//------------------------------// // On the Steppes of the Palace // Story: The Multiverse in a Nutshell // by Pennington Inkwell //------------------------------// "AJ, you're coming on too strong! You need to back it down a bit!" "I- I CAN'T! Mah geode's goin' nuts! It- It's like it's overcharged! I gotta get it off!" "Just a few more seconds! Hang in there! It's almost there, I can feel- AAUGH!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rainbow gasped for air as she bolted upright. Her whole body was tingling, like when one of her limbs had fallen asleep, but the sensation was across her entire body. The motion of sitting up sent a wave of painful electric-like shocks through her body, forcing her to grit her teeth and clench up for several seconds. While she was forced to sit still until the tingling stopped, she used the time to take in her surroundings. She wanted to say that she was in a kind of forest or jungle, but not one like any she'd ever seen. Underbrush was everywhere, snaking vines and roots onto every inch of available surface and giving the world a coat of shaggy greenery. She was surrounded by lush green undergrowth, all with wide leaves made to take in as much light as possible, but there didn't seem to be any trees around. The only things she could see that could even look like trees were these big, black pillars with rough, bark-like patterns on their surface- Waitaminute. Rainbow took a moment to try tensing her leg. This time, the response was met with a much more bearable level of tingling and minimal pain. "Finally!" she muttered, rocking back and forth in an effort to get up onto her feet. The movement was met with a feeling of tickling and snapping across her body, and her brain instantly matched the sensation to one she was familiar with: walking through a spiderweb. "WAUGH!" she cried out, furiously patting herself for bugs as she jumped completely up onto her feet and began frantically searching across her clothes. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any spiders OR spiderwebs on her. Instead, there were hairlike roots and thin vines attached to her clothes, concentrated the most in the places where her body had been in contact with the ground, but some had already begun to grow more bold and make their way up on top of her while she was out cold. "Woah..." Dash marveled as she brushed away the attempted overgrowth. "How long was I out?" With that momentary scare already rolling off her shoulders, Rainbow reached into her pocket for her phone. True to form for one of their adventures, of course, she had no signal. Trying to mitigate her disappointment, she walked up to one of the blackened pillars for a closer look. She rested her hand on its surface, feeling a familiar bark-like texture. Closer inspection showed that it wasn't completely pitch-black, but a mottled mix of grays and blacks of varying darkness, with some of the ridges and rises growing pale enough to be closer to white. In fact, it looked just like... "Charcoal?" she pulled her hand away, examining the black residue on her palm. It certainly looked like coal, but there was no way that coal could form pillars as huge as these! Even the smallest ones would have needed three or four people to wrap their arms around, and just glancing around, she could spot trunks that were wide and thick enough that someone could fit an entire house inside and still have room for a two-car garage! Turning to crane her neck upwards, Rainbow found herself looking up at an emerald-colored canopy, confirming that these WERE some kind of crazy-huge trees. Branches didn't start sprouting from the trunks until almost the very top, where they spread wide and far to get as much sunlight as they could. "Kind of reminds me of Daring Do and the Titan's Trail..." Rainbow muttered, unable to stop a grin at the realization that she might have landed in a Daring Do adventure of her very own. "Man, Twi is gonna flip when she hears about- OH SNAP, THE PORTAL!" All at once, the memories of what had knocked her out to begin with came rushing back to her. The portal, the magic, their geodes freaking out, it all returned to her in terrifying detail. "GUYS?" She spun in place, now looking for any sign of her friends. "FLUTTERSHY? AJ? RARITY?" She set off at a sprint, spiraling out from her starting point. "PINKIE? TWILIGHT? SUNSET? COME ON, SOMEBODY! ANYBODY?" She kept going, running farther and farther from her starting point until she'd covered everything in (she guessed) a mile-wide radius. She could feel herself becoming more and more frantic as she was met with only more leaves and tree trunks. "Come on, if I landed here, they've gotta be somewhere- OW!" Rainbow was forced to slam on the brakes when she felt a sharp pain in her leg, just above her ankle. The pain cropped up in her other leg moments later, a stinging pain shooting up from her shin until she finally managed to come to a stop from super-speed. Her jaw dropped when she looked down to find the source of the pain. For graduation day, she'd worn her favorite pair of boots. They were tall and had laces running up their full length, almost all the way to her knees, and her favorite shade of cyan. The best part was that they had been a custom job from Rarity: not only fashionable, but functional. The soles were thick rubber, and all the materials had been the toughest that she could find to stand up to hours on hours of super-speed without showing any wear... which made it terrifying when she saw that they had been torn to absolute shreds by something. The stinging in her shins was only growing stronger with time, and she was definitely leaking blood from the array of cuts in her skin. She shuddered as she thought about what might have happened if she had tried to force herself through the pain. "Okay... it looks like I'm on my own, here..." she mumbled to herself as she slipped off her jacket. Honestly, it was a relief to take it off, and for the first time she noticed the oppressive heat around her. Her panic had blocked it out until now, but the feeling of her sweaty shirt being exposed to the air drove home just how close she was to overheating. "Guess it's a good thing I'm not gonna need this..." She lifted the jacket up to her teeth and bit down on the collar. With a painful-sounding tear, she ripped the garment in half down the middle. She positioned the wide portion meant to cover her back across each of her shins, then wrapped and tied it down in place with the sleeve. Soon, she had a pair of makeshift bandages around each of her legs, but that didn't solve the mystery of what had torn her up, to begin with. While she was down on one knee, she glanced around for any signs of a hostile creature, but... nothing. There