Rarity and Spike vs Fantasy RPG Tropes: The Sabre of Omens

by SS Nomad

Chapter 6: First Encounter

Rarity stepped from her carriage, the mountain wind blowing back her mane, and stared up at the tall stairs before her, winding and switching their way up the cliffs. She readjusted the light coat she had picked up in the last town, finding herself rather disappointed at how the wind cut through it, but such was the cost of having chosen something so fashionable, and that cost was well worth while. She turned back to look at the coaches who had brought her this far.

“So the sages’ temple is just up this way?” she asked with a smile.

The one nodded back at her, “Yeah, not too many ponies go up these steps, but that’s where you’ll find the place.”

Brushing her mane back into place, Rarity nodded and turned back to the path, “Well… we shouldn’t be up there too long. I’ll see if we can find a way to send word down of our plans.”

Spike, shuffling his bookbag onto his back and taking the sabre in his claw, stepped out of the cart as well, whispering, “I mean, they’re hirelings, they’ll stay.”

Despite forcing herself to pout at him, Rarity knew he was right. Leaving would ruin their reputation as coaches, after all. She simply nodded to the two ponies and turned back to face the path upwards.

“You think half way or nearly all the way up before the encounter?” Spike asked quietly.

Rarity slowly turned to him, “...encounter?”

Spike nodded, “Yeah, I’m honestly surprised we’ve been this long on the adventure with no proper encounter. Then again, we haven’t really left civilization yet. I suspect we’re bound to get one on the hike up.”

Rarity shook her head in confusion, “Spike, what ever do you mean?”

“Well… encounters can be pretty varied in their nature,” Spike explained, “but the general formula is you stumble across a source of conflict you hadn’t been expecting, and everything from lead up to end results is self contained. Only like half of them are plot important, most of them are just there for experience and character building.”

Rarity sighed, rather disappointed with herself for being able to follow what Spike was saying, “So you think there will be some conflict on the way up the mountain, then? Any guesses as to what?”

“Depends on if it’s plot important or not,” Spike pondered, “I’d say either we run into whoever was in the carriage or we figure out what that skittering sound earlier was.”

Nodding along absently, Rarity took the sabre from Spike, “Well… the stairs won’t climb themselves, as much as I wish they would. Come along.”

Spike hiked his bookbag and followed.

---

The trail up the mountain was a mix of steps carved into the raw stone and irregular surface pathways across ridges and flatter portions. The whole way, the wind swirled its way up the cliffsides, chilling Rarity despite the time of year. Ignoring the weather, the trek had proven quite scenic. The air carried a pleasant scent, as the mountainside flowers were in bloom, adding speckles of color to the otherwise barren mount.

Stopping for a moment to sit on a portion of exposed stone that seemed cleaner than the rest, Rarity took a deep breath. Maybe the altitude was getting to her, but she had a lingering feeling of unease as they’d been walking up the path. She took the moment to relax, settle down, and look out over the vast expanse visible from this high up. Down below, she could see the river winding away from the mountains, obvious even from this far that it was swollen and wrong. The expanse of hills and flats went on for what felt like forever. All at once she felt isolated. Alone.

“You alright?” Spike worriedly asked, resting his claw on her shoulder.

Rarity snapped back to reality to see the one she had apparently taken for granted, smiling softly to him, “Yeah, I was just… wondering how we got here.”

Spike perked up and looked around, “Well… Yeah, I kinda get what you mean. Like I said before, travel time all kinda blurs together. Only the stuff that seems important to the narrative ever really comes up.”

Rarity chuckled, shaking her head, “No, not like that. I mean… I’m a designer, I belong in high society, why am I…” She gestured around the mountainside she had assumed was empty, finding herself pointing at what looked to be a large building carved into the stone.

Spike blinked in surprise, looking up at the structure, “Woah.”

Rarity nodded in agreement, “That must be the temple, no? I… hadn’t realized we’d gotten so close.”

Spike turned back to her with a smirk, “Well hey, I guess you answered your own question, right? That’s why you’re here. To find this place.”

Rarity adjusted her sabre at her side, “I suppose. Let’s just get up there, figure out what’s going on, and see what we can do to fix it, yes?”

