//------------------------------//
// Tail 35- Birds of a Feather Part 1 
// Story: Monkey Business 
// by FrostTheWolf 
//------------------------------//


Monkey Business- Birds of a Feather Part 1




It had been over two weeks since the birth of his daughter and since then, Sun had to step away from his duties at Beacon Academy in order to stay with Fluttershy. The faunus wanted to make sure that he was there to help her whenever she needed it and the only possible way that could happen is that if he fully committed himself to his newfound duties as a father. It was a tough decision for him to make, but it was one that Professor Ozpin believed was the right decision for him to make. Many of their friends and teammates also supported the decision as well, which put the faunus at ease.

However, it wasn’t just the responsibilities of being a parent that Sun had to manage though. He also had to assist Fluttershy with daily chores that she would do around the cottage, including feeding Angel and the rest of her animals. For the first couple of days, the faunus struggled a bit. Even though Fluttershy provided a small little cheat sheet to help him remember what he had to feed each one of the animals at particular times, he was unsure about how much food that they were supposed to have. Yet over time, and with Angel Bunny glaring at him every time he did something wrong, he slowly was able to get the hang of the newfound tasks to the point that it became muscle memory.

Of course, when he wasn’t spending time with his daughter or making sure that everything was done around their home, Sun felt as if he needed to do something more productive instead of just sitting on Fluttershy’s couch and just waiting for something to do. So, two times a day for an hour each time, he would step around the backside of the cottage and train himself by conjuring a clone with his semblance and spar with it. If there happened to be a point where he was asked to come back and help with something, he needed to stay in shape. Plus, this allowed for him the chance to see if there were areas he needed to improve on.

For the first few days, it was specifically hand to hand combat. Yet, when it came to weapon’s training, he needed an alternative method. If he used his real weapons to practice weapon training, it would only disturb his daughter since her nursery was near the back of the cottage. Fortunately, he was able to find a workaround through repurposing an old wooden broom that was in their closet and used that to practice with once he took off the brush.

By now, he was combining both forms of training together as he fought his clone using both hand to hand combat and the staff he made as he blocked incoming attacks and waited for the right opportunity to expose any openings during his exercises. Of course, he only focused on this for a little amount of time, and occasionally took breaks if something happened to crop up like if Fluttershy asked for his help with something or if someone happened to come visit.

Such was the case for this morning. For as Sun had finished feeding the animals and was beginning to prepare himself for another sparring session that he happened to hear a familiar voice speak up behind him, “You seem to be taking everything well.”

When the faunus turned around, he was surprised to find Raven standing nearby where some of Fluttershy’s animals were. Something that caught him by surprise. Ever since they brought their daughter home, he and Fluttershy didn’t really get too many visitors. Aside from the mail pony, Fluttershy’s friends and his teammates stopping by to say hi every once in a while, the two of them didn’t really happen to get a lot of visitors. 

“Hello, Raven,” Sun replied, “What brings you here today? Would you happen to be looking for Fluttershy?”

“Actually,” the blacksmith replied back, “I wanted to talk to you, if you’re not too busy.”

“Well, I was going to train, but I guess I can put it off for now,” the faunus told her as he walked over to the door and opened it with his tail, being careful with the door as he let Raven come inside first before following behind her as he began to walk to the kitchen, “Anything I can get for you this morning? Coffee? Tea?”

“Coffee, if you happen to have any,” Raven’s request was followed by Sun taking a few moments to prepare the coffee maker. As the coffee was starting to brew, the faunus walked on back to the living room as he sat back down and asked the first question that came to his mind.

“So, how’s everyone been?”

“It’s been… interesting, to say the least,” the swordswoman replied, “How’s my daughter? Have you two been making any… plans?”

The faunus had a feeling that something like that would come up. Ever since Angel Wing was born, he and Fluttershy had talked about making their relationship official and getting married. They had been wanting to do it for a while, but they decided to wait until it was safer and when the White Fang was not going to attack out of nowhere again.

“We wanted to try and not do anything big in scale. Potentially a small ceremony and invite a few close friends and family,” the faunus told her, “Last I talked with Fluttershy, she was going to ask her friends about it-”

Ironically, it was around that same time that he was speaking that they heard hoofsteps from the hallway. Turning around, they looked to see Fluttershy trot into the living room as she wore a cyan robe with butterflies over it and a pair of bunny slippers, yawning as she tried to wipe the sleep from her eyes with her hooves, before she was caught off guard by the sight of Raven in their living room.

