//------------------------------//
// Tail 26- Lending a Helping Hand 
// Story: Monkey Business 
// by FrostTheWolf 
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Monkey Business- Lending a Helping Hand




Next Morning

        Shortly after waking up and helping Fluttershy feed Angel, Henry and the rest of her animals, Sun Wukong and the pegasus made their way over to the Ponyville Hospital for the appointment that Fluttershy had set up for her Ultrasound today. The Faunus wanted to make sure that he helped her as much as possible before he was to go over to Faith’s world and assist her in pushing back the monsters that tried to invade her home. Plus, with Ozpin helping keep an eye on the school, he can be able to help lend a hand by more than just sending supplies.

        Shortly after checking in, both of them were called to the backroom where they were to do the ultrasound. After making the proper preparations, the operation soon began as they began the operation. Soon, on the nearby monitor, the doctor was able to project an image on the screen for them to look at. “Okay, so we’re seeing the head here… there’s its arms… Looks a lot like a human from appearance…”

        That surprised Sun a bit as he spoke up and asked the doctor a question that formed off the top of his head. “Uh, how can you tell? Just out of curiosity?”

        “Well, unlike normal equestria newborns, this one seemed to have what you would call hands near the front here,” the Doctor, a unicorn known as Doctor Stable, replied back as he raised a pointer stick at what he was talking about on the screen using his levitation magic. Putting it back down, he soon moved it further down as they saw something else to add to it. “Well, I was going to think this was human, but now, I’m not quite so sure.”

        “W-what do you mean? Doctor, is something wrong?” Fluttershy asked, a bit scared as Sun tried comforting the mare as the doctor pointed towards the image again before beginning his explanation to both Fluttershy and Sun. 

        “No, nothing's wrong. Something just… puzzling. You see these two spots here?” The doctor asked, causing both of them to nod in response before he continued with what he was talking about. “Normally, when we do an ultrasound and the baby is a pegasus, we would find these spots here because that’s where their wings would be. Yet, this looks human… and we’re seeing those spots now. I’m not sure if I’m seeing things or if something's interfering with the machine.” That left the doctor and the nurse in the room confused and Fluttershy a little puzzled… but for Sun, he was more caught off guard than anything else.

        “Doc, I don’t think there’s anything wrong…” He told them, looking back at Fluttershy before speaking up and saying what was on his mind. “Body of a human… wings of a pegasus… Call me crazy, but I think our child’s a faunus like myself. Humans with animal characteristics and since it had a pair of pegasus wings, I think it might be a pegasus faunus.”

        “That does sounds likely,” The doctor replied as he looked over the file that he had on Fluttershy before turning off the machine. “Do the two of you have anymore questions about the Ultrasound results?”

        “Y-yeah I do…” Fluttershy squeaked as she slowly got off of the examination chair with the help of Sun alongside her. “What’s its… gender?” That was something that Sun originally didn’t think about, but now he was curious to hear what the doctor had to say to the two of them in response to the simple question that was asked.

        “Well, from what we saw today and also from this examination,” The stallion replied before setting the folder down on the nearby table. “The two of you are going to be having a daughter together.” That surprised both of them… a lot. Sun honestly was not sure what the gender of the baby would be, but he honestly did not care either way. Whatever it was, he was still planning on raising it together with Fluttershy all the same. Right now, the both of them were happy for each other.

        “Thank you Doctor. I really appreciate you helping us.” The Faunus told him shortly before leaving the examination room as the two of them left the hospital and went back to the cottage. Only to find a surprise guest inside as the two of them walked through the door.

        Coco was snoring on Fluttershy’s green couch while Velvet was aiding Fox in the kitchen with a cut. “Uhh… Hello?” Sun’s comment caught both of their attention as they noticed both the Faunus and the Pegasus walking into the cottage.

        “Oh, welcome back home! Fox just got into trouble with someone and I’m patching him up. Coco herself wanted to talk to you about something.” Velvet giggled nervously.

        “What would that be about?” Fluttershy asked nervously, looking at Sun before looking back at them. “W-we did just get back from the hospital… Is s-something wrong?”

        “Uh… She didn’t tell me. Why don’t you wake her up?” Velvet suggested. Sun gulped nervously as he looked back at Coco before looking back at them.

        “The last time I woke up Coco was after her hangover from Manehattan… And that conversation didn’t go so well…” The Faunus replied back.

        “Fine, I’ll wake her up.” Fox rolled his eyes and walked over to Coco, before shoving her head forward with one hand, waking her up instantly.

        “No sugar, please!” Coco screamed as she woke up.

        “Uh… Why’d you go to the hospital? Are you sick?” Velvet asked. Sun looked back at Coco and Fluttershy before looking at Velvet.

        “Haven’t you heard of checkups?” Coco asked, sounding annoyed with Velvet, who seemed to shrink a bit.

        “No, it’s not that…” Sun started to speak before taking a deep sigh. “Before we tell you though, can you please not tell anyone else until we’re ready to share the news to them?”

        “I don’t talk to anybody but you guys and Yatsuhashi…” Velvet said feebly, while Fox just shrugged. That gave both of them a bit more confidence as the Faunus took a seat in one of the dining room chairs.

        “Well… a few months ago, I proposed to Fluttershy for us to get married and she said yes. Not only are we getting married, but we’re also starting a family… and we just got back from Fluttershy’s Ultrasound just now…” Sun told them, surprising all three of them at once.

