Monkey Business- Not part of the plan
Outside Fluttershy’s cottage
“Wow, that fight took a lot outta me.” Coco said, sitting in a lawn chair with Velvet who was doing the same. It had only been a few hours since Sun, Coco and everyone else that was called over to Faith’s world had returned back to Beacon and now, the brunette thought she deserved a much needed rest. “I took down most of the demons.” She boasted. Velvet stared at her, contemplating whether or not Coco was lying, though she leaned towards the idea that Coco did nothing while they were there.
“So, what did you guys do while we were gone?” Coco asked. Velvet groaned, hearing plain as day the ego in Coco’s voice.
“To be honest, you guys only left yesterday for us,” the two of them heard from Sage, who was leaning against a tree not far from the cottage as he looked back at them. “When you did leave, it was a few hours before Sunset and a lot of people thought that you would be gone for a while. Hell, Scarlett was betting that you guys would be gone for weeks, only to lose and pay up to Ren.”
“Huh… Well, a lot can happen in a day, but you guys can’t seem to do that.” Coco stated, leaning even more into her lawn chair as she relaxed. Velvet sighed at that.
“Anyways, Fox had a bizarre idea while you were gone…” Velvet began to tell Coco shortly after looking at Sage for a few short seconds and sighing to herself. “That we should leave Ponyville and go to a farther town.”
Coco laughed at that, “Why!? Free houses, and we don’t have to fend for ourselves! Look carrot cake, I don’t think leaving while there’s a ‘White Fang’ around. We’ll stay, and when the threat is gone, we’ll discuss that.” Velvet couldn’t deny that.
“We did now, did we?” The voice for a moment startled Coco as she felt backward in her chair, her back landing on the wooden porch and soon saw Sun hanging over her. “I think Velvet was referring to all of us… not just your team, Coco.”
“Though, now that you mention it, a vacation does sound nice.” Coco stated, though glared up at Sun. All the Faunus did was chuckle for a bit as he got up off of the porch and looked back at the three of them.
“Yeah, it does. Heck, I’m going to Manehattan later today, but unfortunately it’s not because of Coco’s vacation idea.” Sun replied as he looked back at the group while looking back at the ticket he had to double check when the train was leaving the station. This surprised Sage and also Velvet as well, but it was Velvet’s teammate that was the first person to ask on the matter.
“Why?” Coco questioned, struggling to straighten up.
“Well, after having a long conversation with Rarity, she told me that there’s a pony up in Manehattan that can help me with making a suit for when Fluttershy and I have our wedding in a few months. I have slacks and a collared shirt along with a tie, but mainly I need a suit jacket,” He explained, looking back at them. “Funny thing is, I think it’s the same pony that tried helping out you guys when we found you in Manehatten. Coco Pommel.”
“Oh… Well, here’s an idea, bring me and Fox!” Coco suggested with a grin as she finally got to her feet and stood up proudly. “I have fashion expertise and Fox is cooped up all the time.”
“Things didn’t go well last time you were in Manehatten… Best not go back.” Velvet stated. The Monkey faunus knew exactly what she was talking about. When he originally found team CFVY, he found Fox and Velvet hiding at Coco Pommel’s place while Coco Adel took Yatsuhashi on a drunken destruction spree across the city. Even going as far as insulting Aya because of her… chest size. Something that was pretty uncalled for, especially since Drunk Coco insulted his mother of all people.
“You’re right… Fine…” Coco pouted in response, causing the Faunus to sigh as he looked back at her for a moment before thinking of something. Maybe a way for him to make it up to her somehow after all the chaos they had been through recently.
“Would you like for me to get you anything while I’m there?” He then asked, looking back at her for a moment. “The appointment with Coco Pommel may not take so long and I might have some time to look around before the train to Ponyville leaves. That is of course, if you would like anything.” Sun asked the last part with a bit of caution in his voice… and for good reason. Back home when they were dating, Coco was really fond of gifts that he would give her. However though, it mostly depended on what the actual gift was. He had learned his lesson on several different occasions where recommended gifts that Aya had suggested to him lead to Coco either facepalming herself… or smacking him upside the head.
“Just don’t worry about it man. What’s the point of a gift if you can’t surprise her with it?” Sage then asked, only leading to the faunus sighing for a moment, looking back at Velvet before returning his gaze to him.
“It’s not that simple… you see, Coco is a professional. She doesn’t care that much about gifts with feelings and not only that, but she really hates being given anything that you don’t put any thought into,” He explained to Sage as he looked back at Coco for a moment. “And like how one saying would go back home… Professionals have standards.”
Velvet stood up and walked past the men, whispering something quick to Sun and Sage. “And Coco’s a super professional…” That had the Faunus sigh a little after hearing Velvet’s comment. It just meant that finding something for the brunette was going to be a lot more difficult than he had anticipated. But it didn’t mean that it was going to stop him from trying at least.
“Well have fun!” Coco shouted, before walking off. Causing the Faunus to smirk a little as he saw her leave. Looking down at his ticket, he thought that it would be best for him to go to the station early and wait for the train there. Yet, the only thing he heard as he was leaving was Sage asking a question to their friend Neptune as he showed up a few moments later. One that put a look of horror on Velvet’s face.
“So was it true that Coco had the chance to blow up demons with a massive rocket launcher turret?”
“Wait, there were real demons!?” Velvet yelped.
“In the world we went to, yes…” Neptune sighed as he now took a seat in the chair that Coco had left a few seconds ago. “It’s a long story.”
Later…
After what had felt to be the longest train ride of all time, Sun had found himself in Manehattan once again. There had been three times already where he had visited the urban metropolis… and the first two times didn’t exactly go so well. The first time was when Rarity invited him on a trip to Manehattan to visit the same pony he was going to be seeing now, only to meet Sage and get attacked by Adam on the train ride home. The second time he was there, it was because he had reports of a group of humans in the area… and some of them causing trouble. One of them turning out to be none other than Coco herself with the other humans mentioned being the rest of her team.
Now though, for the most part, things seemed a lot more peaceful. The damage caused by Coco to Centrail Park along with many of the local businesses have been fixed and everything had been going along smoothly. Including his meeting that afternoon with Coco Pommel. She was more than happy to help him out, especially if Rarity had recommended him to come see her. The earth pony helped the faunus by taking some important measurements of his arms, neck and the upper half of his body along with allowing him to choose the fabric that he wanted to use. A lot of options that made it tough for him to choose.
It was after the meeting with Coco that he decided to look around town and see if there was anything that was interesting he could find for the Coco that was back in Ponyville. However… just as he was about to get started was when three other voices spoke up in unison, startling him and causing him to fall backwards. “Hello, Mr. Sun-!!”
