Thrill of the Hunt
Rarity's face wrinkled into a disgusted frown as she stepped out of the portal and into a thick jungle. "Ugh...seriously? Is this Discord's idea of how to treat a lady?" Hearing a squelch, she stared down in chagrin as she pulled her hoof out of a pile of...well, for the sake of her sanity, she would call it 'fauna recycled dirt'. She immediately began trying to shake her hoof clean, while looking around for a clean spot to wipe off. Despite her best efforts, she found only mud, wet leaves, and the point of a bow and arrow aimed at her. As her mind registered that last bit, she brightened up. "Locals? Umm...do be a dear and point the business end of that weapon elsewhere, won't you? Perhaps you know somewhere I might freshen-YIPE!" She threw herself to the ground as she saw the string of the bow released, three arrows somehow thudding into the ground right beside her, at the exact height that would have passed through her neck had she not flung herself flat.
As the strange figure reached for more arrows, Rarity did the only sensible thing. She turned tail and ran as fast as her four legs could carry her. Privately, she was pleased to discover that said speed caught her unknown assailant by surprise if the startled curse was anything to go by. However, she made sure not to slow down until she heard no sound of pursuit. By the time she began to run out of breath, she'd lost all track of how far she had gone. Glancing down, she winced and did her best to hold her nose. As she'd feared, she'd flung herself down onto the pile she'd stepped in, and was now a filthy, bedraggled mess that stunk to high heaven. "Oh...he's going to pay for putting me through this, Discord and...whoever that was! Just...just as soon as I find somewhere to get clean! I can't even face myself like this!"
She continued at a more sedate pace, wincing at the feeling of dirt, mud, and other things clinging to her fur and dripping off her hooves. As she searched her surroundings for anything that could provide her with relief, she gasped in delight as she caught sight of a sparkle between the trees. "Oh...this is probably the first time I'll have ever said this, but don't let that sparkle be jewels!" She promptly dashed towards the sparkle, crowing in glee as the trees parted to reveal a pristine lake. Unable to stop herself, she leapt into the water, doing her best to cleanse herself of the slime and other things that clung to her from her trip through the jungle. She gasped from the shock of the cold, but quickly began to luxuriate in the sparkling water, not caring that her carefully, perfectly coiffed mane and tail were left straight out from the water. Clean most definitely took priority.
As she finally felt herself completely clean, she swam to the edge of the lake, climbed out, and proceeded to shake as much of the water from her body as she could. When a familiar sound caught her attention, she focused her magic into a small screen of light that three arrows embedded themselves in. "Oh no!" she snapped out. "That's quite enough humiliating the fabulous one, thank you very much! I just got clean, and it's going to take more than a few arrows to make me run through the jungle soaking wet just so I can get filthy again!" When silence - and no further arrows - appeared, she dropped the screen and used her magic to strip the water from her coat, mane, and tail. "Why thank you very much!" she called out politely before seizing the arrows in her magic and running for it.
After a while of running, she came to a halt in a small clearing. "Alright, Rarity," she said to herself. "Take stock. You're chilled, in a strange jungle, and something is hunting you with arrows. Your resources are your wits, your magic, and three arrows. Now, this may seem like a hopeless situation. After all, a prim and proper lady certainly would have no chance surviving in such a situation. Why, such a lady's only hope would probably being rescued from the jaws of a hungry hunting cat by some dashing jungle stallion!"
At that moment, a furious snarl echoed from behind her as a leopard leapt out of the bushes in a hunting pounce...only to receive two magically thrown arrows into both eye sockets, knocking it off course to skid to the ground dead.
"But then, I'm not some helpless, delicate flower unless there happens to be such a dashing stallion around to save me," Rarity stated as she walked over to the corpse. "Besides, after Blueblood...well, I'm not about to swoon for just any dashing rogue who comes to my rescue. I'm going to handle myself this time, and that means improving my situation, gathering resources, and using my wits." She levitated the third arrow, checking just how sharp the arrowhead was. "I just hope Fluttershy will forgive me for this..." Bringing the arrow down, she began cutting into the corpse.
Hircine continued to stalk carefully through the Borderlands forest, in slow pursuit of the unicorn that had entered his range. He'd never hunted a unicorn before, especially not one that talked, and he was enjoying it immensely. He'd made sure to give her a few opportunities to give a good showing - waiting so long before shooting at that first meeting, and letting her dry herself before making her run the second time - and now he was ready to bring the hunt to the end. He had his final arrows prepared, ready to put one straight through her neck when he caught sight of her again.