was only her and the plants... "Wait..." She reached out to one of the broad-leafed ferns, running her thumb gently along the edge. "Ow!" She'd been careful not to press hard enough to draw blood, but it still left a shallow cut along her skin. "You've GOT to be kidding me... these leaves are like knives!" With that mystery solved, Rainbow pushed herself back up to her feet and leaned against a nearby tree trunk. "Okay... think. I'm alone, stuck in a forest with giant tree trunks and razor-sharp bushes, I have no idea where I am or where my friends are... and I can't even use my super-speed to explore! GREAT!" She looked down at her hands, flexing her fingers in and out as if to make sure they were still there. "It looks like I'm not in Equestria, otherwise I'd be a pony... but I don't think there's anything like this back home." Rainbow's eyes widened as her heart skipped a beat. Math may not have been a subject that she was good at, but all of this was adding up to a frightening conclusion. "...I'm not in Equestria OR at home, am I?" She looked up again, examining the tree she was leaning against. It was so tall, she couldn't make out any branches, but she knew that there had to be SOME up there. If she was going to do what she hoped to, she'd have to be careful. If these big trees had sharp leaves like the smaller plants, then she was going to have to finesse this move. She took a few steps away from the trunk and reached up to her neck. Just as her fingers brushed against her geode, she hesitated, remembering the way that it had gone haywire last time. Well, technically I already used it, didn't I? She reasoned with herself. If I'm too scared to use it, I'm never going to survive being stranded out in the wild! She forced her hand back up to her neck, taking hold of the geode and giving it a squeeze. The surge of energy that came from ponying up was familiar, but Dash had never quite felt it THIS strongly, before. Any tiredness and pain was instantly overwhelmed by the urge to move. Somewhere, ANYWHERE, it didn't matter, she just needed to move and move FAST. The moment her wings had sprouted out of her back, Rainbow was airborne and moving at a speed that made the world a black-and-green blur. Even at a speed that made her eyes water, she didn't have any trouble dodging and weaving around the tree trunks. "WOOO-HOOO!" When the initial rush finally started to wear off, Rainbow slowed until she was hovering in midair. She gave a deep sigh of relief. Her body still felt supercharged, but the initial urge to let off the extra energy had faded to a manageable level. She reached up and unfastened her geode, taking a moment to stare at the stone as she cradled it in the palm of her hand. "When did YOU get an upgrade?" she wondered, half-expecting it to answer her. Instead, it only gave a soft crackle as static-like sparks of energy shot into her skin. With a quick shrug to herself, she put it back into its proper place around her neck. With the mystery of whether or not she could pony up solved, Rainbow focused her attention upwards. She climbed higher and higher into the air, finding herself surprised at just how far she had to go in order to reach the canopy. Finally, after reaching a height where she DEFINITELY didn't want to look down, she perched herself on one of the lowest branches, her head barely brushing the leaves of the next branch up. Carefully, she reached up and ran her thumb along one of the leaves, only to let out a sigh of relief when it didn't come back scratched. "Guess they don't need it this high up..." she smiled as she spread her wings and started to slowly rise through the leaf cover. It was much more than just a thin layer of greenery, and heavier than she expected, but after nearly a minute of being immersed in the leaves, she emerged at the top. The first thing to hit her was how bright the sunlight was. Sure, she had gotten used to the dimmer light at the forest floor, but this felt like more than just a case of not being accustomed to it. Once her eyes had adjusted enough for her to see clearly again, she was able to get the answer as to why. High in the sky above her were TWO suns, basically mirrored at the sky's centerpoint, and at least a dozen moons of different sizes dotting the blue. The sky was completely clear of clouds, and the oppressive humidity of the forest was almost unnoticeable this high up. "Okay... two suns. DEFINITELY not home..." she mumbled dryly, turning to scan the horizon. It hurt her eyes to be so focused, but she needed to see if she could find some sign of civilization. Even this high up, it would only take a day or two to reach anything in her sight with the help of her super-speed, but she'd watched enough Woman vs Wild to know that if she was past the point of seeing the way out of the forest she would need to start thinking about longer-term survival out here. "Wait... there!" Rainbow cupped her hands around her eyes, trying to block out enough of the excess light to focus on the discolored spot on the horizon. She couldn't be totally certain it was a sign of civilization, but it almost looked like some kind of white mountain, which made a fine landmark. "It's not much, but at least it's a starting point..." With her heading set, she dropped back down through the leaves until she was back under the canopy. Two midday suns beating down on her were already starting to make her feel like a tortilla chip left in in a hot car. The difference between humidity under the canopy and above, no matter how good it felt, wasn't enough to justify exercising under double the sunlight rather than taking the shady route. "Okay, just gotta keep my eyes peeled while I fly for any running water or edible-looking plants..." she muttered as she set off in the direction of the mountain, only to draw up short when she realized that there wasn't actually anyone else there. "I'm going to be doing a lot of talking to myself for the next few days, aren't I?" Getting up to speed was fairly easy for her now that she didn't need to avoid the razor-leafed plants below, but she made sure to pace herself: this was going to be a marathon, not a sprint. It didn't take long for her to get into the familiar rhythm of distance running, and soon the landscape around her began to blur together. It was just a blur of black and green, punctuated by the occasional spot of direct sunlight that the canopy hadn't managed to steal for itself, yet. She occasionally stopped to poke her head out and get her bearings relative to that mountain, usually finding herself disappointed at how slowly it seemed to be approaching. Her only other stop was when she spotted a small stream to stop and get a drink. The water had a slightly sour taste to it, like someone