Oww, my head. What did Pinkie do to me last night?
I felt hard ground under my back.
Okay, not in my comfy cloud bed sleeping off a hangover. Wonderful. Okay, body part check time. Head? Hurts, so check. Lungs, heart? I’m breathing, and obviously not dead. Check. Feet, toes? They’re wiggling, so ch—wait, feet? TOES?
My eyes snap open. It’s bright, so I have to squint. I sit up, using my hands to shield my eyes from the light… wait, what? Hands?
I force my eyes open this time. Sure enough, I seem to have been turned into a Lyra drawing. I seem to know what every part of this body is, even though I barely remember any of Lyra’s stuff. Hey, I’m not an egghead like Twi.
Speaking of Twi, didn’t she go on some grand adventure in another world, one where she said she looked like I do now? Something with a high school, one of Princess Celestia’s old students, and a kick-ass fight. I mostly remembered the kick-ass fight.
I take a look around, still sitting on my butt. No school nearby, no people, no anything. Nothing but trees, trees, and more trees. I’m definitely not wherever Twilight went. Bo-ring.
Or was it? Since I’m not where Twilight went, I’m the first pony to ever be here. This could be majorly awesome!
Well, actually, I’m not a pony anymore, am I? I’m a… I don’t know. I have two hands, arms, legs that go into a pair of knee-high boots. My hair is as it’s always been, short, unkempt, tri-color goodness. The boots are thick, with large soles. It looks like I can kick major butt with them. I’ve got a jacket with a shirt underneath, and pants. I’ve never been one for frilly-frou-frou stuff like Rarity, but this outfit of mine just screams “AWESOME!”
Huh, what else? I’ve got some kind of arm braces on; they’re hard, but still flexible. I search my jacket, and find a harness of some kind under it. It goes right up against my arms, tight so it won’t move around when I walk. I don’t have wings any more, which is a bummer, but it doesn’t seem like this body is built for it anyways.
Speaking of walking, it’s about time I try to. I push myself up unsteadily, wobbling a bit as I stand to full height. But, it seems my body already knows how to do all that stuff; it’s as simple as thinking of putting one hoof in front of the other.
I start walking around the clearing, taking in the atmosphere. Totally riveting. Then I notice a pair of objects on the ground. They are almost identical, wood parts, some metal bits at the end. I pick them up, and notice my cutie mark embedded in the wood of both. Wait, not wood; it’s actually more metal. I spin them around experimentally, instinctively, and shove them into two special slots in the harness. Whoa. How did I know how to do that? These things are obviously mine, but I’ve never seen them before in my life!
Oh well. I won’t get answers just standing in this clearing all day. I pick a direction and start walking. I only get a few feet into the trees when I hear a rustling from the other side of the clearing.
“Um, h-hello?” My voice comes out weak, like Fluttershy on a good day. I put on my game face, and try again.
“Hey! Get out here and show your face! I need some answers!” A low rumbling answers me, and a pair… no, several pairs of glowing red eyes peer out at me from the brush.
Oh, buck me with the moon…
----------
“Isn’t this just such a wonderful day?” Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY and ever-present optimist, skipped along through the trees, the rest of her team in tow.
“Ruby, will you stop? We’re on a serious mission here!” That would be Weiss, daughter of some bigwig and always the pessimist. Ruby slides to a stop.
“Oh yeah, the mission…” she turns back, a sheepish look on her face. “What was the mission again?”
As Weiss goes to begin bashing her head against the nearest tree, muttering something about such a kid and why is she the leader again, Blake steps forward, no-nonsense as always.
“Some local townsfolk have reported increasing numbers of Grimm in the area. Professor Ozpin sent us here to find the Grimm, and convince them to be someplace else.”
“Yeah, because that’s a load of fun,” Yang mutters. As the team’s heavy hitter and Ruby’s big half-sister, she had a pressing need to always be in the action.
“Oh, lighten up, sis. You heard Ozpin. We needed a break after the stuff with the White Fang, so for our first ever solo mission,” Ruby begins salivating a little, “We get dealt a nice simple Grimm cleanup. We’ve already found their tracks; it shouldn’t be much longer before we find the den and can get to work.”
Yang sighs. “Okay. I just hope that—“
“HELP! OH MY BUCKING GODDESSES SOMEBODY BUCKING HELP MEEEE!” The scream echoes through the forest, feminine in nature.
Blake gasps. “There isn’t supposed to be anyone in this area!”
Ruby turns to the group, a mix of giddiness and determination in her eyes. “Alright. Blake, Yang, keep following these tracks. They’ll lead us to the nest. Keep your guard up; that scream will likely attract more Grimm. Weiss, you and I are going to save that girl.”
----------
Oh buck, oh buck, oh buck, I swear I’ll never prank anypony ever again just get me out of this bucking nightmare!
I tear through the trees, the Hounds of Tartarus hot on my trail. I’ve found, quite on accident, that this new body of mine is incredibly athletic. Like, more than me as a pony athletic. I’ve been able to keep ahead of these abominations for at least the past five minutes at a dead sprint.
I burst through the trees into another Luna-damned clearing… and trip on a rock. I go sprawling, landing flat on my back. It’s a good thing I don’t have any wings, or I would’ve broken one for sure. As I sit up, I turn, and get my first good look at whatever’s been chasing me.