When he instead caught sight of a leopard that had been skinned, declawed, and defanged, with two of his own arrows through its eyes, he paused to reconsider...especially the fact the leopard was tied up between two trees by vines with its entire body pulled taut in four directions. He started to take a step towards it to search for clues, but stopped his foot before he entered the clearing. Something didn't seem right.
Lowering his gaze, he stared at the leaves covering the clearing, and saw the vine noose waiting for his foot just where he was about to place it. Glancing around, he saw similar traps scattered around in exactly the places he would evade to with his body mass and shape, leading into an inescapable combination if he'd placed his foot down carelessly. He found himself grinning. Ever since he and Discord had played at hunting each other, he'd grown to love clever prey. He mentally commanded his bladed arrows to change shape. This was another prey he wanted to hunt again later, which meant not killing her.
With traps as complex as these, he knew she wouldn't have been able to get too far after preparing them. As such, he did step into the clearing, making sure to put his foot where there weren't any traps.
To his surprise, his foot passed right through the solid seeming ground. His bow went flying from his hand as his arms pinwheeled to seize any purchase, only to fall forward...and land on his face one foot down as the illusory ground vanished. Growling, he pushed himself to his feet to retrieve his bow.
"Not another step."
Carefully, Hircine raised his head. There was the unicorn, having clambered over the leopard corpse she'd been hiding behind, the bow now held in magical grip. The leopard skin had been expertly tailored into a protective vest, loincloth, and leg wrappings, while the fur from its head had been made into a shaded hood. Paint made from a mix of the leopard's blood and a few herbs and berries surrounding the clearing marked her fur coat in a camouflage pattern, giving her an almost immaculate tribal appearance. Three arrows were already drawn as the bow glowed with a golden light.
"I don't know who you are, or why you're hunting me," the unicorn snapped out, "but I want answers. Why did Discord send me here where only ruffians-"
She let out a startled gasp as Hircine vanished to appear behind her. "Oh, you're from that game," he stated flatly. "I hadn't realized it had begun. I wondered why my bow was glowing. ...I really liked that bow, too..."
The white mare blinked as she stared at the bow in her grip. "You mean...?"
"Yes, that's the artifact you were sent to retrieve," Hircine growled. "...now I'm going to have to make a new one." He carefully suppressed his irritation. "The illusion of trapped ground over the pit was a nice trick. I'll have to remember it...though a deeper pit would have worked better."
"Well, I didn't want to actually hurt you," she responded. "Just get answers."
"And now you have them," Hircine stated flatly, gesturing to the portal that had opened.
As the white unicorn turned to go, she paused. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Rarity. What might yours be?"
"Hircine."
Rarity smiled warmly. "I shall remember it," she declared before stepping through the portal.
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Holy shit. That was bad ass.
Huh. Not entirely sure what happened here. I would have expected Hircine to respect someone who can adapt so radically, going from hunted to hunter. He sounds more annoyed than anything.
7950144
He does respect her.
But that was also his favorite bow, and Discord didn't tell him it was gonna be the prize.
So rarity and spike may go gaga when they see each other but fluttershy might just kill rarity if she sees her. Nice chapter keep them coming
only to receive to magically thrown arrows
1. Two.
Hircine really needs to stop with the pointed introductions sometime, it could hurt someone!
Guess Rarity got the Cat's Eye in one swoop.
From the sound of things, it seems Hircine fell into the pit of shame.
I must Say, Rarity Impressed the Duckens outta me
7950144 oh he respects her... he's just pissed 'cause Dick Cheese did make his fave bow into one of the Equestria Games mcguffinars
Um... I hope Rarity realizes she's still wearing her... clothes. Fluttershy is not going to be pleased.
Strange enough I actually made the chapter title a connection to Gargoyles...
7950165 I think she may faint
Never, EVER, underestimate Rarity. This was such a wonderful turn of events!
And as Fictional Fanatic said before me, let's hope she does something with the clothing before Fluttershy notices
Why do I have a feeling some of the Main Six are going to hook up with whatever prince they've met
7950251 Life or death situations bring out hidden depths. After all, who would expect that some cotton farmer would fearlessly advance on two German machine gun nests, alone? He proceeded to destroy both emplacements, take 4 prisoners, and despite being wounded himself continued to fight with his unit until after the mission objective was completed. A cotton farmer.
7950251 And the freaking DAEDRA OF HUNTING hasn't seen the false floor trap before? In all the centuries hes been alive? I like this fic, but the Rainbow and Rarity chapters have rely been stretching it.
7950225 I hope she DOES forget to take them off, and when Fluttershy gets all up in her grill, Rarity is all like "B**** please."
7950251
Oliver. Fucking. Queen.
7950280
Oh, he's seen it before.
