Monster Huntress Diamond

by HappyPillz

9. A Case of Mistaken Identity

It was still mid-afternoon when Rarity finished cleaning up and resting enough to be able to move comfortably, and she stood in her home staring at the weapon racks, though her mind was a jumble of thoughts, none of which were about the weapons she was looking at.

“Rowrity, are you almost done deciding? You’ve been staring at them for ten minutes now.”

“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry Cinnamon, I was just… thinking.”

“About…? Not weapons, apparently.”

“No, about how everyone keeps telling me that I should be a hunter, or that I’d be a good one. Why do they all say that? I would think I would know, wouldn’t you?”

“No, no I don’t.” Cinnamon denied.

“What? Why not?” Rarity demanded. “I think I’m a fairly good judge of my own abilities, thank you very much!”

“Usually yes, but think about it Rowrity,” Cinnamon explained, “you said this is a new form for you, right? You’ve never been in a situation where you’ve been adequately armed and protected and had to fight in a human form, right?”

“Right… I mean, the velociprey count, but that wasn’t really great gear, so it’s difficult to know how it could have gone with proper preparation…” Rarity admitted.

“And you’ve also never seen a monster in real life aside from the anjanath and tobi kadachi, and have no idea what it’s like to fight one.”

“Yeah…”

“So I would say it’s safe to say that you have no way to judge what your body is capable of or how it would fare in combat with a monster because you have virtually no experience with either.”

“I guess that’s fair…”

“And,” Cinnamon continued, “the people here have lived with these monsters not only their entire lives, but for generations. They know them. They know what it takes to fight them, they know how to identify people who have the capability to hunt them or not. It’s just a part of their lives, some people seem born to be hunters, and it’s almost as if people can see it on them.”

Sounds almost like a cutie mark to me. So did I get an invisible hunter cutie mark, then?

“I guess… when you put it that way, it makes a bit more sense. I guess I need to take this more seriously than I originally thought.”

Damn.

“Well then, Cinnamon, would you like to accompany me on a venture out to gather some materials?”

“I thought you’d never ask! Did you decide on what to take with you yet?”

“I think I’ll take my light bow gun with me, along with the light armor. I don’t think the heavy armor will be necessary, nor will it be very helpful if I’m just gathering.”

“Just be sure to take appropriate ammo,” Cinnamon reminded. “Not every gun can use all the ammo types, you know.”

“Oh.” Rarity’s ears drooped. “No, I did not know that, actually. That’s kind of important information.”

“Yes. Yes it is.” Cinnamon chided. “Hunter one-oh-one. Know your weapon. You will have specific clips available for your gun, and each clip will only hold so many rounds. I’m surprised you didn’t notice the difference in training.”

“I just figured that was normal.”

“Hm, I suppose without any frame of reference, that wouldn’t really seem obvious… ok, I’ll let it slide.” Cinnamon sighed. “Just, take a look at what clips your gun has, grab the right ammo, the potion and tool kit that Faan gave you, your hunting and utility knives, and a gathering bag, and let’s go!”

Rarity pawed through the clips. “Shit. No sticky.”

“Pardon?” Cinnamon gave her a weird look.

“No clip for sticky ammo.” Rarity pouted. “I like sticky ammo.”

Cinnamon rolled her eyes. “You’d just blow up the deer anyway. Exploded meat isn’t good meat.”

“It’d be tender,” Rarity pointed out.

Cinnamon stared at her for a long few seconds. “I’m leaving now,” she said slowly, not breaking eye contact. “You can join me when you’re feeling a little less… murdery.”

“Oh come on, I was joking,” Rarity said, pulling on her armor and grabbing her things. “Kind of.” She giggled as Cinnamon shot her a glance. “Okay, okay. I’m ready, let’s go.”

They exited town, walking the path through the mountain pass and eventually reaching the forest, then wandered deeper, where foliage and trees began to grow thicker, while the rock precipice was still somewhat closeby on one side.

Rarity removed her sketchbook from her bag, reviewing her drawings in order to remember what it was that she was looking for. “Ok, Faan said she could use slashberries, blastnuts, and parashrooms, so we need to keep an eye out for those.”

“Can do, I know what those look like,” Cinnamon confirmed.

“First, though, I want to know if there’s any machalite ore around here, no sense in passing up easy money first.”

