“Your plan was a success, Rarity, even if the Ibushi still has its magic,” Cyradel consoled her.
“I just wish we could have done more…” Rarity groused, staring into her drink. “Knowing that it’s out there, lurking, biding its time before attacking…”
“Maybe it left when you drained the magic from the crystals?” Cyradel suggested, sipping her own cocktail with a wince as the alcohol burned her throat. Rarity downed a large portion of her own in response.
“I doubt it. I know it’s out there. It didn’t just show up here to leave right away. I’d track it if I could, but I need to have some idea where to start, and it seems to be avoiding populated areas for the time being. Don’t get me wrong, it’s wonderful news that it’s not attacking people, but we can’t hunt a shadow. I’ve also noticed regular monster activity seems to have lessened lately.”
“And that’s… a bad thing?” Cyradel looked at Rarity strangely.
“Yes and no. For us, no, but the why is the worrying part. Why are there no monsters around to cause problems?”
Cyradel’s face lit up in recognition of where Rarity was going with her logic. “The ibushi is killing or chasing them off.”
“Bingo.”
“Yo! Hot stuff!” A voice rang out behind them.
“Ugh, Syd, must you really flirt constantly?” Rarity rolled her eyes, but a grin played across her lips.
“Huh? No, I was talking to Cyr. Hi to you too, hag,” he stuck out his tongue with a devilish smirk and a chuckle. Rarity responded by splashing a glass of water in his face and kicking him in the shin.
“Ow! Damn, kicking with hooves hurts! No fair, species advantage! Seriously, you get everything! Magic, gorgeous mane and tail, hooves, cute booplesnoot, magic ass tattoo… what do I get?”
“A loud-ass voice and unending obnoxiousness,” Rarity volunteered. “Now what was it you wanted, purveyor of insults?”
“Oh, right! I was going to talk about preparing to fight the ibushi when it shows up. Guess I did want to talk to you, hag.”
“You’re an ass, you know that?”
“Oh, very much so. And I love it so, so much. But back to what I was going to tell you: when we do go hunting it, as much as you love your switch axe, I think you’re going to want to bring your bowgun.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “And the reason being?”
“Ibushis fly. Almost constantly. Usually some part of ‘em is close enough to the ground for you to hit, but a good old bowgun is much more reliable for consistent damage.”
“Sounds like I should be paying a visit to Renny. Thanks for the tip.”
“No problem.” Sydreol handed Rarity a small brightly colored box. “Give her this when you go, for shits and giggles.”
Rarity’s eyes went wide, recognizing the packaging instantly. “This is… you saved one?”
“One of your pink friend’s cupcakes. Yup. I asked her if I could get one to go and she winked and got one for me.”
Rarity stared at him. “She winked. You know that she knew exactly what you planned to do with it, right?”
Sydreol scoffed. “Of course she wouldn’t. How on earth would she know what I was going to do?”
“Pinkie knows. Pinkie always knows. Celestia knows what she did to this cupcake.”
“Actually, Celestia probably doesn’t have a clue.”
Rarity almost snorted as she doubled over in laughter. “You know, you’re right. I should probably stop saying that. I definitely will give this to Renny, but I want you with me when I do. You need to see the work of Pinkie Pie, because I guarantee she did something.”
Sydreol shrugged. “If you say so, I literally just asked for a cupcake in a box.”
“Don’t doubt her. Come on, we’re going. Now.” She grabbed Sydreol by the hand, yanking him over.
“So this is something from your home world, then?” Cyradel asked with great interest.
“Yep. Coming?” Rarity asked impatiently.
“You bet I am,” Cyradel ran over. “If something special is happening from your world, I want to see it.”
“For the love of… it’s just a cupcake,” Sydreol shook his head. “I thought it’d be funny to give her one from that pink pony, that’s all, nothing special about it!”
“That’s what you think,” Rarity chided. “Enough wasting time. Come on.”
**********
“The hell do you cretins want?” Reneris looked up from her anvil crossly, sweat dripping from her brow and her hammer held high. She lowered her hammer.
“Well, I do need to ask for a new bowgun,” Rarity started, holding her hands behind her back. “I need something newer to take on the ibushi.”
“Fine, you’ve gathered a ton of aberrant materials to make something strong enough.” Reneris pointed past Rarity. “What’s she doing here?”
Cyradel looked offended. “Am I not allowed to be here?”
“Of course you are, smart ass. I can understand a visit from asshat or Rarity here, but you? What the hell are you doing here?” She spotted the box Rarity was holding. She pointed with her hammer. “The hell is that?”
“That’s why I’m here,” Cyradel smiled. “To watch.”
“A present.” Rarity said simply. “We brought it back with us from my home world, one of my friends made it for you.”
Reneris’ face lightened somewhat. “Now that’s somethin’ unexpected. I’ll be honest, I’ve never had anybody give me a present before.”
Rarity was taken aback. “What? You haven’t? Never?”
“Nah, not really the present type,” she said. “Don’t let it bother ya, I can tell it is already.”
Rarity gave a weak smile. “I’ll try not to. That will be changing though, you can count on it.”
“Just give me the stupid box already,” Reneris grinned.
“Right, here you go, courtesy of Pinkie Pie,” Rarity smiled.
Reneris took the box carefully and pulled the lid open. With an energetic poof, a mass of confetti erupted from inside, bringing with it a small banner that unfurled as it hit the air, slowly fluttering to the ground. Reneris picked it up, reading it with bewildered amusement.
“Happy first present, Renny!”
She put the banner down and looked inside the box.