“O-oh, good m-morning,” she spoke, “I-I didn’t know you were coming-”

“I just decided to drop by and say hello,” Raven replied with a warm smile, “We were starting to catch up a bit and I was just asking Sun about if you were making any plans for making your relationship official. Like getting married.”

That had Fluttershy shiver a bit as she gulped, before looking to Sun. Who in turn, began to finish what he was trying to say earlier, “We were going to ask Twilight and the others, but Fluttershy was nervous about how they would react,” he said, excusing himself for a moment as he got up and walked to the kitchen, “Would you like for me to make you anything, Fluttershy? Maybe some tea?”

“T-Tea would be nice,” the pegasus squeaked, prompting the faunus to prepare the tea kettle for her. Just before Fluttershy asked a new question, “D-Did the animals get fed this morning?”

“Made sure to take care of that after getting dressed this morning,” the faunus told her, before turning to the coffee maker and seeing that it had finished brewing as he got out two cups to pour it in, “We might need to go to the market soon though. We’re almost out of carrots and I don’t think Angel Bunny would be too happy if we ran out.”

“How about Angel? Everything okay in the nursery?” Fluttershy then asked.

Sun nodded as he began to pour the coffee in both of the cups for him and Raven, “So far, yeah. She was sound asleep when I woke up this morning.”

“T-That’s good,” the pegasus smiled, “I’ll be sure to get some more carrots while at the market today.”

After hearing that, the faunus smiled as he placed a few sweeteners and creamers on a tray and set them on the coffee table, before bringing over the two cups. Raven thanked him, before taking a moment to prepare her coffee. 

“So, to answer your question, we’re working on it and asking a few friends… though, we believe that we should wait until it’s a bit safer,” Sun explained as he poured some vanilla creamer into his coffee. He didn’t want to specifically state what it was that he was concerned with, because he had a feeling that Raven already knew about what he was talking about. So, in his mind, he thought it was the perfect time to change the topic of the conversation, “Speaking of friends though, how is everyone? Fluttershy and I haven’t gotten a lot of visitors since Angel was born and I’ve only seen Sage and Neptune pass by a couple of times.”

The swordswoman took a moment to mix her creamer and some sweetener first as she took a drink of her coffee, “Well, first and foremost,” Raven spoke, setting her coffee down on the table, “Ozpin found a way to actually move Beacon.”

Sun blinked, a bit surprised by what she just heard, “Moved… Beacon? Where?”

“From what I understand, Ozpin wanted to move Beacon because he was concerned that with everything going on, the school could be a potential target for the White Fang,” she replied back, “So, he got Discord to help him move the entire school. Like a ‘cut and paste’,” despite her best attempt to try and make it sound simple, that did not seem to be the case as Sun looked at her with a puzzled glance, “I know it sounds… complex, but perhaps it's something that would be easier for you to see for yourself.”

As she finished speaking, Raven took out something from a case on her belt and tossed it over to him. When Sun caught it, he found himself holding onto a key with that had Beacon’s symbol on the top of it. “What’s this?”

“The key to get in,” she told him, “They’re enchanted to where if you unlocked any door with this key, you’ll step into where Beacon is located now. Only a few of us have these for right now, for safety concerns. Twilight, Ozpin, and a couple of your friends have one. Now, you do too.”

“Thank you,” Sun nodded, placing the key in his pocket as he heard the kettle begin to whistle loudly from the kitchen. Getting up from the table, the faunus walked over to turn the stove off and prepare the tea for Fluttershy as the pegasus sat on the couch nearby Raven. Once it was ready, he brought it over and set it on the coffee table for her, “Here you go, Fluttershy.”

“Thank you,” she spoke, carefully picking up the cup with one of her wings as she carefully began to drink it.

As Sun sat back down, he now had a different question for Raven now, “So, aside from Beacon being moved, what else is new?”

“Well, Pyrrha has been helping them with training, just to be prepared for anything that might happen,” she replied, letting out a breath to cool her coffee before drinking and setting it down, “In doing so, some of them discovered what their semblances were.”