“Gah!” The sudden abrupt statement caused him to fall backwards and almost hit his head as he looked up to see who was talking to him. To his surprise, it was none other than Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. All three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders… at least, that was what he thought at the time. He noticed a fourth pony that wore a similiar cutie mark crusader cape as they did, but she kept her distance from them as the faunus spoke up. “Girls? What are you doing out here? I thought you had school today.”
“Our class is out on a field trip, so we took a chance to come over and see my cousin,” Apple Bloom replied, looking back at the other pony that was hiding behind a nearby tree. “Babs! Come on, Sun isn’t that scary!” All it caused the small earth pony to do was stick it’s head out as she looked back at Apple Bloom and paid no attention to Sun at all.
“I-i told y-you Apple Bloom, I-i don’t w-want to see him,” She said, a little distressed before saying something that quickly caught Sun’s attention. “One of t-those b-beings c-came by my house and threatened my s-sister the other night…”
Upon hearing that, the Faunus soon looked back at the filly with a raised eyebrow. What did she exactly mean by that? Last he heard, there wasn’t any other humans or faunus showing up in Manehattan according to the reports from the royal guard… but maybe this filly knew something they didn’t. “Excuse me… Babs right?” He asked, wanting to make sure he did not mess up the name. She nodded her head in confirmation as the Faunus cleared his throat. “What was this person like when you saw him?”
The filly was shaking a little at first, nervous to respond after thinking over what she had heard the man last night say to her sister as a threat. But nevertheless, she then decided to muster up any courage she had and answer his question. “H-he had a white c-coat, a cane, s-some weird hat and an orange mane… I heard him say something about meeting my sister today at… I think the southern docks…” Hearing that description immediately made Sun think about when Fox came across the news article about what happened in Las Pegasus with that of Torchwick. Now with a location in mind… and some extra time on his hands, he looked back at the girls as he got up off of the floor.
“Thank you Babs… I need to go now though. There’s something I need to check on before I leave…”
“She’s late…” Torchwick muttered, looking at an orange pocket watch with a sucker in his mouth. “Figures.” He was rather impatient when it came to those who were not on time. After all, if they were behind, than he would also be behind on his schedule. Which, of course, would not make his ‘customers’ pleased. With him was the same mare that he had talked to the other night by the name of Sunflower along with two other henchstallion that were acting as bodyguards.
Yet, it was only a few seconds afterwards that he soon heard a familiar voice. “I’m rather surprised to see that you have some new… escorts,” He looked up to see the same lady that he was waiting on, Emerald, walk into the room. “And for a moment, I thought you gave your boy Mercury a day off. Did he have something better to do by chance?”
“Yeah, cleaning up a mess with one of Gladmane’s relatives.” Roman stated calmly. “Also, Sunflower’s been with me for two years. She was on a break when we began business.”
“I see,” Emerald replied, looking at the mare for a moment before examining her surroundings as she returned her gaze to Torchwick. “Good to know. Adam was impressed with how we took care of Gladmane and is rather… interested in continuing to conduct business with you. However, we may need to be a little more cautious.” Before he could ask, Emerald took out what looked like a rolled up newspaper and tossed it over as it unfolded. Showing the symbol of the Torchwick gang on the front as Roman and the ponies next to him had a look at it. “The stunt with Gladmane has definitely been catching a lot of attention, but Adam’s worried that it might bring the wrong kind if we aren’t careful.”
“You talking about that group of humans over in that backwater town?” Roman asked, amused as he spat his candy out of his mouth and onto one of his guards. “Please, what are they going to do that an entire precinct have been trying since I started. There’s nothing they can do to me legally, and if they try anything else, I think I can at least get them kicked out of the country.”
“These same people are also friends with the princesses and also aren’t as easy to fool as the local police. They even were able to fight back after Adam attacked a couple of them to evaluate their skills… However, out of those same people, there are a few of them that are like Adam in the sense that they are faunus.” She clarified for him, which in turn had Sunflower raise an eyebrow in response. The mare had not heard of the word or knew what Emerald was talking about, so she was rather… confused by what Emerald had just explained.
“And that matters why? Look, you’re right. They’re kids, but there are more of them. But, really now, what can they do to me? Would the Princesses permit an attack because some kids with weapons say so?” Roman asked, shrugging with a smirk.
“Not all of them follow the rules… Are you familiar with an incident a month ago involving several stores and a part of Centrail Park getting torn up?” Emerald asked, looking back at them. “That was from one of those said ‘kids’... one that would gladly take the law in her own hands if she was given the chance.” For a moment, Emerald thought she sensed something down the alleyway and turned to see if there was anyone there, only to just see a small mouse scurry around before taking off. “You made sure that we were alone, right?”
Roman paused to consider. “This location is secure… Fever, Lockdown, go search the property.” The stallions nodded before galloping off. However, it wasn’t until a few minutes later that they soon found out what made Emerald so concerned.
Crack
“Aw, son of a-.” Both of them heard that simple statement before they noticed a huge hole in the roof of an old and abandoned magic shop that was not far from where Emerald and Torchwick were. Hearing the voice put both of them on alert as Emerald drew out her weapons and aimed it at the old shop. Torchwick was also alert since the voice did not belong to that of his two bodyguards that were with him only a few moments ago. Readying his cane as he looked in the same direction as Emerald.
“It’s not nice to listen in on others!” Torchwick shouted, firing three shots in the direction where the voice originated. Whatever was inside quickly scrambled to their feet as the first two shots tore through the wooden cabinets and various other books and papers in the room. But the third one seemed to do the trick as it exploded and had the whole store be engulfed in flames.
“That’s… kind of overkill.” Emerald said. “We don’t even know who was spying on us.”
“That voice is unmistakable. You’ve seen RWBY, that was Sun.” Torchwick snapped angrily. Only for both of them to be caught off guard by what they heard next.
“Thanks for pointing that out, Captain Obvious,” They both turned to the burning store, where they now saw the Faunus emerge from the flames as he now looked back at both Roman and Emerald. Before turning to notice that his tail was partially on fire… and it didn’t go out after soaking it in water. “Now what the hell did you do to my tail?!”
“None of my concern, bananas!” Torchwick yelled. “Sunflower, deal with this smartass.” He added, to which Sunflower nodded.
“Geez, first Babs and now Sunflower? The names of the ponies just keep getting weirder.” Sun groaned to himself, shortly before having to dodge at a few shots fired at him by Emerald as he leaped back up to another roof. “Oh come on! Seriously!!?”
“Get your ass back here, primate!!” Emerald snarled, her weapons changing into a pair of Kusarigama blades as she threw then at the roof. Making Sun retreat back some more before looking at the pony nearby.
