Upon their return to Equus, where Pinkamena was amazed by the sheer speed of them moving from planet to planet, the group quickly headed back to the crystal castle and stopped inside a room that reminded her of a ballroom, similar to where Pinkie and her friends had gone for the Grand Galloping Gala.
"Please excuse the mess, I've been busy researching the other worlds the displaced have been to." Spike said, where they found what he was talking about without delay, as there was an area set aside for a scholar, because there were all sorts of tomes, scrolls, journals, and enchanted books that were neatly arranged on several circular tables, causing him to chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head, "Each one has their own unique history, conflicts, customs, and even powers in some cases, and I've been devoting having of my time to studying all of it... the other half is spent trying to find the worlds the others were sent to so Discord can head there sooner, to get ahead of those odd observers."
"And if you think this is excessive, I should warn you that by the age of ten he had nearly cleared out most of the archives in Dark Hollow," Ember remarked, as she knew that the others would be surprised by this discovery, since it looked a lot like what Twilight Sparkle did in the past, before and after being sent to Ponyville, before she thought about something for a few seconds, "not to mention the fact that by the age of twelve he had nearly read everything in the Magic Crafters homeworld, and by the time we matured, at the age of fifteen to be exact, he became the second most intelligent dragon in the world we were sent to."
"That's... amazing!" Pinkamena replied, though while she knew that Spike was no longer the dragon Pinkie had known, due to how he cared himself and the magic he had wielded previously, it was still a shock when she thought about what Spike was like before she was separated from Pinkie, before Ember's statement stirred a question in her mind, "If Spike's the second most intelligent dragon, whose the first?"
"That would be Malefor, the first purple dragon... I could talk your ears off talking about his great adventures and all of the mighty deeds he had done in the ancient past." Spike answered, where Pinkamena noticed that he spoke the name with great reverence, confirming the legendary status of the dragon in question, though it was clear that he and Ember knew a few things that Pinkamena's group didn't know, likely based on the smile on his face, "Oh, and his not dead... that's the thing about purple dragons, they're long-lived, since he's over a thousand years old and looks like he's between twenty to thirty years old."
Pinkamena had no idea what to say to that comment, so instead of focusing on Spike and Ember's adventure they gathered near one of the other tables and Spitfire asked a few questions about the world that Pinkamena had been sent to, leading to Spike pulling out a journal, several quills, and a few ink pots. She carefully explained the nature of her world, or at least what she had seen during the two and a half years she had been there, explaining how she had run into the Demon King, Muzan, who turned her into a Demon before declaring her to be a failure as he left, which was wrong since she turned shortly after his departure. She went into how she spent two years training with Tanjiro in the Demon slaying arts, learning one of the many Breathing Styles of the world, that being Water Breathing, though she had to clarify that Humans didn't have powers like Demons had, so they visualized the movements while swinging their blades, like how Tanjiro used to imagine water as he fought his opponents. Demons, after a time, developed their Blood Demon Arts, the special powers that allowed them to kill more Humans and clash with the Slayers who hunted them down, and hers was, in the words of her companions and the rest of the Hashira, the most broken power of them all, Chaos World, the power to manipulate reality.
She also informed them that there were fourteen Breathing Styles, twelve if one didn't count Sun or Moon Breathing, while also not counting her Chaos Breathing, and there were users of each one, some even having Cultivators to ensure new Slayers were ready for the future, but with the downfall of Muzan they would go back to their normal lives.
"It might not be that simple. Spike and I have been discussing things, and we've agreed on something, that while it's a good thing our displaced are gaining skills, there's a downside," Spitfire remarked, as while there was more to the story she and the others wanted to hear, especially since the Breathing Styles seemed like something they could incorporate into what all of their soldiers were learning right now, she needed to tell them the important information they had, "and that downside is that our arrivals leave a potent magical signature that can be traced by anyone... there's a chance that our enemies could track down the planets we were sent to and attack them first."
"So our fight isn't over yet? We have to fight another force of demons, one stronger than the one we just wiped out, with Pinkamena's aid?" Zenitsu asked, though while Pinkamena could tell that he wasn't too happy about this, especially since he was more cowardly than the others were, she also noticed that he seemed to have steeled himself, likely to keep himself from freaking out over this information.
"Yes, and we're recruiting more soldiers into our growing army... we can train your 'Slayers' to access their inner powers, on a level that is far beyond what you are currently using." Ember stated, informing them that some of the training that they put their recruits through allowed them to access new skills or powers, which would grant each one a better chance of surviving the eventual war that they were preparing for, "Just think about it, you wouldn't have to imagine seeing the aspects of your Breathing Styles, rather you would be able to call forth the element in question and attack your enemies with it... though it seems that Pinkamena might be able to teach others two of the lost Styles."
As Tanjiro informed them that he would deliver the information to the leader of the Corps, who might come to speak with them with the rest of the Hashira, Pinkamena said that she'd be able to do such a thing since she knew the movements of both Sun and Moon Breathing, all while setting her mind on something to do while Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke returned to their world to speak with Kiriya.
