said the glavenus wasn’t an aberrant?” Rarity asked.

“Probably,” Syd corrected. “We don’t know for sure, but it doesn’t seem to be acting like one. I mean, we still have to deal with normal ones too, you know.”

“Right,” Rarity nodded. She closed her eyes and sat silently for a moment, apparently deep in thought.

“You’d better not be thinking what I think you’re thinking.” Aerylla warned.

“Well, I probably am,” Rarity said, opening her eyes. “So, sorry.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“What are you talking about?” Faan asked, concern edging her voice.

“Taking the only option we have,” Rarity said simply. “Lycadran takes the glavenus, Sydreol defends here, and I take the odogaron.”

Silence reigned for several long seconds.

“By yourself?” Cyradel nearly shouted. “Are you insane?”

“Probably,” Rarity admitted. “I mean, I won’t be alone; Cinnamon will come with me, I’m sure. I hope.”

“Regardless! One hunter against an aberrant odogaron is borderline suicide!” Cyradel argued.

Faan looked about ready to cry. “I was coming to get you for a group mission! I didn’t want to send you out alone! No, no, no, no, no! You can’t go out solo on this one!”

Rarity sighed heavily. “Syd, can you back me up, here?”

“I can say that we have a duty to keep everyone safe. I can also say that you’re batshit crazy and I think your plan sucks ass. But you’re right, it’s the only one we have right now, so unless someone else decides to become an insanely talented hunter right now, or can figure out how to put off one of these missions, that’s what we have to go with. I can also say, though,” he addressed the rest of the group, “after watching her fight that barioth, I think she can pull it off. Or at least not get killed.”

“You’d better be right.” Aerylla narrowed her eyes, then turned to Rarity. “I expect you home, in one piece, still alive. That’s an order.”

Rarity gulped. “Got it.”

14. Bad Habits

“Ugh, it stinks around here.”

“Well, we are next to the mire caverns,” Cinnamon said. “They have kind of a sulfurous smell even without the fact that most things that die in there tend to just rot rather than get eaten. Odogarons kill more from aggression than they do hunger.”

“So, it lives in the caves then?”

“They usually spend most of their time there, yeah.”

“Well, this one isn’t.” Rarity pulsed her horn and stared ahead at the road from their hidden vantage point. “This one is skulking about in the shadows. Cinnamon, it knows those people are there. It’s hiding and waiting for them to come out. It’s stalking them.” She shuddered. “And they probably have no idea it’s out there, or that we’re here to help. They’re just an inch away from death and they don’t know it. We have to get in there before someone decides to try to go out.”

Cinnamon sighed. “I know. This is just… well, this is just downright scary.”

“I know. This is the strongest thing we’ve faced, and we’re going it alone. Remember the plan?”

Cinnamon nodded. “You pull its attention, I get the people out as soon as I can, we try to take it down for Cyr, we run our asses off if things go bad and pray we get away.”

“You got it.” Rarity said seriously.

Cinnamon’s ear flicked nervously. “Good luck, to both of us. We’ll need it.”

Rarity nodded solemnly. “Good luck, Cinnamon.” May Celestia save us both.

She drank her demondrug and armorskin potions, and with grim determination she stepped into the open road, drawing her dual blades as she did so. Agile monsters called for agile weapons.

Almost instantly she heard a low growling noise emanating from the shadows far ahead of her. She had no idea what odogarons looked like, but nothing she could have imagined would have prepared her for the beast that emerged, snarling and slavering at her. The massive monster appeared like a cross between a dog and a lizard, and had double rows of claws on its feet; it was covered in blood red scales, and had jaws filled with enormous dagger-like teeth. What terrified Rarity most, however, was that when it appeared, it was already glowing a fierce green.

She could hear the gasps and frightened chatter coming from the small enclave where the people had been trapped; no doubt they were terrified that the monster had been so close by.

I don’t know if we’ll be taking this thing down. But Celestia dammit, I’m gonna try.

“C’mon, ugly!" she yelled. “Ever eaten a unicorn before? Come and try!" she brandished her blades menacingly and readied herself, carefully watching the odogaron approach slowly, preparing to strike. Suddenly it lunged for her, snapping its jaws to try and catch her, but she had anticipated its strike and rolled to the side, quickly recovering and delivering several fast slashes before jumping away and running around to its rear, delivering several more slashes, this time to its tail, before once again jumping away. She resumed a ready stance, and the odogaron whipped around, slashing at her with its claws as it did. She jumped backward in a flip, dodging the attack, then rolled forward under another swipe from its claws to deliver several stabs to its chest before dashing away before it could react.

From the corner of her eye she could see Cinnamon leading the people away from the hideaway and felt a wave of relief knowing that they were safe. However, her relief was short lived as a heavy blow caught her in her midsection; her half-second of inattention was all it took for the odogaron to spin around and catch her with its tail, delivering a crushing blow and sending her rolling across the ground. Writhing in pain, she quickly grabbed a potion and drank it, feeling the pain ebb away as she did. She sprang to her hooves and glared at the monster, fury burning in her eyes.

She gripped her blades, remembering a key technique unique to dual blades. She focused and let the fury consume her, feeling the burning, seething anger become a tangible energy, flowing into her blades. Her eyes glowed brightly with the energy, and she gave off a hazy red aura of her own. With a yell, she dashed forward, jumping over the gnashing jaws of the odogaron and planting her hooves on its head, she crouched down and slammed her blades between its shoulders several times before the beast threw her off, thrashing about in pain. She landed on the ground and immediately ran back in, plunging her blades into its side, feeling the rush of blood pouring back out over her hands.

The monster twisted around with blinding speed, knocking her away, her own aura faltered at the blow. The odogaron snaked back around to slash at her with its claws once again; she dodged the attack, but the monster continued its attack with lightning-fast succession. Though Rarity could dodge one, there was no possible way she could dodge them all. The claws of the odogaron ripped through her flesh, leaving large gashes in her leg and side.

Screaming in pain, she moved quickly to the place where the people had been hiding before, out of the reach of the odogaron. She collapsed on the ground, blood running freely from her wounds. She instantly grabbed both a potion and a sushifish from pockets in her armor; she had them stored in easily accessible locations for exactly this reason. She took them both immediately; the potion began to heal her regular wounds, but with horror she watched as her bleeding wounds began glowing green.

No. It can’t be. That can’t be what its aberrant abilities can do…

She grabbed another sushifish and ate it. Her wounds glowed an even brighter green and continued to bleed.

“FUCK! CINNAMON! I NEED YOU! PLEASE!”

Rarity continued to scream with all her might, until she eventually lost consciousness.

**********

It was dark. Rarity’s eyes fluttered open momentarily, but she found it useless and closed them again. She was laying down on a bed, presumably in Miliesu. Cinnamon… I love you, you angel. Her ears picked up hushed snippets of conversation.

“…she’ll make it?”

“…lot of blood loss…”

“…lucky you were able to get to her…”

“…lucky for people…”

She stopped trying to listen, nothing was making any sense, and it was making her head hurt. The pain throbbed, pounding in her temples, making her wince with every pulse. She tried to move but was unable, still feeling extremely weak. She was reminded of the last time she was here and chuckled inwardly. I need to stop bleeding out. It’s becoming a bad habit.

She smacked her lips in discomfort. The blood loss had left her dehydrated, and her lips were dry and cracked; her mouth was parched, and her throat was scratchy and hoarse.

She coughed loudly.

There was a loud commotion outside, followed by a cacophony of footsteps. Multiple people poured into the room, led by Cinnamon, whom Aerylla had to catch to prevent from physically jumping onto Rarity in a hug.

“I told you, she’s going to be extremely weak!” Aerylla scolded.

“I know!” Cinnamon mewled. “I just… I thought she was going to die…”

“I know, and I understand, but she’s not, so don’t cause her pain right now, ok?”

“What… happened?” Rarity croaked.

All eyes fell on Cinnamon, and silence filled the room. She tapped her paws together nervously at the attention and approached the bedside.

“When I first heard you scream, I saw you limp away after the odogaron had attacked you.” She swallowed hard. “You left a trail of blood behind you. I saw you go into the hideaway, and I knew you were going to be trapped. The odogaron followed you and waited by the opening. I knew I was going to need to act fast or you would die, especially after you screamed out like you did.

“The people that we saved had been traveling with a cart; that was crucial, we quickly decided to use that to carry you back. I keep traps and bombs in my pack, like the flash bomb I used on the barioth. While the odogaron was watching for you, I set up a pitfall trap behind it, then attacked it and led it into the trap. Scary as hell, I’ll tell you that.” She shuddered, her fur standing on end.

“While it was trapped, we rushed in and loaded you onto the cart, then rushed back out. Obviously you were unconscious by then, and we saw the gashes that the monster was keeping open somehow. As we were running past it, it managed to get out of the trap; we just about died from fright let alone having it kill us. I threw a flash bomb at it and hit it dead in the face, and it went nuts. I guess living in caves makes it even more sensitive to light than normal, but it was down for the count long enough for us to get away. And the farther we got from it, the less green light there was on your wounds, and they started to close up. I guess the sushifish and potions were still active enough in your system to work as long as that thing wasn’t there to inhibit them.” She took a deep breath.

“The rest is Aerylla saving you like last time. You almost died from massive blood loss, she gave you fluids, and now it looks like you’ll make a full recovery!”

Aerylla slapped Cinnamon on the back of the head. “Thanks for making my contribution sound like an afterthought!" she chided jokingly.

“Sorry!” Cinnamon apologized. “I don’t know what to say about what you did!”

“Eh, that about sums it up, really.” Aerylla shrugged. She walked over to Rarity and smiled. “Seeing you wake up means that you’ll recover fine. We were really worried for a while, you were even worse off than you were the first time you got here; that odogaron did a real number on you. You’re lucky that Cinnamon was able to get you when she did.”

Rarity beckoned Cinnamon over weakly, then gave her a light hug and a kiss on the forehead. “Thank you,” she whispered hoarsely.

“Just… get better, and don’t do this again!” Cinnamon said in a choked voice. “I don’t like hauling your lifeless body back home!”

“I don’t like it, either,” Rarity smiled. “But we do have jobs to do, and if I have to put myself in danger to save lives, I’ll do it. So if it happens again, know that I did it willingly. Okay?”

“Okay.” Cinnamon sniffled. “But dammit, try not to!”

“Okay! Okay! It’s not like I’m trying to get myself killed, you know.” Rarity closed her eyes.

“Alright,” Aerylla cut in. “I think it’s time we let her rest a bit longer. Rarity, I’m putting a drink next to your bed, it should help with the dry throat and cough. Try to get some more rest, you’ll be feeling better in no time, okay?”

“Mhm.” Rarity mumbled, already half asleep.

Her friends filed out, leaving her to recover, and all was dark again.

**********

“So, Cyradel wanted to talk to you?”

Cinnamon walked beside Rarity as she made her way to the academy. She had been out of the clinic for a few weeks and had completely recovered, though the odogaron had left her with lasting scars. She was thankful they weren’t very visible under her fur, but the disruption in fur growth was still prominent enough to notice. Still, even though they were scars, she was proud of them; she had earned them risking her life for others, and challenged a monster face to face that few would have dared to fight.

“Yeah, Cyr said she wanted me to help her update the hunter’s guide with all the info I know about the aberrants. Anything about their behavior, their auras, their abilities, she wants to record, and I’m the only one that’s fought all of them. And so far I haven’t had the chance to formally sit down with her and go over everything. So, I guess now is the time.”

“Bleh, sounds boring.”

“Not really, I get to relive some pretty intense battles with her. If there’s anything I’m not looking forward to, it’s that nasty coffee and musty paper smell.”

Cinnamon laughed. “I can understand that, that smell makes my whiskers curl, it’s so strong. You’re on your own in there.”

Rarity stuck out her tongue. “Thanks for your support.”

“Hey, don’t blame me, I can’t stand that smell. It’s horrible, it even makes my fur stink all day. Just going in there would make me need to take like five showers to get rid of the smell.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

They reached the door.

“Uh, yeah…” Cinnamon stepped back, wary of the look in Rarity’s eye. “So, I’ll be seeing you later, then…”

“Oh, are you sure you won’t join me?” Rarity said with a devilish sparkle in her eye and a smirk on her face. Her horn lit up and Cinnamon was enveloped in a blue aura, easily lifted off the ground with a shrieking mewl.

“Rowrity! Put me down! Don’t you dare!” The felyne struggled furiously in the magic field as Rarity drew her closer to the door, before pulling her back away from the door and close to her instead. She chuckled as Cinnamon calmed down somewhat and looked at her with a scowl.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” She kissed Cinnamon on the forehead. “I’d never do something like that to you, though it was a fun prank to pull, I’ll admit.”

“You suck.”

Rarity laughed, releasing Cinnamon from her magic. “I suppose so. Joking aside, I do need to go see Cyr. I’ll catch up with you later, ok?”

“Alright,” Cinnamon shot her a parting glare, “but you owe me a drink for that prank.”

“Deal.” Rarity agreed with a grin, before turning and heading through the doors.

The smell hit her immediately, and she found herself instantly regretting her prank on Cinnamon; she had forgotten just how powerful the aroma was, and now that it had hit her senses she remembered just how horrible it could be. She made a mental note to buy Cinnamon the most expensive drink she could find.

She wound her way down the corridors once again, making her way to the heavily labeled door of Cyradel, pushing her way inside after a quick knock.

“Hey, Cyr! You wanted to update your files?”

Cyradel peered over her books, then grabbed a folder. Her eyes looked tired and worn, but she remained cheerful.

“Thanks for coming, Rares. I’ve been running myself ragged trying to come up with any new information about the aberrants and I’ve gotten jack shit, so I figured I’d at least update everything with all the information you’ve gathered before I call it quits for a while and pass out.”

“Wait… you mean to tell me you haven’t been taking breaks this whole time?” Rarity asked incredulously.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Cyradel admitted. “Work, home, sleep, repeat, though those second and third things are kind of optional sometimes.”

“What the hell, Cyr?” Rarity raised her voice. “Your work is important, but your health is more important! We need you! And if you aren’t in good health, then everyone’s in trouble, because nobody will know what the hell is going on!!”

“I know! But I have this drive to know what’s happening, and I want to crack this mystery. And until I do, it’s going to drive me nuts. But you heard me, after we’re done, I’m taking a break. I need it. So let’s get this over with, ok? Lecture done, I know it already.”

Rarity calmed down. “Fair enough. Just let me know what you want.”

**********

“And… done!” Cyradel made a flourishing mark with her pen and set down her notebook with finality. “And with that, I’m officially done with this shit for a few days, I’m taking a break.”

“Good for you, Cyr!” Rarity cheered. “You deserve a vacation after all the research you’ve done for us.”

“Thanks.” Cyradel yawned widely as they made their way to the door, extinguishing the lamps as they went. “I don’t think I’ve had a proper day off since…” Cyradel went silent and stopped moving.

“Cyr?” Rarity looked back, having walked several steps ahead already. “What’s going on?" her gaze fell on her friend, who stood transfixed, staring at her coffee set that they had just passed. The set was emitting a faint, blue glow.

“Rarity…” Cyradel said in a hushed tone, “keep walking.”

Confused, Rarity continued on, hearing the sharp sound of Cyradel gasping as she did so. She stopped quickly and turned around. The coffee set was barely glowing at all, now.

“Come back this way, please…” Cyradel said in a whisper.

Rarity slowly walked back toward her friend, and watched as the set brightened with each step she took. By the time she reached Cyradel standing next to it, the set shone as bright as the lamps.

“What the hell…?” Cyradel whispered, her mind obviously working furiously to decipher this new puzzle.

“Are… are you ok, Cyr?” Rarity asked hesitantly.

“…Yes and no.” Cyradel replied cryptically. “I have something brand new to consider, and I’m probably not going to sleep for days.”

“Shit.”

“Precisely.” Cyradel looked at Rarity apologetically. “I realize this is going to be really shitty to hear, but I’m probably going to be coming to ask you questions or get you to come back here constantly in the foreseeable future. If this thing reacts to you, then this is a huge breakthrough and I’m going to have questions eventually. Once I think some up.”

“That’s not a problem,” Rarity reassured her. “I completely understand. Just don’t wake me up in the middle of the night or something or I’ll be pissed. Deal?”

“I can’t promise anything.” Cyradel joked.

Rarity gave her a hard stare.

“Kidding! Kidding!" she held up her hands defensively. “I won’t wake you up!”

“Okay.” Rarity relented begrudgingly.

“…probably.” Cyradel mumbled under her breath.

Rarity’s ears twitched. “What was that?”

“Nothing!” Cyradel smiled brightly. “I was just thinking that I’m still going to head home. I can think there. No sense sitting here to think, right? Right.”

Rarity gave her a genuine smile. “There’s a good idea. Rest a little, maybe some sleep will clear your mind and help you think of something a bit easier, right?”

“Oh, not sleep. But I can at least be at home. It’s more comfortable.”

Rarity let out a long, drawn out sigh. “Whatever. I hope you get some sleep at some point. You need it. When was the last time you got a good night’s sleep, anyway?”

Cyradel cocked her head to the side and put her finger to her chin in thought. “I dunno… a couple weeks ago? More? It all blurs together.”

Rarity’s jaw dropped. “Weeks? How can you possibly still be walking around?”

Cyradel rolled her eyes. “Duh. Why do you think this place smells like a coffee bomb exploded?”

**********

“This round’s on me, you got that?” Sydreol announced loudly.

“We all heard you, the thirst free times,” Cinnamon swayed slightly. “Fang you vermuch, but also can you be a teensy bit quiet? My ears hurt from the loud.”

Sydreol held up a hand in apology and bowed. “Sorry, m’lady, shan’t happen again.” He said in a very subdued tone.

“You talk funny when you’re drunk,” Rarity tittered. “You weren’t thish shmashed lasht time.”

“Eh, sometimes you want less, sometimes you want more,” Sydreol shrugged. “Everybody responds different anyhoo, when, they’re… you know…” he stopped speaking for a moment, losing focus as if to prove his point. “Rarity! Last time you were telling us about some weird shit. You need to finish your story!”

She stared back at him blankly. “What the fffshit wash I talking about?”

Reneris threw an empty cup at Sydreol, hitting him in the head. “You… can’t just ask her that… dumbass,” she drawled. “She was… like, barely coherent, last time… fuck if she’d know. At least tell her…” she shook her head to clear her thoughts, “fuckin’ shit. Tell her what she was talkin’ about before throwin’ that at her.”

Rarity nodded with finality, though a little too overdramatically, causing her mane to whip around comically. “Thash right. Dumbash.”

Sydreol rubbed his head. “Sorry. You were talking about some shit with princesses moving the sun and moon and crazy shit! I thought you were like taking nitroshrooms or something, coming up with something like that.”

“Syd, shut it up with the loud!” Cinnamon cried with her head on the table, paws over her ears.

“Sorry!" he whispered.

“Oh, that,” Rarity said, oblivious to anything else going on. “Yeah, thash Prinshesh Sheleshtia that movesh our shun, and Prinshesh Luna that movesh the moon. They’ve been around for thouuuuuuushandsh of yearsh. They don’t look like it though, they shtill look like young maresh in their prime. Fuck if I know how they do it.”

“So, they’re not gods, just super powerful, then?” Reneris asked.

“Yeah, they’re called alicornsh. They have both unicorn hornsh and pegashushush wingsh, and the magicsh of both. My friend Twilight ish an alicorn, too, but she doeshn’t do the shun or moon shit. She doesh everything elsh.”

“What do you mean by everything else?” Sydreol whispered, still looking at Cinnamon.

“Like, she doesh what she wantsh. Shesh, like, the embodiment of magic in our world, sho she’sh shuper powerful. She’sh alsho a bit obsheshive, and has huge anxshiety isshuesh. Sho, it can be kind of… shtreshful with her. She’sh been pulling her mane out reshently with all the weird shtuff that shtarted up.”

“What kind of weird stuff? Sounds to me like… stuff there is already pretty weird.” Reneris scoffed.

“Like, all of a shudden we’ve had treesh and shtuff get pulled out of the ground for like ten shecondsh, then they jusht drop back down. Weird windsh. Weird lightning. Wildfiresh shtarting in the middle of nowhere with no ignition shoursh. We even had a sholar flare that wash unexshplained.” Rarity stopped, noticing that everybody in the room was dead silent and staring at her with unblinking eyes. “Um, what?" she looked around and down at herself. “Did I shpill on myshelf or shomething?”

Sydreol slowly turned to Reneris. “You don’t think…?”

She shrugged. “Fuck if I know, I ain’t a scientist or a hunter.”

“Cinnamon?” Sydreol asked. “You know where I’m going with this, right?”

“Sounds like an ibushi and a teostra pissing match,” she said.

“Hell yes! I knew I was right!”

“Dammit Syd, the loud!”

“Sorry!”

Rarity stared at them. “I’m shorry, what are you guysh talking about?”

Sydreol turned back to her. “Well, no clue what it would mean in your world, but if that shit was going on here, it would be because of an ibushi and a teostra having a turf war. They’re some high end monsters in our world. Those are some signature abilities of theirs. Well, except a solar flare. Unless the teostra somehow threw an explosion in your sun. I don’t know. Hell, it could happen, I guess. If anything, I think this is at least worth telling Cyr.”

Rarity nodded. “I’ll let her know nexsht time I shee her at her lab. She shaid she’sh going home, sho I hope she’sh shleeping and I don’t want to wake her up.”

Sydreol snorted. “Sleeping? Cyr? Her bloodstream is ninety percent caffeine, good luck getting her to sleep.”

Rarity yawned. “Maybe we should take her out drinking with ush. Shure makesh me shleepy.”

“Heh, yeah, I hear yeh there.” Reneris yawned in response.

“Alright all, I think I’m done for the night.” Rarity announced. She held her arms up and out like a small child. “Shyd! Carry me!”

“Fuck you! I ain’t carrying you home!" he held up both middle fingers to her.

She sniffled and gave him her best teary-eyed pout. “You mean you’re going to make me shtumble home all by myshelf sho I can fall and get hurt?”

“Dammit… fine!" he slammed his mug down on the table, quickly turning Rarity’s pout into a beaming smile. She held her arms out once again. “You owe me!" he said grumpily.

“FOR FUCK’S SAKE, SYD, SHUT IT UP WITH THE LOUD!”

“Sorry!”

16. Well, Hi Again

“So, what do you think we might find around here?” Rarity asked in an attempt to break the awkward silence that had plagued their entire expedition so far.

“Hell if I know.” Lycadran said curtly. “What part of ‘unknown origin’ confused you? It means we don’t know anything about it.”

“Ok, fine. Just thought you might have your own ideas. Guess you don’t have a clue. From how forceful you were just now, I guess I can just safely assume from now on that’s usually the case.” Rarity responded dryly.

Lycadran said nothing, but glared at her angrily.

“Rowrity, are there any aberrants around here?” Cinnamon interjected.

Rarity pulsed her horn a few times while they had paused. “The coast is clear, no aberrants in the vicinity for now.”

They moved on, pressing through the forest, stopping occasionally to check for monsters and verify their surroundings. The forest met a mountainous rise on its border, and the group passed through the forest keeping close to the mountainside as they went.

“Hold on.”

Rarity paused for a moment as they walked.

“Is it an aberrant?” Lycadran pressed.

“No, I didn’t even check… I’m just… feeling something. Something in the air is different, it feels… charged somehow.”

“I don’t feel anything.” Lycadran said skeptically.

“Me neither.” Cinnamon said, looking at herself. “Am I supposed to feel something?”

“I don’t know… I feel something… in my horn? Magic?” Rarity said in confusion. “Why?”

She pulsed her horn.

“Tch!" she gasped through clenched teeth and instantly clutched her head in searing pain.

“What is it?” Cinnamon asked in worry.

“I… I don’t know,” Rarity gasped through waves of pain. “I sent out a pulse and got such a massive feedback loop of magic that it felt like it was going to blow my brains out. I’m not doing that again around here.”

“Why would it do that, though?” Lycadran asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve never had that happen before,” Rarity said, looking around. She squinted. “Wait, do you see light up ahead?" she pointed to a cluster of rocks far from them along the base of the mountainside.

Lycadran followed her direction. “Actually, I do,” she said, impressed. “Let’s go, but we’re going to have to keep our eyes open. If you can’t check for monsters, we’re going in blind.”

They crept through the forest, watching carefully as they went. Approaching the mountain from the forest, they found that the light was coming from a decently large cave, and the cave appeared to be very newly formed; rocks were still tumbling from edges and showed signs of a recent explosion, and cracks and broken remnants were scattered everywhere.

However, the most telling piece of evidence of what happened was the thing that had led them to the cave, and was now giving off light.

There was a massive wall made up of nodes of dragonfire crystal. Large nodes of crystal, taking up almost the entire cave. And they were all shining extremely brightly. All except for a very large chunk of recently exploded crystal that now had left a crater in its absence in the wall.

Guess that explains the magic feedback. This must be the source of all the underground links to other nodes that Cyr mentioned… this thing would fuel nodes across the whole region…

“What’s that thing at the back of the cave?” Lycadran asked in a genuinely frightened tone.

Rarity was snapped out of her thoughts. “What thing?”

“Look past the crystal. There’s some wavy, colorful thing that’s shifting back and forth back there.”

Rarity stood and squinted, catching just a glimpse. She couldn’t be sure, it almost looked like… but she had to get closer, had to be sure…

She moved toward the cave. The object moved out of her sight momentarily; she had to climb up to see it. She needed to see it. She began to scale some of the rocks. She was vaguely aware of some noise behind her.

She crested the entrance of the cave, and the shimmering object came into view. She had no doubt now as to what it was, and she knew that Cyradel’s theories were all now confirmed.

She was looking at a giant dimensional rift into Equestria. A dimensional rift that had been hidden at the back of a sealed cave, feeding magic into dragonfire crystals all this time.

It was at this time that she finally heard the screams that had been coming from behind her this entire time.

“RARITY! FOR FUCK’S SAKE GET DOWN FROM THERE, THERE’S A TOBI KADACHI COMING FOR YOU!”

**********

With a panicked gasp, Rarity looked behind her just in time to see the snakelike maw of the tobi kadachi closing in toward her. She released her grip from the ridge, dropping under the beast’s bite and hitting the ground in a roll before coming to a stop.

“Shit, you idiot! You almost got yourself killed! What was so important up there?” Lycadran demanded.

“A portal back to my home, asshole!” Rarity snapped. “Now help me kill this thing!”

Lycadran’s jaw dropped, then her face steeled into determination.

“Alright, Rarity, let’s go.”

“Did… did you just call me by my actual name?”

“You’re fighting for your home. I can respect you for that. Get over it.” She unsheathed her great sword, and Rarity followed suit with her switch axe. Cinnamon scampered up beside them with her sword, and the three prepared as the tobi kadachi jumped down from the ledge, spreading its legs wide and using the membrane between to glide toward them.

It neared, then leaned back, slowing its approach and taking advantage of the oncoming winds to gain a little altitude. Then, with lightning speed, it leaned forward, rocketing toward them and landing in a flurry of claws and fangs.

They dove out of the way, Lycadran to one side, Rarity and Cinnamon to the other, narrowly avoiding its attack. It rounded on them, focusing its attention on Lycadran and swiping its tail at Rarity and Cinnamon as it did so. Rarity ducked under the tail, though Cinnamon was short enough to not have to; they began their attack, Cinnamon taking one side and Rarity, the other.

Rarity slashed with her switch axe, earning a gash in the kadachi’s leg and a swipe from its tail. She dodged once again, but as she recovered from her roll she noticed something odd. The monster had several large old wounds on its back and side, apparently from a fight with another monster. It would have to have been quite a large battle, and with an extremely aggressive monster to have left such large wounds… a memory clicked into place and she smirked. She ran back in to resume her attack.

“Cinnamon!" she yelled, swinging her switch axe at the kadachi’s tail. “Remember when we first met?”

“Yeah?” Came a delayed response as the felyne finished her own dodge and attack. She jumped away for a moment to recover. “What about it?" she dashed back into the fight.

“This is the kadachi that saved me from the anjanath!" she swung again, leaving another slash in the tail and eliciting a screech from the kadachi. She looked up toward the kadachi’s head. “Thank you, kadachi! You are trying to kill me now, though, so…”

She hacked at its tail again with all her strength, leaving a deep cut.

With a hiss, the tobi kadachi jumped in the air, spinning in a somersault to lash its tail at Lycadran, hitting her away forcefully, and as it spun it twisted its body to land facing Rarity as it came down. It hit the ground nimbly, taking no time at all to resume attacking after its jump.

Caught off guard, Rarity found herself facing the furious snake-like jaws of the tobi kadachi. Blood ran from its face from wounds inflicted by Lycadran, but that did not seem to slow it at all. It bit at her quickly, and she stumbled backward, avoiding a full bite but sustaining multiple lacerations to her arm as she backpedaled. She rolled away, and the monster swiped at her with its claws, catching her tail and slicing off half of it, leaving a jagged line of hair where her lustrous tail had been. She gasped and drank a potion as fast as she possibly could. Her arm healed, but absolutely nothing else happened.

“You son of a bitch,” she growled. “Do you have any idea how long it will take for that to grow back in?”

The tobi kadachi screeched in response, raising its own tail high in the air and shaking it back and forth quickly. It then dashed across the ground with alarming speed and ran up the trunk of a tree, where it clung tightly.

It hung off the tree, apparently only watching them, until Rarity noticed that its furry scales were beginning to glisten with sparks.

“Shit.”

Jolts of electricity could be seen dancing off the kadachi’s scales, and it started glowing a characteristic yellow.

“Dammit, it’s an aberrant now!” Cinnamon cursed. “Who knows what it can do!”

The tobi kadachi raised its tail threateningly again, shaking it rapidly, its eyes trained on Lycadran. The area darkened slightly, and they looked around in confusion. A slight movement caught Rarity’s eye, and her attention snapped to Lycadran.

“LYCADRANMOVE!" she barked immediately.

Without hesitation the hunter leaped to the side, hitting the ground hard and rolling to a stop. Moments later, with a crackling boom, there was an eruption from a miniscule and nearly imperceptible storm cloud that had formed, discharging a massive bolt of lightning straight down where Lycadran had been.

“Holy fuck, it can make lightning?" she gasped from the ground, looking back at the charred spot the bolt had left. She got to her feet and looked up at the kadachi in the tree, hissing at them and seemingly preparing for another magical bolt. She ran toward the tree and beckoned Rarity over.

“Rarity, you’re smaller and lighter than me. Get over here.” Lycadran linked her hands together and lowered herself to the ground. “I’m launching you. Knock that fucker down.”

Rarity stared for a moment, then nodded resolutely. She checked her switch axe; about half the charge was stored. That should be enough, I think. She triggered the switch and felt the weapon shift in her hands; as always, it felt exhilarating to feel the clicks and shudders as it changed form. She held her sword to the side, took a deep breath, and ran toward Lycadran. She placed her hoof in the hunter’s clasped hands and felt Lycadran heaving her upward with all her strength. Rarity pushed off as Lycadran reached as high as she could, and she soared toward the tobi kadachi.

With smooth precision she slid her sword behind the kadachi’s shoulder blade, lodging it deep behind the bone. It screeched, spasming violently under her blade, but she held fast, dangling from the handle close to the kadachi’s body. It lost its grip somewhat, skidding down the tree and scrambling with its claws to try to keep hold. Rarity pulled herself upward, holding onto her sword tightly, and activated the elemental discharge. The charge emptied, sending explosions down the blade into the kadachi, rending its left front leg from its socket and sending the beast crashing to the ground.

Rarity, having freed herself from the kadachi when its leg separated, leaped back and landed safely as the monster tumbled from the tree, watching it hit the ground in a jumble of scales and screeches. The monster righted itself, hissing ferociously, its leg hanging uselessly as it limped toward them with murderous intent. The three readied their weapons once more.

It was then that another roar filled the air; taking all by surprise, a massive form came crashing toward them.

“Anjanath!” Cinnamon shouted, darting away quickly, out of the path of the incoming monster.

The trio scattered, and it immediately became clear that they were not the intended target of the newest intruder to the area. The anjanath immediately attacked the injured tobi kadachi, grabbing it in its massive jaws and giving a crushing bite; with its already serious injuries, the kadachi stood no chance, and was soon dead, its yellow glow flickering out.

Cinnamon and Rarity looked at each other knowingly.

“Guess he had a score to settle.” Rarity said in a hushed voice. Cinnamon nodded.

However, with its nemesis defeated, the anjanath was now free to turn its attention to the other inhabitants of the area, and it turned its eyes to Rarity.

“Oh, shit.”

With a bellowing roar, it rushed toward her, missing her by only the narrowest of margins. The anjanath eventually came to a stop and turned, roaring once again as it did. However, a roar echoed in return, one that was not the anjanath’s. And it caused the anjanath to freeze in place. The roar was somewhat a mixture of a roar and a screech, and Rarity could feel a tingle of magic permeating the air. Strong magic. She watched as the anjanath looked around in confusion, backing up in fear. Something was coming, and she didn’t want to be around for it.

“Fuck, we need to move, and NOW.” Lycadran ordered.

“What’s going on?” Rarity asked.

As if in answer to her question, a tree nearby was ripped from the ground, pulled straight up into the air. It floated there for about ten seconds, then fell back to the earth with a crash. Her eyes widened.

“Shit.”

“Yes, shit. Big time shit. It’s an ibushi. I don’t know what the hell an ibushi is doing here, but we don’t want to be here with it. Let’s go!”

