Mother, May I?
A deep, bass hum filled the hollow of the circular platform as Lady Pestiferous and Roarke road the cylinder to the top. High above them, an open chamber flickered with torchlight, and a loud, booming chant echoed in greater and greater clarity.
"Tell me, Roarke mosssssshht Rare," spoke Pestiferous. "Do you remember the ssssshound of your mother's voice?"
Roarke's ears drooped instantly beneath her helmet. Nevertheless, she maintained serious airs, standing up straight as she spoke firmly, "My mother is as dead to me as every husk full of blood that I have hunted down in these lands."
"Ssssshhhpoken like a true warrior," Pestiferous hissed. "Full of pomp and cold-heartednessssshhh."
Roarke's lenses rotated out. "My Lady...?"
"I remember my mother," the masked matriarch said. She bowed on bony, arachnid limbs as her mucousy eyes squinted into the gathering torchlight. "Two hundred yearsssssshh ago, like a chiseled face at the top of a deep well, glissssshtening in firelight. She was swift, bold, adventurous. She would have been proud to see me reach top sssssshpear."
"With all due respect, My Lady..." Roarke fidgeted. "I really don't think you should be talking about—"
"And why not?" She turned to stare down Roarke. "Hckkkt! I gave her a proud ending. As did mosssssssht of us. The only way her glory ended was because I made it end. As did Terra with her mother."
Roarke's nostrils flared as she glanced down at the platform lifting them up towards the ceiling. "You were honorable, respectful warriors."
"Not all daughterssssssh of Searo are capable of ripping apart the meat that stands between them and the goddessssshhh." Pestiferous' eyes narrowed above her mask. "Has this alwayssssshhh bothered you, child?"
"I did not dwell upon it," Roarke said in a muttering tone. "For all my young life as a half-blade, I was perceived as a spineless runt, a weakling for not having the chance to do what you and Terra had done. I was told I would never make it to being a high blade."
"What empowered you, then?"
Roarke took a deep breath and grunted, "The hunt. Chasing my own regrets had no purpose. All I needed was bounties and blood. I've kept my life one of firm, unwavering action."
"And yet, there's a part of you that's misssssshhhing, a part that makes what comesssssh next so challening..."
Roarke glanced up at her as the cylinder reached the top chamber. "My Lady?"
Pestiferous' joints glistened in the torchlight as she had to hiss above the heavy chants wafting in from the short corridor ahead of them. "If you had the opportunity to do that which wasssssh never given to you as a half-blade, would you leap upon it?"
Roarke opened her mouth, hesitated, and ultimately said, "I don't see how it would help me at all—"
"Don't you?" Pestiferous glanced back at her as she strode on quivering, spindle limbs down the corridor. The chanting grew louder and louder. "Over the passssssht two centuries, twelve of my daughtersssssh tried to become top blade through me. All of them failed. I am not ashamed to say this. I still keep the rusted daggerssssssh stained with their blood in my bedchamber."
"I'm afraid that I do not have any daughters to challenge me, My Lady."
"And yet, on occasion, Ssssshearo—in all her glory—gives us preciousssssssh distractions." Pestiferous emerged with Roarke onto a balcony overlooking a grand, circular arena carved into the heart of the mountain. Surrounding the steep walls of the killing floor, hundreds of metal mares stood upon the steps, chanting one word and one word alone, over and over again. "And now, we ssssshall see the degree to which those distractionssssssh weigh on you, and I will know if you are indeed fit to challenge her."
"Challenge who?" Roarke asked.
"Why, Roarke most Rare," chanted a deep, deep voice behind her. "I thought you were alive because you were the smartest of us all?"
Roarke's hair rose beneath her armor. She slowly turned around, her lenses extending like daggers. "Terra..."
A large, behemoth of a mare sat on the balcony to the left of Pestiferous. She smirked down at the smaller bounty hunter. "Are you ready for a fine show, old friend?"
"I thought you were out on the hunt—" Roarke began, but stopped in mid sentence. Her lenses drew back as her lips pursed open. Slowly, she swiveled to face Pestiferous. "What is this? What is going on?"
"You're a patient one, Roarke," Pestiferous hissed as she sat down slowly in the biggest seat on the balcony. Gesturing with a spidery hand towards the arena, she silenced the chanting crowds and growled, "Have a sssssssheat, and watch the last of the ashes burn away."
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...Well, still haven't figured out who is fighting Rainbow. But since Roarke's being told to take a seat, probably not her.
Since we were previously shown Terra not even flinching to Rainbow's violent outbursts and subsequently out-lesbianing her, maybe her. But she's just sitting there too.
And this stuff about mothers... I don't really understand it. Damn you, why have you made this so convoluted? Ah well, guess we know about as much as Dash herself about her opponents in this imminent participation in fisticuffs.
last of the ashes?
this sounds bad, reeeeally bad
Obviously RD is fighting, but I get the feeling it's not Roarke or Terra. Maybe Terra has a half blade as well and RD shall fight her. Then the winning half blade shows which high blade goes to top blade. Now to figure out who Terra's half blade is.
This whole Searo culture is a bag of coked-up cats, man.
