-Vale Streets-
Twilight Sparkle lived for the night life here in Vale. The bright lights, the big city...
...and there was always at least one scumbag to beat up and leave for the cops.
That scumbag was a man wearing a white suit and a black bowler hat, with orange hair and light green eyes.
Roman Torchwick; wanted for a multitude of crimes ranging from petty theft to murder. A notorious criminal mastermind with a bounty of half a million Lien, doubled after his last robbery of a Dust store left three people sent to the hospital with minor injuries, and one poor store clerk got sent to the city morgue.
But she wasn't after him because of the money. Frankly she could care less about that.
She was after him because that clerk who was murdered had a wife and three children. And now they would never see him again outside of family photos.
No way in hell she was letting that bastard get away Scott-free.
She saw him and a group of men wearing red shades and black suits walking into a Dust and Weapons shop, From Dust Till Dawn. She recognized them as employees of Hei "Junior" Xiong, a club owner who did shady dealings under the table. The only reason she hadn't taken him down yet was because she couldn't get any evidence on his dealings to take him down, since Junior was really good at covering his tracks. Or he had friends in high places. Probably both now that she thought about it.
She switched Midnight Shadow to bow form and was about to knock out the power with an Electric Dust arrow...
CRASH!!!
...when one of the henchmen were thrown out through the now shattered window, followed by a vibrant red blur and a flurry of rose petals.
The red blur turned out to be a young girl wearing a mostly red and black outfit, most notably of which was her red cape with a hood. As her hood fell back it revealed her hair, which was also red but a few shades darker than her clothes. Clearly somebody likes the tale of Little Red Riding Hood Twilight mused.
And then the girl pulled out her weapon, and...
You have got to be kidding me.
Her weapon at first was a red and black metal rectangle, which then unfolded into arguably the biggest scythe she had ever seen. Seriously, the thing was at least a good two and a half feet taller than the girl, the scythe head had to weigh at least twice as much as she did with its rather bulky construction, and somehow she managed to twirl it around like it weighed next to nothing! Who was this girl?
Part of the answer came when she took on the rest of the henchmen, using a combination of her weapon (which was also a gun since it fired a bullet to propel her into a spin) and bursts of speed which left a trail of rose petals, which Twilight assumed was the girl's Semblance.
She was fifteen, had Aura and a Semblance, could use a transforming weapon that was also a gun, was fighting against a bunch of crooks and no doubt defending the shopkeeper inside.
Whoever she was, she was obviously one of the good guys.
Ruby Rose was not expecting her night to turn out like this.
She had come to From Dust Till Dawn to pick up some Dust Rounds for her sniper rifle/scythe, Crescent Rose, for her third year at Signal Academy which started in a week. Once she got them she decided to look through the weapons magazines while listening to This Will Be The Day (AKA her favorite song of all time) through her headphones when some schmuck tried to rob her.
Said schmuck received a high speed kick to the face and got real acquainted with the far wall for his trouble.
Now she had just dealt with four more goons, and was now facing Roman Torchwick.
He dropped his cigar and crushed it with his cane, before saying "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening. And as much as I'd love to stick around..." He raised his cane up at her, the cover on the bottom flipping open to reveal a miniature scope, simultaneously revealing that his cane was also a gun. "...I'm afraid this is where we part ways."
He was about to pull the trigger when a purple and black arrow came flying and cut across the back of his hand, making him drop his cane and curse out in surprise.
Both Ruby and Roman turned to see the figure who fired the arrow. "Well well, if it isn't the Purple Archer" Roman grumbled upon recognizing her by her attire.
Ruby was in shock. She'd heard about this woman on the news; the mysterious fighter who wore purple and black with a hood to hide her features, who brought justice down upon criminals with a bow/sword and a multitude of special arrows. No one knew if she was a Huntress or some wannabe superhero, seeing as how aside from a few eyewitness reports she went out of her way not to be seen. What was known was that she was a master archer, skilled sword-wielder, and she had more shadowy stealth skills than a ninja. She was the talk of Signal Academy, someone many of the students hoped to be like one day once they graduated from one of the Huntsman Academies.