Sunflower donned a gauntlet onto her right foreleg which had four shards of red Dust on it. She then proceeded to point at Sun and a massive energy sphere was sent hurtling in the Faunus’ direction. Getting an idea when on the roof, he clapped his hands together and conjured some aura for his semblance as he had two of the clones throw themselves towards the next shot that Sunflower had fired. Exploding on contact as it coughed up a cloud of dust… and provided some cover for him to slip past him… and leave a banana peel on Sunflower’s head as he ran past them and down the alley. “Oh wait, that’s not the compost bin! My bad-!!”
Sunflower’s face went from pink to red as she swatted the banana peel off of her, and it proceeded to disintegrate. She then screamed and sent another sphere in the direction of his voice. Leading to the Faunus to pulling out his weapon of choice as his staff fully extended and the faunus had it spin in a circle. Not only to block Sunflower’s shot… but also send it back at her. “Fore!!”
Sunflower took the hit with her weapon, only for it to absorb it, and send out a blue sphere twice the size. “Oh come on!!” Sun complained, thinking of an idea as he used the surrounding alleyway along with his weapon to pole vault himself farther away… and also next to Roman. “Oh hey, fancy meeting you here.”
“You know, you remind me of someone.” Roman said, before firing his cane in between himself and Sun, sending them flying in opposite directions. While in flight, Sun flipped himself backwards so his feet were aligned with the wall. Clapping his hands, Sun had two more clones appear on the brick wall, using them to propel him forward as he landed not far from the fleeing criminal.
“Oh really? That’s a first.” He said, having his staff break apart into his gunchaku as he began to go on the offensive. “You talk big… but let’s see if your actions speak louder than your words.”
Roman easily blocked all of Sun’s action, only for the faunus to get a buck to his gut from an aggravated Sunflower when she attacked him in his blindspot.
“Thank you darling. Now, let’s see if we can’t make a-” However, what Roman did not realize was that the attack from Sunflower did not have a lot of effect on him as Sun’s staff reformed. Pushing the mare away and proceeding to strike a low blow… literally. His weapon had extended right in between where Roman’s legs would be and in spinning his staff around to knock Sunflower back, the faunus happened to hit the criminal right in between his legs.
“Uh…… Whoops?” Sun apologized, before using the chance to try and get the hell out of dodge as Emerald rejoined up with Sunflower and Roman.
“And you think… Me the bad guy…?” Roman grunted. “Where’s your sense of brotherhood!? F*ck!” He glared at both Emerald and Sunflower as he grit his teeth and tried to get over the pain.
“Get him!” Roman shouted, seething in anger. Emerald turned to Sunflower before both of them started racing after the faunus as he was bolting through a crowded farmers market. Putting his weapons away as he somersaulted over one of the parked carriages that was on the edge of a street and continued to run. He groaned a bit, not liking the fact that his plans to stay a bit longer were cut short because of this incident.
“Okay, when Fluttershy and I are married, we are having our Honeymoon in Canterlot! Nothing bad ever happens there!!” He growled to himself, thinking of an idea to lose them. Using more of his energy, he formed another pair of clones. Only this time they looked exactly identical to him as they took off into three separate alleyways. Confusing Sunflower and Emerald in the process.
“Son of a b*tch… Monkey boy is using his clones to try and lose us…” Emerald cursed, looking back at Sunflower. “Take the alley on the right. I got a feeling he continued going straight.”
Sunflower nodded, before sprinting towards the faunus on the path to the right while Emerald continued bolting forward, trying to use her weapons in order to cripple the one she was chasing. However, when one of her shots was successful, it caused the faunus she was chasing to explode and dissipate. She had fallen for one of the clones… and then realized that Sunflower might have fallen for one too.
However, the situation for the earth pony was different. For her, she had found the real one of the three and was proceeding to attack him, knocking him to the ground. “You’re dead now, freak…” Sunflower cackled, charging up her gauntlet as she got closer. “This thing’s awesome. Better give props to the maker-.” However, just as she was about to fire her weapon, she heard somepony else speak that made her heart skip a beat.
“S-sister?”
Sunflower looked around until she saw Babs Seed, and her eyes widened in horror. She was standing there with Apple Bloom as well while Sun was struggling to get back up.
“B-babs, l-l-look away...” Sunflower weakly attempted.
“Sis, why are you trying to hurt Apple Bloom’s friend?” Babs said, just as soon as Sun got up and noticed Emerald racing towards where they were right now. She had both guns drawn… and had a bad feeling that the two fillies were going to get caught in the crossfire.
“Both of you, run-!” Sunflower turned to the fillies, and her blast went off. The Faunus, realizing that the blast was now fired at both of them, threw himself in between them and used his body to block the attack. Hurting him in the process, but making sure they were both safe. Emerald saw this though as a chance to finish the job as her weapons took form into the pair of Kusarigama blades as they bolted towards the three of them.
Only for a… stranger… to intervene. He held a large blade, which he used to stab into the weapon Sunflower was carrying, and thus her hoof, but before she could let out a scream, the weapon exploded, sending Sunflower across the road and into a building. “W-what was that?” Apple Bloom asked. Sun had no idea as Emerald had to think twice before doing anything else. Racing back to Roman to tell him what happened.
Then… the Stranger turned to face the three of them as Sun got up on his feet. “H-hey uh… thanks for your help…” He said, a little tired out before looking at the figure. One thing that was immediately apparent was the smell… and a flask that was kept in his back pocket.
“Please… Shut up and get lost.” The stranger grunted, glaring at Sun. Not even going to respond to that, both of the fillies and Sun soon ran off. Thankful that they were still alive as they were now not being followed by anyone.
“Is everypony okay?” Apple Bloom asked, looking back at Babs Seed. “Babs… I’m sorry about your sister just now… If you want, you can come stay at Sweet Apple Acres for a bit… until things settle down a little. What do you say?” She nodded her head in response, saying that she needed to pick up a few things first at her house beforehoof. Yet, when they were there… Sun happened to notice that Babs was also writing a letter and leaving it on the table.
“Sorry about that… I just had to leave a letter for my sis-.”
“For Sunflower? She almost killed Sun and her attack almost hit us, Babs…” Apple Bloom commented, surprised to hear her say that and lashing out at her.
“I know… but I know that my sister isn’t a bad pony… She just did whatever she could in order to provide for us. We aren’t so lucky like you and cousin AJ back in ponyville. It’s already hard as it is right now… but I know she isn’t evil… I know she makes bad decisions… but she does it to help us…” That… surprised both Apple Bloom and Sun. The faunus had no idea that Babs… who was just a filly… not only had to go through this, but also say that. “... And I still love her. Not because of what she does or what she says, but because she’s family…”
“Babs…” Apple Bloom said, surprised to hear all of this before looking back at her cousin. “I’m sorry to hear that…”
“Yeah, but one thing I don’t get was who was that guy?” Babs then spoke up, changing the subject. “You know, the one who saved us?”
