//------------------------------//
// 8. Training the Mind and Body 
// Story: Monster Huntress Diamond 
// by HappyPillz 
//------------------------------//

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	 - 750cm	Avg 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	- 230cm	Avg 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	- 250cm	Avg 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	- 350cm	Avg 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	- 290cm	Avg 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	- 290cm	Avg 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	- 350cm	Avg 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	- 230cm	Avg 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	- 260cm	Avg 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	- 200cm	Avg 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	- 500cm	Avg 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	- 350cm	Avg 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	- 320cm	Avg 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	- 290cm	Avg 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	- 290cm	Avg 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	- 290cm	Avg 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	- 450cm	Avg 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	- 400cm	Avg 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	- 350cm	Avg 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 - 700cm	Avg 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.”