had carbonated mineral water and let it go flat, but she forced herself to drink as much as she could. She didn't have anything to carry more in, which meant that she was going to have to stay hydrated with only what she could find and drink on the fly. In the back of her mind, the sense of how utterly alone she was here was mounting higher and higher as she flew farther and farther with no sign of people. What if one of her friends WAS out here, and she was just leaving them all behind because she didn't look far enough? If she really WAS on a totally different world, what if she was stranded here? What if there wasn't ANY civilization to be found, and she was the only person in the whole world? What if- Rainbow shook her head, forcing the fear and worried thoughts back down into her gut. She couldn't think like that. She was trying to find help, and that was the only choice she had that made sense. She told herself that she would try to keep flying until nightfall, but as the hours stretched on and on, she found herself growing tired and sore as her eyelids drooped. When she nearly slammed headfirst into a tree trunk, she took another trip up through the canopy to look at the sky. The suns had both dipped lower in the sky, down towards the horizon, but their descent had slowed to a crawl. She reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone and checking the clock. 11:49 PM "Do the suns just... not go down here?" she wondered to herself as she sunk back down into the leaves. Either way, she was too tired to keep flying, and she knew it. She'd reached her limit for the day. With a groan, she settled on one of the lower branches of the trees. It was thicker around than a queen-sized bed, so there was no chance that she would wind up falling out of the tree in the middle of the night, and none of the other plants had managed to make it high enough for her to find herself rooted down in the morning... she hoped. She stared at the wallpaper on her phone: it was a shot of the whole band together on the tour bus. They were all messy, covered in dirt and oil after putting the finishing touches on the bus that would be their home-on-the-road while they were out touring the country. Everyone was exhausted, but they still managed to smile with satisfaction for the group picture, confident that if they could turn that old pile of rusty scrap into a luxury touring machine, they could solve ANY problem... Low Battery! The words flashed across the screen before the screen went dark, and Rainbow groaned to herself as she leaned back against the coal-like surface of the tree. She threw her arm over her eyes to try and block out as much of the light as possible. "Man... We're really deep in it this time, huh?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Expedition log: Day two of my expedition into this unknown jungle..." Rainbow Dash muttered to herself. "My stomach is empty and the hunger is starting to get painful. I need to find something I can eat soon, or I'm going to starve to death out here." Without her friends around, as loathe as she was to admit it, Rainbow's confidence was shaken. The only way she'd been able to quell her nerves was to lean into the idea that she was living her very own Daring Do adventure. Now, as she glided between the trees in the general direction of the mountain, her stomach felt the need to punctuate every statement with an angry growl. She was still energized from ponying up, but... it felt less lasting and more akin to a sugar rush. "Moving at superspeed takes a lot of energy... Twilight figured out that most of it comes from the geode, but I still burn through a lot of calories when I do it." She reached up to wipe a layer of sweat off before it rolled down into her eyes again. "So I'm slowing down until I find something edible in this place. If the leaves can tear through Rarity's boots, I don't want to know what they'll do to the inside of my mouth... but none of the trees have any kind of fruit on them, either!" She glanced at her hand as she shook off the layer of sweat she'd intercepted. "Plus, it's SUPER hot and humid down here, and all the water tastes like flat soda water... but flying above the treeline would probably result in tenth-degree sunburn." She groaned in frustration as the panic about her situation started to mount again. "GAAH! HOW did I even wind up THIS far from civilization! This is SO DUMB! HOW am I supposed to find everybody else if I'm just steam-cooked alive before I even find someone to ask for directions!" Rainbow hated the fact that it sounded like she was whining. She WAS whining, if she was honest with herself. But she needed to let that steam off, and there wasn't exactly any hand wraps and heavy bags around here to do it, so whining was the best she could manage. "Can't I catch a break?" she finally mumbled before clearing her throat and returning to her narration. "With no guiding stars at night, no NIGHT, no compass, and no road signs, my only option is to continue pressing towards the only landmark I can see: the Ivory Summit. That's what I'm calling that white mountain, now. I don't really know what I'll find when I get there, but I can't just sit an wait for a rescue party while stranded on an alien world. Maybe it'll help me get to high enough ground to find some sign of civilization..." She took a moment to give her wings an extra flutter. "You know, WITHOUT potentially flying high enough to pass out from heat exhaustion at a few hundred feet up." After keeping alert for it all day, the sound of running water hit her ears before her eyes caught sight of it. Only seconds later she was locked onto the source. It was a tiny little brook weaving between the trees, no deeper than a foot at its deepest point, but crystal clear in its purity. "Aha! It's not food, but at least I can replace some of the water I've lost!" Rainbow grinned as she shifted her course and glided back down to the forest floor. With a sigh of relief, she dropped to her knees on the bank and plunged her hands into the water. It wasn't particularly COLD water, but it was a few degrees cooler than the air and that made all the difference. She scooped up a double-handful of the water and splashed it on her face, feeling the layer of sweat and grime dissolve away. After that, she took another handful and ran it through her hair, dampening it and letting it go slick against her back. She wished that she could dive in completely, but it was too shallow for that. The third scoop went straight down her throat. The hard mineral taste made her cringe and shudder, but she was quickly learning to endure it without much griping. She kept drinking for as long as she could bear the taste before finally sitting back up straight. "Oh, that's