Inside was a lovingly crafted cupcake, with a swirl of dark chocolate icing topping it, two sugar horns sticking out of the front, a thin sugar tail hanging from the back, and two beautifully carved white sugar wings poking out from the sides of the icing.
“Is that…?” Reneris trailed off.
“A flying bullshit cupcake,” Rarity finished, looking over her shoulder with a grin.
Reneris stood stupefied for several long seconds before she smiled wider than she ever had before, then laughed riotously.
“This… this is the best thing I’ve ever seen! Holy shit! Your friend made this?”
Rarity nodded. “And she’s the one who came up with the cupcake phrase to begin with.”
“Damn!” Reneris looked at Rarity in shock. “So she knows I completely mocked the hell out of her and she made this for me?”
“Yep, she was actually really glad it made you happy. That’s the sort of pony she is.”
“Shit. You’ve got some seriously awesome friends then.”
Rarity beamed. “Yes. Yes I do.”
Reneris stood deep in thought for a moment, then put the cupcake box on her anvil. “Thanks. Next time you see your friend, tell her thank you for me.”
“Will do,” Rarity smiled. She turned to Sydreol. “You ok there, Syd?”
“You can’t be serious,” Sydreol looked over the banner in dumbfounded amazement. “What the hell is with your friend? Just… how?”
“It’s Pinkie Pie. We don’t question her. She just knows.”
“That was amazing!” Cyradel commented. “So, your friend can predict what happens in the future?”
“More or less,” Rarity said with a shrug. “She calls it her Pinkie Sense, but there’s so much more than that. She just knows things that she shouldn’t.”
“Someone needs to research this!” Cyradel exclaimed excitedly. “Think of what we could learn!”
“No, someone does not,” Rarity grabbed Cyradel’s face and looked her in the eyes. “There is no explaining Pinkie Pie. Ever. End of story. Many have tried. All have failed. You will go mad. Do not try to understand Pinkie Pie.”
“Uh, ok then…” Cyradel said uncertainly. “Maybe I could just meet her sometime.”
Rarity smiled. “That would be wonderful.”
**********
A still darkness blanketed Rarity’s house, broken only by the light of the full moon shining through the far window. The night remained quiet, with the faint sounds of animals and monsters floating in from distant reaches, so barely audible that the tiny mewling snores of Cinnamon were enough to drown them out.
The peace was interrupted as music sputtered into the air; various songs flipped by, emitted from Rarity’s music box.
“Dammit, Rowrity…” Cinnamon muttered from her bed, “it’s the middle of the night, can’t you find some other time to listen to music? Shit, if you need something to help you fall asleep, pick one and be done with it, stop flipping through them all.”
However, the only response Cinnamon received was that of continued music changes.
“Rowrity?” Cinnamon turned in her bed to face Rarity’s; the house was still dark, but there was plenty of light from the moon for her felyne eyes to see perfectly well two things: Rarity was still sleeping, and her music player was spinning on its own, floating in the air, as well as several other items around the house. Cinnamon’s eyes snapped wide open in an instant.
Oh no.
Seconds later, everything crashed to the floor, jarring Rarity awake; at the same time, Cinnamon could hear a cacophonous noise from outside as well, likely more items being ripped up and dropped elsewhere.
Most people aren’t going to have a clue what happened, either.
Rarity looked around in confusion; she could see nothing in the darkness, and her music box was still playing, thankfully settling on one song, at least.
“What’s going on?” She asked, slightly panicked.
Cinnamon grabbed a lantern from her bedside, lighting it and jumping up.
“Get up, Rowrity! The ibushi’s nearby! We’ve got to spread the alarm!”
Rarity snapped to attention, lighting her horn and instantly setting all the lanterns in the house alight. She moved quickly, betraying the idea that she had just woken from a deep slumber. She donned her armor, equipped her bowgun, and retrieved her bag; a glance over affirmed that Cinnamon had already done the same.
“Ready?”
The felyne nodded. “Let’s go. We need to get Syd and Lycadran, and make sure the alarm is sounded for everyone else.”
“Right. Guess if the fight is on our doorstep, all of us can be in it, huh?”
“Yep.” They exited the house, seeing no sign of the monster and a worryingly small amount of activity in the village.
“Shit, apparently everyone is either heavy sleepers or just wrote off all the noise as some shit falling over. Guess I’m lucky that your music box went nuts or I might have done the same.”
“It did what?”
“Your music box. It plays based on its orientation, right? It was spinning because it was floating and it woke me up. If it hadn’t, I probably would have gone back to sleep, too.”
“Damn, we’d better get moving. I’ll get Syd and Leonys, you handle Lycadran. Meet back here.”
Cinnamon scampered off and Rarity took off running for Syd’s house; her hooves clopped loudly along the stone road, marking the only sound in the village, but far off she could hear some sort of commotion closeby in the forest.
So that’s where it is. It must have flown over us and landed there. Thank Celestia it didn’t decide to touch down in the middle of the village or we’d have been screwed. I guess villages aren’t really it’s idea of good territory, though.
She reached Sydreol’s house and started pounding on the door as hard as she could. “Syd! Wake up!” Her hammering echoed loudly, and her shouts likely woke up several of Sydreol’s neighbors, but she received no response to her efforts.
“Dammit, you ass,” she cursed. “Do you always sleep this hard?” Her eyes fell on a window and she ran over, looking in to see if she could spot where he was. “Come on… all I need is some sort of visual focus. To hell with your privacy, asshat. Next time, wake up when I knock. Muwaha!” With a wicked grin and devilish laugh, her gaze settled on a doorway, door ajar and a bed visible inside; she could see a lump, blankets, and a foot sticking out from under the covers. “Perfect.”