And now she was standing just a few feet behind her! Her friends at Signal were never gonna believe this! Maybe I can get her autograph after this is over? she thought
Drawing back an arrow and aiming at Torchwick she said "Roman Torchwick. You have failed this city!" before letting the arrow fly.
Roman quickly rolled out of the way of the arrow, grabbing his cane and firing off a flare shot at the two of them. The shot hit in front of them and exploded, scattering bits of pavement into the air that would have hit them if they hadn't jumped out of the way.
Landing a few feet back, Ruby saw that Roman was moving up a ladder on the side of a building. Ruby turned to the Purple Archer, only to see that she was gone. "Where did she-?" She then saw that she was already in hot pursuit of Torchwick, forgoing the ladder and instead disappearing in a purple glow before reappearing at the roof's edge, grabbing onto it and flipping herself onto the roof. "Wow. She's good." She looked at the storekeeper and asked "You okay if I go after him?" The shop keeper nodded, and she ran to the wall before using a shot from Crescent Rose to launch her up onto the roof.
While that was happening, Twilight was now glaring daggers at Roman Torchwick, who was now standing inside of an open Bullhead while holding a Fire Dust crystal. "End of the line, Purple."
Ruby appeared on the roof at the exact time Roman threw the Dust crystal. He followed it up by shooting the crystal, and Twilight acted with out thinking, focusing her magic into her hands.
One of the key differences between Remnant and Equestria was the level of ambient magic the world had. In Equestria the very atmosphere was permeated with ambient magic, which she could draw upon and mix with her own large reserves to provide a boost to her spells. This also cut down on the amount of magic taken from her own reserves, allowing her to use more spells before getting fatigued. The same went for her girlfriend, Sunset Shimmer, from what she told her.
But Remnant wasn't Equestria, so it didn't have near the same levels of ambient magic. So more often or not any magic she or her girlfriend did usually came from their own reserves, which had sadly been cut down a considerable amount either due to their new bodies or the new world. So they had to be more careful otherwise they'd end up wearing themselves out in the middle of a fight, which on Remnant was usually a big no-no as that could lead to an early grave.
Fortunately they still had a decent chunk of their original power, so if Twilight threw up a quick force field to shield herself and Little Red Riding Hood's badass twin sister, it wouldn't take too much out of her. Which was good because that earlier teleport had used a fair amount of her magic. Note to self: ask Spike to make me a grappling hook launcher for my bracers so I don't have to teleport onto rooftops all the time.
She activated her spell, and a dome of purple aura surrounded her and Ruby. She expected to soon see the explosion hit her force field, but suddenly someone appeared and conjured up some sort of shield in front of both of them.
Which essentially rendered her own shield moot, so she dropped it.
The person who threw up the shield was a woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties with blond hair tied back in a bun, a white shirt and a black pencil skirt, black leggings and boots. Finishing her outfit was a purple cape with the ends cut to look like fire and arrows.
Twilight recognized her in an instant from a news report. Glynda Goodwitch. Vice-Headmistress of Beacon Academy, close friend of the current headmaster Professor Ozpin, and a renowned Huntress throughout the four kingdoms.
She waved her riding crop (which drew a wince from Twilight after seeing what traditional riding crops were used for on horses and ponies in Remnant. Sadists.) and a volley of purple energy blasts shot out and slammed into the Bullhead, knocking it around like a soda can getting shot by BBs. Ruby was in awe at what she saw, but Twilight was more focused on the job at hand. Switching Midnight Shadow back to sword form, she focused on the interior of the Bullhead. Her body glowed purple before she disappeared, teleporting inside and coming face-to-face with a very surprised Roman Torchwick. "What the f-!?"
Before he could finish that sentence she caught him in his midsection with a kick, sending him into the cockpit. "Language!"
She heard him yell "We got company and one of them's onboard!"
Twilight was about to fire a sleep dart when a burning orange glow shined in the cockpit, and a fireball shot out at her. And it wasn't from Torchwick's cane.
As she leaped out back onto the roof, feeling the fireball narrowly miss her back but still be close enough for her to feel the heat, she said "He's got backup!"