better..." she mumbled, reaching down to pull her shirt up and over her head before dunking it in the running water. She wasn't oblivious enough to think that her sweating was confined to her forehead, and keeping her shirt a little damp and in the wind was an easy way to help keep her core temperature down AND keep it clean-ish. "Sure wish I had brought my water bottle with me..." she grumbled as she wrung the excess water out of her shirt. "If I'd known this was gonna happen, I would have grabbed my duffel bag..." For the last step in her pit stop, Dash carefully untied the remains of her jacket from around her legs. She'd made sure to clean her "bandages" and her cuts as often as she could bear the day before, and it looked like it was paying off. Everything had closed up with scabs nicely, and some of the thinner cuts were already starting to mend with skin. "Guess I can probably leave this here..." Dash mumbled, looking at the remains of her jacket, now mottled with patches of dried blood. "Unless I need it again..." She continued staring as she dropped it into the river. The bloodstains obviously weren't going to wash out easily, but the majority of the dried, crusty blood was flaking off and washing away. "I should probably hold on to it in case I run into trouble again." With a few minutes of scrubbing, she nodded to herself and hung the two halves on a nearby bush to dry. With that settled, she slowly lowered her aching legs into the water. She had to hiss when her injuries first dipped below the surface, but the pain faded moments later, and she was soon stretched out and relaxing on the bank. She couldn't help but consider a nap right then and there, but the feeling of the underbrush on her skin was enough to remind her of the creeping roots that had tried to grow over her when she first arrived. Sitting in one place for more than a few minutes was a one-way trip to becoming a RD-shaped chia pet. Instead, she knew that she'd need to keep moving soon. Just for a moment, however, she was going to enjoy this. In fact, the water even seemed to be getting a little cooler... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Aurelia couldn't help but feel frustrated as she sped along the root systems of Radian's forest. Compared to the carefully-constructed conductors of the city, the scattered trace metals in the wood felt like crawling through foxholes. But, of course, when everything had been rocked by a world-shaking quake in the dimensions, the homeland scout leaders had done what they always do with an unknown threat: send the littles first. And since she wasn't a precious metallic or a crystalline lithic, she didn't have a wing to fly on when it came to avoiding the most tedious of the jobs: combing Radian's less populated areas for any attempts at a Baalchionic incursion. Of course, there WASN'T. Those monsters ought to have known better than to try it after the last time they'd tried to storm Radian's walls... but still. They were real backwards thinkers, when they thought at ALL, so checks still needed to be made, lest they end up with another army of knightcrawler queens and nyctomorphs all clambering over one another for a shot at the Spire. So she was on day two of running all through the jungle, sniffing for anything out of the ordinary. This work was better suited for a knuckler or a wyrm, but there just weren't enough of them to cover the entire forest. There were millions of littles, all bred for speed and sharp senses. With a pop and crackle of electricity, she climbed up into one of the trunks and struck out into the air, where the lightning of her body coalesced back into a solid form. With a quick flap of her wings, she landed on the trunk, where her small claws easily found enough purchase to hold herself up without effort. Every time that she'd stepped out of the conductive roots, nothing had been any kind of strange. This time, however, something was different. There was a new scent on the air, something that reminded her of rusted iron and... rot. It was blood, but not blood from a Radian native. She'd never seen one face-to-face, but something in the instinctive group memory of the scouting breeds told her that it was the kind of blood a creature from a contested world might have. Could a portal to a contested world have opened up right on our doorstep? Even before Baalchion's spawn could find it? she wondered. For a moment she considered jumping back into the roots, but she shrugged off the idea and spread her wings. Better to track this by nose, I wouldn't want to overshoot... As she set on her path, however, another sensation set her teeth on edge, raring to bite into something. It was an ancestral instinct, one that was so deep in her blood that she couldn't even identify exactly which sense had picked it up... but there was a monster here. One of Baalchion's. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The water had gotten nice and cold somehow, and compared to the sweltering jungle around her, it was like an ice bath on her injuries. Rainbow Dash had even stepped up onto her feet and walked out into the deepest part to avoid sitting too long. Now she was knee-deep in the stream and loving it... but another hunger pang was enough to remind her that she couldn't stay here forever. "Maybe I'll find some kind of fruit tree if I follow the stream..." she mused as she reluctantly shuffled back towards the shore. "I haven't seen any fish here, but maybe I'll find a lake or something!" She paused at the bank, tapping her chin. "Hmm... should I stick to the path I already was following, or should I change it? Most survivalists say follow water... but if I remember right, the Ivory Summit is that way." She pointed in a direction that was nearly perpendicular to the stream. "Do I follow water or my only landmark?" Another growl from her stomach made the decision for her. "I'll find a lake or something. If I don't find any edible plants by then, I can at least try fishing!" With her mind made up, Rainbow tried to step towards the shore... but her foot didn't move. Her head snapped down to look for what had locked her in place, but nothing looked different. "What gives?" she mumbled, pulling harder at her stuck foot. This time, it pulled almost an inch off the ground before being pulled back down into place. She tried again, and this time she could see something off: it was a deformation in her skin, like something invisible had wrapped around her ankle. She wasn't sure WHAT was trying to get grabby with her, but she wasn't going to let it have its way so easily. "Okay, you wanna play?" She reached up to her geode, bracing herself for the rush of energy when she ponied up. "Let's PLAY!" When she took off with her wings, she