**********

“So, let me get this straight,” Cyradel massaged the bridge of her nose. “Not only did you find a gigantic deposit of magic-laden dragonfire crystal, you also found a tear in the dimension fabric that led to your home, and you could feel tangible ambient magic in the air? And while you were there, a tobi kadachi, an anjanath, and an ibushi showed up?“

Rarity nodded. “That sums it up pretty well, yes.”

She looked at Rarity, mulling her words over carefully and struggling with whether or not she wanted to say them. She decided she had to at least bring the topic up.

Rarity picked up on her unease. “Cyr, what’s wrong?”

“I just was thinking… if you found a way back home… technically, there’s nothing tying you here any more. This isn’t your world, it’s ours… so you could always-“

Rarity closed the distance between them quickly and slapped Cyradel soundly across the face.

“Ow… what the hell?”

“That was for suggesting that I would even consider leaving you! What the fuck, Cyr, I thought you’d know me better by now! I’m not ditching you, whether I’ve got a clear path home or not! This is home to me now, too, and I’m going to protect it with my life if I have to. And it sounds like I have to, so let’s get to it! So come on, get back to what you were doing, thinking of shit!”

Cyradel rubbed her painful cheek but smiled. “Thanks, Rares. I needed that. Anyway, I guess we should get back to the topic at hand - where the cave was discovered. While that area is not heavily explored, it is hardly unknown. The ecosystem of that area is not exactly conducive to large amounts of wildlife, so it is unusual for large monsters to be seen there.”

“So the magic is attracting them.” Rarity said bluntly.

“Exactly. It likely is pulling any monsters that are aberrants, which means that anjanath was probably an aberrant, too.”

“Figures. Predictable, really. So, what now?”

“We brainstorm. A lot. We can’t have monsters that powerful this close to the village. Any way to kill or drive them back…”

“More would just come in their place, though,” Rarity pointed out. “We need to find a way to neutralize the magic stored in the crystals somehow. We can kill aberrants. Stopping the creation of new aberrants and preventing the attraction of more should take priority.”

“Pfft,” Cyradel dismissed derisively. “If we knew how to do that, we would have neutralized the monsters to begin with.”

“Right…” Rarity dropped her head.

“But,” Cyradel continued, “I do agree that dealing with the source as a priority makes more sense.”

Rarity beamed.

“Getting rid of the crystals would be an obvious option, but how to do it safely is not so obvious.” Cyradel surmised. “Overloading them would cause an explosion that would probably blow the entire mountain apart, and possibly extend to the village, depending on how much energy is stored. Using physical explosives is probably just as dangerous, as it basically would just create millions of miniature magic grenades waiting to go off. Tiny shards: not dangerous. Rocks the size of your hand or head: extremely dangerous.”

“Dammit!” Rarity pounded her leg with her fist. “So what exactly do we need then?”

Cyradel’s shoulders sagged. “I guess what we need is something to safely drain magic from something? But nothing even remotely close to that exists here.”

A spark went off in Rarity’s brain. “Not here, no…”

*********

“Wait, remind me again, what the hell are we doing?” Sydreol stared at Rarity and Cinnamon as the three of them walked back toward the dragonfire cave. “By the way, what happened to your tail?”

“Shut the hell up, Syd.”

“It looks nice!" he said quickly. “Just sayin! Looks nice! Very rugged! Very outdoorsy.”

“I said shut the hell up.”

“Ok, but I still want to know what we’re doing.”

Rarity groaned.

“We’re going to the cave. When we get there, make a mad dash for the rift in the back. No matter what happens, what shows up, get in that rift.”

“Ooookay…” Sydreol drawled slowly. “And once I’m in said rift… what will I be seeing-slash-doing?”

“You will be seeing colorful ponies, hopefully. Or a draconequus, or a manticore, or hydra, or changeling, or Celestia knows what else. But if you see a big castle, head for it. If the dimension portal spit me out somewhat close to Miliesu, maybe this rift will lead somewhat close to Ponyville as well.”

“Ponyville?” Sydreol said incredulously.

“I don’t make fun of your shit, you don’t make fun of mine.” Rarity said with a deathly serious stare.

“Got it!” Sydreol quickly amended.

They neared the cave and carefully crept toward the entrance. Looking around, they didn’t see any monsters in the area, and there were no signs of the ibushi ripping up trees at the moment, either. Stealthily moving out of the brush, they quickly dashed forward, scaling the wall and slipping inside the cave. They stole to the back of the cave right up to the rift, looking around cautiously before stepping closer.

“That seemed almost too easy,” Sydreol said with a relieved sigh.

A grunt and snort from a deep, shadowed corner of the cave behind them announced that a waking creature agreed. Rising from its slumber, glittering and glistening in the light from the dragonfire crystals, an astalos peered at them in anger for awakening it. It roared fiercely before beginning to make its way toward them.

Rarity wasted no time. She grabbed both Cinnamon and Sydreol and yanked them toward the rift, using all her strength to throw them each into the shifting portal. She chanced a look back over her shoulder and saw the astalos charging her, ready to strike. With a panicked gasp, she jumped into the portal herself, praying that they weren’t going to be transported into the middle of somewhere populated, because she knew what was going to be following them.

**********

Rarity emerged onto an open, and thankfully unpopulated field, nearly crashing into the backsides of Cinnamon and Sydreol, who were both standing in awe and wonder, taking in the scenery.

She jumped up in a frenzy, pushing them as quickly as she could. “Run, you idiots! It’s following us!”

“Wait, what?” Cinnamon gasped. “The astalos?”

“Yes, the astalos! Move!”

Acting on hunter’s instinct, all three immediately split moments before the rift began swirling, then spitting out the massive astalos onto the ground. It looked around, bewildered, before bellowing a roar that echoed around the surrounding area.

Rarity’s head wheeled around at the reverberating sound, and her ears fell back at what she saw. What she had initially hoped had now become a horribly dismal reality: they had been transported relatively close to Ponyville. She could see Twilight’s castle rising in the distance, and the houses dotting the horizon were clearly visible. If she looked hard enough, she could probably see her own house from here.

Undoubtedly, with a roar like that, ponies were going to come to investigate. She prayed that nopony would get hurt. She also prayed that this was not an aberrant, but given recent events and information, she highly doubted she would be that lucky.

“Alright,” she said, unsheathing her switch axe, “if anypony comes out here, we need to make sure they don’t get hurt. They have no clue what these things will do, and have never come close to fighting anything this aggressive or dangerous.”

“Got it,” Sydreol acknowledged. “Quick note, Rares. If you can, you may want to save this thing’s wings, if you can. They’re damn beautiful, and I don’t have any. They’d be fucking sweet for your armor stuff.”

Rarity’s eyes roamed the glittering wings, reflecting green light like glass.

“When it’s stormy out, they turn rainbow-y.” He added.

Her eyes widened.

“New rule. Nobody touches the wings.”

“Complicates things, but hell, we can do it,” Cinnamon grinned. “I like a challenge anyway. And hey, we have plenty of open space!”

“That’s good!” Sydreol yelled, ‘cause these things charge, and big ugly here just got his bearings back!" he gripped his hammer tightly and watched as the astalos turned its attention his way.

Lowering its singularly horned head, the astalos began to charge at Sydreol, picking up speed as its claws dug into the soft earth. Sydreol, however, made no effort to move, but apparently dug his own feet into the earth as well.

“Um, Syd?” Rarity called. “What are you doing?”

“Not now, Rares.” He yelled back.

Realization hit her. “You’d better not be planning what I think you’re planning!" she yelled.

“Shut up, Rares!”

“It’s gaining speed, you moron, it’s too fast!”

Sydreol didn’t respond.

The astalos closed the distance to Sydreol with astounding speed, and Rarity held her breath in fear. Sydreol, however, had already sprung into action, and with his power greatly stored, swung his hammer overhead with blinding speed, catching the astalos the instant it entered the space in front of him. With a crunch its head met the ground, and the momentum it had gained carried the rest of its body up and over, rotating it in an almost comical way. It slammed into the ground, its breath heaving laboriously as it lifted its armored head from the ground.

“Whoa.” A raspy female voice punctuated the air from above, and Rarity’s heart sank into her hooves. “That… was totally awesome. But!” The air of awe vanished from the voice and accusation took its place. “Human! Other weird looking alien things! What are you, where did you come from, and what are these monsters you brought with you?”

Rarity turned, seeing with mixed emotions that all five of her friends and both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, were looking on, all in various forms of readiness for battle, if one could call Fluttershy’s anxious shaking being ready for battle.

She steeled her nerves. Now was not the time to be emotional, now was the time to give orders. She knew what this thing could do, she knew what her friends could do, and she knew why they had traveled here through the rift. She also knew that any second this astalos would be getting over having its head mashed into the ground and it would not be happy.

“Rainbow Dash!" she snapped. The pegasus gave a jolt at being called by name, clearly not expecting to be known. “Introductions later, we kill the monster first!”

“Wait a minute…!” Twilight stared, dumbfounded. She took several steps forward, ducking her head down and squinting for a better look. “Rarity? Is that you?”

Rarity looked at her crossly. “You should know! You did this to me!" she barked.

“I ain’t complainin’! Great work!” Sydreol called out.

“Shut up, Syd!" she turned to the group. “Yes, it’s me! I’ve been stuck in their world forever, explanations later. We have to kill this thing and it won’t stay down for long. Twilight, I want you, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna to nail it with whatever magic you guys have got, ok?”

“Wait a minute!” Sydreol yelled. “Celestia? Isn’t that the one you keep yelling every time you swear? Is she the one with the sun on her butt? So that’s her right there? She can move the sun? So then the other one is the one that does the moon then? Holy shit!”

Celestia’s mouth dropped open and she stared at Rarity.

“You… use my name to swear?”

Syd, I’m going to kill you.

“No! No, everypony has gotten used to using your name as… more of a reverent manner, and he means that it usually gets mixed in when I swear at monsters… like… ‘Sweet Celestia, that damned monster…’”. Rarity smiled overly widely, putting on a facade that only the most gullible would believe.

“Well, I’m glad that’s all it was, then,” Celestia happily said.

Rarity shot a scathing glance at Sydreol that told him instantly to shut up.

“Keep it short, Rowrity! It’s getting up!” Cinnamon shouted.

“Ok, fast version! AJ, kick shit at it, flat out kick it, whatever! Pinkie, use your cannon! Just use actual things that will hurt it, not food! Rainbow! Can you gather clouds and make lightning bolts-“

“Lightning won’t hurt these!” Sydreol shouted.

“Shit!”

The astalos righted itself, pulling itself up to its full height and letting loose a tremendous roar.

“Instant version! Fluttershy, stay far, far away, it will smash you to bits! If anypony gets hurt, immediately notify one of us! And nopony touches its wings!”

“Why not?” Applejack called.

“BECAUSE I WANT TO MAKE ARMOR FROM THEM SO JUST DON’T TOUCH THEM!” Rarity screamed. “NOW LET’S GO!”

“Armor?” Fluttershy squeaked.

Rarity hoisted her switch axe, ignoring anything else going on with the group of ponies now behind her. She dashed in, sliding under the wing that the astalos slammed down at her and slashed at its leg wildly, leaving cuts in its armored, plated scales, but nothing deeply wounding.

Should have brought my hammer. At least Syd has his.

She could hear the noise of battle surrounding her; usually with only the three of them, it didn’t seem particularly noisy. Loud, of course, yes, and there definitely was a lot going on, but there were sounds of battle, and then there was noise.

She could hear the fizzling crack of spells hitting scaly plating, thunderous boom of Pinkie’s cannon, and the triumphant cheers of Rainbow at how ‘bucking awesome’ everything was.

While she was underneath the astalos, Applejack happened to slide underneath as well, obviously intending to follow Rarity’s lead at attacking its leg. The two made eye contact for a short moment, then Rarity stepped aside with a brief smile.

“You know,” she said, “I think you’ll be a lot more effective on these scales than I will be. Care to take a shot?”

“You bet your fancy britches, I do,” Applejack countered. She reared back and kicked hard, sending cracks throughout the entire plate she hit; she tapped it once more with her hoof and it shattered, leaving the flesh uncovered underneath.

“All yours.” She bowed.

“Thank you kindly,” Rarity said politely. She hauled her switch axe back and swung it viciously, digging it deeply into the astalos’ leg, leaving both herself and Applejack with lines of blood splattered across them and eliciting a blood-curdling screech from the draconic monster. It flapped its wings and flailed its talons wildly, hitting both Rarity and Applejack as it did and sending them rolling.

Rarity recovered quickly, her armor having protected her from most of the injuries, but her breath hitched in her throat as she saw Applejack laying with blood seeping from her shoulder and side, her breathing shallow. She raced over, pulling out a hi-potion and making Applejack drink it.

“Gah! That stuff tastes terrible!” Applejack complained.

“Yes, well, I’ll tell Faan to work on flavor next time. Right now I just want you to not die, ok?" she looked at Applejack’s wounds, expecting them to be fully healed already. They were not. They were healing, but much slower than she would have liked. She looked around, her mind racing for options. She couldn’t leave Applejack, but she also couldn’t stop fighting or they’d all be dead soon. Her eyes landed on a yellow quivering mound.

Bingo.

She carefully picked up Applejack and rushed over.

“Fluttershy!”

The mound squeaked in surprise and fright before realizing who it was. “R-Rarity?”

“Yes, I need your help with Applejack. Can you be our medic? I have medicine, and it works wonders, but it’s healing her much more slowly than it should. I can’t just watch her. Can you keep an eye on her for me?” Rarity handed her a large amount of potions and hi-potions, along with bandages from her bag. “Just watch her, if she stops healing, give her another potion, if she needs bandages, use some.”

“Um… ok…” Fluttershy almost whispered, looking completely lost.

“Thank you! Love you lots, Fluttershy!” Rarity turned to leave, but then thought of one more thing and turned back.

“Uh, if you need to get our attention, here. Throw one of these. Then cover your ears.” She handed all her sonic bombs to Fluttershy. “I hope you don’t need them, but there’s no chance you’ll ever catch our attention without them.”

She turned and ran back into the fray, leaving a very bewildered pegasus behind her.

When she returned, the astalos was limping from its injured leg, but was still fighting strong.

“It shouldn’t charge any more,” Sydreol yelled, “but watch out! It can still send out lightning bolts, and shoot electrical beams from its tail!" he resumed attacking, focusing on its head and neck, attempting to crack its scales sufficiently enough for Rarity to do some extremely deep cutting damage.

“This fucking sucks!” Cinnamon swore. “My sword is barely doing anything on its scales, and I don’t have the power Rowrity has to punch through them!”

“Can you go help Fluttershy, Cinnamon? She’s the yellow one over there!” Rarity shouted. “One of my friends is injured, she’s healing slowly, and I think Fluttershy has no clue what to do. I gave her potions and quick instructions, but she seemed completely lost. I think she’d be forever grateful for the help.”

“On it!”

A screech drew Rarity’s attention back to the astalos, and she looked back just in time to see it throw its head forward, spewing a pair of sparks. The pair separated in opposite directions, and then both erupted into full towers of electrical energy that traveled along the ground, zigzagging erratically; contrary to what Sydreol had described, these were not lightning bolts, these were long lasting pillars. She suddenly heard a scream and the sound of an electrical zap, accompanied by the acrid smell of burning feathers, and a moment later a firm thud impacted the ground.

Please let them be okay…

Her eyes searched the ground, landing on a blue form crumpled a short way away. Dammit, Dash, of all of them, you’re supposed to be the one that can dodge lightning the best!

She rushed over, scooping up the pegasus and quickly bringing her to their now growing medic station. She deposited Rainbow wordlessly, then immediately went back to the fight with grim determination.

“Um, Rarity? Kinda running out of rocks and sticks I can shoot at this thing over here…” Pinkie called. “We are in a field, you know.”

“FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA, LET ME ATTACK THIS THING!” Rarity screamed.

Celestia beamed. Luna rolled her eyes.

Rarity pulled off her bag and threw it at Pinkie. “Here! Anything in here that says ‘bomb’ on it, shoot. Do not shoot potions. Do not shoot anywhere close to where somebody is standing or flying. DO NOT SHOOT ITS WINGS.”

“Okie dokie loki!” Pinkie smiled widely.

Rarity had almost made it back to the astalos when she heard Pinkie’s cannon fire. A moment later a massive explosion triggered underneath the astalos, knocking it sideways, earning a cheer from all around.

Shit. Wish I carried more than one of those around. Not that I keep a cannon to fire them with.

Sydreol ran up to its neck quickly, hammering as hard as he could at a place he had been working the armor plating away from.

“Rarity! Over here! I’ve got an exposed area!”

She ran as fast as her hooves could carry her to where Sydreol stood, not even slowing as she used her momentum to bury her switch axe deep into the area; she pulled it out and hacked again and again; her weapon’s charge was finally starting to fill, but at this point it probably didn’t even matter, so she kept using her axe without stopping.

As her arms began to tire slightly, she swung once more, and to her surprise, her axe bounced back at her, as if striking something hard. She inspected her weapon, ensuring it looked fine, then tried again; it once again bounced back.

What the…

“Rarity?” Twilight called out from above her, “why is it glowing?”

“OH, COME ON!” Rarity wailed. She stared at where she had been attacking it, and realized that, of all the aberrant abilities they had seen, this one was the worst yet.

Under a lime green glow, the wounds were healing and the scale plates were reforming.

“Twilight!” Rarity screamed. “I need you to go get the Staff of Sacanas! Now!”

“The Staff of…? The Storm King’s?” Twilight said in confusion. “B-but… that’s back in Canterlot… and it’s locked up…”

“I DON’T GIVE A CELESTIA FUCKING SHIT HOW YOU GET IT, WE NEED IT NOW, SO GO GET IT OR WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE DEAD, CELESTIA DAMMIT!”

Celestia blinked.

Luna laughed joyously. “Do not worry, sister! I’ve been using your name in curses for eons now! ‘Tis nothing new!”

“Told you!” Sydreol yelled.

“Syd, remember what I told you when you grabbed my ass?”

“I’ll shut up now.”

Twilight bit her lip and vanished in a flash of purple.

“Everyone else, regroup!” Rarity yelled, prompting everyone else to run to see how Applejack and Rainbow Dash were doing.

Applejack was sitting up, wounds gone but still apparently regaining her strength, while Rainbow was awake and stretching her wings, and her singed feathers were slowly turning back to their regular color, one by one.

“Is it dead?” Applejack asked.

“No.” Sydreol stated simply.

“Then why y’all not attackin’ it?" she asked in alarm.

“It’s healing itself,” Rarity said. “Any attacks now would be wasted energy. I guess now’s as good a time as any to give a quick update as to what’s going on, since the monster’s incapacitated for the moment, though Twilight will miss out and have to find out later.”

All eyes turned to her expectantly.

“I’ve been trapped in Sydreol and Cinnamon’s world for this whole time, and there are monsters like this throughout their entire world. We’ve been fighting them off, and trying to figure out a mystery that’s made them much more powerful somehow, making them glow and giving them new abilities. We figured out that it’s ultimately because of a weakened boundary between our dimensions because of our reckless magic disturbances, and our magic leaking into their world and empowering their monsters.”

“So… all of the things we’ve had happen in the past decade…” Celestia said, “the wars, the villains, the magic imbalances, the elements, everything… destabilized a dimensional boundary so much that it completely disrupted another world?”

“Yes.” Sydreol said flatly, looking her dead in the eyes.

“Oh. Oh dear.” She looked down thoughtfully. “Celestia fucking dammit, indeed.”

“Pfft…” Sydreol snorted, then laughed as hard as he could, falling to the ground. “Don’t worry about it, Princess Sunbutt Lady. You didn’t mean it, you couldn’t have known it, and I’m not exactly the most serious guy here, if Rares hasn’t clued you in yet. Nobody back home would hold it against you. In fact, they’d probably all thank you since it meant we got to meet her, so all’s ok.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow at the nickname, but smiled nonetheless. “Thank you for your consideration. We had no idea that our problems could reach past our own world. So, I assume that’s why you sent Twilight for the staff?”

Rarity nodded.

“Equestrian magic is the reason it can heal. If we can drain it while we’re fighting it, we can keep it from healing. We just found the portal back here, and I wanted to come and see if we could get the staff immediately. Our main goal is to remove the magic from a crystal deposit right next to the portal; that seems to be the source of the magic distribution to the monsters.”

“Rowrity, why are your friends taking so long to heal?” Cinnamon asked.

“Long?” Fluttershy looked at Cinnamon oddly. “Applejack was nearly dead! She had huge wounds, and they’re completely gone now! What do you mean ‘long’?”

“She means that those potions usually work in seconds.” Sydreol said, keeping a close eye on the astalos behind them. “When we use them, we could be at death’s door, and be back in the fight after probably ten or fifteen seconds, assuming we use the right one.”

“Sheesh…” Applejack mused. “Guess that’s mighty useful if you’re fightin’ beasts like them every day.”

“It definitely helps to have strong medicine,” Sydreol agreed. “Rarity would have been dead from blood loss her first day in our village if it weren’t for Cinnamon’s help getting there and our doctor getting her the appropriate medicine to immediately stop the bleeding. If it hadn’t worked instantly, she wouldn’t have lasted.”

“I have no idea why it took so much longer to heal them, though…” Rarity said. “Maybe just because of their physiology? That’d be the obvious reason, at least.”

“Whatever it is, it’s the least of our concerns right now,” Sydreol said in alarm. “Our large friend here is back in commission.”

“Dammit, Twilight! Hurry up!” Rarity yelled.

“Well, we can at least start softening it up again, Rares. C’mon!” Sydreol hauled his hammer up behind him and ran back to the astalos, with Rarity trailing behind.

Screeching, the astalos began another charge; Rarity broke off to the side, but Sydreol kept running full on, intent to meet the beast as it reached him. However, before its charge concluded, it changed its method of attack. Rather than a charge using its regrown horn, it turned to its side, slamming its enormous clawed wing down into Sydreol’s path, scoring a direct hit on him before he had any time to react to the shift in attack. With a deep guttural sound, he rebounded from the monster’s wing and slumped to the ground.

All Rarity saw was red, but it had nothing to do with blood coming from Sydreol.

Fuming, she screamed in anger, gripping her switch axe tightly and running as fast as she could toward the astalos.

“Somepony get him to Fluttershy!" she yelled. Without looking back, she ran to its still grounded wing, her hooves pounding up the glass-like scales as she climbed it like a hill toward the astalos’ back. She slammed her switch axe into its back again and again; tough scales or not, they took damage, and with enough hits, they would inevitably crack and give way.

The astalos thrashed wildly, and though she attempted to find a handhold of some kind, there were none to be found among its smooth black scales. She felt herself being flung through the air, but then she suddenly stopped.

“You know, you’re a lot heavier like this,” Rainbow grunted, holding Rarity under the arms with her hooves. Her wings still had some black feathers interspersed throughout, and it was obvious she was flying with difficulty, but she gave Rarity an approving grin. She dove back toward the astalos, placing her right back where she had been. “Give it Tartarus.”

Rarity nodded with a grin, resuming her swings and watching as scales in multiple places shattered and fell away. With satisfaction she also noticed that her sword’s charge was completely full. Oh, I am going to have fun with you, you bastard.

She felt the astalos beginning to writhe once again in an effort to shake her off, but she felt something else this time; a firm pressure enveloped her from all sides, tethering her to the monster. She looked up and saw Celestia and Luna above her, concentrating their magic on holding her in place. She resumed her attack with renewed vigor, only to be stopped moments later by a familiar voice.

“Rarity! Now what?”

Twilight hovered nearby, holding the staff with a very bewildered look on her face.

“Wonderful! Now, use it to drain all the magic out of this thing!”

Twilight looked at her blankly. “How?”

“What do you mean, ‘how’?” Rarity yelled. “You’re the princess of Celestia damned magic! Figure it out!”

Twilight looked hurt, but quickly gained an air of determination and flew down closer to the astalos. She held out the staff purposefully.

Nothing happened.

She inspected the crystal, praying there wouldn’t be any cracks or damage that would explain why it wasn’t working. There were none.

She pointed the staff back at the astalos, waving it around frantically to no avail.

“Twilight, do something!” Rarity screamed.

“I’m trying!” Twilight responded in desperation.

The astalos swung its tail in Twilight’s direction, causing her to dive out of the way. She dodged downward, yet the tail followed her; the astalos seemed intent on knocking her from the skies. She rolled back upwards, coming back toward Rarity, and the beast’s tail managed to clip her, narrowly hitting her wing, but in doing so it also hit the crystal on the Staff of Sacanas.

With a crackling hum, the crystal sparked to life while Twilight lay on the ground in pain, still holding the staff. Though the blow she took had only been a glancing one, wings were fragile, and hers was broken and mangled. She stared at the pulsing energy in the crystal, then pointed the staff at the astalos once more.

The staff crackled and sputtered, and the aura surrounding the astalos slowly funneled from the rear end of the monster and into the staff. Rarity looked backward, let out a cheer of victory, then redoubled her efforts.

With no magic to strengthen its scales, they quickly cracked under Rarity’s axe. She felt her heart racing, and felt herself pulsing with energy, as though lightning was coursing through and around her body. In a smooth motion she sliced through the last of the scales, triggered her axe to morph into its sword form, and continued her slashing without cease. Jolts of energy flowed down her arms, energizing the sword further; she slashed once more, the momentum of her swing spinning her as she finished, but as she finished her turn, she had raised her sword high, stabbing downward into the now scaleless area of the astalos’ back.

It roared in response, but she didn’t hear it over the explosions of the discharging weapon that she was triggering, all overfull from her energized state. The last of the charge finished unloading and her sword switched back to axe form, pushing its way from the astalos, and Rarity used the lift given to push herself off, jumping backwards from the beast in a flip, landing clear of its flailing limbs and tail.

She gazed around, looking to see what other openings she may have, or what the others may be attacking. What she saw were faces staring at her from every angle, agape and unbelieving.

“It’s not dead yet!" she yelled. “Be shocked later! Did anypony find or make a weak point?”

Applejack shook herself from her stupor.

“I kicked scales off its chest.”

“Good enough for me!” Rarity ran back, still glowing and giving off jolts of energy of her own, with her switch axe still full of the elemental discharge left from its overloaded state.

**********

Back closer to the medic station, a group of astonished ponies were gathered as Rarity continued her assault on the astalos.

“Are we all in agreement that nobody ever pisses Rarity off?” Applejack asked.

A chorus of ‘yeses’ answered.

**********

Rarity approached the astalos, and it was obvious the beast was already near death. Without its magic to empower it, her previous strike had been close to a deathblow, and now it feebly tried to stand and limp away as she neared. She was not going to let that happen.

It attempted to slam a wing at her, but its reactions were dulled and its speed slow; she easily avoided the attack and continued her advance. When she reached underneath the monster, it lifted a leg and slashed at her with a claw, but its movement was sluggish and off balance; she stepped to the side easily and countered with a slash of her own, severing several of the beast’s talons and eliciting a pained screech from it.

It stumbled, unable to keep its balance, and fell to the ground with a loud crash. Rarity walked over, finding the area Applejack had mentioned, and readied her axe. Focusing all her rage, all her energy, all her magic, all her strength, she pushed everything she had into her strike.

With blinding speed she struck, sinking her axe deep into the soft flesh that had been exposed, and she could feel that whatever she had stored up in her was flowing through her hands, into the axe, and out into the astalos. Every bit of stored up energy discharged at once, ripping loudly through the monster from where her axe now rested, and with one final violent shudder, the astalos ceased all movement.

18. Making Plans

“I just can’t believe all you’ve had to go through!” Fluttershy gasped. “I can’t even imagine if that had happened to me.” She shuddered involuntarily, clenching her eyes shut. “All those wild beasts, and none of them are friendly? It would be like a nightmare…”

“It definitely wasn’t a picnic.” Rarity said. “But I am glad it was me, not you. If it weren’t for my skill set and magic, I wouldn’t have survived.” She turned to Applejack. “I owe you a large amount of thanks, as well. I doubt I’d be here if not for your survival lessons, though I probably should have paid closer attention to you at the time.”

“You actually learned something from me?” Applejack asked in shock. “I figured you were just standin’ there thinkin’ about yer hair or somethin’ while I showed everypony else stuff.”

“Yes, well, I did retain a bit of your lessons, and if I hadn’t, I’d be dead by now.”

“Well, I’ll be fit to be tied. Glad to be of service, then!” Applejack smiled broadly.

“So when do we get to go kick some monster butt?” Rainbow asked excitedly.

“Pardon?” Rarity asked, startled.

“You heard me!” Rainbow said, rearing up on her hind legs and punching the air with her front hooves for emphasis. “I want to beat some monsters down with you! When are we going?”

“I was wondering that too, though in a less violent way than Rainbow,” Twilight said. “I’m sure we’re all willing to come help you deal with your monster problem; more help would be welcome, I’m sure.”

“No, you-“ Rarity attempted to respond.

“Well, what sayest thou, sister?” Luna asked, pulling everyone’s attention. Luna sat staring at Celestia with a devilish grin, and Celestia held one of her own.

“I’d say they won’t know what hit them.” Celestia replied. She looked over to a shell-shocked Rarity. “Count us in.”

“Oh no you don’t!” Twilight butted in, earning death stares from the other two princesses. “Don’t give me that, you two! You know exactly why you can’t!”

“Yes, yes, the same reason you never let us do anything, my faithful pupil,” Celestia said through gritted teeth. “We need somepony to run Equestria and raise the moon and sun and everything.”

“That’s right. Somepony needs to do it.”

“Fine! You can!” Celestia said angrily. “You seriously are just as powerful as me by now! Don’t try to deny it! And if you need extra magic power to make it easier, you have probably half the magic of Equestria saved in that staff now! So you go do it and let Luna and I live for once! Even if it gets us killed!”

Twilight paled. “Don’t be crazy! I just… couldn’t! You know exactly what you’re doing and I haven’t got a clue what to do! Plus, with the elements together, they may magnify or something there! We need to test it to see what happens! It may become super powerful!" she smiled overly wide in an attempt to be convincing.

“This is all just crazy!” Rarity yelled. “You just can’t-“

“See?” Twilight laughed triumphantly. “Rarity agrees with me!”

“No, I didn’t-“

“Celestia fucking dammit!” Celestia yelled.

Everyone stared at her.

“What? Everyone else can use my name to swear! Why can’t I? It’s my own Celestia fucking name!” Celestia said angrily.

Sydreol walked over calmly and put his arm around her neck casually.

“Too damn right, it is. Sucks to be you.”

“We shall miss thee, Tia.” Luna said.

“Fuck off, Luna.” Celestia said in a huff.

“That’s enough from all of you!” Rarity yelled, her chest heaving and her eyes clenched in frustration. A poignant silence followed her outburst, and she could feel the confused stares boring into her soul.

“You’re right,” she started, “we could use all the help we can get, and you guys would be an immense boon to our fight. And I’m extremely proud and blessed to have friends that are willing to put themselves in harm's way to help others they’ve never met. But, as appreciative as I am, none of you can come with us.”

“What?” Rainbow shrieked. “What in Equestria do you mean we’re not going? We’re coming to fight with you, and that’s final!" she asserted. “What the hay, Rares? I thought you trusted us! What, do you think we’d be in too much danger? We’ve been through enough together, you know we can hold our own!”

“Dash’s right!” Applejack said forcefully. “We’re not sittin’ here while you risk your life! We’re comin’ to help ya, Rares, whether you want it or not!”

“You’re doing no such thing!” Rarity stared at her angrily. “All of you are staying right here for now!”

“Dagnabbit girl, this ain’t no time to be all heroic and proud! I should know, of all ponies!” Applejack yelled, throwing her hat on the ground in annoyance.

“We really could use their help, Rares…” Sydreol interjected.

“Don’t you think that I know that?” Rarity snapped.

“Well why don’t you let them help us, then?”

Rarity growled in frustration. “Twilight! Why don’t you enlighten us as to why Celestia and Luna just happened to be in Ponyville together right now?”

“Because of those lizard things, we couldn’t handle them on our own, and if more showed up we’d have a major catastrophe on our… hooves…” she trailed off as she realized what she was saying.

“Mhm. Just like I thought. And if our world’s most powerful and ONLY defenders left to fight monsters in another world and more of those lizards, or say, AN ASTALOS, came through the portal without proper preparation, what would happen?”

“Untold death and destruction?” Twilight said weakly.

“You’re damn right. So you’re all keeping your fucking asses here to keep everypony safe until the rift is secured on both sides and there are safeguards in place. Trained guards. Multiple barricaded containment units surrounding it in case something comes through.”

“Those do sound like good ideas,” Celestia sounded impressed. “It seems like you’ve given this a fair amount of thought.”

“I have,” Rarity admitted. “I want to make sure everything is safe and secure for us to use.”

“Couldn’t we just try to close the rift once you’re done and you come home?” Twilight said optimistically.

Rarity fidgeted uncomfortably and looked away, unwilling to make eye contact with any of them. She went silent, and beads of sweat formed on her brow. Unfortunately, her actions said more than anything else she could have said.

“You don’t intend to come home, do you?” Twilight said slowly in dawning realization.

A cacophony of gasps and denials erupted through the group, but Rarity’s pained and guilty expression confirmed their deepest fears.

“How can you not come home?” Fluttershy stared at her with tears in her eyes. “We’ve all missed you so much, and now you’re finally here! And it’s not just us! Your family, your Ponyville friends, your Canterlot friends, your clients, everyone! It’s like you died that day, and now that you’re back, you’re just going to disappear again?" she began crying. “Why? Why won’t you stay?”