Now that even surprised Sun… He knew the answer… but did not know how everyone would react to his response. “Well… I think I know his name… but let’s get back to town first. I need to talk to Coco and everyone else about what happened.” With that, they started making their way back to the station as they were calling for all final passengers back to Ponyville.
“Knew it! There is a Roman Torchwick!” Coco shouted. Causing Sun to flinch a little at how loud she was shouting as Fluttershy was bandaging up some of the sores on his arms back at the cottage. It had been a couple of hours after Sundown and Sun had asked for Neptune to get Sage and Scarlett along with Coco and her team as well as Raven. He wanted to tell them first and hear their opinions on the subject before disclosing any information to Ozpin, but it was hard to do that with how abrupt Coco’s interruptions were.
“Coco, I wasn’t denying it… In fact, I didn’t even think that when Babs Seed mentioned another human here that it was Roman. I had to see it for myself,” Sun replied, looking back at them. “I was more surprised at the fact that A, he had formed his own criminal organization and B, the client he was talking too was actually someone that’s here as Emerald.”
“Wait wait wait… Emerald? What would Emerald of all people be doing making business deals with Torchwick?” Neptune asked. “If I recall correctly, Emerald was more of the manipulator, not a negotiator in RWBY.”
“With who Adam has, I wouldn’t be surprised either way.” Fox stated, crossing his arms and humming in thought.
“Personally, I’m more surprised by the fact that Adam’s actually requiring services from that of a criminal like Roman,” Raven then interjected straightening herself up from when she was leaning against a wall a few moments ago. “Adam’s not the kind of person to be asking for help and instead is more likely the person that charges head on into battle. I know that he’s organizing the White Fang, but he wouldn’t go as far as to do this without motivation.”
“He’s in charge of an army that are just as trained in combat as they are,” Neptune pointed out. “Maybe he needs supplies and in exchange for Roman providing them, they help him with whatever he needs assistance with. Would make sense give the Las Pegasus incident with Gladmane, right Fox?”
“I’d say Gladmane could be that or a personal score. Either one.” Fox replied.
Sun himself, once the bandages were fixed on him, put his jacket back on as he looked back at them. “And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. There was one other guy I ran into that helped me out in a pinch, but when I thanked him, all he did was tell me to shut up and get lost… And you’re not going to believe who it was.”
“Who?” Coco asked.
“Qrow-.” Just as Sun said that though was when Raven’s eyes twitched for a moment, slamming her foot down as she glared at the faunus. For a moment, he was unsure why exactly she did not like him saying that. But he was soon about to find out why.
“Him!? That filthy, arrogant, drunk off his ass, no good son of a f***ing b*tch!?! Are you f***king kidding me?!!” She roared, before blowing off some steam for a moment as she looked back at everyone else. Honestly, they were all surprised by her reaction to all of this right now. Including Fluttershy. Normally, Raven always kept her cool whenever they included her in a conversation, but now this was way different. She cleared her throat for a moment, before speaking up. “Sorry… it’s just… Maybe I should explain why I over-reacted first.”
“That would be helpful-.” Neptune said, shortly before Sun elbowed him him the ribs. “Oww, what the hell man?”
“Neptune, don’t be a jackass,” Sun warned him before looking back at Raven. “Go ahead, Raven.” The swordswoman nodded, clearing her throat first before looking back at everyone before speaking.
“Qrow is my twin brother. Originally, long ago, around the same time that Ozpin himself had left Equestria, there were four of us that ended up here. There was Adam, who you know I now despise even if we were once together previously, One other lady that later went off with Qrow… and then Qrow himself. Originally, the four of us were working together in order to try and survive on our own, but Qrow always tried to tell me that Adam was not who he seemed to be. Of course, being the idiot that I was then, I was angry at him for saying that and our argument lead to our group splitting up later on and then Adam trying to stab me in the back. If I had the chance to apologize to him now, I would… yet anytime that I’ve tried to apologize to him before on other matters, he just see’s that as a way of saying ‘I told you so’.” Raven’s explanation had surprised just about everybody, but the first one to actually break the silence on the subject was not Sun or one of his teammates, but Yatsuhashi.
“So… he’s kind of a prick?”
“That’s one way of putting it… But looking back on it, I know that he was just trying to look out for me… However, there was another matter at hand that seemed to be the reason why everything came back to bite me after our group fell apart… And I didn’t realize it until afterwards.” Raven told them as she explained to them. “His Semblance.”
That caught everyone by surprise, especially some of Sun’s team as they looked back at her. “Wait wait wait… How can his semblance be the factor in all of this? When we were displaced, there was never any talk or clues about what his semblance would be.” Scarlett pointed out, which was also what Sun thought about. When they went to RTX, there wasn’t any talk about what Qrow’s semblance would be. So they had no idea at all what he was capable of.
Raven, upon hearing this, just sighed as she looked back at the two teams. “Whether we like it or not, everyone that ends up here along with other inhabitants for this world have a semblance whether they know it or not. Some people, including ponies, think of their Semblance as more of a talent than anything else… For Sun, he can create spectral clones of himself. Pyrrha has Polarity. Nora can withstand and absorb electrical shocks for her to redirect them back at whoever she’s fighting… Heck, it may be the reason why Fluttershy is able to talk to animals or Twilight is beyond talented with magic,” For a moment, she paused to take a deep breath before opening her eyes again. “But it’s different for Qrow… as he would put it… some people are just born unlucky.”
At first, Sun seemed confused, along with a few others in the room. But the one who did figure it out at that moment is Sage as he looked back at them. “No way…… You don’t mean…” Raven nodded her head, sighing a little, but causing some of the others, including Yatsuhashi, to look towards him.
“Sage, what is it?” Yatsu asked, wondering what he’s thinking. Before long though, Sage soon spoke up to him and told everyone what was on his mind.
“It’s Misfortune…… He brings bad luck upon others that are around him. Whether they are family, friend or foe.” Sage then said, looking back at them as Raven nodded her head, acknowledging that he got it right.
“Wait, how does that make any sense? Is he like some sort of bad luck charm or what?” Scarlett asked, which lead to the swordswoman having to clarify on what his partner Sage was trying to explain to him.
“Unlike other Semblances like Sun’s, which he can use it whenever he needs to, or Yang’s, which is active when she’s in combat… Qrow’s is always active, all the time. Something always happens out of the ordinary wherever he goes whether it’s a drinking glass shattering on the floor or someone falling through a roof when in a pursuit.” She said as Raven looked around the room and then to Fluttershy. “Of course, this may be helpful in fighting an enemy… but it’s much harder when it can also affect family.”
