Bloodying the Spear
Imre stood up on all fours, squinting into the burning mess in front of her. The other equines around her trembled as she took several pensive steps forward. At last, the cloud of burning mana cleared, revealing the hulking body of the Ursa Major lying on its belly. The creature was wheezing with labored breaths, its forehead pulsing with an aching blue light. Rivulets of glittering essence dripped down from its skull, like some celestial equivalent of blood.
The unicorn's eyes traveled all around the bear. She shuddered to see nothing but sizzling rock and smoking debris. Then, at last...
"Rainbow..."
She trotted over towards the steaming figure that was lying before the Ursa.
Just then, a hoof with a half-melted horseshoe lifted up, gesturing for her to stop.
Imre froze in her tracks, biting her lips.
With a stifled groan, Rainbow Dash stood up on wobbly limbs. Her armor was eaten away in several places by huge burn marks. Her visor had shattered, and a chattering pair of teeth could be seen through the broken mouthpiece. In one swift motion, Rainbow Dash tore the helmet off, shaking loose her mane and staring at the collapsed creature with a bruised face.
The Ursa hissed, stirred, and tried to get up.
Imre gulped. She stammered, "Rainbow—"
"Shhhh..." Rainbow's ruby eyes were firm as she trotted over to the Ursa's skull.
The bear glared at her. It started to growl, energy returning to its aching limbs.
Undaunted, Rainbow stared it in the face and raised a hoof to her pendant. Rubbing the lightning bolt, she summoned a deep crimson glow from within. Soon, the middle of the arena shone with a ruby aura.
The Ursa flinched at first. Then, after several blinks, its ears folded back. A breath of calm waxed over the creature's pained muscles, and its breaths turned into audible whimpers.
Rainbow Dash exhaled. A tender smile came to her lips. She even reached out and rubbed the top of the immense Ursa's nose.
The bloodshedding was over.
Needless to say, the metal mares above were hissing and booing as loudly as they could at this point. Imre and the other equines glanced about nervously as the audience stomped and clattered in protest.
Terra was frowning the most out of all of them. She glanced to her side. Roarke glanced up at her, and though she may not necessarily have been smiling, it made little difference to the larger mare. With a hiss, Terra popped a poleaxe loose from her armor and prepared to leap out into the arena.
A long, metal-reinforced limb held Terra at bay.
The large mare spun about, blinking.
Lady Pestiferous shared a calm glance with her. Wheezing, she stood up on long, wobbly limbs and gestured towards the guards flanking her. Two of them nodded and spoke into soundstones.
A few seconds later, a loud hiss emanated from the middle of the arena. Rainbow Dash, Imre, and the other victims stepped back as a platform opened up beneath the Ursa. With labored breaths, the enormous bear gladly crawled on shivering limbs and retreated down the lowering platform as it took it back to whatever abysmal holding area the Searonese had long built for it. As the arena floor closed behind it, Imre trotted over to Rainbow Dash.
"Not that we're gonna be alive long enough to care, but just what's your secret?" the unicorn asked her with squinting eyes. "What's the power behind that pendant of yours?"
"To be frank, I'm still figuring it out myself," Rainbow said as she adjusted the weight of the pendant around her neck. "Still, it's always around when I need it, especially when there's something more powerful than butt kicking to fix a given situation."
"Yeah? Like what?"
Rainbow gulped and said, "Loyalty."
"'Loyalty,' huh...?" Imre glanced up as a metal set of stairs unfolded down from Pestiferous' throne and landed on the arena floor. "Something tells me we could use an extra dash of that pretty soon."
Rainbow shuddered as she saw Pestiferous, Roarke, and Terra trotting down the steps. "Tell me about it." She cracked the joints in her neck and coiled her limbs. "Alright, how do you wanna do this?"
"Uhhhhhhhhhh..." Imre thoughtlessly droned.
"Whatever." Rainbow frowned as she set her sights on the three mares. "I'll take on the big one—" Right before she could spring into action, four loud thuds emanated on all sides of her. Rainbow grunted as four guards lassoed her in an instant, shoving her to the ground.
