Monster Huntress Diamond

by HappyPillz

15. Breakthrough

“Rarity!” A yell and a loud thumping noise woke Rarity. It was dark outside, barely lit by the sliver of moon in the sky above. The thumping continued. “Rarity!”

“…the hell?” Rarity rubbed her forehead, sitting up in bed groggily as the banging on her door continued. She swung her hooves over the side of the bed and slowly walked over to the door, slightly teetering as she walked since the alcohol was still working its way out of her system. She looked to her side; Cinnamon lay on her bed, completely passed out. There was absolutely no waking the felyne with the unholy racket.

“Rarity!” The thumping continued.

Lucky damn felyne.

Rarity grit her teeth. “Cyr, I’m going to open the door. And the village had better be on fire. You’re here to warn me to get out. That’s the only acceptable reason for you to be banging on my door right now. So, if the village isn’t on fire, I’m going to be pissed as hell.” She flung open the door to see Cyradel standing there holding several glowing crystal coffee mugs. Rarity’s eyes narrowed.

“The village… is not on fire.”

She slammed the door.

“Rarity! Please! I just need a really fast favor! I’m sorry I woke you up!” Cyradel pleaded. “I had a really huge brainstorm and I just had to see if it was right, and I couldn’t wait all night without knowing because if it’s right then I can keep trying to figure more out, but if it’s not then it’s back to the drawing board and I don’t want to waste all that time just sitting there waiting and wondering! Please! It’ll be really fast!”

The door creaked back open slowly. Rarity stood there, looking extremely unamused and as if she may very well set the village on fire herself, given the chance.

She crossed her arms. “Make this fast, then.”

“Ok,” started Cyradel, “can you send magic in charged bursts, rather than in continuous streams?”

“Yes…” Rarity replied slowly.

“Great!” Cyradel squealed. She dashed away and set a crystal mug on the ground a short way away. “Can you charge up a burst of magic and send it at that mug? Just a normal burst.”

Rarity followed Cyradel’s instructions, sending a shot of magic at the mug, which let out a melodious ring and began glowing when the magic struck it.

“Awesome!” Cyradel retrieved the mug. She set a second one down, a bit farther away, and then pulled Rarity behind the door frame. “Ok, this is what I really wanted to test. I want you to charge up the strongest magic blast you can, then send it at the mug. As soon as you shoot it, duck back behind the door, just in case.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. She rubbed her forehead; she was still fuzzy, but charging a blast of magic was still within her capabilities. She concentrated hard for several seconds, letting the magical energy build; once she felt as though she had stored as much as she could safely handle, she aimed and sent the blast hurtling toward the crystal mug, then dove behind the door frame, covering her ears with her hands in expectation of an incoming blast.

Instead, a loud melodious chime rang out and a bright light lit up the street; confused, Cyradel and Rarity peeked from behind the door to see the mug still sitting on the street, shining brightly but unharmed.

“Well, shit.” Cyradel looked crestfallen. “I was so sure that was the answer, too.” She shuffled back toward the street to retrieve the mug. “Have a good night Rarity, sorry to have woken you.”

“Right, well, go get some sleep, Cyr.” Rarity said. “I’m going back to-“

“Hold on!” Cyradel shouted, grabbing the mug and inspecting it through squinted eyes.

“Dammit, Cyr, I was almost free…” Rarity groaned.

Cyradel rushed back over to Rarity with the mug excitedly. “Look, Rarity! See, the mug is shining only up to a certain point, almost like the crystal itself is filling with magic! It’s almost full, but a portion still isn’t shining!”

“SHIT! Cyr, get that out of my face! It’s fucking bright! It’s nighttime for fuck’s sake! Ok, great, it’s not full of magic yet, so?”

“Rarity, can you channel magic into it until it’s completely full, and then blast it with magic?”

Rarity stared at Cyradel silently for a good ten seconds. “Sure, why the hell not?" she deadpanned.

“Great! Thanks!” Cyradel chirped, completely unfazed by Rarity’s lack of enthusiasm. She ran back out to the street and set the mug down, then dashed back to the door.