Her grin widened as her horn lit up; within seconds, Sydreol’s blankets were ripped from his bed, waking him up immediately in an alarmingly confusing fashion. Rarity let the situation sink into his sleep-addled mind for several seconds, allowing him to look around the room to realize he was sitting in bed in his pajamas. She then grabbed his leg with her magic and yanked him off the bed.
She stifled a laugh as he crashed to the floor with a flurry of curses, then she headed back to the door as she heard him yell from inside.
“Dammit, Rarity! I know that was you, you’re the only one that could pull shit like that!”
Thumping noises could be heard coming from inside, until finally the door was ripped open to reveal a supremely pissed off looking Sydreol, absolutely fuming at the rude awakening he had received. Rarity donned the most innocent expression she could muster.
“Why, Syd, fancy meeting you out here tonight! Such a lovely night, too!”
“Cut the bullshit, Rares,” he growled, “why the hell did you literally drag me out of bed?”
Rarity dropped all pretense and reverted to her serious demeanor. “Well, perhaps if you had woken up right away… one has to do what they can to wake you up immediately when the ibushi is in the forest right outside the village.”
“It’s in the forest?” He did a double take, looking at the village gate and listening carefully, noticing the sounds coming from below the pass. “Shit, you weren’t kidding!”
“No, I tend not to kid about things like this. Your choice in pajama patterns, on the other hand…”
“Oh, shut up!”
“Go get your gear on, then meet the others by my house. I need to go alert Leonys so he can set the village on high alert. I hope he wakes more easily than you do.”
“If he doesn’t, don’t pull him out of bed.”
Rarity smirked and fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it! I have to see something to be able to get a good magical grip on it, and I just couldn’t bring myself to peep in on a man in his bedroom! Such an indecent invasion of privacy, you know.”
“What the fuck! What do you think you did just now?”
Rarity feigned surprise. “Oh! Hm, I suppose you’re right! Well, I guess I just don’t see you as a man, Syd. Pity.” She turned and began walking away, waving as she left. “Get your shit together and I’ll see you shortly.”
“I’d say you hurt my pride, but I think you’ve already killed all of it, Rares. Now you’re just grinding it into the dust under your hooves. You are one ruthless pony.”
She stopped and glanced back with a smile. “Yeah, but that’s what you like most about me.”
He grinned. “Won’t argue with you on that.”
**********
“All right, soldier. Your watch is over, I’m taking over your post for the night.”
“Thank you, sir!” The soldier saluted and trotted back to the barracks camp that had been built close to the rift. Blade Flash patrolled the area, taking little interest in the construction of the defenses surrounding the rift, nor in the various buildings nearby; from the looks of it, the nearby town must have been planning to expand a marketplace and trading route this way once it was properly guarded. The question that remained in his mind was: guarded against what?
Upon deployment from Canterlot, Princesses Celestia and Luna had given them very specific orders: that they were to guard the rift, under no circumstances were they to enter it, and that they were to kill any monsters that came out of it. They were made aware that there were other intelligent creatures on the other side, but any creature that came through that could not communicate was to be killed without hesitation.
Naturally, this order was shocking to say the least, and when questioned, their leaders informed them that the creatures were dangerous and untameable; this was acceptable enough of an answer, and even sending a battalion to defend the rift was not enough to put him ill at ease. After all, if monsters were able to come through the rift, perhaps many could come at a time, so having a large force of ponies to defend the area might be necessary.
What did put him ill at ease, however, was their final warning, which still echoed in his head.
If any monster comes through that portal that is too large for your force to handle easily, do not engage it. We have provided you with magical transmitters. Use them to immediately contact the element bearers in Ponyville, Luna, and myself, then retreat.
The confusion and uproar that statement had caused was phenomenal. What could be so large, powerful, and dangerous, that it couldn’t be defeated with a small army and would require the immediate attention of both princesses and all the element bearers?
And if it can come through this portal at any time, why in Tartarus am I here right now?
He sighed, walking back to the guard station and sitting down. So far, they’d been out here for weeks, and though it was comforting that nothing had happened, it was also boring as hell.
A movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention; quickly his head whipped around, and he drew his sword with his magic to see the rift swirling to life. Furiously his mind raced as he tried to remember protocol.
Buck it.
“I need backup! Something’s coming and I don’t know what it is!” He yelled.
He positioned himself to receive whatever might be on its way, sword at the ready, as a small unit of other soldiers exited the barracks ready to offer aid.
Before the others could arrive, the rift spat out a bewildered looking velociprey, slightly larger than the unicorn, and very deadly looking. He brandished his sword with a slight tremor and asked, “Who are you? Do you understand what I’m saying?”
In response, the velociprey screeched and adopted an aggressive stance.
Damn.
“It’s hostile!” He yelled.
“Yeah, we kinda figured that out!” A snarky reply yelled back from his backup.
Without warning, the velociprey leaped forward, slashing at him with its talons; he reflexively held up his sword and blocked the attack and severing the talon as it hit, but the forward momentum of the monster still succeeded in knocking him backward. It screeched in pain, but continued to advance, brandishing its claws and teeth. The remainder of the unit rushed forward to their comrade’s aid when the portal began swirling again.
“Something else is coming!” Someone yelled.
While the velociprey was easily a match for a single pony, it was no match for a squadron of twelve; they struck it down quickly and turned their attention to the rift, which spat out three more confused looking velociprey in short succession, each of which the soldiers defeated readily.
“I wonder why all of those things started coming through all at once,” Blade pondered aloud.
“Hasn’t anypony ever told you not to question stuff like that?” Somepony hushed him. “That’s like inviting disaster! Seriously, you could very well have just doomed us all. Good bucking job!”