managed to pull herself up much further. She'd made it nearly ten feet into the air when the tension on her ankle dragged her to a stop, like she was tied to a giant rubber band. Looking down, she could see a stream of water stretching all the way up to her foot, wrapping around it like a transparent tentacle. Below, the water where she had been standing was whipping itself into a frenzied vortex, and unless her eyes were deceiving her, a par of transparent jaws were beginning to rise out of the center, snapping with ice-tipped fangs. "What the HECK? Let go!" Rainbow kicked her leg, but the grip only tightened and began to reel her back towards the water. She gritted her teeth and ramped her wing flapping up into super-speed territory. Inch by painful inch, she was making headway on the thing trying to drag her back into the river, but it felt like her foot was about to pop off of the bottom of her leg. "Come... on!" With a tearing sound and a screech from whatever thing had attacked her, Rainbow was free, tumbling, and heading for the canopy at a speed that made her eyes water. It took a few seconds for her to get control of her flight again, but she managed to stop just short of crashing through the canopy. She stopped to grip at her head, which was spinning even more than it usually would after a spinout like that. "Ugh... not eating is really doing a number on me," she grumbled once things had stopped spinning. "But I don't think I'm at the point of hallucinating, yet. Which means I really DID just get attacked by WATER." She put a hand against her temple. "The plants, the WATER... is ANYTHING in this crazy place NOT trying to kill me?" She hung in the air for a moment longer, watching as the hungry froth settled back into a calm, babbling brook. After a few more seconds of thought, she flew up into the canopy, getting her bearings back. "Okay... Ivory Summit it is. Forget about settling where something like THAT could be living!" With a nod to herself, she set out on a flight back in the direction of the white mountain. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "You're KIDDING!" Sunset slammed her hand on the table. "You wound up in a place THAT dangerous?" Rainbow scoffed. "Pfft! Danger's my middle name! It wasn't THAT bad, I just had no idea what I was doing!" The little gold-colored dragon had hopped down onto the table where they were sitting, mostly content to listen and only piping up when she had something to contribute to the story from her perspective. "Not to mention Radian's forest goes all the way from the city to the equator! In the grand scheme of things, she got dropped right on our doorstep!" Penn had been more than a little surprised to see a Chiracian scouting breed dragon on Rainbow Dash's shoulder, but considering that she'd been living in Radian all of this time, it made sense that she'd been assigned a retainer of sorts. A scout (or a "little," as she would be called back home), would be the perfect way to keep an eye on Rainbow AND be able to keep up with her. While the girls were catching up, Penn had settled into the commons room corner, bundled up under a heavy blanket and nursing his third mug of hot cocoa. He'd positioned himself as far as possible from Salem, but she had left just a few minutes into Rainbow Dash's story, so now he was just enjoying the quiet security of having his back to the corner. He had been listening to Rainbow, but only with half of his attention. The other half was dedicated to processing their disastrous arrival in Remnant. There were a lot of awful circumstances that had been involved in leaving him gutted emotionally, but there was one moment that stood out from the rest: They wanted me. ME. There's no denying it, they pointed straight AT me! It wasn't a matter of smelling tasty, either, or they would have been going for Salem, too... "What if it was never about food?" Reason proposed. "Your blood bait didn't do anything, and eating Salem could have just been an accident or bad luck on her part." Penn hated to throw out a premise, but that made some sense. Okay... let's say it was never about food. Why try to eat the Queen Lancer? "It went for the car pretty soon after, maybe it was trying to cut off our transportation options?" He resisted the urge to groan, knowing it would get odd looks if her just started groaning for no apparent reason during Rainbow Dash's story. You think it didn't want us to get away... but why? There was a long pause between them both as each came up short of an answer for a moment. "...what if it's the same reason that Ozpin and Ironwood wanted you to BE here? Because of what you know?" But how would they know I know- oh. Oh, that's potentially really bad. "Penn?" Penn was snapped out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he realized that Blake was the one who had gone out of her way to get his attention. "S-sorry, I was just thinking." It still felt surreal. Sure, he'd met these girls before, and sure, he'd met plenty of characters that he already knew over their travels, but seeing animated characters come to live, see and talk and interact in the flesh... It was still wild to him. Part of him wondered if the feeling would ever go away. Most of him hoped it wouldn't. "I get it." She gestured behind her, towards the doorway leading out of the room. Penn's heart sunk at the white-suited figure filling it and staring at him expectantly. "I know you've been through a lot today, but the general wants to talk to you." Penn gave a soft sigh before glancing over at Sunset. She was still talking with Rainbow Dash, totally engrossed with the story of how she'd befriended a whole city of dragons. She was happy, happier than he'd seen her in ages... he didn't need to bother her with his overthinking. "Thanks, Blake." He gave his most convincing smile as he disentangled himself from his blanket. "He's right, we don't have time to waste. After everything else I've survived, quick debriefing won't kill me." As he downed the last of his hot chocolate, he noticed Sunset looking his way, clearly noticing him being on the move. He gave her a quick wave to dismiss her concerns, an unspoken assurance that she should focus on Rainbow Dash. She arched an eyebrow, questioning whether he was being genuine or just taking the lion's share of problems again. He gave her a wink, which told her she wasn't getting a straight answer out of him if she tried. With that conversation dealt with and his hot chocolate finished, he was all set to go by the time he made it to the door. "General." He extended a hand to the stranger, which was taken and given a shake that bordered on almost painfully strong. "Penn. I'm sorry to bother you so soon after arriving, but our enemy coming straight up