Rarity concentrated, sending out a stream of magic that absorbed into the crystalline material easily, steadily brightening it for another fifteen seconds. After that, it seemed like the mug stopped absorbing any more magic, and the stream just splayed off the mug as it hit.

“It looks like it’s full,” Cyradel observed. “Let’s see what a concentrated blast will do if it’s completely saturated already.”

Rarity shrugged. “Ok, if you say so. I mean, the rest of my magic was just bouncing off it, so whatever you want.”

“Just make sure you get behind the door to be safe.” Cyradel warned.

“Will do.” Rarity gave a thumbs up. She concentrated once again, forming a large amount of energy in her horn until she was satisfied that she couldn’t gather any more. She aimed the blast and let it loose toward the mug, then ducked behind the door frame, ready for the magic to fizzle out or some sort of plinking noise as it bounced off like it had when it was streaming earlier.

What she had not planned on was an explosion. A deafening explosion that had shards of crystal that struck everything in sight, from the sounds of all the noise against the houses and the shattering of windows. Rarity looked at Cyradel in wide eyed horror as the sounds of chaos began erupting throughout the village; all the townspeople were waking up to find out what the commotion was and why their windows were broken. She enveloped Cyradel in a magical aura and shoved her out of her doorway.

“That was not fast. I am going back to bed. You may go explain to everybody else that the town is not on fire.”

She slammed her door.

**********

“I’m really sorry, ok?” Cyradel apologized yet again. “Leonys gave me holy hell for waking everybody up in the middle of the night, and I have to pay for damages to people’s property from the mug exploding, too. Thankfully it was a small mug, so it only hit a few of the surrounding houses. But still! I got in big trouble, so that counts for something, right?”

Rarity sat in Cyradel’s lab with her arms folded and a somber expression. “I suppose that will do. You’re lucky I didn’t drink as much last night as I did my previous night out. Actually, maybe it would have been better off if I had, then I would have slept through it all and none of this would have happened.” She sighed. “Well, at least I don’t have a hangover this time.”

“See? Silver linings!” Cyradel grinned. “And because I got my answer last night, I’ve been able to think about it all morning, and I think I’ve got a really good hypothesis!”

“So that’s why you called me here so damned early, then?” Rarity said, completely unamused.

“Yes, it would explain a lot if I’m correct.” Cyradel confirmed.

“Eh, just as well, I had something to talk to you about, anyway.” Cyradel cocked her head to the side, intrigued. “It can wait until after you’re done.” Rarity assured her.

“Ok…” Cyradel paused, her interest clearly piqued. “What I wanted you to do was to scan my crystal mugs like you did the machalite ore, as if you were trying to find the crystal deposits out in the wild. At least, if the crystals fall into the mineral category that you can track.”

“Of course!” Rarity smiled. “Gems, minerals, ores, crystals, I’ve never had any issues finding them. So, where’s your mug then?”

Cyradel handed over one of the crystals, and Rarity quickly scanned it, making several pulses with her horn as its composition became ingrained in her magical memory.

“Ok, now what?”

“Those mugs are made from dragonfire crystal, I was hoping you could scan the monster hides like you did for machalite ore and see if they contained any of the crystal. Pieces of ore can be found, even if they’re tiny, they’re still opaque. Miniscule shards of crystal, though? They’d literally be invisible, especially if they’ve been embedded deep in tissue and healed over long ago.”

“Ok, I can do that. Do you have a sample here?”

“Sample? Oh, no, no. C’mon.” Cyradel stood and walked out her door and led Rarity several doors down the hall to a large set of double doors. Entering, Rarity sucked in a quick breath as she saw the dead barioth laying in the middle of a gigantic room, different parts of it in multiple states of dissection. She suppressed a gag.

“You could have at least warned me.”

Cyradel looked confused. “You killed it. I mean, you literally put a switch axe through its head. How is this any different?”

“I’m not in ‘kill or be killed’ mode. And you’ve also peeled some of its skin off. Unless I’m trying to get food, I don’t do that. Just, give me some warning next time I’m going to be looking at a half-flayed creature.”