A female figure stepped into view on the Bullhead, making sure to keep the top half of their body hidden in the shadows. But enough of her was shown that Twilight began taking mental notes. She's about the same height as Sunset, burning amber eyes, wearing a red dress with gold designs that stops just above her knees and... are those high-heeled shoes? Made of glass? Rolling her eyes she mentally asked How many more fairy tale characters am I going to run into? First Little Red Riding Hood and now a pyromaniac Cinderella. Who's next? Snow White and the Seven Dwarves? Or maybe Goldilocks and the Three Bears?
The gold on the woman's dress began to glow, flames appearing in her hands, which brought Twilight back to reality. She unleashed a stream of fire on Glynda, who blocked it. But the blast scattered Fire Dust, which began to glow against the rooftop. The woman in the Bullhead moved her arms, and the ground underneath Glynda began to glow. Glynda moved out of the way, just in time as where she was standing exploded in a pillar of fire and scattered bits of the roof into the air. Glynda waved her riding crop and the fragments of the roof glowed purple, before forming a large spear that shot out towards the Bullhead. The woman simply shot out multiple fire blasts that broke it apart, only for Glynda to take control of the shards and make them attack the Bullhead at multiple places. The woman of fire then unleashed some sort of radial blast of extreme heat that destroyed all of the shards.
Having enough of sitting on the sidelines Ruby switched Crescent Rose into its sniper form and fired several shots at the woman, only for her to simply hold out her hand and deflect each and every shot. Twilight shot an Ice Dust arrow at the woman, who simply shot a fire blast and, to the shock of Twilight, melted it. She then waved her hand and several spots around the three of them began to glow. Knowing what was about to happen Twilight grabbed both Ruby and Glynda's arms and focused her magic, teleporting the three of them out of the blast radius. Once they reappeared a safe distance away the ground exploded in several pillars of flame, the light so bright all three of them had to shield their eyes.
Once the light died down they saw the Bullhead had already turned tail and flew away. Twilight glared at the retreating Bullhead. Next time you won't get so lucky, Torchwick.
She then turned and asked "You two okay?"
Glynda nodded. "A little disoriented, but otherwise unharmed. Thank you."
Ruby also nodded, but then asked "How did you do that?"
Twilight smirked. "Trade secret. Not that I'm gonna be able to do that again for a while."
Yeah, group teleports tended to use up a lot more magic than teleporting herself. That, along with the her two earlier teleports and the force field, had taken a significant chunk of her magic. She could already feel the physical effects kicking in, slight sweating and feeling like she'd just run two miles. I'm going to need a tofu burger after this. Knew I shouldn't have skipped lunch today.
Glynda then fixed the two of them with a stern look, and Twilight had a feeling that if she stuck around she wasn't going to be getting that burger anytime soon.
So without any delay she pulled out several smoke bombs and threw them, blanketing the rooftop in a cloud of thick smoke.
Both Ruby and Glynda were left coughing due to the smoke, but fortunately Glynda dispersed it with a wave of her riding crop-
-to reveal the Purple Archer had disappeared into the night, without a singly trace.
Ruby looked around in awe. "That. Was. SO. COOL!"
If the look on her face was anything to go by, Glynda did not share Ruby's sentiment.
Heard Torchwick got away. Are you hurt?
Twilight sighed as she looked at Sunset's message on her Scroll. It had been about fifteen minutes since she gave Glynda the slip. In that time she had ran at least two blocks from the Dust store, mostly sticking to the alleys and rooftops so she wouldn't be seen. Eventually she stopped in an alley to catch her breath when her Scroll buzzed. She typed back I'm okay. Torchwick's got a new ally though. A strong one. I'll explain when I get back. You mind picking up the usual?
Two double tofu burgers with cheese and extra fries?
:) You know me so well.
;) What do you expect? See you soon. Love you.
Love you too.
She pocketed her Scroll, and was about to set off for her apartment when she heard something from the shadows of the alley. Pivoting on her foot and nocking an arrow into Midnight Shadow, she aimed and said "Whoever's out there, leave now before this gets ugly."
To her surprise, a voice replied "There's no need for that. I am not here to fight you."