        “Oh my gosh! You’re having a baby!?” Velvet screamed in glee and excitement, while Fox didn’t seem to care.

        “Y-yes… and we asked Coco if she could be the godmother…” Fluttershy added on, looking at the brunette in the process after speaking in a light tone of voice. 

        “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” Velvet’s eyes sparkled and she looked about ready to tackle Fluttershy and cuddle her to death. This kind of behavior really made the rabbit faunus look more like Pinkie Pie than anything else, especially with her… happiness in the next question she was going to ask. “Is it a boy or girl!? Well, it could be a colt or filly, but-” Before Velvet could continue, Coco bored into her eyes and soul, shutting her up.

        “It’s a girl… but you might be surprised at the next part,” Sun replied to Velvet. “The child itself is a faunus… a pegasus faunus.” That caught their attention rather quickly. Especially Velvet’s,

        Coco rolled her eyes. “Well duh, what did you think it was gonna be? She was either going to be a pegasus with a monkey’s tail or a faunus with pony stuff. It’s not just one sided.” Velvet glared at Coco’s dull sounding outburst.

        “Well honestly, going into this, I wasn’t really sure what the outcome was going to be,” Sun replied back to Coco’s comment as he looked back at them. “I know that you liked science, but who knows what kind of outcomes there could be… It’s weird like that.”

        “I’m still surprised you two could… Well… Oh my, I just realized what it takes to make…” Velvet’s face went red. “You two had sex with me a floor below you!?” Sun looked back at Coco with a confused look on his face as he sighed back at her.

        “No no… we didn’t really do it here…” Sun replied, looking back at Velvet. “We were summoned on Hearts and Hooves day by a displaced who was extremely kinky, one thing lead to another and yeah… We never actually did it here, Velvet.” The monkey faunus assured the rabbit faunus as he tried to calm her down.

        “Okay, okay, this is getting awkward…” The faunus girl said, covering her face. Sun had to personally agree with her on that, but soon remembered something she said earlier about why exactly they visited.

        “Okay, let’s change the topic… Coco, Velvet said you came over because you wanted to talk about something?” The Faunus asked her. “Well, what exactly is that… something?”

        “Oh, right. Today, I decided to check on Penny but she wasn’t there.” That… caught his attention rather quickly.

        “She wasn’t? …… Aw sh-.” Sun almost cursed, smacking himself over the forehead as he just realized it. “Just great…”

        “Sun, what’s the matter?” Fluttershy asked, a little bit concerned about the faunus as he felt a bit stressed out.

        “I feel really stupid right now…” The faunus groaned as he looked back at her. “I helped Penny build her own home, only to forget about the party that Coco was trying to throw for her last night… I was so busy trying to take care of you that I forgot about the whole thing… Such a friend I am. I really want to help her, but it feels like I screw up every chance I get.”

        “You had a lot of stuff to do, Sun. It makes sense that you’d forget it.” Fox said, before Velvet punched him in the face, knocking him to the floor. Sun was unsure if the rabbit faunus’ actions were really necessary as Fox struggled to get up from the sucker punch to his jaw.

        “I know, but I originally promised to try and help her in any way I can…” He replied back. “Hell, even with the new Headmaster relieving some of the stress I have, we still got to help out Faith back in her world and-.”

        “New headmaster?” Coco asked. That was when Sun realized the… other thing that he forgot to mention to Coco and the others.

        “Yesterday, Blake came back… but you won’t guess with who,” Sun replied as he looked at all three members of the members of Team CFVY before telling them. “Ozpin… Yes, there is an Ozpin here and as it turns out, he’s as old as Princess Celestia and was their teacher. He’s helping Twilight run Beacon, but I have agreed to help him with understanding about the Displaced.”

        “With how many RWBY characters there are here, I’m surprised that there isn’t a Cinder displaced.” Coco said, rubbing her forehead. “So, how are we gonna get Penny back?” That had the faunus scratch his chin for a few moments as he was still processing the question along with every other thought inside his head relating to it and also the possible location of where Penny might be. He did not see her on the way to the hospital, nor on the way back to Fluttershy’s cottage. So at this point right now, he just had to say what was the first thing that honestly came to mind.

        “I don’t know… she’s mostly with Ruby, but I haven’t seen either of them since yesterday,” Sun commented, looking back at Coco. “Do you think she’s wandering around the Academy or the Everfree forest? Those are the two most… likely possibilities and last I heard from Sage, there wasn’t any signs of Grimm in the Everfree.”

        “Or she’s in Beacon…” Fox deadpanned.

        “You sure she’s there? She wasn’t comfortable there during the first couple of weeks,” The Faunus stated, before remembering that Fluttershy was still with them. “Oh, sorry Shy, I didn’t mean to exclude you-.”

        “It’s alright Sun… Uh, could she be hiding because of how some people treat her?” Fluttershy asked. “I m-mean… I’ve heard rumors on campus that… uh… Coco is seen as a bully?” Once he heard that, the faunus was caught off guard. He knew that Coco could be harsh… but a bully? That sounded a bit too… extreme to put it lightly.

        “Coco, when was the last time you talked with Penny?” Sun then asked her.

        “At that party thing. But I told her after an hour that since nothing was happening, I had to go. And bully!? I only hit whoever’s a jerk!” Coco defended. “Who says I’m a bully? I’ll knock their lights out!”

        “Angel told me she saw you drag Penny by her hair and then stuff her in a janitor closet.” Fluttershy then replied, surprising everyone.