It’s large and black, with a row of viciously sharp teeth. How do I know about the teeth? Well, it’s snarling at me, like that Ursa Minor did just before Twilight put it to sleep. It’s got either a skull or—gulp—part of it’s skull sticking out of it’s head, with more bones sticking out of the arms, legs and back, sharp as razors. All in all, really bucking scary. What makes it worse, is that he brought some friends. As they stalk out of the bushes, my mind makes a connection between them and Timberwolves back in Equestria. If Timberwolves were ten foot tall death machines ready to tear me to shreds, then yeah, just the same.
As the leader approaches, claws and fangs ready to end my currently pitiful existence, I hear a sound, like a small cannon going off. A moment later, the thing’s head explodes. No, literally explodes. Goopy bits fly everywhere, some even landing on me.
I whip my head around, trying to find the source of my salvation, when two figures leap out of the trees and land between me and the creatures. One could mistake them for sisters at first glance; one in a red skirt, the other in white. However, a second look shows me they are anything but. The red one is small, with black hair and is looking back at me with concern, and with big silvery eyes. She has a short cape and hood on her outfit, also red. The white one is taller, with perfect poise and a long white ponytail running down most of her back. She keeps her attention on the creatures.
Although, what they look like is no match for what they are carrying. The white one has what looks like a small sword in her grip, narrowing down to a deadly point at one end, with a spinning barrel of colored notches on the other. I am sure there is more to that than meets the eye. Then I look over at the red one, and my jaw drops. She has a giant, red, honest-to-bucking-goodness scythe planted tip first in the ground, pointed at the demons. Both carry these weapons with such skill and grace, it seems like they had spent their whole lives using them. It takes me a moment to realize the red one is talking to me.
“—at are you doing here? Run! We’ll deal with these monsters!”
“Wh-what?” I stammer out.
“Just run! Get out of here!” Lady, you don’t need to tell me twice. I’m off the ground in an instant, booking it for the other side of the clearing where they came from. Just in time, too. I hear a howl (Huh. Closer to Timberwolves than I thought.), and the pack attacks. I stop at the edge and look back, hoping that they weren’t skewered by the monsters. Again, my jaw drops. Instead of just one, there are now six bodies lying limply on the ground, which seems to have only made the others mad. They charge at the two.
I cringe, waiting for their deaths, but am met with an amazing sight. The two are flying through the air, cutting the wolves down left and right. White seems to be skating on nothing as she lops their heads off. Red is moving so fast, she is almost a blur, cape flowing in the wind.
However, for every one they cut down, another two take their place. They are becoming quickly overwhelmed. I have to do something. I can’t very well be the Element of Loyalty if I don’t help those who saved my life! I focus on the word Loyalty, and something clicks. My mind clears, my body working on overdrive of its own accord. I calmly walk towards the fray.
I pull my two tools out of the harness, spin them, and level them at the closest creature. Guns, my mind fills in the blanks. Rain. Boom. My fingers instinctually find certain notches, covered by thin loops of metal. Triggers. I pull the notches. I feel, rather than see, two bursts of energy leap from the guns and into the beast. Death. The beast howls, then slumps to the ground.
The other beasts take notice. A few disengage from Red and White and converge on me. I take them down with as much ease as I did the first. A smile tugs at my lips. Then, an even deeper roar sounds behind me. I roll, and come up with both barrels pointing at the largest of the creatures. At least fifteen feet tall, with row upon row of spines jutting out of the arms. Change. I throw one of my guns into the air, spinning as I narrowly avoid a blow from its claws. As my gun comes back down, I lift up the other, and they click together at the handles. Then, the most amazingly awesome thing ever happens.
I feel them grow longer in my grip. Handles become a shaft, seven feet long and dully gleaming. I spin it above my head and come to rest with one end pointed at the beast. At this end is a spike, much like the spears Celestia’s guard uses, but very, very different. Instead of just a spike, a sharp curved blade is also affixed to the end of the staff, just below the spike, making the end into one long piece of metal. Halberd. I spin it again, and it just feels right. It comes to rest against my back leg, spike pointed straight at the sky. I beckon to the alpha beast.
“You want some of this, big boy? Come get it.” It howls in response, and I pause, concerned. Am I really trying to kill a sentient creature? Then it charges at me, and every thought is pushed from my head. I use the position of the halberd to flip myself backwards, knocking its chin on the way down. I come up, again with the pointy end facing the alpha. Parry. I knock its claw away. This continues for about ten seconds, though for me, it feels like a lifetime. Dodge, duck, parry, duck, hit, annoy. I am waiting for the opening. Suddenly, there it is. He lunges at me, both arms open wide, cutting off any means of escape. Strike. Instead of trying to run, I step into the embrace. As I step, the spike comes up. I skewer the brain of the alpha, and as I do, my hand locates a small button on the shaft. Fire. I press the button, and to my surprise, the end, spike, blade, and all shoots out of the shaft, landing embedded in the thing’s head some few feet behind me.
As I come up for air, I glance around and find Red and White dispatched the rest of the creatures while I was fighting the alpha. Return. My hands find two smaller buttons on the shaft, and it breaks apart and spins down to become my guns once again. As I fit them back into the harness (Holster.), I turn to face the two. White is looking severely pissed off, while Red is watching me like I just pulled off the coolest stunt ever. I raise a hand to greet them.
“See girls? I’m just that awe—“
Suddenly, all the adrenaline leaves my body, and I slump into darkness.