Four teens, two from Equestria and two born and raised on Remnant, join Beacon Academy in Vale to become Huntsmen and Huntresses. Together, they'll face the darkness and strive to bring Harmony to Remnant.
Sunset Shimmer left Equestria through the Mirror Portal when she was ten years old in search of the destiny Celestia sought to deny her. But upon entering the world of Remnant as a Pony Faunus, instead of glory and power she found nothing but darkness, racism, and division. After a string of events caused her to open her eyes and realize the error of her ways, she decides to dedicate her life to protecting those who can't protect themselves, as a Huntress.
Twilight Sparkle wakes up in Remnant as a Pony Faunus after she completes Starswirl the Bearded's unfinished spell and... Honestly she doesn't remember anything after that. After meeting Sunset Shimmer, she discovers that the Mirror Portal Sunset used to get to Remnant won't open for quite some time. But after seeing the situation the people of this world are going through she decides to help them fight the darkness, Grimm and Human alike, and joins Sunset in becoming a Huntress.
Flash Sentry had his life torn apart twice; once when he was five when the Grimm slaughtered his family. The second when the White Fang nearly murdered him for trying to be a hero. They even went so far as to take away his wings and break his spine. Barely surviving and being put back together using experimental technology, he began training himself to fight and become a Huntsman.
Logan Timbers is a Wolf Faunus, a lonely orphan wandering across Remnant looking for his family. This journey has led him across several continents and through several villages that had been ravaged by Grimm. After saving a young girl, an orphan like himself, Logan decides to become a Huntsman so that nobody else has to lose their family. And maybe find his own while he's at it.
All of their paths cross at Beacon Academy in Vale, and together they and two other teams are thrust onto the first part of arguably the greatest adventure they could ever imagine. A journey that shall bring them face to face with darkness the likes of which they have never encountered.
Sometimes all it takes is a spark to ignite a blazing fire within your heart.
And as you leave the ashes of your past behind, you rise as a Phoenix in the sky.
-The Outskirts of the Emerald Forest-
A young girl of seventeen sat on the edge of a cliff. She seemed normal enough at first glance, wearing a simple leather jacket with a red stripe on each sleeve and a red and gold sun emblazoned on the back. The jacket was open, revealing a light blue t-shirt. She wore simple blue jeans, if you didn't count the knife sheath strapped to her right thigh (complete with a knife.) Attached to her belt was a moderate sized pouch, which didn't seem to weigh that much considering what she had packed in it. The boots she wore were worn down and had clearly seen better days. She was easily identifiable as a faunus by the pony ears that stuck out of the top of her head, as well as her tail. But the most eye-catching thing about her would have to be her hair that matched her tail, both a mix of vibrant red and shining gold.
Her name was Sunset Shimmer.
Below her sprawled the Emerald Forest, a seemingly normal patch of woodland located right next to Beacon Academy. But if you were to actually walk among its trees, you'd find that the forest was home to many different species of the Creatures of Grimm. From what she'd heard it housed anything from Beowulves to Ursa Majors to Deathstalkers, and if the rumors were to be believed, a Giant Nevermore. It was typically used by the teachers at Beacon Academy to train their students.
But Sunset didn't care about any of that right now. She only came to see the view.
It wasn't often Sunset Shimmer got to enjoy the object of her namesake, the sunset. As the sun slowly began its descent, the sky would light up in brilliant red and gold hues, bathing the landscape in a natural beauty that no painting or photo could ever truly capture.
Sadly the moment was ruined when she heard screaming coming from within the forest, followed by a series of howls that she instantly recognized. "Beowulves."
Rising to her feet she grabbed her weapon off the ground. It was called Solaris Phoenix; a large red and gold Zweihander, easily five feet in length from the tip to the cross-guard. But after she pushed a button on the hilt it transformed into a double-barrel shotgun that was loaded revolver-style, allowing it to hold up to six shells at a time. Opening her pouch, she took note of her inventory. She counted 120 12-Gauge shotgun shells, which came in several different colors to show what kind of dust they were filled with. Except for the plain white ones that weren't filled with dust, but rather with her favorite solid steel buckshot. While it couldn't do much on larger Grimm or Grimm with heavier armor, they worked pretty well for your usual run of the mill Grimm.
Plus the buckshot was a helluva lot cheaper to buy than Dust.
A smile worked its way on her face as she pulled out six of the white shells and loaded them into Solaris Phoenix's six chambers, then slipped it into the holster on her back.
Standing at the edge, she spread her arms wide and allowed her self to fall off the cliff. As she sped towards the ground a red glow began to surround her body, rapidly slowing her fall until she gently touched down on the forest floor. Pulling Solaris Phoenix off her back she took off running through the forest towards the Beowulf howls.
As she ran she immediately noticed the claw marks on the trees. But she also noticed slash marks that weren't from claws, but from blades. As well as several bullet holes from what she assumed were a pair of pistols judging by the number of said holes. Their owner screamed again, and Sunset picked up the pace.
Eventually she came to her destination.
She counted one, two, twelve Beowulves; all of them surrounding a large tree and looking up at the branches just out of their reach. Sunset figured whoever had screamed was hiding up there. One Beowulf dug its claws into the trunk and attempted to climb up-
"Bad dog!" Click! Ka-BOOM!
-only for its head to get blasted into coleslaw and its corpse falling to the ground and fading away into dust.
The rest of the pack turned to see Sunset standing there, Solaris Phoenix's twin barrels smoking. Smiling, she asked "Anybody else want some?"
One particularly brave (or foolish) Beowulf charged at her, but Sunset sidestepped it and blasted a shell right in its chest, leaving a nice hole the size of a dinner plate. As it faded into nothingness, she fired the other shell into another Beowulf's waist, both halves fading away. She heard a Beowulf growl and lunge at her from the side, but she quickly converted Solaris Phoenix into sword form and sliced it from its shoulder down to its waist. She jumped back to avoid a claw swipe from one of its companions, before lunging forward and running it through with her sword. She followed this by pulling both triggers and firing her last two shells, which tore through its chest like tissue paper. She then vanished in a flash of red light, appearing behind two more. And with a surprising display of strength she cleaved through both of them with a single one-handed swing.
The remaining five roared at her before charging, apparently thinking all five of them could swarm her and hopefully tear her apart.
Sunset wasn't fazed and simply focused some sort of energy into her sword, which began to glow a brilliant scarlet. She then swung it in a horizontal slash, releasing her control of it.
The effect?
All five Beowulves were sliced in half by a wave of scarlet magic, fading away into... wherever it was that dead Grimm went to.
Sunset smirked. "That was easy."
That's when she heard the footsteps.
"Me and my big mouth," she muttered as she turned to face her newest challenger.
Most Beowulves topped at around the six-seven feet tall mark. This one was at least eight feet tall with fangs as long as daggers. It also had more patches of bone armor that were adorned with scars and scratches of previous battles. Its red markings gave off an eerie glow, like neon blood.
But the eyes, those eyes; they radiated not only anger but a dark, primal hatred. As if Sunset herself represented everything it hated in the world.
It was an Alpha Beowulf. Older. Bigger. Stronger. Much more dangerous.
"So," Sunset said jokingly "you must be the Big Bad Wolf."
It's only response was to growl at her.
"Well, Little Red Riding Hood's not available." She switched Solaris Phoenix back into shotgun mode, emptying out the slots and putting in six new shells: two green, two red, and two purple. Clicking the revolver back in, she added "But I'd be happy to tell her you said hi."
The Alpha Beowulf roared, before charging at her.
She responded in kind, charging at him while pulling back the twin hammers of Solaris Phoenix.
And with that, it was on.
The Alpha slashed at her but Sunset dropped down, sliding underneath its arm. She spun and attempted to bring up her shotgun, but the Grimm had surprisingly good reflexes and backhanded her away. Her Aura numbed the initial pain, but it still stunned her enough for the Alpha to attempt to close the distance. No doubt it was hoping to clamp its large jaws around her neck and try to tear her head off.
Fortunately, Sunset had managed to recover and teleported away. Unable to stop in time the Alpha slammed its head into a large tree, its head coming out the other side. Appearing right behind it Sunset capitalized on its plight and fired her two red shells, filled with Fire Dust. Both shots hit their mark, striking the Alpha and erupting in a massive fireball. "I love the smell of burning Grimm in the evening."
To her surprise though, the Alpha had survived with only some singed fur. And it had managed to yank its head out of the tree.
"Seriously?"