That… surprised him. When it came to Semblances, the only ones that they were familiar with were the ones that were shown in RWBY around the time of Volume 3. Yet, if there was anything after that, many of them wouldn’t really know anything about it. Such was the case when Raven told them about Qrow’s own semblance, Misfortune. “Who?”

“If I remember correctly, it was Jaune, Coco and two of her teammates,” Raven explained.

“Fox and Yatsuhashi?” He asked, mainly because the first thought that came to his mind was that they were already kind of familiar with the semblance that Velvet had.

“I believe so. Last I heard, it looked like they were still trying to figure out the specifics as to how their semblances work,” the swordswoman explained, taking a moment to sip her coffee again and recompose her thoughts, “Though, there was something else that I wanted to talk to you about, if you don’t mind.”

The shift in Raven’s tone was the first thing that Sun noticed as he looked back to Fluttershy first, before both of them looked back to the blacksmith as the faunus spoke again, “Sure, what is it?”

“Do you remember when I told you about my brother Qrow? Like after what happened to your tail?” she asked, looking down to the faunus’ tail and seeing a rather small flicker from his tail. The flame was mostly suppressed, but it was not exactly something that Sun could just turn off.

“You mean after I encountered him in Manehattan?” Sun asked, which lead to Raven nodding her head as he let out a small breath, “I remember… but only vaguely. A lot has happened since then with my recovery, Reese being framed for something she didn’t do and our daughter being born.”

“That’s understandable,” the blacksmith replied back, “Though, there was a reason why I bring this up.”

Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to speak as she looked at Raven, “W-what’s that?”

“Well, before you gave birth to Angel, I found myself reuniting with an old friend,” she took a moment to take another sip of her coffee first before speaking again, “Sun might be familiar with who she is, even though you probably have not met her.”

“Really?”

Raven nodded, setting her cup down and adjusting her seat, “Her name is Glynda Goodwitch,” that was a name that Sun was familiar with, but only because of her appearance in the show. He did not know anything about this particular Glynda though, “I knew her from when I first ended up here. She… kept our group together for a while. Though, when our group split up, she went with Qrow while I went with Adam and I got stabbed in the back for it.”

Taking a moment to catch her breath, she recomposed her thoughts, before beginning to speak again, “The last time we spoke, I told her about how we were having trouble trying to find where Yang went off after she got attacked by Adam. I felt like I owe it to Ruby to make sure her sister comes back home, especially since I’m her mother. Glynda said that she would get Qrow to look into it.”

It was around this time that Raven pulled out what looked to be an envelope that looked to have been worn a bit. At first, it looked like it was an ordinary letter, but then he noticed a seal on the envelope that took the shape of a crown. It took him a moment to realize that the crown was actually Glynda’s emblem as he looked back at the blacksmith.

“Early this morning, I received this letter in the mail,” she explained, opening the envelope and setting it on the coffee table as she held onto the written parchment, “At first, I thought it was an ordinary letter. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“You think he found her?” the faunus asked.

“From what she said in the letter, yes,” Raven responded, “However, she also told me that Qrow has a habit of finding trouble. This letter is asking for me to come see him instead of meeting somewhere here, which in my mind could mean a couple of things,” as she was speaking, she folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope, “Either he got himself in a situation that he’s having trouble getting out of and wants us to help him… or Glynda wrote it so that I can see my brother face to face and set our differences aside.”

“U-um… t-that doesn’t sound good,” Fluttershy spoke now.

“You’re right,” Sun agreed with the pegasus, “I must ask though, which one do you think it is, Raven?”

“Knowing them, it could more than likely be both,” she said, shrugging her shoulders, “I did tell Glynda that I wanted to bury the hatchet and try to repair the relationship between Qrow and I. Not to mention that Glynda kind of told me that Qrow has a habit of getting himself into trouble.”

“D-did you tell anyone about it?” the pegasus now asked, repositioning herself and sitting nearby Sun now.

Even if what her daughter asked was a bit of a simple question, it was hard for Raven to answer. Mainly, because when she talked about it with Oz, she didn’t specifically say to him that it was Glynda who told her. Yet, she just went with it. “I talked with Ozpin and told him about the letter I got. I told him that it was from a friend that happened to know Qrow trusted the information in the letter. He told me that I could go meet him, but under one condition.”

Sun raised an eyebrow, now taking a turn to drink some of his coffee before setting the cup back down. “That condition being?”