Fifty push-ups for making such a jacked-up race, ):(. Knock 'em out!
THE SUSPENSE!
Battle Royale anyone?
2421325
Make it stop! My arms are burning right now! 
2421415
That's what you get for being such a jack-fucked race! Alright fine, you can break them down into sets. But you better stop being ridiculous!
That doesn't seem unintentional. Does Pesty have an arm sprouting out of her spine or something?
Prehistoric Dog - Red Fang
Judging just by the whole 'gladiator arena' vibe going on here, I would suspect that Pestiferous will just release a bunch of manticores (or some monster) for Dash and the rest of Team Bottom Of The Barrel to fight.
Oooooh! Fight against superlesbian! That sounds fun.
They are encouraged to try and kill their own mothers?
The more I see of Searo, the more I wonder how it ever lasted as long as it has....
Okay, that bit of background is just unsettling.
so... RD vs. Terra?
Dash vs. Terra's half-blade?
That sounds... deadly.
2422162 of course it does, this is Searo is it not. I for one would love to see what happens when the mare with the biggest bounty is revealed in a gladiator arena with thousands of blood-thirsty bounty hunters watching in the stands. Let the fight... BEGIN!!
Do. NOT. Like. Searo.
I don't think I like where this is going, but if it means epic fights, then I'm all for it!
Dash in armor, about to kick major butt.
Bring.
It.
On.
Ah ha! I was right Roarke IS going to watch Dash fight. Now let us see where this goes.
"Do you remember the face of your father?"
That parallel (although probably completely unintentional) just made this scene five times more epic.
So is the challenging of your literal mother a thing for every searo mare or just them?
2421325 "This whole Searo culture is a bag of coked-up cats, man." v.derpy.tv/mov/WatchoutAshleigh.png
That's MY line.
2423677 Now take that into account while thinking about how the Searonese honour those who forgot their mother's voice.
Pestiferous is a Crimson Queen if there ever was one.
All this talk of daughters has me wondering how the Searonese solve the problem of pregnancy. If Metal Mares give birth to children themselves, that would be a pain in the flank while fighting. Imagine Roarke dueling with Rainbow while being eight months pregnant...
And by the way, does this line here remind anyone else of a certain Pegasus?
Roarke's halfblade will hold a few surprises for them all.
Come on everypony, bleed bleed bleed
Fill my heart up with violence, violence
2425724 all I really needs some blood blood blood
From these deadly fiends of mine.
2422162 But very fun....
I should really fit this up with a phrase like dashie, shouldn't I? Should make it unique, not fair to steal from him anymore than I already am
So some nice dialogue here, giving some pretty major insight to more Searonese culture, I mean having to kill your own mother? That's harsh. But more importantly, Pestifirous killed 12 of her own daughters! Ouch. But that's how IC world builds, and it's always a fantastic new plot twist that can never be seen coming, even when you try! Interesting prediction from Aqua Fortis, I'm going to join that bandwagon. Makes sense that now if Roarke "has" a half-blood, it should be used to see whether or not she is ready herself to fight Terra for top-spear (as the half-blood can only be as god as trained). Obviously enough, RD is a bit too badflank though in my opinion, and she should be able to win the fight. Then again, her currently healing injuries do give her a huge handicap. Either way, I'm excited to see another one of IC's fight scenes coming up!
True loyalty never dies.
So Metal Mares are like Mord-Sith with the whole kill your mother to achieve your rank thing. I suppose their fathers aren't around long enough to ever come into the equation. So, is Dash the daughter or the mother in this situation? Or is Terra implied as the mother figure Roarke will have to kill? I'm a bit slow on the uptake, apparently. Well, only one way to find out - onward!
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Huh...aside from more Searonese cruelty, it seems that Terra suggested for Pestiferous to test Roarke by putting Rainbow Dash in their version of the Coliseum. I can't imagine Roarke will pass - and if she does, she'll have to use some form of trickery.
Also, Pestiferous has hands in the last paragraph. Might want to fix that. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
I keep seeing the old biddy as Darth Pestilence.
I just thought of this. Do the metal mares kind of give anyone the impression that they are kind like ponified versions of Predators, as far as their culture goes?
That mother-killing stuff is weird.
Also, uh oh.
And-
Blood, Blood, Blood, Blood, BLOOD!
-Spirit
2616842
Except they aren't as badass. XD
Dash, you better win . . .
Blood for the Blood God
Skulls for the Skull Throne
Let the whole world burn!!!
----
Go get em' Rainbow Dash, go get em'
ya goofed
but all shall be forgiven with the great battle
huzzah!
We need about 20% more blood.
Also:
Christ, this culture is so screwed up. It's almost hard to believe it's managed to last with some sense of stability for hundreds of years without either running out of people through sheer death defying attrition or just violently tearing itself apart.
6443034 I dunno. The price of blood seems to be more stable than any of our current currencies. Maybe adopting this system will fix the economy. That aside from the constant fear for your life and stuff.
Wowiee.... I'm a bit confused here
I don't know whether to play doom music or upbeat music.
I suppose a blend is in order
Is it not so obvious, a test is in the workings.
09/03/2019
13:45 UTC
HERE WE GO!!!!