The Alpha charged at her again, but this time she switched Solaris Phoenix back to sword form and brought it up in time to block a swipe from its claws. She ducked under the next swipe, before bringing up her sword and slicing through its outstretched arm and eliciting a wail of pain from the beast. Enraged the Alpha tried to slash at her with its remaining arm but Sunset jumped back, switching her weapon back to shotgun mode and firing the two green shells. The green shells were filled with Wind Dust, which unleashed two powerful blasts of compressed air that struck the Alpha in its shoulder. They then expanded and blasted its arm clean off, making it scream even louder.
Deciding to finish it, Sunset switched Solaris Phoenix to sword form and lunged forward. She ducked under the Alpha's attempt to bit her, bringing her sword up and impaling it right where its heart (if it had one) would be. She pulled the triggers, firing her remaining purple shells that just so happened to be filled with Gravity Dust.
The result?
The Gravity Dust launched the poor dis-armed Alpha Beowulf high into the sky, just above the treetops. Sunset then charged her sword again, before slashing upwards and unleashing another Scarlet Wave. The wave traveled up and slice the beast in half from head to toe. As the two halves began their return trip to the ground they began to fade, until all that hit the ground were a few fangs that had been broken out of its maw and a bit of black Grimm matter that continued to fade into nothing.
Reverting her weapon into shotgun form and putting it into its holster, she looked at the upper branches of the tree and said "It's safe to come out now."
There was a rustling from the branches, before the person hiding dropped down. The person in question was a girl of about twelve years with light red hair that reached the small of her back, tied into a ponytail with a pink bow. On top of her head she wore an old Stetson hat. Removing the hat revealed that the girl had pony ears similar to Sunset's. Her attire consisted of an orange shirt and faded blue jeans. Attached to her belt were two holsters that held two revolvers that, from what Sunset could see, would transform into hatchets.
The girl looked at her and said "Thank you, miss. I thought I was done for."
Sunset smiled. "No problem, kid. But what are you doing out here, by yourself?"
The girl looked at the ground and whispered "I... I thought I was ready. To be a Huntress. Ah'm supposed to go to Signal Academy when summer's over, but I figured since I got my Aura and my weapons-"
"You thought you'd go for a nice stroll in a Grimm infested forest to test yourself and not bring anyone with you because you want to prove you can be an adult in this world." The girl refused to make eye contact with her, so Sunset put a hand on her shoulder and said "I get it. I do. You want to go from Point A to Point B in the least amount of time possible. But the funny thing is, it's not Point A or Point B that matters. It's what happens in between those Points. Get what I'm saying?"
She nodded, and said "It ain't about the destination, it's about the journey."
Smiling, Sunset replied "Yep. Now come on. Let's get out of her before another pack decides to make us lunch."
And with that the two of them headed off towards the cliffs, the setting sun illuminating their path as they walked.
The night was quiet, the sky clear save for Remnant's shattered moon. The streets were clear, devoid of any sign of life save for the occasional poor soul driving home after working the night shift. This was the usual status quo for this part of town.
Tonight though, things were different.
A large semi-truck was rolling down the street, driven by two men wearing matching outfits: white suits with blue ties and blue-tinted sunglasses. Even though it was past seven p.m., so that was kind of pointless.
The guy on the left asked "You sure we got the right address?"
The guy on the right groaned. "For the last time, yes. We have the right address."
"Just making sure. You know what the boss'll do to us if we get the wrong place again."
"Tell me about it. Remember what happened to the last guy who screwed up too many times?"
"Poor sap still kind find his middle finger."
Unknown to the duo, a lone figure was falling them from the rooftops. They darted from rooftop to rooftop, making sure to stay close enough not to lose sight of the truck, but far back enough they wouldn't be seen in the truck's mirrors.
On closer inspection, the figure was a young girl of about sixteen years old. She wore black boots with dark purple laces, black pants, and a black and purple jacket with a purple hood. Strapped to each of her forearms were purple metallic bracers, while strapped to her back was a mechanized quiver filled with thirty-six arrows. Between that and the belt was a special sheath which held her weapon, Midnight Shadow, in its double-edged short sword form.
Eventually the truck came to its destination, backing up to the loading dock of a warehouse owned by the Schnee Dust Company. The figure stopped and pulled her hood down, revealing her pale face and violet eyes. Her hair came down to her chin and was dark indigo with two stripes; one pink and one a mulberry color. Sticking out of her hair were two pony ears, marking her as a Pony Faunus.
Her Scroll vibrated, which she fished out from her pants. Answering it she asked "What is it, Spike?"
A young boy of about 12 replied "Just wanted to remind you that your date's at 8 o'clock sharp."
A look at her Scroll said it was now 7:15 PM. "Thanks for the reminder. Don't worry. This'll be quick."
"Just be careful out there Twilight. I'd hate to have to tell your girlfriend that you can't make it because you got shot. Again."
"Careful is my middle name. Bye Spike." She hung up her Scroll, a small smile on her face. Whether Remnant or Equestria, he worries about me. Some things never change.
Pulling out Midnight Shadow she pushed a button on the pommel and her sword transformed into a bladed recurve bow. Tapping one of the buttons on the handle, a mechanism in her quiver pushed up one of the arrows above the rest. With practiced ease she pulled out the arrow, which had a Lightning Dust arrowhead. Nocking it, she drew her bow and aimed at the building.
Specifically, the junction box on the wall.
-Inside the building: A Few Minutes Earlier-
Inside the building the duo of thugs had joined up with the rest of the gang, including one man who stood out from the rest. He was tall and incredibly muscular, wearing an immaculate white suit with a blue undershirt and tie. His skin was a ghostly white while his eyes short hair were blood red, common traits of albinism. He looked at the two and smiled. "Glad to see you boys found the right place this time. Wouldn't want you to end up like poor Lonnie, am I right?" Seeing the two of them nod, he said "Now help your brothers take inventory of the goods."
One of the other thugs opened a crate to inspect the contents. Lined up on a rack inside were several assault rifles, bearing the insignia of the Atlesian Military. "That's five crates full of Atlesian Assault Rifles."
Another thug added "And five crates of Dust ammo. Order's all here boss."
The boss smiled and replied "Which means we now have the means to topple the old regime." He looked to the rest of them and continued "Get the merchandise on board the truck. It's time we show Torchwick and Junior that we own this city."
One of the men immediately replied "Got it, Mister Stone."
At that moment the lights began to flicker and brigthen, before finally they went out and plunged the area into darkness.
As they began turning on their flashlights, one of the men asked "What just happened?"
"Damn building's old as shit. Something must've tripped the circuit break-"
THUD!
"The hell was that?!"
"It came from outside!"
"WILL YOU IDIOTS BE QUIET!?" As silence reigned, Mr. Stone continued "Obviously we aren't alone." Motioning to two of his men, he commanded "Check outside. Find anyone with a badge, ghost 'em. You find anyone without a badge, ghost 'em anyway.
"Can do."
"Yes sir."
On the roof of the building Twilight watched as two men in white suits came out with weapons drawn. One man was holding a simple revolver, the other was holding a pump action shotgun. Both had flashlights on their guns. Shotgun pointed to the left and said "You go that way, I'll take this way."
Revolver simply nodded, going his way while Shotgun circled the other way. Twilight followed Revolver, holding out her right bracer and hooking her finger through a small ring on the side. Aiming the bracer at the man's neck, she pulled the ring and with a barely audible FWIT! a two inch violet dart shot out of the hidden launcher. The man registered a slight pain in his neck and pulled out the dart, but by then the contents had already been delivered. As the tranquilizer entered his bloodstream he found it harder to keep his eyes open, before finally surrendering to Morpheus and hitting the ground.
Moving quickly towards Shotgun, she found that he'd discovered her Lightning Dust arrow in the junction box. He was just about to pull it out when she made her move, nailing him in the neck with another one of her Sleep Darts. As he went down she climbed up the roof to one of the sky lights. Carefully opening it, she saw that the area was mostly dark save for a few scattered flashlights. Wanting to get a better idea of what she was up against, she decided to activate her Semblance.
Her eyes, which now had a slight purple glow, could now see in the dark as if it were a brightly lit day. She didn't even have to look through the skylight, as she could see the silhouetted forms of the men who were behind cover. She immediately took note of their positions. Three on the rafters with assault rifles, two at both doors with shotguns, two guarding the truck also with shotguns, three with the crates of weapons and Dust ammo with pistols. And then there's the boss himself and he doesn't seem to have any weapons.
A plan had already formed in her head and she tapped a button on her bow, her quiver giving her a smoke bomb arrow. She shot the arrow into the middle of the warehouse, the whole room being filled with dark obscuring smoke and a whole lot of curses from her opponents. Teleporting in a quick flash of purple light, she appeared behind one of the men in the rafters. She quickly disarmed him before slugging him in the face and throwing him over the railing, crashing into one of the crates below. He was bruised and maybe a little bleeding, but his painful moans told her he was still alive. She moved quickly, nocking and firing another trick arrow towards one of the other men in the rafters. This one released several metallic cables on contact, which wrapped around him and bound his arms to his sides, before the magnets activated and yanked him down to the metal catwalk, trapping him there. The other man tried to shoot at her vague form that he could barely make out with the smoke, but a regular arrow knocked the rifle from his hands before she lunged at him. Two jabs and a kick to his midsection that sent him flying into a wall and he was down for the count. Now for the rest.