“That I have someone come with me,” the blacksmith replied, “Ozpin knows I can handle myself, but with the White Fang’s recent activities, he wants there to be safety in numbers,” she took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, before looking back to Sun, “Normally, I wouldn’t think about asking you because you and Fluttershy are just settling in with being parents… but you’re the only person who’s had an encounter with him before. One that isn’t an Equestrian, I mean.”

Sun was just about to correct her when she made that last addition, but Raven did make a valid point. Everyone else was only sort of aware of him, but that was because of Sun’s account from Manehattan and Raven telling everyone else about it. “Okay, but if I were to come with you, where would we be going?” he asked, taking a moment to get up to bring his now empty cup to the sink to wash it up and get himself some more coffee.

One word changed all of that though, “Griffonstone.”

Seconds after that word was spoken, both Fluttershy and Raven saw the mug slip from his hands and shatter on the floor. Sun himself looked frozen and fell back onto the ground, almost as if he had woken up from a nightmare, which prompted Fluttershy to rush over to see if he was okay. He gripped the side of his head, before slowly looking to Raven. “W-why? Out of a-all the places in the world… why there?”

“Sun, what’s wrong?! A-are you okay?” Fluttershy asked, her worried tone matching the questions she needed to ask, “Is it… something mom said?”

Sun didn’t say anything, he looked towards the pegasus. He was quiet, but Fluttershy could tell that something was wrong. His behavior was much different than before and he remained silent, not even answering the question that she asked him.

For a while, everything was still silent as he tried to recompose himself. The faunus had to silence what echoed in his head. Now was not the time for this. He needed to keep these scars of his under control. Suppress them and keep them concealed. 

“I-i’m okay,” he lied, putting on a fake smile as he got up off the floor, before looking to Raven, “If you need me, then I can come along.”

Yet, Raven herself looked at the faunus with a bit of concern on her face as she folded her arms, “You don’t have to come with me if you don’t want too. It’s your choice.”

“I-I’ll be okay,” he said, before looking to Fluttershy as he tried to come up with something to shift the topic, “Though, s-should we find somepony to help look after Angel Wing-?”

“Don’t worry, Sun,” Fluttershy assured him, “I can ask Applejack for help. If I remember correctly, she and her brother had to help Granny Smith raise Apple Bloom. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

That was a sign of relief. Sun knew that, despite everything that his friends and teammates were capable of, babysitting was probably not one of them. He could ask Aya, but it was more than likely that she was occupied with her own team back in her world. Applejack seemed the most responsible to help Fluttershy while he was Raven. That is, if she was okay with it.

“Well, let’s make sure Applejack’s okay with it first,” the swordswoman replied, before looking back to Fluttershy, “We can go ask her.”

“Yeah, that might be easier. Applejack might understand it better if you two told him,” Sun nodded, “Besides, someone’s needs to watch Angel-”

As he said that, they began to hear the sound of crying echo from the nursery as Sun let out a small sigh and began to walk over to the nursery to calm Angel. As for Fluttershy and Raven, they took the chance to clean up all the dishes on the coffee table before setting out for Sweet Apple Acres. Letting Sun know that they were heading out as Raven closed the door behind them.



By the time that Raven and Fluttershy arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, the swordswoman was surprised to find how much Sweet Apple Acres had changed since she had last been there. When she originally lived here with Qrow and Glynda back in the day, the barn was rather small and there weren’t that many trees. Now, the barn was much bigger, there were more trees on the property and crop fields for corn, carrots and grapes. There were even animal pens for the farm animals that lived on the property.

“Wow… I almost didn’t recognize this place,” Raven said.

“Hm? You been to Sweet Apple Acres before?” Fluttershy now asked, hearing what the blacksmith said just now as she looked towards her mother.

“Long time ago, yeah,” the swordswoman simply replied as the two of them walked towards the front porch of the barn. The pegasus didn’t quite understand what Raven meant, but just nodded her head as she trotted onto the porch and knocked on the front door. She was expecting for Applejack to come to the front door and answer, but instead heard a completely different voice speak up.

“Ah’m coming! Ah’m coming! Hold on a darn sec’!” they shouted. Something that threw Raven off guard immediately. It had been years since she had last been here, but immediately knew who that voice belonged to the moment they started speaking. The next thing she knew, the door was opened by a light green earth pony that had an apple pie as her cutie mark. They wore a bandana that was decorated with apples around their neck and her mane and tail were a light grey. “Well, hello Fluttershy. What brings ya to-?”