Rarity’s expression of pain intensified. “You would have to cry, wouldn’t you, Fluttershy? There’s nothing more heart crushing than watching you cry, you know. It’s complicated, though my biggest reason is simply physiological. When I got sent through the mirror portal, it changed me into a half human, half pony hybrid like you see now. But, as you can see, the rift didn’t change me back.”

Twilight nodded. “The mirror portal is different like that, it’s a special kind of portal that alters form to fit the dimension. A tear in space-time does not.”

“And, since we have no idea how the mirror portal connected to their world, and especially since I got incorrectly transferred, am I correct in assuming that I’m pretty much stuck this way?”

Twilight cringed. “Um, probably? Yes?”

Rarity sighed. “So, please don’t be offended or grossed out by this…”

“Oh Rarity, you couldn’t possibly…” Twilight began.

“I eat meat.” Rarity blurted out with her eyes closed.

There was no sound except for one small gagging cough from Fluttershy, and Rarity kept her eyes clamped shut. After several tense seconds, a small cough echoed through the room, followed by Sydreol’s voice.

“Well, that’s awkward as hell. You know, she eats meat, she doesn’t murder kittens. Cinnamon and I eat meat, too, you know.”

“Yeah, but you’re a human and a cat!” Rainbow Dash protested.

“Felyne,” Cinnamon corrected.

“And thanks to an accident, Rarity’s half human, too.”

“I really tried to avoid it,” Rarity sniffled. “I almost starved to death, and that was the only thing I had to eat that actually satisfied my hunger. Nuts, berries, and vegetables lost a lot of appeal and didn’t provide me with nearly enough energy to survive. So not only do I enjoy meat, I have to eat it to survive, and in decent quantities.”

“Decent, nothing. I’ve seen her eat, she needs huge quantities.”

“Celestia dammit, shut the hell up, Syd!” Rarity snarled. “Anyway, I can’t do that here. I literally couldn’t survive in Equestria without killing and eating animals, and that’s not something ponies would ever accept.”

“That’s true,” Celestia nodded. “Even if I explained the situation myself, I doubt many ponies would be very understanding of the situation if a half pony hybrid showed up and began killing animals to eat, even if they knew that pony was you.”

“Also, the rift won’t be closed. That means I can visit you and you can visit me, anytime! At least, as soon as our monster problem is more under control. There could even be trade between us, inter-dimensional relations and more, provided we secure routes as monster free zones.”

“Think of it, sister!” Luna said excitedly. “An entire new world we could have trade and contact with!”

Twilight gasped. “The knowledge we could share! Omigosh! Do they have schools there?”

“We have a girl there that virtually lives in her laboratory-slash-library, does that count?” Sydreol said in annoyance.

“She does? Me too!” Twilight said exuberantly.

“You can’t be serious…” he mumbled.

“She totally is,” Rarity whispered. She cleared her throat. “I think it’s vital that I keep protecting the village, as well. Our defenses there are sparse, and I’ve learned lately that if anything, my talents are just as strong in hunting now as they are in fashion. I need to keep them safe, and even if I didn’t need to stay to survive, that’s enough reason to remain in their world.”

Sydreol and Cinnamon beamed at her, and if she hadn’t known better, she would have thought she saw a tear in Syd’s eye.

“My last reason is more of a business one, and will let me regain my identity from before all this happened,” she finished. “One of the most glaringly obvious things I learned right away when I arrived in Miliesu was - no offense - they have absolutely no sense of fashion whatsoever. It’s not that they wouldn’t want it or appreciate it, but I don’t think they have anyone that can provide it, and I can fill that role. I gave the girls some of my clothes, and you should have seen how happy they were! Their expressions! Their pride in appearance, the decadence of comfort, their joie de vivre! They deserve to have that experience; Equestria has hundreds of fashionistas, but Miliesu will have nobody unless I stay.” She grinned. “Besides, Reneris’ armor is ugly as sin. I need to start a layered armor business to make it look better.”

“But you’re still going to be gone!” Pinkie wailed, her hair deflated and hanging down in sheets.

“I can still visit,” Rarity reassured her. “With the rift so close, it doesn’t take that long to reach Ponyville, after all.”

Sydreol’s head jolted at that, and he whipped his head around to face Rarity. “Hold up a minute, Rares. Why can’t you live in both places?”

“Pardon?”

“Well, seriously, think about it. You have a home here, right? And you have a home back in Miliesu. Both are close to the rift, only a walk of a couple hours there from Miliesu, and what, an hour to your pony village here? Why not live in Miliesu most of the time, but keep a second home in your pony place here and travel back for a few days at a time? Just bring food with you when you come. It’s not like it’s a huge distance to travel or anything, and then you can spend time with family and friends frequently without leaving us eith-ghhh!”

He was cut off as Rarity launched herself forward and hugged him exuberantly. “Syd, that is the most thoughtful and brilliant thing you’ve ever said! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Um, you’re welcome? Didn’t really think we were quite on hugging terms though.”

“Oh shut up, ass, it was an excited ‘you’re amazing’ hug, not because I’m attracted to you. Get over yourself.” An amused snort from behind her reminded her that she was most certainly not alone in the room. “The rest of you can take your matchmaker thoughts and stuff them where the sun doesn’t shine, too.”

“Don’t worry! I wasn’t thinking anything like that!” Twilight attempted to assure her with a devious grin. “So, you’re going to continue to live here in Ponyville occasionally, then?”

“I think so, actually,” Rarity smiled. “Considering what Syd said, I could probably stay for a few days a week. That would actually be beneficial to replenish my stock and find materials here that I can’t get in their world, as well. I definitely need to gather equipment and materials from Carousel Boutique to bring back to Miliesu; I have virtually nothing there to make things from.” She shuddered with excitement. “Oo, I just can’t wait to see the looks on everyone’s faces when I tell them I can make them whatever clothes they want! We are going to have a village-wide clothing spree, and nobody is going to pay anything. I don’t care how much fabric I have to buy here, I’m giving everyone in the village outfits for free at the start!" she rubbed her hands together in excitement.

“Heh, that’s our Rarity!” Pinkie chimed in.

“Well, now that we have that all settled.” Rarity commented, glancing back and forth among her friends, “shall we move on to dealing with the monsters caged nearby?”

Celestia’s demeanor brightened. “Could… could I block an attack from one of them?”

“I, uh, guess you could,” Rarity slowly responded. “Is there a reason you want to?”

“I don’t need to kill it or anything,” Celestia said. “I just… want to fight. Some action. I’ve sat on a throne for a thousand years with barely any involvement in anything. Can I just block it and counterattack once?”

Rarity smiled.

“Sure.”

**********

A clearing by Fluttershy’s cottage held two large cages, each surrounded by carcasses of small animals that happened to have wandered too close and ended up within reach of the jagras’ long claws.

The monsters hissed and screeched as soon as the group came into sight, and all but three of them cringed at the sound. Rarity walked up a modest way from the cages, well out of reach of the monsters within. The remainder of the group stayed a long distance away and watched her curiously but expectantly.

“So,” Rarity began, “I haven’t told you my plan for what we were going to do here on purpose.”

“Aren’t ya going to just kill one of ‘em in the cage and let the princess block the other before killin’ it?” Called Applejack.

“No.” Rarity said.

A general murmur of confusion worked its way through the small crowd.

“I want to teach you a lesson about why we are hunters. It took me a while to learn, and it’s vital to know. Can I have a brave pony come down here? Emphasis on brave.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash punched and kicked each other, both scrambling in a flurry of hooves, until both of them landed in a heap next to her.

“Good enough.”

She walked about halfway to the cage, then way off to the side. “Syd, can you come here for a second?”

“Uh, yeah?" he walked over with a shrug.

She whispered something in his ear. His eyes went wide, and he whispered something back. She simply nodded, and he muttered something under his breath.

Everyone then watched breathlessly as he walked over to the jagras cages.

He opened one of the cages.

There were multiple shrieks, the loudest of which came from the two brave ponies in a heap, which were the closest to the jagras, and which it was making a dash straight for. It started racing toward them quickly; the cage was only about a ten second run away, and Rarity was just as far away when Syd had opened it.

She met the jagras before it was halfway to Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

A quick slash of her switch axe ensured it never made it the remaining distance.

“What the hay did you do that for?” Rainbow demanded furiously as she tried to untangle herself from Applejack. “I almost had a heart attack!”

“Because,” Rarity said calmly, “killing that monster in the cage would have shown you nothing except that I learned how to kill a monster. Being a hunter isn’t about killing things. It’s about protecting things. Protecting villages. Protecting loved ones. That’s why I’m continuing to hunt right now.”

“Now you’re going to make me feel evil for wanting to fight one. Thanks.” Celestia grumbled.

“Not at all,” Rarity laughed, “that’s not to say fighting monsters can’t be exhilarating, too. We’re not doing this for sport, anyway. We do need to kill it, these are untameable and much too dangerous to allow free in Equestria. They would easily kill just about anything they came in contact with, especially ponies. We might as well take advantage of the moment to watch an attack from it and allow Princess Celestia to experience a little excitement in the process.”

“Thank you for making me feel like less of a monster myself,” Princess Celestia said, walking toward the remaining cage and positioning herself a comfortable distance away.

“Do not worry, dear sister! If it takes a chunk out of thy flank, we have plenty of cake to replenish it, and most ponies will likely not notice that anything is missing!” Luna taunted.

“Brutal.” Cinnamon shook her head.

“Shut up, Luna!” Celestia seethed as Sydreol released the jagras. It hissed, lurching forward and aiming a leaping bite at her chest. Without thought she placed a barrier in front of herself; the jagras bounced off harmlessly. Within an instant she had slashed it upwards into the air with fire, skewered it midair three times with ice, and struck it back to earth with a bolt of lightning.

The jagras stood no chance.

“Shit!” Sydreol stared at her slack-jawed. “Where was that when we were fighting the astalos?”

“What makes you think I wasn’t doing that?” Celestia asked. “You were busy doing your own thing, you didn’t see what I was doing.”

“Because if you had been, you would have immolated it instantly!" he said in frustration. “That kind of magic would have fried it!”

“I assure you, it looks far more impressive than it actually is,” Celestia said calmly.

“Huh?”

“It is very strong, yes,” she said, “far stronger than any other unicorn, but, for example, the lightning is nowhere close to actual lightning. Everything has the same properties as the original, but is more like… a watered down version, if you will.”

“Why in the world would you do that?” Sydreol asked in annoyance.

Celestia tapped her chin with a hoof. “Not so much why would we, it’s not like we have a choice. We’re weaving this magic out of thin air based on our own personal ability, and its power is limited to what we can supply over the time it takes to create it. Quick spell: small power. Long spell: bigger power. But regardless of all of that, there is still a limit to our power. Providing another push to the sun is relatively easy compared to creating energy where there was none. So, yes, I can cast powerful spells, I can do damage, but nowhere near immolate massive monster levels.”

“But then why did it look so damned impressive then? Overkill much?" he complained.

“Tell me, in what circumstances would I be using those spells?”

“Uh, fighting shit?”

“Right. Pretty intimidating, wasn’t it?”

“Oh.”

“Would you want to be fighting me after seeing that, if I hadn’t just told you what I just told you?”

“To be honest, I still don’t.”

“Good. Because I could still immolate your scrawny ass.”

Sydreol glanced over at the rest of the crowd. “You can all stand up and stop laughing now.”

**********

A very somber group gathered outside the rift as evening fell over Equestria.

“Well, pony people, it’s been… strange.” Sydreol said. “Assuming I don’t get turned into a smear on the ground by the ibushi, I’ll be sure to come back to hang out with you guys. You’re pretty cool to be around, definitely more fun than sitting around the village all day. I’ll just have to make sure to bring snacks, hay and flowers don’t sound that great to me, though your pastries are the best I’ve ever had.” He looked at Rarity and Cinnamon. “Don’t tell Zuny I said that.”

Pinkie beamed.

“I’d love to come back, too,” Cinnamon added. “This world is really peaceful and beautiful, I can imagine coming back here for every vacation I ever have again.”

“Oo! Oo! You can stay with me, kitty cat!” Pinkie hopped up and down excitedly.

“Um, Pinkie, she hates being called a cat,” Rarity pointed out.

“Oddly enough, coming from her, it doesn’t bother me,” Cinnamon said with a confused expression. “I don’t know why, it just doesn’t.”

“It’s Pinkie Pie, that’s why,” Rarity said. She turned to her Ponyville friends. “Remember, I want you all to prepare. You have no idea what or when something could be coming through this rift. Hopefully never. There is a road from the cave this rift leads to that goes to Miliesu village. Turn left out of the cave and follow the road if you need to find us, but don’t all come, only send one; I’d recommend Rainbow so she can fly. Rainbow, if you do come, only do so in dire need, and do not do any rainbooms.”

“Understood,” Rainbow saluted.

“One more thing,” Sydreol stepped forward. “From what I gather, you lot are pretty much pacifists. You seem to avoid conflict, don’t like violence, capture versus kill, so forth and so on.”

“That’s quite accurate, yes,” Celestia nodded.

Sydreol pointed at the rift. “If it comes through that, unless it talks, forget all that bullshit. These things will all kill you. Do not try to reason, do not try to capture. You kill. Do not hesitate. YOU FUCKING KILL IT. Understand?”

“We understand,” Celestia responded. “I’ll be sure to convey this order to our guard, and we’ll begin construction of barriers and defenses as well. Rest assured, we don’t want to close this rift, but even if we did, we wouldn’t know how to in the first place, so this is a matter of national security of the highest priority.”

“You can use my castle for guard housing, Princess,” Twilight offered. “I’d prefer not to have army drills going on in Ponyville as it would alarm everypony, but they can be stationed here and stay in the castle.”

“Thank you, Twilight. I’ll discuss the specifics with Shining Armor, but that will be extremely useful, I’m sure.”

“Alright, I think that about does it, then,” Rarity rubbed her arm uncomfortably. “I… really don’t want to have to say that we have to leave, but… we do.” Her eyes teared up and she ran back to her friends. “One last hug before we go! Sheesh, this is so much more uncomfortable when I’m bigger than all of you!” She awkwardly grinned with moist eyes, then stepped back toward the portal.

“Ready to go, Rowrity?” Cinnamon asked, padding up to her side and giving her hand a comforting squeeze.

“I think so, thanks,” she said, looking downward. “I hope I get to see you all soon, under more favorable conditions.”

A sniffle escaped her muzzle as she followed Sydreol and Cinnamon through the rift, and she was gone.

20. Well, That Could Have Gone Better

“Why the hell did you let Rarity and Cinnamon leave?” Lycadran screamed angrily.

“We’ve already been over this, Ly,” Sydreol hollered, rolling past the ibushi’s tail as it slammed behind him and firing several shots when he regained his footing. “A teostra invaded her home world!”

“They’ve got all kinds of magic shit there! Didn’t you say their Princess could move the sun? Why can’t she just kill it?” Lycadran retrieved her kinsect from the ibushi, gaining a red extract from it. A glow surrounded her, and she vaulted herself back into an attack.

“She can move the sun, but she can’t kill things like Rarity can!”

“You’re telling me Rarity is more dangerous than their god-princess that can move the sun?”

Sydreol reloaded his heavy bowgun with cluster rounds and prepared to launch them upward. “In terms of raw destructive force? Yeah, that about sums it up. Majorly, really. At this point she could probably destroy anything that moves in their world.”

“Well without her here, we’re fucked. And don’t you dare tell her I said that.” She paused. “Syd!” she yelled, panic creeping into her voice, “I just stabbed it, and it’s closing up! Why is it closing up?”

“What do you mean it’s closing up?” he responded anxiously.

“What else would that mean?” she yelled frantically. “It healed itself! It glowed white and healed itself!”

Sydreol paled. “Shit! Celestia fucking dammit!”

Lycadran almost dropped her glaive. “What did you say?”

“It grows on you, ok? Hang around her long enough and it grows on you!”

“Dumbass” She shook her head and dove out of the way of a blast of red energy sent hurtling from the ibushi’s mouth. “Now what? We’re double fucked, we don’t have our strongest hunter - and I swear I will kill you if you tell her I said that - and this thing can heal itself, I honestly have no clue what to do!”

“Aw, that’s sweet of you to say, Lycadran!” Rarity chimed in, dropping from Rainbow Dash’s hooves as they arrived. She smirked, seeing the features on Lycadran’s face contort at the realization that Rarity heard her. Rarity’s grin, however, was short lived; she quickly adopted a serious expression.

“So you said it is healing itself? Like the astalos was?”

“It seems like it,”

“That… is about the worst possible thing!” she emphasized.

“Uh, duh!” Rainbow chimed in. “That means it’s invincible! You’re not killing it without the staff thingy!”

Rarity stared at Rainbow. “You’re right… but we can’t bring the staff here.” She jumped to the side; the ibushi had begun summoning more shirlwinds at her feet. “Shit! I hate this thing!”

“So bring the ibushi there!” Lycadran yelled. “Do something!”

“Ugh, we can’t talk and fight at the same time!” Rarity yelled. “We need to retreat! Cinnamon, do you have any smoke bombs?”

“Of course I do, who do you think you’re talking to?” she scowled, insulted.

“Well, let ‘em fly! Everyone, make for that cave close over there as soon as it can’t see us!”

Seconds later gigantic, billowing clouds of smoke filled the area, obscuring the ibushi’s field of view; the hunters and Rainbow made a mad dash to the nearby cave, ducking deep inside and around a corner just before the monster conjured strong winds, dissipating the smoke in an instant. It bellowed in fury, searching the area in a frenzy.

“Ok, we need to figure this out, and fast,” Lycadran demanded.

“I’m working on it, ok?” Rarity snapped.

Scenarios and strategies flew through her mind, ranging from the insane to the impractical, and she buried her head in her hands. Suddenly her head shot up, but her stomach turned.

“I think I have a plan,” she announced hesitantly. “I don’t like it, but I have a plan. Rainbow, I need you to fly each of us to the portal; one of us is going to need to be a lure to draw the ibushi to the rift. We’re bringing it to Equestria.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Rainbow blurted. “First off, you can’t bring that thing to Equestria! We had enough problems with the lion thing! And number B, I’m not a ferry service to cart these guys back and forth! Or monster bait, for that matter!”

“Rainbow, we need to drain its magic with the staff! After that I plan to lure it back through the portal again, because we can’t use our potions in Equestria. As for you helping us out, I have one word for you.” Her eyes narrowed. “Charcoal.”

Rainbow gulped. “Oh, yeah… hehe, kinda… forgot already. Alright, I owe ya, I got it. So, who goes first?”

“Take Cinnamon, she can warn everyone to get ready to drain it when it comes.”

“Gotcha.”

Cinnamon gave a cheer and a hop. “Leave it to me! We’ll be ready!”

“Come straight back, we’ll have to take turns flying over, and I’m not sure which one of us will have the ibushi’s attention. Just grab us one at a time, and when the ibushi follows, that person will draw it through the portal. Once you have all of us, you can come through, too.”

“Oh, can I? Joy.”

“Oh, shut it. I know you’re raring to kick the shit out of it, too.”

“Heh, yeah… maybe a little.”

“Then take Cinnamon and go! We don’t have forever! We’ll cover you so it doesn’t chase you! Alright, Lycadran, Syd, let’s go.”

Loading a clip of pierce ammo, Rarity rushed out of the cave, immediately veering to the side to pull the ibushi’s attention away from the opening. She fired several rounds to attract its attention, instantly garnering the ire of the monster.

“Now, Rainbow!” she yelled.

The pegasus took flight with Cinnamon astride her, and the two vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.

“Shit, she’s fast,” Lycadran exclaimed.

“That’s actually about half speed for her,” Rarity commented. “If she went as fast as she could, she’d be setting off sonic booms and probably be destroying things in her wake.”

“Damn.”

A large groaning noise surrounded them; they looked around frantically to see boulders and trees being ripped up from the ground by the ibushi, and the monster began surrounding itself with them, the ibushi itself curling up in a writhing ball and hovering above them.

“Shit! Run!” Sydreol yelled. “Watch behind you, but don’t go into a cave unless you want to get entombed! It’s going to start hurling that stuff at us!”

The trio split up at a dead run, weaving in and around trees. Rarity’s hooves pounded the earth, and she glanced over her shoulder every few seconds. A crashing noise arose behind her, and she pushed herself harder, looking back to see a boulder breaking and splintering trees as it hurtled her way.

“Dammit!” she gasped, diving to the side. The boulder slammed by, smashing her legs as it passed. She screamed in agony, feeling the bones in her legs crack and fracture in multiple places. She looked down and felt a wave of nausea wash over her; one leg was bending in a way legs do not normally bend, and she could see a bone jutting out slightly from her other. The pain in her legs stabbed at her violently, and the overload to her senses caused her to vomit to her side.

Recovering from her nausea, she reached for her potions, feeling her pockets for any she could find. Her hands found empty space. Anxiety growing, she searched further pockets, but her search remained fruitless.

What the… I can’t have…

Panic began to set in. Her mind flashed back. She had already used potions earlier, for herself, Syd and Rainbow. Her hand found the shattered remains of a bottle in a pocket.

That explains another. I must have dropped my last one. Where did my bag go? I need my bag…

She started desperately searching the area nearby for her saddlebag; though the area was overgrown, she was able to see her pack through gaps in the brush a way ahead of her, apparently thrown when she dove out of the way of the boulder. She attempted to focus her magic, trying to lift the bag, but the pain in her legs flared, disrupting her concentration and producing a nauseating feedback loop; her head pounded in reciprocated pain, and she vomited again.

Ok, magic’s out for now.

Mustering her strength and suppressing her pain, she propped herself up on her elbows and began dragging herself forward slowly, inching her way toward the bag. Suddenly another crashing sound stopped her short; a tree, sent flying by the ibushi, came smashing through, landing directly in front of her and likely on top of her bag, or at least cutting off her route to it.

“Oh, come on!” she yelled in a perfect imitation of her sister.

Approaching hysteria, she whipped her head around, looking for any solution that could help her. Her eyes roamed the area, and she spotted a particular plant that looked familiar. “An herb!” she laughed crazily. “I’m saved! They make potions out of those!” Her ears picked up a faint buzzing noise behind her, near the tree, and she turned to see a beehive on the ground, knocked from the tree and broken open when it fell. “And honey! Combining them will increase the potency! Thank you Faan and your book!” She looked up, seeing the moon up above. “Thank you, Luna! You get credit for this one! Even though you’re not even in this world!” She laughed hysterically again.

Pulling herself along the ground, ignoring the agony in her legs, she made her way to the herb plant and picked it clean; next, she dragged herself along the ground to the hive, ignoring whatever stings the pesky bees gave her as she raided the hive for as much honey as she could grab. Without any fanfare, she smashed the herbs and honey together and ate them, praying that they would help as much as she hoped they would.

The mixture soothed her throat as it slid down, alleviating pain immediately in her head and spreading the relief as it reached her stomach. She watched in tearful joy as the wounds on her legs quickly healed; the bone retracting inside, her other straightening, the bones knitting themselves together, all without pain.

“I love this world’s medicine,” she mused aloud. She slowly stood, finding her strength returning and her legs just as strong as they had been before her injury. Glancing to the side to check for more oncoming oversized projectiles, she vaulted over the tree and retrieved her bag; luckily nothing seemed broken or out of place. She restocked her potion supply and was about to head back when a raspy voice halted her.

“Rares! There you are! I’ve been looking for you!”

Rainbow dove down through the trees, watching behind her cautiously.

“We gotta get goin’, and we need to get that snaky thing to follow us! Are you ready?”

“Wait, already?” Rarity stared agape. “What about Syd and Lycadran?”

“I already flew them over! That thing attacked Syd for a bit so I flew the girl over. She’s a real piece of work, by the way. Real bitchy. When I came back Syd was still fighting it, but then it just turned its attention toward where you went. It chucked a tree over in your direction, then started looking around. I took advantage of that to take Syd, then came back for you. Now here we are, so come on, let’s move!”

“Good work, Rainbow!”

Rainbow puffed out her chest. “Wasn’t easy, those guys are heavy.”

“Alright, let’s go pull an ibushi to the portal.”

“Lure patrol, away!” Rainbow said wryly.

Rarity grabbed onto Rainbow’s neck, hanging below due to her larger size, and they took flight, returning to the last place the ibushi had been seen.

It wasn’t difficult to find. With the roaring, the destruction, and the overall general noise, they found it almost immediately.

“Are you ready, Rainbow?” Rarity shouted.

“Uh, duh!”

“Keep far from it, I’m going to shoot it one handed, don’t go until I put my gun back and grab onto you again! I’ll yell go! Got it?”

“Yep!”

Hanging onto Rainbow tightly with one arm, she aimed and fired several rounds rapidly at the ibushi, striking it just behind the head.

“Come on, stupid!” she yelled. “Come and get us!”

The monster’s head snapped in their direction with a growl, and it gnashed its jaws at them, showing off the second set of jaws hidden within.

Rarity shuddered at the sight but quickly stowed her weapon and threw her other arm around Rainbow, then raised her legs to hook around Rainbow’s lower half.

“Now, Rainbow! Go!”

Rainbow balked at the positioning, but did as she was told, speeding off while taking care not to throw Rarity off.

“You know, this is kinda uncomfortable!” she complained loudly. “Were you really that scared I was going to throw you off? I’m not that inexperienced, you know!”

“It’s more that I don’t know if we’re going to need evasive maneuvers against this thing,” Rarity yelled to be heard above the wind. She peeked to the side to see the ibushi following behind them closely, its size allowing it to compete with Rainbow’s speed. Its eyes glowed red as it flew after them, and Rarity could tell something was off.

“Rainbow, I think it’s doing something!” she yelled.

“It is, trust me, I’m well aware!” Rainbow yelled back. “This thing attacks with winds, doesn’t it?”

“How did you know? Did the others tell you?”

“Hah! Of course not! Rares, I’m a pegasus! We can read air currents and pressure like it’s nothing! I can feel this thing changing pressures around me, it’s starting to make winds and tornadoes and stuff. It thinks it’s going to catch me in them, what a laugh! I can tell exactly where all of these things will be!”

As Rainbow predicted, vortices began forming before them, directly in their path, to the sides, everywhere, and Rainbow expertly dodged each and every one of them as though nothing was out of the ordinary. The cave quickly came into sight, and Rainbow made a beeline for it; a flash of red illuminated the air behind them, and a rush of superheated air knocked Rainbow from the sky. Rarity fell to the ground and rolled to her hooves as Rainbow skidded along the forest floor.

“What the hay was that?” she groaned, bringing herself up to all fours.

“We almost got blasted,” Rarity grimaced, seeing the area of destruction behind where they had been. “You ok?”

“Been better,” Rainbow replied, “but still alive.”

“Good. Get moving, then, we’re almost to the portal.”

“Uh, Rares, the dragon thing’s coming! Really fast!”

“Then get moving really fast!”

Before Rarity could react any further, the ibushi charged over her, knocking her to the ground, then it turned in her direction, preparing to attack.

“Hey! Stupid dragon thing! Over here!” Rainbow shouted angrily, attempting to draw its attention. “Get away from her! Celestia dammit, you stupid giant lizard!”

She rushed forward at its lowered head, turned and reared her legs to give a massive buck at its face; however, at the last moment, the ibushi moved its head, and Rainbow’s hooves met air rather than the monster.

Rainbow, however, did not notice the difference, and a loud crack emanated through the air as the ibushi recoiled from a harsh blow to its head.

Rarity stared from the ground at Rainbow.

“What the hell did you just do?”

“What do you mean? I kicked it.”

“No, you kicked the air. Then the air by your hooves kind of rippled, and the next thing I know, the ibushi had something explode into its face. What the hell, Rainbow!”

“I don’t know, don’t ask me! I told you this place makes me feel weird!” Rainbow shouted. She stopped to think and then grinned. “That sounds sweet, though!”

She experimentally turned and bucked her legs out as hard as she could toward the ibushi; her legs met resistance, and another loud crack echoed through the forest as they watched a small pair of rainbow colored rings appear, signaling sites of impact; the monster’s flesh rippled, and it bellowed and growled in response.

“Whoa, sweet!” Rainbow breathed. “Alright, we got it’s attention and an opening, hop back on, let’s get to the portal!”

Rainbow took to the air with Rarity grabbing hold and they shot forward; only moments later the ibushi’s tail slammed into the area they had occupied seconds earlier. The monster roared furiously, giving chase once again and following them into the gaping maw of the rift cavern.

Rainbow flew quickly directly up to the rift, both she and Rarity watching as the ibushi made its way toward them, malice in its eyes as it charged with increasing speed.

At the last moment, before the ibushi reached them, they darted inside.

**********

“You know, you two could have stayed behind to help Rowrity and Rainbow get the ibushi into the portal,” Cinnamon said crossly.

“No shit, cat,” Lycadran replied dryly. “But we’d be better off preparing these…whatevers for the ibushi.”

“For the twentieth time, we’re ponies. Ain’t that hard,” Applejack interjected in annoyance.

“I know what you are!” Lycadran snapped. “It’s just weird as fuck to say, because you’re all weird as fuck, period!”

“An’ you’re one big freakin’ ray of sunshine yourself, sugarcube. Rude as hay, foul-tempered as a bull with his nuts in a twist, an’ I’ve seen tomcats in bathtubs that’ve been happier’n you are.”

“Eh, why should I care what you think, stupid little horse thing? You’re full of shit anyway.”

Applejack’s eyes narrowed. “I’m the element of honesty here, sugarcube. I’m not one to tell lies. An’ you’re headin’ to be a mite lonesome for a long while the way you’re goin’. Ain’t nobody gonna wanna be ‘round a lemon sour as you, so ‘less you wanna grow old and die as a wrinkly old lemon alone, havin’ everyone else around ya lookin’ forward to chuckin’ your rotten old peel on the compost pile, you might wanna think twice ‘bout how you treat folks.”

Lycadran’s mouth opened, then closed again; she stood silent for a short while, then slowly turned away and rummaged through her supplies to keep busy.

“A little harsh, wasn’t that, Applejack?” Twilight asked tentatively.

“Yep, it was. Thing is, sometimes it has to be told straight up, harsh as it is, to do any good.” Applejack answered, ensuring she was loud enough to be heard.

Sydreol and Cinnamon simply exchanged glances, and Sydreol mouthed the word ‘wow’. Cinnamon nodded wholeheartedly.

Fluttershy walked over to Lycadran, looking up with a smile.

“What do you want, stupid little horse? Want to tell me to eat shit, too?”

“Oh, of course not!” Fluttershy answered with a huff. “You know, not everyone is out to get you, or make enemies, or be mean. You looked sad and upset, so I wanted to come over and see if you were ok. If you want, I could stay and keep you company and we could chat for a bit. I may not be the most interesting, but it might take your mind off things.”

Lycadran calmed down slightly at the hushed tones of Fluttershy’s voice and glanced back at the rest of the group.

“You know, that might not be a bad idea.”

She waved back at Sydreol with one finger.

“I’m going to chill over here with the nice one! You can sit over there with the shithead!”

“Ugh, she really is somethin’, ain’t she?” Applejack muttered.

“Try living next to her for your entire life,” Sydreol deadpanned.

“So, what are we really preparing for, anyway?” Pinkie cocked her head to the side. “I mean, we’re just getting out of the way and zapping it, aren’t we?”

“In a nutshell, yes,” Sydreol nodded, glancing over at Lycadran’s sulking and silent form. She wasn’t looking at them. “We don’t want it here any longer than necessary, so we don’t want to actually attack it. But, we do need to be ready to defend ourselves. This thing can create winds, hurl objects around, shoot energy balls, and just plain physically whack the shit out of you. And it’s huge as hell. So, I want you guys to be ready and watching for it to do any and all of that so you can get out of the way. Got it?”

A chorus of yeses responded.

“Alright, who’s going to be holding the staff thingy?”

“I’ll take it again,” Twilight volunteered. “I’ll fly above the portal so I can drain it from above when it comes.”

“Sounds like a plan. Everyone else, let’s clear off for when they-“

Without warning, the rift spewed out Rainbow Dash and Rarity, who crashed into Sydreol as he spoke. The remainder of the group scattered immediately, and Twilight darted upward with the staff as quickly as she could.

“It’s coming!” they managed to blurt out simultaneously, shouting over each other as they tried to scramble off Sydreol and out of the way.

“Well, fuck, thanks!” he shouted from underneath their hooves and tails, rolling away himself just as the ibushi came pouring out of the rift.

It crashed into the ground and slid along as the remainder of its body followed after it, providing a rather comical looking extremely dangerous near-calamity.

“Twilight!” Sydreol yelled. “What are you waiting for? Start draining already!”

“Oh! Right!” The alicorn adopted a sheepish expression and turned the staff on the monster under her, beginning the siphon; a large aura enveloped the ibushi and funneled into the crystal on the staff.

The ibushi spasmed under Twilight, releasing a tremendous roar and flailing its massive tail upward in response to the outgoing surge of magic. An audible slap echoed across the field as its tail connected with Twilight from behind, cracking her wings and flinging her forward. The staff was jerked from her hooves in the impact; spinning out of control and tumbling downward, it struck the ibushi and lit the area in a blinding flash.

A rumbling groan filled the air.

Accompanied by Luna and Celestia, Rarity and Rainbow Dash struggled to get to their hooves; opposite them, Sydreol stumbled away from the ibushi toward Lycadran and Applejack, while Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Cinnamon rushed toward the crumpled form of Twilight lying in the distance.