Cyradel shrugged. “Whatever. Fair enough.”

Rarity walked into the room and stared at the barioth. “So, let’s see if you’ve got any crystals in you.” She pulsed her horn, and her jaw dropped.

“Holy fucking shit.”

“What? WHAT?” Cyradel asked, virtually vibrating with excitement.

“It’s completely covered with crystals. Everywhere.”

“YES!” Cyradel shouted. “I KNEW IT!”

“So… what does that mean?” Rarity asked.

“Let’s go back to my lab, I’ll explain,” Cyradel chirped in a singsong voice. She skipped out of the room humming with Rarity trailing behind her and headed back down the hall.

Taking seats, Cyradel pulled out one of her mugs and showed it to Rarity. “Remember way, way back, when you first got here? And you were explaining your magic to us?”

Rarity nodded.

“You said magic doesn’t stay in creatures when it’s cast on them, and you gave us that awesome demonstration by freaking out Aery.” She paused, laughing hysterically. “But, you only specified creatures. What about items?”

Rarity paused.

“Now that you mention it, there are a lot of items in our world that can store magic…” she admitted.

“I thought so.” Cyradel smiled. “You brought us coffee with your magic using these crystal mugs. Months ago. And when you got close enough the other night, they still had magic in them, enough to resonate with you to reactivate.”

“So… the monsters we’ve been fighting had the same energy signature as me… and glowing auras… because they were actually using magic exactly like me from stored magic in crystals embedded in their bodies?”

“Exactly! They must have figured out how to turn it on and off and focus or use it just like you can with your horn. Have you had instances with creatures gaining magic that didn’t have it before?”

Oh fuck.

“…Yes, we have. It… does not usually turn out well. They tend to gain intelligence, knowledge, and powers that they would not normally have.”

“So, that explains one part of the puzzle. Next up… how did they get there? I figured out part of that, but only part. Dragonfire crystal and machalite ore are commonly intermixed in deposits; after what we saw last night, if a crystal deposit exploded, it would send millions of shards of both machalite and crystal into any monster in close vicinity, and that crystal would have been fully charged with magic at the time. The only part I don’t know is why so many monsters would be in such close proximity to so many supercharged deposits.”

The pair sat in silence for several minutes as Rarity digested this new information and Cyradel continued to think.

“Hold on…” Rarity said slowly.

“Hm?”

“Machalite ore and crystal deposits would be together, and they would have been shattered? Around where an aberrant was?”

“Right, I just don’t know why.”

“The diablos nest we found had that!” Rarity blurted out.

Cyradel stared at her. “What?”

“When we were hunting the diablos! We found its nest, and there were the remains of nodes of machalite and crystals, they all looked like they had been blown up!” Rarity said excitedly.

“Holy shit…” Cyradel whispered. She stood up and began pacing. “If dragonfire crystals are present in nesting sites, that explains why so many are getting hit! Why would monsters be building nests by them, though?" she continued to pace, thinking back on the previous night. “The mug… it was warm! If a small mug got warm, then a lot of large nodes fully charged must provide a lot of heat, making a great nesting site!”

Rarity watched, fascinated, as a not-Twilight version of Twilight paced back and forth.

“Then, how are all of these nodes getting charged? Dragonfire crystal… how does it form… properties… crystal veins… run in channels! They interconnect! These nodes aren’t just separate random nodes, they’re all connected underground via channels! Nodes are just kind of like bulbous terminals at the ends of thin lines, so they would collect energy until there was no place to go until there was a surge!”

She clapped excitedly, then rushed over and hugged Rarity, kissing her on the cheek. “I think we’ve cracked it! At least, almost all of it! I mean, we still don’t know how the hell the magic is getting here, but we know how the monsters have it!”

Rarity grinned. “I’ll admit, you’re brilliant, you know that?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Rarity stared at her flatly. “Not modest, though.”

“Meh, I’ll take what I can get. Anyway, you said you had something to talk to me about, too?”