“Granny Smith?”

The elderly earth pony stopped immediately, before looking towards the swordswoman as her eyes widened. Almost as if she had seen a ghost from the past, “R-raven, dear? I-is that really you?” she asked

Raven’s response at first was a simple nod, but then followed with a “It’s good to see you again, Granny,” she replied, before looking back to Fluttershy for a second, “Do you happen to know where we could find Applejack?”

Granny raised an eyebrow for a moment, before looking at Fluttershy and then letting out a sign. “Last ah checked, she was making sure all the baskets were ready for when Harvest Season comes in a couple of weeks. Try looking in the barn,” that had the pegasus nod her head before she began to trot towards the barn. Yet, when Raven turned around, her response was different, “Hold it, sugarcube.”

The swordswoman chuckled a bit, before looking back at the earth pony, “Can’t get away that easy now, can I?”

“Darn tootin’! It’s been thirty years since ah last saw ya and the last time ah saw ya was after what happened with poor Summer,” the earth pony trotted out towards a wooden bench that was on the porch and took a seat before she motioned for Raven to join her, “Ah believe ya owe me an explanation on what’s happened since then. Ah deserve to know at least.”

The swordswoman sighed, before walking over and taking a seat next to the earth pony, “Alright. I think I got some time,” she said, before looking back to her, “So, what would like to know?”

“Well, ya whole group was shocked when Summer… well… ” Granny told her.

“Oh… right,” she said, before letting out a sigh, “Granny, if I got to be honest with you… I bucked up. What happened to Summer tore our whole group apart and when I learned the truth about what happened to her, it was already too late. The damage had already been done and because of what happened, I lost Qrow and Abel,” Raven took a moment to calm herself as she tried to recall painful memories from the past,“Abel gave in to the monster that was trying to take control of him and left me for dead. Since then, I have been trying to make things right and learn from my mistakes. I… found love again… only to lose it because of Grimm. I learned that my daughters somehow ended up in this world too, but now faced the same kind of monster that I had. Now though… I’m trying to look out for those I care for.”

“And what about Qrow?” Granny then asked, “Don’t ya care for him?”

Raven grit her teeth for a moment, but could only nod, “I do… I had met Glynda again after so long and told her that I want to fix things. In fact, Glynda sent me a letter and asked for me to come to Griffonstone to see him. But the last time we talked, she told me that Qrow had changed since the day we parted ways. I don’t even know if he’s the same person I remember.”

“Give him a chance,” the earth pony told him, “Ah’ve been around for a long time and ah know that sometimes, ya gotta give somepony a chance so they can show you how much they care. Everypony does… in their own special way.”

Raven chuckled, smiling as she looked back at the earth pony. “Thanks, Granny. I mean it,” she told him, before speaking her thoughts out loud, “I wonder how Qrow will react when he learns that he’s an uncle again.”

That got Granny Smith to look at her with a raised eyebrow, “Again? Ya mean aside from the daughters ya mentioned?” the woman nodded, which prompted Granny to ask another question, “Well, who is it? Is it somepony ah met before?”

“More like somepony you saw a few moments ago,” Raven chuckled, watching as Granny’s face went from puzzled to a downright realization within a matter of moments.

“No way… Fluttershy’s your-?”

“Yup,” Raven nodded, “Her father, Silver Wind, was somepony who was able to help get me back up on my feet when I was at my lowest. Yet… It was only a few months ago that I learned that he’s gone. Because of the Grimm. Now I’m staying here because I want to help others and watch over her as well. Especially now with the new additions to the family.”

“Wait… Your little Shy found love?” Granny asked, which was followed by a now, “Aw, that’s so sweet.”

“Yeah, though she and her partner are still trying to figure out things. Though, when was love ever simple?” When Raven finished that, she looked into the distance to notice that Fluttershy and Applejack were talking to each other, before the pegasus waved her over with a hoof, “Excuse me, Granny, but I think Fluttershy needs me.”

“It’s alright, sugarcube, we can pick up on this another time,” Granny told her as Raven got up and began to step off the porch before facing her one last time.

“I would like that, actually,” she told her, before walking over to where Fluttershy and her friend was as Raven looked towards the pegasus, “How’s everything going?”

“O-okay,” Fluttershy squeaked a bit.