        “Coco!! What the hell!?” Sun replied, startled by this revelation. “Why would you do that? To Penny of all people!? She’s a fragile and nervous wreck, this doesn’t solve the problem… It only makes it worse.” The faunus then realized that a possible reason for Penny being like this was because of the way Coco treated her and sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. “You do realize that the reason why she may be hiding is because she’s hiding from you, right Coco?”

        “I… I can’t excuse my actions…” Coco looked down. Meanwhile, Fox was reading a newspaper with a pondering look. The monkey faunus sighed for a moment before looking back at Coco as he sighed to himself.

        “Coco, you really need to treat Penny with more respect… and to start, you need to apologize to Penny first. We’re all trying to help her, even with how things are right now and this… Seeing Penny like that just makes me feel as if we’re not doing enough to help her.” He replied before looking at Velvet and Fox. “You’re going to need to apologize to her. I would want to help, but I promised Neptune and Pyrrha that I would help them look over the medical supplies that we’re bringing Faith in order to help her. I haven’t heard from any of the others instructors in who else is going to help… but still, the three of us are helping Faith no matter who else shows up.”

        “What’s with this Faith thing? Who is she and what’s going on?” Coco asked. Sun then took the time to explain to them the full story. Of how Faith’s world and it’s inhabitants were in dire need of medical help and assistance because of how the demons in her world were able to lay siege to Canterlot. Not only that, but the niece of Nicko Nocte was needing help in pushing back and destroying the demons that tried to take over their world. The last part Sun also mentioned was how Faith and Penny saw each other almost like sisters.

        “Huh… Okay, count me in on that.” Coco said, grinning.

        “Uh… Guys?” Fox said, his voice sounding slightly worried. Sun noticed Fox’s expression and then looked at him with a raised eyebrow shortly after advising Coco to focus on Penny and her apology first.

        “Something wrong, Fox?” He asked, looking a little concerned.

        “I think there’s something you should see… All of you.” Fox said, pointing at his paper. Sun looked at him with a confused expression, but it was Fluttershy who soon said something.

        “I thought you couldn’t see…” She said, originally thinking that Fox was blind because of the appearance of his eyes.

        “... I can feel the ink, it’s got a unique feel compared to the paper.” Fox said, slightly offended by her just reminding him he was blind.

        “S-sorry… I didn’t mean to insult you!” She squeaked, looking like she was trying to defend herself with her front hooves in the air and her eyes closed in fear. All that did was have Sun sigh as he looked at the paper's headline. Which caught him off guard as he looked at the parchment.

        “What in the world?” Sun replied, looking at the front page. “Two strange bipedal figures spotted in… Las Pegasus? What, is that like Vegas?” He asked, only to get no response before he continued to read. However, as he continued on, he soon noticed something in particular as what was on the page made him a bit concerned. “Oh boy… that’s not good… and now of all times.” Before Coco and Velvet had the chance to ask, the Faunus handed the front page to them as the two of them read it together. Only to be just as surprised as both Fox and Sun.

        “After Gladmane’s death by a collapsed roof, a mostly anonymous stallion named Candlewick takes over the Ponet Fantastique…” Coco started, but froze, seeing a picture of a familiar symbol two paragraphs below. “No…”





        “No, it can’t be!” Coco said, frozen slightly. “There’s a Torchwick here?”

        “Torchwick?” Velvet was confused.

        “Do you remember a RWBY character with a cane, a fedora and occasionally smokes?” Sun asked Velvet as he looked back at her. “Let’s just say that he’s a really bad criminal… and if there’s a Torchwick here, then who knows what kind of trouble he may be stirring up.”

        “So… Are you heading to Las Pegasus?” Coco asked. “I’ll handle Penny’s search here.”

        “Well, this is the only time that we’ve heard about this, so we barely know anything… Hell, Las Pegasus might not even be where he has his operations set up,” Sun told him. “I’ll ask Sage and Scarlett to look for and keep an eye out for any other stories involving him so we can put a case file together and track his whereabouts. We got bigger things to take care of and one of them is Penny. Handle the search, I’m going to check in with Neptune and Pyrrha… that is, if Fluttershy doesn’t need anymore help.”

        “I’m good, Sun. If I need anything, I can ask Twilight or Discord for help.” Fluttershy replied as she looked back at him.

        “And me.” Velvet grumbled.

        “And Velvet… Sorry about that.” The pregnant pegasus apologized before Sun then spoke up as he looked back at Coco and her teammates.

        “I guess we know what to do now. Coco can search for Penny, I’ll go check with Neptune and Pyrrha…” 

        Fox placed his hand on the monkey faunus’ shoulder. “Sun, this Torchwick must know about us. Why would he put his symbol out into the public?”

        “If anything, it’s either that he’s cocky or trying to send a message. Hell, I’m not even sure if he knows about us…” He replied. “Still, we should have whoever isn’t coming to help with Faith be assisting in finding out more information on him. We can’t exactly try to track him down based on this single story alone. If there happens to be more, then we should combine them together in like a mind map and try to figure out his movements… Does that sound good, Coco?” He wanted to ask her since she was technically the leader of the team and also wanted to hear her opinion on the subject as well.

        “Sounds good, but who’s available? I mean, Fox is but he can’t really see so he can’t read up on any leads, Velvet has no combat training so she could end up in danger…” Coco stated. “And Yatsuhashi’s… He’s not the brightest. And sending all three is just a terrible idea.”