And in the middle of them all was a violently glowing ibushi that was slowly rising into the air.

“Did… did we just power it up?” Rarity asked tremulously.

“I believe we did,” Luna replied quietly. “I felt a powerful magical flux when the staff hit it, and that aura around it does not look weak by any means.”

“That’s what I was afraid of. We need to get to the staff quickly, we have to drain it before it has a chance to-“

And as she spoke, the ibushi turned and vanished through the portal.

“Fuck.”

**********

“What the hell do you mean, ‘we just made it stronger’?” Lycadran ranted.

“Exactly what it sounds like! Our plan backfired! I’m sorry, there’s no way we could have predicted it was going to break Twi’s wings and make her drop the staff!” Rarity huffed.

“Well now we’re completely fucked! We’re doomed! Thanks a lot! Way to go!” Lycadran was fuming, pacing the field.

“Thanks for your input, ass! But I’m not giving up!” Rarity countered. “We siphoned some of it first, maybe it removed the healing! Maybe not! I don’t know, but I’m not going to just give up! So get your shit together, we’re going back, and we’re going to fight it again, and we’re going to take it down, one way or another!”

“Tch! Fine!” Lycadran spat on the ground, then stormed off toward the portal, standing beside it by herself.

Rarity turned to face her friends with pleading eyes.

“I know this is presumptuous of me to ask, but… can we count on all of you to help us fight it?”

A multitude of confused eyes stared back at her.

“I thought you didn’t want us to leave Equestria?” Applejack pointed out. “I mean, not that I’m not willin’ to help, but I thought we were supposed to stay here.”

“Not only that,” Twilight said, stretching her recently healed wings, “I’m not sure how much help we’d be. I mean, we’ve ‘fought’,” she made air quotes with her hooves, “two monsters with you now, and both times we’ve done almost nothing to them compared to you. We zap them, kick them, blast at them, but all the real damage comes from you guys.”

Rarity’s heart plummeted and she felt her shoulders sag slightly.

“I really do believe that you’re selling yourself short… and I have a feeling that you may find yourselves stronger on the other side of the rift. Rainbow commented that she felt odd over there, and she seemed to have some sort of new ability…”

Rainbow cut her off, flapping in excitedly. “Oh yeah, you shoulda seen it! I was kickin’ like, these sonic aura blast things! I actually knocked that thing’s head away from Rares without even touching it! It was awesome! I mean, scary as hay, but awesome!”

Rarity looked at Rainbow with a mixture of fondness and annoyance. “Yes, thank you, Rainbow. I suppose that does prove my point, however. Something was different over there for her, so maybe it will be for all of you, too. As for leaving Equestria, I think that if we fight the ibushi outside the rift, we’re still guarding the portal, so we’re fine.”

A silence passed through the group for a moment, before Fluttershy stepped forward.

“I’ll come.”

Rarity stared at her in shock.

“You will?”

“I may not be able to fight, but I can still support you. Cinnamon supports you all the time, even though she knows she can’t do the damage that you can. But she fights anyway. Even if she doesn’t fight directly, she helps from the sidelines, with traps, or bombs, or healing. I can do that, too. Even if going to the other side of the rift doesn’t make me stronger, I can still support you.”

Rarity shed a tear and knelt to give Fluttershy a tight hug.

“Dagnabbit, girl, can’t none of us stay back after ya put it that way,” Applejack threw her hat on the ground, then smirked slyly at Fluttershy and Rarity. “Guess we better get goin’ and find out what’s on the other side of that there portal, then, huh?”

“What say you, sister?” Luna turned to Celestia with a grin.

“I’d say it’s about Celestia damned time for us to get some action,” Celestia responded.

Luna buried her face in her hoof. “For the love of… would you stop that? You’re completely ruining all the joy I had in using your name to curse.”

“I know,” Celestia grinned. “Isn’t it great?”

“If we’re all agreed, then, we’d better get moving before the ibushi decides to leave the area,” Sydreol pointed out, walking up behind Rarity.

“All right, let’s get going, then. Any last questions?”

“Oo, oo, pick me, pick me!” Pinkie shouted, jumping up and down, waving her hoof in the air.

“What is it, Pinkie?” Rarity asked in exasperation.

“If we get super powers, can I have a costume?”

“…no.”

21. Showdown

“Whoa, nelly,” Applejack said, picking up her hooves and inspecting them closely. “This place feels weird.”

“I know,” Rarity said, “I told you to expect that, it definitely is a change from Equestria. It has a completely different feel to it altogether.”

“No, that ain’t what I mean at all,” Applejack said, staring at the ground. “I mean, I can feel the ground. Like, feel feel it. Like, in Equestria, earth ponies are really good at listenin’ to the earth; it feels like here, the earth wants to listen back.” She looked at Rarity. “This is really weird, Rares.”

Behind her, Luna’s eyes darted back and forth wildly, then she whipped her head around, up and down. Her horn glowed, and her entire body blurred for only a moment, then she calmed considerably.

“Very peculiar,” she mused with a grin.

Next to her, Celestia inspected herself carefully.

“I… feel like I should not cast any magic in this cave…” she said cautiously.

All eyes turned to her.

“I can feel the magic fields that I usually use to cast spells, and they are almost unbearably strong. If I were to cast something in here, I have no idea just how destructive it may be.” She grinned. “I may just be a force to be reckoned with, after all.”

A growl came from the back of the cave, and the group turned their attention to Twilight, who sat staring at the ground sulkily.

“I feel the opposite! I feel weird, too, but my magic field feels weaker overall! My magic feels more like before I was an alicorn, before I trained my magic, before I gained the majority of my skill! What gives?

A giggle lit up the cave and sent odd shivers up their spines, and somehow they felt their minds sharpen with Pinkie’s outburst of sonorous sing-song laughter.

“Twilight, silly! Your magic’s been nerfed!” She laughed riotously and fell to the cave floor in stitches at the stunned look on Twilight’s face.

“It’s been... what?” Twilight screeched.

“Nerfed!” Pinkie laughed again, sending more shivers. “Nullified! Ended! Revoked! Failed! This world said nuh-uh, she’s too strong, and it nerfed you!”

“That’s bullshit,” Twilight cursed.

“Is that all there is, Twilight?” Rarity asked. “Do you feel anything else, other than your magic being faded?”

Twilight concentrated for a moment, lighting her horn.

“I can tell there are a lot of plants and rocks nearby with magic stored in them,” she said confidently. “That’s kind of odd, though, isn’t it? I thought that Equestrian magic was gone from this world?”

“Maybe you’re not detecting Equestrian magic then, we have plenty of magical stuff of our own, you know,” Lycadran said haughtily. “They can be damned useful too, if you know how to use them.”

“That’s right!” Rarity’s eyes lit up. “Faan gave me a book on how to make things from raw materials!”

“YOU HAVE A BOOK?” Twilight gasped. “GIMME!”

Rarity dug in her bag, producing the tome shortly and handing it to Twilight, who received it greedily. She flipped it open, then lit her horn and pulled several items to herself from nearby.

“Shit, you gathered all that stuff already?” Sydreol gawked.

“I told you, I could feel the magic in them,” she said in annoyance, trying to focus on finding the items in the book. “All I had to do was get them.”

“I want magic,” he pouted.

“Silly Siddy!” Pinkie warbled, sending more odd feelings through the group. “Maybe Twilight could figure out how to reverse the mirror portal and she can make you a pony person!”

“I don’t think it would work that way,” Rarity commented. “I do think, however, that it’s safe to say that whatever happened to Pinkie made her laughing and singing do something to us.” She looked at Celestia and Luna. “Luna only knows what.”

“Hey!” shouted Celestia. “What happened to me?”

“It’s Luna’s turn,” Rarity smiled.

Luna stuck her tongue out at Celestia.

“How ‘bout you, Fluttershy?” Applejack asked. “Feelin’ any different?”

“Um… yes,” Fluttershy said softly, turning around slowly and looking herself over. “I don’t know how, though. It just feels… nice? Warm? Kind of like I’m in a constant soft, calming hug, almost.” She smiled genuinely. “I really like it here.”

“Well, hold on to the warm fuzzy feelings,” Cinnamon offered. “I can still hear the ibushi nearby, so we’re going to get to play with whatever you can do soon.”

“Aha!” came the out of place cry from the rear of the cave.

“I figured out how to make something!” Twilight gushed.

“Were you listening to anything else that happened after I gave you that book?” Rarity asked.

“Hmm?” Twilight mumbled, looking up from the pages.

“Never mind!” Rarity growled. “What did you make, anyway?”

“Um…” Twilight checked her book. “A demondrug… and an… ancient potion? I think I can potentiate their effects, too; it feels like the effect this world has on me allows me to augment the magic in these items tremendously!” She trotted in place giddily.

Lycadran stared at her.

“An ancient potion? You just made an ancient potion? Just like that, without moving from that spot?”

“I think so, does this look right?” Twilight floated the bottle she had conjured over to Lycadran.

“I’ll be damned… it is…” she gawked.

“You can keep it,” Twilight said cheerily. “I think there was another of the horns it used nearby, let me check… yep! There is! Let me make another!” She fidgeted around a little more and produced an identical vial. “There we go!” Her horn lit up and the vials glowed. “And now they should be even more potent!” She grinned.

Lycadran stared at her.

“These could heal you completely if you were an inch from death, how could you make them more potent than that?”

Twilight shrugged. “I dunno. I guess maybe it’s not so useful on that specific item. Maybe on explosive things? I saw most stuff uses barrels, but I could just contain the explosives in my magic, float them close, then set them off.”

A roar drew their attention from their introspection; the ibushi glided past the entrance of the cave, its eye roving the depths as it passed.

Their hairs and fur stood on end, and an uneasy feeling passed through them.

“Guys, we need to move, and fast,” Rainbow ordered. “It’s building static electricity in here! I can feel an electrical charge building, the cave feels like the inside of a cloud when we set up lightning storms! This place is going to sizzle our flanks any minute now!”

Hooves and feet stomped, carrying them to the cave’s entrance, where all flew or jumped free of the cavern; not more than twenty seconds had elapsed after they fled as lightning jumped from the opening in the rocks. A crackling sound filled the air and the smell of ozone permeated the forest.

“Well, that’s new,” Sydreol wrinkled his nose at the smell. “Never heard of an ibushi that could do that.”

“Probably will see more crazy shit,” Rarity said grimly, unhooking her bowgun. “Let’s get to it, this thing isn’t going to get any easier for us.”

“Alright!” Sydreol agreed, getting out his own bowgun. “Let’s fill it full of holes!”

“And we’ll show it what ponies can do!” Celestia added.

“For cupcakes!” Pinkie screamed.

Everyone looked at her.

“What? I like cupcakes,” she said with a shrug.

Rarity shook her head, then wordlessly shouldered her bowgun and fired off several piercing rounds, running toward the ibushi. Sydreol followed suit, while Cinnamon brandished her sword and Lycadran vaulted herself forward with her glaive.

“Alright, ponies, let’s make it our time to shine!” Luna shouted.

The group dispersed, each going their separate ways around the monster, surrounding it on all sides and above.

Letting out a thundering bellow, the ibushi curled its body, smashing its tail to the ground violently. Applejack dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack as dust climbed into the air from the impact. She coughed as it worked its way into her lungs.

“Damn lizard. This earth works with me, not against me.”

She looked around at the dust and earth, thinking and focusing on its use; she felt a pulse in her chest and a sharp sensation in her mind. With a knowing grin, she watched as the grit and dirt in front of her swirled and danced up into a semi-contained spherical cloud, then flew with the wind straight up and into the eyes of the ibushi. The monster screeched, convulsing and swiping its tail from side to side. In the way of the appendage, Applejack dodged underneath it, now joining Sydreol on one side, while Pinkie Pie was now on the other, leaping backward out of its reach.

“The hell did you just do?” Sydreol yelled, shooting the ibushi with several rounds of spread ammo.

“Just doin’ what earth ponies do best!” Applejack smiled proudly. She glanced at the ground, noticing all the grasses and vines blanketing the forest floor. She grinned again. “I reckon this varmint moves too much! Probably should lasso him down a bit!”

The vines immediately jumped up from the ground, wrapping themselves around the ibushi’s tail and anchoring it to the ground. More vines and tendrils appeared, strengthening the bond.

“You ponies are crazy as shit.”

“No kidding, Siddy!” Pinkie laughed, hopping over. “I don’t think I’m going to do much with attacking this thing, but I do think I know what I can do to help! Know what that is?”

“Treat the wounded?”

“Nopey nope! I can sing!”

“The fuck?”

Sydreol stared as Pinkie trotted off merrily as though she was in the middle of a carnival when a sudden wordless melody reached his ears as she sang. His body trembled for a moment, then he felt every aspect of his body and mind increased; his strength felt bolstered, his agility peaked, his thinking sharpened. It was as though she had taken all of the best parts of a hunting horn and amplified them. He reloaded his gun.

I fucking love these ponies.

**********

Rarity unloaded another clip of ammo into the ibushi, running along its side and inspecting it as she did so.

It has specialized inflated sacs in spots… I wonder if we destroy those…

She loaded her bowgun with slice ammo.

Heh, hello again, little buddies. Keeping you away from my leg this time.

The ibushi bellowed, and Rarity saw a cloud of dust around its face.

What in the…?

Tearing her eyes away, she resumed her own task, placing several shells directly into the sac in front of her. Seconds later the shells exploded, ripping the sac to shreds; the ibushi let out a cry of pain, and Rarity watched as the part of the ibushi’s body in front of her sank out of the air.

So those control it being able to fly.

“Everyone!” she shouted. “If we can destroy the sacs on it, we can take away its ability to fly!”

She resumed her way around the ibushi, when a brilliant flash lit the sky, followed by an ear splitting boom, as a lightning bolt slashed through the air to strike the ibushi on the side.

“Holy fucking shit!” Rarity dove for cover, watching the sky to see if the storm clouds were still producing bolts, but the sky was completely clear.

“Sorry!” Celestia called. “I told you my magic seemed more powerful! I took out one of the sac things! I’ll lay off the lightning, though!” She turned back to the ibushi, summoning a large ball of fire that rocketed forward, sizzling into the side of the ibushi.

The monster jerked at the attack, and a red aura pulsed violently.

Oh, shit.

Rarity watched, horror-stricken, as red spots appeared all over the ibushi, then individual scales began pulling out and soaring through the air at them. A nearby scale targeted her, spinning dangerously as it flew at her. She dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding a direct hit but taking a deep gash to her side.

She quickly grabbed a potion and drank it, when a thought occurred to her.

None of my pony friends have potions.

As the frightening realization hit her, numerous screams and cries punctuated the early morning air.

How could we have been this careless?

She raced down the side of the ibushi toward the closest of the screams, stopping only when the origin came into view.

A yellow and red form lay crumpled in a heap, and Rarity’s breath hitched in her throat. She dashed forward, with a cry of anguish.

“FLUTTERSHY!”

Rarity knelt next to the downed pegasus, inspecting the wound inflicted by the scale. It had been severe, slicing a major blood vessel; she had bled a large amount already, and appeared to be barely clinging to life. Her breathing was shallow, and her pulse faint.

Rarity looked at her potion pockets.

One ancient potion left. Thank all the alicorns in Equestria.

She held the potion to Fluttershy’s lips and forced it down her throat, watching as the wounds closed up and healed. She waited for Fluttershy to get up and recover fully.

She didn’t.

Her breathing slowed more, and her face paled, and her pulse grew even more faint.

Rarity’s heart pounded, and panic gripped her. Her mind raced for any options that she could think of, and in a single moment of clarity she grasped onto the only thing she could think of to save them.

“LYCADRAN! HELP! PLEASE!”

The desperation in her voice couldn’t have been more evident, and she prayed that the hunter would both hear her and be willing and able to come.

A thump shook the earth behind her, and the familiar voice of Lycadran adopted an unfamiliar tone of concern.

“What did you need?” she said softly.

Rarity looked at her in shock.

“Your friend - the nice one - is covered in blood. I’m not going to be an ass. What do you need?”

“The ancient potion - the one Twilight gave you - do you still have it?”

“Yeah, but… what’s the difference? Ancient potions already can save you from pretty much anything.”

“They didn’t save her from this,” Rarity motioned to Fluttershy. “I think it’s the blood loss. Remember how long it took me to recover every time I lost so much blood? Healing wounds is one thing, but apparently massive blood loss is different in the eyes of the potions.”

“Good enough for me. Here.”

Lycadran handed over the vial, and Rarity unstoppered it immediately, placing it to Fluttershy’s lips. The liquid flowed through her mouth, and a purple aura not unlike Twilight’s followed the course of the potion, from the tip of her muzzle until it reached her stomach, at which point it spread to envelop her entire body. She pulsed purple for a moment, then her breathing intensified until it returned to a normal rate; her eyes fluttered open, and she stood shakily, regaining her stability a moment later.

Rarity gave her a tight hug.

“I’m so glad you’re alright!” she said tearfully.

“Yeah, me too,” Lycadran said uncomfortably. “But, uh, we should probably get going. There’s a lot of others that are injured, too. I don’t think anyone else is as bad as Fluttershy here, but I think about everyone got hurt somehow, and none of your friends have potions. That’s a big bad on us. Thankfully the flying shit stopped, that purple one sent some magic explosives up to its face and that calmed it down. Impressive that she could do that with her legs gashed open, but I guess that magic doesn’t take your legs.’

“Goodness, everyone is hurt that badly?” Fluttershy gasped. She walked forward with a thoughtful look on her face, and she appeared to be concentrating on something; her eyes darted back and forth at different points in the trees, at the ibushi, or off in the distance, seemingly at random.

She stopped and spread her wings, ruffling her feathers slightly.

“Um, Fluttershy, what are you doing?” Rarity asked in confusion.

“I figured out what my gift was,” she replied softly, looking back with a small smile. She closed her eyes and hummed slightly, and a dim yellow glow shone from her trembling feathers, growing from the tips. Slowly they grew outward until they detached one by one, small glowing feathers that drifted outward until they floated in streams toward the places she had been looking, each stream finding an injured friend and surrounding them. The ethereal feathers emitted a soft light, fully healing the wounds of each person, pony, or felyne.

Fluttershy finished her humming, and the glow faded from her wings; her feathers stopped rustling, and she relaxed and turned back to Rarity and Lycadran.

“There, I think that everyone should be safe for now,” she said with a smile.

The two openly gawked at her.

“Did you just…” Lycadran started.

“Heal everyone?” Rarity finished.

“Yes?” Fluttershy responded curiously. “I mean, that’s a good thing. Why shouldn’t I?”

Lycadran shook her head. “This kid’s amazing. Rarity, can we keep her here?”

“No.”

Fluttershy looked startled at Rarity’s firmness.

“Sorry, I suppose that’s not up to me to decide, is it?”

“No, no it is not,” Fluttershy stated hotly. “Not that I plan to stay here, but if I want to stay here with Ly, then I most certainly will. Hmph.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow, but noticed that there was a hint of a smile on Lycadran’s face.

Fluttershy, you saint. You’re taming her.

A sound drew their attention upward.

Rainbow Dash appeared over the top of the ibushi’s tail. “I thought I’d find you here! I saw the feather things coming from this way! Flutters, was that you? Holy hay, that was so awesome, you totally saved my flank!”

Fluttershy smiled. “I’m just glad that everyone is safe.”

Rainbow grinned. “So, you guys need to get over here! Pinkie is singing and it makes you stronger, and AJ tied the lizard thing’s tail down, and then she blinded the thing!”

“What? How?” Rarity stood stunned.

“Talk later, action now!” Rainbow motioned. “You said there were some sac things to break?”

Rarity straightened up.

“Yes, it has these wind sacs lining its body, we can take them out to keep it from flying. I think.”

“Alright, follow me, the rest are meeting up over here,” Rainbow jerked her head.

The three followed her, seeing that the group had convened at the tail, still lassoed to the ground courtesy of Applejack.

“So we’re planning on takin’ out these sac things?” Applejack queried.

“Yes, that should keep it from flying any more,” Rarity confirmed once again.

“Good, then maybe I can hit it a little more,” Cinnamon complained. “I pretty much just came down here to whack its tail because that’s about the only thing on the ground.”

“Then we shall focus our efforts on these sacs,” Luna said. “Rarity, I would like to place my support in helping you on this.”

“Uh, ok?” Rarity said. “What kind of support, exactly?”

“The speedy kind,” Luna said mischievously. “Now that we all know what we are doing and all have received Pinkie’s blessing of song, are we ready to go?”

“Not quite yet,” Rarity declined. “First we need to decide how to handle any future damage control. We left you all defenseless, and I don’t intend to repeat that mistake. What are we going to do in case someone gets hurt again?”

“I’ve got plenty of potions to share,” Sydreol offered.

“Me too,” Cinnamon added.

“Shit, I can give some of mine, too. Even to shithead, there,” Lycadran smirked.

“Thank ya, ya wrinkly lemon,” Applejack doffed her hat momentarily with a smirk of her own. “I think we have a bit of a problem, though. How do we carry ‘em? Dunno if ya noticed, but we don’t really have bags. Or armor. Or clothes.”

“Well, shit. That is indeed a problem,” Rarity acknowledged. “I mean, we could make small loop belts to tie a few potions to your legs, that would be simple enough, but I don’t have any fabric.”

Sydreol thought for a moment.

“Here.”

He removed his armor and ripped the layers of inner lining from the cuirass.

“Syd? What are you doing?” Lycadran gasped. “If you tamper with the construction of your armor, it removes all the enchantments Reneris put on it!”

“I don’t give a shit. These ponies have more power in one hoof than I do. I’m keeping them alive no matter what, if that’s what it takes to kill this damned ibushi.” He held the cloth out to Rarity. “Make those belt things and take whatever potions they need.”

Rarity looked at the strips cautiously and accepted them hesitantly with only her thumb and forefinger.

“Ew, Syd, they’re all sweaty…”

“Don’t you dare be a bitch about it. Make the damn belts.”

While Rarity set to work with a grimace, Fluttershy stepped forward.

“As long as I remain conscious, I can heal anyone as well. If you get hurt, yell out and I’ll heal you right away; you can even try before your potion if you think you have time. I think it’s still necessary to have the potions, though, just in case I can’t hear you, or I’m hurt, too.”

“I may be able to make my own potions wherever I’m at, anyway,” Twilight said, “but I can’t count on having materials within reach, so I’d better take some just in case.”

Rarity stood up after a couple minutes, wandering from friend to friend and attaching potions to their legs. She then turned to Luna.

“Ok, I think we’re ready now. So, what exactly are you going to be doing?”

“Channeling. And you will be moving. Very fast. So make the most of it, because I can’t do anything else while I channel any of these new spells.”

“Spells? As in multiple? What else can you… do?” Rarity’s words were cut off as the entire world seemed to almost stop moving.

I guess this is what she meant.

Rarity loaded her bowgun and ran as fast as she could along the side of the ibushi placing shells in sacs as she went. She had made her way from the end of the ibushi’s tail all the way to the front of its body, placing shells in every sac along one side when the entire world shifted back into place. Several seconds went by, and then every shell she had placed exploded simultaneously in one glorious burst of shrapnel; the ibushi roared furiously and listed to its side, dropping from the air heavily. Rarity heard a cheer from far behind her, and saw Luna slumped over in exhaustion, while the remainder of the group stood in awe.

“Well that made it fucking easy,” Sydreol said morosely. “Kinda anticlimactic.”

“Shut up, you fucking moron!” Lycadran backhanded him upside the back of his head. “You just cursed us!”

“What? How?”

A white aura formed around the grounded ibushi, and they watched in horror as gashes filled in and wind sacs reformed and inflated.

“That’s how, you jackass!”

“Nuh-uh, not on my watch!” Pinkie announced with all the ferocity a baker could muster. “Time for me to sing my ‘Nope nope nope!’ song!”

At that, she jumped onto the ibushi’s tail and sang an odd tune composed of nothing but the word ‘nope’ while bouncing along the monster’s body, then back to the group. They watched as the newly healed sacs deflated and the white aura faded, replaced with a pink aura that covered all the wounds as though blocking them.

“How…?” Lycadran began.

“Shhh!” Sydreol hushed her. “We do not question the Pinkie Pie.”

“But she just…!”

“Eh eh eh! Do not question!”

“I hate you.”

A groaning growl emanated from the ibushi, and it ripped the attention of all present back to the fight at hand.

The monster flexed and convulsed, and its tail ripped free of the vines tethering it to the ground; curling itself into a partially floating ball from its few remaining wind sacs, it began glowing a fierce red. Winds tore upward around it, bringing with them rocks and trees that were juggled about in the wind.

“Scatter!” Lycadran yelled. “It’s going to start throwing things!”

The group separated immediately, just as the shrapnel began to fling outward, seeking its targets.

Rarity dodged through trees, narrowly avoiding rocks as they smashed and gouged their paths behind her.

Ugh, I just did this, why am I running from rocks again? Stupid ibushi!

She changed course, turning ninety degrees and running toward the side rather than away; ahead she spotted Twilight, limping as she tried to avoid more of the rocks and trees that were coming her way. Rarity watched helplessly as Twilight dove out of the way of a large boulder only to have a tree barrel down toward her. A small purple orb floated out to meet the tree before it got to Twilight, and it suddenly exploded into a cloud of smoke and ash.

Rarity rushed forward.

“Twi, are you ok?”

“Not really, but better than I could be.”

Rarity looked at the pile of ash. “What the hay was that? We don’t have any bombs like that here.”

“Just your regular explosives. I told you I can augment them. Apparently, by a lot. Did you know that your book has ammo recipes in it?”

Rarity’s head snapped toward Twilight so quickly she could have sworn she almost broke her neck.

“I need you to make me some. The most powerful ammo you can. In fact, make it sticky ammo.”

“Can do. I’m kinda hurt, though. Hold on.” She pulsed her magic and smiled. “I think I should be fine.” Several plants flew in her direction and she spun them in a magic field with barely a second glance, then gulped the resulting mixture down. Her wound healed instantly and she gave a pleased smile.

“Have I mentioned that I love the magical properties of the plants and minerals here yet?”

“You may have,” Rarity said, giving her a side eye.

Twilight pulled out the book and flipped through it.

“Ammo… Ammo… ah! Here we go! Sticky ammo… I assume rank three?”

“Yes!” Rarity said greedily.

“Should be doable, I think I felt these things around here. Let me see…”

She pulsed her horn again, frowning.

“Well, I can feel the blazenuts for the gunpowder to upgrade the sticky ammo from rank one to three, now I just need blastnuts to just make the ammo itself.”

She levitated a large bundle of nuts to herself from far off, and Rarity deposited them in her bag for later.

“Let’s go, hopefully we’ll find some near the rest of our friends.”

They followed the path of destruction back to the clearing near the ibushi, noting that the winds had calmed considerably; the monster appeared to be exhausted and recovering from its ferocious attack. It had fallen back to the ground, its tail fallen toward them and its top half folded back, resting on itself, growling but otherwise unmoving to attack. The remainder of the group also seemed to be returning none the worse for the wear, though Rarity couldn’t help but notice that potions were missing from the belts of almost all her friends.

“I think it’s time we try to finish it off,” Rarity announced. “If we all aim for its head while it's resting, I think we stand a good chance of killing it.”

“Agreed,” Sydreol nodded.

“Twi, can you find any of those nuts around here?” Rarity asked eagerly.

“Nuts?” Lycadran deadpanned. “You want… nuts?”

Twilight pulsed her horn again and her face lit up. Another bundle of nuts flew her way, and Rarity quickly handed her the rest from her bag; within a few moments Twilight floated back a large amount of glowing ammunition.

“Oh.”

Rarity turned to Luna.

“Luna, you mentioned ‘spells’; what is it exactly you can do?”

Luna grinned evilly. “Manipulate time.”

Everyone took a step back in shock.

“The fuck?” Sydreol gaped, then relaxed slightly. “Ah, you’re joking. No way that’s possible, and I’ve been around you enough to know you like to fuck with people.”

Luna’s horn glowed and Sydreol completely stopped all motion. Lycadran waved a hand in front of his face. He did not react. She tried pushing him backward, but he remained immovable.

“Should we tell Luna to let him go?” Twilight asked.

“No, no,” Rarity said. “I want to see where this goes.”

Lycadran stared at Sydreol for a few moments, then grinned wickedly. She pulled his armored leggings aside, then kicked him as hard as she could in the crotch. She then replaced the leggings and turned to Luna.

“Could you please release him?” she asked sweetly.

Luna’s horn stopped glowing.

A screech could be heard in Miliesu that morning that would haunt dreams for years to come.

“You are officially the best princess ever,” Lycadran gasped amid peals of laughter.

“I hate you all…” Sydreol croaked from the ground. “Fluttershy… help…”

“Honestly…” Fluttershy hummed slightly, sending a few glowing feathers Sydreol’s way and bringing him back to the land of the living.

“So, you can manipulate time,” Rarity confirmed.

“Only for single people or small areas, though,” Luna qualified. “I’ve toyed with it a little since I figured it out, and it’s very draining, and requires all my energy and focus. I have to continually channel it, and can’t move while I do it. That’s why I was so exhausted after you had been hastened.”

”Would it be possible for you to stop time for only my ammo when I place it? Twilight gave me enhanced sticky ammo, but sticky ammo explodes after a time. I was hoping to leave it active until everyone could do whatever they do, then let it blow up at the same time.”

Luna nodded. “I think I can handle that.”

“Let’s get moving, then!” Rarity said forcefully.

A cheer erupted, and everyone set to motion.

Fluttershy stayed at the base of the ibushi’s tail, humming with her golden glow as PInkie sang cheerfully, bouncing along the ibushi’s lower half. Rarity, Sydreol, Lycadran, and Cinnamon ran along the top of its body toward its head; Lycadran vaulted up and attacked, slashing and stabbing her glaive repeatedly into its head, while Cinnamon stabbed from where she stood on its back. Rarity and Sydreol jumped atop its head; Sydreol planted wyvernblasts into its flesh, while Rarity unloaded every sticky shell that Twilight had given her onto the ibushi.

The hunters then scrambled away, leaving the area as fast as they could before any of the others could begin attacking; before they had made it off the ibushi’s back, they could hear Applejack yelling.

“Y’all ain’t the only one that can use trees as weapons, ya know!”

They watched as branches and logs rolled toward the monster, then jumped and jutted upward from the ground, stabbing into the ibushi where it lay, still too fatigued to move.

“What the hell?” Rarity stared.

“Yeah, I know,” Rainbow Dash laughed next to her. “Bizarre, isn’t it? She got all these weird ‘control earth’ things. I guess it makes sense for the earth pony, but still.” She shrugged. “I still like my super aura punch thing better. I’ll take brute physical force over that any day.” She saluted the hunters. “See ya!”

She took off into the sky like a rocket, flying high above the treeline, then broke into a sharp dive, directing herself directly at the ibushi’s head. Gaining speed, she aimed, then broke her dive off with a strong kick mid-air, rebounding back up and turning back around to land by the ibushi’s tail. A booming crack resounded through the forest, announcing the connection of Rainbow’s kick, and the ibushi’s head could be seen forcibly being driven downward further into the logs Applejack had summoned, further impaling it.

“Guess it’s my turn!” Twilight called. “I’m not setting these off, I’ll leave that to Celestia!”

She flew down, depositing what seemed to be a massive amount of explosives.

“Where the hell did you get all those?” Lycadran yelled.

Twilight shrugged. “I’ve been farming!”

“For five minutes?”

“I’m good at it!”

“Damn it, you suck! And don’t you dare ruin our economy!”

“Sorry? Don’t worry, I don’t care about your markets, I’m a princess with a castle already.”

She soared down next to Lycadran.

“You really are a wrinkly lemon.”

“I hate you all, except Fluttershy.”

“Yeah, we get that a lot.”

Celestia flew overhead. “You about ready to release the sticky ammo, Luna?”

“Mmhmm!” she grunted. “Hurry up!”

“Ok! I’m trying something new, I hope this works.”

“New?” Rarity questioned as Celestia flew up and out of earshot. “I, uh, think we may want to back up.”

Celestia positioned herself high above the ibushi, in full view of the sun’s rays. Her horn glowed, and slowly a cone of light began to funnel into her horn from the direction of the sun, swirling and pulsing as it entered.

Celestia herself began to glow white, brightening until she was almost unbearable to look at, at which point the cone vanished and the light began to fade from her, only to begin appearing in a singular point above the ibushi’s head.

“FUCK! MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE!” Rarity yelled. “Someone help me grab Luna!”

“What’s going on?” Sydreol asked in a panic, grabbing one side of Luna while Rarity grabbed the other.

“She’s basically making a miniature solar flare. It’s about to get really hot, and I don’t want to be anywhere close to there.”

“A solar flare.” He looked back, watching smaller orbs and rings forming around the center as it grew in size, with more and more appearing by the second. “Yeah, get me away from that shit.”

Moving quickly, they all reached the edge of the mountain face when a voice called out.

“It’s finished! Luna, release the ammo, we have… where are you guys?”

Luna released her time spell, while Rarity called out loudly, “we’re over here!”

“Oh for… it’s not going to explode instantly,” Celestia said, flying down and enveloping them all in a shield. She walked inside. “We still have-“

An explosion shook the forest, and a blast wave washed past them.

“Well, we would have had plenty more time if you hadn’t all run away.” Celestia grumbled. “Did you really think I’d knowingly blow you all up?”

“Yes,” they answered unanimously.