Rarity smacked her forehead. “Oh yeah, I completely forgot! Last night we were talking over drinks, and I was telling everyone about some weird stuff that was happening back in my home world that started really recently, and they got all quiet and said I should tell you.”

“Like what?” Cyradel asked, concerned.

“Weird wind and lightning storms, trees being pulled up out of the ground for about ten seconds then just dropping back down, random wildfires out in nowhere with no ignition sources, random explosions where there’s nothing flammable or explosive, and a solar flare when our Princess controls the sun completely. Sydreol and Cinnamon said it sounded like… a belushi and a travolta?”

“An ibushi and a teostra…” Cyradel said breathlessly.

“Yeah, that’s it!” Rarity said.

Cyradel went silent for a moment, closing her eyes.

“Rarity, how did you say you got here again?”

“We have a dimensional mirror, but I was passed out, so I don’t know the specifics. I just know something went wrong with the coordinates so it sent me to the wrong dimension.”

“And is your dimension ever… unstable?”

Rarity snorted. “Of course n-“

Discord rips space and time. Chrysalis. The Tree of Harmony getting strangled out by Discord’s plants. Tirek stealing all the magic in Equestria. Stygian.The Storm King. Midnight Sparkle ripping holes in the dimensions. Cozy Glow almost draining all the magic from Equestria.

“It’s constantly unstable,” she admitted. “Even worse in recent years.”

“I have a theory, then.” Cyradel said. “I think our dimensions lie right next to each other. If your dimension is that unstable, it’s entirely possible that the boundaries between our dimensions are becoming blurred. If your world is having occurrences like those, it sounds to me like the energy from the abilities of ibushis and teostras are crossing over into your world. They are both considered elder dragons, and are extremely powerful; if they were to have been imbued with magic from your world, I shudder to think what they’d be capable of.

“Your mirror could have sent you here because of that blurring and proximity, and magic from your world could be leaking here because of that, too. Since dragonfire crystals are pretty much all linked through subterranean veins, there’s probably a mother lode somewhere close to a strong magical rift that is soaking up energy. And any time there is a surge, it could cause nodes to explode. Bear in mind, this is all a theory, but I think it’s a pretty damn sound one.”

Rarity nodded. “You guys still know where the pukei pukei nest was, right? Why not go check and see if there are nodes there? That would help solidify if you’re on the right track.”

“Perfect idea! We’ll send some people out right away, and start thinking about our next move, then!”

**********

“Hey Rares, ya got a minute?” Sydreol jogged up behind her as she walked down the road, having just left the academy.

“I suppose,” she yawned. “Cyr kept me up last night, so I’m kind of tired, but it’s not like I’m going back to bed or anything. What’s up?”

“Ah, she woke you up, too, huh? Her stupid explosion woke up half the damn village! Nobody knows what she blew up or how. Now that I think about it, it looked like it was pretty close to your place. Sucks to be you, I guess.”

“Heh, yeah, who knows?” Rarity’s eyes darted around. “Anyway! What did you want?”

“Well, I had a hunt request, and I thought you might want to tag along.”

Rarity stared at him. “Tag along?”

“Ok, stick with me, here,” he said. “For as long as you’ve been here, everything you’ve fought has been an aberrant. You have fought the hardest, most vicious shit we’ve ever seen. And you’ve beaten the shit out of them all. You honestly have no idea what a normal, everyday hunt is like. Remember when you first got here, and some monsters attacked you? You almost bled to death? I bet if you sneezed on ‘em now, they’d die. That’s how strong you’ve gotten. I think that if you took a step back, just went on a hunt that wasn’t one where one false move would get you killed, you’d actually enjoy it.”

“You think so?” Rarity looked hesitant.

“I really do.” Sydreol confirmed. “Plus, I picked this hunt specifically for you. I can guarantee you’ll be interested in seeing this monster.”

“It’s not some gross, pus-filled thing, is it?” Rarity looked at him skeptically.

“How big of an ass do you think I am?”

“…what’s the biggest monster you have here I can compare you to?”

He shook his head. “…brutal.”