Imre gasped—only to have two more guards land and force her to her knees besides Rainbow.
Six more guards landed, circling the trembling stallion. Every remaining soul in the arena was forced to sit—including the diamond dog, who growled in defiance until a spear smacked him in the head.
"Nnngh..." Rainbow Dash hissed, struggling under the weight of the metal mares. "Celestia, I hate the kind of crud I can't skip through." A spidery metal limb grinded into the floor right in front of her. She tilted her head up, her ruby eyes reflecting Pestiferous' spindly body. "Uhm, hello there. And ew."
"Hckkkkkt... A mare of few wordssssshhh... a mare of true wordsssssh..." Pestiferous turned to glance loomingly at Roarke. "You sssssshcertain that thissssssh is your half-blade?"
Roarke avoided her gaze. A pair of lenses retracted as she opened her mouth to speak.
Imre interrupted, "Is this your way of saying 'thanks,' Roarke?" She spat. "You bring a battered pegasus to my doorstop to be patched together and then you feed us to the wolves?!"
"Shut it, runt!" Terra growled down at the unicorn. "You're in the presence of a Lady!"
"Yeah, no doubt you ate her!" Imre retorted.
"Why you—" Terra made to smashe her horn off with a meaty hoof.
"Ssssshilence, Terra," Pestiferous growled. "We all know that thissssssh is not about you..."
Terra stepped back, frowning the whole time. She stood up straight as Pestiferous raised her elongated hooves, forcing the leering, jeering crowd into silence. Pacing, the diseased mare threw her words towards Roarke.
"Ssssssshuch curiousssssh bedfellowsssh that you associate with, my little pony. Hckkkkktt—One takesssssh after your brainsssssh, and the other takesssssh after your guile." Pestiferous took a long, wheezing breath. She swiveled and glared with filmy eyes. "What a hard decision it would be to choossssssshe which of the two is the weakesssssht."
Roarke silently glanced up.
"Oh, that have you forgotten?" Pestiferous cocked her masked face aside. "That wasssssssh what this whole exerisssssshe was about, after all. While this pair of maressssssh may be fortuitousssssh, they are still a blight upon the womb of Shhhhhearo, and our goddesssssh only standsssssh to have children who will not sssssshame her. The function of a Top Ssssssshpear is to skewer and dessssstroy that which breaksssssh the mold of a perfect warrior. To fail in thisssssh regard is a weaknesssssh unto itsssshelf."
Terra smirked. She glanced over at Roarke.
Roarke said nothing, merely staring at the shivering bodies of Rainbow and Imre.
Pestiferous wheezed. She tilted her head about and motioned at a guard.
Immediately, the guard popped loose a panel in her armor and produced a manarifle. She tossed it at the Top Spear.
With ease, Pestiferous extended several tiny digits from her metal limb and grasped the rifle by its trigger. She held it out to Imre's forehead.
Imre inhale sharply, freezing.
Roarke's jaw clenched.
But nothing happened...
Pestiferous slowly tilted her head to glance at the lens-eyed mare. "Shhhho... tell me, Roarke mossssst Rare... who isssssh the weakesssssht here?" She pivoted, planting the gun against Rainbow's head. "The athlete?" She aimed it at Imre again. "Or the academic...?"
Roarke's body rose and fell with heady breaths.
"You musssssht chooooossshe..." Pestiferous said in a cold, cold tone. Her eyes narrowed above her vaporous mask. "To be a true Top Spear... to be the mare that thissssssh society needssssssh... you musssssssht make the sacrifice that you failed to do when your mother once sssssshtood in front of you..."
Imre shut her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.
Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, glaring daggers Roarke's way.
Roarke finally tilted her head back, allowing her ringlet'd mane to flounce around her neck as she somberly said, "Kill them." She gulped. "Kill them both."
Rainbow Dash and Imre exhaled coldly.
Terra smiled.
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uh...
Well damn. I told ya so, filly. I told ya so!
In other news, remember this incident, my little Searonese, and remember it well: you are ants crawling through mud before the powers of harmony. Watch and learn.