Spike was halfway through nodding in reply when he ducked down abruptly, trying to keep a low profile, “It’s back. I can hear it again.”

Eyes blown wide, Rarity ducked down as well, her mind racing for a moment before hitting on the subject, “The sk- the skittering sound?”

Spike just nodded, peering around for a moment before ushering Rarity behind a slight outcropping in the path. The moment lingered, the two of them hiding there awkwardly, and slowly Rarity started to be able to hear something as well. Not a skittering, per say, but a rustle. Something was moving towards them. Rarity took a deep breath and clutched the sabre to her side. She caught herself contemplating drawing the blade, her instincts screaming to have it out to defend herself with. She took a deep breath. Surely it was just her nerves. She’d been feeling nervous. She started to peek around the corner, sure she’d just see another passing travele-

Not fifteen feet away, a centipede the size of a pony scuttled forward, antennae to the ground along the path, tracking. Before she had even fully registered the sharp sheen of its mandibles, she’d drawn her sword, the metal shuffling against the wood of its sheath.

Spike looked up at her in shock, clearly not having expected such an act, and slowly leaned around her to see what had caused it. As his eyes locked on the insect, he ducked back behind the rocks, his voice a hush, “Not exactly durable or strong, but venomous. It’s probably tracking our scent. I’d… assume it’s hun- it’s hostile.”

“Think we could make a break for it?” Rarity whispered back.

“Doubt it,” Spike rejected, “It’s got us beat over uneven terrain with all those legs.”

Rarity sighed slowly, trying to exhale her panic. It wasn’t working. There was a legitimate monster barely a few body lengths away and it was hunting her. She had every right to be panicked right now. She looked back to Spike, seeing the fear in his eyes as well, but also an odd excitement. She couldn’t help but be slightly amused with his childishness. Still…

“I promised Twilight I’d take care of you,” Rarity announced, “Get to the temple, get their help, I’ll try to hold it off and catch up.”

Spike’s mouth was agape, “What do yo- Rarity, you have no idea how to fight things like this! You’ll get- you’ll…”

Rarity shook her head comfortingly, “I’ll be fine. I can just… keep it away from me, right? It can’t bite me if it can’t reach me.”

Spike looked at her nervously before turning to look at the structure on the mountainside, “A fight like this… will be over by the time I get back with help. Look… Rarity…”

A gentle kiss to the forehead was enough to shut Spike up. Rarity just stared at him intensely, the fear obvious in her eyes, but a layer of determination there was well. Spike bit down on his claw nervously for a moment before nodding in agreement.

With one last, deep breath, Rarity stepped out of cover, finding the insect had barely moved since it got there. A chill went through her as it turned to stare at her, glassy eyes betraying no emotion or thought. Not knowing exactly what she was doing, she raised the blade, doing her best to imitate a fencer. Spike hesitated just a moment before bolting off down the path behind her, his bag abandoned in the rocks.

Seeing Spike rush off, the beast barely took a moment to register him as prey, its body lowering as it moved with unnerving speed and ease toward them. Rarity clumsily slashed the air in front of it, leaving it to double backwards and turn again to face her, its serpentine form moving with an unfamiliar grace.

“You won’t have him,” Rarity proclaimed, mostly for herself, and took a few steps backwards, holding the sabre a good few body lengths away from her in her magical grasp.

It just stood there, sizing her up, a large portion of its attention locked on her blade. A part of Rarity understood. Magic, to a random monster, must seem impossible. She smirked, hoping that would be enough to be her edge.

Almost too fast for her to respond, the centipede rushed forward, this time aiming not to get past her, but directly for her. Another clumsy slash forced it to dodge, but failed to force it back, the creature just scuttling up the rocky walls of the path effortlessly, aiming to drop on her from above.

Pulling her blade closer to herself, she took another swipe at it, this time more directly aiming for the legs it was supporting its weight with. Sure enough, its attempt to avoid injury caused it to lose its balance and come tumbling down to the path again, writhing as it attempted to regain its footing. Rarity stepped backwards in a panic, trying to recover her distance.

It managed to squirm back upright and stared at her, empty and calculating. It doubled back on itself again, forming a bit of an s-curve, and waited. Rarity hesitated, heart pounding in her chest, not entirely sure what it was up to. Perhaps the fall had been enough to shake its will to attack? She stood there with it, staring it down, the blade heavy in her magical grasp. Maintaining a spell that far from her body was tiring, but… well she had to do it.

