Silver and Scold
Applejack was the first to finish carving, pocketing the scales as she stood, whipping off her hat and wiping her brow with her forearm.
"Well, that was a might more difficult than it should've been," she said, letting her eyes trace the gleaming, limp figure in front of her. A Silver Rathalos; quite the fierce one, it was. It had arrived in the colorful forest a few days ago and disrupted the ecosystem, and Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were quickly assigned to neutralize it by Twilight, their handler.
In the process, Applejack and Rainbow Dash both were knocked out by the Silver Rathalos; the former took a fireball to chest and the latter fell to poison.
The Rathalos itself surely had seen better, alive-er days. The membrane in its wings were shredded, making it a miracle the monster could stay airbourne. Severed tail, a thousand bone-deep cuts along the length of its radiant body, hundreds of fractured bones, its face reeked of gunpowder, and even if the monster had lived, thirteen flash bombs would've made it blinder than a Khezu.
"Of course, darling," said Rarity, having just finished her carving of the body. "A true king of the sun would never prove to be trifling."
"And if it was, it wouldn't be as fun!" chimed Pinkie.
"That ain't what I'm talking 'bout. I was referring to Rainbow Dash always colliding into me."
"Oh, come on," Rainbow objected from across the Rathalos' corpse, "At least I know how to roll out of the way, unlike someone."
"I couldn't roll out of the way because you kept trippin' me!"
Rainbow hopped over the Rathalos and closed the distance between her and Applejack. "Maybe you shouldn't have gotten close to me!"
"I have a hammer, Rainbow! The head is where I'm supposed to be! Your dual blades are best trying to cut its tail!"
"Girls! Girls! Stop your bickering this instant!" Rarity wedged herself between them, forcing them to stand an armspan away. "The Silver Rathalos is dead, we completed the quest Twilight gave us, and that's all that matters!"
From out of nowhere, Pinkie dropped onto the group and pulled them into a group hug by the neck. "That's not all! I also have the ruby I needed to complete another greatsword!"
Rainbow pulled herself from the constrictor-like grip, which Pinkie then loosened on everyone. "Yeah, and I have to live with fainting to poison. I'm too awesome to fall to something as slow as poison!"
"Then maybe you should've brought antidotes!"
"I did, but I used them all up! It wouldn't have been a problem if someone had brought a horn that cured poison instead of a stupid lute."
Rarity let off an offended scoff. "Pardon if I thought stategically to bring Amatsu's lute so to prevent fireblight, bolster our resistances, and keep us from flinching from every roar and beat of the Rathalos' wings!"
"How about something more useful, like stamina and attack boosts! Something to kill it faster!"
"Hmph! Then you remember that the next time you need drinks because you forgot them!" Rarity stomped over to retrieve her rucksack and started through the grove in the direction of camp.
"Ugh," Rainbow snatched her rucksack and slug it over her shoulder. She cast a disdainful glance back at Applejack. "Way to go, AJ."
"Me?!" Applejack called as Rainbow walked after Rarity. "How's this my fault?" She grabbed her sack and took off.
"Because if you didn't say anything, this wouldn't have started in the first place!"
Pinkie Pie stood alone in the middle of the clearing, glancing back at the severed tail shimmering blindingly in the afternoon sun. No one but her had carved it.
"Um, girls?"
But the rest of her group had already fallen out of earshot, so she shrugged and half-ran, half-skipped after them. She caught up with them on the part of the trail where the overgrowth became its most dense. Rarity was much farther ahead, the stark white of her armor easy to see racing along the earthy green wall of vines.
Naturally, Applejack and Rainbow had continued their arguing.
"Well, pardon me if I felt like I needed to say something 'bout your glory-hogging," Applejack said.
"'Glory-hogging'? How is doing my job and hunting the monster glory-hogging?"
"Because you keep trying to do everything and go everywhere all at once, instead of keeping to where you're best suited. And you're always tripping people up, particularly me and Rares."
"Oh, like you're not at fault for that last one?" Rainbow retorted. She drew her dual blades from her back, holding them together at an arm's length, and twirled ahead of Applejack and Pinkie. "'Monster's down! Ah gotta spin mah hammer 'round with no regard for mah fellow hunters!'"
"What?! It's a reliable attack for damage! And the upswing is great for knockouts!"
"Yeah, but each time you do it, I have to duck underneath it!"
"Then stay away from the head, unless y'all have a hammer or a horn!"
They had reached the narrow vine wall. Pinkie practically bound up the wall, while Applejack and Rainbow took to climbing it deliberately with Applejack above Rainbow.
Rainbow huffed. "Will you move it? We don't have all day!"
"I'm moving as fast as I can!"
Rainbow rolled her eyes and grabbed onto the belt of Applejack's waist piece for leverage as she hoisted herself up and over Applejack.
"What in the hell are you doing?!"
"Climbing over you," Rainbow replied matter-of-factly as she placed her hands on Applejack's shoulders.
"Dash, the vines are-"
The vines Applejack had ahold of snapped. The girls plummeted a good fifteen feet, knocking the wind out of both of them as they hit the ground with a resounding thud and rolled away in opposite directions sputtering and coughing.
"Dammit, Rainbow!" Applejack swore as she stood and picked up her hat, dusting it off.
"Hey, those vines were strong enough to hold your fat ass, so how I was supposed to know what little weight I have would make a difference!"
"I'm not fat, I'm toned. Unlike you, I'm not spinning around with a couple of stupid toothpicks!"
Rainbow scoffed. "And you wield a dumb rock on a stick!" She crouched down, bouncing and jumping around and grunting like a Congalala. "Rock hit monster! Ooo, ooo!"