to our doorstep and taking out one of my best soldiers isn't something we can ignore." He motioned for Penn to follow him as he stepped away from the commons area. "I understand." Penn sighed as they started walking down the empty hallway. "Work long enough with S.H.I.E.L.D. and you get used to putting off collapsing from exhaustion long enough to give an official report." He narrowed his eyes before taking a moment to glance up and down the hall to confirm they were alone. "Besides... I need to ask you about who knew about me and Sunset and why we were coming here." He lowered his voice further. "Because this was a targeted attack, and I think whoever is behind it knew that I was bringing important information." "Are you implying that we have a traitor in our midst?" Ironwood's tone was bristling, clearly insulted at the idea. "Not necessarily. Could be a shapeshifter, a doppelganger, hostile possession, OR an office could be bugged- figuratively OR literally." Penn gave a noncommittal shrug. "The more people who know, the more chances there are for information to leak, I'm sure I don't have to tell that to a man in your position." "You know, a year ago I would have ruled most of those out as impossible." Ironwood pressed a palm to his forehead. "I can't believe these are things that we have to consider..." Penn felt one more comment welling up, and he couldn't stop it before it was already out of his mouth. "And a quick reminder: Sunset and I just lost most of our worldly possessions because of this, as well as our only means of transportation. We only made it here with the clothes on our backs and whatever junk was in our pockets. I'm angry, and I want to get to the bottom of this ambush as much as anyone." "I see..." He paused, clearly unsure how to respond for a moment. "You mentioned an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D., are you a military man in your world?" Penn resisted the urge to give a derisive snort. "More of a paramilitary consultant... I never liked the idea of anyone other than me being able to tell me who to shoot at. I was recently put in charge of forming a pan-dimensional branch called B.U.C.K.L.E.R., however. I guess that makes me full-time now, whether I like it or not." "But with you at the top?" This time Penn didn't hold back his scoff. "Pfft, I WISH. I report up the chain like anybody else. The director's been riding my back like a racehorse speedrunning the paperwork and setting up the whole organization for a number of agents I can count on one hand!" He sighed. "Forget about pacing ourselves or making GRADUAL expansion! Even with Isis handling 99 percent of it, I can BARELY keep up! And in an infinite multiverse, the director of an organization like this one needs to come up with plans and contingencies for EVERY eventuality! I'm just ONE GUY! I-" Penn cut himself off as he realized he was shouting loudly enough to be heard all the way down the hall. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't whine about all of this, I just- I'm in a lousy mood and itching to take it out on someone." "I can understand the frustration of dealing with bureaucracy. I can only imagine what it's like being the one who has to make it all up from scratch." Ironwood's tone was... surprisingly sympathetic. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Penn was reminded of something. This wasn't Ironwood as he knew the character. While he did go... off the rails in later seasons, this wasn't that same character. This was a man, and a man who was at least trying to be a good person and friendly to a stranger in a bad situation. However he felt about the military, Penn needed to try and put that aside. "Thanks... Anyway, I'll tell you everything I can about our arrival. Everything else is gonna need a dedicated meeting with the rest of my team. I hope that's not a problem?" "Not if you don't mind kicking things off bright and early tomorrow. Most of the people on our side feel they've been left waiting for too long." "And considering that NOT talking over the phone didn't win us any points in the area of security, I'm sure they're even less entertained with having to wait for us..." Penn grumbled. "We can talk in the morning, but after the beating we took today, I can tell you that we won't be smiling about it." "We don't need you to smile, just to talk." Penn chuckled. "That, I can always oblige. For now, let's just talk about how a fifteen-story centipede was sitting right in front of the portal in Forever Fall..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "So what happened next?" Sunset asked, leaning forward to get closer to Rainbow. "Well, it's a long and awesome story!" Rainbow bragged. "So after I went to sleep that night-" Just as Rainbow was about to launch into the next chapter of her tale, the general from earlier strode into the room, drawing everyone's attention. He looked around for a moment, catching sight of Team JNPR all sleeping in a pile on the couch, Blake and Ruby both having taken a comfy-looking chair for themselves to doze in, and Sunset and Rainbow both still chatting in the same spot after several hours. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we all have an important meeting bright and early tomorrow. I would suggest we all get some rest, if possible." Ruby stirred in her chair, rubbing tiredly at her eyes for a second. "Hmm? Oh, yeah... Sunset, we've got your old hammock up, if you want..." "We've also assigned an unused dorm room for Team SIEG, if you'd rather stay with your traveling companions." The general stepped over to hand Sunset a room key, she she took gladly. "Tomorrow's meeting to formulate our plan of attack is going to be in Professor Ozpin's office at o-six-hundred." "What plan?" Rainbow leaned back in her chair with her usual cocky grin as she kicked her boots up onto the table. "I told you that these 'experts' are just going to tell you the same thing I did! Take Radian's deal, and the Alliance of Light will burn out that infestation lickety-split!" "What?" Sunset balked slightly. "No, Penn said we're going to help them deal with it on their own. We want to AVOID asking Radian for help!" "WHAT?" Rainbow nearly fell out of her chair before scrambling to regain her balance. "You're KIDDING, right?" "Ahem!" The general cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention back to him before the argument could escalate. "THAT is why we're meeting tomorrow, so that everyone can make their case and present their plans. There's no sense fighting over it tonight, just enjoy being reunited with your friends." He walked to the door, only looking back one more time. "Not everyone has been lucky enough to come out as unscathed as you..." With that ominous statement