“Easy… what do you mean easy money?” Cinnamon looked at her like she was crazy. “Machalite’s a pain in the ass to find! It’s usually covered in moss and stuff so you can’t even see it!”

“Eh, we’ll see about that.” Rarity pulled out the small shard Reneris had given her. Her horn lit up, and she encompassed the shard in a blue glow, turning it around several ways as though she was inspecting it. After a few moments, she released it from her magic and put it back in her pack. “Ok, I think I’m set. Let’s see now.” Her horn lit up again, and she concentrated for only a few moments before chuckling.

“Come on, we’ll see how big of a pain in the ass it is.” She strode off toward the mountainous rise, with Cinnamon tailing her closely. She wove through trees and picked her way around difficult terrain, stopping every now and then to pick the odd berry or mushroom as they saw them, but kept a steady line to the same spot she had initially identified. Cinnamon looked around as they walked, seeing nothing of note, until she noticed that Rarity had stopped at a small rocky outcrop. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to her; she saw a simple jumble of craggy rocks.

“Did you lose your way or something?" she asked.

“What? No, we’re here.” Rarity reached behind her and retrieved the pickaxe hanging off her back. “It’s just hidden under those rocks.”

Cinnamon stared at her. “You’re full of shit.”

“Fine. Don’t believe me then.” She walked over to the rock cluster, raised the pickaxe, and swung as hard as she could. The cluster broke apart and sent several cracks up the side of the rock face to which it had been attached; the former base of the cluster was now the center of the cracks, and Rarity raised her pickaxe once again. Aiming straight for that center, she hit it with as much force as she could muster. The cracks that had formed widened, lengthened, or split, and she could tell that in some places the rock face was about to fall off. She found one of the weakest looking spots, where the rock was almost detached from the rest of the formation; with a massive swing, she hit it and the shard was completely removed. What was left behind underneath was a vein of machalite ore, sizable enough to mine a good amount from.

Cinnamon turned to Rarity, who now wore a smug expression on her face. “How the hell did you do that?”

She tapped her horn. “I told you. I have a talent at finding ores and gems. Now let’s get to work, finding it is the easy part.”

The two of them toiled away, mining the small ore vein for the better part of an hour until it was depleted, then sat for a short break.

“That wasn’t so bad,” remarked Rarity. “I figured it would be a lot worse, but for some reason it just felt like a light workout.”

“What did I tell you, you’re not quite familiar with what you can and can’t do,” Cinnamon reminded her, taking her turn looking smug.

“Shush, you.” Rarity hit her playfully on the shoulder. “We can go find the next one now.”

“Next? There’s more?”

“Of course there is!” Rarity said, her horn lighting up momentarily, then going out. “I just have to find it.”

Cinnamon rolled her eyes. “You don’t see any?”

“Not right this second, no.” Rarity sounded affronted. “My range for finding it obviously has a limit, but how easy it is to find is affected by its proximity, size, concentration, density, purity, and how much focus I put into finding it. So, if I don’t see any, I just need to concentrate harder until I get something, or we move.”

Cinnamon shook her head in disbelief. “That’s just insane.”

Rarity shrugged. “Rather handy, if you ask me. Now please be a little quieter so I can concentrate on finding the next one.”

She focused her magic again, closing her eyes as her horn lit more intensely, before her eyes opened again and she smiled widely. “Found one, and it’s a doozy. It’s further into the forest, and it’s quite large. Not pure or concentrated at all, mind you, but seems to be a large area at least. It’s worth checking out.”

They set off once again, traversing the forest with minimal difficulty and only a few stops, with Rarity making frequent directional checks until she was able to get an easy focus on the ore node. She judged them to be within a few hundred yards when she stopped cold, with Cinnamon almost running into her backside.

“What gives?” the felyne grumbled in annoyance, swatting Rarity’s tail away from her.

“Something’s… off…” Rarity replied nervously.

“What do you mean off?” Cinnamon asked, alarmed.

“The ore is moving.”

“Ore doesn’t move.” Cinnamon said flatly.

“I’m well aware of that, thank you very much. But this ore is definitely moving.” She took a step back and her expression turned to fear. “And it just turned our way.”

Cinnamon moved close behind Rarity. “I hear something coming!" she whispered hoarsely. “It sounds huge!”

The two of them stood frozen, unsure what was coming and too afraid to move for fear of making a sound, but both staring straight ahead at the source of the now steadily growing noise. Branches and brush on the forest floor snapped and rustled loudly, trees jostled, and in an instant all other sounds were blotted out by an ear splitting shriek as something huge and green came into view.

