Silent Jade
Chapter 6: Test
By Wanderer D
Each morning for the next couple of weeks, Jade would wake up from tired sleep to follow Gaius, or Master Stride—as he wanted to be called now—through the underbrush, swamplands, woodlands and mountainous ranges of the Everfree Forest.
Her hesitant footing slowly became more sure and her jumps, rolls and catches more confident. Rarity had never had to survive in the wild, but Jade was not Rarity. Being dainty would not save her life, although her trained eye gave her an advantage once she started to recognize what terrain was safe to step or jump onto; what branch to latch on, which areas to avoid.
Their missions were always gathering quests of some sort; more ingredients for her potions, food, materials for makeshift tools… all had a purpose, even if Master Stride insisted on taking the most complicated, exasperating routes to do so. Sometimes they would go one place, then another, then go back through a more dangerous area to end up in the same place as before, where she would pick up the next item.
Tired, aching and hungry, she would then have to carefully memorize the preparation of the ingredients; how to dry them and cut them and store them, and also where to store them properly, so she wouldn't end up accidentally causing an explosion.
Under Master Stride's tutelage and careful eye, she mixed several batches of her mane-altering formula. In a way, Jade knew that it was his way of training her without officially doing so. It was somewhat obvious in retrospect when she was tasked with finding more ingredients for the first formula on her own and the process seemed much easier.
That is until one day she was told to go on her own to an unexplored area.
"There is a tree there," Master Stride explained, "that has grown tall and twisted. Its roots have formed a large cavern of sorts at it's base. It's a little sunken in, and can only be approached from the north. Inside, there is a package, you must bring that to me."
"We've never been there…"
"I have, a while ago," Master Stride said. "But I will not be going with you. I will wait here and pack so we can be ready to leave soon. It's dangerous, but I know you can do it. You need to bring that package over here."
Rarity couldn't do it. She was afraid of facing an unknown area that even her grandfather would call dangerous. Sudden anxiety flooded her. There were unknown creatures in the forest. Things she had seen moving in the shadows, kept at bay by the presence of her grandfather up to the point that while by no means completely safe, traveling their usual routes was some sort of clearly marked territory the beasts respected.
But this? This was off the beaten path. This was new and scary. Rarity simply couldn't do it.
But Jade could.
"Understood," she said, fighting away the doubt and presenting herself as self-assured as she possibly could.
Master Stride nodded and she was off, not willing to keep delving into her thoughts, into what innocent, dependant fillies would do or not, but rather what a growing survivor and future assassin would do without fear.
She headed through the forest, slowly making her way towards the area her master had indicated. Her knowledge of the forest served her well, and she kept spatial awareness to the landmarks she was already intimately familiar with.
She made her way north, climbing up a tree and jumping from branch to branch while the rock crocodiles below her snoozed in the morning sun. Eventually, she saw her objective. The tree was massive, just like her master had said, and she could see the entrance to the side.
Slowly, she circled the area first, making sure there were no beasts or dangerous areas around, it would not do to walk in only to have a timber wolf jump out of the marshes to catch her. The area, however, was devoid of large predators as far as she could see, and so she made her way down from the branches and onto the soft earth.
She tried to be as careful as possible and hide the sound of her hoofsteps as she approached. It was then that she heard it. A low, rumbling sound that had a steady beat to it. The unexpected noise made her stop dead. She dared not move, just listen, expectantly to see if the sound changed or more noises accompanied it. She had no idea what it was or what it could potentially do to her.
After what had to be a few seconds but felt like an hour at least, she gulped, and forced herself to move. She daintily finished the round around the tree and peeked into the crevice.
Jade felt her heart stop.
Inside, curled around a small, black saddle bag, was a manticore, snoring gently and licking its chops. Its claws were massive and its scorpion tail twitched, the tip glistening with venom. The leonine face was relaxed, completely asleep.
Still. It was unexpected.