Out of the shadows walked a silver-haired man wearing a pair of spectacles and a green suit, holding a metal cane in his right hand and a Scroll tablet in his left. Twilight recognized him in an instant, so she lowered her bow. "Professor Ozpin. What do you want? I doubt the Headmaster of Beacon Academy spends his nights waiting in alleys to talk to vigilantes."
He smiled and replied "I merely wish to talk to you, Twilight Sparkle."
That statement made her jaw drop. Pulling down her hood she asked "How do you know who I am?"
Ozpin chuckled before replying "It wasn't that hard. I simply took footage of the Purple Archer in action, and Twilight Sparkle taking the combat portion of the Beacon Academy entrance exam and compared the two."
"Okay, that's a lot better than what I was thinking."
"Let me guess; you thought I had a series of hidden cameras placed all around Vale, invading everyone's privacy and breaking god knows how many laws that I myself had helped to get passed?"
"That's... actually pretty close" she replied with a smirk.
Rolling his eyes, Ozpin continued "Back on subject, while Glynda has given me the basics of what happened tonight, I would very much like to hear your side of the story."
Figuring there wouldn't be any harm in doing so, Twilight gave a quick rundown of what happened, being careful to say that whenever she teleported or put up a forcefield she was using her Semblance. Because odds are if she tried to explain those things as magic, she'd more than likely be put in a straitjacket and thrown in the loony bin. As she finished her side of the story she said "I've seen things that range from the amazing to the incredibly messed up. But this lady's fire powers, I've never seen anything like it."
Ozpin seemed to be deep in thought, before saying "I'll look into it. But for now, you should probably focus more on getting ready for next week."
It was at that moment that Twilight remembered that next week was the first day of her freshman year at Beacon Academy. Assuming she made it through the initiation, not that she thought she wouldn't. "So, you're cool with the girl who moonlights as a vigilante going to your school?"
Ozpin smiled. "As far as I'm aware the Purple Archer will not be attending my school. A young girl named Twilight Sparkle, who happens to be a skilled swordsman and archer, will be."
Twilight grinned, seeing what he meant. "Thanks Professor." She was about to turn to leave, but then a thought occurred to her. "Hey, are you going to talk to the girl who was with me on the roof?"
"You mean Miss Ruby Rose?"
"I never caught her name."
"Well yes. In fact, given her skills I plan to offer her a place at Beacon if she wants it."
Smiling, Twilight pulled one of her standard arrows from her quiver, before removing the arrowhead and handing it to Ozpin. "Tell her it's a gift from the Purple Archer."
Looking at the arrowhead, Ozpin replied "I'll be sure to give-"
But as he looked up, he saw that she was gone, as if she had faded away into the night.
He couldn't help but smile. "I can't help but feel this will only be the first time she does that to me."
About a half hour later Twilight was in her nightclothes and digging into the late dinner that Sunset Shimmer had grabbed for her. Sunset herself was munching on a simple salad while looking at Twilight with an amused look. "Why do I get the feeling that if we ever go back to Equestria, you're going to eat as many hayburgers as you can?"
Swallowing what was in her mouth, Twilight playfully stuck her tongue out at her. Her face turned serious, however, as she asked "So what do you think the deal with that lady's firepower was?"
Sunset thought about it for a second before answering "Ordinarily, I'd say some sort of outlandish control of Fire Dust. But some of the things you described..." She started tapping her fingers on the table. "Fireballs and streams of flame are nothing new; but pillars of fire popping out of the ground, a condensed radial wave of heat that could melt masonry shards coated with Goodwitch's aura? That sounds almost like she was using Pyromancy."
That confused Twilight for a number of reasons. First and foremost being that aside from Dust and what little ambient magic was in the atmosphere that she and Sunset could channel, magic didn't seem to exist in Remnant. So even if the woman was a full-on Pyromancer she shouldn't have near the range of power that she had shown, even with the Fire Dust in her clothes.
Second was that as far as history and any books they found on the subject were concerned, magic was the stuff of olden legends and fairy tales, or the subject of popular books/movies/anime/video games. There were no manuals, scrolls or tomes that could teach someone how to use magic, especially an advanced field of Elemental Magic like Pyromancy.