After discussing things with Spike, Ember, and Spitfire, mostly informing them about her adventure so Spike could write it all down in one of his journals, the group was offered a chance to rest before doing anything else, but her friends had used one of Discord's portals to return to their world. Pinkamena, on the other hand, excused herself for a time and rushed through the air, heading towards and area that she knew thanks to Pinkie's memories, because there was an important question she needed to answer before worrying about everything else that was going on. Her target was a farm that was a fair distance from several of the towns and villages that dotted Equestria's landscape, one that a certain mare, Trixie she recalled, spent some time at so she could earn enough Bits, the currency of this world, to purchase a powerful amulet that was now in the hands of someone else, under their watchful eye anyway. The difference between this particular farm and the others was that most of the others made food, sometimes even flowers and trees, while this one tended to rocks, all types based on her memories of this place, while the main thing they were trying to do was cultivate magic crystals, which fetched a high price in all the circles of the world.
Pinkamena chuckled a little as she landed on the outskirts of her destination, as the farm looked the same as she recalled, the barn looked well maintained, the windmill appeared to be in pristine condition, the sections that all of the rocks were in looked like nothing had changed for some time, and the farmhouse looked like it had been tended to for some time, as it was pristine as well.
"It doesn't look like anything has changed... if that's the case, Limestone should be defensive as soon as she sees me, and the others will be somewhat cautious." Pinkamena commented, recalling her memories of this place and her family, or at least Pinkie's family, hence why she came here first, as she wanted to see if she actually had a family or if she was going to be an unwanted extra in their lives, not that it would change her plans for the future.
As she walked into the farm Pinkamena quickly understood something, she had figured out how Trixie was able to earn so much money working here, even for the short period of time until she could purchase that amulet, it was due to the magic in the air and, even without proper training, the unicorn had figured out how to maximize the farm's profits, earning her more Bits in the process. While that crossed her mind she spotted a few figures tending to several of the rocks and what looked like an entrance to a mine shaft, a light brown coated stallion who had a gray mane and tail, while wearing a black hat and had a white collar with a black tie around his neck. Standing next to him was a light gray coated mare who had a gray opal mane and tail, like a slightly dark green when she looked at it, though her mane was done up in a bun and she wore a pair of glasses with the chair wrapped around her neck. These were Igneous Rock Pie and Cloudy Quartz, Pinkie's father and mother, and right now it looked like they were doing what they always did, carefully hauling stones over to the area that they would get the most benefit from while using small chisels to break open the rocks that were ready, which would reveal the beautiful stones hidden inside each one.
Working near them was Marble Pie, a gray coated mare with a two tone gray mane and tail, and Maud Pie, a gray coated mare who had a light violet mane and tail and wore a light blue frock, covering a good portion of her body while she did her portion of the work, along with a stallion with a gray coat, who also had the same mane and tail color that Marble had, while wearing a short purple shirt of sorts, meaning he was Octavio Pie.
"Wh... Who are you?" Marble asked, as she had spotted Pinkamena standing near the outer area of the farm and walked over to investigate, while at the same time the others paused for a moment to see what was going on, even though she was surprised to see that Limestone, the last of Pinkie's siblings, was nowhere to be seen.
"Right, you wouldn't recognize me like this." Pinkamena said, where she raised her hand and removed the mask, allowing all of the energy and her kitsune form to be sealed inside it once more, and when she removed it she allowed the others to see the form she had been given upon entering Tanjiro's world, "There, that's better. I am..."
"Pinkamena Diane Pie... or at least that's who I think you are." Cloudy stated, where she and Marble found that the others had stopped working and walked over to where Pinkamena had been standing upon her arrival, no doubt interested in the stranger that had interrupted them, even though they recognized her coloration and the color of her hair and tail, due to it being like Pinkie's before she saw the Rainboom, "You are our daughter... correct?"
"Yes and no. Yes, I am Pinkamena Diane Pie... but I'm not the 'Pinkamena' you're remembering." Pinkamena answered, to which she raised her right hand for a moment and sought out a stone that didn't have crystals growing inside it, one that came from the area outside of the rock farm's domain, which came to a rest above her hand and her power cracked it, as in making it into the yin yang symbol she heard about during her adventure, an item she broke in half, "As you no doubt know Pinkie Pie has, well, gone missing and her friends are currently looking for her, though when she visited a cave that is located near the Castle of the Two Sisters she was knocked out by some intense magic... resulting in her being sent to another world, while I, a remnant of her old depressed self, was separated from her and sent elsewhere. I have all of her memories, from the time she spent on this farm to whenever she'd visit to see her sisters again, but I don't have her, um, joyful personality... in fact, while I might have started out depressed and angry, I've mellowed out and developed into my own person, or pony I guess I should say."
"What about Limestone? She went out one night and never returned." Octavio asked, as while he was the youngest of the five siblings, six if Pinkamena was counted among their number, he showed them that he was worried about his sister, all while informing her of something she didn't know about, something that Igneous and Cloudy were likely going to tell her as soon as they were comfortable with her existence.
"I had no idea she was missing as well... fortunately, I'll be returning to Ponyville soon, so I can lend them my assistance in figuring out what happened to Pinkie and Limestone." Pinkamena said, though she wasn't happy about this, because she had been eager to see how everyone reacted to her arrival, where she could see that Pinkie's siblings had accepted her arrival and her short explanation, even if her parents seemed on the fence right now, "I think I'll also be a trainer for some soldiers or something for some time, so I'll have more than enough chances to track them down and..."
She was cut off by something she wasn't expecting, Octavio walked up to her and wrapped his front legs around her leg, to which she smiled as she knelt down to give him a better area to hug, before the rest of the family neared her and either placed a hoof on her or nodded their heads, causing her to smile as they headed into the house, as there was much she wanted to talk to them about and knew that training would come later.