“Fluttershy told me ya needed help with watching the baby,” Applejack replied, “But the only question I have is why? Don’t ya have Sun to help ya out or is he slacking off-?”

“Actually, it’s because I need Sun to come with me for a short trip,” Raven explained, trying to answer specifically so it was easier for Applejack to understand, “We were looking for somepony to fill in for a bit until we get back. I don’t plan for it to be long, but it’s kind of urgent. If it helps, we can pay you-”

“That’s mighty kind of ya, but ya don’t have too,” Applejack interjected, “Fluttershy’s mah friend. Ah don’t mind helping her out. Besides, ah already have my chores done and it’s still too early for harvest yet,” that was followed by her readjusting her hat as she looked back at the two of them, “Just promise me that this doesn’t become a repeat occurrence, ya hear?”

Raven could only let out a small breath as she looked back at the farm pony, “Hopefully, it won’t come to that,” she said, before looking back at Fluttershy, “We’re going to have to go to the market first before we go back to the cottage. So why don’t we bring you up to speed on everything before Sun and I have to go?”



Sun was lucky to make sure he had everything under control while Fluttershy and Raven were going out to Sweet Apple Acres. After having to tend to Angel Wing in the nursery, he went to go check on the animals and also get Angel Bunny his snack before taking out the garbage in the kitchen. However, when he came back inside, all he found was the rabbit standing on the counter and tapping his foot.

“Angel? Is something wrong?” the faunus asked, looking to see that the baby carrots that were left in there for him were not touched at all. “Angel… did I mess up somehow?”

The only thing that he saw the rabbit do was move his paws around in front of him. It took Sun a moment to realize that he was air drawing a full sized carrot, which was what Angel Bunny honestly expected when he first came in for the snack.

“Angel I’m sorry, but we’re almost out of carrots at the moment,” the faunus told the upset rabbit, “I told Fluttershy about it so she can bring some for you back from the market. If I gave you one now, then there wouldn’t be any carrots in your salad for lunch.”

The rabbit could only fold their arms and turn their head away in disapproval, much to Sun’s dismay. Luckily though, both of them heard the front door opened a few moments later as Fluttershy trotted in with a grocery bag from the market. Right behind her was Applejack and Raven, the latter of the two closing the door behind her. “Welcome home.”

“Thank you,” Fluttershy replied, before noticing the rabbit that was on the table, “Angel Bunny, what’s the matter?”

“He’s just upset that I told him we were almost out of carrots,” the faunus replied, before asking a new question as the pegasus set down the shopping bag, “Speaking of which, did you happen too-?”

“Yup,” Fluttershy then added on as she got the bundle of carrots out of the bag and gave them for him to put away, “We have enough to last us for another couple of weeks now.”

“Well, in that case,” he said, before getting the carrot that he was saving and bringing it over for Angel Bunny to have, “Here you go, Angel. Sorry for making you wait.”

At first, the rabbit was cautious. Yet, it was after a bit that he actually turned around and picked up the carrot before the rabbit began to chew on it. As the rabbit was eating, Sun himself looked back to everyone else and offered to help Fluttershy put the rest of the groceries away in the pantry. Once everything was cleaned up and organized, he looked back to where Applejack and Fluttershy were.

“Alright, that takes care of that,” the faunus said, “How did the trip to Sweet Apple Acres go?”

“It went well,” Fluttershy replied softly, looking to Applejack for a brief moment as Raven began to walk down the hall to look for something, “We told Applejack about everything and she was fine with helping me take care of Angel while you’re gone.”

“That’s right,” the earth pony added as she looked to the faunus, “Though, out of curiosity, how long are ya exactly gonna be gone for? Ah know why you and Raven have to go, but how long do ya think it’s gonna take ya? Griffonstone is kinda far away.”

If Sun were honest, he wasn’t quite sure how long this would take. When he was trapped aboard that ship he was on that brought him to Equestria from Griffonstone, it felt as if a few days passed before the ship even pulled into port. Plus, Raven didn’t even mention anything about how they were going to get there.

Yet, before he could answer, that was when Raven walked back into the room. The dust compartment in the scabbard of her blade had been restocked with various dust crystals of different colors as the swordswoman looked back to the farmer, “Don’t worry about it. If all goes well, we’ll be back by nightfall.”

