Azure Edge

by Leaf Blade

07. The Edge of the Forest

Rarity smiled proudly at the imposing silhouette of the Everfree Forest towering over her. She paced through the snow, her eyes flicking between the forest entrance and the two ponies watching her work from a safe distance atop a short hill.

She tried not to pay them much mind, Pinkie Pie promised to keep herself and Bubbles out of trouble and Rarity trusted her word. Rarity needed to focus, for now she was finally in her element; now the Hunt could begin in earnest.

“What’s she doing?” Bubbles asked at a volume that could only generously be described as a whisper.

“She’s scopin’ out the scene!” Pinkie answered, no better at keeping her voice down than her friend.

Rarity scowled as she tried to focus on the forest, but-

“What does that mean though?”

-Bubbles’ awful attempts at whispering were a little bit distracting.

“I dunno!”

Pinkie’s weren’t any better.

“Girls?” Rarity spun around to them, her hair flying fabulously around her as she flashed the two noisy mares a bright grin. “Maybe a little quiet while I focus, please?”

“Oh, sorry Rarity!” Pinkie chirped, nudging Bubbles with her elbow, though the pegasus’ only response was to rub her arm and then shrug, which did not inspire a great deal of confidence in her ability to remain quiet.

“Thank you, girls,” Rarity sighed bemusedly and elected to get back to work.

She returned her attention to the forest and tried to ignore the girls still chattering busily away behind her, rolling her eyes at the idea of reminding them again to be quiet, until her magic alerted her to a presence approaching from the forest.

“Pinkie Pie?” Rarity’s tone was urgent as the color drained from her face, and she turned to give Pinkie a stern glance.

“Y-yes? What’s the matter, Rarity?” Pinkie caught on easily to Rarity’s sudden urgency, and even Bubbles clammed up and let her speak.

“Take Bubbles-“ a spark of magic from Rarity’s horn activated the bracer on her arm, transforming it into a large steel shield “-and run to someplace safer. The wolves are coming out of the forest.”

Rarity saw Pinkie grab Bubbles’ wrist without a word and tug her toward the town proper, and to Bubbles’ credit, she followed Pinkie without protest. Rarity breathed a sigh of relief and backed up against the hill, facing the forest as she sensed the monsters coming closer at alarming speed.

A battle was imminent, and Rarity held her shield in front of her and her axe in her left hand, her sword, held by her magic, hovering beside her.

She steeled herself and prayed she was prepared. Which, of course she was; Rarity was always prepared.

Three timberwolves— magical canine beasts with stitched together bodies of leaves, twigs and logs— came tearing out of the forest and Rarity couldn’t have been happier to see them. And only three, no less! This would barely be a warmup for her!

Rarity’s sword tore into one of the wolves’ jaw, removing it entirely, but the beast didn’t slow down or even flinch as it rushed toward Rarity.

She threw her axe into its head, and that made it stop for a second, and the thumping clash of Rarity’s shield being slammed into its head knocked it to the ground and kept it down long enough for the hovering sword to slice right through its neck and disable the creature for good.

Rarity had no time to feel proud of herself, as she barely managed to shield herself from the pounce of another wolf, falling backward as the creature bit and clawed at her shield and brought her to the ground.

Her floating sword pierced right through the creature’s head and dragged it off her, but not fast enough for her to avoid the last wolf’s teeth crushing down onto her leg, piercing through her skin like it was paper and clashing right against bone, Rarity biting her lip until it bled to keep from screaming.

Rarity glanced over at the wolf on her left— which was occupied trying to claw at Rarity’s sword— and grabbed her axe with her magic, slashing it down hard onto the gnawing wolf’s head and thankfully separating the beast’s jaw from her leg.

She withdrew her leg and forced herself to stand, though before she was all the way up the wolf pounced her and she threw her shield up to defend herself, determined this time to stay on her hooves and not let this creature take her down.

Though the pain in her leg made it difficult, she managed to push the timberwolf back and knock it to the ground instead, then quickly hop away from it to get some distance.

It was at this point that she cursed herself for not paying better attention, because the wolf she had thought was still fighting with her sword had gotten behind her, no longer occupied by a sword that had been dropped when Rarity lost her concentration.

The wolf swiped a claw at the bright red wound in her leg, and the searing pain caused Rarity to instinctively recoil her leg and then stomp her hoof into the timberwolf’s head, smashing through the wood and cracking a hole clean into its lower jaw.

In a rage, she slammed her shield into the beast’s head and pulled out one of her knives, stabbing the creature’s neck and smiling with deranged glee as the explosion of blue magic consumed the monster’s body and reduced it to ashes.

Rarity’s cheer was cut short by the third timberwolf’s claws digging into her back, drawing not only blood but a piercing scream from Rarity as she collapsed to the ground.