“Well… What happened?” Fox asked, raising an eyebrow. “Surely you’d keep in touch with Fluttershy’s uncle.”
“That’s the thing… When we last saw each other… it wasn’t on good terms. Originally when we were first here… he was not like the Qrow you saw today. In fact, he was more of what you would get if you take Fluttershy’s pink earth pony friend, but add her kindness and Rainbow’s attitude. However… over time, once he actually figured out what his semblance was… he began to change. He kept his distance from us, did not have any trust in Adam and kept on thinking of him being a ticking time bomb… Then there was Adam’s accusations of some things Qrow did and I believed in what he said like a complete idiot.” Raven’s analogy was a good one. Because by the time that she had realized what Adam’s intentions were, that bomb blew up in her face.
“So he just left you with Adam?” Coco questioned.
“At the time, it was my choice to be with him because I honestly did not think that he would do what he did. Before ending up in Equestria, we were married and had a healthy relationship. I mean, you would not honestly expect for a partner in your relationship to literally stab you in the back now, would you?” She then asked, which lead to Sun shaking his head. “When I saw Qrow again, it was only after Adam had injured me. He only talked to me for a few short moments to help me tend to my wounds, but other than explaining about his semblance, he was… like what Sage said… being a serious prick and getting in my face for not listening to him… that and he reeked of alcohol and smelled like he hadn’t showered in days.”
That lead to Sun thinking of something else too, looking back at everyone before having the first thought come to his head. “Hey… now that I think of it… since we’ve been displaced, has anyone noticed that we’re acting more like the characters that we ended up displaced as. Like in terms of personality?”
“I don’t know, I’m the same as I’ve always been!” Coco stated loudly. Which startled Fluttershy a bit as Sun decided to sit next to her and comfort her a bit while Sage decided to speak next.
“Well, I’ve noticed that ever since Neptune has been here, he’s been more like… well Neptune. Same can be said for Ren and Nora on team JNPR and a few others too.” Sage replied, looking back at them. “And Yatsu does remind me of how Yatsuhashi was like in Volume 3.”
“Thanks for reminding me.” Yatsuhashi replied sarcastically, noticing Fluttershy on the couch and looking back at her. “Hey… uh, not to sound rude… but has anyone else noticed that Fluttershy seems to be a bit… well… different?” That had everyone else looking towards them as Fluttershy squeaked a little and she hid behind Sun a little.
“She just found out that she has an uncle.” Coco said with a glare, covering Fluttershy.
“No, I mean… she looks like she’s grown a bit… bigger.” Yatsuhashi’s comment just made Sun feel like he wanted to slam his head against a wall right now. He knew that Fox, Velvet and Coco already knew about the fact that they were going to have a daughter and everyone knew about their marriage. But the rest of his team, Yatsuhashi… and freaking Raven did not know that Fluttershy was pregnant.
“Yatsu, man, you never talk about a woman’s size.” This time Fox spoke in a disapproved tone. However, Raven saw something else as she narrowed her eyes at both Sun and Fluttershy while Coco was trying to block the others from seeing them. After a few moments… she looked back at Sun as she spoke up.
“Well… this is a dilemma…” She said, looking back at them before saying the next line that caught everyone by surprised. “I’m not sure if I should be happy about the fact that you two are getting married or that I’m getting grandkids.”
“Whaaaat?” Coco faked shock as she tiptoed away. “You guys should’ve told me!” All Raven did was sigh a bit and looked back at the brunette as she sighed.
“Nice acting… but I don’t easily fall for that…” She sighed, looking back at Coco. “I’m going to assume you already knew about it… along with Fox and Velvet?”
Now that even surprised the Monkey Faunus as he looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. “Okay, how-?”
“Other than the fact that I’ve seen Yatsuhashi mostly by himself and also because Velvet didn’t have the same reaction as your teammates… I need to give credit to Fox though, he almost had me fooled by how he acted. Maybe Coco can learn a thing or two from him… no offense.” She sighed.
“Not our fault Yatsuhashi’s been reclusive.” Fox stated simply. “Also, why would you expect a blind guy of anything?”
“Because I had a feeling that despite your lack of sight, you know alternative ways in order to see.” Raven mentioned before turning to Sun, who was listening to something that Fluttershy was whispering to him before turning around.
“Hey, uh… sorry for having to interject here, but Fluttershy and I are going to get some rest upstairs. I’ll see you guys in the morning.” Sun commented, before helping Fluttershy by picking her up and carrying her to their room upstairs as everyone else looked back at each other for a few moments… processing what just happened.
“So… Sun’s now going to be a dad…” Neptune said, looking at the rest of his teammates before saying something else. “That’s… unexpected.”
“You owe me some bits.” Sage told him, causing the cyan haired teen to look back at him, surprised and a little confused.
“Woah, why the hell would I owe you some bits?” Neptune asked, followed by Scarlett in response.
“On our first night in Equestria, you guys had were betting on out of all four of us, who would be the first one to A, get married and B, have kids. I said Sun while you two thought that I would be there before him. So, you two owe me.” Sage told them as both of them sighed in defeat. Grumbling a little as they were forced to pay up to Sage. For them, this was going to be a long night.
The Hive
In what was once the grand hall for Queen Chrysalis’ castle now stood banners with the markings of a red wolf and three claw marks as the faunus known as Adam Taurus was standing at the end of the hall. Waiting patiently for the return of one of his most trusted adversaries, Emerald, to return to him. When she had originally left the hive to go to Manehattan, it was to continue doing business with the gangster known as Roman Torchwick. In exchange for Emerald assisting him with his… enterprise, Torchwick was to provide any weapons, supplies, and dust that he was able to get his hands on. It was crucial for the White Fang’s operations and also for what he had planned once he had enough of what he needed.
Yet, what he did not expect was that when Emerald returned, he found her covered in scrapes and looking like a complete mess. Not the way he saw her leave. During anyone of these… meetings, Emerald would normally return the same way that she had left. But that wasn’t the case this time… and he wanted to know why. “Did the meeting go as planned?”
“It started like that and Roman is still willing to cooperate and work with us, but near the end of the deal, we had a slight… hiccup,” Emerald began to explain as the faunus turned to face her. “Near the end of the meeting, we had an eavesdropper. That monkey faunus that you had seen on the train when you originally attacked your daughter.”
That made Adam tense up. “What… did he hear?”
“N-nothing… In fact, we never got to the actual business deal until after we had the fiasco with him and one other human that prevented us from capturing him,” Emerald replied, trying to be honest even with Adam’s change in tone. “And this one… was like one of the ones you warned Ilia and I about. Grey clothes, black pants, graying black hair, tattered red cloak and red eyes.”