It was not ore.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?” Screeched Rarity, whipping around to Cinnamon in a panic.

“It’s a pukei pukei!” Cinnamon yelled in horror as the creature started toward them. “Run!”

“Why the hell did a pukei pukei register as machalite ore while I was searching for it?” Rarity demanded furiously from no one in particular.

“Wait, what?” Cinnamon’s head spun around so quickly she almost tripped. “You mean you LED US STRAIGHT TO THAT THING?”

Rarity looked behind her and screamed. “Shut up and run, it’s gaining on us fast! That thing is what was- IS- giving off the ore reading! I don’t know why!”

Suddenly the sound of snapping and rustling and stomping behind them abruptly stopped, and Rarity almost stopped running to look until she noticed the dark shadow that appeared above her. The shadow that was now growing. With a moment of dawning comprehension of what was coming, she flung herself to the side, rolling to the ground in time to see the talons of the pukei pukei slam into the ground beside her and wrenching a mass of earth back out. She gulped as she saw the damage she had narrowly avoided, but barely had time to think as the monster turned to face her, just feet away.

Stand my ground, huh, Cyr?

Rarity shook her head; something almost seemed to have just snapped. The thoughts were coming lightning fast, multiple ones processing simultaneously as she tried to piece them together to determine what was going on collectively in her mind.

I didn’t want to be a hunter. Or did I? What should I be doing first? Should I still be running? I don’t think I want to. Cyr said don’t. How do I make myself a hunter? If I don’t think I am, I won’t be… I just… can’t think of myself as a hunter… I’m not hunter material…

Her mind flashed back to training.

You’re the best student I’ve seen yet, kid!

Her mind flashed back to Syd teaching her that she had a nasty side. She smiled.

Damn pervert. Well, if he can trick me into swearing and finding out I like it, I can trick myself into being a bloodthirsty monster killer. All I need is some extra motivation to hate these things. Aside from them wanting to kill me, of course. Any and all ways to piss me off are good. And guess what? You just ticked the box of a big one.

She got up slowly. The pukei pukei was eyeing her, watching her movements closely as it attempted to dislodge the earth chunks from its talons.

“Rowrity! What are you doing?” Cinnamon yelled.

Rarity slowly reached behind her back, unhooking the bowgun. “Chase me all over the forest, give me a splitting headache with your stupid caw, and then you have the balls to get me knocked into a mud puddle.” She leaned forward and narrowed her eyes. “I’m filthy because of you, asshole.” She then pulled the bowgun out in a swift motion and pulled the trigger, lodging a shell in the creature’s face.

The pukei pukei reared back with a screech while Rarity turned to punch the air, then laughed gleefully and cheered. “I did it! I did it! Woooo!”

“Um, Rowrity?” Cinnamon called nervously.

“Yes?" she responded, turning back around. As she did, she came face to face with a very not-happy-looking pukei pukei with a modest injury on its face.

“These monsters can take a huge beating.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

The pukei pukei screeched again, and Rarity leapt to the side as it swiped at her. “Well, I’m not leaving this job unfinished!" she yelled. “I doubt it’s going to just let us run, anyway.”

Cinnamon’s eyes twinkled as she drew out her own small sword. “Hell yes!" she cried. “About time you figured it out! Let’s do this!”

Rarity rolled onto her knee, firing several more rounds at the monster while it recovered from its missed attack. “Shut it with the I told you so’s and start hacking!” Rarity yelled.

The monster quickly spun, catching Rarity off guard and hitting her hard with its tail; she flew several yards before striking a tree and falling to the ground.

“Rowrity!” Cinnamon called in fear, “you okay?”

“Yeah… ow!” Rarity rose shakily and gripped her side. “Nothing bleeding or broken… yet. This thing is getting on my nerves!”

The pukei pukei had turned to head toward Cinnamon, who was slashing at it; while it was distracted, Rarity ran back toward it, firing more rounds until her clip emptied, installed a fresh clip without stopping, and resumed firing. The monster turned quickly again, only now it sent out a long chameleon-like tongue to strike her in the chest as she ran, knocking her backward painfully.