“What kind of dipshit reasoning is that?” Blade asked. “Next you’re going to tell me you believe that ‘Pinkie Pie’ bullshit they talk about in Pon-“
“Another one is coming!”
The group prepared again for another velociprey, though the rift seemed to take longer than before to eject this one. Then, in a swift moment that occurred too fast to comprehend, the rift transported something altogether different into their midst.
This monster stood easily four times their height and had the appearance of a fiery dragon with a lion’s head. It wasted no time in roaring ferociously, and swiped a paw, clawing several soldiers down where they stood.
“GOOD JOB, BLADE! NOW WE KNOW WHAT WAS CHASING THEM!” Someone yelled. “Get to the transmitter!”
The teostra had arrived in Equestria.
**********
A massive, serpentine body sprawled before them, sleeping on the ground in front of its most recent kill. Nearly fifteen times as long as Sydreol was tall, the ibushi lay quietly by the remains of an anjanath just outside the village at the base of the mountain path. The small felyne encampment had been obliterated, though luckily its inhabitants had been quick enough to take shelter in nearby caves and had since been evacuated to Miliesu.
Quietly, Rarity, Cinnamon, Sydreol, and Lycadran approached the sleeping beast, unspoken understanding shared amongst them. They each silently unloaded a payload of barrel bombs from their packs next to the monster’s slowly heaving scales; Rarity continually stacked several additional bombs from her bottomless bag, prompting perplexed stares from Sydreol and Lycadran, while Cinnamon only stifled a giggle.
Standing up next to their bombs, Rarity held up her bowgun and pointed to Sydreol’s own heavy bowgun, then to the opposite side of the bombs. He nodded and hoisted his own weapon, moving opposite her position.
Working quickly, they pointed their bowguns to the ground and fired wyvernblasts, leaving the flared shells burning in the earth, surrounding the barrels with an odd unnatural glow. Each hunter placed their three blasts, then the group retreated a long distance away.
“Ready?” Rarity breathed.
“Light it up,” Lycadran responded.
Rarity loaded her bowgun with pierce ammo, took aim at the center of the barrels, and released a round.
The explosion ripped through the cache they had set, initiating a chain reaction that roared into the stillness of the night with a giant fireball, searing a burning wound into the side of the ibushi. The monster reacted instantaneously, letting loose an unholy screech, unfurling and taking flight, knocking over and tearing up trees as though they weren’t even there.
The hunters rushed forward with weapons drawn, each heading separate ways to spread out their attacks. Lycadran headed toward its tail, using her insect glaive to propel herself upward in a vault, then grabbing on to the ibushi before it was too far off the ground. Sydreol stayed toward its midsection, aiming heavy shells and cluster bombs at the injured wound their incendiary ambush had left. Cinnamon opted for its upper section and fin-like appendages, lobbing small bombs and using a specialized razor edged boomerang.
Rarity, however, raced straight for the beast's head. Pierce ammo wasn’t just good for barrel bombs, after all, it was perfect for long monsters that had plenty of room for the bullet to pierce into, and she intended to make full use of that feature. Facing the ibushi head on, she took aim, firing several rounds at it before it could change course.
The bullets struck the ibushi, though the effect seemed minimal; it continued its course toward her, opening its gigantic jaws to reveal a smaller set of jaws inside; a red ball of energy began forming in its mouth, and Rarity’s heart sank at the sight.
Oh, shit.
She dashed to the side as fast as she could, then rolled behind a tree just as a red flash and a burst of heat pulsed from behind her, emitted by a huge ball of energy shot from the maw of the ibushi. Shrapnel and flames licked her back as she vanished out of the way.
She downed a potion, then peeked around the tree to see a charred area was all that remained of where she had stood only moments before; gripping her bowgun, she scrambled from behind the tree, firing more rounds into the ibushi as fast as she could, sending bullets flying through its scales.
The ibushi turned, no longer deeming her worth its immediate attention; however, rather than leaving her unimpeded, Rarity suddenly found herself caught in an updraft of wind that tossed her upward into the air helplessly, holding her in a spinning vortex while she watched in horror as the ibushi’s tail began whipping around toward her as it turned.
She could hear the sounds of explosions and swearing, winds and gunfire as the ibushi no doubt was continuing its assault with the others. Her eyes were drawn to a nearby tree, just out of reach; she used her magic to grab a branch, bringing it close. She grabbed on and used it to pull herself free of the winds, falling back to the earth just as the ibushi’s tail violently slapped through the winds.
She resumed firing, running from where she was as she did so, heading toward her friends to ensure their safety. Sliding under a lower section of the ibushi she reached Sydreol, who had obviously been severely injured.
“Hey, little help over here, maybe?” He said wryly.
“What, didn’t you bring any potions?” Rarity moved over next to him quickly, grabbing one of her own.
“Kinda hard to drink a potion when you can’t move your arms,” he replied with a pained expression.
“Ugh, you’re helpless,” Rarity rolled her eyes, holding up her own potion bottle to his lips.
“Uh, yeah, literally right now.” He drank it down, moving his arms shortly after. “Ah, there we go. At least Lycadran has its attention for the moment. She’s done some damage to it already, and it looks like you’ve gotten some good hits in, too.”
“Nowhere near enough, though. You good?”
“Yep, never better. Ready to g-“
“THERE YOU ARE!” A familiar female voice shouted out from above.
Rarity froze, but Sydreol looked up right away.
“Rainbow pony! The hell are you doing here?”
“We need Rarity! Like, now!”