Adam had only one response to that statement and that was while he was gritting his teeth. “Qrow…… out of all the times for him to show up, he chooses now? Pfft… no wonder he’s always a pain in my ass…” That was when he thought of an idea and decided to redirect his attention towards Emerald. “We can deal with him later… However, I think I’ve had enough of that Sun figure monkeying around with our operations… Emerald, where is Ilia right now?”
Emerald looked around her and took a deep sigh. “I-i think she was in her quarters last I checked.”
“Bring her here… I want you to find that Monkey Faunus and capture him alive… We’re going to teach him what happens when he betrays his own kind.” Adam growled as Emerald nodded and left the room, going to look for her friend Ilia as she walked out of the halls and went going to her quarters.
She arrived at a black door with the White Fang’s symbol burned over what had used to been the logo of the changeling kingdom. Taking a deep breath, she knocked three times on the front door, hoping that the occupant inside the room could hear her.
The door opened, revealing a tired looking girl with oddly big freckles. “What, Em? I just got back from the Crystal Empire and I got stuck outside of the barrier…”
“We got a different mission this time… one that Adam told me himself.” Emerald told her, which caught her by surprise. Normally, when being given missions sometimes, most of the missions that weren’t so important were handed to other members of the White Fang by courier. Receiving a mission from Adam himself was a rather big deal… and it meant that the mission was rather important.
Ilia’s skin turned blue as her hair turned black. “O-oh, okay.” She closed the door to unlock the chain before reopening it and walking out while looking on the ground. Emerald sighed a little, assuring her that it was going to be okay. Both her and Ilia were found by Adam at a young age and trained under him to become powerful fighters. However, Ilia sometimes had doubts over herself and also about if she was fit for the role she was given. In a way, Emerald felt as if she was her little sister because she would always do anything that she could in order to keep an eye on her.
“It’s not that hard of a mission…” Emerald said, remembering that she had a photograph of the target they were going after. “We just need to find this guy, capture him and bring him to Adam. That’s it.”
“I’m a spy, Emerald.” Ilia said, looking away. She stayed quiet the rest of the way.
“True… but if we can work together on this, we can lure monkey boy here into a trap and take care of it. Pretty easy if I do say so myself… Now, based on what we know, he lives at a cottage normally outside of Ponyville near that giant campus that they’re building. If you can spy on him to see what times he would normally come out of the cottage and when he’s by himself, I can take care of capturing him. Sound good?” Emerald asked, trying to not make it sound so intimidating for Ilia to process.
“Alright… Couldn’t we ambush him though? He might not recognise me.” Ilia suggested weakly.
“You said it yourself that you were a spy… But now that you mentioned it, that does sound like a better idea.” Emerald told her, thinking about it as she checked her guns real quick and make sure she had the lightning dust ammunition loaded in them.
“Alright, though I should spy first to see the best time to do it… I mean, it might take a week, but I’d rather not be… Caught by Raven…” Ilia said, shaking where she walked.
“Raven doesn’t live at the cottage. She lives at the forge in the center of town. If we lure Sun into the Everfree forest, then we won’t need to worry about anyone else seeing him get captured.” Emerald assured her.
“He might call her… Maybe if I make a scream in the Everfree he’ll come running to the rescue.” Ilia suggested.
“Yes, but that scream might attract anyone else within the vicinity. We only want to lure him out into the forest, not the entire town…” Emerald sighed for a moment, trying to think a little and figure out a solution. “Hmm… What if you found a way to get him out of the cottage, then I can use my semblance to have him wander into the forest unknowingly? Trick him to think that you were his marefriend?”
That caused Ilia to turn bright pink while freezing up. “Emerald!”
“What? He really cares for that pegasus, so he would most definitely go into the Everfree if he saw his marefriend go in there. He would be concerned for her and before he notices it’s you, I would shoot him with a knockout shot and we would be done. Rather easy actually,” Emerald said to herself now that she thought about it. “Besides, it’s better than anything else we can think of and we have to do this under the cover of night.”
“He better not kiss my leg…” Ilia growled.
“I’ll have him knocked out before that happens.” Emerald told her before they reached the gate. “Now we better get going. Moonlight’s burning… and we don’t have a lot of time until the sun rises.”
Later in the night, Sun wasn’t able to get much sleep. He kept on thinking about things like what the future may hold for him and Fluttershy, how would his mother Aya take the news and so on and so forth. However, in his thinking, he looked out the window and happened to notice something that… did not look right.
He saw Fluttershy… walking into the Everfree. He was told a lot about the forest, but one of the things he was informed about it was that the beasts that lurked there became much more dangerous at night. Out of concern for his marefriend, he quickly got out of bed and got himself dressed. Not bothering to take his weapons with him since he was just going to see what was wrong. Only wearing a sleeveless shirt, pants his gauntlets and shoes as he went out to follow her.
After a while though, it became a little more difficult to keep up with her, going through the forest as he made it into what appeared to be a clearing in the woods. He saw Fluttershy at the other end of it, catching her attention as he spoke up to her. “Fluttershy, what are you doing out here?”
“Oh… I thought I heard an animal scream and I wanted to… Uh, find them to see what happened.” It sounded convincing, but there was something that seemed off to the faunus… something about what she said to him just now.
“Fluttershy, did you forget that the beasts in the everfree become a lot more dangerous after nightfall?” He asked her, moving a bit closer to her. “If that’s one problem, the Grimm that may be lurking in the woods is another.”
“Well… I wasn’t going to go all the way in.” Fluttershy responded simply. However, when the faunus got closer, his expression immediately changed. This Fluttershy… was not the one he knew. Her belly was flat, not like the pegasus that wanted to be with him and was having their daughter.
“…… You’re not her… what are you, a changeling?” He questioned, glaring back at her.
The fake sighed. “Something like that…” The disguise then vanished, showing what looked to be a changeling soldier with a mask that represented the White Fang. “Adam Taurus wants a talk…”
“Pfft… Like I would easily believe that…” For a moment, it looked like he saw the changeling flicker as he blinked his eyes a few times to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. “What makes you think I would want to listen to what he says?”
“Does it really matter? You have no choice.” The Changeling said before Sun felt a painful sting in his chest, and went flying away from the Changeling. Losing consciousness as soon as he hit the ground.
“Hunh… Nice work, Ilia…” Emerald replied, honestly surprised that she decided to use her weapon to knock out the Faunus instead of letting her fire one of her stun rounds. “For someone who was really concerned about messing up, you seemed to have this under control…”
“Th-thanks. Didn’t work as well as I expected.” Ilia responded when the illusion faded. “Why’d you turn me into a Changeling?”