“Screw you all.”

The shield dissipated and they walked forward; the forest in front of them was no longer a forest. There were no longer any trees for the first several hundred feet, and for about a quarter mile every tree had been blown down. In the center of the carnage was a headless ibushi.

Sydreol whistled. “Overkill much?”

“Shut up. You know, that wasn’t all me. A lot of that was Twilight’s ammunition and explosives, and who knows how large it would have been if they hadn’t been stacked on each other. That’s not to mention that Pinkie Pie boosted all of our abilities immensely, I’m positive I would not have been able to do that if not for her.”

“True. And I guess overkill is better than underkill for that thing.”

“Lycadran?” Rarity asked, turning to the hunter, “would you like to carv-“ she stopped short. “Lycadran? You ok?”

Everyone turned to face the hunter, who stood staring at the portal cave with a worried and frightened look on her face.

“Can… Can I make a request?” she asked hoarsely.

“What is it?” Rarity questioned in concern.

“Can you not let any other ponies in here?”

“Why would you not want us to have any other ponies visit here?” Rarity asked in surprise.

“I know ya don’t like me all that much, but ya don’t need to shut yer whole world off to all of us,” Applejack said.

“It’s not that; I can handle you, shithead. I actually like you.”

“Wha-?”

“Some people use insults as terms of endearment. It’s a fucked up human thing,” Sydreol explained.

“Oh.”

“The thing is… you ponies are super powerful. Like, damn near godlike. I’m a hunter, this is all I do, all I know. If other ponies come here, maybe they’ll want to be hunters. If they’re anything like your rainbow friend here, I’m sure they will be. And with god-pony hunters, I’d be useless.”

“I have to disagree with you there, Lycadran,” Twilight interjected. “It’s true that we’re all much more powerful here, but like Princess Celestia mentioned earlier, we were working together. Pinkie boosted our strength. Our abilities played off each other and synergized well. Individually, I still think we’re less dangerous than each of you. We also have one specific niche that we fill. You can be flexible for any situation.”

“That’s true… but it still worries me,” she said. “Working together or not, you’re still strong as hell.”

“I don’t think you have to worry anyway, sugarcube,” Applejack reassured her, walking up next to her.

“How on earth could you be sure?”

“At the risk of sounding cliche, we’re special. What ya got here are the elements of harmony and the two celestial sisters. We’re the most powerful ponies in all of Equestria. I’m sure Rares has told ya all the stories about us savin’ the world multiple times? And how those two Princesses move the sun and the moon?”

“Not really, no. I heard one of them moves the sun, but that’s about it. I… honestly avoided Rarity like the plague. Hated her, really. Up until now.”

“You… what?” Rarity gasped.

“Yeah, you’re growing on me. Get over it.”

“So yeah, ya got yerself the special ones of the bunch here, so we’re bound to be the super strong ones. I doubt any other ponies comin’ here will be quite this strong. At least, not enough to endanger your job. If they do, I’m sure the Princesses will make some laws about limits on how many hunters will be allowed. Ain’t that right?”

“You have my word,” Celestia nodded.

“Likewise,” Luna said.

“I don’t make laws,” Twilight chirped. “But me too, because I want to be included.”

“I think I can accept that.” A smile graced her face. “Thank you all. We honestly would never have done this without your help.”

“No problem, and you can feel free to visit us any time,” Twilight offered.

“That’s right! We’ll have cupcakes ready!” Pinkie offered cheerily.

“I may have to take you up on that.”

Author's Note

Yes, there was one (very) specific place I drew all the ability ideas from for all the ponies. No bonus points for knowing it, I think it’s pretty obvious (at least, I tried to make it pretty obvious, since you can’t really hide that kind of thing you might as well embrace it. Maybe a few were more obscure). But I will give you a pat on the back.

22. Time to Unwind

“Y’know, I’m really growing to like this little town,” Rainbow said, looking around Miliesu as she sipped her glacial vodka. “It’s got a kinda… rustic kind of ‘I’m gonna kick your ass’ vibe to it.”

“I can tell, you’re spending as much time here as Lycadran’s spending in Equestria,” Rarity sipped her own vodka. “I can’t tell if she’s trying to spend more time visiting Fluttershy, eating cupcakes, or just trying to find a way to stay there permanently.”

“Thankfully there are enough ponies that showed up to pick up hunting jobs,” Sydreol pointed out. “And there’s no shortage of aberrants, either. You said Twilight is looking into the dimensional magic leak?”

“Yeah, but she said not to expect there to be progress any time soon. Cyradel moved into the castle temporarily, but even with the two of them, interdimensional magic transfer is kind of a big problem.”

“Well, until they figure it out, we’re going to keep getting aberrants,” Cinnamon pointed out. “We can siphon the crystals by the rift as much as we want, but the magic can still go directly into the end nodes themselves.”

“All you guys talk about is hunting! Why can’t you talk about something more fun?”

“Renny, since when do you know anything about fun? Come to think of it, when was the last time you said a full sentence without swearing?” Sydreol posed.

“Shut up, Syd, Pinkie’s being a good influence on her. Don’t ruin it,” Rarity chided.

“Yeah! What she said!” Pinkie piped up. “I’m a good influencer! Plus I can make cupcakes in her forge without burning them! How many people or ponies do you know that can do that?”

“Wait, you do what with my forge?” Reneris growled.

“Nothing!” Pinkie produced a small tray of baked goods. “Cupcake?”

“Ugh, never mind. And no thanks. But I will take another drink.” She flagged down the pony waiting tables in the expanded wing of the canteen. “Could I get another mug of hard apple cider? The aged one, whichever Applejack said was the best one they made.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she replied.

“Don’t ‘ma’am’ me,” Reneris grunted. “If you’re gonna work here, get to know my face, and come up with a swear word to go with it.”

“Uhm… o-ok…”

“Good. Glad that’s settled.” Reneris settled back in her seat.

“So how’s yer clothing and layered armor business been goin’, Rares?” Applejack put forward, taking a gulp of her cider.

“It’s been going wonderfully, thank you,” Rarity gushed. “I get orders left and right; people here in town, new pony hunters, ponies back in Equestria even, and thanks to the fact that pegasi can make deliveries to other regions here faster than ever, I’m getting orders from everywhere on the continent!”

“You know, ever since you ponies got here, we’ve become more connected with the other parts of our world than we’ve ever been before,” Cinnamon said. “It’s really been amazing, I’m glad we didn’t try to shut the rift.”

“Mm, you and me both,” Rarity agreed, taking another sip.

Sydreol set down his ale. “Since we were on the subject of being in Ponyville earlier, thanks for inviting me over the other day, Rares. Your kid sister is adorable, I’ll have to bring her some presents or something next time I go.”

“Don’t you dare, she’s spoiled enough as it is.”

Rainbow eyed the pair.

“Inviting him over to meet the family? Is there something going on between you two?”

“Pfft, heavens, no.” Rarity sipped her vodka lazily, barely showing any interest in the question. “I’m a monster hunter, Rainbow. That implies things of large size.” She sipped her vodka again without another word.

A moment of silence followed, before every other patron in the canteen except two broke out in hysterical laughter. One was casually sipping vodka, and the other was crawling under a table, looking for his dignity.

"Oh, get up here, Syd," Rarity said. "I'm just messing with you. I'm not saying you never have a chance. Just... not right now."

"Oh," came a voice from under the table, sounding much more cheerful than Rarity expected. "I knew that."

"Sure you did." She sipped her drink. "Well, with aberrant populations growing like they are, and the influx of capable pony hunters, we'll be spending a lot more time together anyway. No point in hunting solo when we can afford to hunt in pairs. That should improve my tolerance of your bullshit."

"You sure you want to be around him more?" Cinnamon grimaced.

Rarity shrugged.

"He can be entertaining."

Cinnamon stared at Sydreol with narrowed eyes.

"If you make our hunts annoying as hell, you'd better learn to sleep with one eye open, because I have plenty of dung bombs and a friend that can float things into your house from outside."

Another round of laughter worked its way through the canteen.

"Growing to like this town, nothing," Rainbow croaked past her laughter. "I bucking love this place."

Rarity leaned back with a smile.

"Me too."

1. Pandemonium

Sunlight played through the stained glass of the windowpane and danced off the mirror’s surface, causing the swirling fluid within to emit a dangerous, bewitching, and mesmerizing shimmer. It would be enough to draw anyone in for closer inspection, but here in Twilight’s castle there were only two ponies: the one who lived there, and the one that definitely was not going to be drawn in for closer inspection.

She went in for it anyway.

“Twilight, are you sure you’ve repaired it correctly?” Rarity stood in front of the mirror portal and eyed it suspiciously, stealing a cautious glance back at her friend. “ I do want to visit our human friends again, but… We really don’t want any… mishaps… like there were last time.”

Twilight sighed, rolling her eyes.

“I told you already, Rarity, I’m sorry about last time, ok? There was no way I could have known that the calibration core had slipped from its housing by one millimeter after the solar flare incident." Twilight motioned to the small jewel atop the mirror, seated in a specialized casing.

“No way other than routine inspection, which you should have been doing all along.” Rarity grumbled under her breath.

“I know! I know! Look, at least it was only a small miscalibration and it only sent you off course by a mere fifty miles.”

“A mere fifty miles?” Rarity gasped incredulously. “I’ll have you know that not only was I in the middle of nowhere, that mirror spat me out in the middle of a swamp, a good six feet off the ground so I had one hay of a landing when I came out! I’m just lucky there was water to break my fall or I could have been seriously injured!" she scowled. “The place was positively dreadful. There was slime and muck and weeds and algae and you’d better thank those lucky stars on your flank that I didn’t still have my tail to get it all out of. Getting it out of my hair was bad enough.”

Twilight rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, again, I’m sorry about that. I mean, I didn’t expect that a solar flare could affect the mirror like that, and we still don’t even know what caused it. The last time Princess Celestia had a solar flare occur was several hundred years ago, and they’re still unsure what caused that one as well. And that’s not even to mention the other strange natural phenomena going on lately.”

Rarity bit her lip. “You mean like the earthquakes?”

Twilight nodded. “And trees randomly being uprooted. I’ve also heard of spontaneous wildfires on clear days out in the middle of nowhere, as well as freak windstorms or electrical storms.”

“And it’s not Discord?” Rarity queried.

Twilight shook her head. “He’s as confused as we are. Besides, it’s not his style. This is just straight out destructive, not chaotic and mischievous.”

Rarity nodded and slowly turned back to the mirror, which loomed up in front of her. Before it had seemed so pleasant, and they had used it so often without a care in the world. After the incident, though, and with all the disasters going on recently, something about it seemed much more sinister, as though the mirror itself seemed as though it somehow held some ill intent.

“So, is the mirror still functional and stable then? I think I’m even less sure than ever, now. Still, I did promise the students at Canterlot High to help out for their upcoming Fall Formal, and I am not one to back out on commitments." Rarity glanced at the saddlebags next to her, then simply sat down, her eyes transfixed on the eddies that formed and dissipated in the portal.

Twilight scoffed. “Of course it’s fine! I told you, I fixed it! Only the calibration core was affected, nothing else about the mirror changed, and now we know to do full checks before we send anypony through! Lesson learned, you taught me a great deal, it was very valuable, thank you very much, can we be done being mad at me and doubting me about everything now? Thank you!”

“Wait… what did you mean by ‘nothing else about the mirror changed’?” Rarity stood and slowly turned and eyed Twilight, who cocked her head to the side in confusion.

“What do you mean? Nothing else changed means nothing changed. As in, everything’s the same? What else would it mean?” Twilight looked at her friend as though a few screws had fallen loose.

“What I mean, Twilight,” Rarity stared her straight in the eyes, “is, what if something else had changed? What else about the mirror could have changed? What else could have happened?”

Twilight made something of a strangled noise followed by a small fit of coughing; one might have thought she had swallowed a small passing insect. Whatever question she had been expecting, it was obvious it had not been that one. She attempted to regain her composure and began slowly, trying to phrase her answer in the least alarming way possible. She doubted she would succeed.

“So the mirror could… have its magical energy drained from the power amplifiers on the sides if those were interfered with, affecting the tether between worlds,” Twilight began.

Rarity would have paled if it had been possible.

“Its transmutative properties are influenced by the apparatus above it, so any change to the alignment of that in reference to the mirror would affect any transformations that occur,” she continued.

Rarity began to whimper slightly.

“And its dimensional coordinates are set via its positioning in actual space, which is why it is firmly secured in place, I might add." Twilight gained a little composure back. “And as I said, we do full checks to make sure every system is in the perfect place. Down to the millimeter.”

Rarity was trembling almost imperceptibly, but her voice still wavered as she responded. “All fine and good, Twilight, but you still haven’t told me what could have happened before you decided to start doing your full checks.”

Twilight shrank back under the intense gaze of Rarity. “Oh! Uh…” she fumbled. “Uh… well… you could, um, well…”

“Yes?” Rarity’s eye began to twitch violently.

“Hypothetically speaking, of course." Twilight was visibly sweating.

“Yes?” Rarity was beginning to look like she might become slightly deranged if Twilight didn’t start talking immediately.

Twilight, unlike Rarity, could pale, and by Celestia, she did.

“You could… be sent to an incorrect dimension, go through an incomplete transformation, have alterations in physical or magical composition…”

Rarity stamped her hoof in exasperation, letting out an indignant snort. “Is there any other horror you could have unintentionally exposed us to without any of us knowing?”

Twilight spoke in a barely audible and high pitched whisper. “Um… Incomplete… teleports?”

“Incomplete…” Rarity began looking nauseous. “As in…”

Twilight nervously bumped her hooves together. “As in… only… part… of the pony… is teleported…”

It was then that Rarity fainted.

It was also then that all hell broke loose.

Echoing from what seemed like everywhere but with no discernable origin came a distant yet powerful roar, deep and rumbling, unlike any that Twilight had ever heard before. She felt its vibrations travel through the walls and floor, rattling the windows and making her knees buckle. The roar was cut off abruptly, followed by long seconds of eerie silence, as though the entire world had stopped in response to the creature that had created the noise. Then the silence, and the window, was shattered as the monster bellowed again at a volume that sounded as though it was right outside the castle door.

Twilight screamed as glass rained down from the window, generating a magical shield to protect her and the still unconscious Rarity from the glistening blades. As the last of the shrapnel hit the floor, she abandoned her post and flew to the window, ready to face whatever being she might find.

There was nothing there.

The reprieve, however, was short lived. Her confusion was interrupted by another roar, much different from the first, though no less frightening or powerful. It was much higher, truthfully more of a screech than anything else, but what set it apart most was the feeling that accompanied it. While the first had come with deep vibrations that could shatter windows, something about this felt… off. Twilight could feel the latent magic in the air and ground becoming untethered haphazardly.

She heard the first roar again, causing her ears to fold back in pain, her hooves clutching her forehead in agony. Outside, small patches of brush began heating up from the violent vibrations, causing flames to begin jumping up from the dry leaves and twigs.

In an almost instantaneous answer, the screech rang out in vehement opposition. Twilight immediately felt the magic in the environment shift intensely, and she could feel small gravitational pockets forming around her. A loud groaning noise came from the direction of the Everfree Forest, and she looked out the window in time to see trees beginning to be ripped from the ground, hovering in the air for a few seconds until the pocket dissipated, then falling back to the ground with a crash. Twilight marveled in fascinated horror as objects all over Ponyville reacted in the same way as similar fields opened up in what appeared to be a line going from the Everfree Forest, evidently heading toward the sound of the first roar by her castle.

A metallic wrenching noise behind her caused her stomach to drop as dawning comprehension hit her at what was going to happen next. She turned just in time to see the mirror portal dropping face down onto Rarity with a crash, then sliding across the floor to rest against the wall, leaving nothing behind but an empty floor where Rarity had once been. Twilight slumped to the floor as she stared slack-jawed at the empty space that had been occupied by one of her best friends only moments ago.

The fact that there was some invisible battle between ghost monsters that only affected the environment around them somehow was completely unimportant to her right now; all that mattered was that her friend was gone, and she had absolutely no idea where she had gone, and more importantly, no way to bring her back. All she could do was pray to Celestia that, wherever she ended up, she at least was safe.

2. Welcome to the Jungle

Rarity sat up shakily, screwing her eyes shut and clutching her head in pain. Her entire body ached, though many of the aches felt oddly foreign, and she groaned as she rubbed her temples, trying in vain to soothe the agonizing thump of pain. She gingerly opened her eyes and immediately regretted it. A feeling of vertigo seized her senses and a wave of nausea washed over her, causing her to lurch forward, barely catching herself before she crashed into the ground. Bracing herself, she slowly opened her eyes again, and her vision swam as she fought the urge to vomit. Fear and confusion gripped her as her eyes slowly focused, and her head turned back and forth taking in her surroundings.

Oh…my…

A jungle. She was in some kind of jungle. Not a forest, or even a swamp, she was in an honest to Celestia jungle somewhere. To her left was a small pool with a modest stream, and as far as the eye could see were swathes of trees and vines, branches, roots, and foliage, and far above the canopy filtered out much of the sunlight leaving a mottled forest floor below.

Where in Celestia’s name am I? This doesn’t look like Equestria, did I go through the mirror somehow?

Rarity’s gaze wandered back and she glanced down. Her breath hitched for a moment. Her eyes widened and frantically darted back and forth as she looked at herself all over, turning in whiplike movements and beginning to hyperventilate as she did so.

Hands. She had hands. And hooves. And her tail. She scrambled around madly, looking to see if her saddlebag had made the journey with her. She had almost given up hope when she found it half obscured amongst the detritus, given away only by the contrast of the blue diamonds emblazoned on the sides of the bag and the dim purple glow from Twilight’s enchantments on it standing out against the drab browns of the forest floor. In a frenzy she ripped open a and reached in expertly, finding her mirror in a surprisingly fast manner. She smirked slightly; one perk of being so meticulous and organized in all aspects of life, she supposed.

Back to the task at hoof, or hand now, she supposed, she braced herself and slowly looked herself over in the mirror. Looking back she saw her normal pony face and horn, a humanized body (still covered with her luxurious white coat) along with her tail, and hooves instead of feet. She also noticed that she seemed to be much more muscular than she had been previously, though in more of a sleek and athletic way than a bulky way, for which she was eternally grateful. Twilight’s words about physical changes and incomplete transformations returned to her and she felt another wave of nausea, as well as a heated wave of anger.

Twilight, what in Celestia’s name did you do to me while I was unconscious? I think it’s safe to assume I went through the mirror, but how is another matter…

She turned back to her bag, pulling out a set of clothing and a pair of scissors. She was thankful that she had the forethought to pack clothes intended to blend in with high school humans beforehand as she pulled on the tshirt and then began snipping a hole in the rear of the pair of jeans for her tail. While such mundane clothing was a far cry from her usual fare, she was quite sure that dresses and gowns were ill-suited for use in jungles. Regardless of the setting, however, she still could not prevent herself from repeatedly looking over the mirror to make sure everything about her appearance was in order before she returned to more important matters; namely, survival.

Rarity breathed in deeply and sat down on a nearby rock, resting her chin in her hands as she stared at the nearby pool.

So… now what do I do? There’s no portal back that I can see, and obviously nopony has come through after me… I can’t just sit here, but I can’t just wander aimlessly, either.

She sighed and buried her face in her hands.

What would the others do? Of all the ponies for this to happen to, why me? Why not Applejack or Rainbow Dash or Twilight? Applejack is literally built for wilderness survival like this! And Rainbow Dash is athletic enough to be able to fly and hike and explore the entire area without a second thought. Of course, Twilight would be planning everything she could ever need for survival, have everything organized and checklists made, and she’d be ready to go within an hour. She smirked. If you could get her to stop triple checking her checklist.

Rarity stiffened and lifted her head from her hands.

Hold on now, Rarity. You are a perfectly capable unicorn and you know it! You may not be the perfect pony for ‘roughing it’, so to speak, but that does not mean you are helpless, so do not start acting like it! You have been on enough camping trips with Applejack to have learned your fair share of tricks. You are organized and smart like Twilight, and I’m sure you can make a plan just as well as her for surviving out here!

She looked down at herself and smirked.

And, if I do say so myself, I think I’d give Rainbow a run for her money in the athletic department if I tried right now. Not to mention that I! AM! RARITY!

She tossed her mane to the side with a flourish.

I am a wonder of the fashion world and can make almost anything if I put my mind to it! If I can turn hotel decor into a designer fashion line, I can find my way out of some trees!

She stood with purpose, striding over to her bag to begin her preparations. The bag had been enchanted to allow it to hold much more than a regular bag would (very necessary; she would be hard pressed to bring one bolt of cloth with her in a regular saddlebag, let alone multiple) while at the same time decreasing its weight (holding more wasn’t very useful if she couldn’t carry it, after all), as well as withstand damage, which was very helpful when one tended to carry sharp sewing tools or have a destructive sibling with multiple destructive friends. She began to pull out her provisions, sorting them to review what she had in the event that something could prove useful.

Speaking of useful…

Rarity’s eyes crossed as she looked upward toward her horn.

I haven’t checked to make sure my magic still works. It is odd how quickly I adapted to using these hands given the circumstances, I suppose, though magic does take concentration to use, so I guess it makes sense in a way.

With her possessions laid out, she focused and a familiar blue glow enveloped them, moving each around her makeshift campsite. She had thankfully packed some snacks and bottles of water, and, though only a couple fruits and leafy greens, they should at least be enough to keep her sated for a short time until she could figure out something else to eat in the area.

Another section consisted of her tools; as she had come to help out with a festival, she naturally came prepared with a hefty sketchbook and pencils, all of her mobile crafting and tailoring gear, not to mention a fair amount of fabrics and materials. Not too many, of course, she wouldn’t want to overdo it, but still, a lady had her name and her pride to uphold. More importantly, she had brought a wide variety with her, for which she was currently thankful. She had not been sure which applications would be required, but she was fairly sure more would be needed than just girls’ formalwear and so she had come with enough varieties to set up clothes and decorations alike. Granted, she didn’t have the large quantities to mass produce anything, but her job was to plan, prototype, and design, not to supply the entire festival after all.

She had a modest amount of clothing with her, mostly practical, with a few sets of pajamas and comfy robes. All of it was made by her, of course, specifically for life in the human world among students. As such, they were considered very plain by her standards, though by the students they would have been considered anything but. They were all boldly designed and colored, each the height of fashion, made with the highest quality fabrics and likely worth their weight in gold to any in the higher echelons of society.

That being said, Rarity saw a bunch of shirts and pants.

Finally, she had a music box gifted to her by Sweetie Belle. It was a mere trinket, perhaps, but one that she had become fond of and brought as a special reminder of home. It was multifaceted, allowing it to be placed on any side, and the music type played (or not played) was chosen depending on which side was facing up.

Looking over her supplies, Rarity nodded.

I suppose that will have to do. I really do wish I had come with more supplies, but since I was going to stay with Sunset Shimmer it really wasn’t necessary to pack very heavily…

She sighed.

I at least have some food and water, I have clothes, I have some basic first aid supplies, I can make bandages, and I can make my own bedding and blankets. I just need to make sure that everything I make can fit into my bags so I can bring it along with me when I move. I should be able to make a fire, I remember Applejack showing me how to do that, I just need to make sure to keep it contained so I don’t burn everything to the ground.

She sighed again.

So that leaves me with what I don’t have. I don’t have a food source, the best material I have for shelter is a bolt of canvas that is hardly water resistant let alone waterproof, the closest things I have to knives or axes are a pair of scissors and a rotary cutter, and I have nothing to cook with in case I find food that needs to be cooked before eating. Worst of all… her face scrunched in disgust, I have no soap, no shampoo, no conditioner, none of my cosmetics… I shall be a filthy mess within a day, it will only get worse, and I won’t be able to do a Celestia damned thing about it!

She stomped a hoof in frustration. In a perfect response to her tantrum it sank into the soft earth with a squelch, causing her to lose her balance and topple over into the dirt with an undignified squeal. She lay there for a moment on the ground; her body still ached all over, she was in a foreign land, she was ill prepared for survival, and now she was covered in dirt and grime. Her mane was askew and had fallen over most of her face, but a small line of tears could still be seen trickling through a part in the hair down her muzzle to the tip of her nose, where it dripped down onto a growing puddle. She had been right, after all. She was Rarity. For better or worse. And she had no idea how she was going to survive.

**********

It was nearing midday when Rarity began preparing to leave her arrival site. She had made herself a small pillow and blanket with some of her fabrics, and after some consideration had spent some time making a number of modestly sized flags. Nothing fancy, but she had made them with patches of her cutie mark sewn onto them as a fast and easy way to announce to anyone that may come looking for her that she had been there. All she would need to do was attach one to a stout branch, plant it firmly in the ground, and it would be a lasting mark for anyone behind, or even to herself if she happened to backtrack or get lost. She then repacked her belongings and shouldered her bag. Picking around the trees, she found a couple firm branches; she made her way to the nearby stream, planted her first flag using one, and using the other as a walking stick, set off from her first unofficial campsite.

She followed the stream for some uneventful hours; she had decided that would be the best course to take in order to try to find some sort of help. At the very least it would provide her with water, it would help her keep track of where she had been, and if anybody had settled somewhere, it would likely be by a water source like this. She ate one of her apples as she walked; for some reason it felt odd as she ate, but she couldn’t really tell why. She was already extremely hungry, likely due to her new physiology and her current activity, but she was trying to pace herself as best as she could. She hadn’t seen much in the way of edible looking plants yet, though she had passed by some small animals and heard birds and rustles in the canopy above, so there must be something to eat somewhere. Unfortunately, all the tips she had learned from Applejack about what to eat and not eat had revolved around “eat only things that you can recognize”, which wasn’t very helpful when the number of things you could recognize was zero.

Whatever this place was, it was definitely different from what she was used to. The plants were overgrown and ancient looking, nothing like any forest she had ever seen, including the jungles of Equestria. Somehow, these carried a much more prehistoric feeling with them, which put her very ill at ease. Her eyes roamed the canopy uneasily, catching occasional shadows of birds flying past or animals moving through the treetops, and her ears twitched and swiveled at the sounds around her as creatures scurried through the brush unseen. It was enough to make her skin crawl and fur stand on end.

She finished her apple and reached in her bag for a little more to eat, fishing out a few leaves of kale after a moment. She popped a couple in her mouth and chewed as she walked on, but stopped cold in her tracks after only a couple steps, her eyes widening with each chew she took. Her jaw dropped open and she gagged, spitting the leaves out forcefully, sputtering and coughing as she did so.

What in Celestia’s name?! Those tasted so horrid!

She eyed one of the uneaten leaves she had left in her hand.

It looks completely normal, though. It doesn’t look spoiled, and I know that I washed them, so why did it taste so absolutely wretched?

She gave the leaf an experimental sniff, then nibbled a tiny bit and quickly spit it out in disgust.

Ew, it tastes just awful!

She moved her tongue to dislodge a fibrous piece of the offending plant from her teeth when an unfamiliar jab of minor pain struck her. She froze in place, her tongue still touching the spot it had found. To be more precise, the very out of place, unexpected, and sharp canine tooth it had found. Rarity’s pupils shrank to pinpricks as she slowly ran her tongue across her teeth, finding more and more unexpected shapes as it made its way around from back to front.

She quickly grabbed her bag and retrieved her mirror, checking her reflection to confirm her fears. What she saw reminded her of the teeth of regular humans, though a few of them looked a bit sharper than she recalled. Her lip trembled slightly and she felt a bit nauseous again.

Why do I have the teeth of a carnivore? And how did I not notice that? I suppose I wasn’t exactly smiling or inspecting my mouth when I was checking myself earlier.

She looked back at the kale in her hand; a realization hit her and she gasped.

Are my tastes changing? Celestia help me, don’t let that be it! I refuse to stoop so low as to eat poor defenseless creatures like some barbarian!

She huffed.

Stupid portals and their stupid changes to everything. I guess that puts even more of a hurry on finding food, though, if some of my food may be inedible now… How exactly was I planning on finding food, anyway?

She thought hard about the question; before she had mainly just planned on walking and looking at plants as she went until something familiar and appetizing showed up, or maybe happened upon an animal eating something and remembered what the food looked like (Celestia help her if she was going to take food some animal had been chewing on), but now that she really thought about it, the more terrible and shortsighted those approaches seemed. She supposed it was a good thing she had stopped to think about it now rather than much later on when she was much lower on food.

Okay, let’s really think this through. I can’t just hope to come across something I know is edible. I know Applejack had to have had some way to tell if something was safe to eat, I remember seeing her showing Applebloom something during their “survival talks”. She kept putting a piece of fruit on her leg, then her lips, then her mouth for short amounts of time… every once in a while she would throw the piece away after touching it to one of those spots… I guess there’s only one way to find out if that works, so let’s get going. I had better get something of a gathering bag, together, though.

She nodded to herself as if to confirm her plan, evidently needing a little extra bit of convincing that it was in fact a good idea. She made a very quick and crude bag (at least, by her standards, though it made her very soul hurt to do so) in favor of being fast, planted a flag where she was as a marker and stepped away from the stream into the thicker brush of the jungle, pushing aside the heavy foliage that had so far been absent along the banks of the stream. The difference between the banks and the interior became apparent immediately, and Rarity felt the oppressive heat and humidity bearing down on her. Where the relatively open banks had allowed a cool breeze to move and air to circulate, further in the air was stagnant and suffocating. The terrain was difficult, covered and blocked often with plants and vines, though there were places where she was able to forge a way through somewhat unimpeded if she was vigilant.

Truth be told, she was very thankful that the partial transformation had left her with her hooves; traveling on this type of ground with feet would likely be painful and difficult, and traveling with hooves were neither of those. It was almost comfortable, actually, if she was to be honest with herself. She suspected many of these makeshift paths were runs made by animals over time, for which she was thankful but also slightly nervous that she may encounter one of them. While she had seen some small animals, she was sure there were larger - much larger - animals out here, and she was not keen to meet any of them.

As she walked she peered back and forth through the stems and leaves, using her walking stick to lift branches and looking for any traces of nuts, berries, fruits, pods, or any other sort of edible looking non-animal things she could find. It took her about ten minutes to find her first promising start, a bush covered with small purple berries. She jumped in place, giving a small twirl and squeal of joy at her discovery.

Bwahaha! Success! Rarity, you’ve done it! You’ve found something!

Her face adopted a much more serious look.

Now, to find out if you can eat them without dying.

Using her magic, she plucked a berry from the bush and looked at it closely. It looked fairly odd, separated into eight lobes, each pocked with seeds similar to a strawberry. She squished a lobe and gave it an experimental sniff. It smelled sweet, with a hint of sour as well.

Well, it doesn’t smell like sweaty gym socks or anything, so that’s a start.

She plucked the lobe off with her magic and stared at it, somewhat unsure of what she was doing.

I guess I put it on my… arm? For some reason? I have no idea what I’m looking for, but if this is what Applejack did, I’m sure there’s a reason for it….

Feeling extremely silly, she brought the lobe down and placed it on her forearm, letting the juice flow out from the squished piece. However, no sooner had the berry touched her skin, she yanked it back with a surprised yelp of pain as an angry blister formed in the place the berry had touched instantly. She quickly retrieved a bottle of water from her pack, dousing her arm to remove what lingering juice she could before it could do any more damage. The juice had dissolved away the fine white fur of Rarity’s arm where it had touched in that brief moment of contact, leaving behind a small bare patch and a tender blister. Rarity stared at her arm in disbelief, then at the caustic berry.

Well, that explains why I was doing that. Imagine if I had tried taking a bite of it first! She shuddered. If I ever make it home, I will need to make sure to thank Applejack profusely for her lessons, even if I didn’t pay attention to all of them, I suppose. Now, I had better treat this before it gets worse.

She opened her pack and removed the first aid pack, applied some ointment to the blister, then wrapped a bandage around her arm.

Much better. Now, as for you.

She turned her attention back to the berry.

Now to make note of this little horror. I don’t intend to ever make this mistake again.

She removed her sketchbook and pencils from her bag and began to draw, making extremely detailed pictures from multiple angles along with descriptions of the berry and the plant itself, and then added all that she could about what happened when it touched her skin. She knew that it wasn’t food, obviously, but simply writing “don’t eat the purple berry” was hardly helpful; she was sure that knowing exactly what it was and did could be useful in the future, so the more information she had, the better off she was. Once she was satisfied with her notes on the plant, she stowed her book, discarded the berry carefully, shot a baneful look at the bush, blew it a derisive raspberry out of spite, turned on her hoof, and continued on her way.

She continued on in this way for some time, encountering multiple different plants that showed some promise; each she subjected to her newfound test: smell it to see if it smelled terrible first, check for reactions on her arm, then against her lips, then taste, then hold in her mouth for a few seconds, then if everything was fine after that, assume it was alright to eat. Some failed immediately like a delicious looking fruit that turned out to smell like a dead body, while some came very close to being edible but didn’t quite make it, like the nuts that made her tongue itchy or the berries that were just too full of pointy mouth and throat irritating seeds to be considered edible. Some, however, did end up being not only edible but also downright tasty, and even though it was a fairly meager harvest she did her best to fill her bag. And, with each plant she inspected, she made extremely detailed notes of all of its properties.

As light began to fade, Rarity looked down at her makeshift basket. She had discovered a total of three edible plants, and each one did not have much to offer, but she had gathered all she could. At the very least, she now knew what they looked like in case she found more, but the food she had just found coupled with what she still had left in her saddlebag likely wouldn’t last her through the end of tomorrow.