Ceterum censeo Searinem delendam esse.
BETRAYAL.
DOUBLE-KILL
Well so much for the loyalty you were hoping for.
I doubt that she's going to manage to kill either of them, now.
well. Fuck.
Maybe this is all part of some ruse so that Dash and Imre can both escape? I'm not sure how, but by not choosing she makes it so they both have to fight for their lives, instead of one giving up (or being shot point blank before they can do anything about it) and one breathing a guilty sigh of relief. Maybe a tag team effort will allow them to escape? Not that Dash would have left Imre hanging if she could help it, anyway, but Roarke may not have known that. That, or Roarke is actually only out for herself, now, but it seems at odds with her character. Still, self preservation is a strong instinct when you aren't Rainbow Dash, so its hard to say. Welp, one more chapter to go - onward!
Ah, secret option C... all of the above!
Perfect cliffhanger.
Let's dash up the rainbow report!
DO WHAT?! Damnit Roarke! When few other commentators were willing to admit they liked you because of what a jerk you were being, I stood right by you! You better make up for this somehow! Now that I'm done my rant, onto the chapter. It's relatively short, although we do get quite the cliffhanger plus a bit more exposition on the amulet. Apparently it's capable of soothing dying creatures? That's pretty useful, especially when somepony like Dash doesn't like to kill. But the mane question for me, is why none of the metal mares freaked out at what they just saw? I mean, they saw the amulet in action, rainbow's mane, and even heard Imre announce that Dash is a pegasus (in case her wings weren't visible, I couldn't tell)! But nope, Pestifirous is just like "Oh, just another normal day in my Searonese kingdom." Can't wait to see how Dash pulls herself out of this hell-hole though!
True loyalty never dies.
Out of the frying pan and into the boiling vat of rubber - seems RBD just can't seem to catch a break from those whacky Searonese customs.
In other related news: BETRA-...aww, monkey nuts!
Cool.
A message from MASH
Zzz...five more minutes...I'll do an extra evaluation tomorrow...zzz...
15 weeks later Edit-
Guess what? I somehow managed to forget to do it entirely. Go team.
(It'llneverhappenagainIpromisedaddypleasedon'thurtme)
Gah, and I was beginning to like Roarke, and now, it's all for bloody nothing....
Screw you Roarke, screw you royally. I hope you die a long, slow, painful death, filled with agony.
Let's face it, Dash is going to get out of this somehow, right?
Onwards!
Mare, I am disappoint.
Still making my way to the current chapters of the story. An amazing fight this whole segment of chapters has been so far.
My only other thought for this chapter is that somehow Roarke's answer may be what Pestiforous wanted to hear.
2519348 psst hey Dashie. That was 15 weeks ago you posted this with no full evaluation on this chapter. I'm assuming you forgot? I'm used to reading your evaluations so get to it, this chapter is long overdue.
3056971Wait...
Oh, dear. I'm in a bit of a dilemma. Hm.
Go back and read it again, and thanks a bundle for telling me that. Wow...that never happens to me...
Uh oh, again.
Yes. All those faces were needed.
Deal with it.
Now, hopefully Roarke has a very good plan...
-Spirit
Well, Roarke, I don't know what your plan is, but . . . it better be a damned good one. In the end, Dash is going to kick some ass.
you'd be a snuff fetishist's greatest teaser, IC
Well, Disk 5 is done. Moving along...
fuck, I might finish all of the rainbow tapes this week, at this rate...
Yeah, roarke is gonna get her ass whooped.
How are they getting out of this one?
She's got a plan. She must, or else we'll need a new protagonist.
And once again Searonese society is demonstrated to be terrible.
Please tell me there's a backup plan.
Sorry girl, there's just the one.
What fourth wall?
Oh whew, for a moment there I...
Hey wait!
Huh...so a cosmic creature understands harmony.
Nifty
Yeah, like that's uappening
I wasn't sure if I should include the centipede in Eljunbyro as a boss fight, being rather brief and non-sapient.
This.
This counted as a boss.
Round 2! Victory
Round 3?