She grinned. “Alright, I think it sounds like a good idea; I could use a less stressful hunt for once. What are we hunting? What should I bring to prepare?”

He wagged his finger at her. “Oh no, I’m not spoiling the surprise. Just bring your dual blades and pack some cleansers. They’re fast and can be… ‘slippery’.” He chuckled to himself.

“Ok, keep your secrets, I’ll meet you at the canteen in about a half hour? Then we can head out after that.”

“Sounds good. We’ll be heading into some of the less densely packed areas of the jungle, there are roads and trade routes that pass by some of those areas and they’ve had some issues with one of these monsters.”

**********

Rarity couldn’t breathe. She stood there, absolutely unable to move a muscle. There was no real reason she couldn’t. But she didn’t want to. The monster in front of her had stolen her breath and captivated her attention, and she wanted to keep watching as long as she could.

“Rarity!” Sydreol whispered, poking her roughly. “I said, we do have to kill this thing.”

“WHY?" she almost bawled. “It’s beautiful!”

“I know they are. It’s a mizutsune, and they’re regularly pretty docile, compared to other monsters. But, when the mating season hits, they get… well, you don’t want to have one anywhere near you. They will attack anything and everything, and since this one has picked right next to all our major roads to stay, we have to kill it. We can’t make it leave, and if we don’t, it will kill people.”

Rarity stared at it for a long time. “Can I at least try to approach it non-threateningly first? If it attacks me, then I’ll attack back, but I don’t want to attack without it being hostile first.”

Sydreol sighed, but smiled. “You’re a good person, you know that?”

“I’m a good pony.”

“Whatever. Go try to charm the monster and don’t get your face bitten off. Oh, and these things will froth up, spit, and fling bubbles. If you get hit with them, it’s literally like being in soapy water. You’ll slip and slide all over the place. That’s what the cleansers are for, getting rid of the bubbly crap.”

“Got it.”

She climbed out from behind their hiding place and slowly walked toward the mizutsune, keeping her hands in plain sight.

“Fucking nuts…” Sydreol mumbled.

The serpentine monster regarded her approach warily from a distance, staring at her unwaveringly with its frilly fins raised in agitation.

“It’s ok,” Rarity said calmly, “I don’t mean you any harm, ok?" she continued her approach.

The mizutsune hissed, raising itself into an attacking posture.

“Rarity, calm or not, you’re really pissing it off!” Sydreol called. “You’re right on the edge of it’s ‘don’t fuck with me’ zone!”

Rarity ignored him. It’s not an aberrant. I can get through to it.

She took another step forward.

**********

Sydreol knew that Rarity was exceptional. He knew that she had, time after time, shown a massive amount of courage, skill, and luck. And, more than anything, she surprised them constantly.

This was not one of those times.

In a predictable fashion, the mizutsune screeched at Rarity invading its ‘don’t fuck with me’ zone with high levels of aggression, surprising her with its sheer volume to the point that she had to cower and cover her ears to negate the pain.

It then spun on itself, rubbing its long, scaled body together and creating large bubbles from the friction on the foamy secretions its scales produced. It pushed them with its body toward Rarity, who, caught off guard, was struck with the first one that came her way.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Sydreol groaned, picking up his longsword and walking toward the mizutsune. He meandered over to Rarity, who was covered in bubbly secretions, and lightly pushed her away. She slid across the ground effortlessly, tumbling into a bush with a curse.

“Use a cleanser and take a lesson that you can’t reason with monsters.” Sydreol said in annoyance.

“Fuck you,” Rarity called from the bushes.

He readied his longsword, moving toward the mizutsune quickly as it attempted to rake a claw at him. He dodged the strike with ease, slashing at the leg and leaving a deep cut as he did. The mizutsune reeled, but recovered soon after. It pulled its tail end around in an effort to swipe at Sydreol, but he had already anticipated the move; with a smooth jump he vaulted himself over the tail and came down on the other side with his longsword striking the beast’s tail, severing it in one fell swoop.