I wish I had brought more with me than just a few fruits and veggies. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to smack all those ponies that guilt tripped me into giving up my favorite guilty snacks. “Give up the carbs!” they said. “All those sweets will kill you!” they said. Those sweets and carbs would be saving my flank right now.

“THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR IMPLYING THAT I WAS A FAT MARSHMALLOW AND MADE IT SO I COULDN’T EAT CAKE ANY MORE, YOU WENCHES!” Rarity yelled to nobody in particular. The jungle went silent for a moment, and then a howl echoed back in response. Rarity’s ears folded back and she cringed.

Oops… Eheheh… Maybe I shouldn’t be yelling out loud out here. I think it might be time for me to find my way back to the stream. Like, right now.

Turning quickly, she wove her way back through the thickets and vines, glancing back over her shoulder every now and then to make sure nothing was following behind her. Every once in a while her ears swiveled back, catching the sound of rustling leaves or what may have been a low growl. Her pace quickened and her heart hammered faster as she moved, and her backward glances became more and more frequent as she went, but every time she looked, emptiness loomed behind her. She could hear the babbling of the stream in the distance, she was getting near now. Soon she would be in an open area where she would be able to see and breathe much more clearly, she could set up camp, she could rest, she could eat, she could-

-SCREECH-

An ear splitting shriek shattered the dusk sky, sending birds scattering from their perches in the canopy above and driving the small woodland creatures below scurrying for cover. Rarity screamed in terror and broke into a full run, aiming for the bank as fast as she could. She did not know if anything was following her, but she prayed nothing was. As the din of the stream grew louder, she chanced a look back to see if there was anything behind her. The only thing there was darkness. This was exceedingly lucky for Rarity, not only because that meant nothing was chasing her, but also because that meant that nothing would be able to catch her when she ran face first into a branch as she turned back around and knocked herself to the ground.

She lay on the ground for several minutes, breathing heavily, feeling a trickle of blood from her nose where the branch had hit her, but otherwise unhurt. She no longer heard any rustling of leaves, nor any howls or screeches, but only the noise of the stream, which she could tell was very close by. After regaining her breath, she picked herself off the ground, brushing what dirt she could off and wiping the blood from her nose along the back of her arm.

Ugh, I am filthy. What I wouldn’t give for a nice, warm shower and some luxurious soaps and shampoos right now. Oh, Aloe, Lotus, I miss you already. If I make it back to your spa, I will be making appointments every day for a year straight, I swear it. But for right now, I will just have to make do.

She finished her path back to the banks of the river and surveyed the area for an acceptable place to set up her camp. She found one a short way up river, past a short set of rapids where a rocky rise led up to a much wider sandy bank. She gathered a pile of rocks, thankful for her combination of hands and magic to make the task much faster than using just one or the other; surprisingly it was not difficult at all for her to manage using both simultaneously. She had thought it might be distracting to focus on one to the detriment of the other, almost as though they would be mutually exclusive of each other, but to her delight the use of magic and hands together seemed almost second nature to her. She set her rocks up in a circle to make a fire pit, then set about gathering wood and tinder. Thankfully, that task was even easier than gathering rocks; she basically had to turn around and there were a handful of broken sticks and branches behind her just waiting to be thrown into the pit.

Now came the tricky part. She remembered Applejack rubbing sticks together to make fire, and she had practiced it herself, but it had always been difficult. She knew it wasn’t quite as simple as just rubbing sticks, either, there was a process; a very involved process. She wished she could just “magic up” a fire, but unfortunately for her magic just didn’t work like that. She had the regular unicorn magic of telekinesis at her disposal, finely tuned motor skills and a delicate touch from her craft, and an innate skill at finding gems and ores from her own natural talent, but creating fire from thin air did not fall within her area of expertise.

Looking around her campsite for the requisite materials, she found what she was looking for: a long, straight, flat branch, a straight and sturdy round branch, a slightly curved branch, and a slightly curved and smooth rock. Returning to her bag, she retrieved a pair of scissors and a length of durable fabric, which she cut into very thin strips. She cast an appraising eye over them before deeming them worthy, then expertly and effortlessly wove them together, forming a tight and thin rope, which she tied off at the ends. She smirked.

Take that, Applejack. I’d love to see you do that.

She tied her rope around the ends of the curved branch, making a neat little bow, though this one had nothing to do with hunting. Once again she picked up the scissors, using one of the blades to whittle a point into the straight branch, then again to remove the bark and further flatten the long flat branch. Then, she used the point of the scissors to dig a small divot in the flat wood, and then, finally, a notch close to the divot she had just made. She sat back, wiping her brow and shaking her hand free of some of the tension she had worked into it.

This had better work, that’s all I can say.

She set up the wood and tinder in the fire pit, and made sure all was prepared for when she finally was (hopefully) able to get a coal or flame started. She prepared a small amount of tinder next to her fire board, as she believed it was called, and began her set up. The fire board was on the bottom, with her kneeling on the far edge; she looped the pointed stick into the bow, and put the point of it into the divot on the fire board, and then used the curved rock to hold the top of the stick in place and put pressure on it while the bow turned the stick back and forth.

It was at this point that Raity became extremely thankful for her magic. She had been expecting a laborious, intensive workout, straining with the contraption trying to get the bow to swing back and forth for the better part of an hour before anything would happen. What happened in actuality was somewhat frustrating, somewhat humorous, and entirely anticlimactic. She struggled with the bow for a few minutes, trying to wrestle it with her hands, holding the bow with her magic, and trying a combination, and it did not want to cooperate with her at all, constantly falling out of the bow as she tried to spin it back and forth. Feeling defeated and close to tears, she stared at the stick laying on the ground when a thought occurred to her.

Why do I need that stupid bow to begin with? You’re a unicorn, silly filly.

She picked up the stick with her aura, making it hover in front of her and began it spinning. She watched it pick up speed, reaching speeds that could rival a carpenter’s drill within twenty seconds. She smiled broadly, letting the stick slow down. She brought it down to the board, put the stone on top and held it down with a small amount of pressure, and pulsed an aura of magic to start it spinning.

She had smoke within fifteen seconds.

She had a coal within another thirty.

Score another point for unicorns. Pegasi and earth ponies have got nothing on us!

Rarity cheered inwardly as she lit her tinder with the coal, then carried the small flaming bundle to the fire pit in a blue aura. She watched proudly as her first campfire sparked to life, growing in strength until it reached a proper blaze. Now was the first time since she had arrived where she felt at ease, and that she could rest at last. She decided to take advantage of the situation as best she could, with the closest to personal pampering she could manage. She gave her filthy clothes a quick wash in the river, then walked to the edge herself for what was likely to be the coldest and least sanitary bath she had ever had in her life, but also the most welcome. Her hoof touched the edge of the water and she cringed.

Oh sweet Celestia, that’s cold. But I’d rather get cold than be dirty. In you go!

She braced herself, then plunged herself into the chilly waters. She came up sputtering and shivering, but managed to wash off all the dirt and sweat she had accumulated throughout the day before climbing back out. She made her way to the fire and sat on a rock, warming herself while squeezing the water from her mane and tail. Reaching down next to her, she picked up her gathering bag and slowly munched on her provisions, savoring the bites as she could. By this time the light had almost entirely faded, and the moon was now high in the sky, visible through the break in the canopy afforded by the river. Rarity, now dry, retrieved one of her most comfy robes from her bag along with her blanket and pillow, grabbed a length of muslin fabric as a ground cover, and laid down for the night. Exhausted, sore, hungry, and anxious about what tomorrow would bring, Rarity fell asleep for the first time in the wilds of the jungle.

15. Breakthrough

“Rarity!” A yell and a loud thumping noise woke Rarity. It was dark outside, barely lit by the sliver of moon in the sky above. The thumping continued. “Rarity!”

“…the hell?” Rarity rubbed her forehead, sitting up in bed groggily as the banging on her door continued. She swung her hooves over the side of the bed and slowly walked over to the door, slightly teetering as she walked since the alcohol was still working its way out of her system. She looked to her side; Cinnamon lay on her bed, completely passed out. There was absolutely no waking the felyne with the unholy racket.

“Rarity!” The thumping continued.

Lucky damn felyne.

Rarity grit her teeth. “Cyr, I’m going to open the door. And the village had better be on fire. You’re here to warn me to get out. That’s the only acceptable reason for you to be banging on my door right now. So, if the village isn’t on fire, I’m going to be pissed as hell.” She flung open the door to see Cyradel standing there holding several glowing crystal coffee mugs. Rarity’s eyes narrowed.

“The village… is not on fire.”

She slammed the door.

“Rarity! Please! I just need a really fast favor! I’m sorry I woke you up!” Cyradel pleaded. “I had a really huge brainstorm and I just had to see if it was right, and I couldn’t wait all night without knowing because if it’s right then I can keep trying to figure more out, but if it’s not then it’s back to the drawing board and I don’t want to waste all that time just sitting there waiting and wondering! Please! It’ll be really fast!”

The door creaked back open slowly. Rarity stood there, looking extremely unamused and as if she may very well set the village on fire herself, given the chance.

She crossed her arms. “Make this fast, then.”

“Ok,” started Cyradel, “can you send magic in charged bursts, rather than in continuous streams?”

“Yes…” Rarity replied slowly.

“Great!” Cyradel squealed. She dashed away and set a crystal mug on the ground a short way away. “Can you charge up a burst of magic and send it at that mug? Just a normal burst.”

Rarity followed Cyradel’s instructions, sending a shot of magic at the mug, which let out a melodious ring and began glowing when the magic struck it.

“Awesome!” Cyradel retrieved the mug. She set a second one down, a bit farther away, and then pulled Rarity behind the door frame. “Ok, this is what I really wanted to test. I want you to charge up the strongest magic blast you can, then send it at the mug. As soon as you shoot it, duck back behind the door, just in case.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. She rubbed her forehead; she was still fuzzy, but charging a blast of magic was still within her capabilities. She concentrated hard for several seconds, letting the magical energy build; once she felt as though she had stored as much as she could safely handle, she aimed and sent the blast hurtling toward the crystal mug, then dove behind the door frame, covering her ears with her hands in expectation of an incoming blast.

Instead, a loud melodious chime rang out and a bright light lit up the street; confused, Cyradel and Rarity peeked from behind the door to see the mug still sitting on the street, shining brightly but unharmed.

“Well, shit.” Cyradel looked crestfallen. “I was so sure that was the answer, too.” She shuffled back toward the street to retrieve the mug. “Have a good night Rarity, sorry to have woken you.”

“Right, well, go get some sleep, Cyr.” Rarity said. “I’m going back to-“

“Hold on!” Cyradel shouted, grabbing the mug and inspecting it through squinted eyes.

“Dammit, Cyr, I was almost free…” Rarity groaned.

Cyradel rushed back over to Rarity with the mug excitedly. “Look, Rarity! See, the mug is shining only up to a certain point, almost like the crystal itself is filling with magic! It’s almost full, but a portion still isn’t shining!”

“SHIT! Cyr, get that out of my face! It’s fucking bright! It’s nighttime for fuck’s sake! Ok, great, it’s not full of magic yet, so?”

“Rarity, can you channel magic into it until it’s completely full, and then blast it with magic?”

Rarity stared at Cyradel silently for a good ten seconds. “Sure, why the hell not?" she deadpanned.

“Great! Thanks!” Cyradel chirped, completely unfazed by Rarity’s lack of enthusiasm. She ran back out to the street and set the mug down, then dashed back to the door.

Rarity concentrated, sending out a stream of magic that absorbed into the crystalline material easily, steadily brightening it for another fifteen seconds. After that, it seemed like the mug stopped absorbing any more magic, and the stream just splayed off the mug as it hit.

“It looks like it’s full,” Cyradel observed. “Let’s see what a concentrated blast will do if it’s completely saturated already.”

Rarity shrugged. “Ok, if you say so. I mean, the rest of my magic was just bouncing off it, so whatever you want.”

“Just make sure you get behind the door to be safe.” Cyradel warned.

“Will do.” Rarity gave a thumbs up. She concentrated once again, forming a large amount of energy in her horn until she was satisfied that she couldn’t gather any more. She aimed the blast and let it loose toward the mug, then ducked behind the door frame, ready for the magic to fizzle out or some sort of plinking noise as it bounced off like it had when it was streaming earlier.

What she had not planned on was an explosion. A deafening explosion that had shards of crystal that struck everything in sight, from the sounds of all the noise against the houses and the shattering of windows. Rarity looked at Cyradel in wide eyed horror as the sounds of chaos began erupting throughout the village; all the townspeople were waking up to find out what the commotion was and why their windows were broken. She enveloped Cyradel in a magical aura and shoved her out of her doorway.

“That was not fast. I am going back to bed. You may go explain to everybody else that the town is not on fire.”

She slammed her door.

**********

“I’m really sorry, ok?” Cyradel apologized yet again. “Leonys gave me holy hell for waking everybody up in the middle of the night, and I have to pay for damages to people’s property from the mug exploding, too. Thankfully it was a small mug, so it only hit a few of the surrounding houses. But still! I got in big trouble, so that counts for something, right?”

Rarity sat in Cyradel’s lab with her arms folded and a somber expression. “I suppose that will do. You’re lucky I didn’t drink as much last night as I did my previous night out. Actually, maybe it would have been better off if I had, then I would have slept through it all and none of this would have happened.” She sighed. “Well, at least I don’t have a hangover this time.”

“See? Silver linings!” Cyradel grinned. “And because I got my answer last night, I’ve been able to think about it all morning, and I think I’ve got a really good hypothesis!”

“So that’s why you called me here so damned early, then?” Rarity said, completely unamused.

“Yes, it would explain a lot if I’m correct.” Cyradel confirmed.

“Eh, just as well, I had something to talk to you about, anyway.” Cyradel cocked her head to the side, intrigued. “It can wait until after you’re done.” Rarity assured her.

“Ok…” Cyradel paused, her interest clearly piqued. “What I wanted you to do was to scan my crystal mugs like you did the machalite ore, as if you were trying to find the crystal deposits out in the wild. At least, if the crystals fall into the mineral category that you can track.”

“Of course!” Rarity smiled. “Gems, minerals, ores, crystals, I’ve never had any issues finding them. So, where’s your mug then?”

Cyradel handed over one of the crystals, and Rarity quickly scanned it, making several pulses with her horn as its composition became ingrained in her magical memory.

“Ok, now what?”

“Those mugs are made from dragonfire crystal, I was hoping you could scan the monster hides like you did for machalite ore and see if they contained any of the crystal. Pieces of ore can be found, even if they’re tiny, they’re still opaque. Miniscule shards of crystal, though? They’d literally be invisible, especially if they’ve been embedded deep in tissue and healed over long ago.”

“Ok, I can do that. Do you have a sample here?”

“Sample? Oh, no, no. C’mon.” Cyradel stood and walked out her door and led Rarity several doors down the hall to a large set of double doors. Entering, Rarity sucked in a quick breath as she saw the dead barioth laying in the middle of a gigantic room, different parts of it in multiple states of dissection. She suppressed a gag.

“You could have at least warned me.”

Cyradel looked confused. “You killed it. I mean, you literally put a switch axe through its head. How is this any different?”

“I’m not in ‘kill or be killed’ mode. And you’ve also peeled some of its skin off. Unless I’m trying to get food, I don’t do that. Just, give me some warning next time I’m going to be looking at a half-flayed creature.”

Cyradel shrugged. “Whatever. Fair enough.”

Rarity walked into the room and stared at the barioth. “So, let’s see if you’ve got any crystals in you.” She pulsed her horn, and her jaw dropped.

“Holy fucking shit.”

“What? WHAT?” Cyradel asked, virtually vibrating with excitement.

“It’s completely covered with crystals. Everywhere.”

“YES!” Cyradel shouted. “I KNEW IT!”

“So… what does that mean?” Rarity asked.

“Let’s go back to my lab, I’ll explain,” Cyradel chirped in a singsong voice. She skipped out of the room humming with Rarity trailing behind her and headed back down the hall.

Taking seats, Cyradel pulled out one of her mugs and showed it to Rarity. “Remember way, way back, when you first got here? And you were explaining your magic to us?”

Rarity nodded.

“You said magic doesn’t stay in creatures when it’s cast on them, and you gave us that awesome demonstration by freaking out Aery.” She paused, laughing hysterically. “But, you only specified creatures. What about items?”

Rarity paused.

“Now that you mention it, there are a lot of items in our world that can store magic…” she admitted.

“I thought so.” Cyradel smiled. “You brought us coffee with your magic using these crystal mugs. Months ago. And when you got close enough the other night, they still had magic in them, enough to resonate with you to reactivate.”

“So… the monsters we’ve been fighting had the same energy signature as me… and glowing auras… because they were actually using magic exactly like me from stored magic in crystals embedded in their bodies?”

“Exactly! They must have figured out how to turn it on and off and focus or use it just like you can with your horn. Have you had instances with creatures gaining magic that didn’t have it before?”

Oh fuck.

“…Yes, we have. It… does not usually turn out well. They tend to gain intelligence, knowledge, and powers that they would not normally have.”

“So, that explains one part of the puzzle. Next up… how did they get there? I figured out part of that, but only part. Dragonfire crystal and machalite ore are commonly intermixed in deposits; after what we saw last night, if a crystal deposit exploded, it would send millions of shards of both machalite and crystal into any monster in close vicinity, and that crystal would have been fully charged with magic at the time. The only part I don’t know is why so many monsters would be in such close proximity to so many supercharged deposits.”

The pair sat in silence for several minutes as Rarity digested this new information and Cyradel continued to think.

“Hold on…” Rarity said slowly.

“Hm?”

“Machalite ore and crystal deposits would be together, and they would have been shattered? Around where an aberrant was?”

“Right, I just don’t know why.”

“The diablos nest we found had that!” Rarity blurted out.

Cyradel stared at her. “What?”

“When we were hunting the diablos! We found its nest, and there were the remains of nodes of machalite and crystals, they all looked like they had been blown up!” Rarity said excitedly.

“Holy shit…” Cyradel whispered. She stood up and began pacing. “If dragonfire crystals are present in nesting sites, that explains why so many are getting hit! Why would monsters be building nests by them, though?" she continued to pace, thinking back on the previous night. “The mug… it was warm! If a small mug got warm, then a lot of large nodes fully charged must provide a lot of heat, making a great nesting site!”

Rarity watched, fascinated, as a not-Twilight version of Twilight paced back and forth.

“Then, how are all of these nodes getting charged? Dragonfire crystal… how does it form… properties… crystal veins… run in channels! They interconnect! These nodes aren’t just separate random nodes, they’re all connected underground via channels! Nodes are just kind of like bulbous terminals at the ends of thin lines, so they would collect energy until there was no place to go until there was a surge!”

She clapped excitedly, then rushed over and hugged Rarity, kissing her on the cheek. “I think we’ve cracked it! At least, almost all of it! I mean, we still don’t know how the hell the magic is getting here, but we know how the monsters have it!”

Rarity grinned. “I’ll admit, you’re brilliant, you know that?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Rarity stared at her flatly. “Not modest, though.”

“Meh, I’ll take what I can get. Anyway, you said you had something to talk to me about, too?”

Rarity smacked her forehead. “Oh yeah, I completely forgot! Last night we were talking over drinks, and I was telling everyone about some weird stuff that was happening back in my home world that started really recently, and they got all quiet and said I should tell you.”

“Like what?” Cyradel asked, concerned.

“Weird wind and lightning storms, trees being pulled up out of the ground for about ten seconds then just dropping back down, random wildfires out in nowhere with no ignition sources, random explosions where there’s nothing flammable or explosive, and a solar flare when our Princess controls the sun completely. Sydreol and Cinnamon said it sounded like… a belushi and a travolta?”

“An ibushi and a teostra…” Cyradel said breathlessly.

“Yeah, that’s it!” Rarity said.

Cyradel went silent for a moment, closing her eyes.

“Rarity, how did you say you got here again?”

“We have a dimensional mirror, but I was passed out, so I don’t know the specifics. I just know something went wrong with the coordinates so it sent me to the wrong dimension.”

“And is your dimension ever… unstable?”

Rarity snorted. “Of course n-“

Discord rips space and time. Chrysalis. The Tree of Harmony getting strangled out by Discord’s plants. Tirek stealing all the magic in Equestria. Stygian.The Storm King. Midnight Sparkle ripping holes in the dimensions. Cozy Glow almost draining all the magic from Equestria.

“It’s constantly unstable,” she admitted. “Even worse in recent years.”

“I have a theory, then.” Cyradel said. “I think our dimensions lie right next to each other. If your dimension is that unstable, it’s entirely possible that the boundaries between our dimensions are becoming blurred. If your world is having occurrences like those, it sounds to me like the energy from the abilities of ibushis and teostras are crossing over into your world. They are both considered elder dragons, and are extremely powerful; if they were to have been imbued with magic from your world, I shudder to think what they’d be capable of.

“Your mirror could have sent you here because of that blurring and proximity, and magic from your world could be leaking here because of that, too. Since dragonfire crystals are pretty much all linked through subterranean veins, there’s probably a mother lode somewhere close to a strong magical rift that is soaking up energy. And any time there is a surge, it could cause nodes to explode. Bear in mind, this is all a theory, but I think it’s a pretty damn sound one.”

Rarity nodded. “You guys still know where the pukei pukei nest was, right? Why not go check and see if there are nodes there? That would help solidify if you’re on the right track.”

“Perfect idea! We’ll send some people out right away, and start thinking about our next move, then!”

**********

“Hey Rares, ya got a minute?” Sydreol jogged up behind her as she walked down the road, having just left the academy.

“I suppose,” she yawned. “Cyr kept me up last night, so I’m kind of tired, but it’s not like I’m going back to bed or anything. What’s up?”

“Ah, she woke you up, too, huh? Her stupid explosion woke up half the damn village! Nobody knows what she blew up or how. Now that I think about it, it looked like it was pretty close to your place. Sucks to be you, I guess.”

“Heh, yeah, who knows?” Rarity’s eyes darted around. “Anyway! What did you want?”

“Well, I had a hunt request, and I thought you might want to tag along.”

Rarity stared at him. “Tag along?”

“Ok, stick with me, here,” he said. “For as long as you’ve been here, everything you’ve fought has been an aberrant. You have fought the hardest, most vicious shit we’ve ever seen. And you’ve beaten the shit out of them all. You honestly have no idea what a normal, everyday hunt is like. Remember when you first got here, and some monsters attacked you? You almost bled to death? I bet if you sneezed on ‘em now, they’d die. That’s how strong you’ve gotten. I think that if you took a step back, just went on a hunt that wasn’t one where one false move would get you killed, you’d actually enjoy it.”

“You think so?” Rarity looked hesitant.

“I really do.” Sydreol confirmed. “Plus, I picked this hunt specifically for you. I can guarantee you’ll be interested in seeing this monster.”

“It’s not some gross, pus-filled thing, is it?” Rarity looked at him skeptically.

“How big of an ass do you think I am?”

“…what’s the biggest monster you have here I can compare you to?”

He shook his head. “…brutal.”

She grinned. “Alright, I think it sounds like a good idea; I could use a less stressful hunt for once. What are we hunting? What should I bring to prepare?”

He wagged his finger at her. “Oh no, I’m not spoiling the surprise. Just bring your dual blades and pack some cleansers. They’re fast and can be… ‘slippery’.” He chuckled to himself.

“Ok, keep your secrets, I’ll meet you at the canteen in about a half hour? Then we can head out after that.”

“Sounds good. We’ll be heading into some of the less densely packed areas of the jungle, there are roads and trade routes that pass by some of those areas and they’ve had some issues with one of these monsters.”

**********

Rarity couldn’t breathe. She stood there, absolutely unable to move a muscle. There was no real reason she couldn’t. But she didn’t want to. The monster in front of her had stolen her breath and captivated her attention, and she wanted to keep watching as long as she could.

“Rarity!” Sydreol whispered, poking her roughly. “I said, we do have to kill this thing.”

“WHY?" she almost bawled. “It’s beautiful!”

“I know they are. It’s a mizutsune, and they’re regularly pretty docile, compared to other monsters. But, when the mating season hits, they get… well, you don’t want to have one anywhere near you. They will attack anything and everything, and since this one has picked right next to all our major roads to stay, we have to kill it. We can’t make it leave, and if we don’t, it will kill people.”

Rarity stared at it for a long time. “Can I at least try to approach it non-threateningly first? If it attacks me, then I’ll attack back, but I don’t want to attack without it being hostile first.”

Sydreol sighed, but smiled. “You’re a good person, you know that?”

“I’m a good pony.”

“Whatever. Go try to charm the monster and don’t get your face bitten off. Oh, and these things will froth up, spit, and fling bubbles. If you get hit with them, it’s literally like being in soapy water. You’ll slip and slide all over the place. That’s what the cleansers are for, getting rid of the bubbly crap.”

“Got it.”

She climbed out from behind their hiding place and slowly walked toward the mizutsune, keeping her hands in plain sight.

“Fucking nuts…” Sydreol mumbled.

The serpentine monster regarded her approach warily from a distance, staring at her unwaveringly with its frilly fins raised in agitation.

“It’s ok,” Rarity said calmly, “I don’t mean you any harm, ok?" she continued her approach.

The mizutsune hissed, raising itself into an attacking posture.

“Rarity, calm or not, you’re really pissing it off!” Sydreol called. “You’re right on the edge of it’s ‘don’t fuck with me’ zone!”

Rarity ignored him. It’s not an aberrant. I can get through to it.

She took another step forward.

**********

Sydreol knew that Rarity was exceptional. He knew that she had, time after time, shown a massive amount of courage, skill, and luck. And, more than anything, she surprised them constantly.

This was not one of those times.

In a predictable fashion, the mizutsune screeched at Rarity invading its ‘don’t fuck with me’ zone with high levels of aggression, surprising her with its sheer volume to the point that she had to cower and cover her ears to negate the pain.

It then spun on itself, rubbing its long, scaled body together and creating large bubbles from the friction on the foamy secretions its scales produced. It pushed them with its body toward Rarity, who, caught off guard, was struck with the first one that came her way.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Sydreol groaned, picking up his longsword and walking toward the mizutsune. He meandered over to Rarity, who was covered in bubbly secretions, and lightly pushed her away. She slid across the ground effortlessly, tumbling into a bush with a curse.

“Use a cleanser and take a lesson that you can’t reason with monsters.” Sydreol said in annoyance.

“Fuck you,” Rarity called from the bushes.

He readied his longsword, moving toward the mizutsune quickly as it attempted to rake a claw at him. He dodged the strike with ease, slashing at the leg and leaving a deep cut as he did. The mizutsune reeled, but recovered soon after. It pulled its tail end around in an effort to swipe at Sydreol, but he had already anticipated the move; with a smooth jump he vaulted himself over the tail and came down on the other side with his longsword striking the beast’s tail, severing it in one fell swoop.

The mizutsune screeched in pain, writhing from the blow. Sydreol moved from the tail end to the monster’s midsection, delivering multiple slashes and stabs before it could recover; it tried to bend back to bite him, but he withdrew his blade from its side as it did and drove it into its mouth, piercing the roof of its gaping maw before it could inflict any damage. He stood there, holding his longsword out with the skewered mizutsune’s head on it, barely having broken a sweat, and Rarity had just made her way out of the bushes.

“What the…?” Rarity stammered. “You killed it already? How?”

“I’ve fought these things so many times, Rares. I know how they act. That’s part of being a hunter. Know your prey. Eventually you learn to anticipate their moves, and it just becomes second nature for you. Now, I know you didn’t really fight it, but did you at least get a bit of an appreciation for the less strenuous fights?”

“Uh, yes.” Rarity affirmed. “I mean, I really was in no danger. I got hit with a bubble. I got pushed into a bush. You killed it within a couple minutes. I guess if I would have just started out attacking I wouldn’t have had much of a problem, either.”

“Most likely,” Sydreol confirmed. “Ready to head back?”

Rarity stared at the mizutsune, obviously deep in thought. “No, I’m not quite ready, actually. Tell me, does Reneris use mizutsune materials for armor much?”

“Sometimes,” Sydreol said. “It all depends on what abilities it gives. But she can make sets out of pretty much everything.”

“Wait, so anything she makes, whatever monster it comes from, she can make a matching set for, she just doesn’t?”

“Pretty much, it’s only the abilities that limit it. I thought you knew that?”

“Well, I knew that she made things according to what they did, but I didn’t know that she could make matching sets if she wanted to.”

“Um, does this matter? Reneris isn’t going to waste her time making gear that people aren’t going to use.”

“I think it does. Because I think it’s about time I try my hand at blacksmithing. Reneris has her Wyverian blacksmithing tricks that add abilities to gear. But, if I make things, I could probably make lighter versions of the set pieces she could make, without the abilities that people could use on top of their regular gear, to not look like shit. Layered gear, if you will.”

Sydreol looked thoughtful. “That… might actually work. Talk to Reneris. Expect expletives.”

Rarity grinned. “With her, that goes without saying. Let’s head back.”

**********

“YOU WANT TO HIDE MY WORK BY PUTTIN’ SOME CHEAP ASS IMITATION OVER TOP OF IT?” Reneris shouted at the top of her lungs.

Rarity cringed.

“Pretty much, yes?”

“Yeah, ya ain’t gotta tell me some of my shit is fugly. I’m well aware.”

“Pardon?”

“Fugly. Fuckin’ ugly.”

“I-I didn’t mean…”

“Shut it. I know it is. I was fuckin’ with ya. I know yer’ all into lookin’ nice, and ya know, I can’t fault ya for it. I’ve seen ya around town, and after gettin’ to know ya, ya ain’t a piece of shit like I originally thought. And ya look damn good walkin’ out and about. Ya want to look good in armor too, can’t blame ya. Others have said the same thing. It ain’t easy, it’ll take a long time, but if you want to learn how to make gear like I do, I’ll teach ya. Obviously it won’t have abilities, but that’s the draw ya want.”

“Thank you so-“

“Stop right there.”

“What?”

“Stop talking before you say some stupid ass cross my flying cupcake bullshit again. You’re happy, I got it.”

“Point taken.”

“Pick up a hammer, kid. Your ass is now mine whenever you have spare time. Come here, bring any of the spare parts you’ve collected so far. I expect you’ve gotten a decent amount?”

Rarity nodded. “I was able to get a pretty good amount of materials from each of the aberrants we’ve hunted so far.”

“Wait, is that all you’ve gotten is stuff from aberrants? Shit, I ain’t going to have you wasting aberrant materials on practicing. We’ll start you off on metal gear, but once you hit monster materials I don’t want you using all my stock.”

Reneris thought hard for a moment.

“Hah! I got it!" she smirked. “Hit up Syd. That dumbass has materials coming out his ass, and he has a soft spot for ya. He’ll give ya anything ya want. Guarantee it.”

“I couldn’t…” Rarity said. “I can’t take advantage of someone like that…”

Reneris gave her the most unimpressed and incredulous stare in the history of wyveriankind.

“You’re not takin’ advantage of anyone, dipshit. You’re asking him for materials, and he’s saying yes. I just told you that he likes you enough to say yes to whatever you want, not that you’re going to go rob him blind without him knowing. Fucking kids these days, dumber than a box of rocks.”

“Oh. Alright then, I guess I’ll check with him.” Rarity conceded.

“Damn straight. So you get your materials from dumbass, then head over here, pick up a hammer, and set to work. You can use my pieces as a reference, and I’ll be here for you to ask questions if you need. You’re enough of an artisan that you can probably figure out most of it yourself, which is, thankfully for me, the best way of learning, because that means you stay out of my hair. Now go track down your new material bitch and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Reneris! I reall-“

“I SAID: I’LL SEE YOU TOMORROW.” Reneris said forcefully before returning to hammering.

“See you tomorrow, then,” Rarity said quickly before hurrying off.

**********

“Yer doin’ good, kid. I mean, yer stuff’s shit, but it’s better quality shit than when ya started.”

“Thanks.” Rarity wiped her brow; her slim, toned arms glistened in the sun as sweat dripped from them and she panted slightly from the exertion of smithing. “Sooner or later I’ll make something worth giving to Syd to pay him back for all the materials he’s given me so far. He’s been giving me stuff every day for how long now? I’ve lost track.”

“Least a month. Probably more. I dunno. Days blend together when you do the same shit every day. And don’t worry, he doesn’t miss the mats. He has ‘em stockpiled from years of hunting. Kind of a hoarder, actually. You’re kinda cleaning out his house, good for him to get rid of this shit finally. I can only wonder what his place looks li-“

Reneris was cut off as the sound of a massive explosion filled the air, followed by a blast of percussive force that knocked them to the ground. A slight tremor through the ground followed the blast, then all was deathly quiet.

“The fuck was that?” Reneris asked uneasily.

“No clue, but I’m sure Leonys is going to want to talk with us about it,” Rarity surmised. “I’d better get moving.”

“Hey.”

Rarity paused, turning back as she was leaving the forge.

“I’m sure Leonys will send you out there to see what’s up. Stay safe. Or whatever.”

Rarity smiled. “I will, for flying cupcake bullshit.”

“Damn straight you will! Stay safe for flying cupcake bullshit!” Reneris laughed heartily.

Pinkie Pie would die right now if she heard me.

Rarity turned and headed for the main pavilion.

**********

“Thanks for coming,” Leonys addressed everyone. “As you know there was an explosion of an unknown origin earlier today; we believe it came from somewhere at the far edge of the forest outside the village. We need to investigate what it might have been; it’s imperative that we find out what it was that caused an explosion like that so close to home. I’d like to ask if our hunters could investigate the area to see if they can find anything and report back. Is that something you could do?”

