"And then kill Terra," Roarke suddenly added.
Terra's smile left.
"Hckkkt?" Pestiferous' mucuousy eyes blinked.
Roarke's lenses pistoned out as she craned her head back to glare at the Top Spear. "You heard me. Plug a hole in their heads, then three in Terra's." She gestured. "She's a big mare. It'll take several mana blasts to take her down."
"Terra is a mosssssht valued high blade..."
"She's also my friend." Roarke turned towards Terra, and her lips were slightly curved. "A loyal, truly-devoted, honorable friend. I've known her longer than these two weak mares combined." She pivoted once more towards Pestiferous. "What greater sacrifice do I have to offer, as a Top Spear in training, than the one warrior I have grown to love and admire after all these years."
Pestiferous wheezed, studying Roarke intently. Eventually, she muttered, "A mosssssht reasonable assssshessment." She nodded. "So be it." She twirled the manarifle and aimed at Terra—
"Now wait just one second!" Terra boomed. She turned and frowned at Roarke. "What do you think you're doing?"
"You question me?!" Roarke frowned. "The audacity!" She jabbed her metal-laced hoof into Terra's massive chest. "To think that you would challenge my rite of passage! Just what qualities do you have that would make you Top Spear?!"
"What...?!"
"I mean, that really is what this is all about, isn't it?!" Roarke shrugged. She tossed her words at Pestiferous as much as she did at Terra. "You couldn't possibly want me to ascend to the throne above you! This is not just my test! This is a test for all who qualify for the bloodiest spear!" Roarke paced calmly around the two mares kneeling at riflepoint on the ground. "And you want what's best for Searo's daughters, don't you, Terra?"
"Uhhh... of c-course I do! But—"
"Then we must weed out the weak!" Roarke shouted so that the mares in the audience above could hear. "And somepony—anypony—do tell me!" She pivoted about and smirked at Terra. "What is weaker than a mare who thinks she can get her way through intrigue... through politics..." Her lenses pistoned in and out as she hissed, "Through trying to catch her longtime sister-in-arms off-guard with the most ridiculous of conspiratorial gambles...?"
Terra grinded her hooves against the ground as she growled, "Are you actually insinuating that I would stoop so low as to—"
"Not now, you wouldn't. But when I'm on the throne?" Roarke paced back towards the huge mare. "Oh, yes, that would be the time. When Pestiferous is dead and devoured by ravens like a true warrior, and I—Roarke the most Rare—a controversial choice at best, sits in charge as Top Spear, with only a fraction of the daughters of Searo willing to support her..." She stood before Terra and hissed up at her. "That would be the best time to strike the mare who's in power... to slip the dagger in..." She spat venomously. "Like a coward."
Terra was seething. One could almost see the sparks dancing between her teeth.
"So..." Roarke pivoted about and smiled at Pestiferous. "I ask that we eliminate the weak, starting with the frailest pony of all." She pointed. "Lady Pestiferous, most bloody spear, I would be honored if you would put a hole in this bitch's head."
The mares above muttered in mixed feelings. Several shocked faces reflected each other in their wide eyes. Even the guards standing around the scene were fidgeting nervously.
Pestiferous scratched her balding scalp with a metal hoof. "Hmmmm-Hckkkktt..." She wheezed, wheezed, and said, "A most curioussssssssh situation. Thessssshe two sisters shhhhtand before me, and one mussssssht be determined assssssh the weaker..."
"And a true Top Spear knows what to do with this kind of a dilemma," Roarke said, bowing.
"Wait!" Terra shouted. She waved two metal forelimbs like a frightened filly. "Stop this craziness!"
"Shhhhhilence, Terra," Pestiferous grunted. "Roarke hassssssh shown her true colorsssh, and I rather like them." She glared at Terra. "Not a ssssssshade of yellow to be seen, unlike yoursssssh..."
"Oh come on!" Terra barked. "This was not part of the deal!"
"Deal?" Roarke raised an eyebrow. "So there's a 'deal' now..." she uttered in a sing-songy tone. "Now I'm really interested..."
"Hckkkkt! I had to know, Roarke," Pestiferous slurred. "My daysssssh are numbered, and I had to know who would carry on Sssssshearo's legacy."
"Well, now that you do, it's your challenge to decide what to do with that knowledge." Roarke stood between Rainbow Dash and Imre. "That's something I've been practicing for years in the Ledomaritan countryside, hunting to find bounties, as well as to find myself. Surely you've been there once yourself, Top Spear. My question to you, is do you still have the guts to make true with that power? Or do you trust a moronic meatbag like Terra to steer you in that direction, all for a measly show of might?"
Pestiferous' slimey eyes narrowed. She froze in thought; even her wheezing breaths had quieted.
Terra was actually sweating. She glanced nervously between Pestiferous and Roarke.
Rainbow Dash breathed heavily, her panic muted by her utter confusion. Just then, a beacon of light pulsed from the shoulderpiece of her armor. She did a double-take at it, then glanced awkwardly at Imre.
"Hey," Rainbow whispered. "What the heck does that mean?"
"That..." Imre glanced up as identical beacons flickered on the armor of every mare in attendance, from the guards to Terra and Roarke to Pestiferous herself. "That is both the absolute best and absolute worst thing that could happen right now..."
Rainbow Dash's face scrunched up. "The heck do you mean—"
The arena filled with a blaring siren as lights along the ceiling pulsed at the same frequency as the beacons in every mare's armor.
Terra jolted, bringing a hoof to her flickering shoulderpiece. "Oh, for the love of Searo..."
The air filled with metallic ringing sounds as every warrior in attendance pulled out an abundance of blades and spears.
The guards above Imre and Rainbow Dash relinquished their pressure on the mares and unsheathed swords, axes, and maces. Even Pestiferous holstered the manarifle in favor of producing an elongated blade from her metal reinforced forelimb. In fact, the only mare who didn't immediately move was Roarke.
"What in Luna's name is going on?!" Rainbow grunted, covering her aching ears. "And why's it gotta be so dang loud?!"
"I've never heard it in all the years I've been here!" Imre shouted back, likewise wincing. "An alarm like this can only mean one thing!"
"Yeah? Like what?"
Imre shivered. "Something or someone is attacking Searo's Hold!"