The mizutsune screeched in pain, writhing from the blow. Sydreol moved from the tail end to the monster’s midsection, delivering multiple slashes and stabs before it could recover; it tried to bend back to bite him, but he withdrew his blade from its side as it did and drove it into its mouth, piercing the roof of its gaping maw before it could inflict any damage. He stood there, holding his longsword out with the skewered mizutsune’s head on it, barely having broken a sweat, and Rarity had just made her way out of the bushes.

“What the…?” Rarity stammered. “You killed it already? How?”

“I’ve fought these things so many times, Rares. I know how they act. That’s part of being a hunter. Know your prey. Eventually you learn to anticipate their moves, and it just becomes second nature for you. Now, I know you didn’t really fight it, but did you at least get a bit of an appreciation for the less strenuous fights?”

“Uh, yes.” Rarity affirmed. “I mean, I really was in no danger. I got hit with a bubble. I got pushed into a bush. You killed it within a couple minutes. I guess if I would have just started out attacking I wouldn’t have had much of a problem, either.”

“Most likely,” Sydreol confirmed. “Ready to head back?”

Rarity stared at the mizutsune, obviously deep in thought. “No, I’m not quite ready, actually. Tell me, does Reneris use mizutsune materials for armor much?”

“Sometimes,” Sydreol said. “It all depends on what abilities it gives. But she can make sets out of pretty much everything.”

“Wait, so anything she makes, whatever monster it comes from, she can make a matching set for, she just doesn’t?”

“Pretty much, it’s only the abilities that limit it. I thought you knew that?”

“Well, I knew that she made things according to what they did, but I didn’t know that she could make matching sets if she wanted to.”

“Um, does this matter? Reneris isn’t going to waste her time making gear that people aren’t going to use.”

“I think it does. Because I think it’s about time I try my hand at blacksmithing. Reneris has her Wyverian blacksmithing tricks that add abilities to gear. But, if I make things, I could probably make lighter versions of the set pieces she could make, without the abilities that people could use on top of their regular gear, to not look like shit. Layered gear, if you will.”

Sydreol looked thoughtful. “That… might actually work. Talk to Reneris. Expect expletives.”

Rarity grinned. “With her, that goes without saying. Let’s head back.”

**********

“YOU WANT TO HIDE MY WORK BY PUTTIN’ SOME CHEAP ASS IMITATION OVER TOP OF IT?” Reneris shouted at the top of her lungs.

Rarity cringed.

“Pretty much, yes?”

“Yeah, ya ain’t gotta tell me some of my shit is fugly. I’m well aware.”

“Pardon?”

“Fugly. Fuckin’ ugly.”

“I-I didn’t mean…”

“Shut it. I know it is. I was fuckin’ with ya. I know yer’ all into lookin’ nice, and ya know, I can’t fault ya for it. I’ve seen ya around town, and after gettin’ to know ya, ya ain’t a piece of shit like I originally thought. And ya look damn good walkin’ out and about. Ya want to look good in armor too, can’t blame ya. Others have said the same thing. It ain’t easy, it’ll take a long time, but if you want to learn how to make gear like I do, I’ll teach ya. Obviously it won’t have abilities, but that’s the draw ya want.”

“Thank you so-“

“Stop right there.”

“What?”

“Stop talking before you say some stupid ass cross my flying cupcake bullshit again. You’re happy, I got it.”

“Point taken.”

“Pick up a hammer, kid. Your ass is now mine whenever you have spare time. Come here, bring any of the spare parts you’ve collected so far. I expect you’ve gotten a decent amount?”

Rarity nodded. “I was able to get a pretty good amount of materials from each of the aberrants we’ve hunted so far.”

“Wait, is that all you’ve gotten is stuff from aberrants? Shit, I ain’t going to have you wasting aberrant materials on practicing. We’ll start you off on metal gear, but once you hit monster materials I don’t want you using all my stock.”

Reneris thought hard for a moment.

“Hah! I got it!" she smirked. “Hit up Syd. That dumbass has materials coming out his ass, and he has a soft spot for ya. He’ll give ya anything ya want. Guarantee it.”