made, he disappeared back out into the hallway, leaving a sense of dread hanging in the air. Sunset leaned back in her chair a bit, feeling her tiredness and soreness finally starting to settle in. "General Ironwood is right..." Ruby mumbled, pushing herself out of her chair enough to stretch. "We're ALL tired, this is no time for arguing... it's time for bed." "It's nearly midnight," Blake added, following Ruby's example. "We should all get some sleep and come at this with fresh eyes and all the facts in the morning." Rainbow looked like she wanted to continue the argument, but Sunset rose up to her feet and cut her off. "They're right, Dash. It's been a long day, and I can't keep up with you even on days were I HAVEN'T fought a centipede taller than most skyscrapers. We can talk tomorrow about the plan, and I'm not letting you get away with not finishing your story!" She gave her friend a smile and a squeeze on the shoulder. "Wanna pick this up in the morning?" Rainbow looked like she wanted to continue the argument a little longer, her mouth hanging open for another moment before finally closing and settling into a smile. She stood up out of her chair and wrapped her arms around Sunset, pulling her into another hug. "You know, somehow, I've REALLY missed having you and the others to mellow me out..." she mumbled into Sunset's shoulder. Sunset could feel a wetness seeping into her shirt from silent tears, and she couldn't help it as her own extra emotions started to bubble up through her tear ducts. "Y-yeah... I've missed you, too..." she whispered, giving Rainbow the tightest hug she could muster in her beaten and tired state. "Part of me still can't believe you're here. I've traveled so far to find you..." She shook her head. "Sometimes I thought the road was never going to end!" After a few more seconds of holding each other tight enough to confirm it wasn't a dream or an illusion, Sunset and Rainbow broke off the hug with a giddy chuckle. "Well, I guess Auri and I are gonna head back to our room..." Rainbow held out her arm and the little dragon ran up onto her shoulder to perch. "I guess we're gonna be Radian's representatives tomorrow!" Sunset nodded before reaching into her pocket and pulling out her phone. 11:57 "Heh, this takes me back. Late night, early wake-up call, dealing with an alien invasion in the morning..." she chuckled to herself as she typed up a quick message to Penn. "It's just like our first cross-universe adventure!" "Wait a minute- you have SERVICE?" Rainbow snatched Sunset's phone out of her hands to examine more closely. "I've had zero bars for the last half year!" "Oh, right!" Sunset couldn't help smirking a little at the chance to introduce one of her old friends to one of her new ones. "Hey, Isis? Think you can help RD out?" "Affirmative. Would you like me to register Rainbow Dash as a new user on the integrated network?" "Yep!" Sunset tried not to giggle as Rainbow's eyes almost popped out of her skull. "Dude, you have an A.I.?" She reached into her pocket and hastily grabbed her own phone, which was beginning to vibrate as Isis established a connection. "Best one in the Multiverse." Sunset chuckled. "The Integrated Superior Intelligence System, also known as Isis!" "Integration of new hardware complete. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Rainbow Dash. It will be my pleasure to assist you." Isis's voice was coming from Rainbow's phone, now. Sunset wasn't surprised to Rainbow Dash bolt for her contacts list and select Fluttershy's name. "It won't work... I've tried." She sighed. "They're not on the network, so there's no way to reach them." "Darn." Rainbow's shoulders slumped slightly as she began to browse through her phone again. "Yeah, but Isis can do just about anything else you ask! She can even send us care packages with stuff like new clothes and food and... gas..." Sunset frowned as the reminder of what had happened made the fact really hit her: Sylvia was gone. They were carless. "I, uh, think I should probably check on Penn before bed. He took a way bigger loss in the fight with that Knightcrawler Queen than any of the rest of us. See you in the morning?" This time, the little dragon on Dash's shoulder perked up, jumping up on top of her head to lean out as far as possible in Sunset's direction. "I'm sorry- did you just say you fought a Knightcrawler QUEEN? And WON?" Sunset nodded. "Yup... but it took everything out of us. We even had to sacrifice our transportation." "HOW?" Aurelia half-screeched, causing Rainbow to flinch and reach up to take the little dragon off of her head. She held her hands around the dragon's midsection and under her front legs in a way similar to how one would hold an angry cat. "Dude, I TOLD you my friends were awesome! Quit yelling before you blow a fuse!" Before Sunset knew what she was really doing, she was stroking the little dragon's head in a way similar to how she liked to pet Isis's drones. "Lasers, gasoline, a fire bomb, and a friend who's VERY good at making up clever plans on the spot is how." The little dragon's mouth hung open, clearly in disbelief. Sunset yawned, gave her one last pat on the head, and gave Rainbow a small wave. "I was so caught up in Rainbow's story, I guess we haven't officially met, yet, but I'm looking forward to a proper introduction! See you in the morning!" She gave a small wave to Ruby and Blake, then looked down at the key she'd been given. Room number 359. "If nobody minds, I think I'm going to spend the night in the same dorm as Penn... I want to be sure he's doing okay." "...sounds good." Blake mumbled, a not-unnoticeable tinge of disappointment in her voice. "Sleep tight!" Ruby added as she walked by. "We'll see you tomorro- uh, later today!" Sunset nodded, gave Rainbow one more pat on the shoulder, and set off in the direction of the dorms. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Wow... Man, this is GREAT!" Rainbow sent a few sparks into the air as she punched towards the ceiling with glee. "FINALLY! We found one of my friends!" "I'm happy for you, RD." Auri smiled as she settled into the small cushion they'd placed on the dresser for her to use as a bed. "But I'm not so sure about the company she keeps..." Rainbow blinked for a moment, remembering the tired-looking fellow who'd come in with Sunset and sat eerily in the corner listening to them talk. "What, you mean that one dude? I think Sunset said his name was 'Pen' or something, right? He just looked tired and kinda grumpy, like he just lost a big match." "You mean you didn't sense it?" Aurelia asked, tilting her head in confusion. "Sense- Auri, I keep telling you, whatever sixth sense you dragons have, I haven't got it!" Rainbow sighed as she flopped backwards onto her bed. "Just TELL me!" "Well, first of all, he DEFINITELY wasn't human." "Neither are you, and we're still good friends." "Yes, but I don't try to LOOK like anything other than what I am." Aurelia edged up onto the corner of her cushion. "He doesn't smell EXACTLY like a monster, but... whatever he is, it smells dark." "And to this day, you still can't tell me what darkness smells like." "Because it's instinct!" Aurelia huffed. "After millennia of warring, Chiracians can sense a Baalchionic a mile away! Even if he doesn't smell EXACTLY like one, his scent is a lot closer to THAT than it is to human!" She straightened somewhat as Dash craned her neck to look at her partner. "Come on, THINK, Rainbow! There's no WAY that a couple of normal humans could beat a knightcrawler queen on their own! But if the queen and this guy were on the same team, they could sure make it LOOK like it! Even enough to fool your friend!" Rainbow cocked an eyebrow. "What, you think he's a double agent or something?" "That would explain why he's telling them NOT to accept Chirac's light." Rainbow sighed and leaned back into the bed. "Well... you know more about Baalchion's strats than I do... I guess we could keep an eye on him." "And if he IS one of Baalchion's minions?" "We zap him into next Thursday. Easy as that." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Hey." Penn sat up slightly in his bed as Sunset entered the dorm room. "Hey, yourself. Not sleeping with Rainbow Dash tonight? Or Team RWBY?" Sunset walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. "We went through a lot today. I think I'd feel safer here." She tilted her head. "Plus I wanted to see how you were doing after losing the car." Penn winced as the sound of tearing metal and crunching parts replayed in his mind for the hundredth time that night. He'd gone over what happened a hundred times, both on purpose and involuntarily. Something about his precious car and home being ripped to shreds had a way of sticking in his mind on repeat. "I talked to Ironwood during the debriefing. He says there's an old large-scale weapons forge in the basement that I could use to rebuild..." He shrugged. "Coulson said that all the assets of BUCKLER are at my discretion, but the problem isn't parts, it's time to work." Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think we could rebuild her after such catastrophic damage? Wouldn't we basically be starting from scratch?" "We have the technology. I'll make her harder, better, faster, stronger." Sunset sighed and leaned back slightly with a wistful smile. "You know... somehow, I don't doubt that you will." Time for a change of subject. "How's Rainbow Dash?" "You know, she looks great! She's got this little dragon buddy, a battle-ready suit Rarity would LOVE, AND a cool new look! She looks-" "Older." Sunset stiffened, and Penn could instantly tell he'd managed to hit a nail on the head that Sunset had been going out of her way to avoid. She groaned a little and leaned forward. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ruin a happy moment. I just-" "No, no... I was thinking it, too." Sunset shook her head. "I was so happy to see her I never brought it up." "It's Chiracian magic. She's gotten stronger, but she's burning herself up like a candle." Penn mumbled. "Is there any way to undo it?" "I'm... working on it. Lots of people want the key to turning back the clock, not many of them get it, even in an infinite multiverse." Sunset took another deep breath before her smile returned. "You'll figure it out, I know you will." Penn couldn't tell whether her confidence in him was heartwarming or impossible to live up to. "Yeah. I've figured out tougher puzzles, right?" "Right." Silence fell again for a few seconds. "You think Missy will be ready to summon back tomorrow?" "Probably not... hold on." Penn sat up enough to reach over to the nightstand. He grabbed his satchel and started rifling through the cards inside until he found the one he was looking for: Nutrient Z. The card showed a tall, slightly-sinister looking potion bottle with the number "4000" printed on the side. "When you summon her back, give her this. It should help make up the difference in her energy." He set the satchel back down on the table before returning back to his fully reclined position. "It's a card that gives you a big boost of life points when you take heavy damage." Sunset eyed the card suspiciously for a second before slipping it into her pocket. "You sure 'Big Sis' isn't going to mind me using a card from her deck?" Penn rolled his eyes. "She'd move heaven and earth for that little angel. We both would. She'd be more angry if you didn't use it." Sunset nodded before flopping back onto the bed. "Where's Salem?" "Don't know, don't care." "Hm. I'd think you'd be more nervous with her running around." "Why do you think I locked the front door AND the bedroom door?" he fidgeted slightly in his bed to pull the covers up to his chin. "But... I think we've successfully de-escalated things with her, at least temporarily. In all the time I was captured, she was still courteous and honest with me. If she says we're allies, then I think I can believe she's not going to stab me in the back long enough to get a few hours of sleep." He glanced to the window, as if expecting her to be looking in on them. "She still scares the daylights out of me, though." "Well, I'm still going to keep my promise." Sunset put her hand on her saber for a moment. "She's NOT going to hurt you again." "Thanks..." Silence again as Sunset remained splayed out across his lower legs. "Penn... Please tell me that you have a plan to save Remnant. One that isn't just trying to talk your way out of it." Sunset's voice was surprisingly timid. Frightened, even. "Because after today I can't help thinking that we might be in over our heads, this time." Penn considered putting on a brave face and having enough confidence for the two of them. He considered getting up and giving Sunset a great big hug, one that could send all those fears running. He considered just laughing off her question. "Of course I do," he mumbled, staying equally honest with her in his matter-of-fact tone. "I've had ages to think about it. It's going to need a lot of work, all the time we have to spare, and a little luck, though. We'll be cutting it close." He could see a smile tugging at the corners of Sunset's mouth from where she was laying across his legs. "That sounds like all of your best plans to me." The two of them sat for a few more minutes in silence. "Hey, Sunset?" No answer. "Sunset?" Her breathing had settled into a long, slow pace. "...dangit, my legs are going to be asleep by morning..." Penn mumbled as he closed his eyes and tried to make himself comfortable.