Applejack calmly pulled her weapon out, her right hand squeezing the upper part of the grip. "This rock is gonna find itself slappin' you across the head in a second."
"Ha! Like your lame rock can even hit me-Whoa!" Rainbow juked out of the way of Applejack's hammer coming at her with a sideswipe. She backed up and shrugged off her blades. "Alright, you wanna go, then let's go, Moofah."
Applejack charged at her with an overhead swing. Rainbow sidestepped and attempted to slice at Applejack with a cross-cut, but the hammer's follow-up, an upswing, caught her mid-step, sending Rainbow flying into a thicket of Nulberries. She was quick to her feet, however.
"Alright, if that's how it's going to be..." Rainbow’s face visibly darkened as she clacked her blades together. She turned over the blades in her hand and dashed out of the thicket, keeping low to the ground, toward Applejack. Applejack in turn stood her ground, holding her hammer behind her as her arm bulges from the stress.
As the distance between the two narrowed and just as the two were about to clash, a cluster shot struck the ground at their feet and detonated. The explosion knocked both hunters off their feet and to the ground. Their fight was forgotten in the moment as they peered up at the origin of the shot atop the vine wall. Pinkie stood, her heavy bowgun out and loaded.
"Enough!" she roared as loud and forceful as a Tigrex. She leapt down from her perch, landing between Applejack and Rainbow.
"Pinkie, what in tar-"
"Quiet, you! Rarity and I have been hearing both of you argue all day, and it's about to stop!" Pinkie held her bowgun in front of her threateningly; another cluster shot was ready for the next protesting person. "Rarity was right earlier. Even if you were terrible today, we still completed the quest! We hunted and killed a Silver Rathalos! Instead of fighting, you should be smiling!" Pinkie donned a huge grin and held up up her hands. The heavy bowgun dropped to the ground, and Rainbow and Applejack jumped as a wide cluster shot was sent off into the trees. "You should be smiling that we succeeded relatively unscatched and none of us became a Rathy Snack! And you should be smiling that Twilight had enough confidence in us to give us the assignment in the first place! And we didn't earn that confidence by fighting each other. Now smile and make up, or..." Pinkie reached into her gunner's pouch and pulled out another clip of cluster ammo and loaded it into the bowgun. The click of the clip locking into place sent the girls scrambling to their feet, leaving their weapons on the ground as they approached each other.
A "Look..." and a "Listen..." was said simultaneously, almost as if it was the voice echoing on itself. A laugh was shared, and Applejack made a gesture for Rainbow to continue.
"Listen, I'm sorry I called your hammer a dumb rock on a stick. If you hadn't knocked out the Silver Rath all those times, it would've taken us a lot longer to kill it."
"And I'm sorry for calling your dual blades toothpicks. They made real mincemeat outta the Rathalos. So...bygones?"
"Yeah." They grabbed each other's forearm and shook on it. Rainbow turned to Pinkie propped up by her bowgun. "Better now?"
"Better, yes, but you're not done yet!" Pinkie replied as she threw a finger into the air before redirecting it to Rainbow. "You still have someone else to apologize to."
Rainbow rolled her eyes as she made for the vine wall. "Fine, let's just get it over with."
* * *
When the girls arrived at camp, Rarity was sitting inside the tent canopy as Twilight-hair pulled up, glasses on-poured her another cup of tea. It was definitely her fourth or fifth, by how she skipped the sugar and took the drink raw and bitter. They had been conversing on how the hunt went after Rainbow carted and left to return to the fray.
"Girls! You finally made it!" Twilight cheered as she finally saw Pinkie bound into existence at the entrance, followed by Rainbow and Applejack. "What took you all so long?"
"It's nothing, Twi, just had a moment." Applejack's answer caused their handler to furrow her brow. Rainbow moved past them and stopped at Rarity's table. Rarity tilted her head upward to look at her from across her nose.
"Yes, darling?" A long sip of the tea.
"I'm sorry, for getting mad about you bringing Amatsu's lute. It..." Rainbow trailed off as something on her greaves caught her eye momentarily. "It was a good strategy, and I appreciate it."
Rarity returned the empty tea cup to the saucer on the table, nodding slowly, thoughtfully. "You know my rule about your apologies, Rainbow Dash."
"Y-Yeah."
"And?"
A sigh. "Go ahead."
Rainbow folded her arms behind her back and stood as straight as possible; it usually lessened the shock.
"Ah, ah, you know I want eyes closed. It's what makes it fun for me."
Rainbow gulped and followed the order just as Rarity removed her right vambrace to reveal a smooth, flawless hand and maroon nails. Rarity clenched the hand into a fist and released it, giving her fingers a playful wiggle.
The hand struck fast, like an angry Najarala, delivering a fierce backhanded slap to Rainbow's right cheek. Rainbow hissed and brought a hand to the slightly bruising flesh, only to regret the action immediately.
"You are now forgiven," Rarity said as the vambrace was slipped back onto her arm.
"Here you go, Dashie!" A cold drink was pressed against her cheek, soothing the rising heat within it.
"Thanks, Pinkie. So we good?" Pinkie gave an exuberate thumbs-up. "Great." Rainbow trudged over to the massive bed in the camp and let herself fall on it.
There was a deafening roar, causing everyone present to jump.
"Oh shut up!" Rainbow cried in agitation.
"What on earth was that?" Rarity asked.
"Sounded like a Rathian," Twilight replied, scratching the underside of her chin. "Considering Rathians are often found close to their mates and the only Rathalos in this area was the Silver one just slain, we may very well have an angry, golden queen to deal with now."
Another roar from within the colorful forest sounded, agreeing with Twilight's hypothesis.
And the four hunters groaned.