She lay for a moment before attempting to get up, noticing sharp pains in her torso every time she moved. Multiple pains. She pressed gingerly on her chest, wincing as she did so. “Ribs… broken…” she whispered. She looked up; the pukei pukei was still coming her way. She didn’t have time to sit and lament the pain. Reaching to her bag despite the jabbing agony, she grabbed one of the potion vials Faan had given her, popped the top off, and drank as fast as she could.

It was an odd idea for a unicorn to want to describe something as magical, but that was the only word she could come up with. She felt a tingling warmth spreading throughout her, and the pain she felt ebbed away in seconds. Pressing on her chest, she felt no pain at all, as though nothing had happened. With a smirk, she climbed back to her hooves and leveled her bowgun at the monster. She shot several times before diving out of the way as it barreled past where she had been, leaving a flurry of talon swipes in its wake.

“Rowrity!” Cinnamon yelled. Rarity looked over to see the felyne, muddied but so far unhurt. “What ammo are you using to attack this thing?" she asked.

“Uh…” Rarity looked at her gun.

“YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW?” Cinnamon screamed.

“DON’T JUDGE ME! I’M NEW AT THIS!" she screamed back. “Rank one normal ammo, ok? Fine! What should I be using?”

“Gods, anything but that! Rank three something! Thunder if you have it, they’re weak to that! Spread ammo if it’s close to you! Pierce ammo! I don’t care as long as it’s not rank one normal!”

“Fine! Got it! I’m a dumbass! Thanks for sharing!”

The pukei pukei had now regained its footing after its charge, and had turned back toward Rarity. Oddly, though, it was not advancing, but only looking at her while making odd head movements. Rarity watched it carefully, taking the opportunity to quickly review and switch her ammo.

“Thunder it is.”

She looked back up, the pukei pukei was opening its mouth. Something about that action didn’t seem right… she tried to remember what she had read about them, and her eyes shot open. “Oh fuck.”

She immediately ran from where she was standing and jumped as far clear of the area as she could; a moment later a noxiously purple glob of slime was vomited up onto the spot where she had been standing, doubtless the poison which she had read about.

“Try to shoot the toxin sac under its head!” Cinnamon yelled.

“Right!” Rarity took to her knee and fired electrically charged ammo, striking the pukei pukei in the neck, right where the discolored sac hung.

The monster reeled from the shots, howling in fury.

“Yes! Nice shot! Now it can only spew it from the tail, and they only do that backward in an arc, so as long as you stay out of that area, you should be safe from poison!” Cinnamon cheered.

Rarity stared at the creature, which was now stomping and shrieking in anger.

“Uh, what does it mean when it raises its tail above it like a scorpion?”

Cinnamon looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean? They don’t do that…”

“AND IT’S GLOWING RED. WHY IS IT GLOWING RED?”

Cinnamon’s head snapped forward so fast that Rarity could practically hear the crack it made.

“SHIT! IT’S AN ABERRANT! RARITY, YOU LED US TO A FUCKING ABERRANT!”

The wyvern screeched again, and its tail pulsed violently, spewing out a large cloud of huge purple poison droplets. However, instead of spraying out or falling, these droplets hung in the air in a haze of red. Both Rarity and Cinnamon stared at them for a moment, confused as to what was happening. Confused, at least, until the droplets separated and began heading directly for each of them.

“Run!” Cinnamon yelled.

“Like you need to tell me!” Rarity snapped.

They both scrambled madly, trying to move out of the way of the incoming poison, but regardless of where they turned, it followed and gained quickly. Within a short matter of seconds Rarity felt a burning hot wetness sizzle into her skin, followed by a sickening nausea that seemed to eat at her body from the inside. A pained mewl from nearby told her that she was not alone.

“Faan… gave you antidotes, right?” Cinnamon asked in a pained voice.

Rarity’s head swam, and she could feel her muscles weakening and spasming as the poison seeped through her system. “Yeah, she did…” she said in a wavering voice. She rummaged through her pack, finding two of the bottles. She gave a small smile. With difficulty, she removed a stopper and drank the contents of one.

As with the potion, she was shocked to find how immediate and complete the effects were. She was left feeling no worse for wear, completely refreshed and as though she could start an entire battle all over again. This must be how those hunters do it, I guess. Magic in a bottle, a little energy drink, I guess. She raced over to where Cinnamon lay writhing and pressed the other bottle to the felyne’s lips, rejuvenating her instantaneously.

Their momentary break was already over, though, as the glowing monster was already upon them. They broke apart to either side of the pukei pukei, leaving it between them as it charged.