        “We still have Jaune, Nora and Ren from Team JNPR since Pyrrha is helping us with Faith. Other then that, I would check with team ABRN… besides Reese. She wouldn’t be interested no matter how you try to persuade her.” Sun told her in response as the four of them began to step outside. “How about we meet back at the front of Beacon in two hours to see how everything is going?”

        “Okay. See you then.” Coco saluted Sun with two fingers as he did the same thing before they parted ways. The faunus himself soon began to make his way back towards Beacon Academy as he kept an eye out for both Neptune and Pyrrha. They were likely nearby the supply room where the Academy would keep a lot of their equipment and other necessities in case of emergencies, including Dust. So it would make sense to find them somewhere within the vicinity of that or find them nearby the training grounds.

        When he did find them, the faunus saw Neptune holding a clipboard and checking things off on a list while Pyrrha was making sure that they were in the right crates that they needed to be in and make sure they were properly secured. They weren’t exactly dropping them into the Crystal Empire like it was the Berlin Airlift after World War II, but the situation where they needed this supplies was a lot… similar in a way.

        “Okay, everything seems in order,” Neptune said as he was beginning to turn around. “Now we just gotta-. Oh hey, Sun! Didn’t exactly see you there.”

        “I just got here like… ten seconds ago really,” The faunus sighed as he looked at the collection of crates that were stacked on top of one another. “So is this everything we’re bringing along for the trip?”

        “Yeah it is. Food, Water, medical supplies, dust crystals, and some scrolls that Twilight said would help enhance the capabilities of their armor and weapons so they don’t break so easily.” Neptune replied, going through the list one by one in order to make sure Sun knew what they were bringing along. Though, the cyan haired human still had one other thing to note. “Still, even with all this supplies, it’s still just the three of us-.”

        “Four,” He corrected. “I just talked with Coco a few minutes ago and she’s coming along too… Once she takes care of something first.”

        “So there’s you, me, Pyrrha and Coco,” Neptune replied. “I honestly thought that we would have more people be showing up to lend a hand. After all, almost all of the staff did meet Faith and Nicko when they came to the Academy when it first opened and we treated them like family. Now with the low turnout, it makes me think a lot of the other staff are turning their back on them now.”

        “It isn’t their fault for not answering the call,” Pyrrha soon spoke up. “We tried everything we could in order to get the word out so everyone can help. All we can do now is just find a way to figure out where do we go from here.”

        “Still, shouldn’t everyone at least try to help though?” Neptune then asked.

        “We have trouble brewing over here along with over there too and we promised that we would help. Who would defend Beacon if everyone were to lend a hand?” The faunus then asked him, making his friend a little bit surprised. “Besides, Sage and Scarlett will be having their hands full while we’re gone because I need their help with something else.” With that, Sun had took a copy of the newspaper that was outside the room and held it up for them to have a look at what he was talking about… and both of them were just as equally shocked as they were caught off guard.

        “You have got to be kidding me… Him? Freaking Torchwick of all people?!” Neptune snapped before sighing. “Honestly, just what do you think he’s actually up too?”

        “Personally, I don’t know. This is the only time something like this has come up,” He replied as he set the newspaper to the side. “When Fox told us about this… and don’t start with asking how. He may be blind, but he can feel the ink on the paper… I honestly think that either he was trying to send some sort of message or he was being brash and arrogant. Either way, it doesn’t seem like he actually knows anything about us.”

        “And how does this relate to Sage and Scarlett?” Neptune then asked in response.

        “I was going to have them try to see if there were any similar stories or anything else related to Torchwick so when we get back, we can figure out his movements. I was going to suggest that Jaune and Ren would also help too since Ren can possibly do reconnaissance while Jaune figure out how each piece of this puzzle would connect… I wasn’t sure about Nora because… well, she’s Nora.” Sun sighed a little as the thought of her causing trouble would be either just as bad as Ruby… or worse.

        “Yeah, I can agree with you there.” Neptune agreed with her. “Last time I asked for her to for some help, she treated it as a quest to save a damsel in distress… and that was just me asking if she had a spare pencil I could borrow.” That just cause Sun to sigh a little as he looked back at both of them. He was about to say something, but soon heard some shouting from down the hall as both of them heard a familiar voice echo throughout the academy as they heard the girl they were just talking about sing.

        “I’m queen of the castle! I’m queen of the castle~!!”

        “Nora!! Stop running off and trying to build a table fort!!!” They heard Ren yell back to her as all three of them saw him running after his teammate. Who just happened to be trying to take any possible table or chair in order to stack them on top of one another in the mess hall.

        Coco ran in a few seconds later, looking worried. “Sun! I found Penny!” That was good… but the expression on her face said otherwise.

        “You did? Where is she?” Sun then asked.

        “Uh… That’s what I came here to tell you… She’s met a new friend.” Coco said, slightly panting. Sun raised an eyebrow, looking back at Coco in confusion.

        “Should I even ask?”

        “No need.” A new but familiar female voice said from behind Coco. Sun peeked over the brunette to see a dark skinned girl with a white shirt, a blue skirt, and a matching beret. That… also caught both Neptune by surprise given how she looked by appearance.

        “Well… I honestly did not expect that… First hearing about Torchwick and now this? I’m getting one serious headache right now.” Neptune groaned as he scratched the back of his head.

        “Please, don’t even acknowledge me, my presence won’t impede on whatever you’re working on.” She said, “I’m Ciel. But you most likely know me.” Penny came up from behind Ciel and hugged the emotionless girl.