On the ground Mr. Stone didn't know what was happening. When his two guys didn't come back he worried that they might've caught the attention of a Hunter. Now, somebody had filled the room with smoke and he could hear his men being attacked by someone or something. He tried calling out to them but every time one was about to answer they were cut off. Deciding to cut his losses he ran towards one of the windows, his skin giving off a barely noticeable glow as his Aura activated. He then smashed through the glass and thin metal strips, emerging completely unharmed. He continued to run, hoping to make it to his hideout before whoever was in the warehouse took out the rest of his guys.
Only to be stopped in his tracks as an arrow whistled past his ear, embedding itself in the ground in front of him. Slowly turning around, he saw our heroine with her bow at the ready, an arrow with what looked like a taser already nocked. Her face hidden by her hood, she growled "Lincoln Stone. You have failed this city!"
She released her arrow but to her shock he swiftly grabbed the taser arrow just inches from hitting his face. He promptly snapped it in half before charging at her, moving pretty quickly for such a large man. He said "You're gonna need to do better than that, girly."
Instead of pulling out another arrow, she transformed Midnight Shadow back into its sword form and ducked under his swing, bringing her sword across the back of his leg. But to her surprise while it cut his pant's leg it didn't draw blood or break the skin. He turned around to strike her, but she dodged his strikes and slashed at his arm. But again, her blade tore his clothes but not his skin. He then grabbed her blade and punched her in the stomach, which frankly felt like she got hit by a truck. He then tossed her over his shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes, with her landing hard on the cement. Shrugging off the pain, she quickly got to her feet and faced Stone. Changing Midnight Shadow to bow form she pulled an Ice Dust arrow and shot it at him. It hit him in the shoulder and coated his arm and part of his face with ice.
But then she saw his skin start to turn to a stone-line substance before he easily broke the ice with a flex of his arm. He then smashed the ice on his face with his fist. "You just ruined my favorite suit. Now you're gonna die."
He charged at her like a rampaging bull, but she shot an arrow that exploded with a green cloud that blinded him. She then ducked and slid between his legs, shooting two magnetic cable arrows at his back and legs. As he was wrapped up, the magnets activated and he found himself yanked up against a lamp post with his feet off the ground. He began trying to break his bonds, but found his strength leaving him and his eyes growing heavy. "Y-you... H-how?"
Smiling, she said "Tranquilizer Gas arrow. For those guys who have Auras or Semblances like yours that make your skin impermeable. Or if I wanna save my Tranq Darts and take out multiple guys at once." Transforming her weapon back to sword form and putting it in its sheathe she added "Give my regards to the cops. They should be here before too long."
"And then I ran off right before he passed out" Twilight said, taking a bite out of her pizza. "Poor guy didn't have enough time to even curse."
It was about half an hour later and she had managed to make it to her date on time. She was dressed in her usual clothes; a purple turtleneck, and indigo skirt over purple stockings, as well as simple black shoes.
Sunset Shimmer smiled before taking a sip of her soda. "So, the Purple Archer takes down another wannabe arms dealer and helps keep the streets safer." She sighed nostalgically and said "To think, it feels like it was only yesterday that you asked me to teach you how to use a sword."
"That was almost two years ago, Sunny." She then beamed and said "But it definitely helped us grow closer."
Sunset couldn't help but beam at that, her hand slowly wrapping around Twilight's. "Yeah. And then six months ago you finally asked me out."
Flashing her a playful smile, Twilight replied "No, YOU asked ME, remember?"
Smirking, she shook her head. "No, I-"
Whatever she was about to say was cut off my Twilight leaning across the table and giving her a quick kiss straight on her lips. They held it for a few minutes before separating, Twilight smiling and asking "What about now?"
A light blush on her face, Sunset decided to concede. "Yeah, it was me."
My wings may be broken but they will mend in time.
And when they do, I'll soar higher than before.
-Forest on the Edge of Vale-
The forest was quiet, tranquil. Not a sound to be heard save for a soft breeze and the gentle rustle of the leaves. It was truly peaceful.
Until it was shattered moments later by a rapid succession of gunshots, and an terrifying roar that echoed throughout the forest.
Inside the forest a young man was running through the forest as fast as he could, hoping to put some distance between himself and the monster that was chasing him.
The young man in question was about seventeen years old, with cobalt blue hair and eyes and weather tanned skin. He was wearing a black jacket with plates of blue armor on his chest and arms, along with blue armored bracers and black gloves. He also wore blue jeans and black boots. Around his waist was a belt that had several clips of ammo for his weapons. His weapons themselves were in their holsters, twin machine pistols painted blue and black that he called the Defenders. Strapped against his back was what appeared to be a metal backpack, though it didn't seem to weigh that much.
His name was Flash Sentry, and he was really starting to regret taking this job.
It was supposed to be a simple extermination mission; kill a Grimm that had been terrorizing the local farmers. In exchange he'd get some Lien and a free ticket on the next train to Vale. Sounds simple, right?
See, while they knew it was a Grimm nobody had actually seen it. They knew it was a flying Grimm so they assumed it was a Nevermore since they were actually pretty common in the surrounding forests. Given the amount of destruction it seemed to point to it being a Giant Nevermore.
Well it turned out that the Grimm wasn't a Nevermore, or even a Giant Nevermore, but was actually a particularly nasty Elder Griffon.
Who Flash had majorly pissed off by shooting two full clips of Electric Dust rounds into its left eye, which sadly did not penetrate its brain and kill it.
"My luck really sucks sometimes," he muttered to himself.
He eventually managed to get out of the trees and found himself running on hard stone, before he quickly came to an abrupt halt as he soon ran out of ground to run on.
He stood at the edge of an immense cliff, with a sheer drop of at least one hundred feet straight down into the ocean. No ordinary human would survive a fall like that.
He then heard the Elder Griffon's roar, and sighed. "And it keeps getting worse."
The Elder Griffon was easily the size of a truck, with wings that looked like they could cover an airship. It advanced on him slowly, flexing its long front claws that looked sharp enough to cut through steel plates. And it glared at him hatefully through its one remaining eye.
Seeing that he had nowhere else to go, he slid his goggles over his eyes and pulled out the Defenders. He then turned around and did something the Grimm was not expecting.
He jumped off of the cliff.
Confused at the actions of its prey, the Elder Griffon walked to the edge and looked down...
...and immediately reared up as several bullets slammed into its underside. Nonlethal but it hurt like hell, like any bullets would.
And then the human it had been chasing appeared, hovering in front of him.
And he now had wings.
What had actually happened was that when Flash jumped off, he allowed himself to fall for a couple yards before he pressed a button on his right bracer. This sent a signal to his "backpack" which activated the jet boosters, and metal plates extended and formed his wings. While he wasn't sure what they were made of they were light enough that the backpack form didn't weigh 1000 pounds, flexible enough they wouldn't snap if he made a sharp turn, and strong enough he could actually use them as shields (which he has on several occasions) without them breaking.
They weren't the wings he was born with, but they did the job. Sometimes better.
So as he turned himself around and flew up the side of the cliff, he held up both of the Defenders and let loose a hail of bullets as the Elder Griffon looked down.
Back in present time Flash yelled "Come and get me you overgrown turkey!" before turning around and flying down towards the water. The Elder Griffon roared before taking flight after him, clearly still holding a grudge about the eye. Sensing this Flash pushed himself faster, not wanting to end up as that monsters lunch.
Keeping close to the cliff face he saw a series of rocky spires, outcroppings and arches Flash flew towards them. He nimbly ducked and weaved around them, not so much as touching one of them with his wings. He had to be, one wrong move at the speed he was going and he'd probably make a sickening SPLAT! sound against the rocks. Fortunately he was small enough and agile enough to avoid that.
The Elder Griffon on the other hand was neither small or agile enough, but because of its size and armoring it was able to plow through any of the rocks that got in its way, losing nothing but its speed.
Jeez this thing is stubborn. I gotta find a way to end this and fast. God, I wished I had a sword with me.
