“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!”