Lastly, even if the first two were wrong and magic did exist, then how was it kept under the radar? Given the day and age of Remnant anybody who showed some sort of extraordinary talent, ranging from physical prowess to unimaginable genius, was an instant celebrity who had their face posted on every Scroll in the four kingdoms. If magic or the supernatural did exist, somebody would've seen it by now. The fact that the woman hadn't been seen yet raised so many questions; most prominently being why would she expose herself now?
Seeing the look on Twilight's face, Sunset took her hand in her's and said "Don't worry Twi. Next time, we'll take on Torch-prick and Pyro Cinderella together."
Smiling, Twilight replied "Yeah. But between now and then we'll be going to Beacon Academy."
"Yep. Speaking of which, how are you planning on doing the whole Purple Archer thing while we're in school? Especially concerning our future teammates?"
Twilight shrugged in reply. "Honestly, I'll see how everything plays out. If I feel I can trust our other two teammates, I'll tell them the truth. If not, then I'll tell them I have a late night job or something."
"And if this 'job' of yours involves being out past curfew?"
She laughed at that. "Sunset, sweetie, they haven't made a building I can't sneak into or out of. Plus, Ozpin already figured out that I was the Purple Archer-"
"-and the fact that he didn't terminate your application means that he's apparently cool with it" Sunset finished with a smile.
"To quote Big Macintosh, Eeyup."
Sunset couldn't suppress her giggles. "You know, one of these days you're going to have to introduce me to your friends back in Equestria."
"I'm sure they'll love you. But on that subject, how much longer until the mirror portal's open?"
Sunset pulled out her Scroll and pulled up a screen with a timer. "It's been two years since we missed the last time the portal was open. And since we figured out that one moon in Equestria is thirty days in Remnant, the portal will be open in roughly six months. Just in time for the semester break."
Sighing, Twilight looked down into her glass of soda. "I wonder how they'll react to the new me?"
"You worried?"
"It's been three years since we cast that spell and Spike and I somehow got transported here. And since your Magic Journal ended up in a Beowulf's stomach, I've had no way to contact them or Princess Celestia. How are they gonna react when they find out that the egghead unicorn mare who could barely throw a punch or pick up a sword-"
"-is now a total badass with a sword/bow and is training to be a monster slayer" Sunset finished with a smirk.
Twilight looked at her for a few minutes before asking "Are you using your Semblance or do you just know me so well-"
"-that I can finish your sentences for you? That latter." Sunset grinned and added "You are just so easy to read sometimes."
"Only because as of this moment you and Spike are pretty much the only people in Remnant I can lower my guard around" Twilight replied with a smile.
"I feel honored" she replied, before walking over to Twilight and pulling her into a tight hug that Twilight eagerly returned. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Sunset said "Hey, if your friends are anything like you say they are-"
"And they are."
"-then once they see past the bow/sword, the monster slaying, and the badassery; they'll see that you're still the same lovable bookworm that helped them save Equestria three times over."
Laying her head on Sunset's shoulder, Twilight gave a content sigh and said "Thanks Sunny. Though I'm fairly certain that Rarity will say I should've kept my hair longer."
"I think it looks cute. I'd be more concerned about what they'll say about your battle scars."
"Oh please no. My brother will probably try to lock me up in a tower for the rest of my life."
"Then I'd just have to break you out."
She giggled at that. "That sounds like something out of a fairy tale. A beautiful young maiden trapped in a tower, only to be rescued by a brave hero."
"Only instead of shining armor the hero would be wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket. And have an awesome shotgun/sword."
"And have the most amazing, beautiful red and gold hair" Twilight finished, slipping her hand into Sunset's.
Sunset sighed contently, before asking "Have I ever told you how glad I am that I met you?"
"Just about every day since we became friends. Two or three times a day since we became girlfriend and girlfriend."
Smiling, Sunset planted a kiss on Twilight's forehead. "I'm lucky to have you in my life."
"So am I" Twilight replied.
We may not know what lies ahead, but I'm not afraid.
Because I know you'll always be there with me.
-Cue Theme Song-