Looking ahead he noticed a large and very thick arch with a small hole just big enough for him to fit through. He flew straight towards it, sensing the Elder Griffon behind him, and quickly retracted his wings and front flipped through the hole. He then spun around, bringing up the Defenders, and unloaded the rest of the bullets in the clips into the beast's remaining eye. Now completely blind the beast could do nothing to stop itself from smashing headfirst into the thick rock formation, the speed at which it was going crumpling up its neck like an accordion. Its neck snapped it fell into the ocean below it, its essence sending wispy dark tendrils through the water.
Hovering there for a few minutes to make sure it didn't rise up like a cliche horror movie monster, Flash then flew back up to the cliff top. Time to break the good news.
"Thank you so much for getting rid of that beast," the town mayor said while he shook Flash's hand. "Now we might be able to sleep a little easier around here."
Flash smiled and replied "It's no problem, sir."
Smiling, the mayor handed him a large stack of Lien and two train tickets. "This is double what the reward was," Flash stated.
"Well, you took down an Elder Griffon, so I figured you deserved a little extra. Consider it a bonus."
Thanking him, Flash walked through the town to the local smithy, Hunter's Forge, seeing a tall and very muscular man with ox horns and a tail wearing a blacksmithing apron over his clothes. Seeing him walk up to the shop he smiled and said "Flash Sentry. Nice to see you didn't become Grimm chow."
"Oh it tried, Ferro" Flash replied. "But it just wasn't smart enough to know when it was being led into a trap. Is it finished?"
Smiling, the blacksmith pulled out what appeared to be a black hand and a half sword hilt with no crossguard and a blue pommel shaped like an eagle's head. One the side of the hilt near the top, barely noticeable, was a small button. Handing it to Flash, he said "Not every day I get asked to make a weapon like this. Specially with those specifications."
"Well you're one of the few blacksmiths I know that can create a Dust-infused blade," Flash replied.
He then pushed the button, and the segmented blade extended, locking into place. The sword itself was three and a half feet long and two inches wide. The blade itself was made out of titanium infused with lightning Dust, giving it an electric blue color.
Infusing regular metal with Dust tended to be very risky and easily able to go wrong. It was usually the reason it was so expensive in most places, since it would take most ordinary blacksmiths a few tries and a lot of wasted metal.
Fortunately, Ferro was a master blacksmith. So it wasn't too hard and not to expensive.
Giving it a few practice swings, he was satisfied by the weight and balance of it. Retracting the blade and clipping it to his belt, he handed Ferro some Lien and said "Keep the change. Hope to see you again."
After that he bought some food for the train ride, when he saw something that made him pause.
A young girl, about thirteen years old, was slumped against the wall of the train station, staring up into the sky like she was hoping for a miracle. She was thin and scrawny, looking like she hadn't had a decent meal in months. Her orange T-shirt and purple shorts were ragged looking and very faded, her shoes held together with nothing more than prayers and a whole lotta duct tape. Her short purple hair looked like no comb or brush could ever conquer it, while the ears poking out of the top of her hair and her purple tail marked her as a Pony Faunus.
But what stuck out the most about her was that her legs from just above her knees down were metal, meaning they were prosthetic.
She just looked... sad. There was no other word for it.
She saw him with her purple eyes right away and grumbled "Take a picture, dude. It'll last longer."
Surprised, Flash asked "Are you okay?"
Rolling her eyes she sarcastically replied "Just peachy. I'm on my way to Vale to enroll at Signal Academy so I can become a Huntress. But I got jumped by some #%^&wads who made off with a good chunk of my cash. Now I can't afford a ticket, meaning I'll have to walk there."
"But the enrollment period ends in two weeks. It'll take you at least a month to get to the city limits, if you're lucky."
"I don't care" she replied, looking at him with fire in her eyes. "I'm going to become a huntress, even if I have to walk a hundred, no, a thousand miles to do it. Even if I have to fight off every Grimm on Remnant, I will become a Huntress!"
Hearing the conviction in her voice made Flash smile. Spoken like a true Huntress. So he reached into his wallet and pulled out his spare ticket, holding it out to the girl. "Then this might help."
Looking at it as if it might disappear, she asked "Are you for real?"
"Hey, I only need one ticket. I'm going to Vale anyway to enroll at Beacon Academy. I figured I'd help a fellow Hunter out."
She rose to her feet, slowly taking the ticket in her hand. She then threw her arms around Flash's waist in a tight hug, constantly saying "Thank you" to the point that Flash thought she might forget how to say anything else.
"Jeez, you're welcome kid."
Letting go she said "It's not kid. The name's Scootaloo."
Smirking, Flash held out his hand and replied "Flash Sentry." A thought then occurred to him. "Hey, where are your parents?"
Her face immediately fell, and she muttered "They're... not around anymore."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"You didn't know."
"Are you staying with anyone in Vale?"
"My Aunt. She's waiting for me at the train station." Picking up her backpack, which also was held together by duct tape, she said "I'll see you around, Flash Sentry." before heading into the station.
She was surprised to hear Flash jog up after her. "Why don't we stick together through the train ride?"
A bit surprised, Scootaloo asked "Why?"
"A few reasons. But the truth is I just don't feel right letting you sit on a five hour train ride by yourself."
She opened her mouth to argue, but then her stomach let out a loud growl, making her blush in embarrassment.
"Have you had anything eat" Flash asked.
"Not since this morning."
"Well I have plenty of food in my backpack, and I'd be happy to share."
That put a smile on her face. "Okay then."
And with that they boarded the train to Vale, to what would hopefully be a bright future.
It was supposed to be a simple train ride to the city of Vale, so he could enroll at Beacon Academy. A simple train ride! No having to camp out in the woods. No having to scrounge around in ruined villages to find food and supplies, no having to sleep with one eye open in case there were Grimm nearby. A. Simple. Train. Ride.
But then the White Fang decided to hijack the train, holding people at gun point, and asking where someone named Blake was. And going over the P.A. system and saying that if she didn't surrender herself to them, they'd start killing people.
Logan sighed. He should've figured this was going to happen given his track record. No matter where he went he just couldn't seem to NOT get himself into trouble. One day. Just one day. Is that too much to ask for?
He was sixteen, turning seventeen in about a month. He wore a leaf green muscle shirt under a white jacket with a green wolf printed on the back, black cargo pants and green boots. Strapped to each arm was a metal gauntlet colored forest green, each with an engraving of a wolf howling at the moon. His hair was cut close to his head and was a startling white that would put freshly fallen snow to shame. His right eye was as blue as a winter sky, while his left eye was as green as an emerald. Sticking out of his hair were a pair of Wolf ears, while sticking out from under his jacket was a Wolf tail as white as his hair. And whenever he smiled, many would probably notice his slightly longer than normal canines.
Knowing that the White Fang would more than likely follow through on their threat to kill these people, Logan got out of his seat and walked up to the White Fang Grunt, who immediately noticed him and aimed his pistol at him. "Get back in your seat."
Deciding to try the peaceful route, he put his hands up and calmly said "Look, I don't want any trouble. I just wanna get to Vale and my friends. So, do you think you could-"
It was at that moment the White Fang Grunt walked closer and put his pistol flush against Logan's forehead. "I said, get back in your seat."
As a low growl began emanating from within Logan's chest, he decided Screw the peaceful route. "Bub, you have three seconds to get the fucking gun out of my face, or I will do something that will guarantee you'll never have children. Three."
The Grunt didn't move an inch, thinking Logan was bluffing.
"Two."
A slight bit nervous now, the Grunt pulled the trigger back on the pistol-
-only to fall to his knees in pain as Logan brought his foot up into his cajones. HARD.
His pistol was then yanked out of his already loose grip by Logan, following it up by spinning around and slamming the heel of his boot into the poor sap's forehead, who fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.
"One," Logan finished, relieving the gun of its ammo and tossing it to the side.
He proceeded to walk out of the train car into the next one, which only had two White Fang members. One of them had an ax and the other a long knife. Both of them noticed him immediately, with the ax wielder asking "What happened to Marco?"
Jerking a thumb behind him he answered "He's out cold in the car behind me. Jackass wouldn't get his gun out of my face." He then fixed them with an icy glare and said "Now you two have two choices. Either A) you get the hell off of this train or B) I throw you off of this train."
He got his answer when the ax wielder charged at him with an overhead swing, which he promptly blocked and countered with a savage kick that sent the White Fang flying into the other guy and making him drop his knife. Before they could get up he was on them, grabbing the one guy's head and, to the shock of the passengers watching, repeatedly slammed it into the other guy's head with great force.
Once they were both unconscious, he looked at the other passengers and asked "Everybody okay?" Seeing everyone nod that they were he walked into the next car, which happened to be the very spacious luggage cart.
And there were at least ten White Fang Grunts, all armed with either knives, swords, axes, or some sort of gun.
Seeing him walk in, one of the Grunts pointed his gun at him and asked "Who the hell are you?"