That statement surprised everyone, including Sun. He honestly thought that such a trip would take days, but Raven was claiming that something like this was only going to take hours? How exactly was something like this going to work? 

All these questions led to Raven turning back to Sun as she asked a new question, “Do you have everything that you need?”

“For the most part,” he replied back, “Weapon, armguards, dust rounds. Aside from that, I think I’m alright.”

“What kind of dust rounds do you use?” she then asked, a question that Sun did not anticipate.

“I… am honestly not sure,” he said, bringing out his weapon and emptying the ammo cartridge, “I never really got too fixated on what kind they were. My weapon isn’t as dust reliant like Weiss or yours.”

All Raven needed was to look at it once, before letting out a sigh, “Huh… looks like its combustion dust.”

“Combustion dust?” Sun asked, honestly surprised. It was the first time he heard of something like that as he looked back at Raven, “How do you know?”

“Well, this looks to be a bright orange, but not too bright to make it fire dust,” she said, before giving it back to him, “Mostly would be used if you want to knock someone back, but not necessarily harm them. Though, you’re probably going to need more than that.” After Raven said that, she handed two different dust rounds to him. The first was red in color, while the other was yellow. 

“There. That should be enough for now,” she told him as Sun began to put them away, “Fire and Electricity. I have others, but I don’t think we’ll be needing all of them,” as Raven spoke, she walked towards the door as Sun followed afterwards. Only stopping for a brief second as she looked back to Fluttershy, “Alright. Guess it’s time to go. We’ll be back soon.”

As the pegasus nodded and both of the ponies waved goodbye, Raven and Sun stepped outside of the cottage and walked towards the dirt road that was nearby. The faunus was not sure what the plan was for how they were going to get there, but was surprised when they stopped in the middle of the dirt road and Raven began to grip the handle of her blade.

“Alright. This should do it. I hope this works,” the swordswoman said.

“Hope what works?” the puzzled faunus now asked. Which led to Raven realizing something as she looked back at him.

“Oh right. I almost forgot. I didn’t tell you about that,” she remembered, letting out a deep breath as Raven looked back at him, “We’re going to be using my semblance to get to Qrow.”

That caught Sun by surprise. Up until now, he was not entirely sure about what Raven’s semblance was, so hearing this kind of surprised him. “Your semblance?”

“Yes,” she explained, “I call it Kindred Link. If I make a bond with someone, I can create a portal that leads me straight to them. I have one for Fluttershy, one for Ruby, one for Yang and one for Qrow. I also had one for Fluttershy’s father, before he passed away.”

“That sounds… simple,” Sun replied, before realizing something, “But wait… if you have one for Yang, can’t you just make one that leads to her?”

“That’s… the part I’m concerned with,” Raven responded as she looked back at her blade, “The word bond implies that you have a strong emotional connection to that person. However, because of Adam, I believe that the bonds that I have with Qrow and Yang are fractured and in turn, affect my semblance.”

That had the faunus cross his arms as he looked back at the swordswoman, “So what you’re saying is the stronger the bond, the more accurate the portal?”

“From what I can tell, yes,” she nodded, “When my relationship with Silver Wind first started, I tried using my semblance to go to him… only to find myself on the other side of Ponyville and falling into a lake. It wasn’t until our relationship improved that I could create a portal that was a few feet from him… and it made for an awkward first date.”

Sun blinked for a moment, before shaking his head as he tried to not picture what Raven just told him in his mind. “Then wouldn’t it be problematic to try to create a portal to Qrow if you think your bond with him is broken? You did mention earlier that Adam fractured those bonds.”

“I did,” she replied, “Yet, when I last spoke to Glynda, it seemed like he still cares for me. Even though he probably wouldn't admit it,” with that in mind, she gripped her blade and swung behind her as a red and back portal emerged behind her. The portal itself was taller than both of them as they looked back towards the swirling vortex. “The only real thing that we can do is try at this rate. You ready to go in?”

“Isn’t it usually ladies first?” Sun asked.

“Well, aren’t you considerate,” Raven smirked, before shaking her head, “But no. If I go in first, the portal will close before you can be able to step in,” she told him, moving aside to let him go on ahead, “Unless you want to be left behind or end up injuring yourself, then you’ll need to go first.”

All Sun could really do was just let out a deep breath as he began to walk towards the portal, “Well… here goes nothing.”




End Part 1