“I didn’t want to blow your cover… the only beings right now that can fully change their appearance to resemble other ponies is changelings, so it was a backup plan for in case he was suspicious,” Emerald replied, picking up the faunus and throwing his unconscious body over her shoulder. “Now let’s go bring him back. Adam’s going to be pleased with our performance once we show him this.”
“I-I hope…” Ilia stated, following behind Emerald as they made their way back to the entrance of the cavern that had the pathway to the hive hidden inside.
Unknown location (Few hours later)
When his vision was beginning to return to him, it did not come back to him slowly, but more likely startled himself awake. He found himself in a dark and cold room. Stripped of his shirt and the only source of light being the fire that was on the end of his tail. He did not realize it earlier, but now noticing that it was still glowing, he used the small light to see his current situation.
His arms were held up by chains, while his was forced onto his knees because of the pressure that he felt holding him in place. Wherever he was, this was not good. Not good at all. He wanted to get out. Break free and run… the memories of when he was captured in Griffonstone were returning to him from when he was originally displaced… and it didn’t help any that the first words he heard were the same ones the faunus heard back then.
“It’s pointless to struggle…” His head jolted up, now looking at the one whom he had once encountered before. Adam Taurus. “Try all you like, yet you’ll still be stuck in this cell.”
He gritted his teeth, angry as he struggled a little bit more. “W-what the hell is it that you want? What kind of gain would you get for taking me like this?” Adam said nothing, but instead drew out his blade as he let the blade cut into the faunus’ chest. Scarring him with a single motion as he cried out in pain.
“My reason for your capture was because you have been interfering with what we have planned for far too long… and you deserved to be punished for your actions.” Two more times Adam used his blade to torment the monkey faunus, cutting into his back and along the middle of his face. Missing his eyes by just an inch as he continued to torture poor Sun.
Then… an awful idea came into his head as he grinned. Turning to something that was in far back corner of the room, the faunus could hear the sounds of sizzling steel and burning heat as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up in fear. “When you play with fire… you're going to get burned...”
Throughout the hive, the tormented screams of a faunus caught the attention of Ilia as she was returning to her quarters. Curiosity lead to her wanting to see where it was coming from… but upon arriving, she was horrified by what she was now a witness too. Seeing the same faunus that they were ordered to grab get tortured and forced to suffer the fate of traitors.
Sun himself continued to bear through the terrifying pain as he was forced to suffer at the hands of a monster. Even hours after it was done, he still felt the agonizing pain of what happened to him as he was now a bloodied mess. To the point that when he heard someone approaching the door, his heartbeat began to race. He was brave, yes… but also defenseless. Fearful too at if whoever was outside his cell was going to do more harm to him.
“W-who’s there?” He weakly asked, caution in his words as he spoke.
Ilia opened the door and quietly rushed in. She tiptoed over to Sun, a key in her hand. She rounded him, and unlocked the chains on his feet, before doing the same with his hands and tail. All the weight that was forced onto Sun was gone as he felt himself collapse, feeling his tail be free as he was able to move it around. It was the only source of light that he had and when he moved it around, the first thing that he saw was Ilia. “W-who-?”
“We don’t have time. Adam could come back at any moment, so you’re just going to have to trust me. Plus you should save your strength.” Sun understood her, but felt as if he needed to thank the one that set him free. She lifted him up and wrapped his left arm around her neck, then began to direct him towards the door. By the time they got closer, the Monkey Faunus was able to regain the feeling in his feet and attempt to walk on his own despite all of his injuries and open wounds.
“Here.” Ilia said, holding up an odd looking pink petaled flower and black stalk. “If something happens, this is a rare herb that’ll give you an adrenaline rush.” He nodded, putting it in his pocket before saying something to the one that helped him.
“T-thank you…… P-please… run.” With one of his legs, the faunus knocked over some wooden pylons that were leaning next to a nearby wall. With a flick of his tail, the wood was set ablaze as the smoke began to rise while the faunus made his way through the dark.
However… they weren’t able to get that far before they heard someone shouting. “Everybuggy get down here! We got a defector that’s freeing a prisoner!!”
“Don’t let them escape!!” Another one shouted as they heard the guard racing to grab their weapons. “For the White Fang!!”
Ilia kicked a wall next to her and a tunnel opened up. “Go!” She shouted to Sun, pulling out her weapon. The Monkey Faunus obeyed, bolting inside as the wall closed behind him. Seeing Ilia turned to the Changelings, fear consuming her mind just as the door slammed shut. With the plant that he was given, he took the flower and bit into it as a new sense of energy kicked in, allowing him to easily be able to reach the other end of the tunnel now that he didn’t have to walk anymore.
But just as he was about to make it out of the forest, the instant kick soon disappeared, leading him to fall to his knees and collapse on the ground.
Earlier…
When Fluttershy woke up that morning, she was honestly surprised to not feel Sun laying right next to her. Matter of fact, not see him nearby. It was strange because usually, he would let her know when he needed to go somewhere or leave a note. But now, things were different… and it was making her a bit worried as she slowly trotted down the stairs.
“Hey Fluttershy, sleep well?” Velvet asked, sitting on the couch. The pegasus noticed her as she was coming down the stairs.
“Y-yeah… Uh, Velvet, did you see Sun by any chance this morning? He wasn’t with me when I woke up.” She asked, a little nervous to say it after the events that played out last night.
“No, I thought he was sleeping in your room when I got back…” Velvet replied, her ears folded back. That to Fluttershy was concerning. She was becoming a bit worried about where he would be of all times as she looked around the room. It was then that something caught her eye as she looked out the window of the cottage. But what she saw made her eyes widen and her pupils shrink as she hurried out the door. Much to Velvet’s surprise. “What?”
“Velvet, go get help!! Sun’s hurt bad!!!” She screamed, racing over to where Sun had collapsed on the ground to see if he was still breathing. Velvet nodded, before rushing off as fast as she could. “It’s going to be okay, Sun… p-please stay with me.” The pegasus pleaded, tears forming in her eyes as she held Sun closer to her. Waiting for help to arrive.
Soon, Fox arrived with a panicked look. He knelt down instantly and picked up Sun’s body with a bit of difficulty. Fluttershy, seeing Fox trying to help, did what she could to make it easier for him so she could bring him inside the cottage.
“His tail’s burning my leg!” Fox yelped, speedwalking. Fluttershy, upon noticing it, first tried throwing a bucket of water at it, which splashed Fox’s legs in the process, but did nothing to put it out. Then, she kept the tail away from Fox and in a bucket of water as Fox set him down once they were inside the cottage.
“Somepony get a first aid kit! Those wounds are still open!” Fluttershy panicked, tearing off a piece of cloth she had from an old tablecover to try and suppress one of his wounds. Doing whatever she could in order to help. “Where’s Velvet?”
