//------------------------------// // One if By Land: Part 5 // Story: Spike of All Trades // by Ariamaki //------------------------------// The Twenty-fifth Chunk... It seemed like the spark incident earlier had managed to spark inspiration for the both of them. While Pinkie Pie began trying her hoof at deliberately setting things on fire (an idea that made Spike more than a little nervous on instinct, but he trusted her implicitly), Spike had spent the last few fights trying to figure out his new skill. Yet no amount of testing or brute force could get this quote-unquote 'X-Factor' to activate. He'd had skills before that weren't acquired in whole, or that were difficult to use properly. He had yet to get one that was literally unusable, so clearly there was something else going on here. It was a shame his metaphorical 'game' weren't a little better tutorialized, then at least he would have had something to explain what was going on. A little shiver crawled up his spine as he thought that. Spike stopped in his tracks and paid attention. Thought back over his rumination... Was the answer there? It was kind of a similar feeling to when he had decided to bring Pinkie Pie along earlier, a hint of some new sense. He didn't expect to have a perfect- There it went again. He had already started to notice a pattern before, weeks ago when discussing his various skills with Lyra and Twilight (on separate occasions: better not to get those two in the same room) and testing theories. He'd gotten four skills 'held in abeyance' due to lacking a Combat Discipline: Slice, Grasp, Pierce, and Draw. Two were self-taught, two were learned from watching others do their specialty. Now he had a fifth, and it kept up one of his potential pattern theories: All of his Combat Discipline skills so far had unique initials. Lyra said that a lot of the 'proper' fighters she knew, herself included, had some kind of core theme or concept that their skills were built around. Having a related and relatable structure made it easier to find connections and weave things together. And what better fit for the budding fighting style of a Gamer, one raised by Twilight Sparkle of all ponies, but one based on wordplay and linguistics? But X-Factor itself didn't mean anything. It meant just that: An unexpected variable that- ...Third time. And he knew very well what ponies said about third times. So rather than try to force it he just waited. There were a few Bermites in the area, some of which kept their distance, at least one of which was oddly still. It seemed to be blocking his view, as if it had been ordered to keep him from seeing the tunnel behind it. That wasn't actually working, if anything it helped him recognize it in advance: The tingling beneath the pads of his feet wasn't just the itchy instinct of combat, it was another premonition. There was an attack coming from below, which meant he had something to... "Exhume!" Spike stabbed his claws down into the ground, Earthshaper making it smooth as butter. The bug that tried to bite his ankles apart got a nasty surprise of its own as he uprooted it like a gigantic angry turnip, and then got the nastiest possible surprise when he sliced it apart... also like a turnip. He could almost feel the surprise and vague sense of concern from the remaining enemies in the room... Which made it all the easier to explode forward with a kick off the ground, exerting his full strength in order to expose their weaknesses with each strike of his claws. X was an interesting letter when you got right down to it: Sure, it didn't actually start many words on its own. But it had a kind of not-quite leading role in dozens if not hundreds, adding a unique twist to every one of them. Pinkie Pie definitely deserved an extra-special 'thank you' once they were done here. - - - - The Final Chunk Spike and Pinkie had been theorizing as they covered the chambers of this bizarre nestless nest. The first guards had been almost offensively weak, while the final batch before this chamber had been strong. Really strong. Powerful enough to endure a sustained and dragged-out fight, scoring meaningful hits on them both in the process. It had been an almost linear curve between the two points, and that didn't sit well with either him or her. "This whole thing kinda reeks of a setup, right?" "Oh sure! I was thinking it might be more of a gamey thing: Like a dungeon! Gotta throw some weak pokes at the front door to get the party all warmed up and loosey-goosey, then really catch 'em on the back end with the big one!" "...That was bait. I am not even gonna call you out on your phrasing because that was clearly bait." Pinkie shot him a dazzling smile. "I'd totally say that making a conspicuous statement about not calling me out is calling me out. But I made my point either way!" Spike shook his head and looked ahead to the last chamber. There was a persistent gloom in the air, and the offputting smell of the insects was vastly stronger here. Not even his full-force Dragon's Breath flames could light up the air, much less anything he could make with his inexperienced level of magic. "But we're still totally going in, right?" "Oh yeah, 100%. We're gaming: A trap is just an invitation with better XP." "Love you." "Love you too: Last one in's a powdered creamcake!" Before Spike could decide whether or not that was a good thing by Pinkie Pie's metric, she was already hurtling ahead of him into the darkness. He felt a twinge of concern at the sight: Even with the regeneration boost from his emerald-infused juleps, Pinkie still had a notable bruise on one of her forelegs. The idea of her getting hurt because he brought her along... Well, it didn't make him happy but he also didn't want to go out of control. That was a road that led to unhealthy dragon greed, and honestly? She was a full-grown