“Whoa, hold up, pegasus chick. If you can’t tell, we’re kinda in the middle of something!”
“Well, duh, I can see that! But we have something, too! Some giant thing just showed up like, a few minutes ago! Some big fiery lion dragon thing, it’s already killed a bunch of our soldiers, and all of us are already fighting it, but we’re not going to be able to take it out alone! We need her help!”
Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash in horror, while Sydreol’s brain seemed to have short circuited.
“So, that’s a teostra? A teostra is in your world? Shit, that’s bad… wait, you said a few minutes ago?”
“Uh, yeah?” Rainbow cocked her head at him impatiently.
“Your village is an hour from the rift, and the rift is two hours from here. And just how long did it take you to get here?”
“Uh, it took me two minutes to get here, and that was because I had a hard time finding the path in the dark.” She shuddered. “Ugh, and being in your world feels weird. Like, my body feels all kinds of… different. How can you stand this place, Rares?”
Sydreol ignored her griping. “Two minutes? That’s not possible!”
“I can break the sound barrier dude, it’s not that hard to get here that fast.”
“We’re not sitting here debating the logistics!” Rarity interrupted. “Rainbow, you guys have a teostra in Equestria?”
“I guess so, if that’s what it’s called. It’s huge, it’s vicious, and it’s probably going to kill us all if you don’t come.” Rainbow looked about as panicked and frightened as Rarity had ever seen her. She turned to Sydreol with a heartbroken expression. He simply looked back at her as though there was nothing to even say.
“Go.”
“Are you sure? The ibushi…”
“We can hold it back, we have experienced hunters, they have none. If the best your sun princess can do is flashy half-lightning then they don’t stand a chance against an elder dragon. Just come back to help once you kill it, I’m sure we’ll still need your help.”
“If Rowrity’s going, so am I!” Cinnamon yelled, running over from her closeby attacking spot.
“Go on, furball,” Sydreol assented. “Assuming wings here can carry you both.”
“I carried four ponies at once at the best young fliers competition years ago, I think I can handle these two,” Rainbow bragged.
“If you can, though, get your buddy here to bring you home to swap your weapon out; bowguns don’t work so great on teostras, bladed stuff is better.” Sydreol recommended. “Just be sure to swap back before you rejoin us.”
“Dammit, I wish I could just shove all my weapons in my bag, too!” Rarity complained angrily.
“Why don’t you, then? I thought that thing was supposed to be bottomless?” he jeered.
“That doesn’t mean the opening is wide enough to fit everything, you twit,” she spat.
“Oi, what the hell?” Lycadran yelled from the head of the ibushi. “Stop standing around talking and fucking help, you shitheads! I’m about to die, here!”
Sydreol grabbed his bowgun and ran off, firing a round and yelling over his shoulder. “Go! Make it dead, then get your ass back here!”
Rainbow looked at Rarity and Cinnamon. “Ok, this is definitely going to be an awkward flight, but we’ll make do. Cinnamon, climb on. Rarity… well, grab my hooves and just… whatever else you can, and hang on for dear life.”
**********
“I don’t understand!” Twilight yelled over the roaring of the teostra. “I used the staff on it, it obviously drained Equestrian magic out of it! How is it still this strong?” She dodged a blast of fire aimed her way, feeling the heat singeing a few of her feathers as it passed.
“Ah… uhnf… dunno!” grunted Applejack, who gave the monster a strong kick to the leg before running away as it swiped back at her, seemingly unhurt. “Last time we fought one of these things, it seemed to get much weaker once ya drained it, but this thing… uhnf…” she ran in and kicked again, then ran back out, “didn’t seem to care one bit!”
An explosion hit the side of the teostra, knocking it off balance slightly, but leaving it unfazed. “Oh come on!” Pinkie yelled. “I had actual explosives made for my cannon just for this, and they still do diddly squat!” She sat down next to the cannon with her hooves folded and her lips pouting, looking like a toddler in the midst of a tantrum. “It just isn’t fair!”
“Pinkie, get off your flank before this thing fries you alive!” Twilight yelled. She fired a bolt of magic, leaving a scorch mark on the beast’s hide but not much else.
“Argh! Nothing is working!”
“Well keep trying!” Applejack ran in fast, leaping toward the side of the teostra’s head while its attention was elsewhere. Her legs were primed for a buck but the teostra turned, ready with fire in its throat. A blast of flame emanated from its mouth, enveloping Applejack midair.
“Applejack!” Twilight screamed.
A yellow orb dropped to the ground where Applejack had been, dissipating and leaving her bewildered on the ground but unharmed.
“Get out of there, already!” yelled Celestia. “I can only shield you from so much, you know!”
Recognition dawned on Applejack’s face and she scrambled from beneath the teostra just before its claws came crashing down behind her.
“Thank ya kindly, Princess!” Applejack hollered.
“Just don’t pull stunts like that too often, we don’t have Rarity’s healing potions!”
“Um, actually, we do…” Fluttershy yelled, or at least tried to. “She left me all that she had before they went home, just in case.”
“FLUTTERSHY SAYS WE DO HAVE THE HEALING CONCOCTIONS!” Luna boomed from above the pegasus, causing her to cower and cover her ears with her hooves.
“Princess Luna, please, not so loud…” she pleaded.
“I apologize, my friend, I just wanted to make sure everypony heard the news,” Luna assured her. “Now, I must be off! This ruffian will not wait for us while we dawdle here!” Luna took flight, firing magical blasts of her own to add to the chaotic fray.
The teostra was currently breathing a large swath of flame at Pinkie, who was running frantically away from the roiling column of fire, and Luna flew high above its head.