Smirking, Logan closed the door behind him and locked it. He then cracked his knuckles rather loudly, as well as his neck. "Gentlemen, we can either do this the easy way, or the hard way."
The response of the White Fang were to either aim their guns at him or get into combat stances.
His smirk turning into a predatory smile as he flexed his wrists.
His gauntlets, called Okami no Tsume (Wolf Claws), activated and deployed their blades with an audible SNIKT! sound. There were three blades on each gauntlet; each blade was one foot long, dark black and ended in slight curves.
When one of the Grunts saw them, recognition and terror flashed across his face. "I-it's him. IT'S HIM!"
One of the others asked "Who?"
"T-the guy who tore up our operations in Mistral and Atlas-"
"You guys had it coming" Logan replied with a shrug.
"-who beat Iron Will within an inch of his life-"
"He wouldn't shut the hell up about the White Fang being righteous freedom fighters. Which is total bull-"
"-and blew up all the Bullheads we stole in that region with a bunch of Fire Dust Crystals and a pack of matches!"
"That doesn't seem possible" another White Fang Grunt said.
"TELL THAT TO HIM!"
Logan now sported a smug grin. "Good times. Gooood times."
One of the other Grunts understood who he was talking about now. "The White Wolf of Mistral, who defeated three hundred White Fang members in one day. Logan Timbers."
"My reputation precedes me. So, you idiots wanna hop off the train on your own, or do I have to-"
BANG!
Logan stumbled, before looking down and seeing red start to spread over his green muscle shirt.
The White Fang Grunt who shot him aimed his rifle again and pulled the trigger again, unloading every bullet in the clip into Logan's chest. The other gun-toting Grunts followed suite, wanting payback at the bastard who dared to stand in their way.
After about five minutes of shooting, and roughly 1500 rounds (Give or take.), Logan's body was a bloody mess slumped against the wall, unmoving.
One of the Grunts asked "Why was everyone scared of him again?"
"Think you might've overhyped him just a bit"
Clink.
Every White Fang member couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Logan had somehow managed to rise to his feet, one of the bullets shot into his body falling out from the hole it made in his body.
And to their shock his body was healing; every hole or chunk that had been blasted off of him by their bullets was being regenerated with a glow of green aura, any bullets still stuck in his body being pushed out and falling to the ground with a distinct clink sound.
"What the hell?"
"No way!"
"We shot the bastard up with everything bullet we had. How is he still ali-URK!"
Whatever he was about to say was cut off when Logan suddenly shot forward like a bullet, slamming his foot into the Grunt's face and sending him flying all the way down into the rear wall. Ripping off his jacket and tossing it to the side, he yelled "You bastards ruined my favorite jacket! Now it's personal!"
The rest of the grunts charged at him, those with guns now using them as clubs since they had no bullets left.
But it was to no avail as Logan, despite roaring like an animal, was still weaving in and around their attacks with skill. Any of their weapons he sliced through them with Okami, while he then proceeded to beat them down using mixed forms of martial arts ranging from Boxing to Muay Thai and a bit of Karate. While a few of them did get slashed by his claws there Aura either blocked the worst of it, or the cuts themselves were in non-life threatening areas, usually only deep enough to sever their tendons or muscles so they couldn't move. They wouldn't have to worry about bleeding out.
Logan wouldn't go THAT far for a bunch of nameless Grunts.
Three of the Grunts in the far back tried to make a break for the next car, but Logan immediately noticed them. "Where the hell do you think you're going?!"
"MOMMY!!!!"
-In the Next Car-
Blake Belladonna narrowed her eyes at her opponent. "Why does it not surprise me that you were the one to find me, Creed?"
The White Fang Lieutenant standing in front of her was a mountain of a man, with long dirty blond hair that reached all the way to his waist. He wore a modified White Fang uniform with a long brown trench coat with the sleeves torn off, revealing his large muscular arms that bore black stripes due to his Tiger Faunus blood. His golden eyes glared at her with contempt and hatred, and when he opened his mouth he revealed his elongated canines. "You should no better than to try and hide from me, Blake. Once I have your scent I can track you from whole kingdoms away." He cracked his knuckles, and continued "You should know, Adam wants you to be brought before him, so he can deal with you himself."
Holding Gambol Shroud in a combat stance, she sarcastically replied "I'm flattered."
"Me personally though," Creed smirked, his fingernails extending into two inch curved claws "I'd rather just kill you and call it a day."
"He'd kill you."
"True. So we'll compromise. I'll bring him to you alive, but you'll be missing a limb or too. I don't think he'll mind. Too much."
At that moment, the door into the car was smashed off of its hinges, one of the Grunts being smashed into it like a battering ram. He desperately tried to crawl away, only for a hand to grab his ankle and pull him back. As he was dragged back into the other car, he screamed "HELP ME! HELP MEEEE!!!!"
As he disappeared into the car, all that was heard was the sound of powerful punches and screams of pain.
Looking at Blake, Creed asked "Friend of yours?"
"No."
Logan then walked in, wiping some blood off of his face. He looked at Creed and asked "I take it you're the asshole in charge of these losers?"
Recognizing him, Creed growled. "Mistral's White Wolf. The hell are you doing here?"
"It's public transportation, dumbass. Me being here is just bad luck for you." He then looked at Blake and said "I take it you're Blake Belladonna." Seeing her nod, he continued "I don't know why these guys are after you, and honestly I don't care. Either way, you can either help me take this loser down-" He extended Okami no Tsume's claws. "-or get the hell outta my way."
"That traitor's not going anywhere" Creed growled. "And I am going to take great pleasure in killing you, mutt."
Rolling his eyes, Logan replied "Real original. We gonna fight or-"
Creed suddenly appeared in front of Logan, slugging him in the face with a powerful right hook. Logan was sent into the other car, slamming into several suitcases and trunks before hitting the wall. Shaking the stars out of his eyes, he muttered "Lucky shot."
Turning to face Blake, Creed found that she had already gone onto the roof of the train via the emergency hatch. He smirked since he liked it when his "prey" ran from him. It made the hunt more interesting.
Logan managed to get back into the car in time to see Creed rip through the ceiling and jump through the hole. Logan followed, hooking his claws on the edge and swinging himself up onto the roof.
He saw that Blake was holding Creed off using a mix of her weapon and her Semblance, which allowed her to create illusory copies of herself to move out of the way of his claws. But every time she tried to cut him or shoot him with her weapon's pistol mode, his aura simply healed the damage like it was never there. Thought I was the only one whose Aura could do that?
Shelving that thought for another time he leaped forward, slamming into Creed's back and knocking him to the ground. He then proceeded to slice the tendons and muscles in his arms and his legs, but whatever damage he did was healed within mere seconds. Getting some distance, Logan asked Blake "How the hell are we supposed to beat this guy?"
"We can't," Blake replied while she reloaded Gambol Shroud. "Creed's Aura can't create a defensive shield but it can regenerate any damage done to him."
"Likewise."
"And his Semblance blocks out any and all pain. It's why Adam sends him on only the most suicidal of missions, because he's the only one who can't be killed."
"Well Aura has a limit. We just need to find his."
"Good luck with that, mutt." Creed then withdrew two large Dust Crystals from the pockets off his coat, Logan recognizing them as Electric Dust. He then promptly stabbed them into his arms, the veins in his arms beginning to glow blue as the Dust coursed through his veins. His claws then turned blue as well, electricity arcing off of them. He glared at them with his eyes now an electric blue, and roared like a feral tiger.
"Oh great, he's a Dust junkie" Logan grumbled. "That's not so bad. We just gotta keep our distance and-"
The words died in his throat as Creed suddenly appeared right in front of him, his right fist cocked back for a powerful punch. Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me! This is gonna hurt!
Electricity surged through his body as Creed's fist slammed into his chest, the impact feeling like he got hit in the chest by a sledgehammer. He was sent flying through the air down towards the rear of the train. Managing to right himself, he dug his claws into the roof and dragged himself to a stop. Looking up he noticed that Blake was having a harder time dodging him now, since the Electric Dust was now giving his speed and reflexes a slight boost. Damn it. If this keeps up neither of us are gonna live through this. He sighed, before steeling his resolve. I guess I'll have to use IT.
Blake managed to blind Creed with some Fire Dust rounds to the face before falling behind Logan. "I'm almost out of Aura and Dust rounds. Any ideas?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna use my Semblance. But to do that, I need you to get back inside the train."
"What?!" She looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you out of your mind?!"
"Just trust me."
Seeing as how she was running low on Aura and there weren't a lot of other options, she nodded before hopping down into one of the cars with a quick "Good luck."
I'll need it. He then fixed Creed with a glare and crossed his arms like an X, focusing his Aura to the point where he was surrounded in a green glow.