mare and could make her own decisions. Plus he'd seen her dodge natural disasters and come out the other side clean as a whistle! Settling his worries down into his gut, he followed her into the murky stretch between the last chamber and their destination. Things were considerably less dark in the final chamber, but that didn't make it better. Two huge insectile forms took up much of the space, each of them twice as tall as Big Macintosh. One of the figures was much wider and bulkier than the other, its silhouette broken up here and there by large irregular plates. The other was tremendously long, an ugly trailing mass dragging at its backside. They were both Bermites to be certain, but not like any Spike had seen before. The first wasn't just more naturally defended, it was literally armored: Despite being a simple insect monster, this enormous jet-black Bermite had plates of rugged stone draped across its frame. The second one was tan and bulbous and very clearly the queen. It bore an uncanny and upsettingly disgusting resemblance to a termite dam that had been inflated hundreds of times larger, its long abdomen distended and swollen with uncountable eggs. Each of the two beasts had wide gossamer wings and prominent eyes, unlike their... children? Spike was at least glad to see that neither of them was moving yet. It seemed that right now they were all sizing each other up. Off to his side Pinkie Pie had skidded to a stop in the chamber, looking back and forth between the two huge insects. She pinged him in their party chat ...Welp. I guess this'll be a fun one! Got any data? Yeah, one second: Observe. The result he got back wasn't quite like the Monster sheets his system gave to the lesser Bermites, but it wasn't a normal character sheet either. It had a sort of hybrid appearance he'd seen before with the (much less intimidating) Mountain Crawler matriarch. He decided it was best to think of these as Boss Monster sheets, and the data was... Concerning. BERMITE KING Titles: None Estimated Combat Level: 60+ Traits: Insect, Lithovore, Hive Mind Ruler, Imitation Armorer, Unbreakable Feeling: Haughty, Agitated Attributes: STR: 130 DEX: 45 VIT: 230 INT: 40 WIS: N/A LUK: 20 Statuses: None BERMITE QUEEN Titles: None Estimated Combat Level: 60+ Traits: Insect, Lithovore, Hive Mind Ruler, Generation Bearer, Immovable Feeling: Anchored, Voracious Attributes: STR: 110 DEX: 10 VIT: 180 INT: 60 WIS: N/A LUK: 40 Statuses: None He prepared to display the information for Pinkie with his magic, but then hesitated. It wasn't like he could just show the image or send her a letter right now, not without those two creatures noticing it. Instead he recited it all to Pinkie Pie through subvocal chat, completely understanding her wince as he got to their attributes. The 'feelings' were concerning too: He'd switched titles to [Neophyte Insect Slayer] earlier as the battles got harder, but even with his Affinity bonus everything had been hostile and the rulers seemed to be no exception. Nasty! Don't suppose you've got any definitions for those traits? Thankfully they weren't so far out of his league that he couldn't use Behind the Curtain here, which also hopefully meant they would be a feasible fight. This was going to be a 2v2 after all! Hive Mind Ruler: Predominates an entire nest of a subordinate species with the Hive Minded trait. Imitation Armorer: Despite not being traditionally intelligent, is capable of crafting armor plating. Unbreakable: Cannot be stunned, staggered, or have its attacks interrupted. Generation Bearer: Is currently bound to the children of the nest, reducing DEX massively. Immovable: Cannot be pushed, pulled, thrown, or toppled from its position. Well that could have been a lot worse. They're already so big that it'd be kind of a pain to do most of those things to them anyways, right? Fair. And at least the Queen... He had almost 'said' something about the Queen being bogged down with her eggs, when the bug in question suddenly turned to stare at him with palpable hatred. The 'Anchored' state in its feelings shifted in the menu, turning to 'Spiteful'. With a terrible chittering that split the air, the queen started thrashing and waving its egg-laden backside... which began visibly shrinking as they watched. [Bloodthirst detected!] [Danger ahead of you!] Spike felt a little sick as he thought about the idea of fighting however many thousands of Bermites that might have been... until he realized nothing was hatching. The splits on her shrinking thorax were withering along with the rest of it, and no eggs or enemies were coming out. The roiling feeling in his guts only got worse when he thought of the alternative. If she wasn't hatching them... Dragon's Eye. Observe. Behind the Curtain. Indra's Net. Eventually one of them worked, or maybe all of them. His system told him what he already knew. The Bermite Queen smells the favor of a Glittershell Beetle on you: She will not meet the same fate. Out of equal parts spite and hatred, she has cannibalized an entire generation. For the same reason that he felt an affinity for that egg clutch all those weeks ago on his first visit, Spike felt real horror and pain watching all those eggs just... vanish. Bermites weren't intelligent creatures like a dragon or a pony, yes. But at the same time he had been an egg once, and the clutch in his inventory felt like hope for a positive future and a mirror of his own past. Watching a parent (even an insectile one) take an entire generation and eat them, just to spite the dead? It wasn't the same as sending her spawn out to war, or leading them to fight the Diamond Dogs. It wasn't even the same as discharging the eggs before they were prepared to hatch, for one reason or another... This was just mindless hateful destruction. Spike had never been this angry in his life.