“Sister!” She called out. “Might we try a little cooperation for once?”
Celestia swooped over with a knowing glance. “Of course!”
The two bowed their heads together, channeling magic between them. An arcane circle appeared, revolving around their horns, symbols phasing in and out of sight; beams erupted from multiple points of the ring, converging in front of them, and shot out as a singular concentrated pulsing ray, striking the teostra in the head and expanding as it pressed the monster to the ground.
With a flash, the beam faded, and the sisters broke apart from each other, panting and exhausted, each gliding away toward the ground while keeping an eye on the monster.
“Sweet mother of… when did you two learn to do that?” Twilight yelled. “I’ve never heard of any spell like that!”
“That’s because it’s forbidden.” Luna said. “It’s too powerful for anypony but us to have.”
“Oh.” Twilight looked disappointed.
They turned their attention to the teostra, which was laying on the ground, blood dripping from its mouth.
“Didja kill it?” Applejack asked. “Maybe we didn’t need to send Rainbow for Rares after all.”
“I don’t know, it sure looks dead,” Pinkie observed.
A noise caused them to look around; Rainbow, Rarity, and Cinnamon were emerging from the rift, ready for battle, though at the sight they dropped their stance and walked over.
“Whoa, you guys killed it?” Rainbow stared slack jawed, then started high-hoofing everypony within range. “You guys are totally awesome! Dang, I wish I hadn’t missed all the action!”
Rarity, however, walked over to the teostra cautiously, inspecting it for damage, or as she found, lack thereof. She moved closer to its head, noting the blood dripping from its mouth, but that was not what she was the most focused on. She backed up quickly, nearly stumbling over her own hooves in an effort to get away.
“You guys,” she gasped, “it’s still breathing! It’s not dead, you just knocked it out! It could be waking up any second!”
As if on cue, a guttural snort came from the large body next to them, and the teostra hauled itself up with a monstrous roar, its eyes blazing with furious hatred.
“You can’t be serious!” Celestia yelled. “We just blasted it in the head with a Celestia fucking doomsday spell and it just knocked it out for two minutes?”
“She’s really gotten into swearing with her own name, hasn’t she?” Rarity whispered to Rainbow.
“You have no idea, Rares. No. Idea. Also, seriously? We missed seeing a doomsday spell? What the hay?”
“It was awesome, too, sugarcube,” Applejack taunted. “Now come on, we can’t just let this thing go.”
“Alright, Cinnamon, do we have any bombs left?” Rarity asked.
“Not many, we used most of them on the ibushi.”
“Wait! Hold on!” Rarity rummaged around in her bag. “Muahaha!” She laughed evilly. “I’ve got fire herbs! I can use those to make more bombs!” Her eyes passed over something else as she perused her materials. “Oh my. This could be very useful indeed, especially with Pinkie’s cannon…”
With great care, she pulled out a container filled to the brim with purple berries.
Cinnamon’s lips curled into a sinister smile. “You get the acid bombs ready, I’ll go get Pinkie.”
Working quickly, Rarity wrapped large bunches of berries in a very strong but porous fabric, making a small arsenal of bombs in a very short period of time. By the time that Cinnamon returned with Pinkie, Rarity had six acid bombs made, each carrying enough berries to do major damage to a regular monster. She hoped it was enough to do damage to an elder dragon.
“Pinkie, I’m going to load your cannon for you, don’t touch these,” Rarity instructed. “Aim for its face if you can, or anything that looks sensitive.”
Pinkie saluted Rarity, then got behind her cannon.
“Everypony!” Rarity yelled. “Get away from the teostra, and stay far away from it! Do not get in the line of fire of Pinkie’s cannon!”
Ponies dove for cover everywhere, and within moments a bomb had been loaded and fired. Pinkie’s aim was perfect, hitting the teostra directly on the forehead. The bomb splattered violently with the force of the shot, spraying caustic liquid everywhere. The bomb itself stuck to the teostra’s face as the liquid burned away flesh around the mesh of the bag, resulting in a grim fusion of fabric and skin while more of the liquid continued to seep down the monster’s face into its eye.
Rarity loaded another bomb, and Pinkie once again hit the teostra in the face, marring it by its other eye; the creature howled in pain, flailing blindly and spitting fire at enemies it could not see.
Another bomb hit the teostra’s wing, burning holes in the membranes; another two made their ways to its each of its front legs, crippling it from holding itself upright.
“Pinkamena Diane Pie!” Rarity scolded. “I told you to hit it in sensitive spots, but I can see what you’re planning, making it lean forward like that!”
“I’m just going to shoot its tail, Rarity, sheesh!” Pinkie waved her off. “Talk about overreacting!”
Rarity looked at her suspiciously. “Fine.”
Pinkie aimed and shot. The teostra bellowed across the night sky.
“THAT WAS NOT ITS TAIL!” Rarity yelled.
“Oopsie!” Pinkie smiled. “Guess I aimed too low. Oh well! Better luck next time!”
“Ugh, you’re incorrigible, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity shook her head, then raised her bowgun. “Well, we’re going to be putting it out of its misery now, anyway. It should be a lot easier now that it pretty much can’t see or move, but that doesn’t mean it’s harmless, so don’t let down your guard.”
“Don’t worry, we got this!” Rainbow boasted. “Twi drained it, the Princesses blasted it, you hit it with acid stuff, it’s practically done for!” She sped forward, snatching one of the soldier’s dropped spears from the ground and turning toward the teostra. She leveled the weapon at the creature and let out a whoop of exhilaration, the wind whipping her mane back as she dove at her target.