Creed managed to regain his eyesight and saw that he and Logan were the only ones on the rooftops. He growled. "Looks like the kitty fled. I'll deal with her once I put you down, mutt."
Suddenly Logan's Aura flared, turning from green into a pure white that nearly blinded Creed again. "What the hell is this?"
"My Semblance" Logan replied. "This is the reason Mistral calls me the White Wolf!"
When the light died down, Creed couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Where Logan once stood was what looked like a wolf that had learned to stand on its hind legs. Okami no Tsume were still in there place, not that he needed them with his own nails now claws as well. His face and head now resembled a real wolf, and his eyes were now both a deep blood red. He snarled at Creed, revealing his teeth were now fangs, before throwing his head back and letting loose a bone-chilling howl.
Logan's Semblance was always strange to him. He asked a doctor about it, and the doctor revealed that when it was active it basically increased the power of his Faunus DNA, allowing him to take on more animalistic traits than any other Faunus he'd ever seen. In this form, which the doctor dubbed Wolf, his strength, speed, and healing were heavily increased.
The downside was that this mode also messed with his brain chemsitry, which left him in a, to quote the doctor "Berserk Rage." Essentially when he was like this he turned into a feral wolf who would gladly tear apart anything it perceived as a threat to himself. Even if the threat in question was really an innocent person.
It's one of the reasons that Logan trained as hard as he did, so that he'd never have to use it unless he was overwhelmed by Grimm. Sadly Creed was also a regenerator like Logan, and had a Semblance that blocked out pain.
So he reluctantly had to let the Wolf out.
Wolf got down on all fours, glaring at Creed while barring his fangs.
Creed laughed at that. "Oh, isn't this adorable. Tell me, do you prefer bones or chew-"
He never got a chance to finish that sentence as Wolf suddenly lunged at him with newfound speed, slamming into him and shoving his claws deep into his chest. He then flipped over him, pulling him behind him and tossing him like a sack of potatoes. Picking himself up and thankful for his painkiller Semblance, he roared and charged at Wolf. Wolf snarled and charged as well.
The two collided with Creed's larger size allowing him to get the upper hand, shoving Wolf down to the ground while he raked his claws across his chest, ripping away what was left of his muscle shirt. Seeing the wounds heal almost instantly gave Creed pause, in which Wolf used that moment to kick him off. Wolf lunged at him again, determined to end this fight.
The fight between them could best be described as not one of Hunstmen, but of monsters. Both fighters fought with a fierceness only found within within the beasts of the wild, savagely ripping and tearing at each other with everything they had, painting the roofs of the train cars with their crimson blood.
It finally ended with Creed over-extended his punch, allowing Wolf to strike, shoving one of his claws into Creed's arm and the other into Creed's chest, narrowly missing his heart but still stunning him. With a heave and a mighty roar, he lifted Creed up and chucked him off into the forest below. Aside from Creed's roar of pain, the only thing that could be heard was the splintering of wood and several trees collapsing.
With the battle over Wolf's body glowed white, then green before he reverted back to Logan, with his wounds mostly healed save for a few light scratches on his chest and shoulders. His eyes were still red for a moment, before returning to their normal colors with one blue and one green. He looked at his hands, making sure they weren't claws anymore, before noticing he was now shirtless and his pants were just barely hanging onto his frame. He let out an exasperated sigh. "I really hate letting that guy out sometimes. He can't seem to keep my clothes on."
A few hours later the train pulled into Vale Station, with most of the passengers either going to the police to report what happened or reuniting with their loved ones who had been waiting for them.
Blake and Logan (now dressed in his spare clothes) managed to evade that and made their way out of the station with nobody seeing them.
Blake finally asked the question she had wanted to since Logan came back into the train. "How did you beat Creed?"
Instead of answering, Logan asked a question of his own. "Why do you hide your ears under that bow?"
She was silent for a few minutes, before finally saying "We're constantly outed and hated for what we are, even if its just something as small as having a tail or having cat ears. I want to go to Beacon Academy to become a Huntress, and I don't want the people there to judge me for what I am. I want them to learn who I am."
To her surprise, Logan immediately facepalmed. "You cannot honestly be that stupid, can you?"
"Huh?"
"First off, Blake, a secret like that will come out eventually no matter how hard you try to hide it. And when it does, all that work you put into being Blake Belladonna the Huntress, all that time they spent learning about who you are-" He snapped his fingers. "-gone. People will hate you even more for lying to them about being a human rather than just coming out about it in the first place." He paused, blushed and added "Wow, that was some awkward phrasing.
'Someone, whether it's the other students or the media at large, will use it against you. They'll do whole smear campaigns against you saying about how you're ashamed to be a Faunus."
"But I'm not!"
Logan pointed at the bow on top of her head. "That bow says otherwise. It tells me that while you may play the cool and confident huntress-in-training, deep inside you're scared."
"Shut up," she muttered.
"You're scared that all they'll ever see is Blake Belladonna the Faunus and never see Blake Belladonna the Huntress."
"Shut up!"
"You're scared that nothing you do or say will ever change how the Faunus are treated by the majority of humans on Remnant."
"SHUT UP!"
"AND NOTHING WILL CHANGE IF YOU'RE TOO SCARED TO SHOW THEM WHO YOU REALLY ARE!"
Blake looked like she wanted to argue, like she wanted to verbally lash out and tell him that he didn't know a damn thing about what he was talking about.
And yet, she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried the words wouldn't come out.
Putting a hand on her shoulder, Logan said "How is Remnant ever going to accept us, if we can't even accept ourselves? If you wanna change how people think about Faunus, then you need to show that you're not scared. That you accept who and what you are. That's really the only way you'll ever make that change."
He turned and started walking away, but stopped and said "The new year at Beacon starts in two weeks. Hope to see you there." He smiled at her and added "The real you, that is."
And with that, he left.
Leaving Blake with a lot to think about for the next two weeks.
Twilight Sparkle lived for the night life here in Vale. The bright lights, the big city...
...and there was always at least one scumbag to beat up and leave for the cops.
That scumbag was a man wearing a white suit and a black bowler hat, with orange hair and light green eyes.
Roman Torchwick; wanted for a multitude of crimes ranging from petty theft to murder. A notorious criminal mastermind with a bounty of half a million Lien, doubled after his last robbery of a Dust store left three people sent to the hospital with minor injuries, and one poor store clerk got sent to the city morgue.
But she wasn't after him because of the money. Frankly she could care less about that.
She was after him because that clerk who was murdered had a wife and three children. And now they would never see him again outside of family photos.
No way in hell she was letting that bastard get away Scott-free.
She saw him and a group of men wearing red shades and black suits walking into a Dust and Weapons shop, From Dust Till Dawn. She recognized them as employees of Hei "Junior" Xiong, a club owner who did shady dealings under the table. The only reason she hadn't taken him down yet was because she couldn't get any evidence on his dealings to take him down, since Junior was really good at covering his tracks. Or he had friends in high places. Probably both now that she thought about it.
She switched Midnight Shadow to bow form and was about to knock out the power with an Electric Dust arrow...
CRASH!!!
...when one of the henchmen were thrown out through the now shattered window, followed by a vibrant red blur and a flurry of rose petals.
The red blur turned out to be a young girl wearing a mostly red and black outfit, most notably of which was her red cape with a hood. As her hood fell back it revealed her hair, which was also red but a few shades darker than her clothes. Clearly somebody likes the tale of Little Red Riding Hood Twilight mused.
And then the girl pulled out her weapon, and...
You have got to be kidding me.
Her weapon at first was a red and black metal rectangle, which then unfolded into arguably the biggest scythe she had ever seen. Seriously, the thing was at least a good two and a half feet taller than the girl, the scythe head had to weigh at least twice as much as she did with its rather bulky construction, and somehow she managed to twirl it around like it weighed next to nothing! Who was this girl?
Part of the answer came when she took on the rest of the henchmen, using a combination of her weapon (which was also a gun since it fired a bullet to propel her into a spin) and bursts of speed which left a trail of rose petals, which Twilight assumed was the girl's Semblance.
She was fifteen, had Aura and a Semblance, could use a transforming weapon that was also a gun, was fighting against a bunch of crooks and no doubt defending the shopkeeper inside.
Whoever she was, she was obviously one of the good guys.
Ruby Rose was not expecting her night to turn out like this.
She had come to From Dust Till Dawn to pick up some Dust Rounds for her sniper rifle/scythe, Crescent Rose, for her third year at Signal Academy which started in a week. Once she got them she decided to look through the weapons magazines while listening to This Will Be The Day (AKA her favorite song of all time) through her headphones when some schmuck tried to rob her.