A short time passed, Rarity growing progressively more drained. Her blade started to sway and droop. This all felt… too purposeful. This beast wasn’t behaving like a large insect. There was some level of… agency to it.

Seizing on her moment of distraction, the centipede lunged forward, the bent back coil of body snapping straight in an instant and diving under her blade, half the distance between her and it evaporated in a single flash. Screaming, Rarity stumbled back, trying to pull her sword back into position. The creature lunged blindly, confident its strike would land and the fight would be over. Its face smashed into the flat of the sabre, pulled in the way without a second to spare. Still, the force of the impact hit Rarity hard, nearly knocking the sword from her grasp. She staggered again, giving the creature more than enough time to line up another strike.

Thinking quickly, Rarity moved the blade into the way again, parrying the strike. This time, the insect must have seen it coming, as it tried to bat the sabre clean of her grasp with a swipe of its head. It succeeded, the strength of the blow winding Rarity, her magic not nearly exercised enough for this.

There was a resounding boing.

Rarity looked up at the centipede through exhausted eyes. The Sabre was simply hovering in midair, and the creature was staggering with a huge dent in its carapace. It only took Rarity a moment to understand. She smirked and grabbed the blade out of the air, holding it up once more. She didn’t have the strength to block one of those blows again, but… she wasn’t going to need it.

Staggering backwards in confusion, the monster looked at her again, trying to judge the situation. The longer she fought it, the surer she was that it was intelligent somehow. Still, it was clearly attacking her. Perhaps, just perhaps…

“What do you want?” Rarity called out, just in case.

It pulled back in clear surprise, which could have been from recognizing the words or from simple reaction to loud noises. Still, it returned to sizing Rarity up and lining up its next strike.

Rarity was more than ready for it this time, having grown used to its attacks. She let go of the blade as it was about to strike it, and the sabre held position in space without effort, easily deflecting the strike. Her reach advantage was more than paying off, but still she knew her body could only take so much more of this. She’d have to… do… something.

The blade caught the sunlight, edge glimmering. If this thing wasn’t going to back off… what? She didn’t really have options. All she had was a sword. She… couldn’t, though. It was… it was clearly intelligent. The thought shook her.

That momentary lapse of guard was enough. It drove forward again, around her guard, using the cliffside once more to brace against and lunge at her. Rarity jumped backwards as fast as she could, but a sudden burning overtook her foreleg. She tumbled back, instincts kicking in, and pulled the blade to her side again. Her back hoof scraped off the edge of the cliff, causing her to stumble forward away from the edge.

In the time it took her to properly recover, it was upon her. The sword wouldn’t reach in time. She did the only thing that made any sense to her. Her hoof flew forward, smashing it in the injured portion of its head, the dent loudly snapping to become a proper break. The creature shrieked, the sound coming as if from its entire body, and swung around wildly, catching Rarity again with its mandibles, this time a shallower slash across her chest. Ignoring the pain, Rarity pressed the flat of her blade against its mouth and twisted, catching the mandibles and twisting the head aside.

“It’s you or me, love,” Rarity justified.

She torqued harder, flipping its upper body sideways and off the edge of the mountain, the remainder of its body rolling instinctively to follow the front’s motions, the whole mass tumbling down the short cliff face to the rocks below. Rarity stared down at it with the same curiosity that causes ponies to watch train crashes.

As it writhed on the rocks below, she felt ill. It… she’d just kil- She shook her head, stepping away from the cliff, trying to deny her thoughts. It was the only choice. It had… She touched a hoof to her injuries, a deep gash in her foreleg and a shallower one across her chest. Those looked… bad. She’d have to…

She felt woozy. The shock of it all? Possibly. She’d run much of her magic dry and needed to recover also, so perhaps it was that? But what was it that Spike had said?

She looked down at her wounds and remembered, “Venomous.”

Rarity stumbled, staggered, and swayed. Why was the path getting closer to her face? She felt a painful thump on her muzzle and went black.

Comments

[TitaniumTao]

Got watch those DOTs. Well Rarity win her fortitude save? Or will the story end here.