The teostra’s ear flicked, and it let out a low growl. Turning toward Rainbow, it breathed a fine mist that spread out, creating a wide ring around its body.
Cinnamon watched in dawning horror.
“Rainbow, stop!” she screamed, “it’s going to supernova!”
However, before Rainbow had a chance to react, the teostra breathed a spark of flame, igniting the mist in a roaring eruption of searing fire. Vicious blasts interspersed with flares of energy, blazing whorls and burning rings and exuded intense heat as they pushed outward.
Though she was well outside the flames when it exploded, the blast threw Rainbow Dash backward, her body limply striking the ground and rolling haphazardly. Her front limbs were smoldering, her face blistered and burned, and her feathers were charred.
“RAINBOW!” her friends shrieked, racing to her side.
Rarity immediately dropped to the ground next to her, retrieving an ancient potion from a pouch in her armor.
“She’s still breathing!” she announced, pressing the potion into Rainbow’s mouth. The potency of the item went to work, beginning to heal Rainbow’s wounds, but at an alarmingly slow rate, and the teostra was advancing toward their position.
Twilight watched the slow progression of the healing. “She’s going to die before it does enough!” she panicked.
“And the teostra’s going to kill the rest of us if we all keep sitting here!” Cinnamon added.
Rarity’s mind raced.
“I’m taking her through the rift,” she said finally.
“What?” Twilight gasped. “You can’t take her through the rift like this! She wouldn’t survive the trip!”
“You don’t know that!” Rarity snapped. “And it’s our only chance of saving her! This medicine works like shit here, and it can literally save her life instantly over there! We have no choice, and the longer we wait, the worse her chances are! So I’m taking her, you keep the teostra busy until we get back, then I’m tearing it a new asshole.”
Twilight bit her lip, looked at Rainbow one last time, and gave Rarity a pleading expression. “Bring her back safe, ok?”
Rarity nodded wordlessly, then lifted Rainbow carefully with her magic, making sure not to move her limbs and joints overly much, and brought her into the rift.
**********
Rarity arrived on the other side of the rift to find Rainbow Dash in a heap on the floor of the cave, still gravely injured but still breathing.
“Thank Celestia, you’re still alive,” she whispered.
She pulled her bag out, digging deep inside. “I think I have another ancient potion in here somewhere… Lycadran wasn’t kidding about those things being damned rare, but if something can save you from the brink of death, you don’t pass up on buying it when you see it.”
Her fingers brushed against the textured bottle and she clutched at it frantically, knocking it away in her haste. “You stupid damned bottle!” she hissed. She rummaged faster. “I don’t have time for this, one of my best friends is dying right next to me, get over here, you stupid blasted potion!” A fingertip touched the bottle’s neck, and she clasped it immediately. “Thank Celestia, and Luna and Twilight too, while I’m at it!” she breathed in relief.
She looked down at Rainbow and her relief faded; Rainbow’s breathing was shallow, and her face had adopted an ashen pallor. With lightning speed, Rarity opened the vial and forced its contents into Rainbow’s mouth with tears streaming down her face. “You will live, do you hear me? You need to live so I can tell you off, you damned show off!”
As soon as the bottle had been drained, she collapsed to the floor sobbing, holding her hand carefully over Rainbow’s burned hoof. After an agonizingly long minute, a movement under her hand caused her to raise her head.
Rainbow Dash was slowly sitting up slowly; her color had returned to her face and it was no longer blistered and burned. Her wounds were fading, and her feathers were being restored in a wave before Rarity’s eyes. Her front hooves were the last to fully heal, and as Rarity pulled her hand away Rainbow winced, then lifted her hoof to see the last of the burns vanish without a trace.
“Uh, hey Rares,” she said hesitantly, with a very small and penitent smile. “What’s up?”
“You owe me a ton of zenny for making me use two ancient potions on your stupid reckless ass, that’s what’s up,” Rarity said hotly in a cracked voice, before tackling Rainbow in a tearful, crushing hug.
“I thought you were the generous one?” Rainbow choked out.
“I’m trying to make you feel remorseful, idiot,” Rarity bonked her on the head. “But you can at least buy me dinner or something.”
“Oh, yeah, I can do that,” Rainbow admitted.
“Now come on, we have to go show everypony that you’re not charcoal, and I have a monster to demolish.”
**********
They stepped through the portal to see Cinnamon, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie waiting anxiously for their return while Twilight, Celestia, and Luna flew circles around the teostra and blasted it with magic.
“RAINBOW!” they shouted in unison.
“THEY’RE BACK, GUYS!” Pinkie screamed to the alicorns, “AND RAINBOW’S NOT DEAD!”
Rainbow’s ears folded back in shame and she looked down at the ground.
“Dagnabbit, Pinkie, at least be a little less callous about it,” Applejack chided, “she’s already been through Tartarus.”
“Oops! Sorry! My bad, Rainbow.”
“…’sok, Pinkie…” Rainbow mumbled. “I was pretty stupid and got myself almost blown up, so I kinda deserve it.”
Twilight, Celestia and Luna landed nearby, having broken away from the teostra.
“We’re so glad you’re safe, Rainbow,” Twilight said tearfully, giving her a hug.
“Not to cut the reunion short,” Rarity interrupted, “but how has the fight been? I noticed only three of you were needed to keep it busy.”
“Correct,” Luna answered. “With its loss of vision, it is highly impaired. It still can react quite well, as its other senses are quite sharp, but it hasn’t done that massive blast again, so we’ve kept it at bay by simply confusing it, attacking quickly at different places before it can react.”
“It can’t supernova again for a while,” Cinnamon said. “It takes them quite some time to store up that powder.”