Said schmuck received a high speed kick to the face and got real acquainted with the far wall for his trouble.
Now she had just dealt with four more goons, and was now facing Roman Torchwick.
He dropped his cigar and crushed it with his cane, before saying "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening. And as much as I'd love to stick around..." He raised his cane up at her, the cover on the bottom flipping open to reveal a miniature scope, simultaneously revealing that his cane was also a gun. "...I'm afraid this is where we part ways."
He was about to pull the trigger when a purple and black arrow came flying and cut across the back of his hand, making him drop his cane and curse out in surprise.
Both Ruby and Roman turned to see the figure who fired the arrow. "Well well, if it isn't the Purple Archer" Roman grumbled upon recognizing her by her attire.
Ruby was in shock. She'd heard about this woman on the news; the mysterious fighter who wore purple and black with a hood to hide her features, who brought justice down upon criminals with a bow/sword and a multitude of special arrows. No one knew if she was a Huntress or some wannabe superhero, seeing as how aside from a few eyewitness reports she went out of her way not to be seen. What was known was that she was a master archer, skilled sword-wielder, and she had more shadowy stealth skills than a ninja. She was the talk of Signal Academy, someone many of the students hoped to be like one day once they graduated from one of the Huntsman Academies.
And now she was standing just a few feet behind her! Her friends at Signal were never gonna believe this! Maybe I can get her autograph after this is over? she thought
Drawing back an arrow and aiming at Torchwick she said "Roman Torchwick. You have failed this city!" before letting the arrow fly.
Roman quickly rolled out of the way of the arrow, grabbing his cane and firing off a flare shot at the two of them. The shot hit in front of them and exploded, scattering bits of pavement into the air that would have hit them if they hadn't jumped out of the way.
Landing a few feet back, Ruby saw that Roman was moving up a ladder on the side of a building. Ruby turned to the Purple Archer, only to see that she was gone. "Where did she-?" She then saw that she was already in hot pursuit of Torchwick, forgoing the ladder and instead disappearing in a purple glow before reappearing at the roof's edge, grabbing onto it and flipping herself onto the roof. "Wow. She's good." She looked at the storekeeper and asked "You okay if I go after him?" The shop keeper nodded, and she ran to the wall before using a shot from Crescent Rose to launch her up onto the roof.
While that was happening, Twilight was now glaring daggers at Roman Torchwick, who was now standing inside of an open Bullhead while holding a Fire Dust crystal. "End of the line, Purple."
Ruby appeared on the roof at the exact time Roman threw the Dust crystal. He followed it up by shooting the crystal, and Twilight acted with out thinking, focusing her magic into her hands.
One of the key differences between Remnant and Equestria was the level of ambient magic the world had. In Equestria the very atmosphere was permeated with ambient magic, which she could draw upon and mix with her own large reserves to provide a boost to her spells. This also cut down on the amount of magic taken from her own reserves, allowing her to use more spells before getting fatigued. The same went for her girlfriend, Sunset Shimmer, from what she told her.
But Remnant wasn't Equestria, so it didn't have near the same levels of ambient magic. So more often or not any magic she or her girlfriend did usually came from their own reserves, which had sadly been cut down a considerable amount either due to their new bodies or the new world. So they had to be more careful otherwise they'd end up wearing themselves out in the middle of a fight, which on Remnant was usually a big no-no as that could lead to an early grave.
Fortunately they still had a decent chunk of their original power, so if Twilight threw up a quick force field to shield herself and Little Red Riding Hood's badass twin sister, it wouldn't take too much out of her. Which was good because that earlier teleport had used a fair amount of her magic. Note to self: ask Spike to make me a grappling hook launcher for my bracers so I don't have to teleport onto rooftops all the time.
She activated her spell, and a dome of purple aura surrounded her and Ruby. She expected to soon see the explosion hit her force field, but suddenly someone appeared and conjured up some sort of shield in front of both of them.
Which essentially rendered her own shield moot, so she dropped it.
The person who threw up the shield was a woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties with blond hair tied back in a bun, a white shirt and a black pencil skirt, black leggings and boots. Finishing her outfit was a purple cape with the ends cut to look like fire and arrows.
Twilight recognized her in an instant from a news report. Glynda Goodwitch. Vice-Headmistress of Beacon Academy, close friend of the current headmaster Professor Ozpin, and a renowned Huntress throughout the four kingdoms.
She waved her riding crop (which drew a wince from Twilight after seeing what traditional riding crops were used for on horses and ponies in Remnant. Sadists.) and a volley of purple energy blasts shot out and slammed into the Bullhead, knocking it around like a soda can getting shot by BBs. Ruby was in awe at what she saw, but Twilight was more focused on the job at hand. Switching Midnight Shadow back to sword form, she focused on the interior of the Bullhead. Her body glowed purple before she disappeared, teleporting inside and coming face-to-face with a very surprised Roman Torchwick. "What the f-!?"
Before he could finish that sentence she caught him in his midsection with a kick, sending him into the cockpit. "Language!"
She heard him yell "We got company and one of them's onboard!"
Twilight was about to fire a sleep dart when a burning orange glow shined in the cockpit, and a fireball shot out at her. And it wasn't from Torchwick's cane.
As she leaped out back onto the roof, feeling the fireball narrowly miss her back but still be close enough for her to feel the heat, she said "He's got backup!"
A female figure stepped into view on the Bullhead, making sure to keep the top half of their body hidden in the shadows. But enough of her was shown that Twilight began taking mental notes. She's about the same height as Sunset, burning amber eyes, wearing a red dress with gold designs that stops just above her knees and... are those high-heeled shoes? Made of glass? Rolling her eyes she mentally asked How many more fairy tale characters am I going to run into? First Little Red Riding Hood and now a pyromaniac Cinderella. Who's next? Snow White and the Seven Dwarves? Or maybe Goldilocks and the Three Bears?
The gold on the woman's dress began to glow, flames appearing in her hands, which brought Twilight back to reality. She unleashed a stream of fire on Glynda, who blocked it. But the blast scattered Fire Dust, which began to glow against the rooftop. The woman in the Bullhead moved her arms, and the ground underneath Glynda began to glow. Glynda moved out of the way, just in time as where she was standing exploded in a pillar of fire and scattered bits of the roof into the air. Glynda waved her riding crop and the fragments of the roof glowed purple, before forming a large spear that shot out towards the Bullhead. The woman simply shot out multiple fire blasts that broke it apart, only for Glynda to take control of the shards and make them attack the Bullhead at multiple places. The woman of fire then unleashed some sort of radial blast of extreme heat that destroyed all of the shards.
Having enough of sitting on the sidelines Ruby switched Crescent Rose into its sniper form and fired several shots at the woman, only for her to simply hold out her hand and deflect each and every shot. Twilight shot an Ice Dust arrow at the woman, who simply shot a fire blast and, to the shock of Twilight, melted it. She then waved her hand and several spots around the three of them began to glow. Knowing what was about to happen Twilight grabbed both Ruby and Glynda's arms and focused her magic, teleporting the three of them out of the blast radius. Once they reappeared a safe distance away the ground exploded in several pillars of flame, the light so bright all three of them had to shield their eyes.
Once the light died down they saw the Bullhead had already turned tail and flew away. Twilight glared at the retreating Bullhead. Next time you won't get so lucky, Torchwick.
She then turned and asked "You two okay?"
Glynda nodded. "A little disoriented, but otherwise unharmed. Thank you."
Ruby also nodded, but then asked "How did you do that?"
Twilight smirked. "Trade secret. Not that I'm gonna be able to do that again for a while."
Yeah, group teleports tended to use up a lot more magic than teleporting herself. That, along with the her two earlier teleports and the force field, had taken a significant chunk of her magic. She could already feel the physical effects kicking in, slight sweating and feeling like she'd just run two miles. I'm going to need a tofu burger after this. Knew I shouldn't have skipped lunch today.
Glynda then fixed the two of them with a stern look, and Twilight had a feeling that if she stuck around she wasn't going to be getting that burger anytime soon.
So without any delay she pulled out several smoke bombs and threw them, blanketing the rooftop in a cloud of thick smoke.
Both Ruby and Glynda were left coughing due to the smoke, but fortunately Glynda dispersed it with a wave of her riding crop-
-to reveal the Purple Archer had disappeared into the night, without a singly trace.
Ruby looked around in awe. "That. Was. SO. COOL!"
If the look on her face was anything to go by, Glynda did not share Ruby's sentiment.
Heard Torchwick got away. Are you hurt?
Twilight sighed as she looked at Sunset's message on her Scroll. It had been about fifteen minutes since she gave Glynda the slip. In that time she had ran at least two blocks from the Dust store, mostly sticking to the alleys and rooftops so she wouldn't be seen. Eventually she stopped in an alley to catch her breath when her Scroll buzzed. She typed back I'm okay. Torchwick's got a new ally though. A strong one. I'll explain when I get back. You mind picking up the usual?