        Penny squeed. “She’s my new friend! I found her wandering in the Everfree Forest!” Sun raised an eyebrow for a moment before taking a moment to congratulate her as he softly clapped his hands together.

        “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Ciel,” Sun replied, looking back at Neptune and the others. “I would like to stick around and talk, but Coco, Neptune, Pyrrha and I were promised to help a friend in need and we’re not sure if any of the other instructors at Beacon are also going to lend a hand-.”

        “Who knows about instructors… but what about… one of the more experienced Students?” A voice asked from nearby, but strangely it didn't sound familiar. It was only when the Faunus actually turned around that what he saw almost caused him to fall backwards while Neptune turned to look at their newest… guest.

        “Okay, who asked for a Kamen Rider to show up out of nowhere? Because I sure as hell did not.” He spoke up as Sun tried looking over the figure and figure out who it was.

        “Sorry bout the mess of the suit… been trying an upgrade out for my morpher… it’s a work in progress… still this works okay right now.” the figure said with a chuckle his voice changing to sound much more familiar as the figures visor opened revealing Craig’s face.

        “Holy crap, Craig?! Dude, you’ve… changed,” Sun then responded as he looked at him. “Like a lot! How did you find out about us going to help Faith?”

        “Umm… I hadn’t to be honest Nicko mention he need a help a while back… but nothing since.” Craig admitted as he powered down as a staff with what looked to have a clear snowflake like gem on the top appeared in his hand and his normal morpher on his arm.

        “Well, his niece just sent out a message yesterday and they need help… bad,” Sun replied as he took the chance to explain to him what was going on while Ciel and Penny decided to leave them be. “The leader of the demons that he was trying to prepare for broke out early and commenced an all out invasion on his world. Canterlot has fallen and a lot of the injured from there were forced to evacuate to the Crystal Empire. It, Ponyville and Cloudsdale are the only places left that are safe as everything else in Equus has been overrun or communication has been cut off… at least, that’s what Faith told us through the courier drone she sent.”

        Craig then sighed before he said “I’ll need to call in some of my team to help… maybe Storm, Akatsuki and Twilight could help.”

        “Whatever you can spare is fine,” Neptune told him. “We’ll not go until you’re ready.”

        “I’ll give them a call and they should come soon.” Craig said as he held his morpher to his mouth as he started talking into in although Sun couldn’t hear what he was saying. After a few seconds he turned back to the group before he said “They should arrive soon… just give them a minute, Storm and Akatsuki were training and Twilight was well… being Twilight and dealing with Koragg.”

        “Add you four with Neptune, Pyrrha, Coco and myself and we got eight,” Sun responded back to him. “Who else do you think may show up at the last minute?”

        “Couldn’t tell you, Asuna may be free… but she’s quite busy dealing with all the Stingwinger’s that keep appearing back home with Kirito and Scoots.”

        “What about some of the other instructors? Like Asphyxious or other faculty members?” Sun then asked out of curiosity, wanting to hear Craig’s input to his question.

        “Well… if you could get ahold of Cruger he may… Jack’s…. Very burdened at the moment, he’s found out something both good and bad... Haven’t heard from Asphy in a while… and there’s Sebaste and his lot… no idea what they're up to though.” Sun looked away for a moment and looked a little bit… down upon hearing about Jack. But he knew that he needed to not let that affect his thinking as the faunus looked back at Craig.

        “Maybe we should just wait a few moments first to see if anyone else comes first before heading over.”

        “Yeah… you may be right,” Craig chuckled as three portals opened up near him before three figures appeared around him, two in green suits and a third in a purple one that had what looked to be wolf shaped shoulder pads on. Sun honestly was surprised to see the three of them, but given what Craig had told him, he sort of expected for them to come sooner or later.

        “So I’m guessing that’s Storm, Akatsuki and your Twilight, Craig?”

        “Well… yes… although Twilight’s… not all Twilight,” Craig admitted.

“Just because Koragg’s up there doesn’t mean I’m not in control, Craig,” Twilight argued.         Sun was going to ask… but decided not to question it.

        “My lord… why did you need my help… you're not in danger are you?” one of the people in green armour said.

        “No Akatsuki, I’m not in trouble but I’m going to need your three’s help.” He told them in response.

        “What do you need me to do, my lord?”

        “I’ll let Sun explain this to you, but the short story is we’re helping a friend.” The faunus nodded as he took the moment to provide all the necessary details to the three newcomers so they would be caught up to speed along with answering any questions they had. The more they knew about what was going on, the better prepared they could be.

        Once they were Sun finished his explanation Twilight asked “So you want us to help slay demons… sounds like my job back home… I really need to get a team sorted on that front.”

        “We’ll be waiting to see if anyone else shows up first, so take some time to get ready right now.” The faunus insisted.

        “So anyways, what do I do with emo-chick?” Coco asked in a whisper.

            A portal opened as two large warjacks walked out followed by Asphyxious. “Okay, what happened this time?” He asked looking at everyone before noticing Sun and everyone else. “Wow… We having another party or something?” Sun sighed as he shook his head and looked back at the Dracolich.

        “I highly doubt that… Asphyxious, are you familiar with Nicko and Faith Nocte by chance?” The Monkey Faunus asked, just to see if he remembered so the lich’s mind wasn’t all over the place. Asphyxious thought about that before pulling out a notepad and started to read.

            “Nicko the rune slayer right? Or are these two in my classes?” Asphyxious asked as he kept looking though the notepad full of names. “I am horrible with names…” He growled to himself.