“Rowrity! Do you have slicing ammo?” Cinnamon called.

Rarity thought back. “Yeah, actually, I do!”

“Awesome! Shoot its tail with that! Until your ammo or its tail is gone, whichever is first! I’ll pull its attention to get its back toward you!”

“Got it!”

Rarity pulled out and swapped the clip, then unloaded several shells on the pukei pukei’s tail as soon as Cinnamon had it turned. The shells, however, just thudded into the tail with a dull thunk, and Rarity stared quizzically for a moment.

“I don’t think I understand how these are supposed to work, Cinnamon…” she called.

Suddenly a blast rang out from the shells, and multiple large blades of shrapnel ripped through the wyvern’s tail from each shell, causing it to momentarily collapse to the ground and making Rarity shriek in alarm.

“No,” laughed Cinnamon, “I don’t think you do.”

A devilish smile played across Rarity’s face. “Sticky ammo just lost its place as my favorite.” She reloaded her clip and fired several more rounds with a manic laugh before the pukei pukei had a chance to recover. The monster flailed its glowing tail, catching Rarity in the legs as one of the shells exploded. One piece of the resulting shrapnel caught her leg; it was a glancing hit, but it was enough to cause a deep gash, and blood spilled quickly.

“SHIT! FUCK!” Rarity gasped in pain, crawling away from the writhing monster and digging in her bag, looking for anything she had that could help staunch the wound. She grabbed a potion, unstoppered it and drank it down, watching as the wound shrank and began to heal… and then stopped healing. It was mostly healed, but there was still a small gash, and that was still bleeding profusely. What was more, the area around it seemed to be bruising at an alarming rate.

“Cinnamon!" she screamed in near hysteria, “the potion isn’t working! Why isn’t it working?”

“They can only do so much!” Cinnamon called back. “You don’t have anything else that can help?”

Rarity’s mind raced, then she dug frantically through the bag. Fishfishfishfishfish. With a triumphant cry she grabbed a small packet labeled “Sushifish-dried”, ripped it open, and ate it as fast as she could. It was dry, it was salty, it tasted horrible, and it immediately stopped her bleeding, bruising, and caused the last of the gash to close. She stood, shouldering her bowgun, and unloaded another clip into the pukei pueki’s tail as it regained its footing. Several large blasts rang out followed by a deafening shriek and a heavy thump; the tail of the beast fell severed to the forest floor and its noxious poison seeped slowly away. The pukei pukei let out a furious yet piteous growl and wheeled away; it glowed an even brighter red than before and began to limp away at an incredible speed.

“Shit! It’s running!” Cinnamon cursed.

“We can’t let it get away!” Rarity shouted. “If we can kill it, it would be the first aberrant successfully hunted, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, but we’re never going to find it!” Cinnamon lamented.

Rarity’s horn lit up brightly. “I found it once, I’ll find it again! Come on!”

They raced through the forest, making twists and turns; more than once they had to scale rock faces that the wyvern had evidently flown up past.

“It’s close by,” Rarity whispered. She pointed to a large cavern in a nearby mountainous rise. “It’s in there, and it’s not moving around.”

“It’s probably sleeping, then.” Cinnamon responded. “Monsters tend to sleep to recover when wounded.”

“Then let’s make sure it doesn’t wake up.” Rarity said grimly.

They crept closer, peering into the cave to see the luminescent form of the pukei pukei in the center of the floor, sleeping quietly. Rarity paused for a moment, halting Cinnamon with an outstretched arm.

“Hold on. I just remembered something Jorahn taught me about these bowguns.” She mouthed. “Wyvernblasts.”

Cinnamon’s expression registered surprise, then she grinned wickedly and nodded.

Rarity pulled out her ammo clips and pawed through them again, then silently cheered as she found what she was looking for. She pointed to the clip: rank three shrapnel. She loaded the clip and snuck up to the sleeping monster; stealthily, she planted the barrel of the bowgun into the floor lightly and fired a secondary trigger. A much larger shell dislodged and stuck in the ground, staying behind and blinking an angry red as she lifted her bowgun away.

One down, two to go.

She moved a short way away and repeated the process, once again right next to the sleeping monster, then again a little further along its body, then snuck back to Cinnamon. She took a moment to inspect her handiwork: a sleeping, glowing pukei pukei surrounded by three blinking, highly explosive shells that she was about to shoot with several blasts of shrapnel. Life was good. Well, hers was. The pukei pukei’s wasn’t. Not for much longer.