The monster gnashed its jaws and prepared to bite down on Rarity’s neck, but she threw her knife into its mouth instead, and it couldn’t rightly bite down after its head was annihilated in a magical explosion, now could it?

It still took a moment to get the beast’s headless corpse off Rarity’s back, and the effort wasn’t made easier by the mind-numbing pain coming from her back and her leg, but once she did it she stood to her hooves and surveyed the forest once more, quickly checking to make sure no more timberwolves were on the horizon.

Rarity breathed a deep, haggard sigh of relief. Now she had to focus on her injuries; they were painful, but they weren’t deep or altogether too serious. More a nuisance than anything, and she briefly considered just walking them off, but she knew that would lead to more trouble than it was worth.

She opened her tiny yet fashionable little hip-bag and procured an ointment that would heal her wounds, given to her by the head of the Slayer’s Guild, Queen Celestia herself. If she ran out of the ointment, it was just a matter of making an appointment with the Queen to get more, so she had no reason to be stingy with it.

Rarity mused that perhaps that was the reason she was getting so reckless these days, so that she would have an excuse to be doted on by the Queen.

“Rarity! Are you okay!?”

Rarity’s ears perked up and her brow furrowed at the sound of Pinkie’s concerned call, and she looked around to see Pinkie—and Bubbles, of course—hiding behind a nearby abandoned farmhouse that was decidedly not a safe distance away from the forest and Rarity’s battle with the timberwolves.

“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity snapped, and her cold tone stopped Pinkie in her tracks as she ran to Rarity’s aid. “I told you to keep yourself and Bubbles out of danger!”

“And I did!” Pinkie yelled back. “You’re the only pony who got hurt! This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a monster, Rarity, and you aren’t the only one who worries about her friends getting hurt!”

Rarity’s ears flattened against her head as Pinkie huffed, her arms thrown down in front of her and her hands curled into fists.

“I’m sorry,” Rarity said, arching her back to make sure the ointment took. “You’re right, and I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

“I’ll forgive you,” Pinkie puffed up her cheeks and crossed her arms, “if you let me give you a hug!”

“Deal!” Rarity giggled, and she and Pinkie ran toward each other and embraced in a warm hug, Rarity even lifting Pinkie an inch or two off the ground, much to Pinkie’s giggly amusement.

“So hey,” Bubbles said, “you did it, you beat the timberwolves! Yaaaay!” her rather lackluster cheering was accompanied by lethargic hand gestures that evoked a half-asleep drunkard trying to give directions to a place they’d never heard of.

“And you seem incredibly jazzed about it,” Rarity snarked.

“Oh I’m jazzed as heck!” Bubbles gave a thumbs-up and a big grin. “I’m just glad to be done with that timberwolf situation and not have to worry about it anymore!”

“Not even close, honey,” Rarity laughed.

“There’s more?” Pinkie, her arms still wrapped around Rarity’s waist.

“Absolutely,” Rarity said, gently prying herself away from Pinkie and toward a decidedly less enthusiastic Bubbles. “That was just a mere scouting party, looking for food. There’s a whole pack in there that I need to deal with.”

“Then what are you doing standing around here for?!” Bubbles clamored, throwing her arms in the air. “Shouldn’t you get this over with as fast as possible?”

“How about you don’t tell me how I should be doing my job, hmm?” Rarity remarked, cutting a bewildered-looking Bubbles down with a cold glare.

“I am going right away, but I just got injured since I had no plan in place. That fight was a disorganized mess, and I’d prefer my future encounters to end with less blood pouring out of my body onto the snow.”

“And I suppose you don’t need any help, huh?” Pinkie twiddled her fingers and smiled innocently at Rarity, who was practically smitten with the helpful cutie.

“I don’t, darling,” she said as she knelt to grab Pinkie’s hand and look her in the eye. “I need to do this on my own, okay? And I need you to stay put so that I don’t have to worry about you.”

“Okaaaay,” Pinkie sighed melodramatically, and Rarity couldn’t help bursting into giggles and giving Pinkie a big hug, and of course Pinkie couldn’t resist hugging her back. “Just be safe, alright?”

“Darling, please,” Rarity scoffed a playfully ran a hand through her hair as she walked toward the forest, “I still owe you a drink, don’t I?”

Author's Note:

writing is fun tbh

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.

Comments

[Timuri]

Can't really fault Rarity for a poor performance there, as that fight was only a bare few steps shy of an ambush. Still...I think she should invest in some light armor. Even just leather (or equivalent) greaves may have kept the wolf's teeth out of her leg entirely. Legs are hard to protect with all but the largest shields.

[Leaf Blade]

10100070
rarity's lack of armor being a sticking point with quite a few commenters is something i was not prepared for at all lmao
and to be fair, y'all are totally right; i should've given her armor