        “The Rune Slayer… with the Code Nemesis being his Niece.” He reminded him, going as far as taking out a photograph of them to show to Asphyxious.

        “Oh him, he was cool. So what about him?” He asked putting the notepad away as the two large machines looked at everyone. That was when the Faunus began to fill him on the same information that he told Craig and the others about what was going on along with telling them that Faith was asking not just for supplies, but help in pushing back the demons that were invading her world.

        “That’s the lowdown… now, if we go there though… promise me that you’ll have some form of control over himself.” Asphyxious raised a brow at this and said nothing.

        A new portal suddenly appeared before three armored figures stepped out. “Seb sent us to help out. He mentioned something about a call for assistance from Nicko’s Niece.” Alex said, turning her head towards the Faunus, who nodded in response.

        “This is getting too crazy for me! I’m leaving!” Coco burst out before stomping away, causing Sun to facepalm himself and groan a little.

            “Crazy demon raising an army, so nothing new.” Asphyxious replied offhandedly. 

        “Crazy demon that caused Canterlot to fall. Look, the point is, we’re eating up time here and there’s people that need our help. So let’s go… Oh and the reason why I asked that question Asphy is because apparently that one lady named Amy lives there too.”

        Sebastian winced. “Wasn't she the one Nicko mentioned had an Alucard like personality?” He asked, with the only response being another nod of Sun’s head.

        “I’ll get my dogs.” Asphyxious said as he walked off soon followed by his warjacks. With a snap of his fingers a large portal opens as a number of warjacks and Diamond dogs walked out then line up next to Asphyxious. “We’re ready.”

        “Locked and loaded!” Viktor said as he and the other two summoned and racked their respective weapons. That was followed by Sun seeing Neptune and Pyrrha have their gear ready along with Craig and his friends also being prepared. He was worried about Coco, but he didn't want to end up with him getting punched by her in the face if he insisted for her to come along.

        “Well then,” He said, taking out the drone Faith sent to him as he held it out in front of them. The drone recognizing everyone for a moment before turning towards Sun as he spoke. “Time to answer the call… Nono, guide us to Faith.” The drone beeped a few times before beginning to glow as a bright light began to radiate from it and fill the room as the people that were in the room a second ago all vanished moments later.

        It didn’t take them long to travel through the void… but for some people, it felt a lot longer than that. Case in point… a certain Dracolich right around… now.

        “Are we there yet?” Asphyxious asked with a small smile on his muzzle. Just as his face soon hit the frozen snowy asphalt that he happened to land on. “Why?! Every damned time!” He yelled before getting up and dusting the snow off. Asphyxious looked to his small army to see they didn’t fall like he did, before looking to everyone else. What he found was his army in one big dogpile, everyone else landing fine… and Sun dangling from a statue of Spike since his tail got caught in between the statues claws.

        “Wait… Where are the warjacks?” A loud sound behind him, made it clear where the warjacks ended up. “Please tell me they're not all destroyed…” Asphyxious asked putting his hand over his eye. The Diamond dogs quickly went over to inspect the warjacks, to make sure they were still working.

        “Are we… in the Crystal Empire?” Alex asked, looking around, as she stood up from the crouch stance she had been in.

        “You came!!” Everyone heard a certain voice call out… just as some of the crates they were bringing with them slammed into the back of Asphy’s head. “Sun, thank you for responding to my call.”

        “Faith, who are these… people?” Everyone soon heard as they all turned around to see a young alicorn standing next to Faith as she looked at Asphyxious and tilted her head. “Is he dead? Because he’s really weird looking.”

        “I like to think half and half, now then. Can you remove this young lady off me, I have work to do.” Asphyxious asked politely.

        “Oops, sorry!” Alex quickly jumped off of the warcaster and looked over at the two newcomers.

        “Uh… is anyone going to… you know… get me down!” Sun replied before he felt himself landing on the ground. “Ah… much better… Thanks Faith.”

        “You’re welcome, Sun! I’m just glad you guys responded to my request.” The Code queen responded. “I… honestly didn’t expect ALL of you guys to come. Even I’m… surprised.”

        “Why exactly do you say that?” He asked, just as he felt something pull his tail to see that the Alicorn next to her was messing with it. “Really?”

        “Flurry, please don’t mess with Sun’s tail. That’s a bit rude.” Faith asked her as the alicorn stopped her magic.

        “Sorry.” The Alicorn apologized. “Also… when is your dad coming out here to see them?”

        “Yeah… That’s the thing…” Faith said as she deeply sighed. “I… didn’t exactly tell him about this.” Just as Sun was going to ask what she was talking about, he soon heard another voice.

        “OKAY, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?!!” They all heard as a red haired man with a black cloak and a sword on his back came running out with a anthropomorphic earth pony with a metal arm and wearing a white battle regalia and dark pants. “Okay, just who the hell are you guys?”

        “Your friendly neighborhood Displaced-.” Viktor joked, only to receive a backhand from Alex. “What?!”

        “What my brother means is that we’re here to help.” The Spartan Scout said, her right arm whirring as she crossed her arms.

        “Huh, nice look Nicko.” Said Asphyxious as he stopped to see what was happening before going back to making sure his army of diamond dogs and warjacks were okay. But however, what everyone heard next caught them by surprise.

        “Yeah… news flash, I’m not Nicko,” The man sighed for a moment. “I’m his brother Anson…”

        “Dad, what are you and Caliburn doing here?” Faith then asked, only for the start of that sentence to be taken as a major curveball by everyone else. Asphyxious didn’t seem to notice as he stuck his head inside of a warjack.