She grinned, savoring the moment, then lifted her bowgun.

“Rise and shine!" she yelled, shooting the wyvernblast charges, which exploded immediately. She emptied the clip while the fire from the blasts faded to see the form of the pukei pukei standing, but only just barely. It stumbled toward her, lurching in her direction; she jumped as it did, landing on its neck and clinging to its feathery scales. She pulled herself around while it shook itself violently, trying to rid itself of its new rider, but she held fast, grasping its long skinny neck with her legs as she reached into her belt and retrieved her large hunting knife, then plunged it deep into the beast’s neck at the base of its skull. It shook uncontrollably, and she lifted the knife and drove it in again, and again. Repeatedly, she stabbed the monster in varying places in the neck and head until it finally gave a massive shudder and listed to one side slowly. Rarity loosened her grip and jumped off just as the wyvern toppled, hitting the earth with a heavy thud.

Rarity stood over the body of the pukei pukei, watching as its red glow slowly began to fade. Her breathing was long and labored, but she had a large grin and looked every bit like the triumphant hunter she was.

Cinnamon stood behind her, cheering silently as her friend made her official transition to hunter, whether she had intended to or not. Not only had she succeeded in a hunt, but she had accomplished the previously impossible; she had successfully hunted, and possibly more importantly, tracked, an aberrant. The implications were more than significant. A thought occurred to her.

“Can you still sense it, now that it’s dead?”

“I have no idea, actually,” Rarity said. “Hold on.” Her horn brightened momentarily, then dimmed. She nodded. “Clear as day. This is beyond odd.”

“I’d recommend carving off some materials, both for crafting and for proof.” Cinnamon offered. “We should also make markers on our way back so they can find where the monster is. They’re going to want to study it once they find out about it.”

“Right. Let’s try to find our way back to its tail, too. I could probably get a few materials out of that as well, gross as it may be.” Rarity pulled a disgusted face, but still smirked afterward. She walked over to the creature’s corpse, produced her carving knife and went to work, cutting off sections of hide and wing membranes, moved to the pukei pukei’s head and removed what she could of the toxin sac under its head, then stood.

“I think that’s the best of the useful stuff I can get that’s not damaged,” she announced. “I think I’m going to count today as a successful outing. Now let’s go home, I’m absolutely exhausted.”

**********

Rarity and Cinnamon trudged into town in the late evening, looking worn and beaten. Their hunt had taken more energy out of them than they had realized, and it only became more apparent once the adrenaline surge of the kill wore off. Rarity’s hair and tail drooped low, her hooves were caked with mud, her armor was askew in places, and she let her arms hang limply from overexertion. Cinnamon’s appearance could best be summed up as haggard.

“Oi! You two look a mess! I thought you were just going out to gather shit! What, did a bush jump out and bite you?” Sydreol called from the canteen, putting down his drink and taking his time to wander over. Once he got near enough to get a proper look, his laughter changed to awed fascination. “Holy shit! The fuck happened to you guys? You look like you got put through a meat grinder!”

“Ran into an aberrant.” Cinnamon said flatly.

“Shit…” Sydreol drawled. “You’re lucky you got away with your lives.”

“Killed an aberrant.” Rarity said grimly.

Sydreol stared at her wordlessly, then slowly turned to Cinnamon. Both of them stared back at him with stony, expressionless faces. He smiled nervously. “Ha ha, guys, good one. Almost had me there. That’s one hell of a poker face, by the way, remind me not to play cards with you.”

Rarity reached in her bag, then tossed the toxin sac and a large piece of hide on the ground at Sydreol’s feet.

“It was a pukei pukei.” She said apathetically.

“Holy fuck!” Sydreol blanched. “You’re not shitting me, are you?”

“Apparently I could track it, too. No idea if it would work with others, but I was trying to find ore and it led us to the pukei pukei instead.” Rarity deadpanned.

“This is messed up. We gotta get Leonys and Cyr right away. They both need to know, and now. Do you think you could go get-“

His sentence was cut short as Rarity collapsed on the ground in front of him, lightly breathing as she slept.

“Maybe that can wait for a minute,” he said quietly. “How about we get you home, first?" he put the pukei pukei parts back in her bag and scooped her up, walked her back home, placed her in bed, and went with Cinnamon to inform the others.