What he hasn't seen before is making someone miss the false floor because of false traps on the false floor. He was complimenting the 'double bluff' effect of the trap, which is designed specifically to trick skilled hunters who know how to spot traps by making them spot the false ones and thus miss the true one.
At least this is still better than that Rainbow Dash's part.
I thought for a second Rarity wouldn't declaw the animal then I remembered she entered the Elder Scrolls games and she pressed take all button.
Alternative, is that she really wanted to accessorize properly and use all of the leopard.
damn Rarity. I know ive seen her in the show launch gems at enemies but damn.
7950365
He's...he's the green arrow...
7950413
And what has that got to do with my comment?
7950365 no reason at all... except for crafting weapons, armor, camouflage, and traps in a life or death situation. Or did you forget that Hircine already shot at her twice?
Dose eny one ship grown up ike and tribal rarity?
7950668
Amazonian Jungle Beauty Rarity Saves City Spike From Perilous Penguin Peril!
I'd read that pulp novel with fervor!
I can quite easily see Rarity as a hunter
She's a real serious badass!
I love it
7950251 The skining I can see her doing. Fur clothing and all. The de-clawing is a bit of a stretch though.
This is one of those moments where I enjoy Rarity's characterization. I like that she's prepared to face the elements of her surroundings despite bearing a blatant aversion towards them.
That, and how brief and polite the conversation she had with Hircine was in the end
7950144 He was impressed.
He was also annoyed that he had to give up his bow.
7950442
Okay, I shall educate the uncultured child. Green Arrow, AKA Oliver Queen, was a rich playboy before he got stranded on a deserted island where learned how to survive, shoot a bow, fight close combat, and basically be a one-man army.
strangely i'm reminded of a certain music video with this chapter
7950291
I guess i might've misread something, as I thought there was only one false floorI went back and reread the chapter, and it just has him falling through the floor, nothing about a double false floor. Am I misreading or this a typo?You should have expected this, really.
Rarity used Protect!
Damn, Rarity can be vicious.
Aren't ponies herbivorous?
Oh, not for meat. Also, I forgot how vicious Rarity can be sometimes.
A mistake you may not live to make again.
Eh?
Ah, right.
Well. That went well.
7950772
The declawing and defanging served two purposes.
First, to get backup weapons in case her trap failed to disarm her foe.
Second, to give her foe pause when he saw it.
7951112
That's not what 'double bluff' means. A double bluff is when you make someone think something that's real is fake.
In this case, there were two layers to the deception. Hircine would have noticed the fake floor trap, but the traps on the forest floor (which were also fake, part of the illusion) made him believe the floor was real. That was the 'double bluff'.
7951500
See this comment.
Her actions were equal parts 'gather resources to survive' and 'shock her pursuer'.
7951347 I understand the reasoning for doing so, I just think it's a bit out of character. Still enjoying the story though, Keep it up. I await the next chapter with baited breath. :)
7951112 i think you're just misreading. He was saying that the hunter missed the false floor, because of the traps set up on it.
7951347 ah. My mistake.
7951154 Protect, no. Light Screen, yes.
7951500
Sorry, I'm kinda REALLY into DC. And an asshole.
7951500 When did panic become a requirement for bravery? When does not being in immediate danger preclude the situation from being a life or death struggle? Repeat your point all you want, it doesn't make it true.
Look, Rarity does not have the memory of an Alzheimer's patient. She was very much aware that she was being hunted, ergo her life was in danger. It would be stupid and reckless to leave behind resources that can be used to even the playing field. She had every reason to skin the leopard and use the skin to make crude armor, the sinew to make thread, it's intestines to make rope, it's claws and teeth to make weapons, and so on and so forth. This was not a panicked move on her part, it was quite deliberate.
Also, you keep saying she "desecrated" the corpse. She did not violate it or treat it with disrespect, she harvested it. If she had simply gutted it and left the offal and viscera spread around without using any of it I would be inclined to agree.
7951550 >desecrate
i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/106/418/e14.jpg
7952783
Fluttershy would tell you that not making every possible use out of a dead body of a wild thing you killed to survive was disrespectful. You can bet if she was ever forced to kill a wild creature to protect herself - say, because it refused to listen and wanted to eat her, like here with Rarity - she wouldn't hesitate to butcher the corpse for meat to feed her carnivorous animal friends, like Harry the Bear. Same if she simply found an animal body that died recently enough the meat hadn't begun to decay.
You say since ponies are gentler than humans, they wouldn't 'desecrate' a dead body. I say that because they're much closer to nature - and thus the 'circle of life' than humans, they wouldn't see it as desecration. After all, ponies by definition evolved from prey animals, as opposed to predator.