         “Wait… your dad wasn't here before we arrived?” Sebastian asked in confusion.

        “Uh…… for your information, we’ve been living here for a while,” Anson replied back. “What I’m surprised is that one, Faith didn’t tell me a thing about this and-.”

        “I told Molly.” The Code queen interjected, which in turn caused Anson’s face to twitch a little as Sun soon facepalmed himself and his companions soon joined up. Asphyxious however just pulled his head out of the warjack with a smile, before closing the back armor to its engine.

        “…… MOLLY!!!! GET OUT HERE NOW!!!!”

        “Someone’s a bit ticked off…” Viktor remarked.

        “What is it this time?” Molly asked as she appeared from a doorway made of ones and zeros.

        “Did Faith happen to tell you that she asked for some other Displaced to be stopping by?” Anson then posed the question.

        “Yeah, she told me. I figure she would tell you about it as well seeing how she told me about it.”

        “Well, she didn’t-.”

        “Because I knew that if I even suggest anything regarding asking for help, you would immediately reject it!” Faith interjected, yelling at her father defiantly. “Ever since mom died, you’ve been trying to take on too many things at once and reject help from anyone else. Dad, you can’t take on everything by yourself. Why can’t you just accept that?!”

        “Faith has a point Anson. Doing everything yourself will only cause more problems for not only yourself, but for others as well.” The Mastermind told him. It was really hard for Anson to accept that personally. But that wasn’t exactly the… biggest thing going on right now.

        “Ms. Faith…” One of the drones from Faith’s side soon spoke. “There seems to be something falling at extreme speeds right about Mr. Wukong.”

        “Wait, wha-?” 

        “INCOMING!” Sebastian yelled as he saw the unknown object speeding down towards Sun. Yet, as it crashed down, everyone soon realized that the object he was seeing… was actually a person.

        And that person… turned out to be Coco. “My hero.”

        “M-my back…”

        Asphyxious just looked on as Sun was both in pain and helped Coco not have a hard landing. “Soooo, where are the demons?” He asked looking bored. As his dogs were now ready for combat.

        “Look over the wall for yourself,” Anson replied, having the lich look for himself. All around the frozen outskirts he could see a massive sea of black and cobalt as many of them looked like a massive horde of demonic beasts that could easily overrun the city. “The shield we have in place for here, Ponyville and the Crystal Empire is what keeps them at bay. But they are no laughing matter. They invaded and destroyed almost everything in Canterlot in under an hour. We can’t easily push them back-.”

        “I got extra Displaced!” Coco announced. “Some students offered their services!”

        Asphyxious walked off and started giving orders to his dogs. Anson was honestly surprised that the Dracolich would bring his own forces into the matter, even though he had no information on what was going on at all. For Sun though, he was glad to hear what Coco said.

        “Alright, perfect,” Sun replied, before looking back at Faith as she stood by Anson, Flurry Heart and Molly. “So what do we do now, Faith? It’s your call.”

        “Anyone who can fight should come with my father and I to the barracks while anyone else can go with Molly to help tend to the injured. We got survivors from Canterlot that need the medical supplies you brought and we’re short on doctors. So the sooner we can get them treated, the better.”

        “You’ve got it.” Viktor said before a Cyclops Walker appeared next to him. He then leapt in and sealed the cockpit. *Let's kick some demon ass!* His voice emanated from the intercom. 

        “I think I know someone who could help with medical assistance for everyone… but she’s back home,” Craig admitted. Faith sighed and looked back at him before telling him a simple order.

        “Do whatever you need to do to help them. Lives are at stake here.” Faith told him as she, Anson, Caliburn and Sun, along with everyone else as they followed him towards the barracks and in the main chamber. The designated war room had an entire spread out map of the country, with multiple red X’s in locations that had been overrun by the invasion or have lost contact with. Faith was the first one in the room and had used her drones to start a conversation with one of the… family members she had in Ponyville.

        “Faith? Holy crap, is that you!? We haven’t heard from you guys in weeks!!”

        “Well, things have been a bit… tricky, but we finally got some much new support thanks to some friends,” Faith smiled, having the camera on her end rotate around the room to show everyone else who was there in that present moment. “Everyone, this is my Uncle Leo. Uncle Leo, these are our friends. Say Hi everybody!”

        Viktor, Alex and Sebastian saluted in their own ways. Craig simply raised a hand even though he was looking away seemingly talking to nobody. Asphyxious had his arms crossed and gave a simple nod, with two diamond dogs by his side. All in which caught the Reckless Fist on the other end by surprise.

        “Wow… That is definitely going to help… Speaking of which, Nicko just got into Ponyville a few hours ago and -,” The Reckless Fist replied, looking at a courier that just entered the room. “Hang on just a sec… Okay… uh hunh… Wait a minute, run that by me one more time, I didn’t quite hear that.”

        “Uh oh…” Anson muttered, seeing the change in Leo’s facial expression and hearing the change in his voice. “I betcha fifteen bits that Nicko went and did something stupid… again.”

        “I’m guessing he’s done that a few times than you’d like?” Alex asked.

        “More than enough-.”

        “WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE JUST RAN OFF!?!” They soon heard Leo shout. “Son of a-. He was just here a few moments ago… Wait… ERIS ALLOWED HIM TO LEAVE!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?”