Two double tofu burgers with cheese and extra fries?
:) You know me so well.
;) What do you expect? See you soon. Love you.
Love you too.
She pocketed her Scroll, and was about to set off for her apartment when she heard something from the shadows of the alley. Pivoting on her foot and nocking an arrow into Midnight Shadow, she aimed and said "Whoever's out there, leave now before this gets ugly."
To her surprise, a voice replied "There's no need for that. I am not here to fight you."
Out of the shadows walked a silver-haired man wearing a pair of spectacles and a green suit, holding a metal cane in his right hand and a Scroll tablet in his left. Twilight recognized him in an instant, so she lowered her bow. "Professor Ozpin. What do you want? I doubt the Headmaster of Beacon Academy spends his nights waiting in alleys to talk to vigilantes."
He smiled and replied "I merely wish to talk to you, Twilight Sparkle."
That statement made her jaw drop. Pulling down her hood she asked "How do you know who I am?"
Ozpin chuckled before replying "It wasn't that hard. I simply took footage of the Purple Archer in action, and Twilight Sparkle taking the combat portion of the Beacon Academy entrance exam and compared the two."
"Okay, that's a lot better than what I was thinking."
"Let me guess; you thought I had a series of hidden cameras placed all around Vale, invading everyone's privacy and breaking god knows how many laws that I myself had helped to get passed?"
"That's... actually pretty close" she replied with a smirk.
Rolling his eyes, Ozpin continued "Back on subject, while Glynda has given me the basics of what happened tonight, I would very much like to hear your side of the story."
Figuring there wouldn't be any harm in doing so, Twilight gave a quick rundown of what happened, being careful to say that whenever she teleported or put up a forcefield she was using her Semblance. Because odds are if she tried to explain those things as magic, she'd more than likely be put in a straitjacket and thrown in the loony bin. As she finished her side of the story she said "I've seen things that range from the amazing to the incredibly messed up. But this lady's fire powers, I've never seen anything like it."
Ozpin seemed to be deep in thought, before saying "I'll look into it. But for now, you should probably focus more on getting ready for next week."
It was at that moment that Twilight remembered that next week was the first day of her freshman year at Beacon Academy. Assuming she made it through the initiation, not that she thought she wouldn't. "So, you're cool with the girl who moonlights as a vigilante going to your school?"
Ozpin smiled. "As far as I'm aware the Purple Archer will not be attending my school. A young girl named Twilight Sparkle, who happens to be a skilled swordsman and archer, will be."
Twilight grinned, seeing what he meant. "Thanks Professor." She was about to turn to leave, but then a thought occurred to her. "Hey, are you going to talk to the girl who was with me on the roof?"
"You mean Miss Ruby Rose?"
"I never caught her name."
"Well yes. In fact, given her skills I plan to offer her a place at Beacon if she wants it."
Smiling, Twilight pulled one of her standard arrows from her quiver, before removing the arrowhead and handing it to Ozpin. "Tell her it's a gift from the Purple Archer."
Looking at the arrowhead, Ozpin replied "I'll be sure to give-"
But as he looked up, he saw that she was gone, as if she had faded away into the night.
He couldn't help but smile. "I can't help but feel this will only be the first time she does that to me."
About a half hour later Twilight was in her nightclothes and digging into the late dinner that Sunset Shimmer had grabbed for her. Sunset herself was munching on a simple salad while looking at Twilight with an amused look. "Why do I get the feeling that if we ever go back to Equestria, you're going to eat as many hayburgers as you can?"
Swallowing what was in her mouth, Twilight playfully stuck her tongue out at her. Her face turned serious, however, as she asked "So what do you think the deal with that lady's firepower was?"
Sunset thought about it for a second before answering "Ordinarily, I'd say some sort of outlandish control of Fire Dust. But some of the things you described..." She started tapping her fingers on the table. "Fireballs and streams of flame are nothing new; but pillars of fire popping out of the ground, a condensed radial wave of heat that could melt masonry shards coated with Goodwitch's aura? That sounds almost like she was using Pyromancy."
That confused Twilight for a number of reasons. First and foremost being that aside from Dust and what little ambient magic was in the atmosphere that she and Sunset could channel, magic didn't seem to exist in Remnant. So even if the woman was a full-on Pyromancer she shouldn't have near the range of power that she had shown, even with the Fire Dust in her clothes.
Second was that as far as history and any books they found on the subject were concerned, magic was the stuff of olden legends and fairy tales, or the subject of popular books/movies/anime/video games. There were no manuals, scrolls or tomes that could teach someone how to use magic, especially an advanced field of Elemental Magic like Pyromancy.
Lastly, even if the first two were wrong and magic did exist, then how was it kept under the radar? Given the day and age of Remnant anybody who showed some sort of extraordinary talent, ranging from physical prowess to unimaginable genius, was an instant celebrity who had their face posted on every Scroll in the four kingdoms. If magic or the supernatural did exist, somebody would've seen it by now. The fact that the woman hadn't been seen yet raised so many questions; most prominently being why would she expose herself now?
Seeing the look on Twilight's face, Sunset took her hand in her's and said "Don't worry Twi. Next time, we'll take on Torch-prick and Pyro Cinderella together."
Smiling, Twilight replied "Yeah. But between now and then we'll be going to Beacon Academy."
"Yep. Speaking of which, how are you planning on doing the whole Purple Archer thing while we're in school? Especially concerning our future teammates?"
Twilight shrugged in reply. "Honestly, I'll see how everything plays out. If I feel I can trust our other two teammates, I'll tell them the truth. If not, then I'll tell them I have a late night job or something."
"And if this 'job' of yours involves being out past curfew?"
She laughed at that. "Sunset, sweetie, they haven't made a building I can't sneak into or out of. Plus, Ozpin already figured out that I was the Purple Archer-"
"-and the fact that he didn't terminate your application means that he's apparently cool with it" Sunset finished with a smile.
"To quote Big Macintosh, Eeyup."
Sunset couldn't suppress her giggles. "You know, one of these days you're going to have to introduce me to your friends back in Equestria."
"I'm sure they'll love you. But on that subject, how much longer until the mirror portal's open?"
Sunset pulled out her Scroll and pulled up a screen with a timer. "It's been two years since we missed the last time the portal was open. And since we figured out that one moon in Equestria is thirty days in Remnant, the portal will be open in roughly six months. Just in time for the semester break."
Sighing, Twilight looked down into her glass of soda. "I wonder how they'll react to the new me?"
"You worried?"
"It's been three years since we cast that spell and Spike and I somehow got transported here. And since your Magic Journal ended up in a Beowulf's stomach, I've had no way to contact them or Princess Celestia. How are they gonna react when they find out that the egghead unicorn mare who could barely throw a punch or pick up a sword-"
"-is now a total badass with a sword/bow and is training to be a monster slayer" Sunset finished with a smirk.
Twilight looked at her for a few minutes before asking "Are you using your Semblance or do you just know me so well-"
"-that I can finish your sentences for you? That latter." Sunset grinned and added "You are just so easy to read sometimes."
"Only because as of this moment you and Spike are pretty much the only people in Remnant I can lower my guard around" Twilight replied with a smile.
"I feel honored" she replied, before walking over to Twilight and pulling her into a tight hug that Twilight eagerly returned. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Sunset said "Hey, if your friends are anything like you say they are-"
"And they are."
"-then once they see past the bow/sword, the monster slaying, and the badassery; they'll see that you're still the same lovable bookworm that helped them save Equestria three times over."
Laying her head on Sunset's shoulder, Twilight gave a content sigh and said "Thanks Sunny. Though I'm fairly certain that Rarity will say I should've kept my hair longer."
"I think it looks cute. I'd be more concerned about what they'll say about your battle scars."
"Oh please no. My brother will probably try to lock me up in a tower for the rest of my life."
"Then I'd just have to break you out."
She giggled at that. "That sounds like something out of a fairy tale. A beautiful young maiden trapped in a tower, only to be rescued by a brave hero."
"Only instead of shining armor the hero would be wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket. And have an awesome shotgun/sword."
"And have the most amazing, beautiful red and gold hair" Twilight finished, slipping her hand into Sunset's.
Sunset sighed contently, before asking "Have I ever told you how glad I am that I met you?"
"Just about every day since we became friends. Two or three times a day since we became girlfriend and girlfriend."
Smiling, Sunset planted a kiss on Twilight's forehead. "I'm lucky to have you in my life."
"So am I" Twilight replied.
We may not know what lies ahead, but I'm not afraid.