“She went to the hospital to tell the doctors.” Fox replied.
“O-okay. Fox, I-i need you to go get help. Get Coco, Raven, anypony! I don’t c-care, just hurry!!” She said before Fox left the house. “B-but for the love of Celestia, d-don’t bring Neptune!”
Fox nodded, before scrambling outside, leaving Fluttershy to try and hold down his wounds. Three minutes later, Penny burst into the door, a large, goofy grin donning her face. “Salutations friend!”
Fluttershy was startled to see the gynoid bust through her door and it also made her slip up on the bandage she was placing on him. “P-penny?! What are you doing here?”
“Fox ran past me and said Sun was hurt!” Penny said, oblivious to Sun’s injury and walked over. “Wow, that’s a lot of damage.”
“Penny, I need some help! These wounds need to b-be bandaged up or Sun’s gonna b-bleed out.” Fluttershy tried to explain while keeping her emotions in check. “Do you know how to help-?” However, the pegasus was interrupted when she saw Penny take a small band aid that was in the first aid kit, placed it on a minor scrape that was on Sun’s shoulder and then kissed it lightly.
“There!” Penny said, but to Fluttershy’s surprise pulled out of her backpack a sewing kit and a small bottle, which she placed next to Fluttershy. “Coco will be here soon. And that potion should slow the bleeding. Zecora said so in her confusing speech!”
“O-okay…” She said, still processing what she said before Penny bolted up to her feet.
“Anyways, I’ve gotta help my caretaker with her work! I’ll see you later, friend!” Penny said. She then walked to the door and opened it just in time to see Coco almost running into the door, followed by Sage. Slamming the door open, which lead to Coco not running into the door… But Penny, which caused a loud ‘ding’ as Coco bonked her head at full speed into Penny’s.
“Gah! Owowowow!” Coco yelped as she squirmed on the ground. Sage just sighed, helping Coco up as Penny left the room… before noticing Sun’s condition.
“Holy sh*t-!” He cursed, racing over to him before looking back at Coco as she regained her senses. “Coco, get over here quick! This is worse than we thought!”
Coco did, and cringed at what she saw. “Alright, I need a sewing kit… It’s about all I can-”
Fluttershy soon interjected, using her free wing to point at the sewing kit that Penny left on the table. “Penny just left one on the table. Sage and I can bandage the wounds on his arms if you can help with the cut on his forehead… i-if you want, of course.” She replied shyly.
Coco nodded and began working to stitch his injuries. While they were working and applying the bandages to him, the doctors soon arrived to help take over as they helped with making sure no other major injuries were overlooked. When Raven saw the Doctors carting Sun to the hospital though… all she did was grit her teeth in anger.
“That bastard… He’s gone too far this time…”
“He’s been going too far.” Coco replied.
“No, not Sun…… Adam,” Raven told her. “I’ve seen those wounds before. Adam tortured Sun… And he left his mark on Sun’s back.” Pointing it to out to her, Coco now saw what she was talking about.
The symbol of the White Fang… branded and burned into Sun’s back. A wound that could never be healed, even if it was given time to do so. Once they made it to the hospital, The doctors did what they could to help stabilize him, making sure that his tail was not interfering with any of the equipment either as they operated to keep him stable.
It took almost an hour, but soon, one of the nurses came out to see both Fluttershy and Coco as they were in the waiting room. “Excuse me, but are you two with Mr. Wukong?”
“Y-yes… i-is something wrong?” Fluttershy squeaked, instantly becoming nervous. “Is he okay? Dear Celestia, please be okay…”
“He’s fine… Lucky, but fine… His condition though is a bit of a different story,” She said as she looked at the clipboard. “Multiple cuts and wounds that were close to vital spots, burn marks all across his back, a scar across his forehead, a burning tail that was probably caused by an accident involving what Princess Twilight calls “dust” and a lot of blood loss… Thank Celestia that you were able to help him when he did… Otherwise, he would’ve been dead.”
“Who would do this…?” Coco asked, looking down to her shoes.
“The woman named Raven Branwen informed us that the attacker may have been Adam Taurus, the leader of the White Fang. He branded the organization's insignia on Mr. Wukong’s back.” The nurse told them, showing a photograph of the brand itself. One that made Fluttershy gasp in horror.
Coco was silent for a moment, then began to walk away. Fluttershy herself watched as she went outside, ignoring anyone passing her as she looked back at the nurse. “H-how long until he’s… awake?”
“We don’t know… But we’ll make sure to call you when he does wake up.” The nurse assured her as she went back to another room in the hospital as Fluttershy had Sage walk her back home. Hoping that Sun was going to be okay.
Manehattan: Torchwick’s Base
Sunflower gasped away in a white bed, the only sounds being her breathing, a heart monitor, and a stallion chuckling to himself.
“Wow, you took one tartarus of a beating.” The male said. “Half of your face is burnt and your right hoof got crushed by the explosion.” He said. Sunflower noted the searing pain on the right half of her face and began to panic when she couldn’t open her right eye.
“Oh, I’m sorry dear, but your eyelid melted shut. I’ll have to do surgery on that once I make sure the rest of you is fine.” He said, almost toying with Sunflower. He then trotted into her view, a sick smile on his yellow face, “Though, I have to admit, I am sorry that this happened to you. I did build the weapon that did this to you, heh.”
Sunflower’s heart rate increased, as did the beeps from the monitor.
“Shh, shh, Mr. Torchwick wants you up and running as soon as possible… I think you’ll want to repay the creature that… Well, to put it lightly, amputated you…” The stallion said, grinning evilly. Sunflower attempted to scream when she realized that her foreleg was missing. She began sobbing as the stallion leaned back in his chair.
“Comet Tail! What are you doing to the poor mare?” Roman said, walking in.
“Just breaking the news to her.” Comet replied simply. Torchwick sighed.
“Get back to work on Sunflower’s gift…” Torchwick said, and Comet Tail nodded, trotting away. Torchwick sat on Sunflower’s bed and looked her in the eye. “I’m going to have Comet Tail fix you up, good as new… Then, I’m quadrupling your salary. Then, you can kill the man you did this to you, and the man who took your sister…”
At the last part, Sunflower sat up, anger filling her eye as she screamed through what she finally noticed was gaz that was wrapped around her head, preventing her from speaking. She continued to rage, and Roman noticed an aura appearing around Sunflower. Before he could react, a surge of pain and agony rushed through him and he screamed in surprise, before falling to the ground.
It was as if… His right half was charred… Only worse. And he instantly understood what was happening. He soon passed out, but he knew Sunflower was knocked out too. He was so going to use this against his enemies.
Make his enemies feel the same pain that Sunflower felt.
End Tail 28