        Sebastian winced, all while Anson just sighed to himself. “Oh boy…. And there's the bomb drop…” The Astartes muttered.

        “Yeah guys, we got a problem. Eris allowed Nicko to throw himself back into the fray… I know he can handle himself, but I’m just concerned that he might overdo it. We’re already low on soldiers as it is.” Leo then replied to him. “And I was going to ask for his help in reclaiming Canterlot since he, his teacher Ryu, Luke and Ciela wiped out the occupying force in Canterlot. If we have that city back up, Molly and I can activate a… project we’ve been working on for the last few years.”

        “Alex, Vik and I can assist with that.” Sebastian said.

           Asphyxious let out a sigh before leaving. “I’ll back the meat head up.” He said as his two diamond dogs followed him out. However, the first thing on Sun’s mind was what Leo was talking about. But before he could say anything, his friend Neptune beat him to it.

        “Wait a minute… what exactly is this… project you’re talking about?”

        “It’s a Nasod modified combat air ship named The Black Crow that works with her Nasod Dynamo’s as well as my arm. Only problem is that the only way to activate the ship is manually. So we need two squads for this. One to reclaim Canterlot and put up a dome shield like the one over Ponyville and the Crystal Empire while the other one to come with Molly and I to fire up the Black Crow.”

        “I’m up for the second half of the job,” Sun offered, “Where is it?”

        “It’s within the underground tunnel system just beneath the city. It’s also ironically the same tunnel used for the train system. So we can use the tracks to guide us to each destination. For the meantime though, I’ll let you guys get situated first before we go after it.” With that, the call ended and everyone else proceeded to step back outside.

        Once outside a black portal opened up nearby, a humanoid machine, a small floating machine, and a large creature, about the size of a small house, walked out, the portal closing behind them.

        “Sheesh, who brought the Tyranid mashup?” Sebastian asked.

        “What should I do?” Coco asked Sun shortly after he got out of the barracks, tossing her weapon over her shoulder.

        “We’re just got done talking with Leo about that,” Sun told her in response as he made sure she was up to speed on the situation. “Right now, Faith said that there’s a lot of wounds that need to be tended to. Once we find out what the plan is, we’ll tell you so you’re up to speed.”

        “I’ll… Just go summon the volunteers…” Coco said before walking away.

        “Coco, do you need any help-?” He was going to ask, but by the time he did, Coco had already taken off down the street. That just caused him to groan a bit as he did not like how that turned out. “Smooth move, Sun… Real smooth.”

        The sound of hydraulics sounded from behind Sun as Viktor piloted the Cyclops up to him and halted next to the Faunus. *Everything okay, mate?* He asked.

        “You tell me… Coco asked what she could do to help and now I felt as if I did something stupid…”

        *She's a fighter at heart, heh, if I didn't know any better, if she hadn't gone as Coco, she would have made an impressive Spartan.* The Spartan remarked.

        “Uh… is it just me or are you guys just ignoring the fact of who just showed up here?” Faith asked as she walked towards the mech that had just arrived.

        “I did mention that…” Sebastian groaned, “As for the mech… Vik, Alex and I encountered it in the War of Shadows. I have no idea who the other two are.”

        The bipedal machine noticed Faith and turned to her, the other two with it simply watching their surroundings. “You are the entity known as Faith, correct?” it asked in a voice that sounded mechanical and, somehow, devoid of gender.

        “That would be me, yes.” She replied back. “I’m going to presume that you got my call to help, Mister…… I’m sorry, do you have a name?”

        “I am known as the Preserver, the other two with me are 797 Empty Spark,” the Preserver motioned towards the floating lightbulb. “And the other is Hybrid.” they motioned towards the large creature.

        “It’s a pleasure to meet you… One second please,” She said before glaring at everyone else that was standing around. “What the hell are all of you doing just standing there!?! GO DO SOMETHING!!!” That caught Sun, Neptune and Pyrrha by surprise as they went to go find Coco while everyone else then proceeded to what they were going to do next. “Now then, where were we?”

        “I have seen that you have few forces, I have come to assist you in taking this world back from the Demons here.” the Preserver told her, “They should arrive within moments.”

        “That… can be useful.” Faith said as Anson soon walked up next to her. “If we have your forces here, then we can have Asphyxious and a few others down at Ponyville to assist Leo. He did say that he needed more fighters.”

        “That… is good,” Anson admitted as he looked at the both of them. “I’ll go talk to him about it.” With that, the Infinity Sword went to go find the Dracolich as the sun soon began to set in the distance and the moon began to rise.

        “Where would you like my forces to stay, miss Faith?” the Preserver asked, “There will be quite a few if it helps.”

        “Here in the Empire for right now,” Faith said, looking back at him. “Even with the shield to the city, the demons perform aerial bombardments over night to try and break through it. If we have something to put up on the outer walls, then it’ll be easier to sleep at night when we don’t need to worry about them breaking through the barrier.”

        The Preserver pulled out a small disk, hit a button on it, and an image appeared. “The Super Sentinel, previously an anti-ground drone, I have redesigned them as a anti-air weapons platform. I can bring in six of these right now to cover most of the city.”

        “That can help for the meantime. Right now, everyone else should get some rest. It would be easier to fight when we’re not half asleep,” Faith responded as she looked around to see everything around her. Because of Sun’s help, everything and everyone in the Crystal empire was slowly recovering and getting better. But most importantly… it gave her hope.

        Hope that they will be able to push back against the encroaching threat… together.




End Tail 26