Rarity, Sydreol, and Lycadran all nodded.

“Great, I knew I could count on all of you. I know we’ll need Rarity to go for protection for aberrants,” Leonys began.

Lycadran growled in aggravation, shooting a ruinous glare at Rarity.

“So if either Lycadran or Sydreol could accompany her, then please head out as soon as you are able.”

Lycadran shoved Sydreol aside as she left the area.

“You get bench duty this time, Syd. I’ll babysit monster girl and the cat.”

Sydreol shrugged. “Whatever, Lycadran. Knock yourself out. Please.”

She motioned behind her. “C’mon, monster girl. Get your shit and your sidekick and let’s get moving. I don’t want to waste time on this.” She strode away purposefully.

Rarity watched her leave in dismay, then leaned over to Sydreol. “Wish me luck.” She said mournfully.

“You’ll need a hell of a lot more than luck,” Sydreol responded. “Patience, self control, anger management…”

“Haha. You’re an ass.”

“Just telling the truth.”

“So am I.”

“Touché. Better get going or the ‘bish’ is going to bite your head off.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.”

17. The Final Step?

Rarity exhaled loudly, feeling a state of calm that she hadn’t felt in quite some time. She looked around.

Equestria. She was home. She was no longer a pony, there was a giant dead monster right next to her, but she was home, and her friends were here with her.

Her eyes went wide. Her friends. She hadn’t seen anything that happened while she was attacking, nor had Syd rejoined the fight.

She dashed back around the astalos toward the group now standing together.

“Is everyone ok?" she asked in a panic. “How’s Syd?”

Her questions were answered simply with a look; Sydreol sat next to Fluttershy, but with a large wound still present across his face and chest. Twilight was laying on the ground, her wing spread wide, mangled in painful angles, though Rarity could see them mending slowly, spreading from her body toward the tips. Pinkie sat with several large gashes on her leg, whimpering as she waited for them to heal, and Luna showed signs of singed feathers and fur, suggesting she came in contact with an energy pillar at one point.

“So… not just their physiology, Rares. I’m healing really slowly, too.” Sydreol drolled, obviously unhappy with this turn of events. “A number one priority will be keeping all monsters from coming in here in the future. We can’t possibly fight them here if our medicine works this shitty.”

“Why, though?” Rarity asked. “It makes no sense that it wouldn’t work the same here…”

“I actually think it does make sense,” Twilight chimed in. “I mean, if you think about it, a potion that can heal you from the brink of death in seconds? That’s not just some herb or something, Rarity. That’s a magical effect. Maybe it’s inherent in nature in their world, but that sort of thing doesn’t exist here. We have a natural magic inherent to our world, and apparently they have a natural magic inherent to theirs. My guess is that any crossover of that magic causes it to go haywire and not work correctly. So, bring over a magic potion from another world, and the magic potion won’t work quite as intended. At least they still heal, just… slowly.”

Everyone stared at Twilight.

Rarity turned to Sydreol. “So, that’s Twilight. If you ever want your problems explained instantly, come to her, and she’ll tell you exactly what’s going on. Then she’ll probably probe and test you for months and have anxiety attacks over the results.”

“Hey!” Twilight protested.

“She’s got you down, Twi. Can’t argue with it.” Rainbow snickered.

“So, Rowrity,” Cinnamon interjected. “When the hell did you learn how to go into an amped state? I’ve never seen anyone do that before, I’ve only heard about it!”

“What state?” Rarity replied in confusion.

“Amped state.” Cinnamon said. “You were literally charged up with lightning or something for like ten minutes. You just went crazy on the thing. Didn’t you notice that you were pretty much swinging full force nonstop without getting tired? Then when you hit it at the end you pretty much blew its insides apart.”

All the ponies visibly paled, and Fluttershy passed out.

“Really? No, I honestly didn’t notice… I just… kinda got really mad, I guess, when Syd got hurt.”

“Aww, you like me!” Sydreol cooed in a mock-affectionate tone.

“Go to hell, asshat.” Rarity turned to Twilight. “So, back to the task at hand, can we use the staff to drain magic from crystals and monsters back in their world? That’s the reason we came here right now.”

“Wait, you mean you didn’t come to see us?” Pinkie said in hurt shock.

“Of course I wanted to see you all!” Rarity said, half reassuring and half insulted they’d think she forgot about them. “But right now their village is being threatened by a monster that could destroy them at any moment, so I had to prioritize that over a friendly visit! I was hoping I could see you all while I was here, of course, and here we all are, so it worked out perfectly! Minus the whole giant monster nearly killing us.”

“I understand,” Twilight said. She looked up from her prone position, still unable to move without hurting her wing. “Their safety does come first. But, I don’t think we can have you bring the staff there.”

Rarity’s face fell, and it seemed as though she was about ready to cry.

“Why not?" she whimpered.

“Because it’s a magical item, just like the potions were,” Twilight said. “Who knows what it would do in a different world. If little potions react differently, what would an item of immense power like the staff do?”

Rarity sat on the ground in defeat, staring at the portal. “That was my last idea. We have to drain that magic away somehow.”

The portal swirled and shimmered; she could see the entire wall of crystal on the other side, taunting her, just out of her reach.

Is it?

She sat bolt upright as a thought occurred to her.

“Twilight! Can you use the staff through the portal?”

“You mean keep the staff on our side, and try to siphon the magic across the dimensions?” Twilight said in disbelief.

“Yes!” Rarity emphasized. “I mean, if the magic can just leak across, and there’s a rift, why not? We can see the crystals from here!”

“I suppose we can give it a try, but would it even work in the first place? Remember how it didn’t do anything until I touched that monster thing? Wouldn’t I have to touch the crystals first?”

“You did!” Rarity laughed. “The monsters have the crystals embedded in them, that’s how they have magic.”

“I guess there’s nothing for it but to try, then.” Twilight admitted. “You’ll have to do the honors, though, I’m kind of out of commission.”

“Of course.” Rarity picked up the staff and made her way to the portal. Taking a deep breath, she pointed the staff at the crystals on the other side.

Nothing.

“Dammit!”

She dropped the staff, her shoulders sagging in defeat.

“Rowrity?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you find them with your magic? Maybe they’re not in the exact spot you can see them in the portal,” Cinnamon suggested.

Rarity’s ears perked up, and her eyes brightened. She quickly pulsed her horn, and her eyes shot upward.

“Cinnamon, I could kiss you!”

“Please don’t.”

She picked up the staff as fast as she could, pointing it at the top of the portal, and it immediately began to siphon magic rapidly, humming loudly with magical energy that drained through the rift.

It jolted and tugged at her arms, shaking wildly with the sheer volume of magic flowing into it, and she heard the cheers of Syd and Cinnamon behind her while she struggled to keep it under control.

She stood for what seemed like an eternity, her arms tiring from holding the staff, and it still kept siphoning. “How much can that thing hold?” Sydreol leaned over and asked Twilight in amazement.

“I’m not sure it has a limit, actually,” she responded. “When we first encountered it, it was used as a weapon against us, and it stole all the magic from me, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence, who is the ruler of an empire far from here. If it can hold the magic of all four of us at once, who knows how much more it could do.”

“It drained everything from you guys? You pretty much are magic incarnate, she moves the sun, she moves the moon, and it stole all that? Holy shit.”

“So, just how much magic is she trying to drain?” Twilight asked. “You said it’s stored in crystals? And somehow monsters?”

“Yeah, it leaked over from your world, and these crystals run in veins all through the ground, so we have no idea how far they go. But they soak up your magic like a sponge, and when there’s too much in them, they explode. And if a monster is nearby, the monster gets magic crystals stuck in them and gets turned into a magic super monster from hell. I think we’re still going to have a big problem when we get back, though.”

“And what, pray tell, might those problems be?” Luna asked.

“She’s draining the crystals, not the monsters. They’re still going to have magic. I don’t know if it will be as strong without the crystals to reinforce them, but they’re still going to be charged, and we’re going to have to take them out. And we’re going to have to keep this from building back up again. Plus, we’re either going to need to close this rift, or station someone to make sure no other monsters get in.”

“You know, speaking of that…” Twilight perked up, does your world have monsters that are like a combination of lizards and wolves?”

Rarity almost dropped the staff.

“What?”

“Yesterday we had these really strange looking wolf-lizard things show up in Ponyville. They were really aggressive, and tried attacking some ponies. We’ve never seen them before; we thought they might have been from beyond the Everfree, but now, I’m guessing they might be from your world?”

“Those sound like jagras to me,” Sydreol said.

“Was anypony hurt? Were you able to kill them?” Rarity asked.

“Kill them? No, no! We didn’t kill them! We have them caged up right now, thankfully nopony was seriously hurt, just some minor injuries. Fluttershy has been trying to get through to them, but she hasn’t had any luck yet.”

“They’ve eaten several of my animals that came close to say hello,” she said with teary eyes. “I don’t like them. But, we just can’t kill them… maybe we could bring them back here?”

Rarity, Sydreol, and Cinnamon stared at them all incredulously.

“I think we need to make a stop in Ponyville after this.” Rarity said simply.

“Agreed.” Sydreol and Cinnamon said in unison.

Rarity’s eyes roamed over Sydreol momentarily. “Your wounds appear to have healed, Syd. How are you feeling?”

He stretched and stood, looking himself over. “Feelin’ good. I think I’m back to one hundred percent. Just took forever, but the potions did their job.”

Rarity smirked slyly.

“Great to hear! While I’m draining the crystals, how about you make yourself useful and go carve materials from the astalos?”

He stared at her before getting out his knife and starting toward the astalos. “You are a cold, heartless woman, you know that?”

“Nah, I’m just a mare that knows what she wants. And since I finished killing it while you took a nap over here, you can have the fun of carving it up.”

“Brutal, Rares,” snickered Rainbow. “I think I like this new you. I have to admit, that was the most badass thing I’ve ever seen. Just what have they been teaching you there?”

“Oh, just a little of this and a little of that,” Rarity grinned. “One has to learn some tricks to take down monsters like that consistently.”

“This is something you do often?” Celestia asked in shock.

“Every once in a while, we have to.” Rarity said.

“Stop being modest, Rowrity,” Cinnamon said hotly.

“Sorry, what?” Celestia asked.

“Rowrity has probably become our most important hunter over the last year,” Cinnamon announced. “She’s the only one who can find the aberrant monsters, and she’s the only one who’s been present in killing every single aberrant monster we’ve defeated so far. She’s saved multiple lives, including Syd’s, and almost died saving a group of people trapped by an aberrant.” The entire group of ponies were staring at her with wide eyes and slack jaws. “And you should see her moves with her other weapons, too. She’s mastered four types, and kicks the shit out of monsters with them all.”

Silence reigned for a long time; the only sound that could be heard was the slight hum of the staff as its siphoning slowed. Rarity stood in embarrassment, not wanting to flaunt her accomplishments in front of her friends.

“I… uh, guess I-“

“So where can I get a pony version of your sword axe thing?” Rainbow demanded, cutting her off and dissolving the tension. “If there could be more of those things, I want one, they’re freaking sweet!”

Rarity laughed. “I’ll have to ask Reneris, but I think she’ll have some choice words about it.”

The staff finally stopped draining magic, falling into a dormant state in Rarity’s hands. She held it carefully, then walked over and handed it to Twilight.

“I’m going to go through the portal, just to check the crystals. I’ll be back shortly, ok?”

Twilight nodded. “Stay safe.”

Rarity stepped through the portal.

She was followed by a blue blur that shouted “I’m going too see ya in a minute bye!”

And with that Rainbow Dash vanished as well.

**********

When Rarity appeared on the other side of the rift, the first thing she noticed was that it was dark. Very dark. The only light visible was from the entrance of the cave in the distance and from the shimmering portal behind her. None of the crystals shone with light, and she could feel absolutely no magic in the air. She breathed a sigh of relief.

The second thing she noticed was a hissing monster a few yards from her, and it seemed like it did not want to back away.

“Ugh. Damned jagras.”

A sound from behind her made her ears swivel backward.

“Whoa! This place looks sweet!”

Her head whipped back.

“Rainbow? What are you doing here?” Rarity demanded.

“I wanted to check this place out! It’s awesome! Can we go to your village place?”

“No! And it’s not even safe right here, there’s already a monster-“

The jagras hissed and moved toward her; Rainbow recognized it as the kind of monster they’d had invade Ponyville and jumped back instantly in fright.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, stupid jagras.” Rarity said in annoyance. She stepped to the side as it lunged and kicked it in the face with her hoof, and it fell over in a daze. She walked over to it and paused, scrunching her face and wiggling her nose.

She sneezed, dropping her switch axe on the jagras and cutting it deeply through its throat, nearly decapitating it.

She sniffled and rubbed her nose, looking down. “Um, you saw that, right Rainbow?”

“Uh, yes?” Rainbow said in awe.

“Good. I have to tell Syd about that later.”

“So that’s cool and all, but now can we go explore? This place is awesome!” Dash flew up to the ceiling of the cave, searching for anything interesting she could investigate.

“Rainbow Dash, get your ass back down here this instant!” Rarity demanded authoritatively. “We’re going back home right now!”

“Ugh, yes mom.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “At least they got you swearing, that’s something I never thought I’d see.”

“Don’t ever call me mom again,” Rarity warned, “or I’ll feed you to monsters that make that jagras look like a bunny. A well behaved bunny, not Angel.”

“Seriously? We just got here, I haven’t even gotten to do anything or see anything! Just being here feels… different.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Whatever. We’re not here to play, we were making sure everything was drained of magic. Let’s just get back home.”

**********

“Rainbow Dash! What were you thinking?” Twilight yelled.

“I just wanted to check it out Twi, geez! Not like anything huge happened…” Rainbow mumbled.

Rarity slapped Rainbow upside the back of her head. “Nothing happened, my plot! We got attacked by a jagras, you moron!”

“You what?” Applejack looked at them both in shock. Fluttershy looked aghast, and Pinkie’s hair fell flat and she paled.

“Well, yeah, but you freaking sneezed and killed it, it’s not like it was any sort of threat!”

“What?” Sydreol stared at Rarity. “That was a figure of speech I used. What is she talking about, Rares?”

Rarity shrugged. “I sneezed, dropped my switch axe on it, and killed it.”

“I’ll be damned…” Sydreol said. “I guess that does count. One point to you, my good lady.” He bowed in mock reverence.

“Stand up, you idiot. We should probably go to Ponyville now, anyway. We have some catching up to do, and a couple jagras there to take care of.”

“Well, I’ve got all your materials stored, so lead the way.”

They started walking their way back, Celestia taking the lead and Rarity hanging back with the rest of her friends.

“We really missed you, you know,” Twilight said sadly. “I tried everything I could to find where you went. I spent months investigating, with absolutely no results.” She hung her head in shame.

“She’s not kidding about the months, either,” Fluttershy added quietly. “She nearly worked herself to death trying to find you, morning and night for weeks on end. The room with the mirror portal smells like stale coffee and old books permanently now.”

“The smell isn’t that bad,” Twilight replied in embarrassment. “It’s almost kind of comforting after a while, anyway.”

Sydreol nudged Cinnamon. “They’re the same everywhere,” he whispered. Cinnamon shuddered.

Rainbow flapped up next to Sydreol. “You have eggheads where you come from, too?" she said in a hushed tone.

“Big time.”

Twilight shook her head, oblivious to the slander going on behind her. “Ever since the mirror fell on you, every day feels a lot emptier.”

“What do you mean, the mirror fell on me?” Rarity said in confusion. “The thing was bolted to the floor, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it was,” Twilight agreed, “but you remember all the disturbances we were having? With the trees being ripped up and stuff? That happened in the castle after you fainted. The mirror got ripped up, then dropped straight down on top of you. There was no possible way to know where it sent you.”

Rarity exchanged meaningful glances with Sydreol and Cinnamon.

“The ibushi,” they said in unison.

“The what?”

“Big monster where we come from, super powerful, that’s one of its signature abilities. So it’s that thing's fault she got sent to our world in the first place. I’ll be damned.” Sydreol said.

“Well, that explains a lot,” Rarity said quietly. “I guess I can’t really be mad at you for my current state, then.”

“Yeah, what’s up with that, anyway?” Pinkie asked loudly, bouncing up next to Rarity, her head cocked to the side as she looked Rarity up and down. “You’re like, still a pony but not all a pony and stuff. How does that work? Why did you get hands and like, nothing else? And why and how are you balancing on just two hooves? Why is the front of your top half lumpy? Did you get hit too hard there and get a couple huge bumps? Kitty cat! Do you have any potions left?”

Rarity covered her chest in embarrassment while Sydreol fell over laughing. Cinnamon just looked at Pinkie in utter shock.

“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity glared at her angrily. “You’ve been through the mirror portal before! My hands aren’t the only human thing about me! You know what human anatomy, especially what women’s anatomy, is like!”

Pinkie blinked, cogs turning in her head.

“Ooooohhhhh! But aren’t their top halves usually a lot less bumpy? Nobody I saw there had anything like that.” She pointed a hoof at Rarity’s chest.

Rarity looked as though she was going to strangle Pinkie. She spoke very loudly, through clenched teeth. “Ahem. Pinkie. I’ll. Thank. You. To. Stop. Talking. Now.”

Pinkie simply gave an apologetic smile. “Oopsie! You got it!" she said innocently. She pulled an imaginary zipper across her lips. “No more from me! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”

Sydreol stared at Pinkie.

Sweet Celestia, no.

“Is that where Reneris got it from?”

Syd, I swear to Celestia I will kill you.

“Who? Got what?” Pinkie asked curiously.

“Our blacksmith. She all of a sudden started telling people to do things for ‘flying cupcake bullshit’ and then laughing her ass off. I’ll admit, it’s good to see her have a sense of humor about something for once, she never smiles or laughs. I mean, never.”

Rarity buried her face in her hands.

Pinkie turned to her slowly. “Rarity, did she take that from my Pinkie Promise?”

Rarity kept her face covered. “Pinkie, I’m so sorry, I tried making a Pinkie Promise to her, and she’s… not the friendliest. Or sweetest. Or nicest. Ok, I’ll admit it, she’s mean and crude and hates just about everyone. And we’ll just say she didn’t really like the Pinkie Promise, so she changed it to her own version.” Rarity looked up in tears. “I’m so sorry.” She hiccuped slightly, and then noticed through blurry vision that Pinkie appeared to be… smiling?

“Even across dimensions, Pinkie can make people smile and laugh! Yes! Score one for the Pinkster!" she pumped her hoof in the air.

“You’re… not angry?” Rarity sniffled. “She’s making fun of your Pinkie Promise…”

“Well…” Pinkie said, “she’s not breaking Pinkie Promises. It’s not nice that’s she’s making fun of them, but, it’s bringing her laughter and smiles, and that’s what I’m all about!" she spread her hooves wide in a grand gesture. “If she’s happy, I’m happy!”

“Wow, now that’s… something else, pink pony,” Sydreol commented. “Impressive. Rare gift you got there.”

“You’d be impressed with all my friends, Syd. They all exemplify different elements of friendship here. You remember how I was telling you about us saving the world numerous times?”

“You mean when you were drunk off your ass? I figured you were making most of that up.”

“Celestia dammit, you cretin!”

Luna laughed again, and Rarity cringed at both using Celestia’s name to swear again and having her friends hear how she had been wasted and talking about them all.

Applejack piped up. “Rarity gettin’ drunk, huh? That’s a story we’ll have to hear, mister Syd. But as for savin’ the world, nah, she ain’t lyin’. We all resonate with the elements of harmony, which basically keeps stuff in balance around here. Pinkie there is laughter, Dash is loyalty, Twi is magic, Fluttershy is kindness, and Ah’m honesty.”

“And Rarity?” Syd asked.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “You tell me.”

“Oh thanks, Applejack. Put me on the spot like that!” Rarity huffed.

“Kicking ass?” Sydreol guessed.

“Try again.”

Sydreol thought hard and smirked. “Cursing and punching people in the face when they grab her ass?”

Everybody stared at him, then at Rarity.

“I hate you so much right now, Syd,” Rarity spat with venom.

“Ok, third try’s a charm,” he said. He stood and tapped his chin. I heard the girls going on about clothes she gave them… that night out when she paid for everything in advance… offering her house to Cinnamon… not to mention all the times she’s helped us without asking for anything in return… and then… he continued to add up countless events from the previous year in his mind, remaining quiet for several minutes.

“Wow, he’s been thinkin’ a long time now,” remarked Applejack.

“First time for everything.” Rarity said dryly.

Sydreol finally opened his eyes. “Ok, got my guess. Givin’ stuff away? Or like, stuff and time?”

Applejack clopped her hooves together. “Close enough for me, mister Syd. She’s the representation of generosity. And from the sounds of it, she can beat up monsters and be generous at the same time.” She smiled warmly.

Rarity breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, at least I still live up to expectations.”

They arrived at the edge of Ponyville, and Sydreol and Cinnamon looked around in awe.

“This is… the most peaceful looking place I have ever seen,” Cinnamon said, her jaw going slack.

“Has this place ever seen a monster?” Sydreol asked in disbelief.

“More often than you would think,” Twilight said. “But it’s still quite peaceful almost always. Would you like a tour?”

Sydreol’s stomach grumbled. “I’d actually like some food, if there’s somewhere to eat around here…”

Rarity bit her lip.

“Well, that will give us the perfect time to catch up on the goings on over the past year, but, um, hay fries and daffodil sandwiches aren’t really what you’d be looking for…”

Cinnamon and Sydreol stared at her in disbelief.

“I think Sugarcube Corner will be our best bet for food that you can actually eat. It’ll rot your teeth, but it will be edible for you, at least. But, I’d kind of prefer not to go eat there right now.”

“What? Why not?” Pinkie Pie disappointedly dropped her head, her poofy hair deflating slightly.

“I’m sorry, Pinkie,” Rarity apologized sincerely. “I just don’t want to announce that I’m back to Ponyville yet.”

“But why not?” Twilight questioned. “Everypony would be overjoyed! Wouldn’t you want to see them all? Especially your family? Sweetie Belle has missed you so much, don’t you want to see her?”

“More than you could imagine,” Rarity said, with tears forming in her eyes. “But I can’t possibly go see her, then leave again, especially knowing that I’ll be fighting a monster that may very well kill me. It’d be like making her lose me twice, and I couldn’t bear doing that to her. Or to any of Ponyville. It’d be best to not make my presence known until this is over.”

“You really have this all planned out, don’t you?” Fluttershy asked.

“I did have time beforehand to think about it,” Rarity admitted. “These sorts of things tend to weigh on your mind when you haven’t seen anyone in over a year.” She turned to Pinkie. “That doesn’t change the fact that we are still hungry, though. Pinkie, do you think you could get us all some food to go, and we could gather at Fluttershy’s cottage? She lives far enough out of the way that we could head around Ponyville and eat there.”

“Okie dokie loki!” Pinkie disappeared in a flash.

“…What the?” Sydreol looked behind him, where she had been only a moment ago.

“Don’t mind her. She works there, and ‘it’s just Pinkie Pie’ is an acceptable explanation for most things she does.”

“Got it.”

19. Hope You're Ready...

“Your plan was a success, Rarity, even if the Ibushi still has its magic,” Cyradel consoled her.

“I just wish we could have done more…” Rarity groused, staring into her drink. “Knowing that it’s out there, lurking, biding its time before attacking…”

“Maybe it left when you drained the magic from the crystals?” Cyradel suggested, sipping her own cocktail with a wince as the alcohol burned her throat. Rarity downed a large portion of her own in response.

“I doubt it. I know it’s out there. It didn’t just show up here to leave right away. I’d track it if I could, but I need to have some idea where to start, and it seems to be avoiding populated areas for the time being. Don’t get me wrong, it’s wonderful news that it’s not attacking people, but we can’t hunt a shadow. I’ve also noticed regular monster activity seems to have lessened lately.”

“And that’s… a bad thing?” Cyradel looked at Rarity strangely.

“Yes and no. For us, no, but the why is the worrying part. Why are there no monsters around to cause problems?”

Cyradel’s face lit up in recognition of where Rarity was going with her logic. “The ibushi is killing or chasing them off.”

“Bingo.”

“Yo! Hot stuff!” A voice rang out behind them.

“Ugh, Syd, must you really flirt constantly?” Rarity rolled her eyes, but a grin played across her lips.

“Huh? No, I was talking to Cyr. Hi to you too, hag,” he stuck out his tongue with a devilish smirk and a chuckle. Rarity responded by splashing a glass of water in his face and kicking him in the shin.

“Ow! Damn, kicking with hooves hurts! No fair, species advantage! Seriously, you get everything! Magic, gorgeous mane and tail, hooves, cute booplesnoot, magic ass tattoo… what do I get?”

“A loud-ass voice and unending obnoxiousness,” Rarity volunteered. “Now what was it you wanted, purveyor of insults?”

“Oh, right! I was going to talk about preparing to fight the ibushi when it shows up. Guess I did want to talk to you, hag.”

“You’re an ass, you know that?”

“Oh, very much so. And I love it so, so much. But back to what I was going to tell you: when we do go hunting it, as much as you love your switch axe, I think you’re going to want to bring your bowgun.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “And the reason being?”

“Ibushis fly. Almost constantly. Usually some part of ‘em is close enough to the ground for you to hit, but a good old bowgun is much more reliable for consistent damage.”

“Sounds like I should be paying a visit to Renny. Thanks for the tip.”

“No problem.” Sydreol handed Rarity a small brightly colored box. “Give her this when you go, for shits and giggles.”

Rarity’s eyes went wide, recognizing the packaging instantly. “This is… you saved one?”

“One of your pink friend’s cupcakes. Yup. I asked her if I could get one to go and she winked and got one for me.”

Rarity stared at him. “She winked. You know that she knew exactly what you planned to do with it, right?”

Sydreol scoffed. “Of course she wouldn’t. How on earth would she know what I was going to do?”

“Pinkie knows. Pinkie always knows. Celestia knows what she did to this cupcake.”

“Actually, Celestia probably doesn’t have a clue.”

Rarity almost snorted as she doubled over in laughter. “You know, you’re right. I should probably stop saying that. I definitely will give this to Renny, but I want you with me when I do. You need to see the work of Pinkie Pie, because I guarantee she did something.”

Sydreol shrugged. “If you say so, I literally just asked for a cupcake in a box.”

“Don’t doubt her. Come on, we’re going. Now.” She grabbed Sydreol by the hand, yanking him over.

“So this is something from your home world, then?” Cyradel asked with great interest.

“Yep. Coming?” Rarity asked impatiently.

“You bet I am,” Cyradel ran over. “If something special is happening from your world, I want to see it.”

“For the love of… it’s just a cupcake,” Sydreol shook his head. “I thought it’d be funny to give her one from that pink pony, that’s all, nothing special about it!”

“That’s what you think,” Rarity chided. “Enough wasting time. Come on.”

**********

“The hell do you cretins want?” Reneris looked up from her anvil crossly, sweat dripping from her brow and her hammer held high. She lowered her hammer.

“Well, I do need to ask for a new bowgun,” Rarity started, holding her hands behind her back. “I need something newer to take on the ibushi.”

“Fine, you’ve gathered a ton of aberrant materials to make something strong enough.” Reneris pointed past Rarity. “What’s she doing here?”

Cyradel looked offended. “Am I not allowed to be here?”

“Of course you are, smart ass. I can understand a visit from asshat or Rarity here, but you? What the hell are you doing here?” She spotted the box Rarity was holding. She pointed with her hammer. “The hell is that?”

“That’s why I’m here,” Cyradel smiled. “To watch.”

“A present.” Rarity said simply. “We brought it back with us from my home world, one of my friends made it for you.”

Reneris’ face lightened somewhat. “Now that’s somethin’ unexpected. I’ll be honest, I’ve never had anybody give me a present before.”

Rarity was taken aback. “What? You haven’t? Never?”

“Nah, not really the present type,” she said. “Don’t let it bother ya, I can tell it is already.”

Rarity gave a weak smile. “I’ll try not to. That will be changing though, you can count on it.”

“Just give me the stupid box already,” Reneris grinned.

“Right, here you go, courtesy of Pinkie Pie,” Rarity smiled.

Reneris took the box carefully and pulled the lid open. With an energetic poof, a mass of confetti erupted from inside, bringing with it a small banner that unfurled as it hit the air, slowly fluttering to the ground. Reneris picked it up, reading it with bewildered amusement.

“Happy first present, Renny!”

She put the banner down and looked inside the box.

Inside was a lovingly crafted cupcake, with a swirl of dark chocolate icing topping it, two sugar horns sticking out of the front, a thin sugar tail hanging from the back, and two beautifully carved white sugar wings poking out from the sides of the icing.

“Is that…?” Reneris trailed off.

“A flying bullshit cupcake,” Rarity finished, looking over her shoulder with a grin.

Reneris stood stupefied for several long seconds before she smiled wider than she ever had before, then laughed riotously.

“This… this is the best thing I’ve ever seen! Holy shit! Your friend made this?”

Rarity nodded. “And she’s the one who came up with the cupcake phrase to begin with.”

“Damn!” Reneris looked at Rarity in shock. “So she knows I completely mocked the hell out of her and she made this for me?”

“Yep, she was actually really glad it made you happy. That’s the sort of pony she is.”

“Shit. You’ve got some seriously awesome friends then.”

Rarity beamed. “Yes. Yes I do.”

Reneris stood deep in thought for a moment, then put the cupcake box on her anvil. “Thanks. Next time you see your friend, tell her thank you for me.”

“Will do,” Rarity smiled. She turned to Sydreol. “You ok there, Syd?”

“You can’t be serious,” Sydreol looked over the banner in dumbfounded amazement. “What the hell is with your friend? Just… how?”

“It’s Pinkie Pie. We don’t question her. She just knows.”

“That was amazing!” Cyradel commented. “So, your friend can predict what happens in the future?”

“More or less,” Rarity said with a shrug. “She calls it her Pinkie Sense, but there’s so much more than that. She just knows things that she shouldn’t.”

“Someone needs to research this!” Cyradel exclaimed excitedly. “Think of what we could learn!”

“No, someone does not,” Rarity grabbed Cyradel’s face and looked her in the eyes. “There is no explaining Pinkie Pie. Ever. End of story. Many have tried. All have failed. You will go mad. Do not try to understand Pinkie Pie.”

“Uh, ok then…” Cyradel said uncertainly. “Maybe I could just meet her sometime.”

Rarity smiled. “That would be wonderful.”

**********

A still darkness blanketed Rarity’s house, broken only by the light of the full moon shining through the far window. The night remained quiet, with the faint sounds of animals and monsters floating in from distant reaches, so barely audible that the tiny mewling snores of Cinnamon were enough to drown them out.

The peace was interrupted as music sputtered into the air; various songs flipped by, emitted from Rarity’s music box.

“Dammit, Rowrity…” Cinnamon muttered from her bed, “it’s the middle of the night, can’t you find some other time to listen to music? Shit, if you need something to help you fall asleep, pick one and be done with it, stop flipping through them all.”

However, the only response Cinnamon received was that of continued music changes.

“Rowrity?” Cinnamon turned in her bed to face Rarity’s; the house was still dark, but there was plenty of light from the moon for her felyne eyes to see perfectly well two things: Rarity was still sleeping, and her music player was spinning on its own, floating in the air, as well as several other items around the house. Cinnamon’s eyes snapped wide open in an instant.

Oh no.

Seconds later, everything crashed to the floor, jarring Rarity awake; at the same time, Cinnamon could hear a cacophonous noise from outside as well, likely more items being ripped up and dropped elsewhere.

Most people aren’t going to have a clue what happened, either.

Rarity looked around in confusion; she could see nothing in the darkness, and her music box was still playing, thankfully settling on one song, at least.

“What’s going on?” She asked, slightly panicked.

Cinnamon grabbed a lantern from her bedside, lighting it and jumping up.

“Get up, Rowrity! The ibushi’s nearby! We’ve got to spread the alarm!”

Rarity snapped to attention, lighting her horn and instantly setting all the lanterns in the house alight. She moved quickly, betraying the idea that she had just woken from a deep slumber. She donned her armor, equipped her bowgun, and retrieved her bag; a glance over affirmed that Cinnamon had already done the same.

“Ready?”

The felyne nodded. “Let’s go. We need to get Syd and Lycadran, and make sure the alarm is sounded for everyone else.”

“Right. Guess if the fight is on our doorstep, all of us can be in it, huh?”

“Yep.” They exited the house, seeing no sign of the monster and a worryingly small amount of activity in the village.

“Shit, apparently everyone is either heavy sleepers or just wrote off all the noise as some shit falling over. Guess I’m lucky that your music box went nuts or I might have done the same.”

“It did what?”

“Your music box. It plays based on its orientation, right? It was spinning because it was floating and it woke me up. If it hadn’t, I probably would have gone back to sleep, too.”

“Damn, we’d better get moving. I’ll get Syd and Leonys, you handle Lycadran. Meet back here.”

Cinnamon scampered off and Rarity took off running for Syd’s house; her hooves clopped loudly along the stone road, marking the only sound in the village, but far off she could hear some sort of commotion closeby in the forest.

So that’s where it is. It must have flown over us and landed there. Thank Celestia it didn’t decide to touch down in the middle of the village or we’d have been screwed. I guess villages aren’t really it’s idea of good territory, though.

She reached Sydreol’s house and started pounding on the door as hard as she could. “Syd! Wake up!” Her hammering echoed loudly, and her shouts likely woke up several of Sydreol’s neighbors, but she received no response to her efforts.