She considered her options, which weren't many. She could wait it out, until it went out hunting, but it was a nocturnal creature, and that meant the whole day would be spent waiting for a dangerous beast to step out to hunt for food in its own territory.
She could go back and tell Master Stride that there was no way in Tartarus she was risking her neck for a bag.
Or she could try to sneak in and steal the bag.
Jade pondered before nodding to herself. She couldn't disappoint her master. Slowly she made her way inside, all the while feeling like she was being watched even though there was nothing around other than the sleeping manticore. Telling herself it was just her nerves, she approached the dozing feline as close as she dared and carefully—very carefully—used her magic to try to levitate the saddle bag.
The bag slowly slipped between the paws of the manticore, each as big as she was tall. Jade didn't dare breathe as the tortuous, slow levitation proceeded. Any mistake, any tilt, hesitation, rush or lapse had the potential to wake up the beast, and Jade had no illusions as to whether she'd be able to survive long if the manticore attacked her.
Jade was sweating by the time she managed to bring the floating bag up to where she stood at the entrance to the cubby and use her magic to tie the saddlebag securely around herself. It felt like she had been working on it for hours, even though she knew it was less than a minute.
She started to back away when the manticore stirred. Jade froze in place. Her eyes were glued to the leonine creature as it shuffled and turned. Slowly, amber eyes opened, sleepily and heavy, looking in her direction without any hint of recognition before slowly closing again.
Jade slowly released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in.
The eyes opened again, and this time focused on her own.
Jade bolted around the tree, doing her best to ignore the furious roar from within the tree and the sound of splintering wood. She knew she couldn't look behind her. She had to run as fast as she could and focus on getting away.
She felt displaced air behind her and the sudden, loud crack of a tree being split in half by a powerful claw only encouraged her to run faster. She zig-zagged around the trees, trying to figure out a way to get on higher ground as she approached the swamplands.
Just as she was about to reach the edge of the swamp, something, either an unknown instinct or an otherworldly warning deep in her gut made her stop and duck, just in time for the deadly creature to soar just over her, slashing at where her head had been just a second earlier.
She didn't escape unscathed, however. Just as she dashed out of the way and into an area with more dense vegetation, the manticore's scorpion tail shot down, grazing her leg and leaving a bloody gash in its wake.
Jade didn't stop, ignoring the immediate, flaring pain from the wound and from crashing shoulder-first on a tree before she found her footing again and galloped through the underbrush.
Despite the pain, Jade pushed herself as hard and fast as she could. The manticore was close behind, even if she had put some distance between them. She was bleeding, and she could feel her muscles cramp together. The wound had some poison in it, no doubt.
When her hoof lost all mobility and her whole leg felt on fire, she really started to panic. She slowed down considerably, using her three whole legs to move forward. She could see her hoof bump onto rocks and roots, but the pain was burning through her whole body more intensely as the seconds passed.
Jade stumbled out of the forest and rolled down a small slope until she smacked against a tree. Through bleary eyes she looked up and thought the area looked familiar. It took her pained mind a few seconds to realize that she was back where the cubby was.
She forced herself up as the manticore emerged from the forest, slowly approaching her. It was clear it knew its prey was poisoned and that it would take little to finish her of.
Jade gritted her teeth. She wouldn't go down like this! With a challenging shout, she charged towards the manticore, her horn glowing as she tried to summon the rocks around to bombard the creature.
It was not to be. She set her hoof down, reflexively trying to gallop on her wounded leg and crumbled down when it didn't respond. Her whole body felt on fire, working like pulses of intensity from her injury outwards.
She was breathing heavy as the manticore approached. She couldn't keep her eyes open. She would never see her dad or Sweetie or her grandad again. She heard herself whimper before everything went black.
Jade slowly came to her senses. She could hear fire crackling, the pain in her leg was still there, much lighter than before, although it still radiated waves of pain and heat from time to time.