“You know, I’ve seen an explosion like that before,” Twilight said thoughtfully.
“How on earth could you have seen it before?” Cinnamon questioned. “It’s the most powerful explosion we know of!”
“Because it wasn’t on earth…” Celestia said, comprehension dawning. “The solar flare… that was what caused the solar flare! That thing set off an explosion across a dimension strong enough to screw with my sun! Oo, if I didn’t hate it before, which I do for almost killing Rainbow,” she added quickly, “then I do now.”
“Well then, I suppose it’s time to take it down for good, then,” Rarity said. “If you guys could keep confusing it, I’m going to just do what I do best, I guess.”
“I don’t think making dresses will help,” Pinkie joked.
“Thank you for reminding me that I still have other talents, Pinkie,” Rarity smiled genuinely.
“Anytime!” Pinkie replied in a singsong voice.
Rarity faced the monster, taking a deep breath and drawing out a pair of deadly looking dual blades.
“Ya didn’t bring the axe sword thingy?” Applejack asked in surprise.
“No,” Rarity replied hesitantly. “I was going to, but with how I had to hold onto Rainbow Dash, it made things kind of… awkward.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow piped up in annoyance. “I’d prefer to not get poked underneath the tail with an axe while I fly, thank you very much.”
“I apologized, Rainbow!” Rarity said hastily. “Now be quiet, I need to concentrate before this thing figures out exactly where we are! It’s already picking up on us now that the Princesses aren’t shooting at it!”
“Ah crap, I guess that’s our cue,” Twilight sighed.
“Huzzah!” Luna cheered. “More shooting monsters! I could get used to this sort of action!”
“I will agree this is more exciting than sitting on a throne all day,” Celestia nodded, taking wing. “But I’m not about to wish this sort of calamity on our world, thank you.”
Rarity watched them fly off, then turned back to the teostra, watching as the alicorns resumed their distractions. She tensed her body and focused on the monster, blocking out all other sights and sounds. Her mind began focusing on anger toward the creature, building up inside and channeling through her, seeping out as pure energy and collecting around her body to provide pure strength.
She found her mind racing, accessing recent memories at lightning speed. The pukei-pukei, breaking my ribs. The diablos, almost killing me with a wave of sand. The barioth, almost killing Syd with ice and wind. The odogaron, bleeding me out. The tobi kadachi, trying to hit us with lightning. The astalos, invading Equestria and almost killing Applejack. The ibushi, breaking Syd’s arms and who knows how they’re doing now. And this fucker. Rainbow… charcoal…
“Uh, are her eyes supposed to turn completely black?” Rainbow asked Cinnamon, edging away from Rarity as she exuded a strong, seething red aura.
“I, um, never saw anyone have that, no,” Cinnamon admitted.
Suddenly, with a growl, Rarity shot ahead with inhuman speed, her blades trailing blood-red energy from their tips as she moved. Within moments she reached the teostra in a flurry of slashes, darting back and forth at its front legs to finish what Pinkie had started with the acid bombs. Her swords cut deeply, severing muscles, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, even hacking into bone as she kept moving, never staying in one place for more than a second.
The teostra roared furiously, but with Rarity’s speed underneath it, its blindness, and its crippled legs, it had no way to fight back. It attempted to bite at her, but the instant its head approached she dashed to the side and stabbed it mercilessly, causing it to whip its head back in pain.
Rarity moved once again, having demolished its legs, and dashed directly in front of the teostra; her aura intensified, and her blackened eyes narrowed at it.
“I think you’ve been here long enough,” she spat.
The teostra’s ears flicked, moving toward the sound of her voice. It lowered its head, preparing to breath fire in her direction, but before it could, Rarity sped forward, her hooves carrying her at speeds that could almost have rivaled Rainbow. She plunged her blades into the teostra’s open maw, piercing its throat; she then pushed off the ground, dragging her blades with her as she vaulted upward, slicing deeply through the monster. She reached the top of its head, and she retracted her blades from its flesh, only to plunge them in repeatedly once again. She moved from its neck down its back in a straight line, dragging her blades down its back on each side of its spine, causing the monster to slump under her as she severed nerves as she went. When she reached its tail she turned and headed back up toward its head in a frenzy, zigzagging left to right, stabbing and slashing in a whirlwind of steel.
Once she reached the monster’s shoulder blades, she leapt high up in the air, and with blades brandished dove down at its neck, stabbing deeply as she landed, burying her swords up to the hilts in the teostra’s flesh.
The beast’s body ceased all movement underneath her, and as the blood oozed out around her hands, she could feel the loss of pressure as the monster’s heart ceased its pumping.
She withdrew her blades, and the aura of fury began to dissipate. Her eyes flickered; she blinked repeatedly, and then the world appeared normal again, except everyone was silently staring at her.
“Um, is everything alright?” she asked nervously.
“Girl, you are scary when you are angry,” Applejack offered.
“Oh, is that all?” Rarity hopped off the teostra. “I guess just don’t make me mad, then.” She smiled sweetly and winked.
“We already agreed never to do that.”
“Seriously, Applejack, as if I’d ever hurt you guys.”
“Just sayin’, sugarcube. Just sayin’.”
Rarity sighed, then bit her lip. “I really wish I could stay, but I have to go again. We’re in the middle of fighting our own monster back home, and I’m needed right now. I just hope they’re still ok. You ready to bring us back, Rainbow?”
“Yep, all aboard the Rainbow Express,” Rainbow said with a hint of sarcasm.
“Hey, you brought us out here, you get to bring us back. Just remember I need to get my bowgun first.”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Rainbow rolled her eyes, then trotted through the portal.