“Dammit, you ass,” she cursed. “Do you always sleep this hard?” Her eyes fell on a window and she ran over, looking in to see if she could spot where he was. “Come on… all I need is some sort of visual focus. To hell with your privacy, asshat. Next time, wake up when I knock. Muwaha!” With a wicked grin and devilish laugh, her gaze settled on a doorway, door ajar and a bed visible inside; she could see a lump, blankets, and a foot sticking out from under the covers. “Perfect.”

Her grin widened as her horn lit up; within seconds, Sydreol’s blankets were ripped from his bed, waking him up immediately in an alarmingly confusing fashion. Rarity let the situation sink into his sleep-addled mind for several seconds, allowing him to look around the room to realize he was sitting in bed in his pajamas. She then grabbed his leg with her magic and yanked him off the bed.

She stifled a laugh as he crashed to the floor with a flurry of curses, then she headed back to the door as she heard him yell from inside.

“Dammit, Rarity! I know that was you, you’re the only one that could pull shit like that!”

Thumping noises could be heard coming from inside, until finally the door was ripped open to reveal a supremely pissed off looking Sydreol, absolutely fuming at the rude awakening he had received. Rarity donned the most innocent expression she could muster.

“Why, Syd, fancy meeting you out here tonight! Such a lovely night, too!”

“Cut the bullshit, Rares,” he growled, “why the hell did you literally drag me out of bed?”

Rarity dropped all pretense and reverted to her serious demeanor. “Well, perhaps if you had woken up right away… one has to do what they can to wake you up immediately when the ibushi is in the forest right outside the village.”

“It’s in the forest?” He did a double take, looking at the village gate and listening carefully, noticing the sounds coming from below the pass. “Shit, you weren’t kidding!”

“No, I tend not to kid about things like this. Your choice in pajama patterns, on the other hand…”

“Oh, shut up!”

“Go get your gear on, then meet the others by my house. I need to go alert Leonys so he can set the village on high alert. I hope he wakes more easily than you do.”

“If he doesn’t, don’t pull him out of bed.”

Rarity smirked and fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it! I have to see something to be able to get a good magical grip on it, and I just couldn’t bring myself to peep in on a man in his bedroom! Such an indecent invasion of privacy, you know.”

“What the fuck! What do you think you did just now?”

Rarity feigned surprise. “Oh! Hm, I suppose you’re right! Well, I guess I just don’t see you as a man, Syd. Pity.” She turned and began walking away, waving as she left. “Get your shit together and I’ll see you shortly.”

“I’d say you hurt my pride, but I think you’ve already killed all of it, Rares. Now you’re just grinding it into the dust under your hooves. You are one ruthless pony.”

She stopped and glanced back with a smile. “Yeah, but that’s what you like most about me.”

He grinned. “Won’t argue with you on that.”

**********

“All right, soldier. Your watch is over, I’m taking over your post for the night.”

“Thank you, sir!” The soldier saluted and trotted back to the barracks camp that had been built close to the rift. Blade Flash patrolled the area, taking little interest in the construction of the defenses surrounding the rift, nor in the various buildings nearby; from the looks of it, the nearby town must have been planning to expand a marketplace and trading route this way once it was properly guarded. The question that remained in his mind was: guarded against what?

Upon deployment from Canterlot, Princesses Celestia and Luna had given them very specific orders: that they were to guard the rift, under no circumstances were they to enter it, and that they were to kill any monsters that came out of it. They were made aware that there were other intelligent creatures on the other side, but any creature that came through that could not communicate was to be killed without hesitation.

Naturally, this order was shocking to say the least, and when questioned, their leaders informed them that the creatures were dangerous and untameable; this was acceptable enough of an answer, and even sending a battalion to defend the rift was not enough to put him ill at ease. After all, if monsters were able to come through the rift, perhaps many could come at a time, so having a large force of ponies to defend the area might be necessary.

What did put him ill at ease, however, was their final warning, which still echoed in his head.

If any monster comes through that portal that is too large for your force to handle easily, do not engage it. We have provided you with magical transmitters. Use them to immediately contact the element bearers in Ponyville, Luna, and myself, then retreat.

The confusion and uproar that statement had caused was phenomenal. What could be so large, powerful, and dangerous, that it couldn’t be defeated with a small army and would require the immediate attention of both princesses and all the element bearers?

And if it can come through this portal at any time, why in Tartarus am I here right now?

He sighed, walking back to the guard station and sitting down. So far, they’d been out here for weeks, and though it was comforting that nothing had happened, it was also boring as hell.

A movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention; quickly his head whipped around, and he drew his sword with his magic to see the rift swirling to life. Furiously his mind raced as he tried to remember protocol.

Buck it.

“I need backup! Something’s coming and I don’t know what it is!” He yelled.

He positioned himself to receive whatever might be on its way, sword at the ready, as a small unit of other soldiers exited the barracks ready to offer aid.

Before the others could arrive, the rift spat out a bewildered looking velociprey, slightly larger than the unicorn, and very deadly looking. He brandished his sword with a slight tremor and asked, “Who are you? Do you understand what I’m saying?”

In response, the velociprey screeched and adopted an aggressive stance.

Damn.

“It’s hostile!” He yelled.

“Yeah, we kinda figured that out!” A snarky reply yelled back from his backup.

Without warning, the velociprey leaped forward, slashing at him with its talons; he reflexively held up his sword and blocked the attack and severing the talon as it hit, but the forward momentum of the monster still succeeded in knocking him backward. It screeched in pain, but continued to advance, brandishing its claws and teeth. The remainder of the unit rushed forward to their comrade’s aid when the portal began swirling again.

“Something else is coming!” Someone yelled.

While the velociprey was easily a match for a single pony, it was no match for a squadron of twelve; they struck it down quickly and turned their attention to the rift, which spat out three more confused looking velociprey in short succession, each of which the soldiers defeated readily.

“I wonder why all of those things started coming through all at once,” Blade pondered aloud.

“Hasn’t anypony ever told you not to question stuff like that?” Somepony hushed him. “That’s like inviting disaster! Seriously, you could very well have just doomed us all. Good bucking job!”

“What kind of dipshit reasoning is that?” Blade asked. “Next you’re going to tell me you believe that ‘Pinkie Pie’ bullshit they talk about in Pon-“

“Another one is coming!”

The group prepared again for another velociprey, though the rift seemed to take longer than before to eject this one. Then, in a swift moment that occurred too fast to comprehend, the rift transported something altogether different into their midst.

This monster stood easily four times their height and had the appearance of a fiery dragon with a lion’s head. It wasted no time in roaring ferociously, and swiped a paw, clawing several soldiers down where they stood.

“GOOD JOB, BLADE! NOW WE KNOW WHAT WAS CHASING THEM!” Someone yelled. “Get to the transmitter!”

The teostra had arrived in Equestria.

**********

A massive, serpentine body sprawled before them, sleeping on the ground in front of its most recent kill. Nearly fifteen times as long as Sydreol was tall, the ibushi lay quietly by the remains of an anjanath just outside the village at the base of the mountain path. The small felyne encampment had been obliterated, though luckily its inhabitants had been quick enough to take shelter in nearby caves and had since been evacuated to Miliesu.

Quietly, Rarity, Cinnamon, Sydreol, and Lycadran approached the sleeping beast, unspoken understanding shared amongst them. They each silently unloaded a payload of barrel bombs from their packs next to the monster’s slowly heaving scales; Rarity continually stacked several additional bombs from her bottomless bag, prompting perplexed stares from Sydreol and Lycadran, while Cinnamon only stifled a giggle.

Standing up next to their bombs, Rarity held up her bowgun and pointed to Sydreol’s own heavy bowgun, then to the opposite side of the bombs. He nodded and hoisted his own weapon, moving opposite her position.

Working quickly, they pointed their bowguns to the ground and fired wyvernblasts, leaving the flared shells burning in the earth, surrounding the barrels with an odd unnatural glow. Each hunter placed their three blasts, then the group retreated a long distance away.

“Ready?” Rarity breathed.

“Light it up,” Lycadran responded.

Rarity loaded her bowgun with pierce ammo, took aim at the center of the barrels, and released a round.

The explosion ripped through the cache they had set, initiating a chain reaction that roared into the stillness of the night with a giant fireball, searing a burning wound into the side of the ibushi. The monster reacted instantaneously, letting loose an unholy screech, unfurling and taking flight, knocking over and tearing up trees as though they weren’t even there.

The hunters rushed forward with weapons drawn, each heading separate ways to spread out their attacks. Lycadran headed toward its tail, using her insect glaive to propel herself upward in a vault, then grabbing on to the ibushi before it was too far off the ground. Sydreol stayed toward its midsection, aiming heavy shells and cluster bombs at the injured wound their incendiary ambush had left. Cinnamon opted for its upper section and fin-like appendages, lobbing small bombs and using a specialized razor edged boomerang.

Rarity, however, raced straight for the beast's head. Pierce ammo wasn’t just good for barrel bombs, after all, it was perfect for long monsters that had plenty of room for the bullet to pierce into, and she intended to make full use of that feature. Facing the ibushi head on, she took aim, firing several rounds at it before it could change course.

The bullets struck the ibushi, though the effect seemed minimal; it continued its course toward her, opening its gigantic jaws to reveal a smaller set of jaws inside; a red ball of energy began forming in its mouth, and Rarity’s heart sank at the sight.

Oh, shit.

She dashed to the side as fast as she could, then rolled behind a tree just as a red flash and a burst of heat pulsed from behind her, emitted by a huge ball of energy shot from the maw of the ibushi. Shrapnel and flames licked her back as she vanished out of the way.

She downed a potion, then peeked around the tree to see a charred area was all that remained of where she had stood only moments before; gripping her bowgun, she scrambled from behind the tree, firing more rounds into the ibushi as fast as she could, sending bullets flying through its scales.

The ibushi turned, no longer deeming her worth its immediate attention; however, rather than leaving her unimpeded, Rarity suddenly found herself caught in an updraft of wind that tossed her upward into the air helplessly, holding her in a spinning vortex while she watched in horror as the ibushi’s tail began whipping around toward her as it turned.

She could hear the sounds of explosions and swearing, winds and gunfire as the ibushi no doubt was continuing its assault with the others. Her eyes were drawn to a nearby tree, just out of reach; she used her magic to grab a branch, bringing it close. She grabbed on and used it to pull herself free of the winds, falling back to the earth just as the ibushi’s tail violently slapped through the winds.

She resumed firing, running from where she was as she did so, heading toward her friends to ensure their safety. Sliding under a lower section of the ibushi she reached Sydreol, who had obviously been severely injured.

“Hey, little help over here, maybe?” He said wryly.

“What, didn’t you bring any potions?” Rarity moved over next to him quickly, grabbing one of her own.

“Kinda hard to drink a potion when you can’t move your arms,” he replied with a pained expression.

“Ugh, you’re helpless,” Rarity rolled her eyes, holding up her own potion bottle to his lips.

“Uh, yeah, literally right now.” He drank it down, moving his arms shortly after. “Ah, there we go. At least Lycadran has its attention for the moment. She’s done some damage to it already, and it looks like you’ve gotten some good hits in, too.”

“Nowhere near enough, though. You good?”

“Yep, never better. Ready to g-“

“THERE YOU ARE!” A familiar female voice shouted out from above.

Rarity froze, but Sydreol looked up right away.

“Rainbow pony! The hell are you doing here?”

“We need Rarity! Like, now!”

“Whoa, hold up, pegasus chick. If you can’t tell, we’re kinda in the middle of something!”

“Well, duh, I can see that! But we have something, too! Some giant thing just showed up like, a few minutes ago! Some big fiery lion dragon thing, it’s already killed a bunch of our soldiers, and all of us are already fighting it, but we’re not going to be able to take it out alone! We need her help!”

Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash in horror, while Sydreol’s brain seemed to have short circuited.

“So, that’s a teostra? A teostra is in your world? Shit, that’s bad… wait, you said a few minutes ago?”

“Uh, yeah?” Rainbow cocked her head at him impatiently.

“Your village is an hour from the rift, and the rift is two hours from here. And just how long did it take you to get here?”

“Uh, it took me two minutes to get here, and that was because I had a hard time finding the path in the dark.” She shuddered. “Ugh, and being in your world feels weird. Like, my body feels all kinds of… different. How can you stand this place, Rares?”

Sydreol ignored her griping. “Two minutes? That’s not possible!”

“I can break the sound barrier dude, it’s not that hard to get here that fast.”

“We’re not sitting here debating the logistics!” Rarity interrupted. “Rainbow, you guys have a teostra in Equestria?”

“I guess so, if that’s what it’s called. It’s huge, it’s vicious, and it’s probably going to kill us all if you don’t come.” Rainbow looked about as panicked and frightened as Rarity had ever seen her. She turned to Sydreol with a heartbroken expression. He simply looked back at her as though there was nothing to even say.

“Go.”

“Are you sure? The ibushi…”

“We can hold it back, we have experienced hunters, they have none. If the best your sun princess can do is flashy half-lightning then they don’t stand a chance against an elder dragon. Just come back to help once you kill it, I’m sure we’ll still need your help.”

“If Rowrity’s going, so am I!” Cinnamon yelled, running over from her closeby attacking spot.

“Go on, furball,” Sydreol assented. “Assuming wings here can carry you both.”

“I carried four ponies at once at the best young fliers competition years ago, I think I can handle these two,” Rainbow bragged.

“If you can, though, get your buddy here to bring you home to swap your weapon out; bowguns don’t work so great on teostras, bladed stuff is better.” Sydreol recommended. “Just be sure to swap back before you rejoin us.”

“Dammit, I wish I could just shove all my weapons in my bag, too!” Rarity complained angrily.

“Why don’t you, then? I thought that thing was supposed to be bottomless?” he jeered.

“That doesn’t mean the opening is wide enough to fit everything, you twit,” she spat.

“Oi, what the hell?” Lycadran yelled from the head of the ibushi. “Stop standing around talking and fucking help, you shitheads! I’m about to die, here!”

Sydreol grabbed his bowgun and ran off, firing a round and yelling over his shoulder. “Go! Make it dead, then get your ass back here!”

Rainbow looked at Rarity and Cinnamon. “Ok, this is definitely going to be an awkward flight, but we’ll make do. Cinnamon, climb on. Rarity… well, grab my hooves and just… whatever else you can, and hang on for dear life.”

**********

“I don’t understand!” Twilight yelled over the roaring of the teostra. “I used the staff on it, it obviously drained Equestrian magic out of it! How is it still this strong?” She dodged a blast of fire aimed her way, feeling the heat singeing a few of her feathers as it passed.

“Ah… uhnf… dunno!” grunted Applejack, who gave the monster a strong kick to the leg before running away as it swiped back at her, seemingly unhurt. “Last time we fought one of these things, it seemed to get much weaker once ya drained it, but this thing… uhnf…” she ran in and kicked again, then ran back out, “didn’t seem to care one bit!”

An explosion hit the side of the teostra, knocking it off balance slightly, but leaving it unfazed. “Oh come on!” Pinkie yelled. “I had actual explosives made for my cannon just for this, and they still do diddly squat!” She sat down next to the cannon with her hooves folded and her lips pouting, looking like a toddler in the midst of a tantrum. “It just isn’t fair!”

“Pinkie, get off your flank before this thing fries you alive!” Twilight yelled. She fired a bolt of magic, leaving a scorch mark on the beast’s hide but not much else.

“Argh! Nothing is working!”

“Well keep trying!” Applejack ran in fast, leaping toward the side of the teostra’s head while its attention was elsewhere. Her legs were primed for a buck but the teostra turned, ready with fire in its throat. A blast of flame emanated from its mouth, enveloping Applejack midair.

“Applejack!” Twilight screamed.

A yellow orb dropped to the ground where Applejack had been, dissipating and leaving her bewildered on the ground but unharmed.

“Get out of there, already!” yelled Celestia. “I can only shield you from so much, you know!”

Recognition dawned on Applejack’s face and she scrambled from beneath the teostra just before its claws came crashing down behind her.

“Thank ya kindly, Princess!” Applejack hollered.

“Just don’t pull stunts like that too often, we don’t have Rarity’s healing potions!”

“Um, actually, we do…” Fluttershy yelled, or at least tried to. “She left me all that she had before they went home, just in case.”

“FLUTTERSHY SAYS WE DO HAVE THE HEALING CONCOCTIONS!” Luna boomed from above the pegasus, causing her to cower and cover her ears with her hooves.

“Princess Luna, please, not so loud…” she pleaded.

“I apologize, my friend, I just wanted to make sure everypony heard the news,” Luna assured her. “Now, I must be off! This ruffian will not wait for us while we dawdle here!” Luna took flight, firing magical blasts of her own to add to the chaotic fray.

The teostra was currently breathing a large swath of flame at Pinkie, who was running frantically away from the roiling column of fire, and Luna flew high above its head.

“Sister!” She called out. “Might we try a little cooperation for once?”

Celestia swooped over with a knowing glance. “Of course!”

The two bowed their heads together, channeling magic between them. An arcane circle appeared, revolving around their horns, symbols phasing in and out of sight; beams erupted from multiple points of the ring, converging in front of them, and shot out as a singular concentrated pulsing ray, striking the teostra in the head and expanding as it pressed the monster to the ground.

With a flash, the beam faded, and the sisters broke apart from each other, panting and exhausted, each gliding away toward the ground while keeping an eye on the monster.

“Sweet mother of… when did you two learn to do that?” Twilight yelled. “I’ve never heard of any spell like that!”

“That’s because it’s forbidden.” Luna said. “It’s too powerful for anypony but us to have.”

“Oh.” Twilight looked disappointed.

They turned their attention to the teostra, which was laying on the ground, blood dripping from its mouth.

“Didja kill it?” Applejack asked. “Maybe we didn’t need to send Rainbow for Rares after all.”

“I don’t know, it sure looks dead,” Pinkie observed.

A noise caused them to look around; Rainbow, Rarity, and Cinnamon were emerging from the rift, ready for battle, though at the sight they dropped their stance and walked over.

“Whoa, you guys killed it?” Rainbow stared slack jawed, then started high-hoofing everypony within range. “You guys are totally awesome! Dang, I wish I hadn’t missed all the action!”

Rarity, however, walked over to the teostra cautiously, inspecting it for damage, or as she found, lack thereof. She moved closer to its head, noting the blood dripping from its mouth, but that was not what she was the most focused on. She backed up quickly, nearly stumbling over her own hooves in an effort to get away.

“You guys,” she gasped, “it’s still breathing! It’s not dead, you just knocked it out! It could be waking up any second!”

As if on cue, a guttural snort came from the large body next to them, and the teostra hauled itself up with a monstrous roar, its eyes blazing with furious hatred.

“You can’t be serious!” Celestia yelled. “We just blasted it in the head with a Celestia fucking doomsday spell and it just knocked it out for two minutes?”

“She’s really gotten into swearing with her own name, hasn’t she?” Rarity whispered to Rainbow.

“You have no idea, Rares. No. Idea. Also, seriously? We missed seeing a doomsday spell? What the hay?”

“It was awesome, too, sugarcube,” Applejack taunted. “Now come on, we can’t just let this thing go.”

“Alright, Cinnamon, do we have any bombs left?” Rarity asked.

“Not many, we used most of them on the ibushi.”

“Wait! Hold on!” Rarity rummaged around in her bag. “Muahaha!” She laughed evilly. “I’ve got fire herbs! I can use those to make more bombs!” Her eyes passed over something else as she perused her materials. “Oh my. This could be very useful indeed, especially with Pinkie’s cannon…”

With great care, she pulled out a container filled to the brim with purple berries.

Cinnamon’s lips curled into a sinister smile. “You get the acid bombs ready, I’ll go get Pinkie.”

Working quickly, Rarity wrapped large bunches of berries in a very strong but porous fabric, making a small arsenal of bombs in a very short period of time. By the time that Cinnamon returned with Pinkie, Rarity had six acid bombs made, each carrying enough berries to do major damage to a regular monster. She hoped it was enough to do damage to an elder dragon.

“Pinkie, I’m going to load your cannon for you, don’t touch these,” Rarity instructed. “Aim for its face if you can, or anything that looks sensitive.”

Pinkie saluted Rarity, then got behind her cannon.

“Everypony!” Rarity yelled. “Get away from the teostra, and stay far away from it! Do not get in the line of fire of Pinkie’s cannon!”

Ponies dove for cover everywhere, and within moments a bomb had been loaded and fired. Pinkie’s aim was perfect, hitting the teostra directly on the forehead. The bomb splattered violently with the force of the shot, spraying caustic liquid everywhere. The bomb itself stuck to the teostra’s face as the liquid burned away flesh around the mesh of the bag, resulting in a grim fusion of fabric and skin while more of the liquid continued to seep down the monster’s face into its eye.

Rarity loaded another bomb, and Pinkie once again hit the teostra in the face, marring it by its other eye; the creature howled in pain, flailing blindly and spitting fire at enemies it could not see.

Another bomb hit the teostra’s wing, burning holes in the membranes; another two made their ways to its each of its front legs, crippling it from holding itself upright.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie!” Rarity scolded. “I told you to hit it in sensitive spots, but I can see what you’re planning, making it lean forward like that!”

“I’m just going to shoot its tail, Rarity, sheesh!” Pinkie waved her off. “Talk about overreacting!”

Rarity looked at her suspiciously. “Fine.”

Pinkie aimed and shot. The teostra bellowed across the night sky.

“THAT WAS NOT ITS TAIL!” Rarity yelled.

“Oopsie!” Pinkie smiled. “Guess I aimed too low. Oh well! Better luck next time!”

“Ugh, you’re incorrigible, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity shook her head, then raised her bowgun. “Well, we’re going to be putting it out of its misery now, anyway. It should be a lot easier now that it pretty much can’t see or move, but that doesn’t mean it’s harmless, so don’t let down your guard.”

“Don’t worry, we got this!” Rainbow boasted. “Twi drained it, the Princesses blasted it, you hit it with acid stuff, it’s practically done for!” She sped forward, snatching one of the soldier’s dropped spears from the ground and turning toward the teostra. She leveled the weapon at the creature and let out a whoop of exhilaration, the wind whipping her mane back as she dove at her target.

The teostra’s ear flicked, and it let out a low growl. Turning toward Rainbow, it breathed a fine mist that spread out, creating a wide ring around its body.

Cinnamon watched in dawning horror.

“Rainbow, stop!” she screamed, “it’s going to supernova!”

However, before Rainbow had a chance to react, the teostra breathed a spark of flame, igniting the mist in a roaring eruption of searing fire. Vicious blasts interspersed with flares of energy, blazing whorls and burning rings and exuded intense heat as they pushed outward.

Though she was well outside the flames when it exploded, the blast threw Rainbow Dash backward, her body limply striking the ground and rolling haphazardly. Her front limbs were smoldering, her face blistered and burned, and her feathers were charred.

“RAINBOW!” her friends shrieked, racing to her side.

Rarity immediately dropped to the ground next to her, retrieving an ancient potion from a pouch in her armor.

“She’s still breathing!” she announced, pressing the potion into Rainbow’s mouth. The potency of the item went to work, beginning to heal Rainbow’s wounds, but at an alarmingly slow rate, and the teostra was advancing toward their position.

Twilight watched the slow progression of the healing. “She’s going to die before it does enough!” she panicked.

“And the teostra’s going to kill the rest of us if we all keep sitting here!” Cinnamon added.

Rarity’s mind raced.

“I’m taking her through the rift,” she said finally.

“What?” Twilight gasped. “You can’t take her through the rift like this! She wouldn’t survive the trip!”

“You don’t know that!” Rarity snapped. “And it’s our only chance of saving her! This medicine works like shit here, and it can literally save her life instantly over there! We have no choice, and the longer we wait, the worse her chances are! So I’m taking her, you keep the teostra busy until we get back, then I’m tearing it a new asshole.”

Twilight bit her lip, looked at Rainbow one last time, and gave Rarity a pleading expression. “Bring her back safe, ok?”

Rarity nodded wordlessly, then lifted Rainbow carefully with her magic, making sure not to move her limbs and joints overly much, and brought her into the rift.

**********

Rarity arrived on the other side of the rift to find Rainbow Dash in a heap on the floor of the cave, still gravely injured but still breathing.

“Thank Celestia, you’re still alive,” she whispered.

She pulled her bag out, digging deep inside. “I think I have another ancient potion in here somewhere… Lycadran wasn’t kidding about those things being damned rare, but if something can save you from the brink of death, you don’t pass up on buying it when you see it.”

Her fingers brushed against the textured bottle and she clutched at it frantically, knocking it away in her haste. “You stupid damned bottle!” she hissed. She rummaged faster. “I don’t have time for this, one of my best friends is dying right next to me, get over here, you stupid blasted potion!” A fingertip touched the bottle’s neck, and she clasped it immediately. “Thank Celestia, and Luna and Twilight too, while I’m at it!” she breathed in relief.

She looked down at Rainbow and her relief faded; Rainbow’s breathing was shallow, and her face had adopted an ashen pallor. With lightning speed, Rarity opened the vial and forced its contents into Rainbow’s mouth with tears streaming down her face. “You will live, do you hear me? You need to live so I can tell you off, you damned show off!”

As soon as the bottle had been drained, she collapsed to the floor sobbing, holding her hand carefully over Rainbow’s burned hoof. After an agonizingly long minute, a movement under her hand caused her to raise her head.

Rainbow Dash was slowly sitting up slowly; her color had returned to her face and it was no longer blistered and burned. Her wounds were fading, and her feathers were being restored in a wave before Rarity’s eyes. Her front hooves were the last to fully heal, and as Rarity pulled her hand away Rainbow winced, then lifted her hoof to see the last of the burns vanish without a trace.

“Uh, hey Rares,” she said hesitantly, with a very small and penitent smile. “What’s up?”

“You owe me a ton of zenny for making me use two ancient potions on your stupid reckless ass, that’s what’s up,” Rarity said hotly in a cracked voice, before tackling Rainbow in a tearful, crushing hug.

“I thought you were the generous one?” Rainbow choked out.

“I’m trying to make you feel remorseful, idiot,” Rarity bonked her on the head. “But you can at least buy me dinner or something.”

“Oh, yeah, I can do that,” Rainbow admitted.

“Now come on, we have to go show everypony that you’re not charcoal, and I have a monster to demolish.”

**********

They stepped through the portal to see Cinnamon, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie waiting anxiously for their return while Twilight, Celestia, and Luna flew circles around the teostra and blasted it with magic.

“RAINBOW!” they shouted in unison.

“THEY’RE BACK, GUYS!” Pinkie screamed to the alicorns, “AND RAINBOW’S NOT DEAD!”

Rainbow’s ears folded back in shame and she looked down at the ground.

“Dagnabbit, Pinkie, at least be a little less callous about it,” Applejack chided, “she’s already been through Tartarus.”

“Oops! Sorry! My bad, Rainbow.”

“…’sok, Pinkie…” Rainbow mumbled. “I was pretty stupid and got myself almost blown up, so I kinda deserve it.”

Twilight, Celestia and Luna landed nearby, having broken away from the teostra.

“We’re so glad you’re safe, Rainbow,” Twilight said tearfully, giving her a hug.

“Not to cut the reunion short,” Rarity interrupted, “but how has the fight been? I noticed only three of you were needed to keep it busy.”

“Correct,” Luna answered. “With its loss of vision, it is highly impaired. It still can react quite well, as its other senses are quite sharp, but it hasn’t done that massive blast again, so we’ve kept it at bay by simply confusing it, attacking quickly at different places before it can react.”

“It can’t supernova again for a while,” Cinnamon said. “It takes them quite some time to store up that powder.”

“You know, I’ve seen an explosion like that before,” Twilight said thoughtfully.

“How on earth could you have seen it before?” Cinnamon questioned. “It’s the most powerful explosion we know of!”

“Because it wasn’t on earth…” Celestia said, comprehension dawning. “The solar flare… that was what caused the solar flare! That thing set off an explosion across a dimension strong enough to screw with my sun! Oo, if I didn’t hate it before, which I do for almost killing Rainbow,” she added quickly, “then I do now.”

“Well then, I suppose it’s time to take it down for good, then,” Rarity said. “If you guys could keep confusing it, I’m going to just do what I do best, I guess.”

“I don’t think making dresses will help,” Pinkie joked.

“Thank you for reminding me that I still have other talents, Pinkie,” Rarity smiled genuinely.

“Anytime!” Pinkie replied in a singsong voice.

Rarity faced the monster, taking a deep breath and drawing out a pair of deadly looking dual blades.

“Ya didn’t bring the axe sword thingy?” Applejack asked in surprise.

“No,” Rarity replied hesitantly. “I was going to, but with how I had to hold onto Rainbow Dash, it made things kind of… awkward.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow piped up in annoyance. “I’d prefer to not get poked underneath the tail with an axe while I fly, thank you very much.”

“I apologized, Rainbow!” Rarity said hastily. “Now be quiet, I need to concentrate before this thing figures out exactly where we are! It’s already picking up on us now that the Princesses aren’t shooting at it!”

“Ah crap, I guess that’s our cue,” Twilight sighed.

“Huzzah!” Luna cheered. “More shooting monsters! I could get used to this sort of action!”

“I will agree this is more exciting than sitting on a throne all day,” Celestia nodded, taking wing. “But I’m not about to wish this sort of calamity on our world, thank you.”

Rarity watched them fly off, then turned back to the teostra, watching as the alicorns resumed their distractions. She tensed her body and focused on the monster, blocking out all other sights and sounds. Her mind began focusing on anger toward the creature, building up inside and channeling through her, seeping out as pure energy and collecting around her body to provide pure strength.

She found her mind racing, accessing recent memories at lightning speed. The pukei-pukei, breaking my ribs. The diablos, almost killing me with a wave of sand. The barioth, almost killing Syd with ice and wind. The odogaron, bleeding me out. The tobi kadachi, trying to hit us with lightning. The astalos, invading Equestria and almost killing Applejack. The ibushi, breaking Syd’s arms and who knows how they’re doing now. And this fucker. Rainbow… charcoal…

“Uh, are her eyes supposed to turn completely black?” Rainbow asked Cinnamon, edging away from Rarity as she exuded a strong, seething red aura.

“I, um, never saw anyone have that, no,” Cinnamon admitted.

Suddenly, with a growl, Rarity shot ahead with inhuman speed, her blades trailing blood-red energy from their tips as she moved. Within moments she reached the teostra in a flurry of slashes, darting back and forth at its front legs to finish what Pinkie had started with the acid bombs. Her swords cut deeply, severing muscles, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, even hacking into bone as she kept moving, never staying in one place for more than a second.

The teostra roared furiously, but with Rarity’s speed underneath it, its blindness, and its crippled legs, it had no way to fight back. It attempted to bite at her, but the instant its head approached she dashed to the side and stabbed it mercilessly, causing it to whip its head back in pain.

Rarity moved once again, having demolished its legs, and dashed directly in front of the teostra; her aura intensified, and her blackened eyes narrowed at it.

“I think you’ve been here long enough,” she spat.

The teostra’s ears flicked, moving toward the sound of her voice. It lowered its head, preparing to breath fire in her direction, but before it could, Rarity sped forward, her hooves carrying her at speeds that could almost have rivaled Rainbow. She plunged her blades into the teostra’s open maw, piercing its throat; she then pushed off the ground, dragging her blades with her as she vaulted upward, slicing deeply through the monster. She reached the top of its head, and she retracted her blades from its flesh, only to plunge them in repeatedly once again. She moved from its neck down its back in a straight line, dragging her blades down its back on each side of its spine, causing the monster to slump under her as she severed nerves as she went. When she reached its tail she turned and headed back up toward its head in a frenzy, zigzagging left to right, stabbing and slashing in a whirlwind of steel.

Once she reached the monster’s shoulder blades, she leapt high up in the air, and with blades brandished dove down at its neck, stabbing deeply as she landed, burying her swords up to the hilts in the teostra’s flesh.

The beast’s body ceased all movement underneath her, and as the blood oozed out around her hands, she could feel the loss of pressure as the monster’s heart ceased its pumping.

She withdrew her blades, and the aura of fury began to dissipate. Her eyes flickered; she blinked repeatedly, and then the world appeared normal again, except everyone was silently staring at her.

“Um, is everything alright?” she asked nervously.

“Girl, you are scary when you are angry,” Applejack offered.

“Oh, is that all?” Rarity hopped off the teostra. “I guess just don’t make me mad, then.” She smiled sweetly and winked.

“We already agreed never to do that.”

“Seriously, Applejack, as if I’d ever hurt you guys.”

“Just sayin’, sugarcube. Just sayin’.”

Rarity sighed, then bit her lip. “I really wish I could stay, but I have to go again. We’re in the middle of fighting our own monster back home, and I’m needed right now. I just hope they’re still ok. You ready to bring us back, Rainbow?”

“Yep, all aboard the Rainbow Express,” Rainbow said with a hint of sarcasm.

“Hey, you brought us out here, you get to bring us back. Just remember I need to get my bowgun first.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Rainbow rolled her eyes, then trotted through the portal.

0. Sir Not Appearing In This Film

Author's Note

*SATIRE WARNING* This chapter contains material that I deemed too vulgar and unfit for the story in general, and ultimately had to remove completely. However, I felt compelled to share it, as some of you may expect this sort of writing in this kind of story. You have been warned. *You are now free of the aforementioned satire warning*

0. Sir Not Appearing In This Film

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