“I couldn’t…” Rarity said. “I can’t take advantage of someone like that…”

Reneris gave her the most unimpressed and incredulous stare in the history of wyveriankind.

“You’re not takin’ advantage of anyone, dipshit. You’re asking him for materials, and he’s saying yes. I just told you that he likes you enough to say yes to whatever you want, not that you’re going to go rob him blind without him knowing. Fucking kids these days, dumber than a box of rocks.”

“Oh. Alright then, I guess I’ll check with him.” Rarity conceded.

“Damn straight. So you get your materials from dumbass, then head over here, pick up a hammer, and set to work. You can use my pieces as a reference, and I’ll be here for you to ask questions if you need. You’re enough of an artisan that you can probably figure out most of it yourself, which is, thankfully for me, the best way of learning, because that means you stay out of my hair. Now go track down your new material bitch and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Reneris! I reall-“

“I SAID: I’LL SEE YOU TOMORROW.” Reneris said forcefully before returning to hammering.

“See you tomorrow, then,” Rarity said quickly before hurrying off.

**********

“Yer doin’ good, kid. I mean, yer stuff’s shit, but it’s better quality shit than when ya started.”

“Thanks.” Rarity wiped her brow; her slim, toned arms glistened in the sun as sweat dripped from them and she panted slightly from the exertion of smithing. “Sooner or later I’ll make something worth giving to Syd to pay him back for all the materials he’s given me so far. He’s been giving me stuff every day for how long now? I’ve lost track.”

“Least a month. Probably more. I dunno. Days blend together when you do the same shit every day. And don’t worry, he doesn’t miss the mats. He has ‘em stockpiled from years of hunting. Kind of a hoarder, actually. You’re kinda cleaning out his house, good for him to get rid of this shit finally. I can only wonder what his place looks li-“

Reneris was cut off as the sound of a massive explosion filled the air, followed by a blast of percussive force that knocked them to the ground. A slight tremor through the ground followed the blast, then all was deathly quiet.

“The fuck was that?” Reneris asked uneasily.

“No clue, but I’m sure Leonys is going to want to talk with us about it,” Rarity surmised. “I’d better get moving.”

“Hey.”

Rarity paused, turning back as she was leaving the forge.

“I’m sure Leonys will send you out there to see what’s up. Stay safe. Or whatever.”

Rarity smiled. “I will, for flying cupcake bullshit.”

“Damn straight you will! Stay safe for flying cupcake bullshit!” Reneris laughed heartily.

Pinkie Pie would die right now if she heard me.

Rarity turned and headed for the main pavilion.

**********

“Thanks for coming,” Leonys addressed everyone. “As you know there was an explosion of an unknown origin earlier today; we believe it came from somewhere at the far edge of the forest outside the village. We need to investigate what it might have been; it’s imperative that we find out what it was that caused an explosion like that so close to home. I’d like to ask if our hunters could investigate the area to see if they can find anything and report back. Is that something you could do?”

Rarity, Sydreol, and Lycadran all nodded.

“Great, I knew I could count on all of you. I know we’ll need Rarity to go for protection for aberrants,” Leonys began.

Lycadran growled in aggravation, shooting a ruinous glare at Rarity.

“So if either Lycadran or Sydreol could accompany her, then please head out as soon as you are able.”

Lycadran shoved Sydreol aside as she left the area.

“You get bench duty this time, Syd. I’ll babysit monster girl and the cat.”

Sydreol shrugged. “Whatever, Lycadran. Knock yourself out. Please.”

She motioned behind her. “C’mon, monster girl. Get your shit and your sidekick and let’s get moving. I don’t want to waste time on this.” She strode away purposefully.

Rarity watched her leave in dismay, then leaned over to Sydreol. “Wish me luck.” She said mournfully.

“You’ll need a hell of a lot more than luck,” Sydreol responded. “Patience, self control, anger management…”

“Haha. You’re an ass.”

“Just telling the truth.”

“So am I.”

“Touché. Better get going or the ‘bish’ is going to bite your head off.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.”

Comments

[RTStephens]

Ha! Knew Rarity would love layered armor.