She opened her eyes and took in the situation. She was lying on her side, and her wound had been treated. She could feel warmth to her left, no doubt where the fire was, but right across from her was the manticore, and it was dead.
"You did well, Jade," Master Stride said from next to her.
The voice of her grandfather made her sigh in relief. "I'm sorry, I tried to sneak an—"
"No, it's fine." Master Stride stepped in front of her and offered a claw.
Jade gingerly took it and pushed up, wincing when her leg moved, but still able to stay upright. She looked around and noticed the saddlebag was resting next to her.
"Why don't you take a look inside?"
Jade nodded and levitated the saddlebag, bringing it over to her as she slowly took out all its contents, which turned out to be several vials and instruments. Some looked familiar from the potion making, but others…
"Wh-what is this?"
Master Stride grinned. "Very useful tools for an assassin. It's an apprentice kit to make poisons, and antidotes."
Jade looked from the bag, to the manticore to her grandfather. "This was a test?" She opened and closed her mouth. "But! I could have died!"
Master Stride nodded.
"And you knew the manticore was here! And I got poisoned!" She could feel tears pulling up, but surprisingly, they were less about hurt and more frustration. "I almost died!"
"But you didn't," Master Stride said, then grinned. "And even better… the most important bit… you fought back."
"I tried." Jade huffed.
"That's more than a lot of ponies would do in your situation," Master Stride said. "Now, come over." He motioned towards the dead manticore.
Jade grunted and shuffled her way towards Master Stride.
"Pay attention, Jade," Master Stride said, "Manticores have several glands that are very useful for assassins. Their claws and stinger by themselves are very useful for creating weapons, it's bone marrow is a delicacy, but also very valuable for its medicinal purposes. The leather from the wings can be used for lightweight but sturdy armor…"
As her grandfather carried on, Rarity took note. The designer in her was quick to imagine uses for everything, most of which would have made her squeamish just a month ago. But she also noticed something else. Whenever she would wince, or the pain would come back, her grandfather would stop his explanations and wait for her to recover, and more than once his eyes drifted to her wounded leg and they would soften briefly before going quickly back to the manticore.
"Grandad…"
Master Stride paused for a moment that seemed to stretch into minutes. He didn't turn or acknowledge her in any way before his shoulders slumped a little and he turned back to look at her. "Yes, Rarity?" Gaius finally asked.
"Wh—" she stammered and reconsidered her question. "W-was this really necessary?"
Gaius looked down at his granddaughter and lifted her chin up with his claw. "I would have never done it otherwise. I'm sorry."
Rarity hugged him.
"It's only going to get worse, isn't it?"
Gaius held her close. "Yeah."
"I think…" She tightened her hold before slowly stepping back and looking up to him. "I think I could never survive this… but Jade can."
Gaius smiled. "I'm proud of both of you," he said. "Now, let's finish doing this before heading back to camp," he said, returning to the Manticore. "Now, manticore fangs are not like normal feline fangs…"
They stayed in the Everfree for another week before the night to leave arrived.
"You must always remember what you need to do… never run out of this potion, or the balm," Master Stride said one night.
Jade looked up from where she had organized all the materials exactly as he had taught her. IT seemed that she had enough formula for years to come, but she understood the warning. "I won't, I promise."
Master Stride smirked and nodded. "Very well then, Jade, let's head out to our destination, my return is expected within a certain period of time and we don't want to miss it."
"Will they accept me?" Jade asked, a bit of worry creeping into her voice. "What if they don't? Will I have to go back to Ponyville and try and make it there without any help?"
Master Stride shrugged. "I have no doubt that they will accept you," he said evenly, "since I'm bringing you in myself. And I am very respected in our organization." He chuckled.
Jade levitated her black leather saddlebags and secured them on, while her grandfather tightened his own packs. The road through the forest would be tough… but not as tough as it had once been, and then, after that, her new life would really begin.